"Dr. Wallace I've been expecting you." " Did you bring the rest of the money?" " Yes." "First, deliver." "Faith, Dr. Wallace." "You must have faith." "I'll have faith when I see what I've paid for." "Where's the boy?" "Mr. Wallace." "Ali looks even better than he did in Ankara, does he not?" "Yes." "It's amazing." "It's amazing." "The Nefasti pendant." "You placed it there you must remove it." "All right." "This is half the deal." "Where's the ring?" "Ali." "Go." "Dr. Wallace I must tell you I'm having second thoughts about what we are dealing with." "I am not sure what we are doing is right." "I'll be the judge of that." "Saving my daughter's life is right." " Yes, but like this?" "I'm not so sure." " Don't try to jack me for more money." " I don't have any more money." " It is not money that concerns me." "It is our souls, all our souls!" "Dr. Wallace, I have had time to think since our last meeting." "I want to give you one last chance to reconsider." "I swear." "I will send the pendant and ring back to Ankara." "I will return all your money right now." "You want the best of both worlds, absolution from God and money." "I don't give a damn what happens to your soul." "I want the ring." "The pendant is useless without the ring." "Yes." "He who wears the ring is the spring of life." "He who wears the pendant drinks of that spring." "Why is Ali taking so long?" "I'm going back there." "Don't do this." "Do you take responsibility for these actions?" " Yes." "Get your hands off and give me the damn ring!" "Since the beginning oh time  mankind has existed between the world oh light  and the world oh darkness." "Our secret society has been here horever  protecting others hrom the creatures who inhabit the shadows and the night." "Known only to the initiated by our true name  The Legacy." "Hey, Derek, you wanted to see me?" "What's wrong?" "A friend of mine a colleague at the university, an anthropologist Clayton Wallace his daughter Samantha is dying of aplastic anemia." "She's barely 24 years old." " I'm so sorry." " We were very close when Samantha was young." "I was an honorary uncle, you know, that sort of thing." "She was almost like a daughter to me." "His wife died suddenly of pneumonia about five years ago." "He tortured himself for the longest time." "He felt that if he wasn't so dedicated to his work he might have done more." "I have no idea how he's taking this." "Think about how you're feeling right now and then multiply it by 1000." "And then there's the guilt, you know." "Survivor's guilt." "That's always with you." "I called the hospital." "I'm going there tonight." " You want me to come?" " Yeah." "It would be a big help." "So tell me straight, Phil." "We've been through this for the last three months never quite as bad." "How long does she have?" "It could be just a matter of days, Clayton but she could leave us as soon as tonight." "I'm sorry." "Hi." "I got you presents from the desert." "Dad." "You got me a bug?" "It's not a bug." "It's a scarab, symbol of immortality." "It's beautiful." " But I think it's a little late." " Let's not have any talk like that." "Now, you do me a favor." "You've got to keep this on and get some rest." "I love you, Samantha." "I'll do anything to take your place." "Derek, I..." "I really appreciate your coming." "I am at a loss for words as to why I didn't tell you sooner." " You must understand." " Oh, Clay, I understand completely." "Please." "I'm only here to be of help if I can." "Samantha's very special to me." "Well, I think she knows that." "I certainly know that." "No offense, Rachel, but I don't feel a need for a psychiatrist." "No offense is taken, Dr. Wallace, just know the offer stands." "Well, I don't think it'll be necessary." "I'm not the one to be worried about." "Well, Clay, please, consider your situation." "You're all alone, Samantha is very ill." "Dying." "Why don't you just say dying?" "That's what everyone around here thinks." " She's gonna pull through!" " And that is what we're all hoping for, really." "Thank you." "Thank you." "I wish there was something I could do for him." "There's nothing more devastating than the loss of a child." "Oh, Derek, she's so young." "Way too young to die." "So was his wife." "It's almost more than one can bear." "But you know