"Before we go on," I said, "let me say that we're prepared to restore the house of Garekyn Brovotkin in London. But there is no way our brother, Killer, can be restored to us or the blood drinker killed on the West Coast."
"This is unfortunate," said Garekyn immediately, "but I didn't mean to kill them. How is Eleni? You do understand why I tried to escape Trinity Gate, don't you, why I injured Eleni?" He alone of the group had an accent to his English, which was Russian. His eyes were smaller than those of Kapetria and he had a rather long thin nose. Too long, too thin, perhaps, but it complicated his beauty, made his eyes seem all the more vibrant, and his mouth all the more sensual, as if it were a very carefully designed flaw.
"I do understand," I said. "I would have done in both cases what you did," I volunteered. "And it's clear you could have killed Eleni had you chosen to do so."
"That's absolutely true," said Garekyn. He was obviously surprised to hear me say it. "I have no mad appetite for devouring vampiric brains," he assured me. "I am truly sorry for the death of the vampire in California, but that one had weapons and broke into my room. There was another with him. I could have killed both, but I killed only one."
"And what did you find so interesting about the brain of Killer?" I asked. "And why did you take the head of the one you killed in California?" I realized my voice was a bit too harsh and I was sorry for it. I was sorry that we had begun in this way.
But Garekyn appeared unfazed. "I saw something in the exposed brain of Killer," he said, "something obviously different from the other organic material, something alive in a unique way, and this something, when I put it into my mouth, created visions in me, visions which intensified as I swallowed it. The visions had begun with a taste of the creature's blood." He paused, studying me intently. "I don't expect you to enjoy hearing such things, as these victims were your brothers," he said, "but again, I was in each instance under attack, and these visions had a crucial value to me." He touched his chest with his fist as he said these words. "These visions revealed something potentially precious to me. I had come in search of you, all of you, for a specific reason, and these visions had to do with this reason." He glanced around the table for the first time, his eyes settling on Marius for a long moment before returning to me. "I tasted visions in the blood of Eleni, and I did not kill her. Of course I took the head of the vampire who attacked me in California. I took it to a safe place and I broke open the head and I drank the fluid of the brain and again I saw things."
I nodded.
"I understand," I said.
"What can I do to make up for this," he asked, "to put us now on even and secure footing?"
Marius spoke up.
"I think that we can put these things aside for now," he said. "After all, you were defending yourself." I knew he was very impatient with all this but I don't think they realized it.
"Yes, defending myself, and from death, I thought," Garekyn flashed back.
Welf, who had said nothing all the while, glanced directly at Garekyn when he said the word "death." Welf's eyes were heavy lidded, which gave him a drowsy and contented look, and his eyes and nose were more classically symmetrical. He had the fuller, more sensuous mouth.
Clearly these creatures were not automatons without emotion. And their faces reflected a multitude of tiny changes with every passing second. Even Derek who stared forward now as if he were in shock had a face that reflected his inner struggle, his black pupils dancing almost frenetically.
Marius went on speaking in his capable, gentle, and authoritative voice.
"And we ask you to be aware," he said, "that we had no knowledge whatsoever of Derek here being held prisoner by Roland of Hungary. We scarcely know that blood drinker. He's never come to Court." Marius looked intently at me. He was plainly frustrated. "We are engaged in a process here that's new to us. Whatever is to be achieved here, it's not yet complete."
"I know," said Kapetria under her breath. "I understand this. I've prepared myself with as much knowledge of you as I could obtain."
"And we have no r
eal control," said Marius, "over Rhoshamandes who was so cruel to Derek. We're relieved to see that Derek's arm has been restored."
"Derek's left arm regenerated," said Kapetria without the slightest indication that what she was saying was striking. "And Rhoshamandes's rash action led us to a remarkable discovery. We have Dertu as the result of what happened." She gestured with her left hand to the obvious duplicate of Derek who sat against the wall, Dertu of the golden and black hair. Not one distinctive streak, but many streaks, Dertu who was so calm compared to Derek.
A low mirthless laugh came out of Fareed, who I knew at once had figured this out long before. "You came into this world," Fareed said, "without knowing that you might propagate in this way--by simple fragmentation?"
"We came into this world, my friend, without knowing many things," said Kapetria. "We were sent here for a specific purpose. Indeed, our makers called us 'the People of the Purpose.' " Her eyes moved easily over us as she spoke, but came back to Fareed. "And we were given only the information deemed necessary for the fulfillment of that purpose. It was for this purpose that we were made."
"And what was the purpose?" asked Marius. I feared his question had a sharp edge, but I saw no indication that anyone else did.
"We will come to that," said Kapetria. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Marius, and then at Seth. "Believe me, I want to tell you. But first let me make this observation." She again addressed me. "It is that your method of propagation through the blood and through the brain has many things in common with ours. I suspect that Amel is no more in control of this propagation and its limitations than we are of ours." She paused as if to allow us to ponder this. "In fact, I have a working hypothesis that you are all connected to Amel because his method of propagation has failed. The method wanted each of you to be an independent unit; but the method couldn't achieve its end, and so you are somehow one enormous organism."
"I don't think so," said Seth. "I've considered this, but you see, it was Amel who pushed from the beginning for propagation--for more blood drinkers so that he might taste more blood--and for a group of connected entities to satisfy his thirst."
"He pressed for this, yes," Kapetria said, "but did he know what he was asking for? Was he an articulate mind at that stage or something lost and struggling? Yes, he begged to enlarge himself or to satisfy an immense thirst, but would it not have been more nearly perfect if each new unit in which he implanted himself through the blood might have eventually become autonomous?" She shook her head. "Tentative conclusion only: you are an organism that involves a failed attempt at propagation. You are an immense organism with a fragile core."
"Are you suggesting that some of us could be disconnected from Amel?" asked Fareed.
"Well, yes, I suspect that's entirely possible," she said. "Clearly he suffers agonies when your numbers are increased beyond a certain point, when the thin elusive material of which he is made has become stretched to its maximum length."
"Thin, elusive material," said Seth. "That is a fine way of putting it."
"Is it actually material?" I asked.