"Really?" I interrupted. "But you said you were the only one. Why did you say that if it wasn't true?"
"I said I was the only one who could hear people's thoughts. She can see things—other things, things that might happen, things that might not happen. But it's very subjective. The future isn't set in stone. Things change, turn into other things."
His jaw set when he said that, and his eyes darted at my face and away so quickly that I wasn't sure if I only imagined it.
"What kinds of things does she see?"
"She saw a wall of blood one time. Sometimes she'll know who will win the baseball game. She even saw Carlisle and our family, and she and Jasper came together to find us. She's most sensitive to non-humans. She always sees, for example, when another group of our kind is coming near and any threat they may pose."
"Are there a lot of va— your kind?" I was surprised. How many vampires could be walking around without people knowing?
"You'd be surprised. But most won't settle in any one place. Only those like us, who've developed what we call a 'conscience'"—a sly glance in my direction—"can live together with humans for any length of time. We've only found one other family like ours, in a small village in Alaska.285 We lived together for a time, but there were so many of us that we became too noticeable. Those of us who live differently tend to kick it more."
"And the others?"
"Nomads, for the most part. We've all lived that way at
285. The northern-most United State. Alaskan winters receive so little sunlight, two families of vampires could probably live there undetected.