How did we come to walk this earth? The result of some vulgar virus? A ridiculous notion.’
‘Didn’t the Devil create you, or something?’ Dec asked meekly.
Gabriel chuckled. ‘A devil, perhaps, but not one to be found within human myth and legend. Lillith, you asked me why the Masters loved to watch the stars. It is because they have always longed to return to the home that was once their Paradise, and which was destroyed. The Elder tales describe the meteoric cataclysm, first seen as a fireball streaking across the sky, that showered their world with a mineral substance so toxic to them that it wiped out virtually their entire population and forced them to embark on a desperate odyssey across millions of light-years of space in the search for a new home. Many of their craft were lost; others may have landed on planets unable to support them. Just one came down, in a state of near-destruction, on this world we call Earth. They remain there still. In Siberia.’
The room was suspended in an astonished silence; just the crackle of the fire in the background as Gabriel quietly continued:
‘Finding themselves castaways on a hostile planet, they sought ways not only to survive but to gain control. It soon became clear to them that to reveal themselves to humankind would only cause mass panic and revolt. And so they created a hybridised form of themselves, incorporating some of their own capabilities into a more human shape that would allow them to take the world by stealth if not by force. The vampire, as we know it, was born.’
Chapter Sixty-One
‘Brother, why have you never spoken of this before?’ Lillith asked, stunned.
‘Vampires are frigging
Chloe had understood. ‘The cross,’ she muttered, almost to herself. ‘The cross wasn’t from here. It was from somewhere else.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘One can only surmise that the rock that fell to Earth, aeons ago, was a straggler from the same meteor shower that devastated their home planet. Its radiative properties remain mysterious to us: properties that your human ancestors must have discovered entirely by chance when they witnessed the destructive effect the rock could have on the feared beings they believed to be “supernatural”. In an act of superstitious ignorance, attributing its powers to some divine intervention against evil, some foolish shaman then sculpted the rock into the shape of a Christian icon.’
‘Lil and I didn’t drag our asses across Siberia and half of Europe for a history lesson, Gabriel,’ Zachary said. ‘We came to tell you the motherfucking cross is on its way here, right now, while we’re standing around talking.’
‘We were delayed getting back on the aeroplane,’ Lillith said. ‘We wandered for hours in a blizzard, and when we finally got back to the airfield, the humans were passed out drunk. For all we know, Ash could have left not long after we did. He could be here any minute.’
‘But how can he find this place?’ Kali cut in.
‘He knows where we are,’ Gabriel replied. ‘He was present when we discussed our coming here.’
‘We need to get the fuck
Lillith gave a shudder. ‘He’s right. I don’t ever want to be near that thing again.’
‘I’m with you on that one,’ Alex said, exchanging glances with Joel.
‘An interesting turn of events for you, Agent Bishop and Inspector Solomon,’ Gabriel said. ‘The two of you come here as my sworn enemy, ready to send me to hell, as you so charmingly put it; only to find that we are strangely allied to one another.’
‘So are we leaving this minute or not, Gabriel?’ Kali said anxiously.
‘I fear that flight may not be the wisest choice,’ Gabriel said. ‘Ash will find us, wherever we go. He is a truly determined individual, and whatever motivation I was able to inspire in him will have been redoubled by the far greater powers the Masters can promise. He will not stop until he has destroyed us all.’
‘Then we stay and fight,’ Alex said. ‘We won’t get this chance again.’
Lillith shook her head. ‘The chance to do what? There
‘There might be a way,’ Joel said. Looking out of the window, the sight of the cable tracks stretching away down the valley had given him an idea. He glanced at the pistol in Alex’s hand and said, ‘Ash might have the cross but he’s still human. Unless he’s a champion climber, it’d be hard for him to scale the cliff. He’ll come up the easy way, in the cable car.’
‘Then we can prevent him crossing the valley,’ Kali said. ‘Simple. Destroy the cable car, right away.’
Joel shook his head. ‘No, I think we should let him get on it.’
‘That’s madness,’ Lillith exploded.
‘Let him speak, sister,’ Gabriel said. ‘It may be worth hearing.’
‘Is there any way we can slow it down before it gets here?’ Joel asked. ‘Better still, stop it halfway?’
‘Isn’t there a stop button or something?’ said Kali, who never took notice of such things.
Gabriel shook his head. ‘In all other respects the device works like a lift, able to be summoned from either end of the cable track. Once activated in either direction, however, there is no means of halting its progress.’
‘Shouldn’t be hard to cut the power to the motor,’ Zachary said. ‘Or else maybe jam the gears with something.’
Alex waggled her pistol. ‘Sounds good to me. If we could stop the cable car over the valley, Ash would be a sitting target. I could take him out.’
‘I thought that gun was just for shooting vampires,’ Dec said.
‘The Nosferol in the hollowpoints is pretty harmless to humans,’ Alex told him. ‘But I never met one yet who could withstand a 300-grain bullet moving past the speed of sound. Believe me, this’ll kill the guy.’
‘You would have to make the shot from a considerable range,’ Gabriel said, ‘if you wish to stay out of the cross’s reach. Are you proficient enough with the weapon?’
‘If you can stop the cable car fifty, sixty yards from the landing station, I can get him,’ Alex said.
Lillith snorted. ‘Don’t kid yourself. Within forty yards of the cross’s power you’ll be in such agony you won’t be able to hold the gun straight, let alone pull off a pistol shot like that in darkness.’
‘I still have three rounds left,’ Alex said. ‘Two in the mag, one up the spout.’
‘You couldn’t do it with thirty.’
‘Do you have any better ideas?’ Alex snapped at her.
‘You’re forgetting us,’ Chloe cut in. ‘The cross can’t hurt us, remember?’
‘She’s right,’ Dec said. ‘Let us do it. We can get closer to Ash than any of you.’
‘Give me the gun,’ Chloe said. ‘I know how to shoot. I’ve shot Ash once before. I can do it again.’
Six pairs of vampire eyes stared at Chloe, opening wide at the implications of what she was asking them to do.
‘We already have to deal with one human with the power to wipe us all out,’ Lillith said. ‘You think we’re going to hand you over that gun? Not in a million years.’
‘I’m sorry, Chloe,’ Alex said.
‘You don’t trust me?’
‘No vampire can trust a human. Not with something like that.’
There was a silence. Gabriel stood up. ‘Let us take this one step at a time. I suggest we go downstairs and investigate the most effective means of halting the cable car.’
‘Speaking of which …’ said Kali, looking out of the window.
Everyone turned to stare.
While they’d been arguing, somebody down below in the boarding station had summoned the cable car. Whoever that somebody was, they were standing inside it as it glided silently back towards the chalet on its cables — and they weren’t alone. Everyone in the chalet watched, breathless, straining to make out the faces of the half-
