Page 9 (2/2)

"Hello, Eddie," I say pleasantly "You look well"

"Thank you You&039;veht it would take you at least a week to locate the ware?house" He adds, "How did you find er, easy and sick There is no depth to his tone, however, and I wonder if he is susceptible toto shoot him while he holds Ray is out of the question At any one instant he barely shows an inch of hi to ambush us But his remarks show that he does not know I visited his mother, or how I probed his past

"You leave a unique trail," I say softly "I just had to follow the redbrick road"

He is amused And annoyed He is a pile of contra?dictions, I see He shakes Ray hard and asps "Answer ive me in return?" I continue to circle at a distance of thirty feet So far there is no movement from inside the warehouse I do not be?lieve he has an acco tanker puddles nearby, although none of us is standing directly in it Once again I try to plant round there is not fertile "I will let your boyfriend live," Eddie says "Why don&039;t we do this? Let o and I will answer all your questions I will even set aside this shiny new gun"

"Set it aside first and I will consider your sugges?tion," Eddie replies

My voice has yet to affect his mind Still, I continue to try "It is clear we don&039;t trust each other We can re ti in exchange for my friend&039;s release You&039;re a newborn va your powers that I could teach you Alone, it would take you several centuries to discover those secrets To be what you want to be, you need ive me these secrets?" he asks "How do I know that the moment I release your friend you won&039;t open fire on me?"

"Because I need you," I lie, but persuasively "Your blood is e-your power for e"

Eddie considers "Give me an example of one of your secrets"

"You have already seen an exaot here so quickly A secret led ive you that secret, and others, if you will releasevoice"

"Thank you"

Eddie&039;s voice hardens "Is that one of your secrets? The manner in which you manipulate people?"

His question stunsto release Ray because he erous alternative

"I manipulate mortals like puppets," I reply "It is not so easy to manipulate powerful vampires But weaker ones-like many of your followers-I could show you how to control them You know, Eddie, the more you make, and the more they make, the less control you will have"

"I don&039;t believe that"

"You will Listen to me with an open mind This is a rare opportunity for you If you do not take it, you will regret it You will also die You&039;re so young You feel so powerful But you haveto be reloaded Your body cannot withstand what I will do to you If you kill my friend, I will kill you It&039;s that simple"

He is undaunted "Youuy is important to you I have his life in my hands If you do not put down your rifle, I will kill hihtens and suddenly Ray is unable to breathe "Put it do"

"You dare to threaten me, punk" I raise my rifle and point it at Ray&039;s chest "Release him now"

Eddie reo? I don&039;t think so You don&039;t kno to bluff Put it down, I say Your friend is already turning blue"

"Blue is better than red," I reply "But a little red does not frightento shoot now unless you do as I say This is a sniper rifle The bullets leave the barrel at high velocity I ah one of his lungs, and that sas You will have trouble holding on to my friend with a hole in such a vital spot True, you will start to heal immediately, but before you do, I will put another bullet in my friend, and in you How many bullets do you think you can take before you have to let go? How many bullets can you take before you die?" I pause "I don&039;t make many mistakes, Eddie"

My audacity shakes hireen He continues to choke Eddie reconsiders "You will not shoot your friend," he says

"Why not? You&039;re about to kill him anyway" I settle on a spot on Ray&039;s belly, just below the rib cage They are roughly the saht; the wounds should be identical, less serious than holes in the lungs "I a to count to three One-two-"

"Wait," Eddie says quickly "I&039;ll make you a coun?ter proposal"

I keep my aim fast "Yes?"

"I will tell you where your other friend is-as a sign of good faith-and you will allow me to leave with your boyfriend as far as the other end of the ware?house There I will release hi He will break Ray&039;s neck as soon as he puts some distance between us "First tell me where Yaksha is, then I will consider your proposal"

Eddie snorts "You are one cunning bitch"

"Thank you Where is Yaksha?"

