of our kind."
"When was this?"
"A long time ago."
"When?" he demands.
"Five thousand years ago."
My revealing my age does not help the situation. The strength goes out of Andy, he slides to the floor.
Rolling into a ball, he recoils as I come closer. I halt in midstride.
"What do you want from me?" he mumbles.
"Your help. I need to get into your compound and get my friend out before the world is destroyed. It is that simple. The danger is that great. And you know I'm not exaggerating. Our blood in the hands of your general is more dangerous than plutonium in the hands of terrorists."
Andy nods weakly. "Oh, I believe that."
"Then you will help me?"
My question startles him. "What? How can I help you? You're some kind of monster. You're the source of this danger."
I speak firmly. "I have walked this world since the dawn of history. In all that time, there have been only myths and rumors of my existence, and the existence of others like me. And those myths and rumors weren't based on fact. They were just stories. Because in all this time none of us has set out to destroy humanity. Yet your general will do this, whether he wants to or not. Listen to me, Andy! He has to be stopped and you have to help me stop him."
"No."
"Yes! Do you want him to clone Joel's blood? Do you want that material shipped to a weapons plant in the heart of the Pentagon?"
Anger shakes Andy. "No! I want to destroy the blood! I don't need your lectures. I know what it can do. I have studied it inside out."
I move closer, kneel on the floor beside him. "Look at me, Andy."
He lowers his head. "You might cast a spell on me."
"I don't need spells to convince you of the truth. I am not the enemy. Without my assistance, you won't be able to stop this thing from progressing to the next level. Try to imagine a society where everyone has our vampire strength and appetites."
The visions I conjure make him sick. "You really drink human blood?"
"Yes. I need it to live. But I do not need to kill or even harm the person I drink from. Usually, they don't even know what has happened. They just wake up the next day with a headache."
My remark causes him to smile unexpectedly. "I woke up with a headache this evening. Did you drink some of my blood without my knowing?"
I chuckle softly. "No. Your headaches are your problem. Unless you cut down on the booze, your liver is going to give out. Listen to the advice of a five-thousand-year-old doctor."
He finally looks at me, "You're not really that old, are you?"
"I was alive when Krishna walked the earth. I met him in fact."
"What was he like?"
"Cool."
"Krishna was cool?"
"Yes. He didn't kill me. He mustn't have thought I was a monster."
Andy is calming down. "I'm sorry I called you that. It's just--well, I've never met a vampire before, I mean, I was never in a hotel room with one."
"Aren't you glad you didn't sleep with me last night?"
He obviously forgot that small point "Would I have been changed into a vampire?"
"It takes more than sex with an immortal to make you immortal." I speak delicately. "But you may know that."
He is grim. "There has to be a blood transfer to bring about the change. I imagine a lot of blood is involved."
"Yes, that is correct. Have your experiments estab?lished that?"
"We have established a few things. But the human immune system reacts violently to this kind of blood. It embraces it and at the same time tries to destroy it. We have postulated that a large infusion of this DNA code would transform the entire system. Actually, we think your DNA would just take over, and replicate itself throughout every cell in the body." He pauses. "Is that what happened when Yaksha changed you?"
I hesitate. I don't want to give him information that could be used later.
"When he changed me, I was young. I cried through most of it."
"He is dead now?"
"Yes."
"When did he die?"
"A few days ago." I add, "He wanted to die."
"Why?"
I smile faintly, sadly. "He wanted to be with Krishna. That was all that mattered to him. He was evil when he changed me. But when he died--he was a saint. He loved God very much."
Andy stares at me, mystified. "You're telling me the truth."
I nod weakly. The thought of Krishna always shakes me.
"Yes. Maybe I should have