I pick up nothing. Nothing animal, nothing human.
Not even the briny smel of lichen from a dripping pool somewhere out of sight.
Stil, the beat is there.
Part of me is unnerved by it, part of me drawn to discover the source. I keep one hand on the stone and move forward.
The darkness is complete here, my eyes picking up only the faint glitter of a vein of quartz sparked by my own heightened optic nerves. I trace it with a finger, to mark my path forward.
It goes on and on and final y, I stop and drop my hand.
This is useless. The pulse is neither closer nor farther away. I’l ask Frey when I get back. There’s bound to be a natural explanation.
I turn, looking to the opposite wal.
Drawings, carved into the sandstone. Animals with round bodies and long, pointed antlers. Others smal er, slimmer, with blunted antlers and cloven hooves. Some kind of bird, wings outstretched to catch the wind. And warriors. With mantles of fur and spears with arrowhead tips.
My own heart jumps, my throat swel s. The drawings are so primitive, so beautiful. How long have they been here? How many generations of Navajo come to pay homage to their ancestors in the confines of this sacred place?
A rumble and a gust of cold wind hit simultaneously. The ground under my feet shifts, sending me back against the rocks. I land h darkness fight to regain balance. A section of the cave wal straight ahead is opening. Wind whistles around stone, loose rock is kicked as footsteps rustle forward.
I push myself back against the wal of the cave. Someone is coming. The path is too narrow for them not to see me when they pass. So I do what any good vampire would do. I scurry up the wal of the cave and look down at them from the viewpoint of a lizard.
Then they file under me, three men. Two younger, dressed in long buckskin robes, a third, ancient and wizened moving between them. He is dressed in a robe, too, adorned with embroidered symbols, and in his hand, he carries a slender rod.
Suddenly, the old one stops.
And looks up.
Right at me.
His eyes flash in the darkness of the cave. “You have come to seek my council, Anna Strong,” he says. “Come down. Join me.”
He moves toward the opening in the cave wal, not waiting to see if I fol ow or not. The two others don’t even glance my way.
How did he know where I was? How did he know who I was?
I’m so startled, my slide down from the perch is far less graceful than my scramble up.
CHAPTER 31
AS SOON AS I ENTER THE CHAMBER, THE DRUMBEAT stops. The elder sits cross-legged on a blanket. The two younger men who preceded him have disappeared. The wal s of the chamber look solid and yet the men are gone.
The elder motions for me to sit. I take a place across from him and fold my legs under me. He studies me for a long moment as I do him. His face is bronzed and lined with age.
His body is shriveled yet his back is straight, his posture erect.
His eyes catch and hold my gaze. There is so much wisdom reflected in those great, dark eyes that I can’t look away — I don’t want to.
At last, I find my voice. “You are Sani.”
He nods.
“How did you know you would find me here?”
“You found me, did you not?” There is a hint of humor in the deep rumble of his voice. “You are the visitor.”
“But I was told you wouldn’t see me. That the Navajo fear death above al else. I am the walking dead. I did not believe you would see me.”
“I am here now.” Sani reaches out a hand and touches my cheek. “You have a question.”
His touch sends warmth rushing through me. I want to press that hand against my cheek and hold it there. Instead, I force myself to remain stil, hoping if I do, his gentle fingers wil remain against my skin.
After a moment, he drops his hand.
The warmth remains, giving me the courage to speak. “I am vampire. I come to seek your counsel. I am told you can restore mortal life to the undead.”
“And that is what you wish?”
“Yes. No. I am conflicted. I have a family. A human family.
When they are gone, I wil be alone in this world. I fear loneliness.”
“And yet you are conflicted.”
“I am cal ed the Chosen One. Destined to resist dark forces in the vampire community that seek to dominate mankind. If I relinquish that responsibility, I risk subjecting mankind to a terrible end. I don’t know why I was chosen to shoulder that burden. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to handle it. But as a vampire, I know I have a chance. As a human, I fear I have none.”
Sani listens, his expressive eyes seem to penetrate through word and thought and reach into my soul. His face is beautiful in its serenity. I am breathless waiting for him to speak.
“You have a good heart,” he says final y. “The heart of a warrior. It is why we meet here. You want to return to the life you knew before. And yet, you are more powerful as vampire and can prevent great evil.”
He lifts my chin with gentle fingers to look into my eyes.
“You fear the loneliness you wil suffer when your family passes on and you are left behind. But is that not the fate of al who are chosen to lead? Perhaps loneliness is the price one must pay for the opportunity to do great deeds.”
I am caught in the cadence of his speech, spel bound by the light in his eyes. Even the rhythm of my heartbeat seems to slow in anticipation of his next words.
“Throughout the ages, there have been those given a higher cal ing. Brave men and women forced to face their fears, to sacrifice their happiness, to choose the greater good over personal desires. You are at a crossroads, Anna.
If you choose to return to mortality, can you accept the consequences? Could you live with the consequences?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. I know what he’s saying. Can I accept it? Stil, there is something else, something darker I need to tel him. “There is another thing I fear. Vampire becomes stronger every day. She senses evil and seeks to destroy it. Sometimes I can control the impulse to kil, sometimes I don’t want to.” I let my voice drop, ashamed to admit the truth. “Kil ing has become too easy. Human or otherwise, it doesn’t matter.”
“You are too critical of yourself,” Sani says, brushing the air with a hand. “You have a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. Trust your instincts.” He bends his head closer. “What you must not do is make a hasty decision. You mustn’t let emotions overwhelm you.”
He sits back, his eyes flashing in the dim light. “But there is something more to consider. There is a steep price to pay if you choose mortality. Your body went through changes when you became vampire. The stress on your organs by the reverse transformation is more severe. You could expect to live no longer than twenty years in a continual state of decline. You wil not reach old age. Are you wil ing to bear that cost as wel?”
He gathers his robe around him. “I want you to think hard about what you ask of me. You have many things on your mind now. Your friend needs you. Deal with what you must.
Later, when you have had time to reflect, look for the wolf.
She wil reunite us.”
There is a sound behind me and the two robed Navajo who accompanied Sani into the chamber suddenly return.
They help him to his feet.
“Go in peace, Anna,” Sani says. “We wil meet again.”
Before I have risen to my feet, he is gone.
I run back to the cave entrance, faster than most animals, a hundred times faster than men, and wait to say my farewel.
I neither passed Sani and his companions on the path nor do they appear at the entrance. Did they take the opposite fork? How were tle to get out without my seeing?