Part 12 (1/2)

Ryan abruptly stood, and it was evident their conversation was at an end. Susan thought for a moment that Ryan was simply going to disappear, but she stopped, appearing thoughtful.

She turned to Susan. ”I enjoy our conversations, Dr. Ryerson. There is a courage about you that I admire.”

Susan was embarra.s.sed at how pleased the statement made her. Ryan glanced down at her. ”Against the counsel of my manservant, Edward, I have decided that I will allow you to study me.”

Her voice hardened and her unblinking gaze locked with Susan's. ”But you must not publish anything else.”

Susan nodded her agreement. ”Of course,” she said glancing down, ”Just the knowledge alone-”

Susan glanced back up, realizing that she was speaking to an empty room.

Ryan was gone.

Ryan climbed into the back of her limousine. Edward could not hide his disapproval.

”So you have done this deed?”

Ryan nodded, oddly tired from her conversation with Susan. She realized she was not completely recovered from her injuries. The healing process took incredible amounts of energy and she would require much more sleep than normal until she was completely recovered.

”Yes, Edward, I have done this deed.”

Edward turned away and stared out the window. He brooded over this turn of events in silence. It was Ryan who finally broke that silence.

”Edward,” she said firmly. It was both a request and a command. Edward turned to his youthful master. She chose her words carefully.

”It is only a matter of time before my past actions catch up with me. Dr. Ryerson has, without intent, now accelerated this process. I think it would be foolish for me to overlook her as a resource.”

Edward vented his frustration. ”You could just as easily force her to do your will. Or seduce her. You don't have to allow her to study you.”

Ryan's demeanor did not change. ”She will work much harder if she is driven by her own ambition. She may give me the clues I need to withstand what will come.”

Edward was unswayed. ”She may sow the seeds of your destruction.”

Ryan shrugged. ”So be it,” she said.

Edward turned away. He knew the conversation was over, but his concern for his master would not let him stop.

”You have brought up the specter of your past. The Others may consider this as great a crime.”

Ryan's look turned sardonic. ”I sincerely doubt that, Edward. I am d.a.m.ned a thousand times over for that. I don't think consorting with a human will add to my sentence.”

”It is not consorting with a human they will charge you with, but rather violating the code of secrecy. Our Kind has not survived for thousands of years by winding up on the front page of Newsweek Magazine, nor by becoming medical experiments for those whose ambition might betray us.”

Ryan's anger was evident, perhaps fueled by the knowledge that Edward was right. ”I,” she said with emphasis, ”have been around for a great many of those years. I know the punishment for revealing our Kind. If I felt I was jeopardizing our secrecy, I would never submit to Dr. Ryerson's examination. It is why I forbade her to publish anything else.”

Edward turned away from her to stare out the window. ”It may already be too late,” he said, resignation in his voice. ”The Others sent their first *emissary' when the dear doctor had done no more than publish a few cryptic results in an obscure medical journal. Their willingness to take immediate action should convince you this is a most serious matter to them.”

Ryan, too, gazed out the window. ”It will be a more serious matter to them if they choose to take me on.”

Edward did not reply.

The limousine came to a stop and Ryan exited onto the marble staircase. Tired or not, she took the stairs three at a time, strolling into the foyer. Edward entered behind her and she turned to him. He sighed, then bowed, knowing how utterly strong-willed his master was.

Ryan went upstairs to her bed. She undressed, then pulled the goosedown comforter over her. She was momentarily lost in the sensation of the fabric against her skin, and it took several minutes for the sensation to pa.s.s. Her senses were such that the tiniest of pleasures, unnoticed by most humans, was sufficient to create considerable bliss. It had taken years for her to learn not to be driven to distraction by such stimuli.

Ryan felt sleep steal over her quickly, as it always did. She knew she would dream vivid dreams that were less dreams than pure memories.

The girl awoke, feeling an extraordinary sense of peace. She glanced around, thinking the Man would be here, but he was not. She was in the same room, but now an old woman sat at the foot of the bed.

The girl stared at the woman, thinking she looked strangely familiar. Perhaps it was her daughter she had seen earlier.

Victor entered the room, knowing his charge was now awake. ”Miriam, you may leave now.”

The girl looked closer at the woman as she hobbled out of the room. She still looked remarkably familiar. Victor watched her expression with amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Do you know how long you've been asleep, Rhian?”

Ryan looked up at the man. She knew that she had a name yet had not heard it but once or twice in her life. She had always been known simply as ”the blacksmith's son,” or some variation thereof. She had forgotten she had a name. She shook her head.

”Have I slept more than a day?”

Victor laughed. ”Yes, I would say more than a day.”

Ryan looked about the room. ”What's wrong with my eyes?”

It seemed as if she could see every little crack in the wall, and there were colors coming from the fire in the hearth, colors she had never seen before. She pulled herself from the bed, and was surprised at how light on her feet she felt. She moved to the fireplace and put her hand in the color. It was warm, and the darker the color, the hotter it became.

The sensation of heat on her skin was nearly overwhelming as she felt it in every part of her body. She pulled her hand away, startled.

Victor watched his prodigy begin to adapt to her new senses. They would continue to change over time, but it was generally this first adjustment that was the most difficult.

Ryan stood staring into the fire, her mind a jumble of events. Something within her had radically altered, but she was not certain what it was.

”How long have I slept?” she asked quietly, her back to Victor.

Victor was silent a long moment, then responded. ”Fourteen years.”

Ryan turned to him, stunned. ”That is not possible.”

Victor shrugged. ”You saw Miriam. She has not aged as well as you have.”

Ryan looked down at her hands, and except for her sudden, extraordinary clarity of vision, they looked exactly the same. She touched her hand to her cheek, and it was as smooth as it had been before. Ryan looked at him.

”You have not changed, either. How can this be?”

”I do not change. Nor will you. Ever.”

Ryan was suddenly desperately afraid of this man and darted for the door. She was inhumanly fast but he was more so. He picked her up and she struggled with him.