part 3

I returned the following week, and was pleased to see the straightjacket was gone, as were most of the other restraints. He was wearing a belly chain, and his arms and legs were also chained to the chair, which was chained to the wall. He was dressed in blue prison denim. I found him both more familiar and more alien at the same time.

"Good morning, Sifter," he smiled as I sat down. "It appears you have persuaded my captors I have no magical powers."

"I don't know if anyone is convinced. I simply argued emphatically that you might be more cooperative if you could breathe a little better and move around a little more. I told them we weren't getting anywhere because you were preoccupied with your continuous discomfort. I also pointed out that if you could change into a bat, none of what they had you in would hold you anyway. Any other changes in the way they're treating you?"

"Not really, but this is enough for now, I do thank you. Any news?"

"I'm getting more of a feel of what's going on, and I think a big part of it is that no one has a clue how to proceed. There is no master plan here. There are agents who have been working on this for years, but they haven't been able to make much progress on their own, so no one bothered to organize any basic policy regarding what to do if one of you was ever captured. Now that they managed to find you, they have no idea what to do with you. They believe you to be a serious menace, and they are obviously willing to act beyond the law. But they don't want to get too far out just yet for fear of what will happen later. I emphasize the word fear. They are afraid of several possibilities. They are afraid if they harm you, the others will get wind of it and begin some kind of unholy war against humans, starting with them. They are also uneasy about what will happen if the public were to find out about this. They're pretty sure there would be mass hysteria, and even if there wasn't, they wouldn't want their criminal behavior to come to light, so they are anxious to keep the whole thing covert no matter what. There are powerful people involved in making decisions here but they aren't all on the same page and some of them don't ever want to be associated with the affair. They are only agreed on two things: the need to obtain from you the names and locations of the other members of your group, and absolute secrecy. They have made it clear these two elements are non-negotiable. If they can accomplish that, they will decide what to do with you. If they can't, well, I suppose they are working on contingencies."

"Are they aware of the existence of the Order?"

"Not that they are willing to admit to me, at least not by that name. Obviously they will avoid anything that would imply they monitor our conversations. Personally, I'm going to assume they hear everything that goes on in here. Even if they don't, it's clear they assume you have some kind of organizational scheme, formal or otherwise.  

"The good news, at least for the time being, is that they're willing to negotiate, or at least give the appearance that they are. If that doesn't get them what they want, I think it's fair to assume they'll use more primitive methods."

"Have they made any offers?"

"Not yet. Once again, I'll assume they're aware I have suspicions they may not be operating in good faith, so it's my guess they're weighting alternatives based on what may appeal to you and what they can make me believe they'll follow through with. It's is a very difficult and dangerous situation, as we both know. The fact that you can sniff out any deception means they have to continue the charade that I was chosen to represent you when it's clear I am only a tool for them to use to pry information with. I have grave doubts about what I can do for you, and I don't know how to proceed. All I can do is argue that you are not a danger to society, and try to get them to let you go, since they have no evidence you have committed any crime or intend to. It's almost certainly a waste of time, but it's probably the only shot we have and if nothing else it can buy us time. Whether it will help in the long run is another matter."

He only nodded, waiting for me to continue.

"Anyway, on a related note, I went to your house and had a look, and went through everything in your file, so I'm a little more up to speed on your circumstances. Two things occurred to me: One, even though your assets make an impressive pile, I'll bet you have a lot more in places they will never find. Two, I was surprised to find you live in such a new home. I suppose I should call it an estate, the grounds are pretty substantial, but it can't be more than five years old. Beautifully designed I might add. It's a little dark inside for may taste, which I expected, but most of what is in there, art, furniture, everything seems quite modern. Some of your sound and video stuff I would kill for. I expected a sprawling, stately old mansion built from hand cut stone and filled with things collected from throughout your life, you know, medieval tapestries and suits of armor, stuff like that."

He replied, "I won't comment on my finances except to say you will find everything in order. As to my taste in art and architecture, I have a few small things from long ago. Otherwise I prefer to adapt to the best in each contemporary milieu. You will find what I consider best is not what is popular or what is sanctioned by so called experts. The house is my own design, built to my specifications. The appointments are selected based upon my own rather eclectic tastes, as you are no doubt aware. Some of it is quite expensive, much of it is not. I'm glad you found it to your liking. Feel free to make use of it while I am unable to."

"Thank you, that is very gracious of you, but I doubt I would be comfortable there. I hope you get a chance to see it again."

"Do you?"

"I think so. I'd say I'm sixty-forty in favor of your walking out of here, even though I don't really know why. Is your intuition in these things that subtle?"

"It is a skill like any other, it improves with practice. I could sense your uneasiness with the position you are trying to justify."

"I don't know that it would make it any easier if I were sure, it might make it harder to deal with what may be inevitable here."

Once again he waited.

"By the way, your staff believes you are a wonderful, generous but eccentric man and are deeply distressed at their sudden release from your service. None of them seems to have suffered any blood loss while working for you.

"They will continue to be paid, whether I return or not."

"It seems their affection is well placed. On another front, I have a some ideas about how to approach your citizenship and civil rights status, and how to attack and defend from this position. Shall I bore you with the details?"

"I am interested in what you have learned, but perhaps another time. My interest is academic of course, we will never see the inside of a courtroom."

"Exactly. We're in the back room with thugs. Fortunately you have something they want, we have to find a way for that to keep you alive. Maybe me too."

"What do you think would happen if I gave them what they want?"

"You know what I think."

"Say it anyway. Think of it as confirmation."

"Touché. I think you would live long enough for them to confirm you had identified everyone. Then they would kill all of you. Then maybe they would kill me, although they probably wouldn't have to."

"What if the public were to learn of our existence first?"

"I think there would indeed be mass hysteria. Then the public would demand you be killed or they would organize vigilante groups and do it themselves. I, on the other hand, might slip through the cracks, as long as nobody found out I was your lawyer."

"And finally, what do you think would happen if the FBI could identify all of us without my help?"

"See scenario number one."

"You see no hope for us?'

"Not now that an agency like this knows you exist. Perhaps there is no need to fear you, I would like to think there isn't. But the fact is, you are creatures of the night who drink human blood.   You'll be feared and hated and hunted until there are none of you left. I think you know that. And I think you won't tell them anything. And I think you will die to protect the others. But I also think that it's only a matter of time, and eventually they will find a way to locate the rest of you."

"We are doomed then, after all these centuries."

"I'm not the one to say, I just don't see a way out. That doesn't mean there isn't one."

"Ah Sifter, you are indeed the one to say. You are still a scientist. You seek facts, reality. You do not let your desire to achieve your goal cloud your judgment."

"That doesn't mean I'm right. There's always hope."

He laughed. The canines again. "Yes Sifter, always there is hope. But hope will not help us. We must act, there is no one to save us. If it is to be done, we must save ourselves. We will succeed, or we will fail. Hope will not affect the outcome."

I hadn't thought of it that way. "You have no doubt heard the old saying, 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst'. It there's no hope, that leaves us to prepare for the worst."

"Yes, Sifter. But today I will tell you just a little about creatures of the night who drink human blood. And when we are no more, you can tell the story to those who never knew we really were."