"
Lanie
, I want you to meet Jessica," Charles said as a woman about her own age walked in, giving her a friendly smile that was hard to resist.
"It's nice to finally meet you," she said, ignoring Jess's outstretched hand to hug her instead. "I'm Mac's wife. And this is Bethany
Stavinoski
." She stepped back and gestured to a second, shorter woman.
Bethany
came forward and also embraced Jess warmly. "I'm Dirk's fiancée. We're so glad you made it. I hope you're planning to stay for a while. Dirk and I are getting married next week, and we'd love to have you there."
It was the first Jess had heard about the wedding, and she wasn't sure what to say. "Well, I—"
"Of course she'll stay," Charles interrupted. "We haven't seen each other in, what? Thirteen years? Goodness, has it really been that long?"
She smiled and nodded at the sudden flood of memories. "Yes. I was twelve, and you thought you would teach me and
Kacie
how to use a sword."
"Ah, yes. That was certainly a mistake." Charles laughed, shaking his head. "I think that by the time the lesson was over, you two had taught me a trick or two." He gave her a fond smile.
"Ah, the memories.
Please say you'll stay. If nothing else, we should catch up on all that's happened."
Jess made a noncommittal noise. She hadn't flown all the way to the States just to deliver a sword, but now was probably not the time to mention the photo.
At that moment, an attractive older woman with auburn hair appeared.
"Hello, everyone."
"Julia, there you are," Charles said, moving forward to draw the woman into the foyer. "Jessica has finally arrived, and we also have John
Boehler
here—you've heard us mention him."
Jess made a mental note that Charles hadn't exactly explained who this woman was in relation to the rest of the group as she watched Julia extend her hand to the detective.
"We've spoken on the phone several times," she said warmly. "It's very nice to finally meet you."
"And this is Jessica."
Julia turned that warm smile her way. "Welcome, Jessica," she said. "I've heard so much about you."
"Thank you. But please, call me Jess."
Julia dipped her head briefly to acknowledge the request and then turned to address the group in general. "I've taken the liberty of making coffee, and there are cookies left over from earlier."
"Excellent," Charles said, beaming. "Let's take our conversation into the kitchen. I hope you won't mind," he said to John. "It's my
favorite
room in the house, and I think we'll be more comfortable there."
Jess moved with the others into the kitchen and immediately saw why Charles loved the room. Painted in shades of buttery yellow, with accents in green and tangerine, it reminded Jess of an open field of flowers on a cool morning just after sunrise.
She moved toward the table and was disconcerted to find the only available seat was next to the detective, who looked equally thrilled to be stuck next to her. After Julia finished pouring coffee for everyone, she placed sweetener, cream, and a tray of cookies in the center of the table and then took her seat beside Charles.
"Now," Charles began. "No more bullshit." He looked at John, letting him know that his choice of words had been an intentional echo of the ones John had used earlier. "John, you are correct. Vampires do exist, and you can appreciate why that's not something we wanted made public. When you first got involved with this, I admit that I purposely misled you. I believed that you would be safer, the less you knew."
John didn't look convinced. "So, for
my
protection, you lied to me?"
"It wasn't a complete lie," Mac jumped in. "We might have omitted a small detail, like the killers weren't human, but they
were
terrorists. After all,
Burton
—the first vampire—did put together a team of vampires to kill the president."
John shot Mac a disdainful look, before turning back to the admiral. "I don't get it. Where'd they come from?"
"Originally?"
Charles asked with a smile. "Have you ever heard of
El
Chupacabra
?"
John shook his head.
"Literally translated,
El
Chupacabra
means 'the goatsucker.' For most people, these creatures exist only in legend, like Bigfoot. But they are very real. They survive on blood and typically feed off of livestock. However, they do, on occasion, attack and kill a human—when that happens, the venom they inject into the body while feeding turns the corpse into a vampire."
Jessica watched the detective's face as Charles spoke. A confused look came to his eyes. Knowing what was to come, she knew that confusion was about to get worse.
"There are two types of vampires—Primes and Progeny. When a
chupacabra
kills a human, the vampire that rises up is a Prime. When a Prime kills a human, the vampire that results is a Progeny.
"The Primes, having received the pure
chupacabra
venom, are more completely converted into the living dead; they retain their human intelligence. Their Progeny, on the other hand, get only diluted
chupacabra
venom and so their conversion is 'flawed,' for lack of a better term. They retain their intelligence for only a short while and then it deteriorates. In the end, all that's left is a primitive bloodsucking creature obsessed with finding its next meal."
"Miles Van Home was a Progeny," Dirk added.
"Miles Van Home was a vampire?" The detective sounded shocked, and Jess wondered who they were talking about.
"Not at first," Mac hurried to explain. "But there at the end, Patterson—the Prime who was responsible for all those attacks on
Bethany
?—killed Miles and turned him into a vampire." Jessica saw Mac rum and
look
specifically at Dirk. "That's why Miles Van Home had to die. It was just a matter of time before he started killing."
There was some unspoken exchange taking place between Mac and Dirk that Jessica couldn't figure out, but before she could wonder any more about it, John spoke up.
"Who the hell is Patterson? How many vampires are there?"
