Prince Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles 11)

Teskhamen's face was unreadable, except for its geniality, its gentleness.

"For now, I can tell you that it's not our intention to remain indifferent," said Teskhamen. "We are with you. That's why I am here. In time, Gremt will come to you. I'm sure of it. But when that will be, I don't know. Gremt knows so many things. We are your friends. Think back on your own life, of how the Talamasca once supported you, comforted you, helped you to find Pandora. We've never really been your enemy or the enemy of any blood drinker. We've had our battles, when mortal members were brought over, yes."

"Ah, yes, my beloved old friend Raymond Gallant did help me," said Marius. "He gave his whole life to you and he died without ever knowing who founded his Order, he died without ever knowing who or what we were."

"Well, he might have died without that knowledge," said Teskhamen. "But he is with us now. He has been with us since the night he died. I was there when his spirit hovered, remained in the Motherhouse. I saw it when those gathered around his deathbed could not see it. And he is indeed one of us now. He is anchored in the physical now as surely as my Hesketh, and there are other ghosts with us as well."

"I knew it," said Daniel softly. "Of course. You would have gathered other ghosts like Hesketh over the years."

Marius was astonished. He was almost moved to tears.

"Oh, yes, Marius, you will see your beloved Raymond again, I assure you," said Teskhamen. "You will see all of us--and there are indeed many others--and it is not our wish that the blood drinkers of this world be extinguished. It's never been. But allow us our old caution, our old passivity, even now."

"I understand," said Marius. "You want us to come together as a tribe, the very same thing that Benji wants. You want us to do the very best that we can in the face of this challenge--without your intervention."

"You're a splendid being, Marius," said Teskhamen. "Never have you ever bowed the knee to any fancy, fantasy, or superstition. The others need you now. And this Amel, he knows you, and you know him perhaps better than you think. I was made by the Mother. I have that direct and pure primal blood. But you have even more of it than I was ever given. And this Voice, if he is to be understood, controlled, educated, whatever is to happen, you must surely play a role."

Teskhamen started to rise, but Marius still held his hand.

"And where will you go now, Teskhamen?" he asked.

"We must come together ourselves before we meet with you and your kindred," Teskhamen answered. "Believe me, we will eventually come to you. I'm certain of it. Gremt wants to help. I am certain that this is what Gremt wants. I will see you very soon again."

"You give my love to my precious Raymond," Marius said.

"He knows you love him, Marius," said Teskhamen. "Many times he's watched over you, been near you, seen your pain, and wanted to intervene. But he is loyal to us and our slow and wary ways. He is Talamasca as he was when he was living. You know our old motto: 'We watch and we are always here.' "

It was now an hour before sunrise.

Teskhamen embraced them both. And then he was gone. Simply gone. And they stood alone together on the sand as the wind swept in from the endless sparkling surf, and the vast sprawling city behind them slowly came to morning life.

The next night, Marius needed less than an hour to make all arrangements by phone with his mortal agents, and to ship their possessions and clothes, such as they were, to New York. They'd lodge at a small hotel uptown as they'd always done, where a suite of rooms had always been kept in readiness for them. And they would talk then, once they'd reached New York, about when to go to Benji and Armand and Louis and blessed Sybelle.

Daniel was powerfully excited that they were going. Daniel wanted to be with the others, Marius knew this, and he was happy for Daniel, but he himself was full of foreboding.

The encounter with Teskhamen had stimulated him, there was no doubt of that; he was in fact reeling from the shock.

Daniel could not grasp the extent of it. Yes, Daniel had been Born to Darkness in a time of myriad shocks. But, before that, Daniel had been born into a physical world of myriad changes and shocks. He had never known the dreary and weary mind-set of times past. He had never understood the inveterate pessimism and resignation into which most of the world's teeming millions had been born and lived and died.

But Marius had known the millennia, and they had been millennia of suffering as well as joy, of darkness as well as light, in which radical change of any kind too often culminated in disappointment and defeat.

Teskhamen. Marius could scarce believe that he had seen him, spoken to him, that such a momentous thing had taken place--that old god of the grove alive now, articulate and eloquent, and pointing the way to the past and the future in the same breath. A great dark portion of Marius's early history flamed into living color for him, and prompted him to search for a coherent thread to all of his life.

But there was the foreboding.

He could not stop thinking of all those long-ago interludes, when he had lain against the breast of Akasha--her caretaker, her keeper--listening to her heart and trying to fathom her thoughts. He had been inside her, this alien creature Amel. And Amel was inside of Marius now.

"Yes, I'm inside of you," said the Voice to him. "I am you and you are me."

There followed silence. Emptiness. And the lingering echo of a threat.

14

Rhoshamandes and Benedict

"BE CALM," he said. "Whatever you saw, whatever almost happened to you, you're safe now. Be calm and talk to me. Tell me precisely what you saw."

"Rhosh, it was unspeakable!" said Benedict.