“A stake isn’t the only thing that can kill us. Silver can do that, too.”

“How?”

He welcomed her eagerness to learn. It would only help her understand him better. “A silver bullet will burn a vampire from the inside. Shot into the brain or the heart, it’s fatal almost instantly, in other parts of the body it leads to the silver eating its way through flesh and bone. But if the bullet can be extracted in time, there’s a good chance of recovery. Given sufficient human blood and sleep, a vampire will heal in a few hours.”

“So when you get injured, you can heal yourself?”

He smiled. “Our bodies are made that way. Any injury will be healed during our restorative sleep cycle. Major injuries need human blood to help the healing process along.”

“So human blood is your cure-all?” There was no accusation in her tone. It was a simple question a researcher would ask.

“The same way vampire blood can heal a human, human blood can heal a vampire.”

Suddenly she shifted her eyes and stared at the shiny elevator wall. “A perfect symbiosis…”

He’d never thought of it this way, but now that she’d uttered the word, he couldn’t deny that the lives of the human and vampire races were intertwined to the advantage of both. He didn’t get a chance to agree with Lilo though, because the elevator doors opened on the executive floor.

He stepped into the hallway, quickly ascertaining who was milling about, before looking over his shoulder at Lilo.

“If you can bear my touch at all, I’d like to take your hand. It’ll make it clear to everybody that you’re with me.

The faint smell of sex that still clung to her—as well as to him—would equally make it clear to any vampire or hybrid that Lilo was his. But he wanted to have a physical connection to Lilo, just in case one of the young pups they were likely to encounter didn’t have his hormones under control, and he needed to maneuver her out of a delicate situation quickly.

When Lilo finally slipped her hand into his, he released a silent sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t so disgusted with him that she couldn’t even hold his hand. It was a step in the right direction.

“The conference room is this way.”

“It looks like a real office,” she said, pointing at a niche with a photocopier.

“It is a real office.” He smiled at her. “We all take our work seriously. Without us, people die.”

She looked up at him then. “I’m beginning to understand that.”

“Hey, Blake, wait up!” At hearing Amaury’s voice, Blake stopped and turned, releasing Lilo’s hand in the process.

Amaury, one of Scanguards’ directors, marched toward him. As so often, he was dressed in a loose shirt and cargo pants. Built like a tank, the Frenchman with the long dark hair and the gravely voice was one of the strongest vampires he’d ever encountered.

“Amaury.”

Amaury’s gaze shifted to Lilo and a flash of recognition filled his eyes for a moment. He stopped a couple of feet away.

“I hope you have a good explanation for this.”

His superior didn’t need to clarify what he was referring to. Blake knew the rules well enough: no humans were allowed on the executive floor. Well, no humans other than the human mates of Scanguards’ upper management.

“I know: no humans up here.” Blake bent to Lilo. “Lilo, this is Amaury LeSang. He’s one of Scanguards’ directors. A vampire, in case you were wondering.”

Amaury sucked in a sharp breath. “What the f—”

“Lilo knows the truth. She’s vital to this case. Without her, I doubt very much that Wesley would have been able to figure out what’s going on in this city.”

Amaury ran his eyes over Lilo, assessing her. “The drug case?”

“Yes.”

“Drugs?” she squeezed out.

Blake looked at her. “Hannah’s disappearance involves drugs.”

He caught Amaury raising his eyebrows. “I didn’t realize you were on that case. I thought you were in charge of Nicholas and Adam for the week.”

“Ryder is watching them right now.”

“Why don’t I call the twins? Let them do their share and help Ryder out.”

Blake nodded. “Appreciate it. I sent Ryder out to grab some pizza with the boys. Have them call him to see where he is now.”

While Amaury pulled out his cell phone, Blake ushered Lilo toward the conference room.

“What twins?” Lilo whispered.

“Amaury’s got two boys. They’re in training to become bodyguards.”

“So he’s blood-bonded. To a human or a vampire?”

“You learn fast. He has a human mate, Nina. She’s one hell of a woman.” He smiled. “A lot like you. Blond. Lots of spunk. And she’s got Amaury wrapped around her little finger so tightly the poor guy has no chance of ever denying her anything.”

Lilo looked over her shoulder. “He doesn’t look like a pushover to me.”

Blake chuckled. “As I said earlier: tame lambs.”

She turned her head back to him and rolled her eyes, but her lips quirked into the beginnings of a warm smile.

25

Lilo stopped at the open door to the conference room, Blake next to her.

She knew exactly what he was doing: he was making small talk to put her at ease. She had to admit that it was working. Blake’s sudden willingness to answer all of her questions, not just with a perfunctory yes or no, but with a full explanation helping her understand the vampire species better, helped calm her nerves.

Despite the fact that she was now in the lion’s den, or the vampire’s lair, if that’s what they called it, she felt oddly safe. The building they were in looked like an ordinary office building, and this almost sterile environment helped give the impression that Scanguards was truly just another security company.

So far none of the people they’d encountered on their short walk to the conference room showed any outward signs of being vampires: no fangs, no glaring red eyes, no claws instead of fingers. Everybody looked… civilized.

She peered into the conference room. By her estimate it could hold around thirty people, and it was currently half full.

“Ready?” Blake whispered from next to her.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”