Blood Revealed by Tracy Cooper-Posey Read Free Book Online Page B

far?”
    Jake nodded. His clear blue eyes, so much like his father’s, were steady and filled with sharp interest.
    “I keep coming back to why ,” Blythe said. “Why are the vampires exposing themselves in this way? They’re apparently so good at hiding and blending in with humans, that they’ve gone unnoticed throughout all of history and could theoretically have gone on doing that for the rest of time. So why would they put up with that? ” and she nodded toward the TV screen, where the journalists were still shouting out questions in a barrage that sounded a lot like the distant fire of a hundred AK47s. “The reason would have to be overwhelming. If they’re not lying, if they really are trying to warn humans, then the why makes sense.”
    Jake frowned, staring down at his fingers curved over the keyboard of the laptop. “So, revealing themselves is proof that they’re speaking the truth?”
    “ If they’re speaking the truth. There could be other very good reasons why they’re doing this that they haven’t shared and those reasons could completely change the meaning. Maybe the vampires are our enemy and these others they’re talking about are the good guys, but the vampires want to get in first and ingratiate themselves.”
    Jake rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t sound nearly as good as wanting to warn us. We didn’t know about them before tonight. If they really were our enemy, they would have been better off staying hidden and attacking without warning.”
    Blythe stared at Jake, absorbing his advanced strategic thinking. Perhaps there was more of her in him than she had thought. “Exactly,” she said at last. “Then there’s Occam’s Razor.”
    “I’ve heard of that,” Jake said, screwing up his eyes and forehead as he fought to recall the information.
    “All things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one,” Blythe said, “and the simplest explanation is that the vampires are telling the truth.”
    “So we should believe all this?”
    Blythe shook her head. “There’s no proof, nothing to support what they’re saying. So we keep our options open for now.” She rubbed her fingers through her hair, only now realizing how tired she was. She still had blog posts to write before she could sleep, too. “While we’re trying to figure this out, we act as if they are telling the truth, because that has the greatest chance of being right.”
    “How do we do that?” Jake asked. He grinned. “ I love vampires buttons?”
    Blythe smiled. “You and Simone and Eloise all know the drill. You take your panic buttons to school and I don’t care how the other kids tease you about it. You all make sure your cell phones are fully charged and working, twenty-four-seven. You watch your six and each other s’, too. You don’t go anywhere alone. And you kick in your sixth, seventh and eighth senses and walk around with your mental radar on high alert.”
    “That’s war-time footing,” Jake pointed out, for all three of them had absorbed Blythe’s lessons on personal security over the years and understood the degrees of threat as well as she did. “If we’re to behave like the vampires really are trying to help us….”
    “If they are really trying to help us,” Blythe replied, “then they’re not the enemy we need to watch out for.”

Chapter Four
    Patrick tilted the chair back until it was balanced against the wall and rested his head against the plaster. He wasn’t tired, yet he felt utterly drained, light and empty like a reed that had been cored and emptied of its pith. The small sitting room was empty of people except for Kate, Roman and Garrett and the silence was heavenly. Outside the door, Patrick’s extended hearing could pick up the sound of many people still talking among themselves out in the conference room where they had finally finished the conference, five minutes before.
    Roman patted his shoulder. “Okay?”
    Patrick closed his eyes.