She took a moment to answer. "There are two reasons. One is practical and the other historical. You see all of us have been around long enough to know that we have little in common with normal humans. The only people we can relate to are each other. We are all so old with so many memories and experiences from our lives that outsiders could never fathom what our existence is like. There seems little purpose in sharing something that can never be understood or appreciated. Surely you already know that."

There was no longer any doubt in my mind, she was like me. "Yes you're right," I conceded.

"The second reason goes back to tradition. It all started shortly after everything was relocated to what is now Switzerland, around the turn of the first millennium. The seven members at that time had already amassed a fortune that rivaled many nearby kingdoms. One of the oldest members, upon becoming the trustee decided, without permission from the others, to tell all the villages within several days ride about the Cognomina. He later claimed he did this in an attempt to establish a new kingdom with the seven members acting as a royal family that could rule in successive incarnations. Word of the tattooed ‘devils’ spread across the land like wildfire and within a fortnight, the villagers killed all the members and looted the treasury of everything. Since then it's been a tradition to maintain secrecy about ourselves."

Antonio stopped in front of the church. I got out and started up the stairs. My foot was sore from walking in the cemetery.

"I have to go upstairs and take care of some business. I'll be back down in a while," she said

I watched her calf muscles flex as she walked up the stairs before going straight to the guest room for the pain killers. They started to work in minutes and I felt much better as I walked to the bathroom. Antonio was reading on the pew next to the bathroom when I passed. I came out and sat down beside him. "Is she still busy?"

He nodded and closed his book, an English language bible. "She is on the telephone."

"You read English?"

"I try to practice, but I don't understand too much," he said, looking at the book. "She took you out to the vault today. That means you are the same as her, yes?" He spoke softly and kept his eyes cast down. I wondered if this was some kind of test she had put him up to.

"What do you mean?"