that, Rachel." "It's one of the unsettling comforts of the work we do knowing death is just a doorway to somewhere else." "You will drink from my spring." "My God." "No mistake." "There's not a single sign of the anemia returning." "Let's say you're one lucky young lady." "And that wouldn't even be the half of it." "My father, he was so upset last night." "He should be here now." "Oh, he will be." "He will be." "And there's no sign of secondary damage?" " Nothing." " You mean, I'm actually cured?" " How can that be?" " I'd like to take credit for it, but I can't." "We're gonna run a couple tests over the next 48 hours just to be sure." "And then, believe it or not you're out of here." "Great." "But to where?" "I gave up my apartment." "You can stay with us, Sam." " Are you sure?" " I insist." "Hello, Dominick." "Can you help with the luggage outside?" "It's been three days, still no sign of your friend." "I'm sorry, I've done the hospital, missing persons, the works." "I just can't find him." "Sam." "Nick Boyle, Samantha Wallace." "Nick works with us here at the Luna Foundation." " I've heard a lot about you." " Hi." "So, what does it feel like to be on the business end of a miracle?" "Well, I'm still pretty shaky." "Maybe that's because my father's still missing." "And I don't know if I'd call it a miracle exactly." "I mean, you'd think a miracle would feel more miraculous, I guess." "Come on, I'll show you to your room." " Derek?" " Yeah?" " You are still looking for my father?" " Don't worry, Sam." "We'll find him." "I promise you." "Just before Samantha awakened in the hospital I definitely felt something." " A presence?" " Not so well-defined but undeniably a dark force." "Considering her recovery and Clay's sudden disappearance there's no way I can let this pass." "Start at the university, find out what Clay's been up to in the last year or so since Samantha got sick." "I can look into her medical records." "And, Nick, keep a close eye on Sam." "She's comfortable around you, maybe she can tell us..." "Derek?" "It's happening again." "No!" "I have no more life to give." "No." "No!" "God help her!" "I don't understand how her symptoms could disappear so completely and then, less than a week later, come raging back." "I'm at a complete loss." "I couldn't explain the remission I can't explain the relapse." " Any word from Clay?" " Nothing." "We phoned him at his home again all night." "At his office." "He's disappeared off the face of the earth." "Excuse me, I have to go to her." "I have your numbers, I'll call if there are changes." " I'll stay with her." " All right." "Come on." "Who's there?" "You son of a bitch." "It's not working." "She's dying again." " Let me go." "I can help you." " You said this ring would work." "I wanted to die in her place." "The scarab is still hungry." "Your life force is not strong enough to save her." "Her illness is too great." " Why did it let me live?" " So you could pass it on to feed on someone else, someone stronger." " Someone younger." " Age is but one factor." "But beware." "With each attempt to revive her she will need more and more water from the spring to slake the scarab's thirst." "Each attempt?" "There was to be one sacrifice." "Me." " It will not relinquish its hold." " Then how can I pass it on?" "It appears, Dr. Wallace as with all things in order to regain your life as it was you must pay the price." "Do it." "Nick." "Hey." "It's happening all over again, isn't it?" "It hurts, Nick." "Close your eyes." "Come on." "Now breathe deeply and try to relax." "And imagine that you are in your favorite place in the whole world." "And let the pain flow out of your body like clouds floating past the sun." "You're beyond it now." "It can't touch you." "There." "Open your eyes." "That was the slightly abbreviated version." "You know, I'm actually all right with this." " With being sick?" " No." "No, I hate being sick." "But over the past few months I'm at peace with dying." "You know, you embrace life hold it close but when the time comes you gotta let go." "You know what my favorite place is?" " Where I went when you said that?" " Where's that?" "A houseboat I lived on with my father when I was a little girl." "Thanks for taking me there, Nick." "I feel a lot better." "Nice thing about living