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On the spot where Paula&039;s child was conceived, on the sandy bluff in Joshua Tree National Monu?ment, I lie in the shade of a tall Joshua tree and stare up at the sky It strikes ed in five thousand years Why, I could be lying on ypt, beside the Nile, and there would be no difference in the sky

But it is not easy for me to remember

Suzama took me in, into her home, her heart She shared a sreatest seer of all time should be born to a blind mother and a blind father Neither of thereat kindness They even toler?ated the strange hours I kept For in those days I needed to drink blood alht to quench my thirst It was still difficult for me to feed myself and keep e Yet ht, especially the old, and I tried to confineto them so as to raise fewer suspicions

When I returned hohtly sojourn, I found Suzaypt a e soulful eyes She sat outside beneath a blanket of stars I sat beside her

"What&039;s the matter?" I asked

She would not look at ht"

I drew in a sharp breath "What did you see?"

"What you do to people" She had tears "Why do you do it?"

I took a while to answer her "I have to do it to survive"

It was true She of almost perfect clairvoyance could not see what her friend really was When she had first met me, she had only suspected

She was horrified "Why?"

"Because I a I am a vampire"

Even in those days they had a word for creatures like me Suzama understood what I meant Yet she did not flee from me, but instead held my hand

"Tell me how it happened," she said

I told her the entire story of un, see to me Suzama heard of Yaksha and Rama and Lalita and Krishna I told her every word Krishna had said to me, of the vow he had placed me under to make no more vampires, and of the vow he had made Yaksha take to destroy all vampires Suzama listened as if in a dream When I was finished she whispered aloud

"I have seen this Krishna in many visions," she said

"Tell me what you see?"

She spoke in a distant voice "He has the whole universe in his eyes The sun we see in the sky is only one of many All these stars--more than can be counted--shine inside the crown of his head" She paused "You race" I was able to relax

Suza ht that she began to heal others

The cures started innocently enough Suza herbs Even as a child she had had a knack for knohich ones to pre?scribe for which illnesses It was nor people to stop by each day for medical advice Sometimes Suzama would have the sick person stay She would have the person lie on his or her back and take long, slow deep breaths while she held her left hand above the forehead and her right hand over the heart Invariably the person left better afterward, or at least they said they did Then came a crippled man He had not walked since a massive stone had fallen across his hips five years earlier He had no feeling from the waist down At first she prescribed soed her to bless hie the course of her life, Suzama put him down on the floor and had him take deep breaths Her hands shook as she held them over the man, and there eat on her face I couldn&039;t take un to shine above her head Even when the an to twitch, I couldn&039;t stop staring at her angelic face For the uncountable stars were shining through her now The man was able to walk home After that there was always a line outside Suzas, although only a fewof the crippled man ForIt is their karma to be ill, she would say They had the word karma in that part of the world at that ti, Suzama preferred to foretell the future and to teach meditation A series of special meditation techniques had come to her in visions and each of them was related to the wor?ship of the Goddess Isis, the White Goddess, who shone in each soul above the head Suza techniques, and soether I was her first student, as well as her last While doing the practices she showed uru as well as my friend, and I always felt deeply indebted to her

A time came when Suzama&039;s exploits reached the ears of the rulers of the land The king at that time was named Namok, and his queen was Delar Namok was forty years older than his wife, and their beliefs, so the rumors said, were contrary to each other Namok was firmly behind the powerful priest caste at the tiht fros in the sky The Setians worshipped a nu deities, all of which were reptilian I was curious, at the time, why Isis was supposed to be married to Osiris, as Set&039;s brother The deities couldn&039;t have been more different The Setians did not approve of Isis worship, and went out of their way to destroy it That is why Suzama always conducted her initia?tions in secret

But the secret was out as far as Suza abilities were concerned She was summoned to the Great Pyramid, and as her closest friend, I was allowed to coo without reat physical power and felt safer with me by her side

It seemed that Queen Delar had had a dream the Setian priests and priestesses were unable to deci?pher, at least to the queen&039;s satisfaction Delar wanted Suza rooypt have such wealth, not even in the supposed golden ages of latter years The very floor alked on wasand queen were present, old and shrewd Nah throne, with his tall and ht shoul?der Delar sat beside hi but hard face It was Delar who bid us co out of the corner of my eye how Ory watched me It was as if he had seen me before, or at least had had my features described to him I wondered if his army of secret police, the dread Sedan initiates, who had eyes like snakes, had taken note of er in his silver belt hich, it was reported, he cut out ene theht to reside in the eyes

Delar cleared her royal throat and spoke

"You are Suzama Your reputation precedes you But who is this other person you have brought with you?"

Suzama bowed "This is Sita, my queen She is an Aryan--which is why her skin is fairer than ours She is my friend and confidante I ask your permission that she be allowed to re"

Delar was curious about me "Are you from India, Sita? I have heard stories of that land"