"She is dead?" Diego asked.

"It appears so, but Rice says the conditions are such that we cannot be sure."

Diego sat up on the bed. Dried blood had crusted on the corners of his mouth. "Explain," he said.

King told the story Helman had told Rice.

"So," he concluded, "either she was impaled by debris in the explosion and her body dissolved or, she simply left that pile of clothing as an attempt to deceive us."

"What is your conclusion, Mr. King?"

"In the confusion of the explosion, I don't believe she would have had time to create so elaborate a ruse, especially down to the detail of leaving a thick white fluid intermingled with the remains of her clothing. I believe she has been dissolved. The threat is ended. The human may be killed."

Diego ran his fingers around his mouth, removing the caked blood. "I agree with you, Mr. King. She wouldn't have enough time to prepare her clothes in that manner. But there is a third possibility."

"Which is?"

"She and the human may be working together."

"Impossible!" "Don't be so quick, Mr. King. Do you know how the woman came by her Communion?"

"She was one of the Unbidden during the second major war in the homelands."

"Do you know what happened to her original mentor?"

"I have not heard the full story."

"He was dissolved by debris in an explosion exactly at the moment of transition from the first life to the second.

Apparently the woman was literally drenched in the blood of life. It was enough for her to survive Communion."

King understood immediately. "Dissolved in the debris from an explosion," he repeated.

"Precisely, Mr. King. It's too convenient a story the second time around. She would not have had time to prepare her clothes, but she would have time to tell the human the story so he would tell us."

"But why would she work with the human who tried to kill her?"

"He is, it would seem quite resourceful. She has no familiars, no contacts in North America. I think she has made a wise decision."

"If your conclusion is true, my Lord, what are we to do?"

"We are to win, Mr. King. We are to win."

King stayed silent. He knew better than to question a Lord of the Conclave.

"Of first importance," Diego continued, "is keeping the woman from contacting Washington-"

"You believe the claims of the Jesuit?"

"That the woman and Washington are somehow conspiring to enter into some form of alliance, yes. About Armageddon and all the other nonsense the Jesuits are fond of spouting, no. Our second goal, of course, is to kill her.

Whom do we have in California?"

"Matheson, my Lord. But why California?"

"The woman is young, Mr. King. Still predictable. She has run out of options. She knows, despite her assassin human, that it is just a matter of time before the Conclave prevails. Her Final Death cannot be far away. In such a position, what would you do?"

King paused a moment. He could think of nothing.

"Pretend to repent," he offered, weakly. "Give myself to the Jesuits in return for forgiveness and sanctuary." "Not even the Jesuits are so stupid, Mr. King. Where in the world is there a place safe from the influence of the Conclave?"

King had no reply.

"You have heard of the birthplace, have you not?"

"Nacimiento?"

Diego smiled, his fangs brilliantly white, devastatingly sharp. "Nacimiento," he agreed. "The fortress of the Father.

Alone among all yber, he is free of the Conclave."

King was shaken. He had never thought of the Father as a possible refuge for the woman because it was unthinkable. The woman would not live a single night if she dared to intrude upon the Father's domain. Likewise, the Conclave could not survive the dissension if Diego advised the yber to move against him. He was the Father, Mentor to hundreds who still lived as yber. It was impossible.

"Surely, My Lord, you must-"

Diego spat at King. "Watch your tongue or you may be watching the next sunrise."

King checked his comment. He wouldn't risk it.

Diego resumed in a more natural, for yber, voice.

"Does Rice have watchers at all the points of exit for Toronto?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"You will tell him to remove them."

"Should we not maintain our watch on the human?" "Why? If he returns to his sister, we shall have him. If he travels with the woman to Nacimiento, again we shall have him. He has only two destinations. We shall be at each, yes?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"You will contact Matheson in California. In the end the woman will arrive there. Rice must do nothing to prevent it. We dare not risk another failed operation. It will take her at least two nights of travel to arrive. We will be prepared for her this time. And this time, I will be there to deal with her myself."

"Yes, my Lord."

"When you have reached Matheson, put him through to me in the meeting room. Then you will travel to New Hampshire. West Heparton, I believe you called it."

The human assassin was to be punished, King thought. "The sister, my Lord?"

Diego nodded. "And the children, Mr. King. After you have killed the sister, bring the children to me. I wish this human to see what happens to those who defy the Conclave."

"Yes, my Lord."

"And take this thing with you as you leave," Diego waved his claws at the crumpled form of the girl beside the bed.

King stooped to pick her up. Her body sprawled lightly in his arms. He would take her to the furnace like the others.

Diego watched him leave impassively. Already his mind had moved on to the nights ahead. How perfectly events were transpiring. The woman and her human would run straight to the only protection she believed still existed for her. And it would be Diego's trap. What's more, in that trap, the Father could finally be given the Final Death. Not out of revenge or maliciousness, but as a signal to the rest of the yber that the old times were coming to an end. The order would be reversed. And when it was, so would the Conclave change. In a world where humans were in the total control of the yber, a world after the Final Plan had taken hold, there would be much more to be gained by standing against the old ways of the Conclave. Diego planned to gain it all.

