you a whole history lesson or just tell you it is. Vampires are real. Now you know.
“Hold up. Hold up.” True stuck out her arms, palms forward as if to stop Levi from bolting. “Go back. Are you a vampire?”
He gave a slow nod.
“Shiiiit.” True drew out the word as her eyes rounded like saucers. “So then, are you going to bite us? Suck our blood?” One hand went instinctively to the bear spray while the other slapped against her neck as if to shield it.
“I don’t do that… drink from humans, I mean. I do drink blood. From animals.” He dropped his gaze again as if the details of his diet ashamed him.
“But what about Chloe and Sarah?” I asked, connecting the dots. “Is that what they were doing to Johnny?”
Levi gave a slow nod. “Trying to. You stopped them before things got out of hand.”
“What?!” True exclaimed. “The staff feed off of campers? No. Nuh-uh!”
Levi’s head popped up, suddenly defensive. “They’re not supposed to. Charles Purty put a stop to all that when he became dean. He brought me in to help enforce the new rules, but not everyone is getting with the program as quickly as we’d liked. We are dealing with it.”
“Sarah and Chloe,” I breathed. “What about the others?”
“They’re not happy about it,” he said. “You see none of them will talk to me.”
“But Sasha is with you,” I added.
“And Nurse Barbara,” True said, joining it.
“Yes,” he replied. “Dean Purty brought them in, too. But, we’re outnumbered, and this new incident with Sarah and Chloe shows things could get out of our control fast, but we now have outside help. We’ll get it under control.”
“Hold on,” I said, lifting my hands. “We need to stop this. We should… I don’t know… tell the human cops. The FBI. We should shut the camp down.”
Levi shook his head as if this was the worst idea he’d ever heard. “First of all, no one would believe you.”
I opened my mouth, but he held up a finger.
“Second of all, any vampire associated with this camp would be dead before the humans could investigate—the dean, Sasha, Barbara. Me. Our bodies would turn to dust, leaving no evidence. Vampire law leaves no room for reasonable doubt. If you expose secrets, and that leads to trouble, you’re dead. No trial. No questions asked.”
True and I stared, realizing that by simply talking to us, Levi was risking his life. He was putting his fate, and the fate of the others, in our hands. I stared at his handsome face, highlighted by soft moonlight, and realized how much he was risking.
“What about shutting the camp down?” True asked. “I mean, I don’t want to go home, but those kids…”
“We’ve talked about it,” Levi answered. “But the Dean says it’s not completely up to him. There’s a group of powerful vampires not far away that want this camp open, and they are willing to help to keep Sarah and the others in check.”
True and I nodded, though it all seemed so overwhelming. A group of powerful vampires nearby? What in the hell?
“Why tell us?” I asked. “You could have made up a more believable story and kept us totally in the dark. You have some way to keep humans from finding out about you, right?”
Levi’s gray-green eyes locked onto mine before he spoke. “You know why, Piper. You’ve seen it before. You know what we can do. You’re already a part of this. You have been for over a year.”
My jaw dropped, and my heart began to pound at what he was implying.
True glanced between us before throwing up her hands. “Guys, fill a girl in. What does that mean?”
I had to swallow twice before the words would come. “He means... my dad. He means there was no bear. Just like I said.” My eyes met Levi’s, and he didn’t look away. “A vampire killed my father.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was a dream. A wild, crazy, head-injury-induced dream that my mind created to explain all the weirdness around me at Camp Shadow Lake. To explain the weird scene I witnessed during dinner and the death of my father.
There was no way Levi had shown up, moved like something out of a superhero movie, and told us secrets we had little right to know. I’d read too many damned vampire romance novels, and my hormone-addled brain was trying to turn him into the romantic version of a legend-born monster.
I stayed in my bunk, my head buried beneath the