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"Yes I was different from other humans even before I was infected, as were my brother and sister and all of our iifted ones We didn’t know it then and still don’t knohy, but our DNA is reat deal ed "It’s why I can teleport"

"That isn’t a result of the virus?"

"No I could teleport as a child My brother and sister are both telepathic Sos with their minds The eldest of us can do far more" He toyed with her hand "As you said, vampires do exist They are ordinary humans who have been infected with the same virus They lack our special abilities and, without the protection our advanced DNA affords us, suffer progressive brain dae that causes a rapid descent intoupon their victims every monstrous impulse"

"How have I never heard of this?" she asked in disbelief "How have none of us ever heard of this?"

"Immortals hunt vaht, to eradicate the threat and to prevent the public fro of our existence and theirs"

"But, why don’t the vampires’ victims report it?"

"They have no memory of the attacks"

"You erase their memories?"

"No Ss of vampires--release a chemical that behaves much like GHB under the pressure of a bite If the victim lives, he or she will have noa hard ti that"

He looked away "Do you reht we met, Jenna?"

"Yes You came into the store and asked aze, his eyes had returned to their usual brown "That wasn’t the first night we met"

"What do youin the area--"

"Hunting vampires"

"Yes And foundyou You must have just come off your shift Four va and cornered you"

Her blood went cold "What?"

"You fought and pepper-sprayed one, but were bitten by another before I could wrest you from him"

Horror filled her So that had come before it She had been attacked? By vampires? And had no ht, was there not, a feeeks before we ht before, driving ho yourself to bed?"

Oh, crap There had been She had awoken in her bed, still wearing her work clothes, and hadn’t been able to reotten there It had all been a blank She had ultimately chalked it up to exhaustion

"I was attacked by vampires?"

"Yes"

"Why didn’t you telllike that from her?

"Jenna--"

"I was attacked, Richart! You should have told me!"

"How?" he asked helplessly

"Easy You should have said, Jenna, I know this is going to sound strange, but you were attacked by vampires and I rescued--okay, I see your point I would have thought you were off your rocker" She rubbed a shaking hand over her face "I can’t believe this Did they? What did they do to me?"

"Other than the bite, you were unharmed They must have just taken you when I came upon you"

"Am I infected?" If all Richart had said was true, she would turn into a psychotic vampire if she transformed She didn’t have the special DNA needed to make her immortal She couldn’t read minds or teleport or see the future or whatever else they could do

"No A single brief bite won’t turn you You would either have to be bitten fairly often over a stretch of time or have your blood drained until you were on the brink of death, then be infused wholly with infected blood"

And the vampire had only bitten her the once Briefly

Richart covered the hand she had braced on the ht?"

Sheattacked and having no memory of it That’s really scary"

"I know"

"So you--what--killed theot away, yes"