But first there would be the last battle at the birth-place. The woman would die, the last hope of the humans would the, and of course the human who had caused all of this trouble would die, after he had seen his beloved sister's children taken to the bed of Diego and consumed.

He left the bedroom and walked naked to the meeting room. He must arrange the conditions with Matheson. And he must send another message to the Jesuits. Not only could the yber rid themselves of many of the priests there, but the blame for the Father's death could be placed on them, too. Yes, it was all arranging itself perfectly he thought. This victory will be sweet.

As sweet as the blood of the children. Part Three THE CLOSING.

One.

To the others sitting in the departure lounge, Helman was nondescript and appeared somehow removed from his immediate physical surroundings. Daydreaming perhaps, even though it was near midnight; maybe just one of those people who was apprehensive of flying. But within himself, Helman raged.

The redeye flight to Vancouver was due to receive its passengers within minutes. There was still no sign of Adrienne.

Pearson International Airport, January 18 They had split up outside a small church in Toronto's east end where one of Adrienne's sanctuaries had been. It was the one in which she had cached two flight bags and a small hard-sided suitcase. She said they contained her notes and the results of some of the work Dr. Leung had begun. Helman had checked the suitcase through to Vancouver on the all-night flight in his own name. He carried both of the flight bags. It was important that she not have any luggage, but she would not tell him why. She had told him, that, as a matter of course, whether or not Mr. Rice had believed Helman's story about finding her impaled clothes, he would have an yber standing by any port of exit from the city. So Helman had gone ahead of her, purchased the tickets-hers left behind to be picked up at the customer service desk-and taken care of the luggage. She had said that she would come aboard at the last minute. The less time she stayed in one place in the airport, the less chance that another yber would sense her and be able to stop her. Apparently she was not concerned if they sensed her and discovered which flight she was on. She was only worried that they might do something to try to stop her from boarding.

A flight attendant began calling out row numbers to begin the boarding procedure. People began milling about the exit of the departure lounge leading to the embarking tunnel. Still no sign of Adrienne.

Helman's section was called. He stayed seated, trying to control the anxiety he felt. If they got Adrienne, his sister would be next. And the children. He wondered if Weston had gotten his agents to them in time. He wondered if they would do any good even if they arrived in time. Adrienne had to make it.

The last of the passengers were leaving the lounge. A flight attendant walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir, are you-"

There was the sound of running in the corridor. Helman wheeled around in his chair. It was Adrienne, moving rapidly. He looked past her. His hand moved uselessly to where his shoulder holster would normally be. He had not had any way to bring his weapons past the metal detectors and the x-ray machine of the security checkpoints.

Adrienne was running and he was defenceless.

She stopped in front of the check-in desk, holding Her ticket before her. Helman watched the people beyond her in the corridor carefully. No one appeared to be following her.

"Excuse me, sir," the flight attendant began again. "If you're going to Vancouver, all passengers must board now."

She saw Helman was watching the running woman check in. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Were you waiting for her?"

Helman shook his head. "No. Don't know her. Must have been falling asleep I guess." He yawned convincingly, got up and went through the lounge exit. He could hear Adrienne walking behind him. He slowed his pace to allow her to catch up in the tunnel. For a few moments they were alone in it; the flight attendants were checking paperwork back in the lounge.

"Did they pick you up?" he asked her in an urgent whisper. "No," she said. After all the running, she was not out of breath. But she looked worried. "I didn't pick them up, either. It was as if they didn't have anyone watching the airport."

"If my story were believed, couldn't the watchers have been called off?"

They rounded the corner of the tunnel. Two flight attendants waited by the plane's hatchway.

"I don't think that's likely," she said in a pleasant, conversational tone.

"Why not?" he asked, equally jovial.

She gave him a quick glance, and smiled at the flight attendants as she showed her boarding pass to them.

They walked down one of the narrow aisles of the plane. Helman's seat was behind hers by several rows. She had said it was very important they not be connected to one another in anyone's eyes. Again she had refused to say why.

Helman stopped behind another passenger who had opened the compartment above a seat and was filling it with flight bags and coats.

Adrienne moved closely behind Helman. He heard her whisper.

"The only reason they wouldn't be looking for me, for us, at the airport, is because they already know where we're going to be."

"Is that possible?" he whispered back.

"There aren't many options," she said.

The other passenger had sat down. Other people waited behind Helman. He moved on to his seat, confused and apprehensive.

What would be waiting for them in Vancouver?

Two.

The children were sleeping.

New Hampshire, West Heparton, January 18 Miriam sat up in her bedroom. A half-read book lay open on the night table. Granger's Remington lay beside her on the bed. For the past two days she had seen watchers in the woods behind her farmhouse and across the road. She had not let Steven and Campbell go to school. But Granger would be home soon and everything would be back to normal.

At least, she thought, the farmhouse is so rickety, no one could move through it without making the floorboards and the stairs creak up a storm.

The house was silent.

She watched in horror as her bedroom door swung open without a squeak of protest. It has to be a dream, she thought. And then they were on her so quickly she didn't even have a chance to scream.