The Geomancer (26 page)

Yidak sat and indicated a chair for Adele. “I can have tea brought, if you wish.”

“No, thank you. Gareth is right that it's very unlikely you made that machine.”

“Yes, it is, but you don't doubt it. And Gareth only says he disbelieves because it frightens him, not because he thinks it's untrue.”

“Why would this thing scare him?”

Yidak interlaced his long fingers in a monastic pose. “As I said, most of my little clan came here for the same reasons he did. They felt like outcasts and heard rumors of a place of sanctuary. I think Gareth is searching, but he's helpless.”

“Helpless?” Adele grew annoyed with the pedantic old vampire schooling her on Gareth. He had no notion of what Gareth truly was. “I've never known anyone less helpless than Gareth. He's reinvented himself many times.”

Yidak shook his head. “No, he has covered his face many times with this mask or that.”

Adele shifted angrily, scraping her boots across the floor. “You don't know him.”

Yidak settled back in his chair. “I actually know him very well because I have seen many like him. He is different, but I know his type. However, I don't know
you
at all. He did say you could kill me with a thought.”

Adele stayed purposefully quiet, trying to bring her anger under control.

Yidak clicked his claws on the arm of the chair. “You are a geomancer.”

She stared with alarm, reaching out immediately and gathering whatever distant energy from the Earth she could. It wasn't much, but heat rose around her.

Yidak shifted uncomfortably, inching back as if from an open flame. “Don't be shocked. In China, geomancers are plentiful. Every winter the clans there kill as many as they can. Can't afford to let them grow too numerous or powerful. Are you powerful?”

“Yes.”

The Demon King regarded her with peculiar respect and a hint of concern. “You have nothing to fear from me.”

“I know.”

He laughed awkwardly. “Does he drink your blood?”

Adele flushed and power crackled through the air. Yidak pulled back with a pained hiss, but didn't flee or strike out. His question was completely guileless. He wasn't goading her. He was curious. She reined in the energy.

Yidak exhaled with wide eyes. “How do you not burn him?”

“Oh, so you don't know everything?” Adele snorted a little more spitefully than she intended.

“No. I know nothing. But I want to know everything. You see my dilemma?”

Adele said, “I only harm those I wish.”

“So with all that power, you've never hurt him?” Yidak stared into her eyes. “Why didn't you kill all of us if you had the chance?”

Adele clenched her mouth and looked away. She suddenly wanted to flee, but something felt cowardly about it. She smelled charred flesh and knew it was only the memory of Gareth's terrified face burning away as she fought the very power she had unleashed, or that Mamoru had forced her to unleash.

“Was it just for him?” Yidak pressed. “You betrayed your kind for him? Was there something more? Or are you even sure? Are you afraid you missed the chance you had to be the savior, and that you will never have that courage again?”

It was all Adele could do to whisper, “Don't provoke me.”

“I am not your enemy.”

“It's hard to tell. You look like my enemies.”

Yidak lowered his head and exhaled. His posture grew calm. His voice was unhurried. “Very well. Let's discuss something we both care about. I can help Gareth.”

“So can I,” she snapped, recovering her breath.

“I am not competing with you. I am merely offering a path. There is a ritual in this land called
chöd
. I think Gareth would benefit from it. With time, the acolyte calls upon the demons he fears most to come and devour him.”

Adele shuddered under the glares of the monsters painted on the flaking walls, as if a hundred Yidaks watched her. “You never stop fighting your demons or you fail.”

“On the contrary. It leaves only your purest self behind. Your fears and failures. All gone. You abandon everything you have. There is nothing braver than casting yourself into the void and being scattered to nothingness. It is the experience of choosing the end that is the greatest act of self-determination.”

Gareth's voice penetrated the darkness. “I've already done that.”

Adele twisted to see Gareth in the archway. His face was still intense, but the anger had passed. Her legs quivered when she stood and went to him. He took her hand.

“Adele destroyed me,” he said.

“Don't,” she began.

“No, it's fine.” He kissed the top of her head. “More than a year ago, her full power was turned loose. It tore me to pieces. I watched my flesh burn away, and felt my bones blacken. There was nothing to be done. It was enough that I knew I had done what I could to insure she would survive. So I accepted it and died. However, she brought me back. She risked her life to bring her powers back under her control, and she used them to restore my life. After that ordeal, when I opened my eyes, I saw her face.” He turned his blue gaze on Adele. “I never want to go another day without seeing her face.”

She embraced him. She felt his heart beating through his chest.

Yidak rested his chin in his hands and wide eyes flicked between Adele and Gareth. “Well. That's . . . well.”

“Well said.” Adele remarked.

Gareth slipped an arm around Adele's waist.

Adele stiffened in alarm. “He's speaking Arabic. Just as if he was in court in Alexandria.”

The old vampire smiled as he pushed himself out of his chair. “Not so elegant as yours, I fear, but I used to hear it often in the old days. I thought it would make you more comfortable. Come, I'll show you our memories again.”

He strolled past them, and Adele thought she heard a faint chuckling from the Demon King.

General Anhalt opened his eyes. Something had awakened him. He heard the gentle crackle of the fire. His back was against the warm brick fire pit and he was wrapped in a thick rug. He hadn't intended to fall asleep; he wanted to be awake when Adele returned. He hated to look unprepared to her. He threw back the rug in a futile pretense that he was simply resting.

Takeda stood a few feet away, holding the general's glowing Fahrenheit saber. Anhalt's hand instinctively flashed to his sword, but only found the empty scabbard. He came up on one knee, fumbling with the flap of his holster and drawing his service revolver. The vampire let his gaze drift from the green glow of the sword to the gun. He betrayed no sense of alarm.

