The next night that Paysha awoke, she was in a plush bed, covered in down-filled blankets and her head rested on puffy pillows. Her head hurt. She wasn't sure if she had remembered the events of the previous evening correctly. From what she could recall, she saw the visage of a tall, pale man, with long dark hair and crystalline eyes as well as a woman, his opposite, tall as well, long hair the color of sunbleached wheat, the same eyes, preternatural. They seemed like opposite sides of the same coin, yin and yang, light and dark.

She wasn't as sore as she had been the night before and there remained only a slight pinch of hunger as she rolled over and sat up. She was clothed in a red gown, its vibrancy offsetting the jet of her hair as it curled over her shoulder and cascaded over one breast. Stretching, she could feel every sinew in her body move with appreciation. Though the room was dark, lit only by a single candle in a sconce on the wall, she could see each and every inch of the room in great detail. The comforter on the bed was a midnight blue brocade, interlaced with rich golds, the curtains on the four-poster bed every bit as opulent, their tapestries mirroring the delicate patterns. The draperies that covered the window were a deep, dusty blue, thick enough, she could tell, to block out any and all light from outside. She set her feet down on the deep pile of a Turkish rug and her toes sunk into it's plushness. Padding to the window, she held the drape open just slightly and caught the last purple hues as the sun went over the horizon in the distance. It was dark enough here that she could see the stars in multitudes as they came out of hiding. It was breathtaking and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

Somewhere in the house, she heard a noise, what could have been a scream, untraceable as it came from deep in the bowels of the building. Her ears also attuned to voices, which she assumed were coming from the neighboring room. Theirs. She couldn't make out any of the words, only heard the mumbling cadences of his low voice and her higher voice as they carried through the walls.

Deciding to investigate, she padded across the bare wood floor and grabbed a silk robe that hung from a hook near the door. It didn't occur to her that she should be cold, she only felt like being covered, the robe being that one extra layer of protection, from what, she didn't know.

Her door opened easily enough, sliding across the floor with a slight hiss, its hinges creaking, waking up from years of non-use. She tiptoed from her room, listening for their voices to see which direction she should walk. She followed them to the right, sure that each door would be the one she needed to step through, grossly disappointed to find that each one she opened was nothing but musty furniture held together by dust and cobwebs. Their voices had seemed close by and their lack of proximity was frustrating. Finally, she called out, “Hello? Where are you?” It felt like she was calling to a big empty house.

“In here, Dear,” came Eve's reply. “We've taken to the study. Down the stairs to your left.”

She was confused. If they were downstairs, how did she hear them so well. Following Eve's direction, she turned around and walked to the end of the hallway, stopping at the top of the grand staircase. She remembered this from the night before, though it had been such a blur that she had not noticed the delicate stained glass that stood at the top of it. A careful depiction of The Garden of Eden. “How fitting,” she thought as she studied it. There was no light that came through the glass, it having been boarded up years before by presumably whomever had left the house. She guessed that they'd had every intention of returning to it, or selling it for great profit.

“Eve?” she called again as she descended the stairs. “You said to the left?”

“Yes,” Eve answered, “Just past the empty pedestal.”

Paysha got to the landing and turned left, spying a small marble column in an alcove upon which a bust of some sort must have stood but had long since vanished. There was a door on the other side, closed but with light leaking around it from some source of illumination inside. It was through this door she went, tiptoeing carefully as she pushed it open. “Hello,” she said quietly as she entered the room.

Eve was sitting on a settee. Adam was lying on it, his head in her lap. Both were wearing nothing but robes, hers a pale blue silk, his a more masculine green and black. “Please, come in,” Eve invited, waving her hands towards a chair opposite them. “You know, you're welcome anywhere here,” she said, her voice taking on a motherly tone. “You are one of us now.”

Adam sat up. “Except my music room,” he grumbled. “After last time, I am the only one allowed in there.”

Patting his hand, Eve agreed, “Yes, Darling, your music room.” As Paysha passed, she leaned closer and whispered, “He's very sensitive about his music.”

Paysha nodded. “I'll keep that in mind.” She sat down on the chair and leaned back, attempting to make herself comfortable and failing miserably. She nearly wished that Adam would do the gentlemanly thing and move so she could sit on the settee with Eve, but she realized that she wouldn't have been comfortable with that either.

“Have you slept well?” Eve asked as Adam leaned closer to her, his arm draped lazily over her shoulders. She didn't seem to mind.

“I did,” Paysha answered. “It's a lovely room.”

Eve smiled. “That it is. I would have picked that room myself, except Adam had already settled in the other one.”

“Couldn't you have just changed?” Paysha began to get curious.

Eve shook her head. “It's not all that simple. Especially with him.” She hiked her thumb at Adam. “Once he's settled somewhere, it's hard to get him to move.” She was alluding to more than just their present house, so much more. “Come here, child,” she said, patting the spot on the settee next to her that had been vacated by Adam's long legs. “Or, if you'd prefer, we can scoot down.”

