Page 88 of Warrior Unraveled

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Blake approaching them. She turned halfway, and he stopped in front of her and Wesley.

“Hey,” Blake said. “We’ll get started in a minute. I called Katie earlier.”

“Where is she?” Wesley asked.

“She and Luther are on their way back from Grass Valley. They should be here in a few hours. Traffic is bad because of the rain. Couple of roads are washed out.”

“Hope they drive carefully.” Then Wes addressed her, “My brother-in-law Luther splits his time between Scanguards and the vampire prison in the Sierras. He’s a consultant on security there.”

Surprise flooded her. “Vampire prison?”

“Yeah, the vampire council runs it. And there’s never a shortage of inmates. It’s a way for us to keep humankind safe from the worst and most violent offenders among the vampire population,” Wes answered.

“It sounds so… normal,” she admitted. “Almost human.”

Blake smiled. “We try to fit in as much as we can. Having a bunch of rogue vampires out there is bad for all of us. It could expose us, and nobody wants that. So we take care of those problems before they turn into disasters.”

“Is Scanguards involved in running the prison? I thought you were private security guards and bodyguards.”

“We are,” Blake said. “And we have a contract with the city to patrol the streets at night. The only connection to the vampire prison is Luther. And only because he was an inmate there for over twenty years.”

Virginia’s eyes widened as she stared at Wesley. “Your brother-in-law is an ex-con? A violent vampire? How can you trust him not to hurt your sister?”

Wes and Blake exchanged a chuckle.

“Even vampires get second chances. Luther has paid for his crimes. As for Katie: she’s got him wrapped so tightly around her little finger that I’m surprised he’s not suffocating.”

Blake jabbed Wesley in the side. “You’d better not let him hear that. Luther thinks he wears the pants in that relationship.”

“Then we’d better not destroy his illusion.”

In disbelief, Virginia shook her head. “You’re an odd bunch. I never thought I’d say this, but you’re not that different from us.”

Blake laughed. “In character maybe, but I hear that your kind has some pretty cool skills that some of us here would kill for.” When she stiffened, he quickly added, “Figuratively speaking of course.”

She nodded.

“Now, let’s get this show started. Excuse me.” Blake walked to the front of the room, where he joined Samson, Amaury, and another vampire with his hair in a ponytail and a large scar across his cheek.

“That’s Gabriel; he’s second in command at Scanguards,” Wesley explained.

The meeting took a good two hours during which Samson and Amaury relayed some of the information that Wes and Virginia had provided them with. They focused mainly on the demons, their motivation, their fighting skills, their tactics, how they moved from place to place via their vortexes, and first and foremost, how to recognize them by their green eyes.

“As vampires,” Samson now said, “we have an advantage, because we’ll be able to recognize the demons by their smell, even if they’re disguising their eyes by wearing sunglasses or colored lenses. That’s why the Stealth Guardians have asked us for help.” He motioned to Virginia now. “Virginia has agreed to give us a quick demonstration of the powers of her race, so that we’re prepared for it. Virginia, would you?”

Everybody’s head turned to her. She stood at the back of the room. “I’m able to make myself invisible.” She did just that, and gasps went through the assembled. “But making myself invisible doesn’t mean you can’t hear me,” she continued, still invisible. “Plus you can still smell me.”

A few of the vampires sniffed, then nodded.

“In the past the demons have used dogs to ferret us out when we’re invisible, because the dogs can smell us. This tells us that the demons themselves don’t have that sense of smell. That’s your advantage.”

She made herself visible again, then grasped Wesley’s arm. “We can also make others invisible.” Wes disappeared in front of everybody’s eyes.

“Whoa!” several of the vampires choked out.

“Either through our touch, or through our minds, which takes more energy.”

She made Wesley visible and he bowed in front of his colleagues as if he’d been the one performing the trick.

“Showoff!” Blake yelled out to Wes.

Virginia smiled, then continued, “In order to get out of tricky situations, we can walk through walls, doors, anything solid.” She left out that a Stealth Guardian couldn’t walk through anything lined with lead. It was best not to give away their one weakness. “Let me demonstrate.”

She walked to the nearest wall, and reached her hand through it, then followed with her body. In the room next to the conference room, she materialized.

A female vampire shrieked and shot up from her desk.

“Sorry,” Virginia said quickly, then marched back through the wall into the conference room and materialized again. She jerked her thumb toward the wall behind her. “I think I just scared somebody.”

A few vampires chuckled.

“Any questions?”

Everybody’s hands shot up.