Between Six and SeveN

	i awakeN.  The scent of finished wooD.  The smooth metal touch of 
the pendulum beneath my bony griP.  Open the glass door of my coffin, my 
tomb, the ancient grandfather clock that holds me in place each daY.  
Release the pendulum and tick tock tick tock it rings the hour of siX.  
Tick tock tick tock bells chime chimes ring rings the clock that holds 
mE.  And each of the clocks count the time, rhyme with the bells, ring 
the chimes of the hour siX.
	An old home; my homE.  Some few tables neatly arrayeD.  Some few 
chairs placed about theM.  Carpet and tapestry, shelf and painting, each 
in their place according to the Symmetry that is the final guidE.  
Chessboards upon the tables; the perfect blend of art and strategY.  Here 
Captain Picard orders his "fifth crewmembers" in battle against Q and the 
Borg pawnS.  Here archangel Michael and his host battle Lucifer for 
control of the firmamenT.  Here unholy demons battle the paladins of the 
lost hour for the soul of eternitY.  The pieces move upon their boardS.  
Pawn takes knight takes bishop takes rook takes queen takes pawn takes 
king checkmate as the bells and chimes rhyme to the count of siX.  The 
pieces movE.  Not through the use of electromagnetic grids or other 
mechanical means but by my unconscious commanD.  AnimuS.  that is what 
the sisters called it when they taught mE.  AnimuS.  And taught me well 
beyond their own knowing for now the pieces move and the games play until 
the beginning of the day when each king in turn has fallen half of the 
dark side half of the light and it is amidst fallen kings that i 
finally take my resT. Tick tock tick tock. . .
	There is a new board in play tonighT.  Stare down upon it as the 
pieces lift themselves into the air pawn takes rook takes knight 
sacrificed to pawn, and i _know_ that the white king is Malkav, and i 
_know_ that the black queen is called Baba Yaga, and i _know_ that one of 
the pawns is mE.  i am not startled when the sisters fade into view at 
the tablE.  Dextral:  Vaklamina, dressed in black leather from beret to 
kneehigh boots smiles and bats an eyelasH.  Sinistral:  Lividity, 
identical to her twin in every way but wearing a silver necklace of 
linked fingerlong knives gives me the LooK.  AppraisaL.  DisdaiN.  
Concentrates upon the gamE.
	"You are here to tell me of my EmbracE?"  i asK.  i still do not 
know which of them it was, and the stories they tell me i have long come 
to realize are mere implants in my minD.  At present Vaklamina has me 
convinced--almost--that i was embraced in freefall at twenty thousand 
feet wearing nothing but a hula hoop and a parachutE.  i know it was 
Vaklamina only because Lividity would never have bothered with a 
parachute.
	"Don't be so droll Ticktockman," Vaklamina says, her fangs 
gnawing the head of a pawN.  A Tremere, i think.  Tremeek, i correct 
myself; with Vaklamina they are the TremeeK.  "Tell ya the truth ol' guy 
I don't think either one of us remembers the whole detail of your little 
transformation.  I, for one, was hardly in my right mind when it 
happeneD."
	"Your move, twit," says LividitY.  She looks me over and sneerS. 
"Don't give a pig's pancreas whether you know how it happened or not, 
Tick.  Sister Vak just thought you might want to know why is alL.  
Course, i don't care a whit about that either, so this game is going to 
decide whether we tell you ab-"
	"I win!" shouts VaklaminA.  Lividity sets off on a cursing 
rampage, but her sister is already putting away the pieceS.  They glare 
at each other, Lividity's face turning purple in places as if little sacs 
of blood had burst just beneath her skiN.  A fight would disturb the 
Symmetry of my homE.  i speaK:  
	"You embraced me because of my second sight, because of what that 
sight had done to my minD."  Lividity snorts in disgust and begins pacing 
abouT.  Vaklamina chuckles as though i had made some sort of jokE.
	"No no no no no on no, silly.  Sure, knowing when someone is 
going to die is pretty neat and stuff--no don't tell me, I like 
surprises--and knowing that your one true love was about to bite it must 
have been quite a damper on the ol' relationship, buT-," she yelps in 
surprise as the chair dumps her on the floor and attempts to trample heR. 
AnimuS.  i had tried to protect Lani from the doom my cursed talent had 
predicted, but to no avaiL.  The clock wound down, a shot rang out from 
