fooled, too, James. And I’m far older and more experienced than you.”
“I let my ego—”
“Pssh, ego. You’re the best of all of us. Always have been. You didn’t do this for ego, James. You did this to save your people because you thought it was your destiny. And I’ll tell you something, my friend. You’re not finished yet.” He blinked and said, “And speaking of destiny, where is your professor?”
James averted his eyes. “She’s gone. She’s done all she can for us, and—and she’s gone back to try to rebuild her life. What’s left of it, anyway. Yet another bit of destruction left in my wake, I’m afraid.”
“No, she’s not gone. You’re not finished with that yet, either.” Damien clapped his shoulder hard. “I have to return to the island. I have to find Shannon. I don’t have time to wait here for Utanapishtim to show.”
“If he’s determined to get to you, he’ll go where you go. He’ll follow you right back to that island and finish what he started there. He’s not sane, Damien.”
“Why the hell not? He was when I knew him. And he died shortly thereafter, so he should be just the same as—”
“He never died. He was conscious, aware, but entombed. Even when his body was burned, he remained.”
Damien’s face contorted. “For five thousand years?”
James nodded.
“You resurrected a monster. You realize that?”
“I made a mistake, I know that now.”
“And you just expect me to wait here for him to come to me? Not even knowing if my wife is dead or alive? And as the authorities are moving against us?”
James blinked. “What authorities?”
“Hell, you’ve been out of touch. I keep forgetting.” Damien shook his head slowly. “Just today, while we slept, the White House Press Secretary said that the government now admits to the existence of vampires. He conveyed a plea from the president himself to the vigilantes to stop with their attacks.”
“It’s bullshit.”
“No question,” Damien said. “They’ve put out arrest warrants for any and every vampire—for our own protection, they say. They claim they’ve set up a safe house for us, and that they want to begin having discussions with our leaders. They’re asking us to trust them, promising to arrest the vigilantes and prosecute them for violating our civil rights.”
“Do you believe them?”
“No, and I’ve just emailed an electronic recording to a local TV station saying so. They wanted to know why it wasn’t a video.” He smiled bitterly, shaking his head at the ignorance of the mortal world.
“I thought everyone knew vampires don’t show up on film.”
“Apparently not. But meanwhile, they’re quietly rounding up members of the Chosen.”
“What?” James was stunned.
“I hate to think why, and we don’t know where, but they’ve been disappearing, ordinary people with ordinary lives. The only common denominator among them is that they have the antigen. Most probably don’t even know what it means. And I caught wind they’re going to raid your professor’s university, confiscating any remaining pieces of that tablet that might be there. They’re calling the information a matter of national security and using the Patriot Act to justify taking it.”
“When?” James asked, his heart suddenly seeming to seize up in his chest. “Tonight. Why?”
James lowered his head swiftly. “God, no.”
“What?”
“Lucy…I think it’s a fairly safe bet that she’ll be there. At the university.”
“Well, she’s not safe there, James. You need to get her out. And I need to get to that island and find Shannon.” Damien turned, reached for a single bag and strode toward his own front door, leaving everything else behind.
But James stopped him, a hand on his shoulder. “We have to find Utanapishtim, Damien. We have to kill him.”
Damien lowered his head. “And how do you suggest we do that? Kill him, I mean.”
“Lucy thought the answer to that would be on those tablets—the pieces she hadn’t translated yet. But you must know how it was done the first time.”
Damien nodded. “He was beheaded.”
“Then get me an ax.”
Damien stared at James as if he had never met him before; then he walked out the door and around the corner of the house to a woodpile. He tugged an ax easily from where it was embedded in a log and held it out. “I thought you were a healer, James. The good twin.”
“I was. But I told you, he took that from me.”
“Are you sure?”
James lowered his head. “I hoped I was wrong, but…yes, I think so. I know when he could have done it. And then later…”