He saw the bandage on her neck. That stupid little bitch. She couldn’t do anything right.

Cade was still alive.

He was ready to unleash his full venom on her when she spoke.

“I want what you owe me,” Helen said.

Konrad had centuries of practice at hiding his true thoughts, but, even so, he nearly laughed out loud. She was trying to lie her way out of her failure.

Unbelievable. He thought about slapping her. Or killing her with his bare hands. All his effort, for nothing.

But it was irrelevant, really. He was out of time. So was Helen. She just didn’t know it yet.

He forced a smile. “Come in, my dear.”

She stepped into his living room, over the stain on the floor where the pimp’s body had rested. It was barely visible. Ken had sent the Company’s cleaners, and they did a good job. Even with the really weird shit.

She sat down on the uncomfortable, low-slung couch. He went to the bar. “Do you want a drink?”

“I want what you owe me,” she said again.

“The plan isn’t yet complete,” Konrad said. “Not until after the attack. We agreed—”

“I’ve done everything you asked,” Helen said. “I don’t want to wait until after the operation is over. It’s time for you to meet your end.”

He turned, a glass of champagne in his hand. “You’re right.”

Helen froze. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, handing her the glass. “I’m going to give you what you’re owed. It’s time.”

She took the champagne with trembling fingers. “Is this . . . ?”

He smiled. “No. I thought you’d be in the mood to celebrate.”

She downed the drink in one gulp and then threw it across the room. Before he could say anything else, she sank to her knees before him, already tugging on the belt of his slacks.

He grunted with satisfaction. “You know, you could have just said thank you.”

None of it really seemed to touch her. She was finally going to be free. Free of fear. Free of the worry of sagging, coughing, pissing, spitting up blood, all those sad biological functions that take over your life as you fade into a shrunken parody of yourself.

She was going to be free of death itself.

It was about time.

Konrad yawned and stretched. He was awake now, too. She checked the clock. Getting close to sunset. Time to go. Get the Elixir and then get out.

She rolled onto her side to face him.

“So what now?” she asked.

He laughed. “Getting a bit impatient?”

“I’ve been patient enough.”

“Yes,” he said. “You have.”

He rolled over and reached for the bedside table, rummaging in a drawer there.

“Right now?” Helen said, voice trembling a little. “Now?”

“I keep my word, Helen.” He turned, the needle in his hand, filled with a yellow fluid.

She started to get up, but he gestured her back to the bed.

“It’s all right,” he said. “Just relax.”

She seemed worried. Perhaps this was too easy. Greed fought with confusion in her eyes. “What about the mission? You’re still leaving the country next week, right?”

“Oh. That,” Konrad said. “Yes, well. About that. I lied. The attack is tonight.”

He plunged the needle into her neck.

Her reflexes were admirable. She slapped the needle away, knocking her fist into the side of his face. She almost got up.

The serum hit her bloodstream. Her body went rigid and settled back into the sheets.

Konrad watched as the paralysis spread. Her eyes darted at him, panicked, as she struggled to breathe.

“It’s nothing you really need to worry about,” he said.

He dressed in fresh clothes, then went to the bedside table and retrieved his watch.

Helen followed him with her eyes, struggling to say something.

“Why? . . . Y’din’t haveto . . . dothis . . .”

Her speech was slurred. Konrad was amazed she could speak at all. The paralysis should have set in completely by now.

“Why? Oh, it shouldn’t be that hard for you to figure out. Revenge. Not just against Cade. This whole, arrogant, adolescent country. The one that destroyed my home twice in the last century. That put a military base on the ruins of my family’s castle. I want to see someone inflict the same pain on America that they brought to the Reich. I want to see their dream turn to a nightmare, like mine. I want them to wake up screaming.”

Helen managed a small shake of her head. Konrad understood what she’d really been asking.

“Oh, you mean why did I do this to you?” he said. “That’s actually much simpler: I don’t like you, Helen.”

She glared at him. It was all she had left.

“Bassard . . . Yyyyu prmssssd . . .”

Konrad smiled. “I kept my word. You won’t age another day. You’ll see.”

The Elixir of Life. He’d made the serum from the bones Tania had brought to him. It was basically the same formula he’d found centuries before, the one that gave him his first step on the path to eternal life.

But, as he told the vampire, eternal life and eternal youth are not the same thing.

In its raw form, the Elixir was capable of animating dead flesh while making it stronger than leather and wood. Injected into live tissue, it froze all cellular movement. Helen would never age, true. She would also never move again, her metabolic processes slowed to geologic time spans.

He noticed the broken needle and syringe on the floor. She’d managed to snap it before all of the fluid made it into her bloodstream.

It didn’t matter. There ought to be enough, Konrad thought. Still, he had to give her credit for trying.

He patted Helen on the thigh, picked up his suitcase and walked out the door.