'BUt-"'
"He's everything they admire. The perfect vampire, the ultimate predator. He's ruthless andbloodthirsty and he wants to give them the wholeworldas their hunting grounds. Do you really thinkany of them can resist that? After years of huntingmindless, bewildered animals that have to be rationed out one at a time?
With maybe the oddcreaky slave for a special treat? Do you think any of them won't follow him willingly?"
Maggie was silent. There was nothing she couldsay.
He was right, and it was scary.
"And that isn't all," he continued remorselessly."Do you want to hear a prophecy?"
"Not really," Maggie said. She'd heard more thanenough of those for one lifetime.
He ignored her. "My old teacher used to tell methis," he said.
"'Four to stand between the light and theshadow,
Four of blue fire, power in their blood.
Born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision;Four less one and darkness triumphs.'"
"Uh huh," Maggie said. To her it sounded likejust more of the same thing. The only interestingthing about it was that it mentioned the blindMaiden. That had to be Aradia, didn't it? She wasone famous witch.
"What's `born in the year of the blind Maiden'svision?"' she asked.
"It means all the Wild Powers are the same age,born seventeen years ago," Delos said impatiently. `But that's not the point. The point is the last line,`Four less one and darkness triumphs.' That meansthat the darkness is going to win, Maggie."
"What do you mean?"
"It's inevitable. There's no way that the humansand the witches can get all four Wild Powers ontheir side. And if there's even one less than four,the darkness is going to win. All the vampires need to do is kill one of the Wild Powers, and it's allover. Don't you see?"
Maggie stared at him. She did see what he wassaying, and it was even scarier than what he'd saidbefore.
"But that doesn't mean we can just give up,"she said, trying to puzzle out his expression. "If we do that, it will be all over. We can't just surrender and letthem win."
"Of course not," he said harshly. "We have tojoin them."
There was a long silence. Maggie realized that her mouth had fallen open.
"... what?"
"We have to be on the winning side, and that'sthe vampire side." He looked at her with yelloweyes that seemed as remote and deathly calm as apanther's. "I'm sorry about your friends, but there's no chance for them. And the only chance for youis to become a vampire."
Maggie's brain suddenly surged into overdrive.
All at once, she saw exactly what he was saying.And furygave her energy. He was lightning-fast, but she jumped up and out of the way before he could close his hands on her.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"No
"You're going to killme?"
"I'm going to save your life, the only way I can."He stood up, following her with that same eerie calm.
I can't believe this. I ...really ...can't ... believe this, Maggie thought.
She circled around the bed, then stopped. It was pointless; he was going to get her eventually.
She looked into his face one more time, and saw that he was completely serious. She dropped herarms and relaxed her shoulders, trying to slow herbreathing, meeting his eyes directly.
"Delos, this isn't just about me, and it's not justabout my friends. It's about all the slaves here, andall the humans on the Outside. Turning me into a vampire isn't going to help them."
"I'm sorry," he said again. "But you're all that really matters."
"No, I'm not,"Maggie said, and this time the hottears didn't stop at her eyes, but overflowed and rolled down her cheeks. She shook them off angrily, and took one last deep breath.
"I won't let you," she said.
"You can't stop me."
"I can fight. I can make you kill me before youturn me into a vampire. If you want to try it thatway, come and take your best shot."
Delos's yellow eyes bored into hers-and thensuddenly shifted and dropped. He stepped back, hisface cold.
"Fine," he said. "If you won't cooperate, I'll putyou in the dungeon until you see what's best foryou.
Maggie felt her mouth drop open again."You wouldn't," she said.
"Watch me."
The dungeon, like everything else in the castle,was heart-stoppingly authentic.
It had something that Maggie had read about in books but hadn't seen in the rooms above: rushesand straw on the floor. It also had a stone benchcarved directly into the stone wall and a narrow,barred window-slit about fifteen feet above Mag gie's head. And that was all it had.
Once Maggie had poked into the straw enoughto discover that she didn't really wantto know whatwas down there and shaken the iron bars that made up the door and examined the stone slabs in the wall and stood on the bench to try to climb to the window, therewas nothing else to do. She sat on the bench and felt the true enormity of the situation trickle in on her.
She was really stuck here. Delos was really serious. And the world, the actual, real world out there, could be affected as a consequence.
It wasn't that she didn't understand his motivation. She had been in his mind; she'd felt thestrength of his protectiveness for her. And she wanted to protect him, too.
But it wasn't possible to forget about everyoneelse. Her parents, her friends, her teachers, thepaper girl. If she let Delos give up, what happenedto them?
Even the people in the Dark Kingdom. Laundressand Old Mender and Soaker and Chamber-pot Emptier and all the other slaves. She caredabout them. She admired their gritty determination to goon living, whatever the circumstances-and theircourage in risking their lives to help her.