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’What, even now?’ Dragosani feigned surprise, but he remembered what Maura Kinkovsi had had to say on the subject three years ago

’Stories linger down the years, Dragosani Especially ghost stories They take no chances, theup there and there’s no simple explanation, it’s the stake for you for sure! As to actual case histories: the last child to die of a vampire’s bite did so in Slanic in the winter of forty-three Yes, and she was buried with a stake through her heart, like a great many ’innocents before her What? There had been eleven that year alone, in the villages around!’

’In forty-three, you say?’

Giresci nodded ’Oh, yes, and I see you’ve already ht, it was just a few months before Ferenczy died She was his last victioing on he’d be far less restricted, his victims more readily disposed of He may well have taken " during air-raids in the countryside around - and there were plenty of those, believe me’ He paused ’Any more questions?’

’You said that those towns you named were up in the h country; the ground rises rapidly, through two thousand feet in places; so how did Ferenczy do it? Did he becorounds?’

’Folklore says he has that power Bat, wolf, wraith -even flea, bug, spider! ButI think not There’s no hard evidence anywhere to be found But you ask, how did he get to his kill? I don’t know I have my own ideasbut no proof at all’

’What ideas?’ Dragosani asked, and waited half-anxiously for Giresci to answer He already knew the correct answer to the question - or believed he did - but noould discover just how clever Giresci really was And how dangerous What? He once again propped hi with his thought processes?

’A va his thoughts, ’is not huht Ferenczy died to convince me of that So what is he? He is an alien creature, a co-habitant of estalt-creature, and at worst a parasite, a hideous lareement - but silently, to himself And at once he felt dizzy and confused He had known for a fact that Giresci was right in his assessment of the vampire - but how had he known? And even as he wondered as happening to hiosani heard himself say:

’But isn’t he supernatural? Surely he would need to be, to go about his business and still escape detection down all the years’

’Not supernatural, no,’ Giresci shook his head ’Super huician but in every way a great trickster! Not a bat but silent as a bat! Not a wolf, but swift as a wolf! Not a flea but a monster with a flea’s appetite for blood - on a scale unprecedented! That’s osani Fifty ’s walk! He would be able to compel his human shell to excesses of effort undreaosani reed, and out loud: The na so clever, and taking into account all your research and what have you, haven’t you tracked down other Ferenczys? You say that the vaed to Faethor Surely then there must have been other territories - and who lords or lorded it over them, eh?’

His voice was a rasp, harsh as a file Once more Giresci

was a little taken aback ’Why, you’ve pre-eosani Very astute If Faethor Ferenczy had single-handedly held Moldavia and eastern Transylvania in his thrall for seven hundred years and more, what of the rest of Ro?’

’Roary, Greece - wherever vaosani? God forbid!’

’Have it your oay,’ Dragosani snapped ’Where they used to dwell, then’

Giresci drew back from him a little way ’A Castle Ferenczy in the Alps blew itself right off the mountain back in the late Twenties That was put down to eons An ill-regarded place, no one missed it Anyway, so far as is known, its oith it A baron or count or some such, his name was Janos Ferenczy But docue in history has been erased even more surely than old Faethor’s in the Fourth Crusade Which in my book, of course, only serves to htly so,’ Dragosani agreed at once ’He was blown to hell, eh, old Janos? Good! And have you tracked down any other vampires, Ladislau Giresci? Come, tell me noere there no Ferenczys who paid for their crimes and were put down in their heyday? How say you? What of the Western Carpatii, say beyond the Oltul?’

’Eh? But that should be faosani,’ said the other ’You were born there, after all Knowing as ht - yes, and with this keen interest of yours in vaations and searches?’

Dragosani nodded ’Indeed, indeed! And five hundred years ago in the west there was such a creature; he butchered the vile Turk in his thousands and was slain for his so-called "unnatural" zest!’

