Three: If You Thought That Was Good

1.

A penultimate tale.

Sari is being vaporized—splats of fiery light, cinder sleet spraying out.

James is in shock, his girlfriend suddenly gone.

Val and Daryl disbelieving—though considering Thane's dubious career as lupine blood sucker, maybe they shouldn't be.

In the sweep of his hand, a volt of pyroclastic energy engulfing her, Thane seems to smile.

We enter this moment cautiously—

[James's apartment on Clement Avenue is otherwise a cozy place in a well-worn way:Hook rugs, mis-matched, overstuffed furniture, pine paneling, a bedroom stacked with books, chairs hung with clothes, Monet and Van Gogh prints on the wall, voile curtains that release the light from outside in vaporous shadows.

Hardly the scene of murder.

Or Voyagers from other worlds engaging in the first volleys of all out war.

Terrifyingly unexpected, like the Phantom's chandelier crashing down on the unsuspecting audience.]

—and let the action continue:

"Sari." James screams, his arms reaching for the disintegrating mist.

Daryl catches him.

"I rest my case."Thane whispers smugly.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Val instantly stands toe to toe.

Releasing James, Daryl materializes behind Thane, gripping his arms.

Thane speaks coolly: "She was a danger, a liability."

"She was my lover." James pushes aside Val.

"Careful Professor, I could wipe you out with a thought." His eyes transform, black tunnels in a sea of blazing red."Easily."

"Not if we can help it." Val doesn't back down.

"Why, Thane?" Daryl asks, "You said we were going to work together on this."

"And we are."He whirls around, throwing the three men off balance. "I meant what I said.I stick to my word."

"Then why kill an innocent?" Daryl regains his footing."You might as well have fed on her.Murder is murder."

"Don't get all self-righteous on me, brother."

"Brother, my ass."He backs away, "Jesus, what a freak house family we are."

Four men now standing in a circle, each looking to the other.

Val. Daryl. Thane.

Handsome, raw.

And then James.

Disheveled, confused.

Brothers and the cousin.

Four of the 50,000.

The silence of thought tinkered with by the kink of a steam pipe, the drip of a kitchen faucet, the micron crackle of a window pane expanding in the deep autumn wind.

Bitter, confused.

Enraged, plotting.

Thane exhales, and turns to James."Let me begin."

2.

. . . and they were on Mars.

Rusted desert, deep pink-gray sky, the sun a molten half-penny near the horizon.

"Jesus, not again." James threw up his arms."I'm so fucking sick of this.It's absurd. For the last two days, I've been pushed all over the god damned place.Don't you guys know how to hold a conversation without bringing in Harry Potter and a fucking Hogwarts side show?" Maybe if I make a joke out of it...

"Glad you're loosening up, James.I was getting worried." Thane winked.

"Fuck you."

"Maybe later. Right now we have to bring everyone up to speed."

"Yes, let's brother," Daryl said, several steps beyond annoyed, "I wanna hear this one."

"You doubt me?"

"With good reason," Val went to stand next to his brother.

"Well, put it aside for the moment.I'm doing this for James, since you"—he shifted his gaze towards Daryl—"decided to Awaken him."

"He was ready; he's our cousin."

"Will someone just explain once and for all what the fuck is going on here? And why I have to be on Mars or where ever this place is?" James sat on the sand—half in frustration, half in protest: I'm not moving til these freaks tell me what's happening.

So they all sat down in the frigid glow of the setting sun.

If this were really Mars, I should be dead—between the cold and lack of breathable air.Jesus, what do they take me for?

"In your Awakened form, you can survive in this environment."Which was the equivalent of being told to shut up.Thane moved on:"I guess the easiest way to start is to say I'm what you might call a double agent. I'm Val and Daryl's older brother and we come from a long line of Voyagers living in the hills of upstate New York and much of eastern Canada.There might be about five thousand of us.The rest—another 45 thousand or so—are scattered across the planet.That's all that's left of the first landing party that got here millions of years ago.We originally came from a planet in a system in another galaxy—what you call M51 or sometimes the Whirlpool; we settled here on Mars and stayed for countless years until an asteroid in the same cluster that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth destroyed this place as well."

So far this matches Daryl's version. Then James shook his head.Jesus, am I actually starting believing this shit?

