Page 57 of Cooper’s Passion

“We’re both vampires,” Haven confirmed. “But vampire females are infertile—”

Yvette put a hand on Haven’s arm. “I had a treatment with human stem cells so I could give birth to Cooper. That’s why he’s half human. But that’s not important.”

Anita nodded. “Okay. So, you all are saying that you don’t bite people.” She looked at each of them in turn, until her eyes landed on Cooper. “Is that true?”

Cooper cleared his voice. He didn’t want to lie to her. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Ahm, there are times when a vampire bites somebody…” He looked at his parents and he added, “I wouldn’t mind a cold glass of water.”

“I’ll get it for you,” Yvette said quickly and jumped up.

“I’ll help you,” Haven added and followed her in the kitchen.

They were alone. Cooper looked back at Anita. “A vampire or a vampire hybrid will bite his lover during sex. It heightens the pleasure.”

Anita huffed. “For whom? The vampire?”

“For both of them.” He tipped his chin in the direction of the kitchen. “My parents do it all the time. I’ve bitten women during sex before, humans and vampires.”

“Against their will?”

He shook his head. He wasn’t a cad. “Never. Though I have to admit I’ve been tempted with you. More than ever before. But I kept myself in check.”

Anita’s hands trembled visibly, and she clasped them over the arms of the armchair. “But you were close to doing it, weren’t you? That’s why you grazed my lips with your fang. You almost bit me.”

“Yes, I almost did. I can’t deny that. But I didn’t want to do it without your permission.” Just thinking about it right now made him salivate. “You have my word that I won’t do anything against your will.”

Slowly, she nodded, but didn’t show any outward sign of what she was feeling. She’d slipped into her role of the sheriff’s deputy again, stoic, strong, and emotionless. “I understand. Tell me about the serial killer. He’s a vampire. Are you protecting him?”

Cooper vehemently shook his head. “No! Why would you even think that? I have no idea who he is.”

“You knew all along though, didn’t you?”

“When I heard about the exsanguinated body, I knew it, and seeing Janet’s body only confirmed it.”

“So how were you able to keep this from the police? Is the chief of police a vampire?”

“Mike? No, he’s human. But he’s worked with us since he was a detective and discovered our existence. He funnels all vampire-related crimes to Scanguards so we can take care of them.”

“Take care of them? Do you mean that in a mafia kind of way?”

He chuckled. “What I told you about Scanguards is the truth. We investigate crimes that are too complex for the SFPD. All I left out is that these crimes always involve a vampire. We’re better equipped to deal with them. Officers from the SFPD wouldn’t know how to fight them. There would be many needless deaths. We keep the city safe.”

“Safe from your own people?”

“Trust me, those people have nothing in common with us. A rogue vampire puts us all in danger. We eliminate them, or if we believe they can be rehabilitated, we’ll incarcerate them in a vampire prison.”

Her eyes widened. “You kill vampires?”

“To keep humans and everybody at Scanguards safe, yes.”

Cooper looked toward the kitchen, where his parents were talking quietly. It appeared that Haven was trying to convince Yvette to give them more privacy.

“So, what happened tonight? Why did you try to attack me?”

“I wasn’t trying to attack you.”