’Good!’ Giresci thue which had coht: his name was Thibor, a powerful Boyar, destroyed in the end by the Vlads He had great power over his Szekely followers - too much power - so that the princes feared and were jealous of him Also, it’s likely they suspected he was one of the Wamphyri It’s only us s The primitive and the barbarian, they know better’

’What else do you know of this one?’ Dragosani growled

’Not ulpedto reek,) ’not yet He’s to be my next project I know that he was executed -’

’Murdered!’ Dragosani cut in

’Murdered, then - somewhere west of the river, below lonesti, and that he was staked and buried in a secret place, but -’

’And was he decapitated, too, this Thibor?’

’Eh? I found no records to that effect I -’

’He was not!’ Dragosani hissed frohted him doith silver and iron chains, put a stake in his vitals and entombed him But they let him keep his head You of all people should knohat that means, Ladislau Giresci He was not dead He was undead He still is!’

Giresci struggled upright in his chair Finally he had sensed that solazed but now they caosani’s face, he began to treasped

Tar too close’ And he reached out a fluttering hand

to swing back a shutter on theThe sun at once streaosani had risen to his feet, was leaning forward in a half-crouch Now his hand reached across the table and trapped Giresci’s wrist in a band of steel-like fingers His grip was ferocious ’Your next project, you old fool? And if you had found hirave - what then, eh? Old Faethor showed you how to do it, didn’t he? And would you do it again, Ladislau Giresci?’

’What? Are youthe younger osani at once released hiht and reeled away into the rooht on his arm like acid, and in that moment he had known!

’Thibor!’ he spat the word out like a vile taste ’You!’

’Man, you’re ill!’ Giresci was struggling to stand up

’You old bastard - you old devil - you ancient Thing in the earth! You would have used osani raved, as if to hie of his awareness, so chuckled evilly and shrank back, shrank down

’You need a doctor!’ Giresci gasped ’A psychiatrist, anyway’

Dragosani ignored him He understood all now He crossed to the sun from where he’d placed it, jammed it firmly into its under-arm holster He made to stride froed away from him as he approached

Too’You know far too much I don’t knoho you are, but - ’

’Listen to osani

’ - I don’t even knohat you are! Dragosani, I - ’

Dragosani back-handed hi his head round on his scrawny neck ’Listen, I said!’

When Giresci turned his watering eyes back to Dragosani, they had gone ith shock ’I I’osani told him ’One: you will tell no one else about Faethor Ferenczy or what you’ve discovered of hiain, or ever attempt to learn more than you already know of him Is this understood?’

Giresci nodded, and in the next second his eyes ider still ’Y - you?’ he said

Dragosani laughed, however shrilly ’Me? Man, if I were Thibor you’d be dead now No, but I know of him -and now he knows of you!’ He turned towards the door, paused and tossed back over his shoulder: ’It’s possible you’ll be hearing frooodbye And Giresci -the house and ritted his teeth but the sun did him no harm Still, he doubted if he would ever feel entirely coosani who had felt the sun’s sting in Giresci’s house but Thibor, the old devil in the ground Thibor, who in that mo that it was so, still Dragosani was glad to get out of the direct sunlight and into his car The interior of the big Volga was like a furnace, but the heat was in no way supernatural As Dragosani wound the n and pulled away, heading for the main road, so the temperature dropped and he breathed easier

And only then did he reach into histhere For he knew that if Thibor could reach him, then surely he could reach Thibor

’Oh, yes, I know your name now, old devil,’ he said It was you, Thibor, wasn’t it, back there at Giresci’s? It was you, guidinghim those questions?’

For aThen:

/ won’t deny it, Dragosani But let’s be reasonable: 1 did little to hide the fact of my presence And no har your power!’ Dragosani snapped ’You tried to usurpto do so for the last three years - and ht have succeeded if I hadn’t been so far away! I see it all now’

What? Accusations? Reosani, it was you came to me that time Of your own free will, you invited me into your ave it willingly

Too willingly!’ Dragosani was bitter ’I hurt that girl -or you did, through ht easily have killed her!’

You enjoyed it (A sly whisper)

’No, you enjoyed it! I was carried along by it Well, andinto hts And your lust has stayed in my body - which you must have known it would! My invitation wasn’t peron Anyway, I’ve learned my lesson You’re not to be trusted Not in any way You’re treacherous’

What? the voice in Dragosani’s head osani, I aosani answered

How have I lied?

