Chapter 10

It was fun. It reminded him of the first time he had stood watch at night in the army. He had been very young and for him war was fun. He would learn otherwise very soon.

Later he had used the night for stalking. Staying out all night had become a necessity, not an adventure. Yet, for a few moments, sitting next to Davenport, he could pretend that he was still a teenager, playing at being a soldier.

"Do you think that they saw the same one? Even Oriana in Florida?"

According to the descriptions we got, it is. Of course, they might be mass producing the same model. In any case, we keep getting consistent reports, and that is good. In previous sightings we never got the same description. That was one reason for skepticism in many parts. They could not take seriously aliens that change models faster than Detroit."

"If this time we get conclusive proof, what next? Do we get to appear in the papers?"

"I can arrange to have your name out, if that is bothering you."

"I am not so sure." Barnabas mused "It certainly would be safe, but still my vanity would want some sort of recognition. I should think that I deserve a footnote. After all, I brought you here."

"Don't remind me of how you tricked me into it."

"Tricked you? All right, I did. But do you regret it? You got a flourishing business, lots of friendly neighbors, and the opportunity to be here, where all the sightings are happening."

"Yes. You are right." Xavier acknowledged. "Still, if somebody had told me that I would be dealing with a vampire and worse..."

"Then think of all that you'd have lost if you had been warned beforehand.'

"Yes. Quite true."

"I am sorry. I really am." Adam told Carolyn. "I should not have reacted the way I did."

Carolyn put her hand in his. "I know how overbearing Uncle Roger can get. And also how you feel about Barnabas. I wish you did not hate him so much."

Adam shook his head/ "Maybe we should put off the wedding" he said, bleakly.

"Adam!" Carolyn was shocked.

"I am serious, Carolyn. I love you. I want to marry you. But I am scared. I am afraid of what I might do to you, to Roger, or to Edmund. I can't marry you. Not while this is hanging over my head."

"What is hanging over your head?"

"You know what. You have seen how my temper has grown too short. You have seen me hit Roger. You know what happened with Edmund's teacher."

"Are you afraid of being tied down, is that it?"

"No. I am afraid of this thing inside me that pushes me to acts of violence."

"Carolyn shook her head. "That's nonsense."

"It isn't. You should listen to what the maids say about me."

"They would not dare gossip about you!"

"It isn't gossip, Carolyn. It is the truth."

"Well, congratulations are in order, aren't then?"

David stared at the champagne bottle that Barnabas had brought with him. "What does it mean?"

"It means that I am going to be a grandfather."

"Oh, that." David was less than enthusiastic. "Hallie told you?"

"Of course, she did."

David shook his head. "I did not want to tell you yet. We are not sure that we are ready to be parents."

"I'll tell you a little secret. No one ever is. But they become so, eventually, and with the years they get really good at it."

"I haven't finished my studies yet."

"But you are not mired in poverty, either."

"I don't know."

"It scares the Hell out of you, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"I can understand it being scary, to be suddenly responsible for a human being, to go from being somebody's child to somebody's parent, and adult at last. You have done a lot of growing up these past years. This is the last stage."

"But how can I finish college with a child?"

"Others have done it. And they did not have trust funds."

"We had decided to wait, Hallie and I. And this..." his voice shook a little "this was that woman's fault. Whatever she did to us, she made us forget about birth control. And now Hallie won't even talk about an abortion."

"Why? There is no need. Why should she have one? Do you realize that one side effect of abortion is sterility sometimes? It has happened before. No matter how safe you make abortions, they are still medical procedures, and as such not totally safe."

"I thought you believed in abortion."

'When it is warranted. It is not warranted in your case. The only reason you have for it is that you are scared of being a parent so soon. You need support and time to get used to the idea. You got my support, as for time, nature will allow you nine months to prepare yourself properly... David, being a father is not so terrible."

"What would you know about it? You never were one."

"I helped raise Sarah. That should count for something."

"Yeah. I suppose it should;. Damn it, we had hade plans, Hallie and I..."

"David, Life is what happens while you are making plans. This is life...And then if you want to make long range plans, you were born in the wrong family. We got a terrible track record on long range plans."

David pouted. He was still something of a child. Barnabas saw it and smiled indulgently.

"Come on, David. It is not the end of the world."

David made a face, then managed to smile bravely."

"Well, aren't you going to open the bottle, after all?"

Maybe the gypsy card reader could help him. There was always the chance that she could tell him how to contact the Romano tribe. Maybe she even knew of Petofi's hand.

She might take him for a ride, too. But he could avoid paying too much. And it might work.