"Now, one of the important details: We're carnivores—and sanguivores—we not only eat animals, we drink their blood.Sadly—and the details are too long and involved for right now—a few of us started feeding on the human population. . ."

"When?" Why do I care? Get me the fuck outta here.

"About a million years ago.When the first humanoids started to develop.Frankly—and, yes, sadly—the Feeders are one of the reasons certain humanoid groups perished."

"Like Neanderthals and the rest?" Stop asking questions, idiot.

"Yes." Thane looked visibly uncomfortable. "It's not something we're proud of."

"He knows this already, Thane," Val said."What's your point?"

In a flash of energy, Val was down flat, Thane sitting on his chest, fangs exposed, a sudden clawed hand raised high."My point is that you should all listen to me.I'm tired of you and Daryl suspecting me of things."

He yelled back, incisors emerging: "Well, attacking me doesn't help build the love."

Thane rolled off, poised between his brothers, his hands and face returning to human form."Then listen." The anger now replaced with a frustrated plea: "Just listen."

The air about them shimmered and they were in a cave.

James shuddered.Not again.This place.

3.

The cave is small—a hovel hewn into stratified rock, guarded by hemlocks and lichen-drenched boulders.

Writhing, half-propped against the back wall, a man seems frozen in place, trying desperately to get up.

"Ran?" Daryl jumps to his feet.

"What's going on?"Val wants to run over, but Thane puts up his hand, freezing both Val and Daryl in their places.

"Don't touch him."He materializes next to Ran, kneeling next him.

"This, James, is Ran.Another cousin of ours.And your brother.Our father's brother had two sons—you and Ran.Ran knew who he was from birth—there was no need to Awaken him.Over time, he became a Feeder like his father—your father.Your mother, afraid that you might be tempted to follow their guidance, gave you to a human orphanage. You were adopted as you know, raised by human..."

". . . I'm gonna snap any second, now.Why the hell are you guys torturing me with all this bullshit?I don't know how you're doing all the parlor tricks, moving me around, pretending to kill Sari..."

"That was no parlor trick." Thane actually sounds sympathetic.

"Then just let me go.I don't have much money, and I don't know what the fuck you want, but take it.Just leave me alone."He feels himself welling up, but manages control.I won't let these bastards get to me."Just let me go back home.Back to Sari.Back to Skidmore.Back."

"We can't."Thane puts down his hand, releasing his brothers. "I had to fool you, Daryl.Val, too.I'm sorry for that.Truly.You had to think—and Ran had to think—that I'd joined him, become a Feeder, too."

"Why?"

"Ask your brother, Daryl."

Val blanches.

"He already knows." Thane says.

"Everything." Val nods."I know there's a plan—Ran's plan—the plan of a handful. A plan to convert the rest of us one way or another, or many of us at least, and begin wholesale feeding on humans, whatever the cost."

Thane continues: "And if you knew that, you also knew your brother planned to Awaken James?"

Again Val nods.

Daryl looks to James: "Ran and some of the others, including our Uncle, want to return to the old ways."

"Even though feeding on animals—not humans—is the old way." Val adds

"Not to them." Thane says."Not to him."He points to the tortured being unable to utter a sound.

Thane looks again at James:"The truth is I think Daryl has an idea, a monumental idea that he wasn't going to share with me, an idea that's just been confirmed in the last hour—so I did this to Ran to prove my loyalty.To Daryl. To Val.To the whole family.That's why I Shackled him."

"Shackled? That's just a rumor.It's not possible." Val says.

"It is possible.And I'm proof.I'm a Judge."

Is he lying—again? Daryl looks at Val.

"No.I learned the skill. And I'm not lying.Again." He emphasizes the word vigorously.

"Then how?" Val asks.

"The Book."

"The Book's a myth." Daryl snorts in disbelief.

"The Book's real.It's in Siberia now, being studied by a few there.For the War against the Feeders."

James strides to the entrance: "Would you fucking stop with all this pseudo bull crap? Just let me go, for Chrissake.Let me back home. You keep jumping from story to story, one idiotic lie to the next.Just let me go." He turns to leave."You're all fucking crazy."