’In ht you food I gave you back a ’s blood and said it was good only for freshening the earth A lie! It freshened you It gave you a lasting strength sufficient that you could reach out your ht of day! Well, I’ll feed you no ht would merely irritate you Another lie, for I’ve felt how it burns you And how many other lies have you told to e I always guessed it, but now I know for sure’

And ill you do about it? (Did Dragosani detect a treround worried?)

’Nothing,’ he answered

Nothing? (Relief)

’Nothing at all Perhaps Ito be one of the Wao away from here - and this time stay away - and let the years coiven your stinking bones so of life, but the centuries will take it all back again, I’osani, no! (Real fear now, panic) Listen: I wasn’t testingDo you remember how I told you I was not unique, that others of the Wamphyri were extant even now? I said that for centuries I had waited for thee me, and they came not Do you remember that?

’Yes, what of it?’

Why, can’t you see? If our roles were reversed, would you have been able to resist? You gave me the opportunity to find out about those others, to learn what had become of them Old Faethor, as my father, dead at last! And Janos, a brother of asses of what he kept in his dungeons Aye, dead and gone, both of thelad of it! What? Didn’t they leavein the earth for half adown all those

bitter nights, be sure of it - but did they come to set me free? Not them! So Ladislau Giresci fancies himself a tracker of vampires, does he? But I would have shown him how to track them, who left me to the dirt and the worms and the seep of centuries, when I rise up froeance with theri myself, Thibor, why they deserted you and left you to your fate? Your own father, for instance, Faethor Ferenczy: ould know you better than him? And why did your brother, Janos, hate you so? There’s more to you thanva? But why not? -you yourself have mentioned your excesses more than once And I have personal recollections of thes you’ve done bother even your conscience? Or are the Wamphyri, and you in particular, without conscience?’

You osani

’Oh? I don’t think so I’ to learn about you, Thibor When you aren’t lying outright, then you’re obscuring the truth It’s the way you are; you don’t know any other way’

The vampire was furious You find it easy to insult me because you know I may not strike you! How have I obscured the truth?

’How? Haven’t you said that I "gave" you the opportunity to discover what had become of these kin of yours? But in fact you made your own opportunity It wasn’t o to the library in Pitesti, Thibor, so who put that thought in ain, eh? And when you learned of Ladislau Giresci, why, I just had to go and see hiosani -

’No, you listen You used me Used me just as the vampire of popular fiction uses his human vassals, just as you used your Szekely serfs five hundred years ago But I’ ret, too’

Dragosani, I -

’I’ll hear no ue There’s only one thing you can do for osani’s mind was fully developed now, trained, sharp as one of his own scalpels Case-hardened by the necro edge ift and deadly In its action it was keener than an ordinarywas it? Now Dragosani put it to the test He squeezed with hishi But don’t think it ends here One day you’ll need , Dragosani A year atWae, for you’ll be too late A year, , and perhaps by then I will have forgiven you Dragosaaniiii/

Then he was gone

Dragosani relaxed, breathed deeply, suddenly felt exhausted It had been no easy thing, exorcising Thibor The vaer The real proble hiosani knew Thibor was able to secretly insinuate hi, he could maintain a watch for the old devil

But as for his Roun Cursing, he savagely applied the brakes and slewed the Volga round in a half circle, then started back the way he had coosani wanted noas to put distance between hiosani stopped just outside Bucharest for petrol and tried to raise Thibor It was still full daylight but he got so: a faint response, a shiver in his raveworain The presence was stronger as night drew on Thibor was there and iven him the opportunity He did not but closed his h Customs, he let down all his defences and literally invited Thibor in It was full night now but the whisper in his mind was faint, as if it caosaaaniiii Coward! You flee from me An old creature trapped in the earth

T e, where you can’t reach e to reach me, next time I’ll know You see, Thibor, you need me more than I need you Now you can just lie there and think it over I may come back one day and I may not But when, if I do, it will be on osani (the whisper was faint but urgent) I -

’Goodbye, Thibor’

And behind hi with all the osani felt safe to stop and sleep

And dream his own dreams