Vampires Are Foreve(26)

“Fell?” she asked curiously.

Thomas nodded. “It was a combination of earthquake and a volcanic eruption or something. Atlantis fell into the sea, I think. Anyway, most if not all of the mortals were killed in the fall, and even some immortals, but some managed to escape and survive. They spread out over the face of the earth, but what they found was that while their society had been sheltered by the mountains surrounding it and their people had advanced, the rest of the world was way behind them technologically. Primitive even.” He cleared his throat, and added, “This was around 1500…BC.”

Her eyes widened incredulously. “What?”

When he simply nodded solemnly, Inez frowned in response. “But that means they were worlds ahead of the rest of the world. Why? How?”

Thomas shrugged. “They stuck to their own and didn’t share their technology.”

“But why?” she repeated. “Why stay so isolated? Why did they never travel beyond the mountains surrounding them? If they were as advanced as that, surely they had the ability.”

“I’m sure they did,” Thomas agreed and then shrugged. “But I don’t know why they remained so isolated. My cousin once said something about an age-old feud with a neighboring clan and a peace treaty guaranteeing that neither people would cross the border of the mountains separating them.”

“But they did when Atlantis fell?” she murmured and he nodded.

Inez considered that and then asked, “How did they survive when they suddenly found themselves without the blood banks and so on?”#p#分页标题#e#

Thomas saw the realization on her face even as she asked the question, but answered anyway, “At first it was bad. They needed blood, but had no way to get it. There were no blood banks outside Atlantis. But the nano’s job was to do what was necessary to repair and regenerate the body and they needed blood to do it.” He shrugged. “Their response was to make the teeth come on, I guess. Plus, the survivors also became faster, and stronger, and able to see better in the dark.”

“Why the dark?” Inez asked at once. “If you aren’t cursed and soulless, why can you not walk in sunlight?”

“They can,” Thomas said, as he glanced nervously around to be sure none of their flight mates were paying attention. “They can walk in sunlight, but sunlight does the worst damage to the body, which means they have to consume more blood. They avoid sunlight to avoid the necessity of feeding more often.”

When she frowned, he added, “Mortals weren’t too happy to be considered cattle by immortals. Many Atlanteans were killed or at least injured horribly when they were discovered feeding on mortals. It was better for them to avoid sunlight as much as possible and live, sleep, and hunt under cover of night. Of course, the other abilities help with that.”

“Being faster, stronger, and having night vision?”

“That and the ability to read and control the minds of mortals, as well as erase their memories so that they don’t feel the pain of the feeding or recall it afterward. If not for that, it would be impossible to hide their existence. They would be hunted and eventually eradicated,” he said quietly and then pointed out, “Mortals could defeat us—I mean, them, by sheer numbers alone.”

She frowned, opened her mouth, then closed it and leaned forward to whisper, “But you didn’t erase my memory.”

“No,” Thomas agreed quietly. He could see the question in her eyes, but shook his head. He wasn’t explaining that to her here. He wasn’t at all sure how she’d take the news that she was his lifemate and he didn’t want her freaking out on the plane. Trying to steer her away from that subject, he said, “The older ones prefer being called immortals to vampire, though they aren’t completely immortal. They can die, but not from illness, and not even by most injuries.”

“How?” she asked.

Thomas hesitated. What she was asking was a dangerous question to answer. If she decided she didn’t think mortals should have to suffer immortals living amongst them, she could use this information to hurt them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t read her mind, so couldn’t gauge how she was accepting this information. She didn’t look as afraid as she had. In fact, if anything, Inez appeared more fascinated than anything else…. Still…

“Is it the stake in the heart like the mythological vampire?” she asked abruptly.

“That can stop the heart,” he admitted carefully.

Her eyebrows drew together. “But it won’t kill them.”