Her bedroom was nicer. She wasn’t much of a housekeeper and there were clothes strewn about the room, but it wasn’t really that bad.

She closed the door to her room then went into the adjoining bathroom. She wriggled to get to her zipper at the back of her dress, then shucked out of it. She got her first good look at herself in the mirror and groaned. What had Emily thought at the sight of her? She looked like she had been in a fight for her life. Her hair was wild, her face smudged with filth. Sighing, she turned on the taps to her shower and waited for the water to grow warm.

She re-dressed herself in a pair of comfy sweats and a T-shirt when she was done with her shower. She let her hair hang loose to dry, the curls springing up tightly in a barely tamed mass. She walked out of her bedroom and found Rafe sitting on her sofa, one ankle crossed onto his knee, his pose relaxed. His presence seemed to take up all of the space in the room. He was just that dynamically male. He was the master of his universe and it showed in every way. Had she been a different person she might have been intimidated by him. But her job forced her to stand up to all kinds of people in all walks of life and she’d had to learn how to command her own universe early on.

She walked into the kitchen and looked over her shoulder at him.

He was watching her every move.

Chapter 10

“Would you like some coffee?” she asked politely, as if he wasn’t a vampire and she hadn’t just seen him shooting electricity out of his hands.

“Yes, please.”

“So, you obviously eat like a normal person,” she said.

“But we derive no energy from ingesting food. We do it strictly for pleasure and to fit in.”

She went through the motions of making them coffee. She probably shouldn’t drink coffee this late, but the odds of her sleeping that night were low to start with. Her mind was practically swimming with all that she had learned.

“Did you make your calls?”

“Yes. I called our queen. She told me that several other members of the upper echelon have been attacked as well. She is telegraphing a warning to all lawful e-vamps to be aware of the attacks.”

“So it isn’t just you. And it isn’t me.”

“Renee, they will try to hurt you to get to me. Tonight’s attackers made that very clear.”

“But why me? I’ve only known you a day!”

“Because you are either a source of emotion for me or a source of food. Either way it makes you a target. If they can’t hurt my heart, they will try to starve me out.”

“I don’t know that I like being considered a source of food,” she said with a frown.

“Then think of yourself as an emotional connection. I know our time together has been short…but you are special to me. And I don’t say that easily.”

She smiled a little at that, his words striking a warm chord inside of her. He was far more intriguing than she was in her opinion. After all, he was a vampire!

She thought of the word, still disbelieving even after all she had seen and all he had said. No. Not disbelieving; it simply felt surreal.

“And you’ll fall into torpor if they keep you from your food sources?”

“We derive benefits from the sun, just as humans do, but it is not enough to sustain us any more than it would sustain you.”

“You can go out in the sun?”

He chuckled. “Yes. In fact, it is a must. Feeding isn’t enough on its own. Although, I can go longer without the sun than I can go without feeding.”

“And how much time between feedings? Do you eat every day?”

“No. Not every day, thank god. There simply would not be enough food sources if that were the case. No. I only need to feed once a week or so. What I took from you will last me many days.”

He said this last without looking at her and she realized he regretted having to mention it again. But would he have been had she not found out about it? He was right though, it would be very inconvenient and unwise if he had to ask permission of all his meals. And this, she realized, was why his people did not simply come forward and expose themselves to the world. She knew what humans could be like. They would be frightened and hostile. And Rafe and his people were merely trying to survive.

She glanced over at him. He took up so much space in the room, his presence strong and confident. Even if she wanted to be self-righteous she found she couldn’t be after all she had learned. She didn’t want him to starve. The idea of him growing weak, unable to be as strong as he was, it was untenable.

That wasn’t to say she was eager to be a food source again. She didn’t know how to feel about that, although she did remember the experience as being one of the most erotic moments of her life. She decided not to examine her conflicting emotions on the subject too closely.

“What else is there about you I should know? Can you see your reflection in a mirror?”

“Yes,” he said with a laugh. “And I can walk on holy ground and holy water only gets me wet. Garlic simply tastes good.”

She laughed too. “So in other words almost nothing we believe about vampires is true.”

“Not to my knowledge. For all I know there are other types of vampires out there. Anything is possible.”

“Yes. I guess that’s true. If you exist then it is possible other races do as well. Well, this is a conversation I never thought I would have! I have always been firmly in the non-believer camp. In fact, it’s still hard for me to process this. If I had not seen it with my own eyes…”

“Yes. I can only imagine what you are thinking and feeling.” He frowned. “I am sorry to have removed your veil of ignorance. You were safer without me in your life.”

“No. Don’t be sorry. I am glad I know the truth. I am glad to be well-informed as opposed to, as you said, ignorant.”

“Ignorance could no longer protect you. I had no choice. Now it is up to me to protect you.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said, bristling.

“Vampires are two and three times stronger than humans. You would not last in hand-to-hand combat.”

“You would be surprised what I can do,” she said, still defensive.

But the truth was she had definitely been outgunned. Yet part of that was her fault. She had let her training slide in the two years since she had become a detective. Oh, she was required to take refresher courses every year and she often practiced at the gun range, but it wasn’t the same as when she had been a beat cop. She would have to rectify that mistake. She would have to spend more time training at the academy in Queens, getting into shape and putting herself back on the edge of awareness and readiness.