Part 15 (1/2)

I am soaked with blood but I am no longer bleeding.

”I am all right.” I put a hand on his chest and feel his erratic pulse. ”Can I get you a doctor?” I know that will not help him, and am relieved when he shakes his head.

”I am finished,” he says, and his face is so sad. ”I never knew.”

”I didn't either.”

He is bitter. ”Suzama lied to us both.”

”No. Most of the scripture was true. James only created the part that dealt with Kalika.” I pause.

”She was my daughter.”

He is amazed. ”Where is she now?”

”On the island. She's dead.” I sigh. ”We were fools.”

He weeps for my pain. ”I was the fool. It was my arrogance that made me believe G.o.d was giving me visions. That I understood the mind of G.o.d.” He coughs. ”James put those dreams in my mind. He led me to the scripture.”

I nod. ”He led you to where he buried it.”

”But why would he do these things? How could he do them?”

”He was never your son. He only came into your life to use you. He possesses the body of the young man we see. He is neither young nor is he human. Please do not blame yourself, Dr. Seter. I fought with this creature long ago and I did not recognize him. If anyone is to blame it is I.”

He stares up at me. ”Who are you, Alisa?”

”I am your friend.” I hug him. ”And I will get the child back.”

My words seem to comfort him. He dies a minute later but there is peace written on his face. He was a good man, I know.

Paula stands behind me.

”Sita,” she says gently.I turn and look at her. Around her neck she wears a blue scarf with gold threads running through it.

These threads make a wonderful design, but I am in too much of hurry to pay it much heed. Letting go of Dr. Seter, I stand and step to her side.

”I know where the enemy is taking your child,” I say.

She nods. She believes me, she always has. Such faith.

”Your friend,” she says.

I grab her arms. ”Seymour!”

She nods her head to the side. ”He is out front. He has been shot.”

”Is he dead?” I ask.

She hesitates. ”He is close.”

I gaze at the small island in the center of Emerald Bay. I had swum back ash.o.r.e. It had not been easy to leave my daughter's body.

”Find a boat,” I say to Paula. ”That was my daughter who took your child, but she was only trying to protect him. Her body is on the island, in the house. Please bring her back here and wrap her in a blanket until I return.” I turn away. ”I will take care of Seymour.”

She stops me. ”I will help you with your friend first.”

I shake my head. ”No, Paula. I have to be alone with him to help him.”

There are tears in her eyes. ”Your daughter gave her life to save John?”

”Yes. She gave more than any of us knew.”

Seymour lies on his side in a pool of blood fifty yards up the hill from Paula's house, wedged cruelly between two large rocks. James had shot him in the stomach. One close-range blast was enough.

He is unconscious and slipping away fast. The child is gone, and this time I do not have the mystery and magic of the universe in a convenient vial in my pocket. The only way I can save him is to grant his oldest wish. That I will do for him because I love him, and I know Krishna will forgive me. Indeed, if I can only find the child again, and give him a chance to grow old enough to understand me, then I can ask him to take away my vow. Leaning over, I open a vein and whisper in Seymour's ear.

”Now, old buddy, just because you're going to be a vampire doesn't mean you automatically get to sleep with me. We'll have to date first.”

I give him my blood. It is all I have to give.

18.

The next evening, at sunset, I arrive at the gruff in the desert where the child was conceived. The tall Joshua trees stand around me like guards that would offer me help if they could. But there is no one to help me. Even my own strength and cunning cannot aid me if I am to believe my daughter and Suzama.

I have brought the dagger James stuck into me.

It is my only weapon, pitiful as it is.

Faith is stronger than stone.

James will not simply murder the child. The divine blood is as important to a demon as it is to a saint. Only the two do not make the same use of it. I know he will have to bring the child to this spot.

He did not locate the Suzama Center in Palm Springs, so close to this place, by coincidence. Plus my old friend has said as much.

Then the place of sanct.i.ty will be defiled by red stars, and only the innocent will see the blue light of heaven.

Am I the innocent? At the moment I feel far from it. I know Kalika told me that my thoughts blinded me but I still cannot stop thinking how she let James get so close to the child when she clearly knew what he was and where he was. Of course it could be argued that I stopped her from fleeing, yet in the last minutes of her mysterious life she was content to quit running and sit and play with the child to let what was to be be. James clearly used me to defeat Kalika; he could not have done it alone. Yet Kalika let herself be defeated. Was it because she wished to fulfill the ancient prophecy?

There the dark forces will once again converge on him, but a powerful angel of mistaken color will rescue him only to lose him again.

No one mistook Kalika more than her own mother.

But what am I to do now?