Twilight Fulfilled by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page A

of the DPI.
    Because she had hesitated to act—because she’d been shaken by a kiss, like a high school girl with her first crush—the two most powerful enemies her kind had ever faced had joined forces.
    What the hell was she going to do now?

6
    U tana sat in a small but comfortable seat near a round porthole, and watched the ground beneath him grow smaller and smaller as they rose, carried in the belly of the oversize man-made bird, until at last they ascended into the clouds and the ground became invisible.
    â€œWe are flying,” he whispered, awed. And then, despite the rolling and tumbling of his stomach, he searched the skies.
    â€œWhat are you looking for, my king?” Nashmun asked.
    â€œ An . The abode of the gods.”
    There had been mild amusement in the other man’s tone, though Utana did not look to see if the expression on his face matched it. Did Nashmun dare to laugh at him?
    â€œNo one has ever seen it. Though we have flown as high as the moon itself.”
    â€œNo!” Utana’s eyes snapped toward the other man to see if he was making fun of him, taunting his apparent innocence by telling such a wild lie.
    But Nashmun appeared serious. “Yes. We’ve sent spaceships to the moon and beyond, but we haven’t yet found heaven—um, An, as you call it.”
    Utana mulled on that for a moment and then nodded. “The gods made it…un-visible.”
    â€œInvisible.”
    â€œYes. They do not reveal it lest man ascend before he is worthy.”
    â€œThat’s probably it.”
    Utana bent his brows, certain this time of the sarcasm in the other man’s tone and expression. “You do not believe.”
    â€œMy king, I don’t pretend to know one way or the other. Many people in this time no longer believe in the existence of gods and demons.” Nashmun shrugged. “Then again, most of them didn’t believe in the existence of vampires until recently. So who’s to say what’s real and what’s not?”
    â€œ I say,” Utana told him, angered and insulted—shocked in fact—that anyone would doubt something as real to him as day and night, or sun and moon. “If the gods are not real, who sent the Great Flood? Who allowed me to survive it? Who granted me life eternal, and then punished me so harshly when I shared that gift? Who, if not the gods themselves?”
    The man bowed his head deeply. “You are right, of course, Utana, and I’m sorry if my words offended you.”
    â€œBest you remember, Nashmun. In my time, I was not king only. I was priest, also. And while the mantle of rulership is temporary, the initiation into the service of the gods is forever. A priest once is a priest always.” Utana turned his eyes toward the sky once more. “I will pray to them now. Surely they will hear me well, this close to their abode.”
    Nashmun nodded rapidly, perhaps made nervous by the passion with which Utana had spoken. “I’ll, um, I’ll go up to the cockpit with the pilot for a bit, to give you some privacy. But be very careful moving around. If we hit turbulence—um, rough air, heavy wind—” he clarified, gesturing wildly to illustrate “—the plane will shake. You might fall down.” He started to walk away, up the aisle, then paused to look back. “Also, it would be unwise—dangerous, even—to make any fires inside the airplane, all right?” He opened his fingers, palm in front of his eyes, when he said the word fires .
    Utana nodded, smiling slightly at the way the man gestured with his hands, as if he were speaking to a dull-minded person, or perhaps to one who could not hear at all.
    The “fire” gesture reminded Utana of the way Brigit had flicked her fingers open when trying to kill him. Beautiful, the way she moved. Everythingabout her was beautiful. He’d committed a grave sin against her, as he’d held her