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Necromancer who hounded him throughout the last five centuries, and the
traitor who compromised the security of my entire enclave any one of them
might have made you a legend in death. Overcoming all three and then turning
up alive well " he walked over to the drapes shielding the picture window,
" we all believe in the
Boogie Man. You seem to have moved up the list to the number-two position."
He didn't say who topped the list at number one. He didn't have to.
"Is that why you let Deirdre leave? So you could follow her and find out
whether I was a living legend or a musty myth?"
Deirdre's face tightened into a mask of misery.
"She didn't betray you," he said, pulling back the curtains to give us an
unobscured view of the grounds. Or, more likely, to give his people an
unobscured view of the interior of my living room.
"You mean not consciously," I said, unmoved by the stricken expression on
Deirdre's face.
"We didn't follow her, if that's what you mean." He leaned back into the sofa
and crossed his legs, putting a pair of Traversi alligator shoes on display.
"I don't know how she found you." He hesitated and looked thoughtful.
"Although I understand that Dr. Mooncloud was helping her with some sort of
focused dream-trance-interpretation something. . . ." He shook his head. "No,
my dear Christopher, it would appear that you have betrayed yourself."
"Okay. Mind telling me how?"
"You are familiar with the FBI's 'Carnivore' software?"
"You mean the computer setup that intercepts and reads mass volumes of email,
scanning for key word combinations?"
Pagelovitch nodded. "We have something similar that we use to keep tabs on
various government and law-enforcement communications. As you might imagine,
we've added your name to the key words and phrases for which we maintain a
constant alert."
"And my name is being bandied about by the local constabulary?"
He nodded again. "It turned up. It seems there was a how would you
say ruckus at a local funeral home. . . ."
I almost slapped my forehead. "Damn! I signed the guest book as Christopher L.
Cséjthe!"
"It didn't take long to hack the City Hall computer databases to see who had
appeared in town about the right time. From there it was a matter of narrowing
the list of suspects." He smiled wolfishly and steepled his fingers. "This
house was our first stop on the list."
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"Lovely. Now what?"
The Doman sighed and placed his fingers against his lips. "Christopher, you
place me in a very difficult position."
"What about my position?" I growled.
"Christopher, you are rogue. Not only that but Lupé and now Deirdre have
followed you into exile.
Under the law you all must either return to my demesne or be destroyed."
I moved my eyebrows up for maximum effect. "
Your demesne? Under the law we are required to ally myself with some demesne.
I don't recall the wording that gives you unequivocal rights to our persons."
"The law," he observed placidly, "requires me to destroy you if you are not
allied with some demesne. So, if not us, then who?"
"We have a demesne," I said. "My Doman knows where I am, I have his approval,
and we," I
glanced back at Deirdre, "are under his protection."
"And your Doman's name is . . . ?"
"Christopher L. Cséjthe."
Pagelovitch didn't bat an eye. "Christopher," he said patiently after a long
pause, "you know that is unacceptable. I need a real answer, a final answer."
I stared at him. "Only Regis Philbin gets a final answer."
He stared back. "Not if you're the weakest link."
I blinked. "How much time do I get to give you a final answer? Fifteen
seconds?"
He smiled patiently; the teeth remained hidden. "You've been gone for better
than half a year; how much time do you need?"
"More than fifteen seconds."
"What if I give you a day?"
"I need more than a day. How about a week?"
Pagelovitch shook his head. "I don't think you have a week."
"What does that mean?"
He sighed and rose to his feet. "It means if your signature led us to you, it
will lead others to you, as well. Sooner rather than later." He put his cold
hand on my shoulder. "Come back with me and help me rule the Northwest. You'll
be a colleague, not a prisoner. If New York claims you, you'll be a
prisoner or worse."
"You think they'd actually kill me?"
He shook his head. "There are worse things than death, my friend. You know who
rules there?"
It was hardly a guess by now: "Elizabeth Báthory."
It made sense, of course.
When Vlad Drakul Bassarab V had retired from the neck-stabbing politics of
ruling the New York demesne, he found it necessary to disappear. The new Doman
of the East Coast was very jealous of her then-and-future power-base. She put
her own hounds of hell on the old voivode's trail, forcing him to go into
hiding in Kansas, of all places.
At the time he had told me of his need for anonymity and I had briefly
wondered who could put the fear of death into history's number-one
bloodsucker. Other distractions had prevented a follow-up question at the time
but it certainly made sense now. Off the battlefield, the Countess Erzsébet
Báthory-Nádasdy was actually scarier than Transylvania's crown prince, a
regular Torquemada of the
Damned.
Pagelovitch nodded. "Then you know how terrible the consequences can be should
you fall within her bloody grasp."
I just looked at him working hard on a nonplussed expression heavy emphasis on
the non.
He sighed finally. "I will give you a day. Maybe two if all remains quiet. But
I will need an answer by then. And do not presume upon my friendship." He took
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his leave then with a promise to return the following night.
I gave him a few minutes to quit my property and then peeked out the window.
Not all of his minions had departed with him. I now had extra security. I
wondered what their reaction would be if any additional plaintiffs turned up
for this evening's session of night court.
Returning to my library in the den, I turned on my laptop.
"What will you do?" Deirdre asked from the doorway.
"I don't know," I said, browsing one of the bookshelves while the computer
booted up. "I'm not ready to leave, yet. It's not just a matter of freedom and
personal choice. I think " Actually it was best if no one knew what I was
thinking just then. "I need you to do some research while I'm gone."
"Where are you going?"
"To see a client."
"What kind of client?"
"The kind that may have answers that I can't get anywhere else. I'm not
blowing town when a cure for my condition might lie right here, in my own
proverbial back yard."
"Every night you remain here you run a risk."
I shrugged. "Every day, every night, is a risk for me as long as the virus
continues to mutate in my body. In the meantime, I'd like you to look up
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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