Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(42)

“Like Donnelly?”

“Yes. He’s one of the few who know what they’re dealing with, and whenever a case in which vampires appear to be involved crosses their desks, they contact Scanguards, and we take over.”

He could see her mind processing the information he gave her. Her forehead furrowed. Suddenly she shook her head. “You pretended not to know Donnelly when you brought me to the police station that night. And he played along. I take it that it wasn’t a coincidence that you drove me to that particular station?”

Blake shook his head. “You insisted on going to the police, and I couldn’t let you go to just anybody. Public knowledge about vampires has to be contained, or there will be panic everywhere. So I texted Donnelly.”

“No, no, no! Don’t try to confuse me. You couldn’t have known back then that we were dealing with vampires. I found the video only today.”

He took a few steps closer and lowered himself to sit on the coffee table a few feet away from her. “Lilo, I knew immediately that night that the man who attacked you was a vampire.”

“How?”

He shrugged, not ready to give away his secret yet. He needed to explain a lot more before she was ready to hear this. “I can identify vampires. But I couldn’t tell you. You were scared enough. I needed you to remain calm.”

“So you lied to me?” Her lips quivered.

“I didn’t lie. I just withheld things from you. I had to.” He shoved a hand through his hair and threw his head back. “But you’ve earned the right to hear the truth now. Without your help we wouldn’t know who your attacker was. But with the video we’ll be able to find him in the database, I’m certain.”

“Database?”

“Scanguards has built up a database of known vampires.”

She shook her head again and again. “I can’t believe this. A company that consults with the city? That hunts vampires? This is crazy.”

“I know it sounds like it at first. But that’s what Scanguards does.”

“And the database? Why? I mean, if you know who’s a vampire, then why not kill them right away?”

As if she’d physically driven a knife through his ribs, pain seared through him. “Lilo, it’s not all black and white.”

“I don’t—”

“Not all vampires are bad. In fact, most are upstanding citizens with families and—”

“No, no, that’s not possible. They’re vile creatures. They suck humans dry. They kill them.”

“No, the vampires I know are honorable people. They protect humans.”

“They bite humans and drink their blood!”

If only she knew what a euphoric feeling a vampire’s bite could cause. But the way things stood right now, she’d never find out for herself. “Please listen to me. I want to tell you about the vampires I know.”

“How many do you know?” she spat.

“Many. They have families, children, dogs…”

“Children?”

“Hybrids to be exact. Half-vampire, half-human.”

He could see her mind working.

“But that would mean…” she started, her eyes widening.

This was his opportunity to tell her about his species, and that they needn’t be feared. “Yes. That’s exactly what that means. Vampires can bond with humans. For life.”

“Why would a human agree to that?”

“Many reasons: love being the strongest. And the advantages for the human are without equal: through their blood-bond the human feeds off the vampire’s immortality.”

“The human becomes immortal? No. You mean the human is turned into a vampire.”

“No. The human remains human. Who would the vampire feed off if he turned his human mate into a vampire? No, he needs her to remain human, because he can only take nourishment from his mate. He will only ever feed off his human mate.”

“I don’t understand. He won’t bite another human?”

“He couldn’t, even if he wanted to. The blood-bond is so strong that he would get sick from drinking another human’s blood.”

“That still leaves all those other vampires.” She pointed toward the door indicating the world outside their four walls. “The ones who’re not that tame. Those who don’t have human mates.” She shivered visibly, as if the thought disgusted her. “Vampires like Ronny, and the one who attacked me.”

Slowly Blake nodded. “Yes, there are those.” He looked at her, searching her eyes, making sure he had her full attention. “That’s why Scanguards came into existence. To protect humans from evil vampires.”

She waved her hands nervously. “But how? I felt how strong that vampire was. How could a human possibly have a chance against something like that?”

“A human wouldn’t.” He waited, letting the words sink in.

“But if not a human then…” Her eyes moved, her irises widening, swallowing up most of the white in her eyes.

“Scanguards was founded by a vampire named Samson Woodford. He still runs the company today, over two hundred years later. Many of the employees are vampires who’ve pledged their lives to protect the humans in their care.”

Lilo’s head moved from side to side, her chin dropping. “No, no, I can’t hear anymore of this. This is crazy. This can’t be true. Please tell me none of this is true.”