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On foot I return to the vicinity of the warehouse But as Joel said, the entire area is cordoned off by numer?ous police officers From several blocks away I study the remains of the warehouse withfor the re the ruins Whatever was lying around outside has already been picked up and deposited into plastic bags hite labels on thehts, the mounds of ash, and the ruined bodies, the scene depresses"But what he did do was tie Heather up in his bedrooh school letter jacket-and nothing else-and force her to suck on Popsicles all night"

The night I met the newborn vampires, I heard an ice-crea loudly In the ht Then, when 1 visited Mrs Fender, I learned she had a large freezer in her house Finally, after parking my tanker outside the warehouse, I saw out of the corner of my eye an ice-cream truck From where I stand now, I cannot see that same spot to tell if the truck is still there But with the security in the area I think that it ht be i did Eddie have about Popsicles?

What kind of fetish did he have about frozen corpses?

Were the fetishes related?

If Eddie did get his hands on Yaksha&039;s remains and Yaksha was still alive, Eddie would have been forced to keep Yaksha in a weakened state to control him There are tays to do that-at least, only two that I know of One is to keep Yaksha impaled with a number of sharp objects that his skin cannot heal around The other is more subtle and deals with the nature of vampires themselves Yaksha was the incar?nation of a yakshini, a de Snakes are cold-blooded and do not like the cold In the sah we can with?stand it Yet ice thwarts us asour ability to recover froth and knowledge of otten a hold of Yaksha alive and is keeping him in an extremely weak state white he continues to drink his blood I suspect Eddie keeps him impaled and half frozen

But where?

At home with Moerous to leave lying around Eddie would keep his blood supply close He would even take it with hiht

I find a phone booth nearby and call Sally Diedrich Before leaving the coroner&039;s office, I had obtained her hoossip, so I co into the stiff business, did Eddie used to be an ice-cream man? As a matter of fact, yes, Sally replies He and his eles area That&039;s all I wanted to know

Next I call Pat McQueen, Ray&039;s old girlfriend

I don&039;t knohy I do it She is not sorief with, and besides, I do not believe such a thing should be shared Yet, on this darkest of all nights, I feel an affinity with her I stole her love and now fate has stolenthe nuonize her I reo My call will not be welcoun to close Still, I do not hang up when she answers after a couple of rings

"Hello?"

"Hello, Pat This is Alisa I&039;asps, then falls into a wary silence She hatesup But she is curious "What do you want?" she asks

"I don&039;t know I stand here asking uess I just wanted to talk to soht you were dead"

"So did I"

An even longer pause I knohat she will ask "He is, isn&039;t he?"

I bow my head "Yes But his death was not just an accident He died bravely, by his own choice, trying to protect what he believed in"

She begins to weep "Did he believe in you?" she asks bitterly

"Yes I like to think so He believed in you as well His feelings for you went very deep He did not leave you willingly I forced him"

"Why? Why couldn&039;t you just leave us alone?"

"I loved him"

"But you killed him! He would be alive now if you had never spoken to hih "I know that But I did not knoould happen Had I known, I would have done things completely different Please believe me, Pat, I did not want to hurt you or him It just worked out that way"

She continues to cry "You&039;re a reat "Yes"

"I can&039;t forget hiet this I hate you"

"You can hate et him You wont be able to anyway Nor will I be able to Pat, maybe I do knohy I called you I think it was to tell you that his death does not necessarily o, in another place, another dimen?sion And that day at school e all introduced ourselves, it was like ain, I think, or at least we can go to hiins to quiet "I don&039;t knohat you&039;re talking about"

I force a smile, for myself "It doesn&039;t one, and who knows if there is anything else? No one knows Have a good night, Pat Have sweet drea ti up, I stare at the ground It is closer than the sky, and at least I know it is real Clouds hang overhead anyway, and there are no stars tonight I call my old friend Sey that has happened He listens without interrupting That&039;s what I like about hireat orator He is silent when I finish He knows he

cannot console me and he doesn&039;t really try I respect that as well But he does acknowledge the loss

"Too bad about Ray," he says

"Yeah Real bad"

"Are you all right?"