on a houseboat you don't gotta mow the lawn." "What's up with the hand?" " Nothing." "I cut it." " Is that right?" "Well, I got a rep for being a cut man myself." "Give it up." "And I mean everything." " I don't have any money." " Don't." "Don't." "Don't mess with me." "Do not mess with me." "Come on." "Hold on!" " What's this?" "What's this?" " No." "Don't do that!" "Don't what?" "Don't what?" " You giving me orders now?" " No, no." " How much is this worth?" " It's worth a lot." "It's worth everything I own." "It looks good." "Damn good." "Sam?" "Samantha?" " Are you okay?" " Oh, yes, Nick." "I am." "In fact, I've never felt better in my entire life." "I stood right here the day he and Teresa brought Samantha back home from the hospital the first time." "He stopped keeping it up, but he couldn't bring himself to sell it." "Not even after Teresa died." "Here." "Yes, I thought so." "Well, you're right." "Somebody has definitely been staying here." "They got some Chinese." "Look at this." "Three days ago." "That about says it all, doesn't it?" "Well, so does this." "Sorry." "Corrigan." "Really?" "Yeah, we're on our way." "What?" "Barzman says Samantha has recovered." "He's running tests, but he thinks she's well again." " That's impossible." " In the true meaning of the word." "And Clay is there." "He showed up right after she got better." "This is a switch." "You're a vegetarian." "I know." "But Dr. Barzman says I need as much protein and iron as I can get." "It's either this or needles." "And I've had enough needles to last me a lifetime." "Hey, Derek, Rachel." " Well." " Hello." " Look, I'm better." " I heard." "I see." "It's amazing." " You're telling me." " Hi, Nick." "Hey." " Clay." " Hi." " Can I talk to you for a moment?" " Yeah." "Well, you're not messing around in the grub department, huh?" "Hey, I could go for a real cocktail now." "What happened to you, Clay?" "Where have you been?" "These last few days have been a..." "A haze." "When Barzman told me that Sam only had another day to live I completely lost it." "I wandered the streets, stayed in the houseboat." "What happened to your hand?" "I cut it." "I broke a window on the houseboat." "God only knows where the keys are." " Why didn't you stay at your house?" " My house." "I had to sell my house." "I needed the money." "When Teresa got sick, I didn't react fast enough." "If I had, she'd be alive." "Clay, your wife had pneumonia." " You did..." " Whatever I did wasn't enough." "This time I've sold everything I own to buy Sam the best possible treatment." " And it worked." " It seems to have worked." "Two complete recoveries from the brink of death in less than a week." "You're a scientist." "How is it possible?" "Think about it." "I don't want to think about it." "I'm tired of thinking." "I want to accept this for what it is." " What is it?" " All I know is I got enough strength to come back here, expecting the worst only to find that my little girl is okay." "Now, that's enough for me." "Quite enough." "All right, but there's one thing I won't let you get away with." " What is that?" " Once Sam's released I want the two of you to stay with us at the Luna Foundation." "Until both of you get your feet back under you." "And I won't take no for an answer." "Well, the answer is yes." "Thank you." "I went over Samantha's medical records." "What it comes down to, pure and simple is that she should have died twice, but she didn't." "Alex?" "Well, Clay was on a research dig in Turkey when Samantha first displayed serious symptoms about a year ago." "He flew home immediately and the diagnosis of irreversible aplastic anemia took two months." "That's when she was confined to the hospital." "Right, but get this." "While she was in the hospital Clay took a leave of absence from the university flew back to Istanbul on his own dime and stayed two weeks." "Why was he in Turkey in the first place?" "Well, the initial dig was authorized to uncover relics on the Hittite Empire." "Nothing special there." "But there's something up with that second trip." "I'm still working on it." "Clay told me he sold everything he owned including his house, to get treatment for Samantha." "So get dates of those sales and crosscheck them against his itinerary." " Anything else?" " Yeah." "The police found