He was desperate. Talking to Carolyn did not help. She would not believe how dangerous he was to himself and others. She wanted to marry him, even if he knew better. And he wanted to marry her, too.

He was willing to try even this.

Zoya was laying the cards for herself. The Knight of Cups. Always the Knight. A handsome stranger who would enter her life soon.

But she was not trying to read her luck in love. She wanted an answer to her predicament. Instead she kept getting this card.

"Madame Zalisky?" Adam asked her.

She looked up, startled. It was her Knight. And he was handsome . He made Tom Selleck look like a wimp... "Sir what do you want?""

She would start on her act. He had seen quite a few of these. He was not interested. He had to find quickly if she could be of any help.

He spoke the words, as Charles had taught them to him. Mispronounced them, of course. But recognizable to any member of the Romano family who knew about Petofi and his hand.

It worked. She stiffened, her eyes showing incredulity. How could this stranger, this gadjo know what was a family secret?

"You know what I want?" Adam asked her.

She looked back at her spread. The Knight, not a lover, but a pawn in the game. A game that she had to play if she was to be free of Hallie.

"You want to know more about the hand" she said, evenly.

"Yes. And you can help me. Can your? Or just teach me? I need help that only that hand can give. I will pay you well if you help me. But if you attempt to deceive me, you will regret it."

It was all bluff. He did not have powers that she needed fear. But it was good if she thought he had.

"I don't have it with me."

"But you know where it is"

"Yes."

"Take me there."

She shook her head. "It is not here. Not in town."

"I know. Tell me where, and I will go as far as I need to."

"They will not be willing to let you touch it."

"I will plead my cause with them. I will pay them. I have money, plenty of it. And it can be yours if you help me. But I also can punish you if you deceive me." he warned her again."

She thought about it. She could use him to steal the hand. Magda Rakosi had stolen it once, and retribution had been swift. But Magda did not have a patsy on whom to blame the theft. She was not impressed by Adam's threats. If he had any power, he'd have demonstrated it by now.

"All right. I'll take you to meet them."

Anger filled Zeb, a big fury that would not leave him as he stood over the cliffs, looking at the harbor.

How had Brant dared to speak to him that way? How could he be so blatant?

He could not expose him. He knew that the charges against Uncle Dave were false, but how to prove it? Once they became public everybody would believe the worst. People had such filthy minds...

Damn it, they had him. And he did not dare do anything about it.

And to top it. Iris had turned against him. As if it was his fault what Yolanda had done or tried to do. How could he know? She had deceived everybody else. Why should he be the one to take the blame?

It was unfair, damned unfair.

He rested over the railing. It was late. The boats were all back now. The sky was darkening. So was the sea...

He did not want to go home. He would only have another argument with Jessica who could not understand his determination to punish Barnabas Collins and George Brant. She kept saying that it was time that he attended to really serious matters. As if anything could be more important...

Didn't she realize the importance of this? What a fundamental insult this situation was for him. It was his home, his family that were involved. Sure, it was now fashionable to laugh at family honor. It was considered obsolete. But it was not.. It was not something like designer jeans that could be in or out of style. The whim of fashion should not apply to fundamental moral principles.

It was a while before he noticed that there was something up in the sky.. He was so immersed in self-pity that he failed to notice anything.

"Zeb." a voice said. "Zeb, listen to me."

He lifted his head, and there it was, the U.F.O. everybody was talking about. Right in front of his eyes. Huge, glowing red, pulsating like a heart.

"We know what you want" the voice inside the U.F.O. said to him. "We sense your hurt. We can heal it. We can give you what you want. Come to us, Zeb King."

The light around the U.F.O. kept pulsating and changing colors, from the clearest white to the deepest red, and back again to white. Then the light expanded and reached down, forming a ramp that reached his feet.

"Come to us, Zeb King. We can heal your wounds."

Uncertainly, Zeb tested the light with his feet. It looked insubstantial, but felt solid. Very solid...

He dared put down the other foot. He did not fall through. It held all 158 pounds of him. Would it hold him all the way up? And did he want to go? Suppose it was a trap, and they considered humans to be good eating.

Yet something whispered to him that he was safe, that he would find what he was seeking inside.

The door opened as he approached it. He could see inside. It was a large room, all dark. And something at the center that looked like a mass of writhing snakes.

He blinked, and in a split second the snakes were gone. It was only an optical illusion. What was there was a fire, with a head rising from it.

"Come closer," the head said, and for the first time Zeb heard words instead of having them reverberate in his mind. "touch us and know us."

He did so. He put his hand to the head's temple and closed his eyes, letting the knowledge pour into him.