alike. We do the will of Christ as the Serpent did the will of God in Eden when he 
tempted Eve."
  "Come to our Temple," said one of the others, "and see the tree of life with the sacred 
Serpent wound around it. We have his fangs. We have his power. God made him, just as God 
made Judas Iscariot, or Cain, or the evil Emperors of Rome."
  "Ah," I said, "I see. Before you happened on the god in the cave, you were worshipers 
of the snake. You're Ophites, Sethians, Nassenians."
  "That was our first calling," said the boy. "But now we are of the Children of 
Darkness, committed to sacrifice and killing, dedicated to inflicting suffering."
  "Oh, Marcion and Valentinus," Marius whispered. "You don't know the names, do you? 
They're the poetic Gnostics who invented the morass of your philosophy a hundred years 
ago. Duality - that, in a Christian world, evil could be as powerful as good."
  "Yes, we know this." Several spoke at once. "We don't know those profane names. But we 
know the Serpent and what God wants of us."
  "Moses lifted the Serpent in the desert, up over his head," said the boy. "Even the 
Queen of Egypt knew the Serpent and wore him in her crown."
  "The story of the great Leviathan has been eradicated in Rome," said the woman. "They 
took it out of the sacred books. But we know it!"
  "So you learned all this from Armenian Christians," said Marius. "Or was it Syrians."
  A man, short of stature, with gray eyes, had not spoken all this while, but he stepped 
forward now and addressed Marius with considerable authority.
  "You hold ancient truths," he said, "and you use them profanely. All know of you. The 
blond Children of Darkness in the Northern woods know of you, and that you stole some 
important secret out of Egypt before the Birth of Christ. Many have come here, glimpsed 
you and the woman, and gone away in fear."
  "Very wise," said Marius.
  "What did you find in Egypt'?" asked the woman. "Christian monks live now in those old 
rooms that once belonged to a race of blood drinkers. The monks don't know about us, but 
we know all about them and you. There was writing there, there were secrets, there was 
something that by Divine Will belongs now in our hands."
  "No, there was nothing," said Marius.
  The woman spoke up again, "When the Hebrews left Egypt, when Moses parted the Red Sea, 
did the Hebrews leave something behind? Why did Moses raise the snake in the desert? Do 
you know how many we are? Nearly a hundred. We travel to the far North, to the South, and 
even to the East to lands you would not believe."
  I could see Marius was distraught.
  "Very well," I said, "we understand what you want and why you have been led to believe 
that we can satisfy you. I ask you, please, to go out in the Garden and let us speak. 
Respect our house. Don't harm our slaves."
  "We wouldn't dream of it."
  "And we'll be back shortly."
  I snatched Marius's hand and pulled him down the stairs.
  "Where are you going?" he whispered. "Block all images from your mind! They must 
glimpse nothing."
  "They won't glimpse," I said, "and from where I will stand as I talk to you, they won't 
hear either."
  He seemed to catch my meaning. I led him into the sanctuary of the unchanged Mother and 
Father, closing the stone doors behind me.
  I drew Marius behind the seated King and Queen.
  "They can probably hear the hearts of the Pair," I whispered in the softest manner 
audible. "But maybe they won't hear us over that sound. Now, we have to kill them, 
destroy them completely."
  Marius was amazed.
  "Look, you know we have to do this!" I said. "You have to kill them and anybody like 
them who ever comes near us. Why are you so shocked'? Get ready. The simplest way is cut 
them to pieces first, and then burn them."
  "Oh, Pandora," he sighed.
  "Marius, why do you cringe?"
  "I don't cringe, Pandora," he said. "I see myself irrevocably changed by such an act. 
To kill when I thirst, to keep to myself and keep these here who must be kept by 
somebody, that I have done for so long. But to become an executioner? To become like the 
Emperors burning Christians! To commence a war against this race, this order, this cult, 
whatever it is, to take such a stand."
  "No choice, come on. There are many decorative swords in the room where we sleep. We 
should take the big curved swords. And the torch. We should go to them and tell them how 
sorry we are for what we must impart to them, then do it!"
  He didn't answer.
  "Marius, are you going to let them go so that others will come after us? The only 
security lies in destroying every blood drinker who ever discovers us and the King and 
Queen."
  He walked away from me and stood before the Mother. He looked into her eyes. I knew 
that he was silently talking to her. And I knew that she was not answering.
  "There is one other possibility," I said, "and it's quite real." I beckoned for him to 
come back, behind them, where I felt safest to plot.
  "What is it?" he asked.
  "Give the King and the Queen over to them. And you and I are free. They will care for 
the King and Queen with religious fervor! Maybe the King and Queen will even allow them 
to drink -"
  "That's unspeakable!" he said.
  "Exactly my feelings. We shall never know if we are safe. And they shall run rampant 
through the world like supernatural rodents. So do you have a third plan?"
  "No, but I'm ready. We use the fire and the swords together. Can you tell the lies that 
will charm them as we approach, armed and carrying torches?"
  "Oh, yes, of course," I said.
  We went into the chamber and took up the big curved swords that were keenly sharp and 
came from the desert world of the Arabs. We lighted another torch from that at the foot 
of the stairs and we went up together.
  "Come to me, Children," I said as I entered the room, loudly, "come, for what I have to 
reveal requires the light of this torch, and you will soon know the sacred purpose of 
this sword. How devout you are."
  We stood before them.
  "How young you are!" I said.
  Suddenly, the panic swept them together. They made it so simple for us by clustering in 
this manner that we had the task done in moments, lighting their garments, hacking their 
limbs, ignoring their piteous cries.
  Never had I used my full strength and speed, never my full will, as I did against them. 
It was exhilarating to slash them, to force the torch upon them, to slash them until they 
fell, until they lost all life. Also, I did not want them to suffer.
  Because they were so young, so very young as blood drinkers, it took quite some time to 
burn the bones, to see that all was ashes.