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and settled down to wait, finding a spot on a padded bench, amid a bustle of
art enthusiasts passing to and fro. It was great to be out of the cold and
wind, and he had a little time to prepare himself. Not that there was much to
prepare. This time Kaiser would have to take him seriously; beyond that Joe
could only estimate what might be going to happen.
He couldn't see a lot of art, just a handful of massive statues, from the spot
he'd chosen. Some of this stuff around him was doubtless older than the man he
was going to meet. Joe thought about that. He thought about a great many
things that ordinarily he tried to avoid considering. He looked at his watch
frequently. At four o'clock, no matter what, he was leaving. He'd take no
chances on not being locked up safely, behind private doors and walls, before
today's invisible sun went down. He might be a little stupid, setting up a
conference with a murderous vampire, but he wasn't completely crazy.
At about a quarter to four Valentine Kaiser showed up. The vampire had
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changed his suit since this morning. He looked jaunty and very handsome this
afternoon, extremely youthful in appearance. That was often a sign of recent
heavy feeding, thought Joe, and felt an inward shudder. He hoped it didn't
show.
He'd chosen his corner bench so he had a wall at his back, and whoever sat
down to talk to him would be on his left. It would be easier that way for Joe
to reach for the holster under his left arm, pull a gun and aim, or to shoot
from the holster through his own coat if it came to that. The revolver
snuggled against his ribs was vastly comforting, freshly reloaded now, all six
rounds tipped with lead-
cored lignum vitae bullets. Hard wood, so heavy that it wouldn't float in
water.
Someone probably the old man himself had told Joe that the Latin name of the
stuff meant "wood of life." But he knew that it was far from certain
protection.
And then suddenly the vampire had arrived, and with a nod and a smile was
sitting down beside him. Sitting too close for comfort, considering how fast
one of them could move.
Joe shifted openly away, positioning his body with his back against one wall,
right shoulder against another. People observing his retreat might get the
idea that Kaiser, for all his snappy clothes, didn't smell too good.
"What do you want?" Joe asked.
Kaiser smiled faintly at Joe's maneuvers to increase the distance between
them.
But when he spoke he sounded genuinely sympathetic. "Tell me, how's the old
man doing?"
"Great. He was up early this morning and went out jogging."
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The other nodded, almost as if he had taken the answer seriously and was
considering the implications. "Good. I hope he did. And I hope you'll believe
me when I say this is all very much a misunderstanding."
"There's already two people dead that I know about. If it's all a
misunderstanding maybe we better stop it before it really turns serious."
Kaiser looked innocently hopeful. "You do count us as people, then. Even when
you kill us."
"Oh, I know you're people. I know that. But I kill people when I have to."
The other looked at him as if he found it sad and disheartening that Joe could
have such a reckless attitude.
"I was trying to frighten your two young friends, nothing more. We wouldn't
have done them any harm if they'd let us in."
"What about Elizabeth Wiswell?"
The handsome, young-looking man frowned. "I didn't know she was a friend of
yours. Actually I don't see how she could have been."
"I'm interested anyway."
Friendliness disappeared, as if a little switch had been turned off somewhere
behind the vampire's dark eyes. "One of my friends was alive this morning but
she isn't now. Lila was with you in my apartment when she was last seen alive.
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Do you want to make this a personal matter between the two of us, or shall we
call it even?"
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Joe's lips were very dry. He resisted the urge to lick them. "All right, let's
call it even between us. I'm here trying to make peace."
The other looked off into the distance as if meditating. At length he sighed.
As if he were the one who had a right to be doubtful of Joe's motives.
Suddenly he asked: "Now are you willing to go back with me, and ask me in?"
"Back to the old man's place? He can ask you in there himself if he wants you
in."
Kaiser looked sadly misunderstood. It was an attitude that he wore very well;
perhaps he practiced it a lot.
When he spoke he sounded perfectly sincere. "We both know that the old man, as
you call him, is in no shape to do that. I'm not going to rob him 6r kill
him."
His tone, his manner, assured Joe that that was the most preposterous idea
anyone had ever heard of. "I just want to talk with him, to see him
face-to-face.
I'm really concerned about his welfare."
"He's doing fine."
"Then why doesn't he answer his door himself?" After allowing time for Joe to
answer, Kaiser went on. "Probably you think you're protecting him. But have
you considered that you might be putting him in danger, and your young friends
also?"
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"I don't think so."
Kaiser shook his head. "How many years have you known him?"
Joe was silent.
The vampire persisted. "How many? Ten years? Fifteen?"
Joe said: "About eleven." He realized that he was starting to respond, almost
to cooperate, automatically. The feeling was almost one of relief.
Kaiser leaned just a little closer to him on the bench. Lowering his voice, he
confided: "The old man as you call him and I go back almost five hundred
years. Believe that?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]