Thane walks over—no threats—no raised hands—no powers on display. "I just want to work with my brothers to stop the Feeders.About three or four hundred years ago—using the colonial and revolutionary battles here in America as their cover—some of the Voyagers decided to become Feeders.Why?Who knows the real reason?Why do human teens form gangs?Why do some people join cults?A sense of belonging?A dark inner need?Cynical anarchism?Who knows?The point is they did start Feeding.Daryl and Val's idea is to go back and stop those early Feeders in their tracks.I imagine—among other things—that's why Daryl Awakened you, James.To help with the cause.Well, with my skills as a Judge, I can help."

James turns around.Those eyes. Compelled.

Yes, look at my eyes.Am I lying?Do you really see a lie there?

I could just run outside, couldn't I?

You could, but you won't.Thane's glance has gone from red back to lupine yellow-green, nearly reassuring.

Why should I believe any of this?

Do you really think Daryl—or Val—or me for that matter could have concocted any of the things you've witnessed in the last 48 hours?

James looks deeply.

Compelled.Him, too.Why am I attracted to these guys?

Val moves closer. Assuming Thane's telling the truth—and Daryl is right about Awakening you—you're attracted to us because you're one of us.You recognize yourself in us.You're a Voyager.

James speaks aloud: "You know how crazy this sounds, don't you?"

"Truth often is."Thane looks at his brothers, with love—and a dare.I dare you not to believe me now.I dare you not to believe that I love you. That I will do anything to stop this.To restore the family.To leave the humans alone. They deserve respect and love.

Then why kill Sari?

4.

Ran and Thane ate quietly at the counter—toasted bagels, decaf coffee for Ran, the real deal for Thane.

Why do we eat this shit? Ran winced as he sipped his coffee.

Because we're fitting in.Raw meat and a bottle of blood might raise eyebrows.

Ran smiled in spite of himself.

Do you think she'll show?

Stop being so nervous, Thane.You worry about everything.

Why would she help us?

Because, she believes in the cause?

Which is what, Ran?What cause is she willing to believe in?

The cause of the Feeders.Our right to Feed as we always have without being made to feel like we're evil or outsiders.

So she believes in that—believes that she has the right to Feed on humans without judgment?

Absolutely.Why so concerned?

Because I don't want to give away our hand, so to speak.I don't want to bring in someone who'll turn on us at some point.

Emphatically: She won't.

Before he could respond, the door opened.

Sari waved to Cath—today sporting purple hair, spiked and gelled—who was working the front of the counter.

She spoke over the chatter that always filled Uncommon Grounds at 5 in the afternoon: after-class students and faculty from Skidmore, a few Saratoga business men and some shopkeepers unwinding after work—"Large French Roast, black, Cath"—and sat on the empty stool next to Thane and Ran.

"Boys."She pulled off her jacket, draping it over the back of her seat.

"Sari."Ran eyed the cleavage.

She gave him the once over, too."Hot as always, my dear."Then added, "You, too, Thane."

"Yeah, yeah.You wanna get in Ran's pants, not mine.You don't have to be nice."

"Not at all. In fact, I've always liked a two-for-one sale."

What the fuck? Thane felt warmth in his groin.

Sari smiled.

"Stop that."

"Why?Can't a girl have some fun?"And with a thought, squeezed a little harder before letting go.Thane gasped.

"Now, now kiddies," Ran said, "let's stay focused here."

"I am focused."

Cath brought over the coffee."Anything else?"

"No, that's it."

"Two fifty."

"Allow me." Ran dug into his pocket—"Chivalry isn't dead; it's just taken a nap for the last thousand years"—and put the money in Cath's hand.

That's right; you were there, weren't you?

Bitch.

Why thank you.

"Thanks," Cath said and went to the front of the counter where another four or five students were gathering.

"OK.We've got the idea." Thane was impatient."We're all horny.Now can we get to business?"

"Spoil sport.Of course, I'm horny.I've been dating Mr. Boring for the last six months."

"That's why we need you to get to him before Daryl does," Thane said.

"That's not going to happen."

Ran looked at her."It already has."

"What?" Was she hearing this?

Thane tried to control his emotions: "And just when were you going to tell me this?"He didn't want to make his anxiety apparent; Ran would read it easily.

