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I walk the dark and dangerous streets of LA gang?land A seenetic blue eyes Moving down filth-strewn alleys and streets where power is mea?sured in drops of blood spilled by bullets sprayed from adolescent males who haven&039;t learned to drive yet I a projects, those archaic hotels of hostility where the checkout fee is always higher than the price of admission Because of my supernormal senses, I know I am surrounded by people ould slit ht But I aht, for I am not human I, Alisa Perne of the twentieth century, Sita of the ancient past I am five thousand years old, one of the last of two vampires

But are there only two of us left? I ask land LA, and it eles Ti of brutal murders that leads me to believe Ray and I are not the only ones with the special blood thatand most other human ailments The victims of these murders have been ripped open, decapitated, and, in some cases, the articles say, drained of blood It is this last fact that has brought er to find more vampires I knohat our kind can do, and I kno fast we can multiply once the secret of procrea?tion is known Any vaht of dawn, or perhaps I should say the setting of the h I can bear it if I h above me as I step onto Exposition Avenue and head north, not far froirl found yesterday in the bushes with both her arh it is mid-Deceeles is like a reen cheese, a joke I wear black leather pants, a short-sleeved black top that shows my sleek midsection My black boots barely sound as I prowl the uneven sidewalks I wear my hair pinned up beneath a black cap I love the color black as eous Cool stainless steel touches ht calf where I have hidden a six-inch blade, but otherwise I aht One passes me on the left as I lowerstopped and searched, I do not carry a gun But it is only for the lives of the police that I fear, and not for my own A whole SWAT tea va to be killing so recklessly

But who is this youngster? And whoquestions

Three young males wait for me a hundred yards down the street I cross to the other side, but they move to intercept me One is tall and slim, the other squat as an old stuht up on the wrong side of the pearly gates He is clearly the leader He set away fro his powerful biceps as if they were laws unto thereen coat The others are unar toward me as I pause to consider what to do Of course, I could turn and flee Even if they were in training for the Olym?pics, they couldn&039;t catch ht, and I am suddenly thirsty The smile of the leader will fade, I know, as he feels the blood drain from his body intoto wait

"Hey, babe," the leader says as they surround ety semicircle "What you doin&039; here by your lonesome? Lost?"

I appear at ease "No I&039;uys up to?"

They exchange sood "What&039;s your name?" the leader asks

"Alisa What&039;s yours?"

He grins like the young god he thinks he is "Paul Hey, you&039;s one beautiful woman, Alisa, you know that? And I appreciate beauty when I see it"

"I bet you do, Paul Do you appreciate danger when you see it, too?"

They cackle I ahs "Are you saying you&039;re dangerous, Alisa?" he asks "You look like a party babe to ht now You want to cooin&039; to be hot"

I consider "Are you three the only ones going to this party?"

Paul likes it that I&039;m sharp "Maybe But maybe that&039;s all you need" He takes a step closer There is alcohol on his breath-a Coors beer-Marlboro ciga?rettes in his coat pocket close to his gun A brave boy, he puts his right hand on rin is now more of a leer He adds, "Or maybe all you need is me, babe What do you say? Want to party?"

I look hiaze has been known to burn ive it free rein But I have held soued, not scared He continues to hold on to o sayin&039; no to me, honey I don&039;t like that word"

"Really"

He glances back at his friends and then nods gravely in my direction "You don&039;t look like you&039;s from around here But around here, there&039;s tays to party You either do it with a s You knohat Ito rape s "It&039;s up to you, honeysuckle" He draws his piece froot for his last birthday He presses the muzzle beneath my chin "And it&039;s up to Colleen"

"You call your gun Colleen?"

He nods seriously "She&039;s a lady Never lets rows "Paul, you are such a simpleton You can&039;t rape me Put it out of your mind if you want to be alive co to happen"

My boldness surprises hirins because his friends are watching and he has to be cool and in control He presses the gun deeper intoto force my head back But, of course, I don&039;t move an inch, and this confuses him as much as my casual tone

"You tell ht now?" he asks "You tell oddamn head off"

"Because I&039;inning to fry his brain "What you got?"

"A knife A very sharp knife Do you want to see it?"

He takes a step back, letting go of un at my belly "Show it toin front of him My balance is as solid as that of aTake it out andlike a stud, throwing his pals a lecherous glance, Paul cautiously reaches up inside hout the act, he doesn&039;t realize how close he is to having his head reht foot But I have coht stain my clothes Paul&039;s eyes widen as he feels the knife and quickly pulls it free fro his friends I wait, acting impatient

"I want it back," I say finally "We cannot duel if you hold both weapons"

Paul can&039;t believe in to tire of hiive you this knife? You ht stick it in me while I&039; to stick it in you, be sure of that I don&039;t ry panthers This is a jungle and only the strong survive I understand that, better than you can ile has rules Don&039;t take what you don&039;t need, and if you do, be a sportsman about it But you&039;re not a sportsman, Paul You have taken ht now or you will suffer unpleasantly" I stick outlife, "Very unpleasantly"

