Vampires Among Us [Vampires Among Us 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

told her about any of this, and then the answer hit her. Shawn was what Charles and his kind considered “rogue”, and so he would not have wanted her to have access to help. She had assumed a long time ago that Shawn was not the only vampire out in the world, but she would have never guessed that there was an entire society of vampires living within their city.
    Questions started popping into Erica’s mind, and she quickly picked the most important one to voice. “You mentioned you have your own food source, what exactly do you mean?”
    Charles glanced over at Kevin to ask, “She hasn’t met Davidrick yet, has she?”
    “No,” Kevin answered his father. “She will later this evening. He is coming by with a supply.”
    Charles looked back over to Erica and continued. “We have several vamps that work at our local blood banks. We also have Kevin’s good friend Davidrick, who runs the morgue at the hospital. Both supply us with the blood that we need, and at no danger to humans. If we run into a situation where we can’t get human blood, our kind can always substitute animal blood.” Erica noticed Charles made a face as this last remark was made, and assumed animal blood was not on his list of favorite meals. Or maybe he had a problem killing Bambi? That thought almost made her laugh out loud, a vampire not wanting to kill?
    “I hope that Davidrick has been able to get his hands on some O negative. We have been out for almost a week now,” Charles grumbled, startling Erica out of her personal musings.
    “So you are not allowed to go out and bite humans when you get hungry?” Erica asked a little suspiciously.
    Both Charles and Kevin stared at her as if she had grown two heads. It was Charles who recuperated first and answered, “Only in the absolute extreme emergency, and even then, the vampire must report his actions to our judicial board. Why would you think such a thing, dear?”
    Instead of replying, Erica reached down and rolled up one of the sleeves to her long-sleeve shirt, then, holding out her arm, displayed the numerous scars running down the arm.
    Charles stared down at her arm for a moment and then closed his eyes. A look of rage skittered across his face, and it took him a moment to thrust his temper back down. When he reopened his eyes, they were black. You could see the anger rolling off of him in waves. “That son of a bitch needs to be taken down for this reason alone!” he barked out as he shot a look over to Kevin.
    Erica was taken aback by Charles’s temper, but before she had a chance to react, Kevin was standing in front of her. He quickly pulled her out of her seat and wrapped his arms around her securely. Whispering in her ear, he answered her question. “No, love, that is not the way it is done. I am so sorry you have had to go through everything, but I promise that it is going to be different from now on. You have no need to fear any of us, we feel that taking blood from a human is akin to rape. We don’t take sex that isn’t freely given, and we don’t take blood that isn’t freely given either.”
    Instead of releasing her, he simply swung her around so he could sit in her chair, bringing her to sit in his lap. He wrapped both arms securely around her waist, as one hand slowly began to caress her arm. Charles sat patiently across from them, waiting to continue.
    “Erica, we have a considerable amount of blood brought here. Kate and Elizabeth run our own version of the Meals on Wheels program to help our elderly vampires who have difficulty getting out. Actually, Kate actually runs the program, and Elizabeth helps her out on the weekends and afternoons when she isn’t tied up with school.”
    “Oh,” Erica replied quietly, at a loss for words at the moment. These vampires actually had their own version of the Meals on Wheels program? Had she taken a step into The Twilight Zone ?
    “We do take care of our own, but trust me, never at the expense of human lives. It is simply in our best interest, if we want to stay inconspicuous,” Charles continued in his kind, yet no-nonsense way.
    “You stated a few minutes ago you have your own judicial system. Does your judicial system recognize divorce in the vampire world?” Erica cautiously asked, hope flaring to life that she might be able to get rid of Shawn once and for all.
    “Yes, you would need to petition your request in front of the judicial board, but I suspect they will grant you an immediate divorce as soon