Still facing Sari: "Two nights ago, Daryl met James. Here. He's made his first move.He'll make his next one soon. I feel it."

"Shit."She stared down into her coffee.

He turned to his left: Why so fretful, Thane?

Quickly covering: Because Daryl and James might try something against us.Isn't that their plan?

Sari took a slow sip.Not to worry.I'll take care of it. Tonight.

How? To Thane's relief, Ran refocused on her.

I haven't had dinner yet. The chuckle just slipped out.

Ran joined in.Naughty girl.

Their eyes locked: I know.That's why you love me.

5.

Now we reach one of the more intriguing intersections in our saga.One of those Meanwhile Moments in which two simultaneous events unfold—Greece begins to burgeon while the Buddha preaches, pyramids are built while remarkable clans move down the spine of the Americas.

While Sari walks into Uncommon Grounds, James, across the street, nervously contemplates his impending rendezvous with Daryl.The Professor and his girlfriend separated by Broadway, two Voyagers—one who knows, one who as yet doesn't—separated by guilt and mission.

James looks at his watch.

4:50.

Darkness settles in over Saratoga Springs.

Of course, I lied.I know Sari doesn't have anything planned. I don't even have to call. She'll think I'm in the office or at the library.

He feels compelled—is that the best word?—to have dinner with Daryl.

He only has to call.Press seven digits. Take the leap.

He's waited a half hour already, but can't resist any longer.

He pulls his phone out of its belt holster, stares at it for one last moment, flips it open, stares at the photo of Sari on the screen, then presses the keypad numbers—the beginning of the dive.

"Hello?"

"Hello. It's me." The leap off the board.

No returning now.

The water rushing closer, closing in."Free as a bird.How about 5:30?Before the evening rush."

He takes in a deep breath.

"Great." Daryl said, refreshing.Innocent."See you then.Thanks."

James puts the phone down on the counter.

And knives into the waves head first.

The water is frigid.

He'd finish out the time trying to grade papers, all the while feeling as nervous as a guy anticipating a first date.

6.

Meanwhile:

Sari left them and headed home.

The street clock said 5:15.

By six thirty, it'll be done.

She liked the feeling of satisfaction.

For some reason, she looked across Broadway.The art shop.The bagel place.Compton's all lit up, autumn decorations in the window.

I haven't been there in ages. Great soups.

She thought about having a quick bowl...

. . . but continued walking on her side of the street.

Some other time.I've got business to complete.

7.

Then:

"Five-thirty on the dot." James smiled."I'm impressed."

Daryl slipped into the booth."Hey, I was raised to be a man of his word."

Those eyes.Stop staring.

Daryl smiled back.

That smile. What's he thinking?

"So what's on the menu?"

"I could eat a cow." Daryl winked once—"Really.I could."—followed by a melting, innocent grin.

Which turned to laughter.

James blushed.

He wasn't sure why.

8.

So now, a few days later, here he is.James steps back from the cave entrance.

"So while Daryl and I were having dinner, Sari was preparing to..."

"Yes, preparing to kill you."

"This gets more fucking ridiculous with every minute." He looks at Thane:"You actually want me to believe that Sari's one of you and working with that poor guy over there"—Ran silently balls and un-balls in and out of a fetal position, now pale blue, cadaverous—"to kill me.To kill humans.To eat them, drink their blood?"

"Yes.Whether you want to believe it or not."

"Well, what if I don't?"

"It doesn't change the fact you're one of us, does it?Besides, now that you're Awakened, you should have seen her glow when she walked into the apartment."

"Oh, sorry.I didn't get a chance to notice while she was being vaporized."He throws back his head. "What a crock of shit that is, too.You've drugged me.I'm hallucinating.Maybe I'm hooked to some machine somewhere and you're feeding me thoughts. Maybe..."

"Whoa, James." Daryl puts his hand on James's shoulder.

He shrugs it away."Don't touch me."

But Daryl knows exactly what James is thinking."Yes, it's true, I'm attracted to you.We all are.Just as you're attracted to us.Maybe not sexually.Yet." Givingthe quickest of winks."But attracted nonetheless. It's in our nature.It's about connection, not gender."

"What the fuck are you talking about now?"

