Darkness Rises(34)

She smiled. “You’re pretty likable yourself.”
“Now that you know I’m not a vampire?”
“You were likable even as a vampire. It was very annoying.”
He laughed, flashing those pearly fangs.
If he was infected with the same virus that vampires were, then he must need blood. She had even seen his brother bite his wrist and infuse him with her own eyes. “If you hunt vampires who prey upon humans, does that mean you don’t . . .”#p#分页标题#e#
“Kill humans myself?”
“Yes.” She hadn’t wanted to ask, in part because she wasn’t sure she would like his answer.
“I don’t feed from humans or prey upon them as vampires do. But, as you saw tonight, I will kill any human who threatens me or mine.”
Which had it been tonight, she wondered, me or mine? Then called herself a fool. “But, you do need blood?”
“Yes. I assume Richart gave me blood while I was unconscious?”
She nodded. “He, ah, bit your wrist and fed you or whatever.”
“Normally we receive sustenance from blood bags. The humans who work with us also donate blood regularly, so we don’t feed directly from humans unless extreme circumstances drive us to do so.”
Drinking blood. Gross.
“We don’t drink the blood,” he said. “Our fangs carry it straight to our veins.”
Right. That’s what Richart had said. “Are you reading my thoughts again?”
“No. Your face sort of scrunched up with disgust.”
“Oh. Sorry about that.” It wasn’t his fault he needed blood.
He smiled.
Damn, he was handsome when he smiled.
Hell, he was handsome when he didn’t.
Étienne leaned forward a bit. “Listen, about the humans who aid us . . .”
It was so weird, hearing that there were other humans out there who knew about all of this. “Yes?”
“Their top priority is to protect us, to protect immortals, or Immortal Guardians as they call us.”
Wasn’t that sort of backward? The weaker mortals protecting the powerful immortals? “They protect you?”
“Yes. They have a vested interest in doing so. After all, we’re the only thing keeping vampires from slaughtering humans unchecked. And we’ve been fighting to protect humans for millennia. So, the network—”
“The network?”
“That’s what we call the organization of humans who aid us. The network not only provides us with blood, it protects our identities and keeps the general public from finding out that vampires, immortals, and gifted ones exist. Our ability to hunt and destroy vampires would be severely inhibited, if not halted altogether, if mankind learned about us and began to hunt us.”
“But wouldn’t they help you if they knew? Why would you think they would . . . ?” A sickening dread soured her stomach as she recalled the way those soldiers had gone after Étienne earlier. “Is that what happened at Duke? Humans found out about you?”
He nodded. “We dealt with another such threat recently, but quashed it. I’m certain we quashed it. The attack tonight should not have happened. Should not even be possible. No mortals outside of the network should know about us.”
“Except, those solders did. And . . .” Oh, crap. “I do.”
“Precisely.” He shifted the arm resting on the back of the futon and cupped her shoulder in his large hand. The warmth of it still caught her off guard. She had assumed vampires—and immortals now that she knew about them—would be cold to the touch.
“The network is going to want to talk to you,” he told her somberly. And the concern on his face made her nervous. She had thought vampires were the biggest threat to her. His face said something different.
“You say talk,” she voiced. “I hear interrogate and make disappear.”
“It won’t be like that.”
“Are you sure? Because you look worried.”
“I’m not worried.” He looked away, muttered something in French, then turned back to her. “All right. I won’t lie to you. I am worried. The head of the East Coast division of the human network can be ruthless when it comes to protecting us from perceived mortal threats.”
Alarm rose. “You aren’t reassuring me. Are you saying I should run? That we should run? Because Sean knows about this, too.”
“No, don’t run. It wouldn’t do you any good. Chris could find a white dove in a blizzard.”
“Who is Chris?”
“Head of the network.”
“Great.”
“I don’t mean to scare you, Krysta. As long as you don’t view us, Immortal Guardians, as the bad guys and start hunting us, then everything should be fine. In fact, once Chris finds out you’re both gifted ones and that you can successfully hunt vampires, he will likely want to recruit you.”