"Yes"

His voice is firree with you-Yaksha is probably in that ice-creans point in that direction Why didn&039;t you wait until you checked it out before calling et him away from Eddie and the cops, I won&039;t be of a mind to make phone calls"

"Good Get Yaksha He&039;ll heal quickly and then the two of you go after Eddie"

"I don&039;t think it will be that easy"

Seyht surprise you, but I don&039;t have a lot of experience in such ood You&039;ll have to face Eddie alone"

"And I didn&039;t do so well last time"

"You did well You destroyed his partners But you have to act fast or he will ather in one place and be so easily wiped out"

"But I cannot beat him by force I have proved that toHe&039;s also smart But you&039;re smart, too Just tell ive you some hints You have to place hini?fied He probably cannot see and hear as well as you He is probably more sensitive to the sun"

"The sun didn&039;t slow him down much"

"Well, he may be more sensitive to cold than you I suspect that he is and doesn&039;t know it He certainly seems sensitive when it comes to his mother He&039;s what? Thirty years old? And he&039;s a vauy can&039;t be that fearso specific"

"Take her hostage Threaten to kill her He&039;ll coht of that"

"Then do it But get Yaksha away froive you the secret of how to stop him"

"You read and write too ical secret?"

"You are ic, Sita You are full of secrets you don&039;t even know Krishna let you live for a reason You have to find that reason, and this situation will resolve itself automatically"

His words move me I had not told him of my dream Still, my doubts and my pain are too heavy for words alone to wash away

"Krishna is full of mischief," I say "Sos for no reason at all Just because he wanted to"

"Then you be mischievous Trick Eddie The foot?ball players at our school are all bigger and stronger than I am But they&039;re all a bunch of fools I could whip their asses any day"

"If I survive this night, and toht tell your football teah" He softens "Ray was enough Don&039;t die on ain "I will call you the first chance I get"

"Proroans but he is frightened forinto the secured area is not difficult I si But getting out with an ice-cream truck in toill not be so easy There are police cars parked crossways at every exit Nevertheless, that is the least of round, I see that the ice-cream truck is still in place A palpable aura of pain surrounds it like a swarm of black insects above a body that has lain unburied Dread weighs heavily on h perch and land on the concrete sidewalk beside the truck I feel as if I have just ju snakes No one stands in the immediate vicinity, but the odor of venom is

thick in the air Even before I pull aside the locked door to the refrigerated compartment, I know that Yaksha is inside and in poor condition

I open the door

"Yaksha?" I whisper

There is e shape speaks

"What flavor would you like, little girl?" Yaksha asks in a tired voice

My reaction is a surprise to , it is difficult forhim out as an ally Yet, with his silly question, a wave of warmth sweeps over me Still, I do not stare too hard at what he has becoet you out of here," I say "Give me ten minutes"

"You can take fifteen if you need, Sita"

I close the compartment door Only police cars are allowed in and out of the area Not even the press has gotten through the roadblocks, which is understand?able It is not every day twenty-plus bodies are incine?rated in Los Angeles, although, on the other hand, it is not that unusual an occurrence in this part of town

My course is clear I will get myself a police car, maybe a navy blue police cap to cover my blond hair I walk casually in the direction of the warehouse, ho do I run into but the two cops who stoppedprodigy They blink when they see hnuts is set out on the hood of their black-and-white unit, and they are casually sipping coffee from Styrofoaoing on, relatively isolated from view The situation ap?peals toyou here," I say

They scra here?" the older cop asks politely "This is a restricted area"

I am bold "You make this place sound like a nuclear sub one says "You&039;d best get out of here quick"

I ive e a smile The older one nods in my direction "Haven&039;t you seen the news? Don&039;t you knohat&039;s happened here?"

"Yeah, I heard an atoiveone puts his hand on his nightstick Like he would really need it with a ninety-eight-pound young woman who looks all of twenty Of course, he would need a Bradley Tank to stophiet into law school and so joined the force to annoy Daddy

"We&039;re running out of patience," Preppy says, acting the tough guy "Leave iht ass? What about the rest of me? That sounds like a sexist statement if I ever heard one" I move within two feet of Preppy and stare hi hard not to buood cops, but I can&039;t stand sexist pigs They pissize toto whip your ass"

To h school senior-he pulls his gun onoff a pace as if shocked, I raise my arms over my head The older cop takes a tentative step in our direction He is o looking for trouble where trouble does not exist Yet he does not know that trouble is irl alone She&039;s just flirting with you is all Put away your gun"

Gary does not listen "She&039;s got a pretty dirty mouth for a flirt Hoe know she&039;s not a prostitute? Yeah, that&039;s right, e of soliciting sexual favors for money"

"I haven&039;t offered you any un at s"

"Gary," the old cop complains "Stop it"

"Better stop now, Gary," I warn him "I can tell you for sure you won&039;t be able to finish it"

