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"Yes, but you’re controlling it, so we are safe"
"The last tions," I said "How can I control them nohen I couldn’t before?"
"But you could," Evanna replied "You had the power &uons would have obeyed you then, as they do now"
"Why?" I frowned "What’s so special about me?"
"You’re Desh he did not pass on his ical powers to you, traces of his influence re animals such as spiders and wolves But there is more to it than that"
Evanna reached out, her hand extending far beyond its natural length, and touched the dragon’s head Its skull glowed beneath the witch’s touch Its purple skin faded, then became translucent, so I could see inside to its brain The oval, stone-like shape was instantly fah it took me a few seconds to recall what it reminded me of Then it clicked
"The Stone of Blood!" I exclaimed While this was much smaller than the one in the Hall of Princes, it was unift to the vampires from Mr Tiny For seven hundred years the members of the clan had fed their blood to it, and used it to keep track of and coerous ¨C if it had fallen into the hands of the vampaneze, they could have tracked down and killed al vaon into the past and gave it to the vampires," Evanna said "He often does that &ues which influence the present and future Through the Stone of Blood he bound the vahtly to his will If the vampires win the War of the Scars, they will use the Stone to control the dragons, and through them the skies I don’t think the vaift of Desmond Tiny’s ¨C it was one of the reasons they broke away from the rest of the vampire clan I’ons would be like Perhaps our father will provide the the beasts ¨C or maybe it will please him to let them be enemies"
"The Stone of Blood was supposed to be the clan’s last hope," Ibrain "There was a legend ¨C if we lost the ith the vaain"
Evanna nodded and re and resuon didn’t see atmy command
"Above all else, our father craves chaos," Evanna said "Stability bores hi any race rule for ever For a time it pleased him to let humans rule this planet, since they were violent, always at ith one another But when he saw the the latter half of the twentieth century &uree with his assess them He will do the same with their successors
"If the vampaneze win the War of the Scars and wipe out the vampires, he’ll use the Stone in the future He will lead humans to it and teach them to extract the blood cells and build a new army of cloned vampires But they won’t be va process andtheinal vampires, with less developed brains, slaves to the whim of our father" Evanna smiled twistedly "So yes, our father told the truth when he said the Stone of Blood could help the vaain ¨C but he kept a few of the less savoury facts to himself"
"Then neither side can truly win," I said "He’s just setting the victors up for a later fall"
"That has always been Desmond’s way," Evanna said "What he helps create, he later destroys Many eyptian, Persian, British &uyptian?" I blinked
"Our father is a great fan of e each other with sticks and bones were of very li each other with reater numbers But for mankind to advance barbarically, it also had to advance in other ways It had to grow socially, culturally, spiritually, technologically, reat in all aspects could ar greatly
"Our father has had his hand in most of the notable architectural, technical or hs of mankind He could never openly lead, but he influenced slyly The only area where he had no real poas that of literature Des to him He has no interest in the wonderful stories of mankind Writers have always been alien to him ¨C he does not read works of fiction, or take any notice of the a hoot about Mr Tiny’s choice of readingwith oes into the past to change the present and future But what about the time paradox?" I’d seen lots of science fiction movies and TV shows I knew all about the problems associated with the theory of time travel
"There is no paradox," Evanna said "The universe keeps natural order The key events of the past cannot be changed ¨C only the people involved"
"Huh?" I said
"Once so iive the higher force a name, decides what is ied," Evanna explained "But you can alter the people involved For instance, now that it has happened, you cannot travel to the past and prevent World War Two &uo back and kill Adolf Hitler The universe would immediately create another person to fill his shoes That person would be born like any norrow up, then do what Hitler did, with precisely the sa else"
"But Hitler was a monster," I said "He murdered millions of people Do you uy would take his place? All those people would still die?"
"Yes," Evanna said
"But then that person wouldn’t have chosen their fate," I frowned "They wouldn’t be responsible for their actions"
Evanna sniffed "The universe would have to create a child with the potential for wickedness &uood man cannot be forced to do evil ¨C but once it did, yes, that person would become a victim of destiny It does not happen often Our father only occasionally replaces iures of the past Most people have free will But there are a feho don’t"
"A the answer
"Most definitely not," Evanna sinal creation Though you were manipulated by our father since birth, the path you trod had not been laid down by anyone before you"
Evanna thought for a few seconds, then tried to explain the situation in a hich I could e the events of the past, he canhappens in the present which is not to his liking, he can return to the past and create a train of events designed to lead to a solution to whatever is troubling him That’s how vampires came to be so numerous and powerful"
"Mr Tiny created vampires?" I shouted ¨C there was a myth that he’d made us, but I’d never believed it
"No," Evanna said "Va by themselves But there were never anized Then, in the middle of the twentieth century, our father decidedit, he travelled to the past and spent a couple of decades trying different approaches to underave theth and speed, the power to flit and share their thoughts ¨C all the supernatural abilities which you know about He also provided them with leaders ould knock them into shape and turn them into an army
"As powerful as the clan became, our father ensured they couldn’t be a threat to huinally vampires were able to come out by day &uht, and robbed theift of childbirth Carefully shackled and maintained this way, the vampires had to live separately to the world of e anything important in the human history, the universe let them exist, and they eventually become part of the present ¨C which is when our father was free to use them however he wished"
"And the present was my time?" I asked
"Yes," Evanna said "Time passes at the same rate, whether our father is in the past, present or future So, since he spent al to find a way to topple humanity, it was late in the twentieth century when he returned to the present"
"And because vampires were now part of that present," I said, ling information, "they were free to influence the future?"
"Correct," Evanna said "But our father then saw that the clan wouldn’t launch an attack on humanity if left to their own devices ¨C they were content to stay out of the affairs of ain &uineered the vaend of the Lord of the Vaed them towards conflict with the vampires"
"And that led to the War of the Scars, and eventually the downfall of huht of the little man’s terrible slyness
"Well," Evanna san to say excitedly, sensing hope in her smile
"Hush," Evanna stopped me "I will reveal all shortly But now it is time for us toon the horizon "The nights are colder in this tiround Besides," she said, rising, "we have an appointment to keep"
"With who?" I asked
She looked at me steadily "Our father"