Page 62 of John’s Yearning

Her forehead furrowed and she approached. “Did you hurt yourself?” She reached for his chin. “You’re bleeding.”

Fuck! He quickly turned before she could touch him and reached for a kitchen towel, wiping his chin and pressing it to the spot where apparently a drop of human blood had dripped when he’d been drinking greedily. “Must have cut myself shaving.” He pretended to press the towel against the spot a little longer as if he was trying to close the cut, when he knew there was none.

“No wonder.” She motioned behind her. “You don’t have a mirror in your bathroom.”

Crap! He’d forgotten about that. Since vampires didn’t have reflections, there was no need for mirrors. And since he never had human visitors, he’d never felt the need to install fake mirrors. They were in fact large computer monitors with a mirror-like surface and lenses behind it to record in real time anything in front of the monitor, making it look like a mirror. Many of his colleagues used them and found them practical.

“Oh yeah,” he said slowly, trying to buy himself some time, “it broke a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t had a chance to get the contractor in to get it replaced.” He grimaced. “Crazy work hours, you know.”

She seemed to buy it. “Let me see your chin.”

Reluctantly, he removed the kitchen towel.

She stared at the spot. “Looks like it’s fine.”

“Great. Let’s go. You must be starving.”

Eager to get Savannah out of his house before she found something else strange, John led her back to the garage and helped her into the car. Moments later they were on their way to Scanguards. Once there, he ushered Savannah back to the human lounge, which was much busier this time of day. But he knew he couldn’t stay, or Savannah would find it strange that he wasn’t eating.

“Can I leave you here for a half hour while I take care of a couple of things in my office?”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’ll grab something later.” He kissed her on the cheek before she could protest. “Stay here. I’ll come pick you up when the team gets back with the hacker.”

“Promise?” She looked straight at him and he knew what she was asking.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you watch while I interrogate him. From a safe distance.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll be in a room looking into the interrogation room. Same as in a police station. But I can’t let you into the interrogation room itself, in case the guy goes berserk and attacks you.”

“Okay.”

“Now eat something.” He brought his mouth to her ear. “’Cause I love your curves. Wouldn’t want you to lose any weight.”

Then he pivoted and left the lounge, and her enticing scent, behind him.

27

Savannah had finished her breakfast and a second cup of cappuccino, when the young man who’d come to her flat to collect the ransom note, approached her.

“Ms. Rice?”

“Oh, Benjamin, like I said, it’s okay if you call me Savannah.”

He grinned. “I’m not Benjamin. I’m Damian.”

Confused, she stared at him. She remembered the name clearly, or was she going crazy? “I’m sorry, I guess I’m bad with names.”

Damian chuckled. “Benjamin and I are twins. Happens all the time.” He pointed to his hair. “If you wanna keep us apart, just look at the hair. Mine is longer than his.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there are two of you.”

“John asked me to get you. He’s starting the interrogation.”

“They came back with the hacker?”