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I would have made some cruel joke about his fully deserving it andhow he'd meet so many of our kind down there, subject to a specialsort of vampiric torment, far worse than mere damned mortals everexperienced. I shuddered.
"Good God," I said under my breath.
"You said you've seen it?""Not quite. I was ... somewhere, it's not important. I think NewYork again, yes, back here with him?
"The victim.""Yes, following him. He had some transaction at an art gallery.
Midtown. He's quite a smuggler. It's all part of his peculiar personality,that he loves beautiful and ancient objects, the sort of tilings youlove, David. I mean, when I finally do make a meal of him, I mightbring you one of his treasures."David said nothing, but I could see this was distasteful to him, theidea of purloining something precious from someone whom I hadnot yet killed but was surely to kill.
"Medieval books, crosses, jewelry, relics, that's the sort of thinghe deals in. It's what got him into the dope, ransoming church artthat had been lost during the Second World War in Europe, youknow, priceless statues of angels and saints that had been pillaged.
He's got his most valued treasures stashed in a flat on the Upper EastSide. His big secret. I think the dope money started as a means to anend. Somebody had something he wanted. I don't know. I read hismind and then I tire of it. And he's evil, and all those relics have nomagic, and I'm going to Hell.""Not so fast," he said. "The Stalker. You said you saw something.
What did you see?"I fell silent. I had dreaded this moment. I had not tried to describethese experiences even to myself. But I had to continue. I had calledDavid here for help. I had to explain.
"We were outside, out there on Fifth Avenue; he梩he Victim?
was traveling in a car, uptown, and I knew the general direction, thesecret flat where he keeps his treasures.
"I was merely walking, human style. I stopped at a hotel. I wentinside to see the flowers. You know, in these hotels you can alwaysfind flowers. When you think you're losing your mind on account ofwinter, you can go into these hotels and find lavish bouquets of themost overwhelming lilies.""Yes," he said with a little soft, halfhearted sigh. "I know.""I was in the lobby. I was looking at this huge bouquet. I wantedto ... to, ah ... leave some sort of offering, as if it were a church ...
to those who'd made this bouquet, something like that, and I wasthinking to myself, Maybe I should kill the Victim, and then ... Iswear this is the way it was, David?
"梩he ground was gone. The hotel was gone. I wasn't anywhereor anchored to anything, and yet I was surrounded by people, peoplehowling and chattering and screaming and crying, and laughing, yes,actually laughing, and all this was happening simultaneously, and thelight, David, the light was blinding. This wasn't darkness, this wasn'tthe cliched flames of the inferno, and I reached out. I didn't do thiswith my arms. I couldn't find my arms. I reached out with everything,every limb, every fiber, just trying to touch something, to regainequilibrium, and then I realized I was standing on terra firma, andthis Being was in front of me, its shadow was falling over me. Look, Idon't have any words for this. It was horrific. It was very certainly theworst thing I've ever seen! The light was shining behind it, and itstood between me and this light and it had a face, and the face wasdark, extremely dark, and as I looked at it I lost all control. I musthave roared. Yet I have no idea if in the real world I made a sound.
"When I came to my senses, I was still there, in the lobby. Everythinglooked ordinary, and it was as if I'd been in that other place foryears and years, and all sorts of fragments of memory were slippingaway from me, flying away from me, so fast that I couldn't catch anyone thought or finished proposition or suggestion.
"All I could remember with any certainty is what I just told you. Istood there. I looked at the flowers. Nobody in the lobby noticed me.
I pretended everything was normal. But I kept trying to remember,kept chasing these fragments, beset by bits and pieces of talk, orthreat or description, and I kept seeing very clearly this truly uglydark Being before me, exactly the sort of demon you'd create if youwanted to drive someone right out of his reason. I kept seeing thisface and....""Yes?"". . . I've seen him twice again.", I realized I was mopping my forehead with the little napkin thewaiter had given me. He'd come again. David placed an order. Thenhe leant close to me.
"You think you've seen the Devil.""There's not much else that could frighten me, David," I said.
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