Area 51: Nosferatu-8
Vampyr has plans to gather our blood also."
    "He would kill his own?" Adrik asked.
    "Vampyr does what he wills, whenever he wants," Nosferatu said. "If he decides he wants our blood, he will let nothing stand in his way."
    "But you would not take his blood," Tian Dao Lin noted. "So what other sources of Airlia blood are there?"
    Nosferatu leaned back in his chair. He glanced at Adrik. "As you are well aware, the SS screened vast amounts of blood in their concentration camps, searching for any that might be special, although they didn't know exactly what was special about it. The SS was corrupted by the Mission and Aspasia's Shadow, who were seeking traces of the Airlia blood as he finally knew why it was important. He used a blood ceremony for initiation into the SS. During that ceremony, top members of the SS re-

    11

    ceived minute portions of the virus, most likely that which Aspasia's Shadow recovered from the Ones Who Wait, whom he killed.

    "That is why Dr. Von Seeckt, who eventually ended up on the American Majestic-12 committee, managed to live so long and survive his illness as long as he did.
    As did other Nazis who escaped after the war."
    "I know of what you speak," Adrik said. "But I lost track of that blood at the end of the war. For a while I thought the Mission moved it to South America via the Odessa link."
    Nosferatu shook his head. "No. The ceremony was held at the SS castle at Wevelsburg in Bavaria and the blood was stored there. As the Americans closed in on it at the end of the Second World War, it was your Russians who sent in a parachute team to recover what they could. They brought everything they found back to Moscow, including the blood.
    "Not only that," Nosferatu continued, "but a part of Section IV from the KGB—the Russian equivalent of America's Majestic-12—knew from the Nazi documents that a particular strain of blood was important and began to see if it could find more. Deep under Moscow, there is a chamber that contains what Aspasia's Shadow brought to the SS and what was scavenged out of the concentration camps by the SS and by the KGB during the Cold War from prisoners at Lubyanka and in the Gulags. If you agree, it will be your job"—he inclined his head toward Adrik—"to use your resources to recover this. I believe you have the power to do it."
    Adrik made no commitment, waiting to see what else the Eldest had to propose.
    "Two." Nosferatu held up another finger. "The Ones Who Wait. They were like us—half-human, half-Airlia—

    12

    except cloned. They had some of the virus, which accounted for their extended lives. I know where we can find some of their bodies. Intact and preserved." He turned to Tian Dao Lin. "This will be your responsibility, my old friend."
    "And where would I find these preserved bodies?" Tian Dao Lin quietly asked.
    "Mount Everest. Where Merlin took the great sword Excalibur so many years ago.
    Several Ones Who Wait were recently sent by Artad to recover the sword and failed. Their bodies are still up there. Frozen. Three of them."
    Tian Dao Lin steepled his fingers as he considered this.
    "And the third source?" Adrik asked,
    "That is most important and most difficult to get to," Nosferatu said. "Pure Airlia blood. Preserved. Waiting to be harvested."
    "Where?"Tian Dao Lin was leaning forward, his interest obvious. Adrik was also edging forward in his chair.
    Nosferatu pointed up. "The first mothership from Area 51. Aspasia's. The one the human soldier Turcotte destroyed when Aspasia tried to return to Earth from Mars aboard his Talon spacecraft."
    "How will one get to that?" Adrik asked. "The American shuttle fleet was devastated during the recent war and it is not likely they would kindly allow us to use one anyway. Russia's ability to launch a manned mission into orbit is practically nonexistent after recent events."
    "I have something in the works," Nosferatu said.
    The other two waited. Nosferatu pressed a button. Vampyr's face disappeared from the

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