"You were frightened by the Awakening.About being kissed by another man.You're convinced you're just the straight college prof who was boffing his former student.Then I arrive—and, holy shit, you literally come in your pants.You're terrified: How could that happen?"

"OK, you're right.It scares the hell outta me.I mean first you tell me I'm a Martian..."

". . .Voyager. . ."

". . . whatever." He starts pacing vigorously."Then you're mauling me in the car—where you could have drugged me—and then supposedly take me to Mars, then a Cave in 1759, then back home only to see you zap Sari—supposedly zap Sari—Oh, right, because she's also a blood-sucking Voyager who's out toturn me into Thanksgiving dinner."He burst into laughter."Jesus. H. Christ."

Even Thane sees the humor, but says quite seriously: "That about sums it."

"Well, I don't buy it.And then all that Judge/Shackle bullshit.What did you really do to that sucker over there?"

9.

This is a night scene.

Ebony.

Starlit.

Winter.

1947.

We're in a Siberian gulag, Josef Stalin's cultural and social solution for the malcontents; the anarchists; those who dare defy him in the press, on a street corner, in the presence of an informant who might just be your sister or brother; the gays; the religious—anyone who doesn't fit the mold of the good revolutionary, who isn't a first-rate comrade, fiercely loyal to Mother Russia—the definition of these acts of rebellion shifting with mercurial ease from day to day, the whim of a sociopath.

Thane is one of these—the Party worker who dared question a decision and within a week found himself stuffed in a freight car heading across an infinite tundra into the cadaverous cold.

Tonight he sits with Vladimir on a bench outside their cell block, smoking a cigarette one of the guards has smuggled them.

They would be dead, of course, if anyone knew their real identity.

Superstition and fear run as deep among the commoners as they do among the Party-line intellectuals back in Leningrad or Moscow.Superstition, of course, having various definitions—for some just a black cat or evil eye; for others, belief in democracy or capitalism.Whatever it might be, Thane and Vlad were both sure that aliens—literally and figuratively—wouldn't be tolerated.They laugh at that thought and often ease a troubling moment with a simple, "If they only knew."

So their conversation tonight moves gingerly—sometimes coded, often shrouded, always whispered, their breath steaming in the sub-zero winter air.

They'll only be here a few minutes before they go back in, the cold too deep, their coats too thin. The guard looks the other way, paid with bootlegged caramel.

Thane inhales the smoke deeply, feels the tingle in his head.

"Good, isn't it?"

"Yes." And exhales, watching the blue cloud waft through the floodlit air. "Very good." English was easier, but after two years he's used to speaking Russian.

Vlad continues where'd they'd left off: "You know it's true."

"So you say." Thane takes another deep drag."And if that's so, then I wish we could act quickly, on a wide scale."

As quietly as possible:"It would cause too much attention, you can imagine that.There'd be a total witch hunt.But if I—if we—keep the knowledge to ourselves, we have the element of surprise.We can still have an effect a little bit at a time."

"Where is it now? This Book of yours?"

"I won't say it aloud.In case."

"Use telepathy."

"The tumor prevents me."

"Is that why you're telling me this now?Taking such a risk?"

"Yes.I might die from it. The tumor I mean. You need to know."

"You might be lucky to die from it.Beats the firing squad or starvation."

"This is true." Vlad takes a puff; the ash drops to his lap.He brushes it off.

"What do you do? How?"

Vlad says matter-of-factly: "I make the person feel the pain he's inflicted on others."

"How?"

"I expose the memory; it can't be repressed. It plays and replays permanently. Only if I stop it."

"Explain the principle."

"Later."He flicks the miniscule butt into the air, watching its ember drop to the frozen ground."Time for the demonstration."

At the edge of the yard—thirty feet away?—the young guard leans against the twelve foot post of the barb-wired fence.

"Watch him." Vladimir closes his eyes.

Thane does as he's told.

It's subtle at first.The guard seems to shift his weight.Then starts to look about.Suddenly he seems frightened.He ignores the two men on the bench.Something deeper is on his mind.

Something terrible.

He wants to scream, but can't.His head throbs. He crumbles to the ground, turning even more pale and ghastly.His mouth opens and shuts dumbly, terror-stricken, an unseen monster standing before him ready to devour.

"What's happening?"

"We go inside now; before the watch tower notices him."

