“As everyone is still living, with the exception of Sun and the unfortunate guards, I see no reason to eradicate the upper tier of the Coven and go through the tedious exercise of replacing you all. I am hopeful that you all begin to understand what is at stake. Whether we brought the Vorsook’s attention to ourselves as well as Fairie, or whether Fairie deflected it toward us does not matter. What matters is that we stand at a major confluence of events, a singularity if you will. How fantastic are the odds that we would develop a sentient computer of such power that it rivals the enemy’s? The odds that a male witch would be born with the power of an entire circle of witches? That the appointed warrior of God in this age would be tied to our species and that a full-blooded vampire would be born of our species, all just at this point in time?” Senka asked. She turned to Mausya with one brow raised.

The other Elder shrugged, completely unselfconscious of her unbalanced arms. “Astronomic. I cannot begin to calculate them.”

“Exactly. The odds are incalculable. Yet they happened. Just in time. Divine intervention? Outside interference by God, gods, or beings of such power as to be indistinguishable from deities in our eyes? Does it matter, in the end? What’s important is that we have perhaps a better-than-even chance of surviving our enemies. You talk of Darkkin who long for power over their food, who wish to be worshiped by the humans. Bah! Weakness, I say. Where are the vampires who fight for supremacy? Who take on the battle, with even odds of success, maybe better than even odds? It is true that we have become used to hiding in the shadows, to preying on our fellow inhabitants of this world, focused within our little pocket of space and time. It is time to step out of our comfort zone, to expand our abilities, to push the boundaries of the human condition. And yes, I said human. Dr. Singh tells me that the changes to our DNA that give us our abilities amount to less than a one-half of one percent difference with the standard human DNA we were all born with, Tanya excluded, of course. We are humans pushed to higher levels of ability, as are the two-natured weres and the magically inclined witches. Perhaps, dear Darkkin, we weren’t created for conflict and strife among ourselves and the other subspecies of Homo Sapiens, but for specific roles in defending the overall species from other, alien lifeforms that seek to eradicate humans in all forms.”