a body near their houseboat with something very twisted about the condition of the corpse." " Any details?" " It's kind of sketchy at this point but I have a friend in the coroner's office who said she'd help us out." "Okay." "You know, I think I was born to live in a castle preferably with lots of servants." "Well we can't stay here forever." "Did you really spend all your money?" "Yes." "And then some." "Well, that wasn't too bright." "Not too bright at all." "What will we live on?" "We'll get by." "I'll go back to the university." "You'll go back to school, work on..." " Oh, Daddy, please." "...your teaching degree." "Now that I almost died, I..." "I wanna live a little." "Forget school." "I wanna have fun." "You've always had such a passion for teaching." "Well, you know what they say about those who can't." "Present company excluded, I hope?" "Of course." "But now I wanna do things." "I wanna go out." "You know my friend in there, Nick?" "He's a pretty great guy." "I wouldn't mind spending some time with him." " What do you think?" " Well, I haven't thought about it." "Now Daddy's embarrassed by his little girl." "Don't worry." "I won't forget you." "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here." "I wouldn't be here at all." "You'll always be the number one man in my life." " Let's dance." " No." " Yeah." " Samantha, I think..." "Oh, don't think, dance." "What?" "What?" "What?" "What is it?" "I don't..." "I don't feel so good." " It's not the same, is it?" " No, it can't be." "I've been fed." "Daddy, you gotta help me." "Yes, I'll do anything." "What can I do?" "I think you know." "Could be a mutated virus." "Maybe a variant of that flesh-eating bacteria that's been cropping up." "Whatever it is, we're not taking any chances." " You got time of death on this guy?" " His watch stopped at 11:23." " And he's missing a finger, huh?" " No, not missing." "Severed." "They found it at the scene." "Sliced off at the nub." "Nice." " It's hot." " Thank you." "What a pretty ring." "Samantha keeps losing life." "I don't know what to do." "You've been through a lot this week." "Do you have children?" "Yeah, a little girl, Kat." "She's 8." "I'll bet you'd die for her." "In a heartbeat." "If someone threatened that child, I'll bet you'd kill that person." "You know, this is one of those questions I've thought about." "It's..." "Yeah." "If I came around a corner and someone was messing with Kat I think I'm capable of it." "If she needed a heart, you would take the heart of the most heinous serial killer, wouldn't you?" " What are you asking me?" " Lf she was dying and you had the power to save her by taking the life of a useless member of society no one knows, no one cares what would you do?" "I think the more important question is what would you do?" "Is there something you wanna tell me?" "I would like to continue this conversation at another time." "I have to check on my daughter." "How are we doing?" "Not so well." "Daddy, please don't let me die." " You're not dying." "This is not a relapse." "You're just weak." "I need someone." "Now." "Samantha, how many more will it take?" "It hurts, Daddy." "God!" "Please, Daddy." "It hurts so much." "Please, Daddy." "So Samantha's asleep." "Clay's gone out to clear his mind." "And the autopsy report's in on that corpse." "The cellular structure was completely blown away." "There's no sign of disease but all cellular life was completely ionized and drawn out leaving only crystalline salts." " Drawn out by what?" " They don't know." "And the severed finger's a mystery as well." "Till they figure it out, they're keeping it under wraps." "I can understand that." "Also, there's no time of death on this guy but his watch stopped at 11:23." "Now, if whatever killed him fried his watch, that was the time of death." "I talked to Dr. Barzman, and he said that 11:23 was the exact time that Samantha started to recover." " What more do you have on Clay?" " I still don't know the reason for his return to Turkey but I did manage to track him from Istanbul to Ankara where he spent most of the time." "How about his finances?" "When he got back, he closed his pension fund sold off his stocks and bonds everything except for the title on the houseboat." "Well, I guess we can assume he found something or