He exchanged a look with Wesley. “At the beginning I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it, but then the police caught one suspect in a recent liquor store robbery. He was completely zonked out. We figured he had to be under the control of a vampire to be so out of it.”

Lilo shot Blake a questioning look. He leaned in and whispered to her, “Mind control.”

But before she could ask more, John continued.

“We were right, in a way. But I’ll let Wes explain those details to you.” He stepped aside and returned to his seat.

Wesley clicked on something on the screen, and a picture of an herb appeared. “When I examined the suspect of the liquor store robbery, I found traces of Höllenkraut in his blood. What you’re seeing on the screen is the herb in question.”

“Höllen-what?” one man asked.

“It’s German, it means herb from hell.”

Lilo leaned closer to Blake, getting just as impatient as some of the assembled vampires. “What does all this have to do with Hannah?”

“Patience,” Blake urged.

“I did a little research,” Wesley continued. “In one of my old books I found some interesting information. Turns out that Höllenkraut when combined with a few other herbs turns into a quite potent drug that will render the user highly susceptible to suggestion. In other words: mind control. Now this wouldn’t be anything new, since any vampire already has this power. However, with this drug, the vampire can control the human without being anywhere near his victim. This is how we think a group of vampires has been executing these crimes: by using humans who don’t even know what they’re doing as minions. When they come out of their drug-induced state, they have no idea what they’ve done. Or who made them do it.”

Several men cursed.

“There’s more,” Wes continued. “We have a lead. Or rather two. This is where Miss Schroeder was instrumental.” He opened an image file, and suddenly Hannah’s face was right there on the screen. “Some of you may know Hannah Bergdorf, one of our Vüber drivers. She went missing several days ago. Both Blake and Miss Schroeder have been looking for her. Thanks to their efforts, we know the following.” He opened another image file: Ronny now grinned at them from the wall. “This is Ronny Clifford, Hannah’s boyfriend. He’s a vampire, one of her Vüber clients. We raided Ronny’s home and on his computer we found evidence that he’s been researching or working with Höllenkraut, the same substance that renders a human pliable. Considering how rare Höllenkraut is, and how dangerous, we believe that these two cases are related.”

He clicked on the play button of a video file. Lilo’s eyes widened. It was the same video that she’d shown to Donnelly. She turned to Blake, and he leaned closer.

“Donnelly sent a copy to our IT guys the moment you left the station,” Blake explained, anticipating her question.

Surprised to see how attuned he was to her, she just stared at him, but Wesley was already continuing with his explanations.

“Miss Schroeder found this video hidden among Hannah’s personal items. It appears that it was taken in secret in Hannah’s flat. And for some reason that we’re not quite sure of yet, Hannah hid it. The man on the right is Ronny, her boyfriend. The other man we’ve identified as Steven Norwood. He’s in our database. And listen to this.” He switched to another application. A man’s face appeared on the screen. “Luther, you’re on.”

“Hey guys,” the rugged-looking man on the screen said. He was wearing black riot gear, as if he worked for the military or a bomb squad.

Greetings echoed through the room.

“Steven Norwood was released from the Grass Valley vampire prison eight months ago,” Luther continued. “According to his file, he was no trouble. Served his time in peace and quiet.”

Was she hearing correctly? There was a vampire prison?

“I’ve sent his file to Thomas. There’s an old address in San Francisco, but I doubt Norwood returned there. I would lend you one of our trackers, but we’ve got our hands full here right now and can’t spare any.”

Samson rose and took the microphone from Wes. “No worries, Luther, thanks. Anything else you can tell us about the guy?”

Luther leafed through the file. “Nothing really. He’s got ordinary written all over him.” He motioned to somebody off camera. “Sorry, guys, gotta go. We’ve got a situation here.”

“Thanks, Luther,” Samson replied and turned back to the assembly, while behind him the screen went dark. “Let’s talk about how we’re gonna find these guys and put a stop to their operation. Tactical teams, get together your best and brightest. I want suggestions presented to me in two hours.”

“What about finding Hannah?” Lilo murmured to herself.

She felt Blake’s hand on her shoulder. “That’s my first priority. I promise you.”

26

The moment the assembled Scanguards employees dispersed, Samson made a beeline for him. Blake had expected as much.

“My office, now. Both of you.” Though Samson’s voice carried no menace, his tone was firm.

Blake noticed Lilo shiver and immediately gripped her elbow. She shot him an apprehensive look, but allowed him to guide her out of the conference room. He wanted to reassure her that nothing bad would happen to her, but he was within Samson’s earshot and knew better than to say anything before he found out what his boss wanted. So he remained silent and instead stroked his thumb along Lilo’s arm where he was holding her and hoped she would find comfort in his touch.

Samson entered his office, a large windowless room, and Blake followed him with Lilo. When the door fell shut behind them, Samson turned and ran an assessing gaze over Lilo.

“Miss Schroeder, as you may or may not be aware, Blake bringing you here was against our rules.”

Blake opened his mouth to explain, but Samson silenced him by lifting his hand.

“I understand why Blake did this. Obviously he cares about you. That being said, I want to make sure that you understand the rules we live by.”

Lilo nodded wordlessly.

“We’ve operated in this city for many decades without exposure. Our secret has been kept by not only our own species, but also by members of yours. The humans who work for us and know our secret are loyal to us. They’ve sworn an oath to protect our secret. However, there have been circumstances, where we’ve been forced to accept that not every human can keep a secret. When that happens, we take action.”