His anger shows; his cheeks darken with blood He is not a true aninize a poisonous snake when he saw it He is a coward Rather than hand over my knife, he tries to slash my open paler where it was an instant before I have withdrawn it to un I hit only the revolver, not his hand, and see what the other three don&039;t-the weapon landing on the roof of a three-story apartment complex off to one side Paul&039;s bud?dies back up, but he continues looking for his gun His mouth works, but words are slow to form

"Huh?" he finally says

I reach out and grab hi on his hand that holdsglass set in the hot sun He trerip, and for the first time he must realize how le I lean close to his ear and speak softly

"I see that you have killed before, Paul That&039;s OK-I have killed, too, many times I am much older than I look, and as you no, I a to kill you, but before I do I want to know if you have any final requests Tell me quick, I&039;m in a hurry"

He turns his head away, but his eyes cannot escape mine He tries to pull away and finds we are ether Sweat drips from his face like the river of tears the families of his victims have shed His partners back farther away Paul&039;s lower lip treasps

I sirl, like you said" I lose oodbye to mortality Say hello to the devil for me Tell him I&039;ll be there soon, to join you"

My words, a poor joke to torrain of truth in them I feel a wave of pain in my chest as I pull Paul closer It is froht Yaksha perished, a wound that never really healed Since that night, six weeks earlier, I have never been totally free of pain And I have begun to suspect I never will be The full extent of the anguish comes upon me at unexpectedand have to bend over and close my eyes I have suffered a hundred serious injuries in my fifty centuries, I tell myself Why does this one not leave me in peace? Truly, a life in constant pain is the life of the damned

Yet I did not disobey Krishna when I made Ray- not really, I try to convince myself

Even Yaksha believed I still had the Lord&039;s grace

"Oh, God," I whisper and clench Paul&039;s blood-filled body to e that could seal in to faint, but just when I feel I can take nopain, I hear footsteps in the distance Quick-sounding foot?steps,with the speed and power of an immor?tal The shock of this realization is like cold water on ony There is another vaht, open my eyes Paul&039;s buddies are fifty feet away and still backing up Paul looks atinto his own coffin

"I didn&039;t mean to hurt you, Alisa," he mumbles

I suck in a deep breath,in my ears "Yes, you did," I reply and slah, just above the knee The blade goes in cleanly, and the tip co on the other side An expression of pure horror grips his face, but I have noAs I let go of hiround like a trash can that has been kicked over Turning, I run in the direction of the immortal&039;s footsteps I leave my knife behind for Paul to enjoy

The person is a quarterI cut the distance in half before leaping onto the roofssteps Dashing between shattered chilimpse of my quarry-a twenty-year-old African-Ah to squash TVs Yet a vath has little to do with this muscle power Power is related to the purity of the blood, the intensity of the soul, the length of the life I, as created at the dawn of civiliza?tion by Yaksha, the first of the vah the air, I know I can catch the other vampire in a matter of seconds Yet I hold back on purpose I wish to see where he leads me

That my prey is indeed a vampire I don&039;t doubt for a second His every movement matches those of a newborn blood sucker Also, varance, the faint odor of snake venoe black serpent The s to most mortals I have often used it in the past, on lovers and foes alike Yet I doubt this young man is even aware of it

But he is aware of me, oh, yes He doesn&039;t stop to attack, but continues to run away-he is afraid I ponder this How does he know my power? Who told him? My questions are all the same Who made him? It is my hope that he runs to his maker for help The pain in my chest has subsided, but I am still thirsty, still anxious for the hunt To a vampire, another vampire&039;s blood can be a special treat, salt and pepper sprinkled on a rare steak I uy has partners, so be it I will destroy theon in my private jet before the sun comes up,withoutand painful I knoithout me there, be will not feed

I hear an ice-creaht Odd

My prey cos and leaps to the ground with one long flying stride He stumbles as he contacts the earth I could take this opportunity to land on his back and break every bone in his spine, but I let him continue on his way I nohere he is headed-Exposition Park, the home of LA&039;s museums, Memorial Sports Arena, and Memorial Coliseum It is the Coliseuuess, is his ulti lot like the Roadrunner in the cartoon It is lucky there are noaround to watch me chase hi TV I a to catch him, and there will be little of hi the Coliseuhtly Briefly I reconsider my boldness I can easily handle five or six va, but not a dozen, certainly not a hundred And how many there are, I really don&039;t know For me the Coliseum ladiator at heart, and although I enter the Coliseum cautiously, I do not stop

