‘Listen to me,’ said Dragosani.
‘ – I don’t even know what you are! Dragosani, I – ‘
Dragosani back-handed him, bruising his mouth and jerking his head round on his scrawny neck. ‘Listen, I said!’
When Giresci turned his watering eyes back to Dragosani, they had gone wide with shock. ‘I. . . I’m listening.’
Two things,’ Dragosani told him. ‘One: you will tell no one else about Faethor Ferenczy or what you’ve discovered of him. Two: you will never mention the name of Thibor Ferenczy again, or ever attempt to learn more than you already know of him. Is this understood?’
Giresci nodded, and in the next second his eyes went wider still. ‘Y – you?’ he said.
Dragosani laughed, however shrilly. ‘Me? Man, if I were Thibor you’d be dead now. No, but I know of him -and now he knows of you!’ He turned towards the door, paused and tossed back over his shoulder: ‘It’s possible you’ll be hearing from me. Till then, goodbye. And Giresci – mark well what I’ve said.’
Leaving the house and moving into sunlight, Dragosani groaned and gritted his teeth . . . but the sun did him no harm. Still, he doubted if he would ever feel entirely comfortable under its rays again. It was not Dragosani who had felt the sun’s sting in Giresci’s house but Thibor, the old devil in the ground. Thibor, who in that moment of time had been ascendant, in control! But even knowing that it was so, still Dragosani was glad to get out of the direct sunlight and into his car. The interior of the big Volga was like a furnace, but the heat was in no way supernatural. As Dragosani wound the windows down and pulled away, heading for the main road, so the temperature dropped and he breathed easier.
And only then did he reach into his mind to dig out the leech-thing which was still hiding there. For he knew that if Thibor could reach him, then surely he could reach Thibor.
‘Oh, yes, I know your name now, old devil,’ he said. It was you, Thibor, wasn’t it, back there at Giresci’s? It was you, guiding my tongue, asking him those questions?’
For a moment there was nothing. Then:
/ won’t deny it, Dragosani. But let’s be reasonable: 1 did little to hide the fact of my presence. And no harm done. I was merely –
‘You were testing your power!’ Dragosani snapped. ‘You tried to usurp my mind! You’ve been trying to do so for the last three years – and might have succeeded if I hadn’t been so far away! I see it all now.’
What? Accusations? Remember, Dragosani, it was you came to me that time. Of your own free will, you invited me into your mind. You asked for my help with the woman, and I gave it willingly.
Too willingly!’ Dragosani was bitter. ‘I hurt that girl -or you did, through me. Your lust in my body … I could barely control it. I might easily have killed her!’
You enjoyed it. (A sly whisper.)
‘No, you enjoyed it! I was carried along by it. Well, and maybe she deserved it – but I don’t deserve you sneaking into my mind like a thief to steal my thoughts. And your lust has stayed in my body – which you must have known it would! My invitation wasn’t permanent, old dragon. Anyway, I’ve learned my lesson. You’re not to be trusted. Not in any way. You’re treacherous.’
What? the voice in Dragosani’s head made mock of him. /, treacherous? Dragosani, I am your father. . .
‘Father of lies!’ Dragosani answered.
How have I lied?
‘In many ways. You were weak three years ago, and I brought you food. I gave you back a measure of your strength. You scorned pig’s blood and said it was good only for freshening the earth. A lie! It freshened you. It gave you a lasting strength sufficient that you could reach out your mind to me even these three years later and in the full light of day! Well, I’ll feed you no more. Also, you said sunlight would merely irritate you. Another lie, for I’ve felt how it burns you. And how many other lies have you told to me? No, Thibor, you do nothing except for your own advantage. I always guessed it, but now I know for sure.’