little finger. Blood drinking vampires, she said absently, concentrating on
aligning their hands, are really the weakest, the lowliest of our clan. Have
you ever wondered why they drink blood? They re actually dead their hearts do
not beat, they have no need to eat, so the blood provides no sustenance for
them.
Are you dead? Sophie asked the question Josh was just about to ask.
No, not really.
Josh looked into the mirrors, but he could clearly see Scathach s reflection
in the glass. She caught him looking and smiled. don't believe that old
rubbish about vampires not casting a reflection: of course we do; we are
solid, after all.
Josh watched intently as Scathach pressed her fingers to his sister s.
Nothing seemed to be happening. Then he caught a sparkle of silver in a
mirror behind Scatty and he realized that in the glass, Sophie s hand had
begun to glow with a pale silver light.
My race, the Clan Vampire, Scatty continued very softly, staring at
Sophie s palm, were of the Next Generation.
In the mirror Josh saw that the silver light had begun to pool in Sophie s
palm.
We were not Elders. All of us who were born after the fall of Danu Talis
were completely unlike our parents; we were
ways.
you've mentioned Danu Talis before, Sophie murmured sleepily. What is it,
a place? There was a warm, soothing feeling flowing up her arm, not unlike
pins and needles, but tingling and pleasant.
It was the center of the world in the Elder Times. The Elder Race ruled this
planet from an island continent known as Danu Talis. It stretched from what
is now the coast of Africa to the shores of North America and into the Gulf
of Mexico.
I ve never heard of Danu Talis, Sophie whispered.
Yes, you have, Scathach said. The Celts called it the De Danann Isle; this
modern world knows it as Atlantis.
In the mirror, Josh could see that Sophie s hand was now glowing
silver-white. It looked as if she were wearing a glove. Tiny sparking
tendrils of silver wrapped themselves around Scatty s fingers like ornate
rings, and she shuddered.
Danu Talis was ripped apart because the Ruling Twins the Sun and Moon fought
on top of the Great Pyramid. The incredible magical forces they released
upset the balance of nature. I ve been told that that same wild magic
swirling around the atmosphere caused the changes in the Next Generation.
Some of us were born as monsters, others were caught between shapes, a few
possessed extraordinary powers of transformation and could become beasts at
will. And others, like those of us who eventually formed the Clan Vampire,
found that we were unable to feel.
Josh looked sharply at Scathach. What do you mean,
The Warrior smiled and looked at him. Suddenly, her teeth seemed very long in
her mouth. We had little or no emotion. We lacked the capacity to feel fear,
to experience love, to enjoy the sensations of happiness and delight. The
finest warriors are not only those who do not know fear, but those who are
without anger.
Josh stepped back from Scatty and breathed deeply. His legs were beginning to
cramp, and pins and needles were tingling in his toes. But he also needed to
get away from the vampire. Now all the mirrors and polished glass surfaces in
the shop showed the silver light flowing from Sophie s hand up Scatty s arm.
It disappeared into her flesh before it reached her elbow.
Scatty turned her head to look at Josh, and he noticed that the whites of her
eyes had turned silver. Bloodsucking vampires don't need the blood. They
need the emotions, the sensations carried in the blood.
You re stealing Sophie s feelings, Josh whispered, horrified. Sophie, stop
her .
No! his twin snapped, eyes opening wide. The whites of her eyes, like
Scatty s, had turned reflective silver. I can actually feel the pain flowing
away.
The sensations are too much for your sister to bear. They are becoming
painful, and this makes her afraid. I m just taking away that pain and fear.
Why would anyone want to feel pain or fear? Josh wondered aloud, both
intrigued and repelled by the very idea. It seemed somehow
So they can feel alive, Scatty said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
a much more secure prison. Someplace deep and dark and sinister. She could
feel the old evil in the walls, could almost taste it on the air. Lying
still, she tried to expand her senses, but the blanket of malevolence and
despair was too strong, and she found she couldn t use her magic. She
listened intently, and only when she was absolutely sure that there was no
one in the room with her did she open her eyes.
She was in a cell.
Three walls were solid concrete, the fourth was metal bars. Beyond the bars
she could see another row of cells.
She was in a prison block!
Perenelle swung her legs out of the narrow cot and came slowly to her feet.
She noticed that her clothes smelled slightly of sea salt, and she thought
she could detect the sounds of the not-too-distant ocean.
The cell was bare, little more than an empty box, about ten feet long by four
feet wide, with a narrow cot holding a thin mattress and a single lumpy
pillow. A cardboard tray lay on the floor just inside the bars. It contained
a plastic jug of water, a plastic cup and a thick chunk of dark bread on a
paper plate. Seeing the food made her realize just how hungry she was, but
she ignored it for the moment and crossed to the bars and peered out. Looking
left and right, all she could see were cells, and they were empty.
She was alone in the cell block. But where
And then a ship s horn, plaintive and lost, sounded in the distance. With a
shiver, Perenelle suddenly knew where Dee s men had taken her: she was on the
prison island of Alcatraz, The Rock.
