Blood and Gold - Anne Rice [211]
“Ah, she’s done this,” I said, desperately trying to conceal my emotion. “She wants to be discovered by me.” I paused. “This is painful for me,” I said. “I wonder if the one who travels with her even knows her by that name. Ah, this is painful, but why do you assist me?”
“By my very life, I don’t know,” he said, “except somehow I believe in you.”
“What do you mean believe, believe that I’m a wonder? That I’m a demon? Believe what, Raymond, tell me? Oh, never mind, it doesn’t matter, does it? We do things because our hearts impel us.”
“Marius, my friend,” he said, leaning forward and touching my knee with his right hand, “long ago in Venice when I spied upon you, you know that I spoke to you with the purity of my mind. I read your thoughts also. I knew that you slew only those who were the degraded killers of their own sisters or brothers.”
“That’s true, Raymond, and it was that way with Pandora. But is it now?”
“Yes, I think so,” he said, “for every ghastly crime imputed to the vampires whom these creatures may in fact be is connected to one who was known to be guilty of many murders. So you see it’s not difficult for me to help you.”
“Ah, so she is true to our vow,” I whispered. “I didn’t think so, not when I heard of her harsh companion.”
I looked intently at Raymond, seeing with every passing moment more of the young man I had once known so briefly. It was saddening to me. It was dreadful. And the more I felt it, the more I tried to conceal it.
What was my suffering to this, the slow triumph of old age? Nothing.
“Where was she seen last?” I asked.
“On that point,” he said, “allow me to give you my interpretation of her behavior. She and her companion follow a pattern in their roamings. They go in rude circles, returning over and over again to one city. Once they have been some time in that city they begin their circles once more until they have gone as far afield as Russia. The central city of which I speak is Dresden.”
“Dresden!” I said. “I don’t know the place. I’ve never been there.”
“Oh, it cannot rival your gorgeous Italian cities. It cannot equal Paris or London. But it is the capital of Saxony and it lies on the Elbe River. It has been much adorned by the various Dukes who have ruled there. And invariably, I say invariably, these creatures—Pandora and her companion—return to Dresden. It may not be for twenty years, but they come back to Dresden.”
I fell silent in my excitement. Was this some pattern meant for me to interpret? Was this pattern meant for me to discover? Was it like a great round spiderweb meant sooner or later to ensnare me?
Why else would Pandora and her companion follow such a life? I couldn’t imagine it. But how did I dare to think Pandora even remembered me. She had written her name in the stone of the church wall, not mine.
At last I heaved a great sigh.
“How can I tell you what all this means to me?” I asked. “You have given me marvelous news. I’ll find her.”
“Now,” he said in the most confident manner, “shall we take up the other matter which I mentioned to you in my letter?”
“Amadeo,” I whispered. “What happened to the infidel? I sense no blood drinker in this place. Am I deceived? The creature’s either very far afield or he’s left you.”
“The monster left us soon after I wrote to you. When he realized he could hunt for his victims throughout the countryside, he was gone. We could do nothing to control him. Our appeals to him that he feed only on evil men meant nothing to him. I don’t even know if he still exists.”
“You must guard yourselves against this individual,” I said. I looked about myself at the spacious stone room. “This seems a castle of remarkable size and strength. Nevertheless, we speak of a blood drinker.”
He nodded.
“We are well protected here, Marius. We do not admit everyone as we admitted you, take my word for it. But would you hear now what he told us?”
I bowed my head. I knew what Raymond would tell me.
“The Satan worshipers,” I said, using the more specific words, “the very ones who burnt my house in Venice, they prey upon humans in Paris. And my