Thane looks back as they slip in through the side door. Vlad shuts it, then carefully slides the bolt in place.

Submerged in darkness, their eyes adjust to the cracks of light piercing through the barrack wall slats.

"What just happened to him?"

"Now he feels only the pain of the man he shot in the firing squad yesterday.He is Shackled to it forever." Vladimir speaks calmly, almost inaudibly: "The moment he and the others pulled their triggers. The second the bullets tore through the flesh and ravaged the man's heart and guts.He experiences on the deepest levels of his consciousness the body thrown into the mass grave before it's fully dead, the weight of the dirt, the rich, suffocating smell of it filling his nostrils, his mouth, suffocating him, finishing the job his bullets started. Over and over. His very own Inferno."

"But he doesn't yell."

"Hell is always a private matter."

Thane catches his breath thinking of the possibilities."When do we start?"

"Tomorrow."

He watches Vlad fade down the row of bunks.

The chill is formidable.

10.

We're back in the Fort Ticonderoga Cave.

And now they know what's happened to "the poor sucker over there."

"So it's time to go back."

"Home?" He knows that's not what Thane means, but he can dream can't he?

"No, James, a little time traveling—back to 1759—back to rescue Roger Townshend."He looks at Daryl: "With a little help from me."

"Using your talent, I suppose?"He looks at Ran, endlessly winding and twisting.

"Indeed." He moves towards Ran."Although it's best to end the agony, isn't it?" He unfurls his hand dramatically, releasing a ball of flaming energy that hovers for a moment above the tortured man."You'll never succeed."It's a touch of unnecessary opera, but that's Thane's style.

The globe of scintillating light grows to encompass Ran who seems, particle by particle, quark by quark, to disintegrate before their eyes.A flurry of dust, a whisper of sound, a final dazzle of blue.

Gone.

"We should go now," Thane says."It's late."

The light coming through the cave opening is nearly extinguished.

Val, Daryl, and James are still stunned by the display of raw power.

"Please let me go back."James speaks softly, matter-of-factly. "Do what you have to, but let me go back."

"When we're through with Townshend." Thane doesn't even look at him.

Daryl says, "I thought you questioned this plan of mine."

"I do.You have no way of knowing if Townshend's rescue will accomplish anything.It's only a vivid guess."

"Perhaps, but I think it'll give the edge in the war with the Feeders."

"How?"Val asks.

Not listening to them, James tries a last time.It's just one word. Urgent. Hopeless:"Please."

But he's ignored again.

Daryl looks at Val with deeply yellow eyes:"Townshend's powerful; the soldier who kills him isn't one of us; he's just a Frenchman following orders, trying to win a war.Ours is a different war.One that needs the power of a Townshend.His survival means..."

"Yes, it could be an advantage, but we'll never know till we try.I can eliminate the Frenchman easily. Let's just do it.Stop the delay."

Thane winds his hand over his head, the air around the four of them scintillates, and begins to smell of smoke and gun powder.

11.

It's afternoon.

The sound of soldiers and guns outside the cave.

The four men in the cave stand quietly until the noise seems to retreat.

"Now."

Thane vanishes.

"Shit.What's he doing?" Daryl leaps towards the entrance, sticking his head out cautiously.

He sees:A soldier—a French uniform—frozen in place, terror in his eyes, his rifle poised, unfired.

Thane materializes behind him.

"Good night, sweet prince." From behind, he wipes his hand over the man's face.

The soldier crumbles.The same silent suffering they saw with Ran.

"This time we'll leave him be.No mercy. Shackled forever."He smirks."So now we can go back.No need to linger. Townshend survives this round.Let's see about your prediction Daryl Tudor. Time will tell.Will we return to a world we know?Will the Feeders still be thriving?"

"Yes, let's go."

Resonant, chilling, the voice fills the air.

Inches away from Thane, a form appears—naked, glowing, remarkable—powerful, athletic.

A man, but not a man.

A beast, but standing on its hind quarters.

A human's hands, but clawed.

A human's face, but longer, thinner, fanged.

A human's skin, but the hints of remarkable fur—black peppered with gray and brown.

"But I killed you."

And leaping, Ran tore Thane's throat in mid scream, across, slashed like this...