Or blinded her to the truth, as Sean feared.
But Krysta didn’t think so. Vampires were insane. They were mentally off, and anyone who spent two minutes in their company knew it. Not once, all day, had any of the immortals she had met done anything to suggest they weren’t completely lucid. Not once had she felt threatened by them.
Nervous? Yes. Confused? Yes. In danger of being harmed by them? No.
“Who is David?” she asked as dark arboreal shadows in monstrous proportions whizzed past outside the window. The meeting to which they had all been summoned would be held at the home of someone named David, who seemed to live way out in the middle of nowhere.
Seated beside her, Étienne said, “David is the second eldest, most powerful immortal in existence.”
“How old is he?”
“I don’t know exactly and suspect he ceased counting centuries ago. Suffice it to say, he is old enough to have witnessed biblical events.”
Her neck popped as her head snapped in his direction. “What?”
Sean turned to look at them over his shoulder. “Are you saying he’s thousands of years old?”
“Yes.”
“Do vampires live that long?” Sean asked, mimicking her own thoughts.
“No. Vampires rarely live a century because of the madness that claims them. Either they kill each other in fits of rage, are hunted and killed by immortals, or grow careless and inadvertently bring about their own destruction.”
Krysta couldn’t even imagine living that long. She had suspected vampires didn’t live as long as movies and books often claimed they did. But immortals . . .
Living thousands of years? What was that like?
“You said second eldest,” she murmured. “Is the tall one I met earlier older?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Yes. And he’s only about an inch taller than David.”
Sean frowned at her. “You met another one?”
She nodded. “He must have been six foot seven or eight, and he positively oozed power.”
Sean shifted his gaze to Étienne. “Just what are these elders’ gifts?”
“Don’t answer that,” Cam said, catching Étienne’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
Krysta waited for Étienne to respond.
He remained silent, disappointing her, but she couldn’t fault him for it. Sean wasn’t exactly cooperating. Or he was, but had put up quite the verbal fight in an attempt to avoid this meeting. The idea of being sequestered in a home with over a dozen immortals was very unnerving.
So Krysta could see why Étienne might be reluctant to share more secrets without first securing Sean’s favor.
“We’re here,” Cam announced, turning onto a secluded drive and following it to a tall security gate. Heavy silence filled the car as he rolled down his window, reached out, and entered a security code she couldn’t see from her vantage point.
The majestic gates swung open on well-oiled hinges.
Dark trees towered over them, blocking out the moon, as the car crawled forward along a winding road that ended in a circular drive full of . . . hybrids and electric cars?
Sean peered through the window as Cam parked behind a shiny black Prius. “Are you guys, like, environmentalists or something?”
“All of our senses are heightened,” Étienne said, “not just our vision. Our sense of smell is more acute than a polar bear’s or an arctic fox’s. The pollution you barely notice that makes the air smell a little stale to you makes it smell to us as though we’re living downwind of a garbage dump on a hot summer’s day.”
Krysta grimaced. “That sucks.”
He nodded. “Particularly since most of us have lived long enough to remember what the world smelled like before the industrial revolution.”
Cam exited the car and pocketed the keys.
Étienne opened his door, stepped out, and circled around to open Krysta’s before she could reach for the handle.
She took the hand he gallantly offered and let him help her from the car.
Did she need the help?
Of course not.
Did she leap at the excuse to touch him?
Absolutely.
Sean joined them and slammed his door shut out of habit.
Étienne motioned toward the house. “Shall we?”
The door swung open at their approach.
Étienne nodded to Darnell, who greeted them all with a smile.
“Hi. You must be Krysta and Sean. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Darnell, David’s Second.”
Krysta and Sean each shook his hand.
“So you’re human?” Sean asked.
“Actually, I’m a gifted one like you two.”
That was news to Étienne. He had thought Darnell human.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to let me hold on to your cell phones while you’re here.”