"He&039;s not far"

"I tire of this" I put four pounds on a five-pound trigger "Ray," I say gently, "after I shoot, I want you to fight to shake free He will try to hold on to you, of course, but reh he is stronger than both of us, he is alone Even if I have to put two or three bullets in you, I promise, you will not die" My tone beco Like those people you tortured last night"

He is a cruel devil "I look forward to hearing your screams"

I fire The bullet hits where I intend and penetrates both of theer door of the gasoline truck Red blossoasps in pain But Eddie does not try to defend hiuy is totally unpredictable Instead, he throws Ray ath I hold the rifle in my hands and there are thirty feet between us, Eddie is able to get to htning Crashing into me with tremendous force, he knocks round and o of it For a moment I see stars, and they are not Krishna blue but hellish red and threatening to explode Stunned hiains his concentration swiftly, however His eyes focus on the rifle, the only thing that givesit up, to put a bullet in his face, but once again he is too fast Lashing out in a sharp karate-like ht hand, he actually bends the barrel of the rifle, rendering it useless He is bleeding badly frorins as he stares at my broken toy He thinks he has me now

"I can take a lot before I die," he says, answering my previous question

"Really?" I kick him in the belly, in his wound, and he momentarily doubles up But my blow is not decisive Before I can fully climb to my knees, he strikes with his left fist, and I feel as if ain, I topple backward, blood pouring froravel Pain throbs through my entire body from my face He has broken my jaw, several of my teeth, at least And he is not done Out the side of a drooping eye, I see him climb to his feet and ready his sharp black boots to kick me to death Out the other eye I see Ray also stand Eddie hashiame

Uncertain, Ray thenarm in the direc?tion of the truck A look passes between us Ray understands Light the fuse, I a, detonate our bomb Save the human race Save yourself I will keep Eddie busy for ten seconds Ray turns in the direction of the truck, the gasoline fro around the wheels Of course Eddie also sees him turn for the truck Hethe last of round at Eddie&039;s midsection

We crash and fall into another painful pile As we once rabsmy face close to his His breath is foul; I believe he not only sucks his victims dry, but eats them as well He looks as if he would like to take a bite out of me His eyes are crazed: excited and furious at the same time Prozac would not help him He yanks at my hair and a thousand roots co his fist back "Try this on for size, Sita"

I close my eyes and wait for the blow This one, I am sure, will send h ti to buy me time The blow never arrives Ray&039;s voice comes to me as if from far away

"Eddie," he says firmly

I open my eyes Eddie and I both look over and discover that rather than follow ht the fuse, Ray has chosen to punch a hole in the tanker with his fist The gasoline pours out beside hireater note, he has already struck a single wooden match and holds the flame above his head like a miniature torch that will lead us safely past the valley of the shadow of death Or else straight into it I aasoline are more volatile than the actual liquid itself And Ray stands in a cloud of petroleu Not that Eddie and I loiter at a safe distance Gasoline soaks both sets of our feet

"I only have one o, I will have to drop this one What do you say?"

Eddie just won&039;t learn "You&039;re bluffing," he says

I catch Ray&039;s eye "No," I plead

Ray sht him another day In the end you&039;ll win Reers o of the burning o of me, in a hurry For a e flaasoline Despite my endless years, the countless deaths I have witnessed, it strikes me as inconceivable that such a tiny fla I love and cherish Yet my state of denial does not last forever The round when I bolt toward Ray But even I, Yaksha&039;s priravity Before I can reach Ray&039;s hands, which he holds up to wardriver of fuel

"No!" I cry

Conites The flames race up his soaked clothes In an instanttorch For a h the flaht, but his brown eyes suddenly appear blue to ht of stars I have never seen, or stars I no longer remember There is no pain on his face; he has ly, to save me, to save us all He stands for a moment like a candle fit to be offered to the Lord But the flames are not idle; they rush toward me while at the same time they leap toward the truck that stands behind Ray The truck is closer Before in to burn, before I can reach Ray and pull hi Ray had punched in the tanker The stream of fire is not a fuse we planned, but it is an effective one nevertheless

The gasoline truck explodes

An angry red hand slaps the entire front of li under the hah the air, shooting through the smoke A blur of a wall appears and I hit it hard and feel every bone ininto a well of despair My clothes are on fire, but they fail to tight this black well because it is botto thrown over me

Then I am blackness