The clouds that could be dimly seen at the horizon's edge were as red as the fire that consumed the Father's house.

Helman stood on a hilltop overlooking the Rand estate and watched the fire he had started eat away at the last resting place of the woman he had loved.

His nephews were safely hidden in the sub-basement by the pumping equipment. The fire would not reach them. If what Weston had said were true then they would be safe from human discovery for a week at least. The small game in the bush and forests would sustain them for the time being. Helman regretted that he couldn't take them with him, but he was confident that he would return for them soon.

The night would be short for all he had planned to do. He took one last, look at the spreading fire and turned away.

Something in the tall grass hissed his name.

Helman froze. His heightened senses detected subtle movement from a section of the grass to his right. Something was moving toward him.

The grass flattened before him.

Something unspeakable emerged.

It was a giant white slug thing, covered in thick raised weals of flesh. Two dark, human-seeming eyes peered out at him from a bulbous mass of scar tissue at one end. What he thought had been its tail swung around. It was an arm.

This thing was Eduardo Diego y Rey. Lord of the Conclave.

"Helman," it hissed at him again. Its mouth was swollen shut from the dozens of deep slashes that Adrienne had inflicted on the balcony. Its words were slurred and indistinct.

"You are one of usss now, Helman. You must help me. Take me to sssanctuary with you. You must."

The thing pulsated slowly in the grass. It was forced to breathe deeply to force air down its multiply severed throat.

"I may be one like Adrienne. But I'll never be one like the Conclave. Never," Helman said to it. "Humanity will survive. I have the power, now."

It looked as if a smile was being forced through the lumps of scar tissue.

"Of course humanity will sssurvive," it gasped at him. "Where would the yber be without the living blood of humansss? Where would you be now, Helman? We are far ahead of your governmentsss and ssscientists. The girl showed us the way. It'sss all part of the Final Plan, Helman."

"What final plan? What did she show you?"

"That our gift isss not from the powersss of Hell. It'sss like a disease. Or a mutation."

"You know about that?"

"Far ahead, yesss. Far, far ahead. We have the cure, Helman. We have the cure. Interferon from the blood of life. All our familiars take it. Immunity from the cancer plague. Immunity for all the humansss we choose. The Final Plan is the final cure. Humanity survivesss as our food supply. Asss it should be. Yesss? You'll take me to sanctuary and I'll tell you more?"

Helman felt the primitive anger he had seen in Adrienne course through him.

"You disgust me," he snarled at Diego. "You don't even deserve to crawl."

Helman reached down and grabbed at Diego's one aim. New strength burned through his muscles. Diego's mangled arm was no match. Helman braced a foot against Diego's shoulder and pulled and twisted brutally.

The arm ripped out from its socket. Diego's screams split the night air.

The arm dissolved in Helman's hands.

Diego's torso writhed and twisted in horror.

"I can't move," it screamed. "I'll never reach sssanctuary. The sssun will find me. The sun will find me!"

Helman walked around the gnashing white mound.

"Come back! The sun. The sun!"

When Helman had gone about a mile the screams were feint and hard to hear. After two miles, there was nothing.

Helman kept walking. The arrow wounds in his legs and arms were completely healed and he was surprised at the energy he felt. The only discomfort he felt was in his mouth. His incisors had fallen out while he slept during the day and the new ones were painful as they were erupting through his gums.

But he knew it would pass. And he knew he would need them soon. He could feel the thirst grow within him.

Highway 101 was still about five miles away. He could cover that easily in an hour. He could hitch up to Salinas by daybreak and find a quiet, safe church to sleep in.

Tomorrow night he would be in San Francisco and he would meet with the doctor whose name was written on the slip of paper that Weston had put into his weapon harness.

The doctor was an epidemiologist. He had made some surprising discoveries recently concerning the distribution of carcinomas in communities with little or no air pollution.

He had also turned down all of the Nevada Project's covert offers to accept much higher paying positions in Canada and France to conduct research on anything except carcinoma distribution. He had proved very stubborn to Weston.

So much so that Weston had written the words 'car accident' beside his name.

Helman took that to mean that the doctor was very close to the truth. Helman hoped so. It would mean that the explanations he would have to make would be simpler.

But then again, Helman thought as he checked out the new length of his rapidly growing fingernails and rubbed them experimentally across his neck, perhaps this first explanation would be even easier if he left all the talk for later and simply began by offering the doctor a drink. He felt certain that the doctor would find it indescribable.

Acknowledgements I owe a special debt of gratitude to the original publishers of Bloodshift Ellen Aggar, Mr. Beatty, Susan Bermingham, Mark Biller, Mr. Church, Dean Cooke, Peter Doyle, Maureen Ford, Warren Knechtel, Robert Massoud, Thad Mcllroy, Rob Mitchell, Gary Murphy, Steve Osborne, Susan Perry, Dawn Philips, Grace Philips, Keesha Lorraine Philips, Joel Sears, Peter Selk, Ruth Shamal, Tom Walmsley, Walter Warner, Robert Webster, Mel Wilson, Graham Yost, and our faithful bank messenger, Mr. Gorilla-aka Virgo Press, 1977-1981.

"...for one brief shining moment..."

-GRS.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

GARFIELD REEVES-STEVENS writes novels acclaimed for their compelling combinations of best-selling genres, including those of suspense, thriller, horror, and science fiction. His first novel Bloodshift, published in 1981, is scheduled to be filmed as Phoenix: The Final Cure in 1988. His other novels include Dreamland (1986), Children of the Shroud (1987), and the forthcoming Nighteyes (1888). With his wife, Judith, he has also co-authored the Science Around Me series of primary science textbooks, a collection of interactive reading and writing software for children, as well as the Star Trek novel, The Followers. Mr. Reeves-Stevens lives outside Toronto where he is writing several new novels, including Darktown, the exciting sequel to Bloodshift.