Vampires Among Us [Vampires Among Us 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Alice Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

blue marks going down both inside thighs. They looked to be several days old, and he wondered just what exactly she had endured to get those. When he had read her memories earlier, he only skimmed the top, limiting his access to events of the night before. Now, in hindsight, he wished he had dug deeper. He clamped his jaw shut, and quickly turned on his heel and pretended to check the calibration on the machine while he attempted to control his fury.
    Dear God, what had this poor woman endured? Kevin screamed mentally, shutting his eyes briefly willing himself back together. Anger rose to the surface as his mind automatically sifted through the stored memories from her earlier today. Kevin couldn’t even begin to understand why any man would want to treat a woman like Shawn had.
    If Erica’s memory was correct, the entire incident had been over her getting home a little late from the grocery store! His own father had taught him to respect and care for women. Back when Kevin was a young boy, women had little choice but to depend on men. Times had certainly changed over the past seventy-two years, but Kevin’s views on how to treat a woman remained steadfast. Charles had also been a major influence in Kevin’s life on how to treat a woman also. He had watched his adopted father shower Rosetta with love and adoration for years, and their love continued to grow because of it.
    However, Kevin had also seen plenty of the opposite also. He knew there were those of his kind who mistreated humans simply because they could, and it seemed like the victims were almost always female. Kevin and his team did everything in their power to try and stop it. He knew the elderly of their kind tried to teach the younger generation how to care and love, but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. When a vampire became bored with life, or wasn’t kept busy enough and fell into depression, alcohol and drugs often became their choice. And although it took a tremendous high dosage of either to affect them, it still didn’t seem to deter them from it.
    Kevin walked over to position Erica for the X-ray while attempting to keep his facial expressions calm. It would do him no good for her to see him angry. It would only serve to upset her more. As he started shooting the films, he noticed a gauze bandage on her right arm, and quickly remembered the smell of fresh blood hitting him when she arrived for class, early that morning.
    He easily spotted numerous scars running up and down both of her arms. Oh hell no, he wasn’t seeing what he thought he was, was he? In sifting through her memories, Kevin hadn’t come across Shawn using her for his dinner, but it certainly appeared that had been the case on multiple occasions. Or had this young woman run into another of their kind?
    As he strolled back over to turn Erica for another shot, he quickly glanced down at her arms to get a better look. Yes, those were definitely vampire fang puncture marks going up and down both of her inside arms. When I get my hands on you, Shawn Harper, you are going to wish you were dead-dead, not undead!
    If nothing more than to help punch back his anger, Kevin quickly reminded himself to be thankful that she was under his protection now. She was alive, the physical injuries would heal, and he hoped like hell her emotional ones would also.
    “These will take about ten minutes to develop,” he stated as he began gathering the cases the films where in. “Go ahead and take a seat and get comfortable while you wait.”
    “Can I get dressed?” Erica inquired quietly.
    Normally, Kevin would have answered that question with a “no,” informing his patient that in the case of a retake, it would be a waste of time. But one look into her eyes, and then another quick scan over her battered body, he knew she was uncomfortable sitting with next to no clothing on.
    Smiling slightly, he nodded. “Go ahead.”
    Erica flashed him a small smile in return, and he quickly turned on his heel