looked at her quickly. “I’m sorry. Our nightmarish family history isn’t something you really needed to know about.”
“I had no idea.”
“How could you? But maybe it’ll help you to see why Rhiannon is so…hostile toward humankind.”
“And yet she once was. Human, I mean.”
“That’s the irony, isn’t it?”
“And you go around saving them. Healing them. Us.” Lucy drew a deep breath and put a hand on his chest. “And you don’t even know…if you’re immortal or not?”
“I’ve never been sick a day in my life. Nor has my sister. We aged normally into adulthood, and since then I’ve been waiting for years, searching the mirror for signs of my first gray hair or crow’s feet to appear.”
“How old are you?”
He smiled. “Old enough that I should have seen some of those signs by now.”
“Do you have other—you know—powers?”
He shrugged. “You already know I can read your thoughts.”
“It’s very disconcerting, you know,” she admitted.
“It’s considered bad manners to go probing around in someone’s head without their consent or knowledge. I don’t do it. I only heard you before because your thoughts were so…well, vehement. They were projectiles, in a way. You were sort of sending them.”
“I see.”
“Everyday thinking, I wouldn’t hear unless I was listening in. And I’m not. I promise.”
“Okay.”
“You can block them, shield yourself from eavesdropping vampires, if it makes you feel less…violated.”
“Really? How?”
“Visualization. Picture an invisible helmet, impermeable, no thoughts can escape it. See it strongly, and often. Design it. See its colors, feel its weight. Then just don it whenever you have thoughts you want to keep to yourself.”
She nodded. “So you…you communicate with each other that way? Is that one of your powers, too?”
“It’s so natural to us it doesn’t seem like a power, exactly. I mean, maybe anyone raised by adults who communicate telepathically would pick it up, you know? And a lot of mortal twins seem to have a bit of that ability. Beyond that, we’re very strong, far stronger than any ordinary human being. We can run faster, jump higher and we see well in the dark. None of those things are as strong in us as they are in our vampiric relatives, but they’re far stronger than in humankind.”
He sighed, looking at her again, and this time he covered her hand with his. “I’m going on and on, and you need to get some rest so your mind will be fresh come sundown. I just…I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to show you that I’m not bad, not evil. And to tell you how sorry I am that I had to drag you into this drama.”
“Why?” she asked softly, her eyes on his hand, where it rested on top of hers.
His gaze was there, too. “I care what you think of me.”
She lifted her head just as he raised his. Their eyes met. “I’m fascinated by you, James.” Maybe that was too much. She blinked and said, “By all of you, I mean. And by your history and your abilities and your family. Thank you for telling me a little more about you. I think…I think I understand a bit better now.”
“I hope so.” He reached out with his other hand, as if he were going to brush it through her hair, then stopped himself and blinked at it as if in surprise. “I’m overtired. I need to get some rest, too,” he said, lowering his hand to his side. “If you can think of anything that would make this time a bit easier on you, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
She nodded. “This…training they have you doing. Is it pretty grueling?”
“It drains me. Physically as well as spiritually. But it has to be done.” He moved toward the door. “Oh, before I forget, Brigit said you thought you could work faster if you knew exactly what you were looking for.”
She nodded. “I can’t see what harm telling me might do. I mean, I’m going to know what that tablet contains anyway, once it’s translated.”
“That was the argument I made to Rhiannon. She forbade me from telling you anything, of course.”
“Of course.”
“I’ve decided to tell you anyway.”
She lifted her brows in surprise. “You’re defying her?”
He shrugged. “The faster I’m finished with this, the better. She’ll see that it did no harm in the long run.”
“So…?”
“According to legend, that tablet contains the entire account of the death of Utanapishtim. It is our hope that it also contains some clue that will lead us to his remains. As well as telling us