“You have vampire DNA, Kate. There is no doubt. Doc ran the test three times. And since only human females can carry vampire young, that means whomever sired you…is definitely vampire.”
Kate jumped off the bed. “That’s ridiculous! My father is most certainly not a vampire. I think I’d notice if he were having a goblet of blood with his damn meal sometime over the last twenty seven years!”
“I need to explain something to you. A vampire is born, not made. As I said before, a vampire can only come from a male vampire and his bonded human female. Unfortunately, our female vampires are infertile, so they cannot reproduce. So we are born as full-fledged vampires, but vampirism has to be activated by drinking blood several times throughout childhood. A small amount at birth, once at age fifteen and once again at age twenty. With each blooding a vampire gets stronger and more vampire abilities are formed, with full vampiric skills by age one hundred. However, if the appropriate blooding doesn’t occur, you’re just an exceptional human being, not a full-fledged vampire. You may have some underlying skills or senses, but are never able to fully tap into them, like a full-fledged, blooded vampire could.”
She stared at him, uncomprehending a word he’d said.
“I’m sorry, Kate. I know the last couple of days have been stressful. But there is no doubt you are an unblooded female vampire. I’m quite sure the man who has raised you as his daughter is not vampire. Just as I’m positive that the woman whom you call mother is not your biological mother. Have your parents ever mentioned you being adopted?”
“Adopted?” She sunk down onto the edge of the bed again, her legs unable to hold her. She whispered, “No. No. That can’t be possible. I’m not adopted.”
Dev rushed to her side, pulling her close. “I’m sorry, love,” he whispered. “But it’s the only explanation.”
Chapter 37
Kate
Kate sat in Dev’s office, while he finished up a business call. The past several days had gone by in a haze. Her dissertation paper was all but forgotten. She knew that her research in the area of sleep psychology could be part of the key to solving the kidnapping of these young women, so she made a vow to get back to that tomorrow.
She’d remained dreamless these past several days. Quite frankly, she was pissed, as she desperately wanted to assist in finding Sarah and the other missing girls and she finally had some new techniques to try. Kate hadn’t dreamed of Sarah in many nights and knew she couldn’t make herself dream of specific things. She just had to learn to make the most of her dreams when they happened. Maybe tonight would be different.
It was clear she couldn’t return to her home, as it was too dangerous. She’d taken a leave of absence from her teaching job and found a replacement for her classes for at least the rest of this semester. She spent her days working with Olivia honing her dreamwalker abilities. She spent her evenings talking with Dev and falling asleep in his arms after hours of sweaty, mind-blowing sex, but she’d wake every morning alone. She hated waking alone without him. Dev explained he didn’t really need sleep as a vampire and nighttime was when he got much of his work done.
She’d even been able to take Manny up on in a game of pool. While she’d lost, she held her own. He only won because she scratched on the eight ball. She couldn’t wait for a rematch.
Dev had introduced her to the other lords in the house. They’d talked in detail about his businesses. She was surprised to learn that he owned the new club Dragonfly. The same one Erin wanted to drag her to a couple of weeks ago. Because of this whole debacle, she couldn’t go with Erin as planned and she was disappointed, but Kate promised they would go another time. Now…she didn’t know how that would pan out. A problem for another day.
She’d managed to avoid Giselle for the most part, but when they did cross paths, Giselle had at least been civil. It was a start, but she suspected that was Dev’s doing. Kate could tell that Giselle still didn’t like her and she wasn’t really sure why. It bugged her. While she and Dev had yet to complete the bonding, Kate planned on being around for a very long time and hoped they could be friends. She was the only other woman in the house, after all, and it would be nice to have a close girlfriend. She wasn’t sure how Erin would be able to fit into her life now that things were so different. She wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but she’d take it day by day for now.
Dev hadn’t mentioned bonding again since he rescued her several nights ago and she suspected he was trying to give her space to absorb everything that had happened over the last week. That was just fine with her, because there were so many facts to understand.