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

head had been under. The pressure that she had to withstand felt intensely violating, and she knew from a quick glance over to the board members that they now knew all of her pain and suffering, all of her humiliation. The mortification of knowing these vampires in front of her now knew all her deep, dark secrets was enough to send her crawling into a hole.
    What surprised her, though, was the change in tone when the female immortal addressed her again. For the first time since she had walked into the room, the lady in charge suddenly showed a compassionate side. “I apologize for the discomfort, Mrs. Harper, and please accept my apologies for what you have had to suffer from one of our kind.” She held Erica’s gaze for a few short seconds, and then slammed her gavel down on the desk in front of her with a loud bang. “Marriage is hereby dissolved immediately!” she announced in a loud voice.
    Turning her attention to Charles, the female board member continued, “Has this one been detained yet?”
    “No madam, but we are working on locating him.”
    “And does this young woman have a safe place to go?” she continued.
    “Yes, Erica is under my family’s protection. I would request that her memory be left intact,” Charles quickly supplied.
    The female board member glanced over to Erica and noted Kevin’s arm still securely wrapped around her waist. A small smile ghosted across her face, as she turned back to Charles. “As long as she stays under your family’s protection, her memory shall be left alone.”
    “Thank you,” Erica whispered to the judicial board members, as Kevin ushered her back to her seat.
    Charles approached the table for signatures on the divorce papers. Five minutes later, they were heading back up the elevator that would take them back up to the VCTF office. Even though it had been a rather short meeting, Erica was emotionally drained by the time they made it back home. Jennifer showed up shortly after they got home, and the two girls spent the remainder of the afternoon watching movies.
    Kevin could feel on a sensitive level that she was still suffering the effects from the board’s invasion of her memories. Having one vampire mess with a mortal’s thoughts was one thing, and to have three do it at the same time was quite another. By the time he realized that three were going to probe her memories all at the same time, it was too late for him to do anything. Not that it would have been a choice to begin with. No one messed with any member of the judicial board and lived to tell about it. Their word was final law, period. No questions, no free passes. Upon thinking it through, he was glad that they were upstanding citizens within their community and always strived to be as fair as possible. With that kind of power in your hands, it would be easy to take advantage of those lesser than you. But Kevin had never known the board to do that. They always gave the person coming before them a chance to give their side of the story, and always gave a chance of redemption if possible. Still, it didn’t make what happened today any easier. The only thing Kevin could come up with as to why they had done what they did was that they tended to forget their strength both on a mental and physical side. It probably never occurred to them how painful three vampires sifting through a mortal’s thoughts and memories would be. At least they had seemed a bit contrite after retrieving said thoughts and memories.
     
    * * * *
     
    Kevin gave Erica a small cell phone that contained every member of his family preprogrammed in it. It also had a tiny speaker on the right side and a button above the speaker. Kevin explained this was for emergency use only, and that with one push of the button, Erica would be patched into the VCTF, therefore, would be in immediate contact with him.
    They were still on the hunt for Shawn, and opinions were high that they were also close to making a rather large drug bust. Kevin was still going undercover at the local college, glad to have an excuse to be with Erica. Jennifer was kind enough to fill in for the two classes that Kevin did not share with Erica, so someone was with Erica at all times, giving her a sense of peace and safety.
    Although she was growing more comfortable with this family of vampires, Erica was still plagued with nightmares several times a week. Kevin had taken to sleeping in her bed most nights so that he would be right beside her, comforting and