5 EPILOGUE I stand near my hut in India. Inside, my daughter, Lalita, and my husband, Rama, sleep peacefully. Although it is late at night and the forest is silent, a faint noise has awoken me and brought me outside to investigate. It is Yaksha who made the noise. He has come for me. Holding me in his powerful hands, he makes a terrible offer. I can come with him and become like him. A monster who feeds on the blood of the living. A creature as strong as him, one who even time cannot destroy. All I have to do is leave my family and promise to stay with him. If I refuse, Yaksha will kill Lalita and Rama. I have no choice. Or I should say I had no choice. Unknown to Yaksha I hold a sharp wooden stake in my right hand. I wear a loose-fitting white sari and keep the dagger hidden behind the folds of silk. Even with his great strength and reflexes, he can still be killed. He is not expecting an attack. And he stands so near. . . . If I thrust upward beneath the tip of his sternum, drive the stake into his heart, he will die and my life will go on as it should.
