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

and that started a conversation that lasted most of the evening. Kevin explained that Davidrick and he had met at the morgue. “I was bringing in a young human boy who ended up dying fighting in a gang-related turf war. The VCTF had been called in to assist on the case, after local authorities had failed in getting the situation under control. That night had been my first night on this particular assignment.” Kevin paused for just a second, recalling that particular evening, so many years ago. “My father had been dealing with Davidrick for quite a number of years. However, this was all new to me. That night when I arrived down at the morgue, I was frustrated that I had been unable to stop a needless death of someone so young, and Davidrick felt my frustration. We started talking and realized we shared a lot of the same interests. That started a friendship that has lasted over four decades,” Kevin stated, as he grinned over to Davidrick.
    “Davidrick does an outstanding job of serving our community by supplying needed blood. The Meals on Wheels program is always at the top of his priority list, and he also supplies many of our other vampires in the city with their blood supply. When he isn’t busy supplying blood, or doing autopsies at the morgue, you will find him busy tinkering with his hobbies, either working on his computer, or installing electronic equipment. He lent me a hand when I installed my new home theater system just a month ago, and I doubt I could have done it without his help,” Kevin bragged.
    By the end of the evening, Erica was relaxed, and grew quite comfortable as she sat chatting with the two male vampires. Funny, she didn’t even think of them as vampires. Both were easygoing and enjoyed teasing one another. The easygoing bantering kept a smile on Erica’s face most of the evening. It was after ten when Davidrick bid the couple a good night and headed home.
    “Are you working tonight?” Erica inquired, after they had seen their guest off.
    “No, I’m off tonight.” Kevin replied, as he wrapped his arm around her to usher her back to his suite. He could see she was getting sleepy, and it had been a long day for her.
    As they reached the front door of his apartment, Erica turned to look at Kevin, “So, how much sleep do you need?”
    Kevin cocked his head slightly at her as he opened the door and waited for her to enter. “That depends on what I am doing. The sun drains my kind of our strength fairly quickly. When this happens, we need to take a rest in a very cold atmosphere, and get a supply of fresh blood in our system.”
    “And when this happens, do you have a special ‘cold place’ to go?” Erica probed.
    Kevin hesitated for a second before responding. She continuously surprised him that she wasn’t already aware of some of this information, since Shawn was a vampire. He glanced over at her, and decided that today had been a great day, and to bring up the rodent-soon-to-be-ex-husband would surely ruin it.
    “We do have a deep freeze off of Charles’s office,” he replied. “And sometimes I just choose to crank up both of my air conditioning units, and stretch out across the bed.”
    “You have two air conditioning units in your room?” she asked, a little astonished. Kevin realized he had never given much thought to this, however, upon thinking about it for a moment, it probably did sound a bit outlandish to a human.
    “Yes, you haven’t seen my room, have you? Come, I’ll show you,” he stated, as he gently placed his hand at the small of her back and directed her towards the hallway.
    He gave her a quick tour of his bedroom, keeping everything on a light note. He noticed that she stopped at the doorway, refusing to budge an inch further into his room. He put a smile on his face, hoping that Erica would fail to notice how her sudden fears ripped a hole in his chest. He scooted past her and walked right on into the room, as if all was well, and quickly pointed out the highlights of the room. Meanwhile, Erica stood stone still in the doorway, as if her feet were suddenly cemented into the floor. He walked back over to where she stood, and gently escorted her back to her own room. “I will be in the living room for a time. If you’d like to get comfortable and join me, you are welcome to,” Kevin lightly stated, and then added, “Or, if you are tired, I’ll say good night.”
    “If you will allow me a few minutes to change, I do wish to speak to you