I am inside the structure only two led body of a security guard Flies buzz above his ripped-out throat; he has been dead several hours My prey has slipped from my view, but I follow his movements with my ears I am on the lower level, in the shadows beneath the stands He is inside the Coliseu stretches out, an expanding wave of invisible radar, as I stand rock still There are three other souls in the Coliseuether at the north end of the building, speak softly, then fan out to the far comers I doubt that they know my exact whereabouts, but their plan is clear They wish to surround me, come at me from every direction I don&039;t wish to disappoint the my shelter, I stride openly down a concrete tunnel and out onto the field, where the rass like radioactivity on an atoht I see the four vampires at the same time they see me They pause as I hurry to the fifty-yard line Let them come to me, I think I want time to observe them, see if they have weapons A bullet in the brain, a knife in the heart, h o The pain awakens with the memory, but I will it away These four are ht overhead Three vam?pires continue to move to their corners; the one at the north end is in place and standsme He is the only Caucasian, tall, thin, his bony hands like a fossilized skeleton Even in the silver light, in the distance, I note the startling green of his eyes, the bloodshot veins that surround his glowing pupils like the strings of a red-stained spiderweb He is the leader, and the cocky smile on his acne-scarred face reveals his confidence He is thirty, et no older, because I believe he is about to die He is the one I wish to question, to drink fro&039;s paper I will kill him slowly and enjoy it

None of them appears to carry any weapons, but I look around for one forover a quarter of a mile with deadly accuracy It is mid-December, as I have said, but I see a collection of track and field equipe of equipotten to put it away I note the presence of a javelin As the leader studies me, I move casually in the direction of the equiplyfor With a hand nals to his partners to start toward ures move quickly down the steps In seconds they have cleared the bleachers and leaped onto the track that surrounds the field But in those seconds I have reached the equipht hand It is a pity there is only one spear I raise my empty left hand in the direction of the leader, still far away at the top of the bleachers

"I would like to talk," I call "But I a myself"

The smile on the leader&039;s face, over two hundred yards away, broadens His goons also grin, although not with the same confidence They know I am a vampire They eye the javelin and wonder what I will do with it, such silly young ih I continue to face in the direction of the leader

"It is always a mistake to decide to die hastily," I call

The leader reaches behind and removes a knife from his back pocket There is fresh blood on the tip, I see I am not worried that he can hit me from such a distance since my ability with my knife has only come after centuries of practice Yet he handles the weapon skillfully, balancing it in his open pal man whom I chased into the Coliseuainst one, I think I will improve the odds In a move too swift forility He tries to ju through his rib cage and spine I hear the blood explode in his ruptured heart A death grunt escapes his lip as he topples, the long sharp object sticking through his body

I hear the whistle of a flying blade

Too late I realize the skill of the leader

I dodge to the left, fast enough to savethe knife planted in ht shoulder near my arm socket-up to the hilt The pain is im to, I fall toup to pull out the blade The other two run toward h speed, and I knoill be ahis tiins to descend the steps of the bleachers I realize that the knife I have in me is my own Obviously the leader observed my little episode with Paul, and yet had time to relieve him of my knife and be here to meet me at the Coliseum Hoerful is he? Can I, wounded as I already aer suffering any pain fro wound

The other two vae to pull the knife free just as the first one lowers his head to ra oes deep into the top of the e aside, and although already dead, he strikes round hard, two hundred pounds of human meat on top of me Blood pours over my side from a severed artery deep in my shoulder and for a moment I fear I will pass out But I do not lie down easily, not while an enemy still stands I shake off the dead vampire as the third one raises a foot to stomp my face This one lacks speed, however, and I a in ht shin below the knee, breaking the bone He lets out a cry and falls, and I a his rass carpet with my knees In the distance I see the leader continue to approach slowly, still confident I will be there, easy prey For the first time I wonder if I should stay around I have no tith, as I would like to I grab his hair, pulling at the roots

"Who is your leader?" I demand "What&039;s his name?"

He cannot be er than a month A babe in the woods He doesn&039;t realize the full extent of his peril, even after having seen what I did to his friends He sneers at me and I believe he will have a short experience at immortality

"Go to hell, bitch," he says

"Later," I reply Had the situation been different I would have reasoned with him, tortured him Instead I wrap my hands around his neck, and before he can cry out, I twist his head all the way around, breaking every bone in his neck He goes lifeless beneathmy knife frorasp the weapon, but neither accelerates nor slows his approach His expression is an odd erness Indeed, only fifty yards from me now, he looks like a neon nutcase Well, I think, he will be a dead nut in athe knife indirectly for his heart, as he aimed for mine I know that I will not miss

And I don&039;t, in a sense But I do

He catches the knife in midair, inches from his chest

He catches it by the handle, so even I could not do

"Oh, no," I whisper The guy has the power of Yaksha

I don&039;t suppose he wants to talk out our difficulties

Turning, I bolt for the tunnel through which I entered the field My shoulder throbs, my heart pounds Each step I take I feel will be ain, cut e deep into my heart, which has already been so badly injured Maybe it will be for the best Maybe then the pain will finally stop But, in my heart, I don&039;t want it to stop Because the pain at least makes s, even if I do sometimes take life casually from others And if I do die, before he dies, ill becouy is bad news

Yet he does not cut o, either I hear him accelerate behind me, and I understand he wants to talk to me-under his own terms-before he drinks my blood He wants to suck away all my power and feel e he will not have

Running down the long concrete tunnel, un bullets, his steps like burning tracers behind th to outrun hi the security guard, these brothers of the night did not bother to re the Coliseum, overconfident in un is ets to me, I can teach hie, only ninety-eight

pounds naked, and I have already lost at least two pints of blood Desperately I need to stop, to catch ive me that opportunity