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

his sister and Erica. Now, realizing that he had just stood there and ranted at his coworkers in front of the women, Kevin took a deep breath and prayed for patience. His sister, he wasn’t worried about. She had seen him get irritated more than once. It was Erica he was concerned about.
    Turning around to face the women, he immediately spotted that Erica was using Jennifer as a shield. He glanced over to his sister’s face to see she was not happy with him. And behind her, he could hear Erica doing some sort of chant.
    “Just breathe, everything is going to be okay, he isn’t hurting you. Just breathe, everything is going to be okay, he isn’t hurting you. Just breathe, everything is going to be okay, he isn’t hurting you.”
    He calmly walked over to the women. On his way over, he heard Erica mumbling to herself something about “he isn’t hurting you,” and felt a sharp stab dart through his chest as it occurred to him she was frightened of him. He now came face-to-face with his sister, who stood perfectly still, arms crossed in front of her, glaring at him, letting him know that he was on thin ice. Kevin decided to ignore his sister’s glare, and try addressing the situation with Erica head-on. When he spoke, all outward features and tone changed to gentleness. “Erica, are you okay? Did you get everything you wanted, babe?”
    “I’m ready to get out of here, and I think I’m okay,” Erica hesitantly replied, as she peeked around Jennifer’s shoulder. He saw every bit of fear in her eyes, and then caught a shiver going down her spine. He could hear her heart racing from where he stood. She was far from okay.
    Kevin slowly raised his hand, hoping that Erica would trust him enough to take hold of it. He gently whispered, “Come here, baby.” She took a step toward him, and Kevin quickly pulled her from around Jennifer and wrapped his arms around her. He made sure he used only the gentlest of tones as he whispered in her ear, “I’ve got you. You are okay, and I am not going to let anything happen to you. Let’s get you back home and settled down.” Kevin placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, and Erica, already feeling spent, placed her head on his shoulder for support, as she fought back the tears threatening to spill over.
    Gone was the anger and frustration that Kevin had been feeling just moments ago. Now, the only thing that mattered to him was getting his girl home where she was safe. He helped the two girls into the truck, placing Erica in the middle. As soon as he had the key into the ignition, he pulled her over to him and wrapped his arm tightly around her. She was still trembling, she had been doing so ever since he brought her out from behind Jennifer. He just wasn’t sure if it was due to Shawn’s appearance, or from him venting at his team in front of her. It had only taken one look at Erica’s face to stop him in his tracks. He didn’t want to see that wild, frightened look on her face ever again.
    The trip back home was a quiet one, giving Kevin plenty of time to reflect on the earlier incident. He had thought he had covered his bases well, snagging both Joshua and Marshall to enlist their help for the day. He had a total of four vampires surrounding Erica. That should have been enough to guard anyone. But, it almost wasn’t.
    Kevin was still trying to come to terms and figure out how Shawn had pulled off his little stunt. They should have been able to smell him a mile away. He had to have been close, close enough to watch and wait until he knew all three men were outside in the truck. It still made little sense to Kevin. It had been so easy for Shawn to wait for the perfect instant, enter the house through an unlocked window, and scare the mess out of Erica. He never made a move to try to harm her, though. For that one Kevin had to be thankful. However, the thought of Shawn doing this just to torment her was enough to threaten Kevin’s well-controlled rage all over again.
     
    * * * *
     
    They arrived back at the house, and the entire family was on hand to help unload, so the truck was empty in no time. Kevin left Erica with, Jennifer and Elizabeth, to unpack, while he went to speak to Charles.
    Thirty minutes later the three young women had everything unpacked and set up perfectly. Of course, Erica admitted that it helped when two of those girls happened to be vampires with superhuman strength and speed! For the most part, both girls were a blur as they darted back