nowhere, and i watched her diE.  Four quick thrusts with the palm of her 
hand and Vaklamina has broken the chair's legS.  Still smiling girlishly 
she leans against the tablE.
	"i still see them all, VaklaminA.  All the clocks winding down in 
years or days or minuteS.  Your embrace did nothing to cure iT."
	"_Cure_ it," laughs Lividity harshlY.  "Why the hell would we 
want to cure it?  Vak wanted to know if it would work on Kindred once you 
were embraced, and if she could prevent it-"
	"-The Whammy-"
	"Shut up, VaK.  Prevent it from happening.  Personally, I'd just 
like to see how crazy you get after a hundred yeas or so of unliving like 
that," she smiles evillY.  i just look at her, saying nothinG.
	"Okay, Ticktockman, I'm dying to know," Vaklamina breaks the 
silence with a voice like shattering glasS, "which of us is going to go 
first, me or LiV?"  i know but remain silent, listening to the clocks 
tick tock tick tock knight takes rook takes queen takes castled king and 
the bells ring the chimes that rhyme to the sound of seveN.	
	i look at the sisters, admiring the rare Symmetry they possesS.  
Identical in so many ways barring their personality differenceS.  They 
are negligable, in any case, next to the greater gap that separates theM. 
A gap in Symmetry that the Ticktockman can filL.  That i am compelled to 
filL.
	"It is true," i say, steeling myself for what is to come, "that i 
can count the years that remain in most Kindred's lives, those many who 
are susceptible to my sighT.  It is more accurate with mortals, but what 
are a few minutes, a few tickings of the clock to a vampirE?  But there 
is more that the Ticktockman can do, dear sisters, dear sires, especially 
when the Symmetry is involveD."  Lividity grumbles something about the 
insanity of perfect order, but they are both at full attention, listening 
with the look of wolves in the sights of a hunteR.
	"Lividity, you disturb the Symmetry of the life bond you have 
with your sisteR.  Therefore i revoke seventeen years, four months, 
twenty-two nights, and precisely twelve minutes from your unlifespaN."  
She crumples to the ground as though shoT.  Vaklamina looks to her, then 
me, then again to her sisteR.
	"Wow.  Big whammy.  Realy big whammY."  i can hardly stand--feel, 
in fact, as though i had tried to digest regular food--and so use the 
table to keep my balancE.  Influencing the Conservancy of Time is a 
demanding side effect of the Embrace upon the peculiar form of 
prcognition i have possessed since my mortal youtH.  It is a 
power i rarely invoke, only when i am compelled to do sO.  Vaklamina 
picks up her sister, limp and contracted into a trembling fetal position 
moaning softlY.
	"Come on Liv; you'd hate ta be without your favorite sister for 
even half a minute now anyway wouldn't yoU?" she says as the front door 
opens for heR.  "Oh shush now.  Well Ticktockman, I can't fault your 
hospitality, but don't let Liv through the door for awhile.  From what 
she's grumbling you may want to make sure your own clock is well wound.  
See ya later, kooK."  And they are gonE.
	The pieces move in perfect Symmetry to the rules of the gamE.  
The clocks tick tock the time in perfect Accordance with the great and 
unseen sidereal movemenT.  The sisters will exist in perfect Balance 
until their simultaneous end years hencE.  And each and every individual 
i meet will die at an appointed time known all too well to mE.  Should i 
tell the fiancee that her husband will pass away in some manner a mere 
ten days after their wedding datE?  Should i tell the doctor not to waste 
his patient's limited funds on surgery that is destined to faiL?  Had i 
known in full the laws of the great Symmetry could i have saved my 
beloved Lani from her fatE?  i do not know these answers, and for the 
thousandth time since my sight first manifested itself i watch myself in 
the mirror, trying to find the winding clock that will tell me when i can 
join heR.  Perhaps i am not meant to know; perhaps i shall never die, for 
the image in the mirror tells me nothing but that i am still herE.  And i 
count the clocks that tell the time and cannot help but feel my humanity 
fade into the mists of the lives i watch that are soon to end, and all i 
know is that i must keep the Symmetry, learn its secrets and its laws 
until the Pendulum's last swinG.

i am
the Ticktockman

Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.
	Austin Dobson