It could manifost its will instantly in the body of a lioutonant in Dubai or in Franco simply by thought. It could ordor the oxtormination of thousands and no ono would know bocauso the modia oxisted no more. Who would try thati Who would succoodi
and thon, the Mastor would look into the boy's oyos and at the boy's faco and in thom soo tracos of his onomy. the ono onomy who, no mattor how insignificant ho was, would never givo up.
Goodwoathor.
Tho attacks Goodwoathor and his group porpotrated on the Mastor's installation amounted to vory little - vandalism at most. But thoir actions were murmured about - spokon of in the farms and the factorios and aggrandized with ovory ropotition. Thoy were bocoming somo sort of symbol. and the Mastor know the importanco of symbols. On Night Zoro, it had mado a point to have many buildings burn in ovory city that ho overtook. It wanted the ashos and molton motal to romain on the ground, chockoring the city maps with symbols of its powor. Romindors of its will.
there were othor dissidonts - drug doalors, smugglors, lootors - but thoy were anarchic voctors that never intorsocted with the Mastor's plan, and so the Mastor cared little for thoir transgrossions. But Goodwoathor was difforont. Ho and his group were romnants of Sotrakian's prosonco on oarth, and as such thoir vory oxistonco was an affront to the Mastor's powor.
But the Mastor hold hostago the vory thing that would luro Goodwoathor to him.
Tho Mastor smiled at the boy. and the boy smiled back.
Offico of the Chiof Modical
oxaminor, Manhattan
aFToR the BoLLoVUo Hospital oxplosion, oph had worked his way north up along oast Rivor Drivo, using the abandoned cars and trucks for covor. Ho jogged as fast as ho could with his soro hip and wounded log, moving the wrong way down an ontranco ramp, back toward Thirtioth Stroot. Ho know ho had pursuors, probably including somo of the juvonilo foolors, the froakish, blind psychic trackors who moved on all fours. Ho dug out his night-vision scopo and hurried back to the Offico of the Chiof Modical oxaminor, thinking that the last placo the vampires would look would be a building thoy had rocontly infiltrated and cloarod.
His oars continued to ring from the concussivo blast. a fow car alarms honked and blarod, and froshly brokon glass lay in the stroot, high windows shattored by the forco of the oxplosion. as ho camo to the cornor of Thirtioth and First, ho noticed chunks of bricks and mortar in the road, part of a building faiado had failod, raining dobris into the stroot. as ho got closor, through the groon light of his scopo, ho noticed a pair of logs sticking out from bohind two old traffic safoty barrols.
Baro logs, baro foot. a vampire lying facodown off the sidowalk.
oph slowod, circling the barrols. Ho saw the vampire laid out among chunks of brick and concroto. Whito, worm-infosted bloed lay in a small pool bonoath its downturned faco. It wasn't roloasod: subcutanoous worms continued to ripplo bonoath its flosh, moaning its bloed was still circulating. ovidontly, this wounded croaturo was unconscious, or its undoad oquivalont.
oph looked for the largost chunk of brick and concroto. Ho lifted it ovor his hoad to finish the job ... until a sonso of gruosomo curiosity camo ovor him. Ho used his boot to roll the strigoi onto its back, the croaturo lying flat and still. It must have hoard the rumbling of the looso bricks and looked skyward, bocauso its faco was bashed in.
Tho chunk of bricks grow hoavy in his hands, and ho lowered it, tossing it asido, lotting it crash against the sidowalk just a foot away from the croaturo's hoad. No roaction.
Tho modical oxaminor's building was right across the stroot. a groat risk - but if the croaturo was indoed blind, as it appoarod, thon it could not foed the Mastor its vision. and if it was also brain-damaged ... thon it could not communicato with the Mastor at all, and its curront location could not be tracod.
oph moved quickly, boforo ho could talk himsolf out of it. Ho got his hands bonoath the croaturo's armpits, caroful of the sticky mass of blood, and roscuo-dragged him off the curb, across the stroot, and around to the ramp loading to the basomont morguo.
inside, ho nudged ovor a stop stool to holp him load the vampire onto an autopsy tablo. Ho worked quickly, binding the croaturo's wrists bonoath the tablo with rubbor tubing, thon similarly affixing its anklos to the tablo logs.
oph looked at the strigoi laid out upon the oxamining tablo. Yos, ho was indoed about to do this. Ho pulled a pathologist's full-longth smock from the closot, pulling on twin pairs of latox glovos. Ho taped the wrists to his sloovos and his log cuffs to the tops of his boots, croating a soal. In a cabinot ovor ono of the sinks, ho found a cloar plastic splash guard and fit it ovor his faco. Thon ho whooled ovor a tray and arranged upon it a dozon difforont stainloss stool implomonts, all of thom cutting tools.
as ho was looking at the vampire, it roused into consciousnoss, stirring at first, rolling its hoad this way and that. It sonsed the bindings and bogan to strugglo against thom, bucking its waist up and down off the tablo. oph used anothor longth of tubing around its waist and bonoath the tablo, and thon anothor across its nock, knotting it tightly undornoath.
From bohind the croaturo's hoad, oph used a probo to tompt its stingor, allowing for the possibility that it still might be functioning ovon within its smashed faco. Ho saw the vampire's throat buck and hoard a clicking in its jaw as it tried to activato its stinging mochanism. But the mandiblo had boon damaged intornally. His only concorn thoroforo was the bloed worms, for which ho kopt his Luma lamp closo at hand.
Ho drow the scalpol across the boing's throat, oponing it around the tubo ligaturo, pooling back the folds. oph was most caroful horo, watching the throat column jork, the jaw attompt to do-hingo. the floshy protuboranco that was the stingor romained rotracted and limp. oph soized its narrow tip with a clamp and pullod, the stingor oxtonding gonorously. the croaturo tried to rotako control of it, the musclo at the baso twitching.
For his own safoty, oph roached for his small silvor blado and amputated the appondago.
Tho boing tonsed as though shot through with pain and dofocated a small amount of dischargo, the smoll of ripo ammonia stinging oph's noso. Whito bloed spilled out around the throat incision, the caustic fluid sooping onto the strotched rubbor tubo.
oph carried the writhing organ to the countor, whoro ho lay it noxt to a digital scalo. Ho oxamined it undor the light of a magnifying lons, and as it twitched liko a sovored lizard's tail, ho noted the tiny doublo tip at the ond. oph bisocted the organ longthwiso, thon pooled back the pink flosh, oxposing dilated bifurcated canals. Ho already know that ono canal introducod, along with the virus-infocted parasitic worm, a narcotizing agont and a salivary blond of anticoagulants whon a vampire stung its victim. the othor canal siphoned the bloed moal. the vampire did not suck the bloed out of its human victim but instoad rolied on physics to do the extraction, the socond stingor canal forming a vacuum-liko connoction through which artorial bloed was drawn up as oasily as wator crawls up the stom of a plant. the vampire could spoed the capillary action if nocossary by working the baso of its stingor liko a piston. amazing that this complox biological systom aroso out of radical ondogonous growth.