Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,75
hot water and a liberal amount of antibacterial soap. Using the water in the bowl and the towel she’d first used on the wound, she cleaned the site until she could see the edges.
“What’s your name?” she asked the stranger while she carefully threaded one of the needles with the sterilized floss.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’d like to know the name of the man whose flesh I’m about to stick a needle into.”
He studied her for a moment before answering. “Kirk.”
“Well, Kirk, I’m going to need you to hold very still and bite down on this.” She handed him the clean dish towel.
He looked at her in confusion.
“I don’t have any way of numbing this wound,” she explained. “It’s going to hurt. A lot. Unless you want the neighbors to hear you screaming and call the cops, I suggest you bite down on that towel.”
Kirk hesitated, apparently gauging her seriousness. “Just make it quick,” he said and stuffed the towel in his mouth.
“I’ll do my best,” Emily replied and drew a steadying breath.
As she guided the needle into Kirk’s side, the first of his muffled cries filled the kitchen.
sixteen
VARIK ENTERED THE INTERVIEW ROOM IN WHICH PIPER Garver sat, and waited for the girl to acknowledge his presence.
She looked up from the soda she nursed and flinched. “Who are you?”
“My name is Varik Baudelaire,” he said as he crossed the room, trying not to limp. “I’m an Enforcer with the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigation.”
“You’re a vamp?”
He nodded and sat down opposite her.
Her eyes scanned his battered appearance. “I didn’t think vamps could bruise like that.”
“No, we bruise same as humans. It just takes more force to do it and they fade quicker.”
She nodded and sipped her drink. “I’m going to jail, aren’t I?”
“Why would you think that? As I understand it, you’re one of the victims here.”
“I saw him kill that man and I didn’t do anything.” She choked back a sob. “I couldn’t do anything but run.”
“That was the smartest thing you could’ve done, Piper,” he said gently. He waited, watching her wipe away her silent tears with a shaky hand.
Damian had filled him in on the details of the attack. A vampire had tried to drag Piper from her car, and when a Good Samaritan intervened, the vampire had killed the truck driver coming to Piper’s aid. The man had left behind a wife and five kids.
When it seemed as though she’d composed herself enough, he leaned forward. “Tell me what happened.”
“I already told that other vamp. Didn’t he tell you anything?”
“Yes, but I’d like to hear your story from you.”
Piper sighed and took a swallow of her soda. “Okay.”
As she related her story, Varik listened, stopping her every now and then to ask a question. She finished talking and he nodded. “That’s good, Piper. That’s very good.”
She gave him a weak smile.
“I have a couple of more questions for you though.”
“Okay.”
“You said you and your cousin, Mindy Johnson, worked for your boyfriend, Kirk Beljean?”
She nodded.
“What kind of work?”
“He called us blood bunnies. He would send us out to clients—vampires—so they could bite us.” She toyed with a loose thread on the arm cuff of her sweatshirt. “We were paid more if we also had sex with them.”
Varik had encountered similar operations in the past. Taking girls and turning them into blood whores disgusted him. Many of the humans caught in illegal blood rings were desperate for money or were enamored with vampires to the point they weren’t able to pass the rigorous psychological testing registered donors faced.
Operations such as Beljean’s were dangerous because of the potential for a vampire to lose control and accidentally—or intentionally—kill their human donor. It was the reason the Central Donor Registry existed and legal blood bars were established.
“Do you know where Kirk may have gone after he attacked you?”
“No.”
“What about Mindy? Do you know who he sent her to last before she disappeared?”
Fresh tears tracked down her cheeks. “No. All Kirk would tell me is that it was a new client and the guy had a thing for redheads.” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. “She’s dead. I know she is. I hooked her up with Kirk. I killed her. Oh, God! Mindy, I’m so sorry.”
She fell into a pattern of repeating “I’m sorry,” and the interview was over.
Alex knew she was dreaming from the moment she opened her eyes. She sat in a straight-backed chair with her arms and legs chained to the bare cement floor.