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"I fell back on the floor. But I could see with new eyes all around me. And I felt the bruises all over my body healing. I felt the pain leave my head. I sat up as though waking from a dream and I looked out the open window over the railing, and the pure azure of the evening sky caught me and held me and I didn't hear the voices of the room.

"Arion came. He took hold of me and lifted me just the way she had done it, without effort, and then he reached up to his throat, and he said to me to Drink.

" 'No, wait please,' I whispered. 'Let me savor what she taught me of herself. If you will. ' I meant it reverently.

"But she flew at me and knocked me to the floor again and there came her foot against my ribs. 'Trash!' she said. 'You dare answer that way to the Master, and who are you to savor what you know of me!¡¯

" 'Petronia!' said Arion to her. 'Enough. ¡¯

"He picked me up. 'My blood will give you added strength,' he said. 'Take it. It's far older than hers, and you won't be bound to her so very much. ¡¯

"I could have cried at her savagery. I had so loved her in the Blood, and I had been a fool for it, such a fool, but as he said now to drink, I ran my tongue over my teeth, why I didn't know. And I discovered the eyeteeth were fangs, and with them I kissed his throat, as he had directed me, and there came a new stream of images and blood.

"These images I can't claim to remember. I think that somehow, through some skill, he guarded his generous and older heart. I think he gave me the Blood and its strengthening power without all his secrets. But what he did give me was inexpressibly glorious and it filled my hurt soul after her rebuff.

"I saw Athens in him. I saw the famed Acropolis thronged and thriving. I saw it with temples and images brilliantly painted as I had been taught it was painted, not as we now see Greek art, as white and pure, but done in vivid blues and reds and flesh tones, oh, the marvel of it! I saw the Agora filled with people! I saw the whole town spread on the gentle slopes of the mountain. My head teemed with priceless visions, and where he was in all this I couldn't guess. I felt the language of the people all around me, and I saw the hard stone street beneath my sandals, and felt his blood pumping into me, washing my heart and my soul.

" 'Only the Evil Doer, my child,' he said to me as the Blood pounded. 'Feed only on the Evil Doer. When you hunt, unless you take only the Little Drink, pass by the innocent heart. Use the power you will have from me to read the minds and hearts of men and women and ferret out the Evil Doer everywhere, and only from him take the blood. ¡¯

"Finally, he pulled me back. I licked the blood from my lips. I sighed. This was to be my only nourishment. I knew it. The knowledge had come to me instinctively. And much as I had loved the taste of his blood and the taste of Petronia's blood, I hungered for a base human so that I would know that taste as well.

"He stroked my forehead and hair with his silky hands and he looked into my eyes.

" 'Only the Evil Doer, you understand me, young one? Oh, the innocent beckon. They do it unwittingly. And how savory they seem. But mark my word, they'll lead you straight to madness whether you have an educated soul or no. You'll come to love them and to despise yourself. Mark my words, it's the tragedy of Petronia. For her there is no innocence and therefore no conscience and therefore no happiness. And so in misery she goes on. ¡¯

" 'I follow your rules,' Petronia said. I heard her nearby.

" 'You did not with this one,' said Arion emphatically.

" 'My grandson, my very grandson,' cried the Old Man to himself in his misery. 'You blaspheming wretch. ¡¯

" 'And so he will live forever,' said Petronia solemnly. She laughed. 'What more can I do? What more can I give?¡¯

"I turned to look at her. With these precious eyes I saw her harsh loveliness as though it were a miracle.

"And I knew what had been done to me. Of its history, of its commonness, of its rules, of its limits I knew nothing. But I knew what had been done. Immortality. I knew it but couldn't grasp it. Where was God? Where was my faith? Had the whole edifice collapsed in this monstrosity?

"I began to feel a wrenching pain. Was I deluded?

"Arion said:

" 'This is human death. It'll take a few short moments. Go with the attendants into the bath. They'll dress you afterwards, and then you'll learn how to hunt. ¡¯

" 'So we are vampires,' I said. 'We are the legend. ' The pain in my gut was intolerable. I saw the male attendant I had known before. He was waiting.

" 'Blood Hunters,' said Arion. 'Defer to me with these words, and I'll love you all the more. ¡¯

" 'But why do you love me at all?' I asked.

"Placing his hand on my shoulder, he said,

" 'How could I not?' "

Chapter39

39

"ALL MY LIFE I'd believed in Heaven and Hell. Did Heaven look down upon this metamorphosis?