someone in Ankara." " A faith healer?" " No." "No, I..." "Not a faith healer, nothing that benign." "What he's involved in is much darker." "All right." "Get out of there!" "You don't touch that!" "Daddy will be home soon." "He hasn't forgotten his wife and little girl." "Only he's gone on a long business trip." "But he'll be back, so don't worry." "Don't cry." "There, there." "Don't cry." "Don't cry." "Who's there?" "It's you." "Daddy's home." "I was just telling her that you'd be back." "You see, he loves us." "I've brought you a gift." "A gift from the desert." "It's beautiful." "Daddy brought Mommy a beautiful present." "A pretty, pretty thing." "A pretty thing." "What's wrong?" "Mama." "God..." "God, forgive me." "Samantha?" " You okay?" " I'm more than okay." "Nick, how did you get here so quickly at 5:00 in the morning?" "I just couldn't sleep." "I was walking downstairs." "Walking downstairs or waiting for me to get up so you could?" "I feel so good." "Don't be shy." "I'm not going to bite." "Unless it's called for." " You know what I wanna do?" " I can imagine." "I wanna go out." "Yeah." "Let's go get something to eat." "I'm starving." "Out?" "Now?" "You know, we got plenty of food here." "Oh, no." "No, I wanna go out." "I have a great idea." "Let's..." "Let's go to one of those all-night places and get a big bunch of food and we'll take it to my father's houseboat." "You know, I don't think that's such a good idea, considering how late it is." "No." "No, Nick, please." "Take me to the houseboat." "It's my favorite place." "Remember, I told you in the hospital?" "I was happy there." "I just wanna be happy again." "I don't know how much longer I have left." "Please?" "All right." "Get your stuff." "So, what do you figure, we got enough stuff?" "Don't worry." "I'll make the best breakfast you've ever had." " Oh, yeah?" "I'm gonna hold you to it." " Yeah." "Watch your step." " Daddy." "Oh, my God." " Come on, let's get him inside." "Come on." "The Nefasti scarab necklace." "The exact one Samantha has." "It was stolen from the Ankara museum two days before Clay left the country." "Probably smuggled it out later, no doubt." "Along with its deadly mate the Lapis Lazuli scarab ring." "Now, according to the legend of Murtasis the Conqueror who died at the ripe old age of 432 after he murdered half of his subjects:" ""He who wears the ring is the spring of life." "He who wears the necklace drinks from the spring."" "The ring and the necklace were in the museum?" "Yes, but the idea of Clay demanding a test before paying in full is right on the money." "The day after the break-in a really strange-Iooking corpse was found on the riverbank." "By the time the police got there, it disappeared." "Derek." "Nick's gone." "So is Samantha, and I found this in her room." "The houseboat." "And Clay never came home at all." "I've got to go there." "I can't do this anymore." "I can't." "Even though I love you, I can't do it." " Do what?" " Nothing." "He..." " He doesn't know what he's saying." " I'm in complete control of my faculties." "I know exactly what you want me to do to him." "Nick, he's delirious." "Oh, jeez." "I'll handle this." " Could you give us a minute?" " Yeah, sure." "What have I done?" "What have I done?" "You're pathetic." "Have you got the ring?" "Yes, God help me." "You're far beyond the help of any God." "I suppose I am." "Then work out the logic, Dad." "You're good at that." "It doesn't matter what you do anymore, so give me the ring!" "Now." "Daddy, please?" "Give it to me." "You know I need it." "Please, Daddy." "Nick I don't feel so good." "You okay?" "Nick!" "No!" "Get away from her!" "Yes." "Make her stop, Clay." " She's my daughter." " That thing isn't your daughter." "Samantha's dead." "Only you can remove that pendant, Clay." "For God's sake." "Let her go." "Oh, my God!" " Samantha..." " No!" "Don't touch it!" "Baby, remember how happy we were before your mother died, here on the houseboat?" "So happy." "No, Dad, please." " You'll kill me." " I wanted you to live forever but not like this." "Do it now, Clay!" "Sam I'm so sorry for the pain I caused you." "So sorry." "Dad." "I don't feel any pain anymore." "The pain is like a cloud moving across the sun." "I'm finally at peace in my favorite place in the whole world."