Page 56 of Cooper’s Passion

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Cooper caught Anita’s apprehensive facial expression. She’d surprised him tonight. And not just because she’d shot him. She’d also surprised him when she’d expressed her concern about his health, wanting him to be brought to a hospital. And she hadn’t tried to flee. Yvette was undoubtedly the reason for that. She’d probably scared Anita sufficiently so she didn’t even try to run. But the biggest surprise had been when she’d kissed him while his mother had dug out the bullet from his chest. At that moment, he’d assumed he’d passed out and was merely imagining Anita’s lips on his.

After drinking the bottle of blood, he felt better, and he could feel his body starting to heal with the help of the bottled human blood. While he wasn’t ready to physically exert himself, he had enough energy to talk. It was time to tell Anita everything she needed to know so she could—hopefully—accept him for what he was. But he also wanted some privacy.

“Mom, Dad, why don’t you give us a little time alone, so I can talk to Anita?”

Yvette shook her head. “Not gonna happen! She shot you. Twice! What if she hurts you again?”

Haven put his arm around her. “Baby, she doesn’t look like she’s gonna hurt him again. Didn’t you see them kiss?”

“Hmm! She wouldn’t be the first woman to kiss a man, while stabbing him in the back.”

Haven shrugged and grimaced apologetically. “Sorry, Son, I tried. But you know your mother. She’s not gonna leave your side until she knows you’re safe.”

“I guess I already knew that.” Cooper motioned to the door. “Can we at least go to the living room, so I can sit on something a little more comfortable while I recover?”

Hearing no objections, Cooper got up. He nodded to Anita. “Come, let’s talk.” Looking over his shoulder at his parents, he added, “With two chaperones.”

In the comfortably appointed living room, Cooper sat down on the sofa. Lestat, the golden retriever his parents had gotten after their second dog had died, jumped onto the couch and put his head in his lap.

Automatically, Cooper petted him. “Hey, Lestat, miss me?”

The dog looked at him with adoring eyes. Cooper watched as Anita sat down in one of the armchairs, and his parents took their seats. For a moment, there was silence.

“Anita,” he started, “this wasn’t exactly how I wanted you to find out that I’m not human.”

Anita swallowed visibly. “That makes two of us.”

“Well, let me start with the most important thing: you’re safe with me and my family. We don’t hurt people.”

She glanced at Yvette and Haven. “What about the blood? Is that what you all do? Drain humans and then fill up bottles with their blood? I mean I saw the puncture wounds on Janet’s body. They fit your fangs—”

“Not mine per se,” Cooper interrupted quickly so the conversation didn’t go down the wrong path. “But it was a vampire who killed Janet. As for my parents and myself, and our friends at Scanguards, we don’t drain humans. And we certainly don’t kill them.”

“Then how do you explain all those bottles of blood in the fridge?” She pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “That’s several gallons.”

“It comes from a blood bank.” He looked at his parents. “Dad? Wanna jump in here?”

Haven nodded. “How much do you want her to know?”

“Everything.”

“All right. Anita, it’s true. The blood is procured through a medical shell company owned by Scanguards, the company we all work for. It’s distributed to us free of charge to discourage us from feeding directly from humans and risk exposure.”

Cooper noticed the perplexed look on Anita’s face. “Are you saying that everybody at Scanguards is a vampire?”

“Many of them are,” Cooper replied, making her look back at him. “You’ve met two: Benjamin and Vanessa are both vampire hybrids.”

“And the young woman in the morgue? Buffy?”

“She’s human.”

“And she knows? Is she not afraid of… you know…” She made a motion toward him and his parents.

“Her stepfather is a vampire. And she has a half-brother who’s a vampire hybrid, half human, half vampire.”

For a moment, Anita’s forehead furrowed. “You said earlier that you’re a vampire hybrid. But…” She pointed to Yvette and Haven. “Wouldn’t that mean that either your father or your mother had to be human? I’ve seen your mother’s fangs, which would only leave your father, but he looks almost as young as you.”