Gary grabs ainst the wall I let him When I a emotion, I like to hunt, to drink blood, to kill even As Gary begins to frisk me, I debate whether to kill hiht ass He is not wearing a wedding band; he will not be missed much, except perhaps by his partner, who is soon headed for a heart attack anyith his diet of greasy dough?nuts and black coffee Yes, I think as Gary digs into ood, and the world can do with one less creep He holds the weapon up to his partner as if he has found the key to a treasure In his mind it is that way Now, because I am a certifiable cri as no one is videotaping the proceedings No wonder the people in this neighborhood riot from time to time

"Well, look at e have here!" Gary exclaims "Bill, as the last tie coed?" He taps ave this to you, honey? Your pimp?"

"Actually," I reply, "I took that knife off the body of a French noble my permission" I slowly turn and catch his eye "Like you"

Officer Bill reaches out and takes the knife away from Officer Gary, who tries to staretrain Carefully I allow a little heat to enter ins to perspire heavily He still grips his gun but has trouble keeping it steady

"You&039;re under arrest," hea concealed weapon"

I ease up on Gary for awith this kind of knife?"

"I carry it for protection," I reply

Bill looks at Gary "Let her go If I lived around here, I&039;d carry a knife, too"

"Are you forgetting that this is the sairl we ran into outside the coliseuht of the murders Now she&039;s here at the burned-out warehouse" With his free hand he takes out his handcuffs, "Stick out your hands, please"

I do so "Since you said please"

After bolstering his gun, Gary slaps on the cuffs He grabs ain and pulls ht to re you say ht to the presence of an attorney, either retained or ap?pointed-"

"Just a second," I interrupt as Gary starts to force rowls

I turn my head in Bill&039;s direction and catch his eye "I want Bill to sit down and take a nap"

"Huh?" Gary says But Bill does not say anything Too ullible Already he is under my spell I continue to bore into his eyes

"I want Bill to sit down and go to sleep," I say "Sleep and forget, Bill You never met me You don&039;t knohat happened to Gary He just vanished tonight It&039;s not your fault"

Bill sits down, closes his eyes like a soes to sleep His snores startle his partner, who quickly takes out his gun again and points it at ainst violence, but they should never have let this guy out of the academy with live am "What can I do? I&039;m handcuffed" To illustrate my helplessness, I holdwickedly, I snap the my wrists, the re like loose change falling from torn pockets "You knohat that French nobleman said before I slit his throat with his own knife?"

Gary takes a stunned step back "Don&039;t move I&039;ll shoot"

I step toward him "He said, &039;Don&039;t come a step closer I&039;ll kill you&039; Of course, he didn&039;t have your advantage He didn&039;t have a gun As a uns in those days" I pause and er than moons that burn with priers went around his throat?"

Gary, tre, cocks the hammer on his revolver "You are evil," he whispers

"Close" Lashing out with un out of his hand Much to his dis down the block I continue in a sweet voice, "What he said was, &039;You are a witch&039; You see, they believed in witches in those days" Slowly, deliberate?ly, I reach over and grab my pale white victim by the collar and pull him toward me "Do you believe in witches, Gary?"

He is a rin and lick his throat "Do you believe in vampires?"

Incredibly he starts to cry "No"

"There, there," I say as I stroke his head "Youscary or you wouldn&039;t be so upset Tell me, what kind of o"

I shake my head sadly "I&039;h you did say please Your fellow cops are just around the block If I let you go, you&039;ll run to them and tell them that I&039;m a prostitute who carries a concealed weapon By the way, that wasn&039;t a very flattering description No one has ever paid me for sex, at least not with money" I choke him a little "But they have paid me with their blood" His tears are a river "Oh, God" I nod "You go right ahead and pray to God This ht surprise you, but I met him once He probably wouldn&039;t approve of the torture I&039;h, but since he let me live, he must have knoould eventually meet you and kill you Anyway, since he just killed my lover, I don&039;t know if I care what he thinks" I scratch Gary with ins to bleed The red liquid sinks into his clean starched shirt collar like a line of angry graffiti Leaning toward his neck, I opento enjoy this," I irlfriend!"

I pause "Gary," I say patiently "The line is &039;I have a wife and two children&039; Sometimes I listen to such pleas Sometimes not The French nobleman had ten kids, but since he had three wives at the saood, especially afterholds irl?" I ask

"Six months"

"Do you love her?"

"Yes"

"What&039;s her name?"