Jess saw Mac and Dirk exchange looks and could practically hear their thoughts, debating how much to admit. "Patterson was behind the attacks on
Bethany
last month, but don't worry—he's dead now. As for how many vampires are out there now, I don't know. There for a while, we were killing three or four a night, but it's slowed down some."
John stared at them,
openmouthed
.
"Three or four a
night
!
Why haven't you called me?"
"John, the last thing you—and your career—needed
was
to be involved in this city's vampire problem. So, as much for your protection as anything else, we haven't called you every time we destroyed a vampire."
"If it makes you feel better,"
Lanie
put in, "we keep a list of names and addresses of all the vampires killed—at least, those who are still carrying IDs. Uncle Charles sends their families a small anonymous donation to help them out a bit. They think they've won a contest their loved one entered before they disappeared. It doesn't bring the loved one back, but the money helps them a little while they adjust."
The detective rubbed his jaw, shaking his head.
"John, I'm sorry," Charles said. "We did what we thought was necessary."
"If you don't mind my asking,"
Bethany
asked when the group fell silent, "how did you figure out the truth?"
Jess found herself leaning closer, wanting to hear the answer. She prayed that maybe his revelation hadn't been entirely her fault.
"Until tonight, I didn't know for sure," he admitted, dashing her hopes. "I've spent so much time trying to fit the facts of the
Exsanguinator
cases into a logical pattern—a pattern in keeping with human terrorists—yet there was always some part of each case that wouldn't gel with the rest. Finally, it occurred to me that maybe the answer was right in front of me if I would open my eyes and see it. So I tried to come at it from a completely objective angle, but the answer I got was ludicrous—or so I thought at the time. Still, the more I thought about it, the less crazy it seemed until eventually, I found myself taking long
strolls around town, looking for vampires."
"Which is why you were in
"Yeah."
"And you found one," Charles concluded.
"I don't know. I ran into a man while I was in the park, but I didn't have time to speak to him." John glanced at Jessica and she felt her face heat up. "We were interrupted."
"Jessica?" Charles turned to her with a questioning look.
"It was a vampire," she confirmed, holding Charles's gaze. She wasn't about to let him intimidate her when there was a good reason for what she'd done. "It was dark by the time I reached D.C. As I was driving through town, the eyes on the pommel of the sword began to glow." She spared John a look. "It does that whenever a vampire is in the area." She fixed first Charles, then Mac, and finally Dirk, with a level gaze. "So I did what any one of you would have done under the same circumstances. And I would have succeeded if Detective
Boehler
hadn't stopped me." She turned to the detective, silently daring him to refute her.
Mac, who'd been taking a drink of his coffee, set down his cup and turned to face John. "If that was a vampire you ran into, you're lucky he didn't attack you."
"I had my gun," John assured him.
Mac snorted. "In a year of hunting, I've only stopped one vampire with a gun before and it took eight closely grouped rounds to his head to bring him down."
John cast a quick glance at Jess and she knew he was remembering the dagger and stakes he'd found in her purse. Now that he understood, maybe she'd get them back.
"If the vampire didn't attack you,"
Lanie
said, sounding like she was working out a logic problem, "then he must not have been hungry. That would mean he'd recently fed. Did you find a body?"
Only because she was studying the faces around her did Jess spot the subtle shift in John's expression when he answered. "No, I didn't see a body."
She was trying to decide whether or not he was lying when Dirk looked at his watch.
"Speaking of vampires," he said, pushing back from the table, "if you'll excuse us, it's time for our patrol." He held his hand out to John and they shook hands. "Welcome to the inner circle." Then he turned to Jess and his expression softened a bit as a twinkle came to his eye. "It's nice to finally meet you. We'll have to exchange hunting tips." Then he reached out a hand to
Bethany
and helped her to her feet. "Come say good-bye to me."
Together, they disappeared through the door.
"I've got to go, too," Mac added as he and
Lanie
also rose from the table. "I know you have more questions, John. We'll try to answer them later." He turned to Charles. "To be safe, we'll take a spin through
Charles looked at his watch and gave a small exclamation. "Julia, if we don't hurry, we'll be late for the reception downtown." He turned to Jessica with an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry, my dear. This function has been scheduled for months and I can't get out of it. Julia and I will be gone for a couple of hours, but
Lanie
and Beth will be here. They can get you anything you need, and I promise that we'll catch up tomorrow."
"I guess I'd better be going as well," the detective said, rising to his feet.
The more Jess watched him, the more convinced she was that he was hiding something, so when he walked outside to his car, she followed him.
"What do you want?" he asked when he opened the driver's-side door and saw her coming up behind him. "The thought of being separated from me got your panties in a knot?"
"Don't flatter yourself. I wanted to talk to you, alone."
"What about?"
She hesitated as two dark-
colored
SUVs emerged from behind the house and drove past them. Mac and Dirk were going out on patrol. She watched them disappear down the drive and then turned to see the detective watching her, clearly not trusting her intentions.
"You lied in there."
If possible, his expression became even more guarded. "Is that right?"
"Yes, it is. I was there that night, remember? Before you knocked me to the ground, I got a good look at that vampire. I saw the blood staining his lips and teeth. There was a body, wasn't there?" She held her breath, waiting for his response. She hadn't been close enough to really notice if there'd been blood or not, but hopefully he wouldn't know that.