“Please,” Paysha smiled nervously. She was beginning to like Eve, but still wary of Adam. He was, after all, the reason she was in her current predicament. She stood as Eve and Adam made room for her.

The settee was more comfortable than the chair and she sunk into it, its velvet upholstery welcoming her tired body. “Thank you,” she said, “That chair was not meant to be set in for any length of time.”

Eve laughed and her cadence rang through the room. “This is where we start to get an inkling of your abilities, my dear,” Eve said.

“What do you mean?” Paysha was beginning to think that she was going to be lost again, herself part of an entirely different conversation from those she was talking with. “Abilities?”

Adam snorted. “I hope she doesn't have the abilities your sister has.”

“Hush,” Eve shot at him, dropping her hand in the air. “Ava is an entirely different sort of monster.”

“Monster is the key word, there,” Adam shot back as he rolled his eyes. When Eve gave him a disapproving glance from the corner of her eye, he sighed, “Alright, let's get on with this then.”

Eve turned back to Paysha. “For each of us, when we are born into this, we have a special, innate ability carried with us from our mortal life that is enhanced. Mine is telemetry.” She set her hand upon the hem of the gown that Paysha wore, closed her eyes and continued. “For instance, I can hold the fabric of your gown in my hands and I can tell you with absolute certainty that it was made in Italy in 1918.” She opened her eyes and dropped the gown. “Adam is a prodigy. He can play anything, any instrument, any style of music.” She took Payha's hand in her own. “Now, let's see...” She closed her eyes once again.

Paysha felt the need to close her eyes as well, perhaps subconsciously thinking that they would be kindred spirits. What she saw in place of her own thoughts were Eve's, her memories, her wishes and dreams, everything. “Oh, Eve,” she said as she saw the tragedies that had befallen her in her human life. “I had no idea.”

Eve withdrew from her like she was hot metal, her skin scathing. “You are a seer,” she said as Paysha opened her eyes. “You can see into others, their deepest innermost thoughts and desires.”

Opening her own eyes, her mind a blur of Eve's thoughts as well as her own, she shuddered. “I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn't mean to see any of that.”

“What did you see?” Adam asked, his brows furrowed. “What was it?” He was curious. There was very little he knew of Eve before they'd met, only brief glimpses of her past that she told him about. She was much older than he, that much he knew, having been a vampire some 200 years prior to that fateful night. What he had managed to fill in was that she had been a Druid, her people having been the main population of the Germanic homelands, practicing their religion in the ways of the old gods. She'd let slip that her maker was of Roman descent, a man of high military rank who was among the first to raid their villages. He'd taken her and turned her. That was everything Adam knew.

“I don't know if Eve would like me to say,” Paysha answered quietly. “It's a bit personal.”

Shaking her head, Eve leaned into Adam. “I wouldn't worry about it, Darling,” she said softly, “It's in the past, what's done is done and there is no changing it. Besides, you've known me far longer than I was ever human.”

“I think you're making it up,” he snarled. “Try me.” He held his arm up, the muscles in it flexing as he extended it to Paysha. “Here.”

Paysha grasped his arm and closed her eyes again, this time her thoughts all his. “I see you as a young boy,” she said. “Spoiled, regal, a young Lord.”

“Yes, yes,” Adam agreed, his voice tinged with annoyance. “This we all know.”

Clearing her throat, Paysha continued. “You were in love with a peasant girl?”

Adam grunted, shooting an uncomfortable glance at Eve. She smiled when he raised his eyebrow at her.

“Ah, now I see,” Paysha said, “Your father was against the union, feeling like it was below your station to want to marry someone of such low birthright.” She could see Adam in his youth as though she were there with him. She described the scene of Adam and his beloved running away to a cottage in the hills, one that happened to also be a hideout for miscreants. He was made to watch as his beloved was violated, drawn and quartered by the men, and then he, himself stabbed and left to die in the hut as the robbers took everything they owned and escaped. It was there that Eve had found him. Much too late for the girl, but just in time to save Adam. He had been just as handsome then and the years had made him only more regal. “I'm sorry for your losses, Adam.” Paysha whispered as she let go of his arm.

Adam let it drop into Eve's lap, stunned as he was by Paysha's accurate recount of the day he and Eve had met. “So she does have it,” he mumbled.

Opening her eyes, Paysha gazed at the two of them. “So, what am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.

“Anything you like,” Eve answered. “However, I feel that you should use it to your advantage. Since you can see things like this, you might also be able to tell when a mortal has blood poisoning, as well as who would be deserving of death.”

“So we can kill them?” She squirmed a bit at the thought of killing anyone.

Adam chuckled as Eve explained, “No, my dear, we don't kill anyone. Usually, we bleed them, heal the wound and let them get along on their merry way. Unless we turn them, like you.”

“Why doesn't anyone tell?” Paysha asked.

Eve shook her head. “We glamour them,” she answered. “That is an ability every one of us has. The ability to remove the recent memories of anyone we meet, thus we are relegated to the realm of possible dream.”