Anhalt feared the vampire's presence meant something ominous. Perhaps Adele and Gareth had been seized, or even killed. And now this creature had come to finish off the foolish visitors. The general tightened his grip on the pistol.

Takeda weaved the saber through the air, watching the emerald haze left behind. “What is this?”

Anhalt aimed at the vampire's head. At this range, it was a solid bet he could hit the thing, which could well kill Takeda or at least buy time for a second shot. The vampire stared past the muzzle into Anhalt's eyes.

Takeda said, “I am not here to harm you, or you would be dead.”

“That does make sense.” Anhalt didn't lower the pistol. “But you took my sword.”

The vampire nodded with eyes closed. “Forgive me. That was improper.” He slowly held the saber to Anhalt with blade down and hilt forward.

Anhalt reached out his left hand and delicately grabbed the sword by the pommel guard, careful not to brush the vampire's fingers.

Takeda kept his hands away from the katana in his belt. He nodded toward the pistol. “Humans are so distrustful.”

“Attempted genocide has that effect.” Anhalt used the sword to push himself to his feet. The revolver didn't waiver. “This is a Fahrenheit blade. It will burn even you.” He carefully slid the saber back into the scabbard. With the vampire's gaze following him, Anhalt leaned over and took the shotgun in one hand. He brought the heavy gun to bear and holstered the pistol. He sat carefully on the edge of the fire pit with the shotgun pointed at Takeda's chest.

The vampire said, “A larger gun gives you more confidence?”

“I wouldn't mind a cannon, but this will serve.”

“May I lower my hands now?”

“No.” Anhalt had begun to believe that his earlier fear was misplaced. The general lost his concern for Adele and Gareth but was still worried about the vampire's visit. “What do you want?”

Takeda bowed slightly, acknowledging Anhalt's direct question. “I want to know why
she
is here.”

The general felt the hard steel of the trigger guard and the smooth wood of the grip. He wondered if Takeda was trying to catch the humans in a lie if Adele had already given some story to Yidak. He could have been independently seeking answers to pass on to the old Demon King. Or he could have been trying to protect his leader, who was not always attentive to his own security. Anhalt almost smiled at the last thought. “That's not for me to say.”

“Only my kind comes here, looking for something or trying to hide from something. But
he
did not bring her here. This is clearly
her
mission. That vampire is merely her tool. Why has she come to this place?”

Anhalt stayed silent.

“You are a soldier.” Takeda studied the general, who wore common clothes with a heavy coat and no indication of his service or rank. “How many of my kind have you killed for her?”

“Quite a few. Not enough, however, or the war would be over.”

“So are you losing the war?”

“No. We're winning.”

“You must have improved yourselves since the first war.”

“We have. Our weapons are better, and our will is stronger.”

Takeda asked, “You are content to exterminate us?”

Anhalt shifted slightly to ease the pain in his leg. Takeda noticed. The general adjusted the shotgun to remind the vampire that the big gun was leveled at his chest. “Tell me, how many of my kind have
you
killed?”

“None recently.”

“But during the Great Killing?”

“Oh. Many.” Takeda smiled, his teeth showing. “Many.”

“You seem pleased by it.”

“At the time, I had no qualms with it. But you understand that, don't you?”

Anhalt admitted, “I do.”

“Take solace though, General. I have also killed my own kind.” Takeda looked around the chamber at the meager pile of their possessions. “And what of your . . . man, Gareth? He has the look of one who has spilled human blood.”

“I'm told he has.”

“But you forgive him, and treat him as a comrade. Why?”

The general pursed his lips with a slight smile. There was something he found compelling in this vampire that he didn't feel for Yidak. Something in his manner that Anhalt recognized. Takeda, no matter what else he may have been, was a soldier. It was a commonality, even if the creature was a potential mortal enemy. For that reason, the general had to guard against saying too much.

Takeda nodded with acceptance of the silence. “What about that woman? How odd that both you and your blood-soaked colleague follow a woman. It wouldn't be strange for my kind, but I thought humans held females to be weak.”

“Not all humans.” Anhalt grinned now. “Of any of us, that woman is the one you should fear most of all.”

Takeda grew grim. “Then why shouldn't we kill her now?”

“One, because you probably couldn't. And two, because she is also the one human who might save you from extinction.” Anhalt exhaled and lowered the shotgun into the crook of his elbow. “All right, put your hands down. You're making me tired.”

The vampire stood unsure for a moment, then he lowered his arms. “I can still smell your fear, despite your pretense of unconcern.”

“I'm sure you can. I am afraid. You could slay me quite easily.” Anhalt set the shotgun aside. “But this isn't some sort of pretense. It's called living with the fear. We've changed in that way too. Your kind still terrifies us, but now we fight all the same. I'm having some tea. I assume you wouldn't care for any.” The general turned his back and shifted pots on the fire. He hoped the vampire didn't notice the slight tremor in his hands.

Takeda strolled toward the glowing coals. “I would, actually. I will try it.”

Anhalt paused only briefly in his preparations before carrying on. While settling the tea, he saw a face peering between the edge of the yak rug and the door. It was a young face, and the general felt no threat from it. He stared at the blue eyes and they quickly darted away.

The general said, “You may tell your young friend to come in.”

Takeda didn't turn to look. “Hiro. Stop lurking and step inside.”

The thick rug shifted slightly and a young, male vampire came in on his hands and knees. He looked warily up at Takeda and then down at the floor, refusing to meet Anhalt's eyes.