Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(48)

“Welcome!”

Wesley’s voice coming over the loudspeakers in the room saved her from having to come up with an answer, for both Blake and herself. She tore her gaze away from Blake and looked to the front of the room, where Wesley was standing at a lectern, speaking into a microphone. Behind him the desktop of a computer was being projected on a screen on the wall.

“Let’s all settle down. We need to get this started. There’s a lot that you all need to be brought up to speed on,” Wesley urged. He craned his neck toward the door, where more men streamed in. “Is everybody here?”

She recognized one other person now: Eddie, the man who’d analyzed Hannah’s computer was strolling in, a blond guy walking next to him. When they both went to the other side of the room, Lilo noticed the other man’s hand resting on Eddie’s lower back.

A moment later, she felt Blake’s breath near her ear. “You want me to tell you who everybody is?”

She nodded automatically.

“The blond man with Eddie is Thomas, his blood-bonded mate.”

“Two guys?”

“They were human once; their turning didn’t change their sexual orientation.” Then he pointed to the dark-haired man who she’d seen talking to Wesley when they’d entered the room. “That’s Samson, the founder of Scanguards.”

Lilo perused him. He was tall and handsome. And he oozed authority. So that was what an over two-hundred-year-old vampire looked like.

Blake directed her gaze to a man who looked like a younger edition of Samson. “That’s his son, Grayson. A hothead. Thinks he’s invincible.” He pointed to the young woman sitting next to him. “His older sister, Isabelle. One of them will run the company one day. My money’s on Isabelle.”

“Okay, settle down,” Wesley said, tapping the microphone. “I called this meeting because we have a serious problem on our hands.”

Silence fell over the room, everyone’s eyes on Wesley.

“First of all, before you all die of curiosity, Blake has asked me to make a quick introduction. The human woman sitting next to him is Lilo Schroeder. Why she’s here will become evident shortly. Just let me say this: you may speak freely in her presence. Blake has told her who we are and what we do.” He nodded toward Blake, then continued, “Now, let me start with this.”

He shifted the mouse and opened a file for all to see on the oversized screen on the wall. It showed a map of San Francisco. Dozens of red dots were spread all over it.

“John, who’s been working with the SFPD on this case, will start.”

From one of the seats in the front, a tall man rose and marched to the lectern. Wes stepped to the side, making space for him.

“Thanks, Wes,” he said. Lilo detected a slight Southern accent. “So, here’s the gist: over the last few months the crime rate in San Francisco has spiked. Home invasions and robberies, both commercial and residential, have increased over 200%. That’s astronomical. The odd thing, however, is that the spike occurred during daytime, suggesting that the crimes aren’t vampire-related. However, Donnelly, our liaison at the SFPD, begged us to look at it. I’m glad he did.”

He exchanged a look with Wesley. “At the beginning I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it, but then the police caught one suspect in a recent liquor store robbery. He was completely zonked out. We figured he had to be under the control of a vampire to be so out of it.”

Lilo shot Blake a questioning look. He leaned in and whispered to her, “Mind control.”

But before she could ask more, John continued.

“We were right, in a way. But I’ll let Wes explain those details to you.” He stepped aside and returned to his seat.

Wesley clicked on something on the screen, and a picture of an herb appeared. “When I examined the suspect of the liquor store robbery, I found traces of H?llenkraut in his blood. What you’re seeing on the screen is the herb in question.”

“H?llen-what?” one man asked.

“It’s German, it means herb from hell.”

Lilo leaned closer to Blake, getting just as impatient as some of the assembled vampires. “What does all this have to do with Hannah?”

“Patience,” Blake urged.

“I did a little research,” Wesley continued. “In one of my old books I found some interesting information. Turns out that H?llenkraut when combined with a few other herbs turns into a quite potent drug that will render the user highly susceptible to suggestion. In other words: mind control. Now this wouldn’t be anything new, since any vampire already has this power. However, with this drug, the vampire can control the human without being anywhere near his victim. This is how we think a group of vampires has been executing these crimes: by using humans who don’t even know what they’re doing as minions. When they come out of their drug-induced state, they have no idea what they’ve done. Or who made them do it.”

Several men cursed.

“There’s more,” Wes continued. “We have a lead. Or rather two. This is where Miss Schroeder was instrumental.” He opened an image file, and suddenly Hannah’s face was right there on the screen. “Some of you may know Hannah Bergdorf, one of our Vüber drivers. She went missing several days ago. Both Blake and Miss Schroeder have been looking for her. Thanks to their efforts, we know the following.” He opened another image file: Ronny now grinned at them from the wall. “This is Ronny Clifford, Hannah’s boyfriend. He’s a vampire, one of her Vüber clients. We raided Ronny’s home and on his computer we found evidence that he’s been researching or working with H?llenkraut, the same substance that renders a human pliable. Considering how rare H?llenkraut is, and how dangerous, we believe that these two cases are related.”