the end of our kind, James, and says that only Utanapishtim can save us.”
“I get that, but I don’t see how this is going to—”
“Because,” Rhiannon interrupted, “we’re going to find his remains, and you are going to restore him to life. Therefore, you must begin pushing your powers to their absolute limits and beyond. Making them stronger, until you can do this thing and save your people.”
James looked from Rhiannon to Roland. “And you believe this is a good idea, as well?”
Roland lowered his eyes. “Not good, no. But necessary, yes. Since you were ten years old, you’ve been asking why. Why were you born with this power to heal? What was its purpose? Now you know, J.W. Now you know. You are the only one who can save us. And it begins here. With her.” He nodded toward the corpse.
James fought against a full body shudder, but he moved closer to the table, to the dead woman lying there. “And if I manage to wake her, then what?”
“Then we try a corpse that’s been dead a bit longer,” Rhiannon said. “A week. And then a month. And then—”
“What happens to her?”
Roland’s hand closed on James’s shoulder from behind. “I’ll tend to her. I’ll take her to the shore of the lake where her car still lies. I’ll erase her memory of us, arrange for a mortal to discover her there.”
“Her family will be notified,” Rhiannon whispered from his other side. “Her husband and children will meet her at some hospital, and there will be tears of joy. They would thank you on their knees if they knew what you were about to do for them, J.W. That should appeal to your hero complex nicely, if saving your own kind is not enough.”
James looked at her sharply. “You just can’t let up, can you?”
She narrowed her eyes, telling him without a word that he had better watch his step. He held her gaze without flinching.
“I believe this is necessary. And I’ve consulted with the elders of our race,” Roland went on. “Eric, Dante and Sarafina, Vlad, even Gilgamesh himself—”
“My parents and grandparents?”
He nodded. “Yes. Edge and Amber Lily, Jameson and Angelica—they’ve been consulted. We all agree. This is the only way.”
Drawing a deep breath, James nodded and moved closer to the table. He held his hands over the dead woman and closed his eyes. He focused his energy, and he felt the warmth begin, the tingling in his palms, the heat and light that emanated from them…it all happened just as it always did, though it took a little longer, and he seemed to have to dig more deeply for the energy.
He felt Rhiannon and Roland watching him, but he paid no attention to them. His entire focus was on the woman, on her spirit, on restoring its connection to her physical body, on healing the damage done by twenty-four hours without oxygen or blood flow, and by the water in her lungs.
His muscles tensed as the energy moved through him and into her. And then they tensed more. And then, suddenly, there was a release. A rush shot from his core and out through his palms with so much force that he felt a slight recoil effect pushing him away. He stumbled back a step or two, and then Roland caught him from behind. He felt drained, as if the energy he’d pushed into the corpse had come directly from him instead of just through him.
And then he opened his eyes and stared at the table.
The woman was stirring, her eyes moving beneath her closed lids. Her body began to tremble, her head to thrash and then her eyes flew open and she blinked in stunned terror.
Stumbling close to her again, James put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe now. You’re perfectly safe. Do you know who you are?”
She blinked blankly a few times and then said, “I’m…Ellen. Ellen Gainsboro.” She looked around the darkened room. “Where are my boys? Where’s my husband? Who are you?”
James smiled in relief and nodded at Roland.
The cloaked vampire moved closer. “You’re going to sleep now, Ellen,” he said, his voice melodic, hypnotic, irresistible. “And when you wake, you’ll be with your family again. You’ll rest easily until you hear their voices, and that’s when you’ll awake, relaxed and happy. You will not remember me, nor anyone you’ve seen in this room, nor the room itself. You’ll sleep until you hear those beloved voices, and then you’ll