Page 46 of Sinner's Salvation

“They might not be the only ones we have to worry about,” Baz said.

“What do you mean?”

“There have been sightings of other family reps in the city from China, Japan, and India. We could be fighting a war on several fronts.”

“We don’t have the resources for that,” Anna said. “None of us do.”

“I don’t think they care. I think they’re so scared, they’re willing to do anything to be in control.”

“In control of what?”

“Anything, I suppose.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Brian said, putting up one of his hands in a stop gesture. “They want to try to make us into vampires?” Brian asked. “Meinto a vampire?”

“Yeah,” Baz said. “But it’s not something we recommend. Most of the people who try it, die. Sam is the only one we’ve found who has a better chance of surviving the process, but even she is only at about fifty percent.”

“It would be an act of desperation,” Anna said.

“So, you’re saying I’m being hunted by vampires and Homeland Security?”

“Probably. Lucky you.” Baz got up and went to the bar. He pulled a couple of pints of beer and brought them over to Brian and Evan. “Here, drink at leastsomealcohol.”

Brian gulped his down without hesitation.

Evan stared at his beer for a moment. “Why? What does alcohol do?”

Anna hesitated. If she answered his question, was she handing a weapon to an enemy?

As she studied him, he leaned forward. “Whatever it is, I won’t use it against you, Anna.”

Trust was not easy, but he’d gotten her and Brian out of that base when it didn’t benefit him at all.

She needed to make a decision.

She nodded. “Alcohol is a poison to us. It acts like a strong acid on our tissues. Leaving blisters and if exposed to enough, will eat through organs. Even a little bit in the bloodstream of a donor can cause a lot of internal damage to us. It is incredibly painful.”

“But Baz drinks the blood of people who’ve consumed alcohol,” Brian said. “Right?”

“Yes, he does, and he goes through all that pain every time, but instead of killing him, it made him stronger.”

“Ouch.”

“He’s been drinking the blood of alcoholics for five hundred years, which is why he’s so popular at places like this. The patrons don’t know they’re donating a little blood to him after they pass out in his car. They do know that when he drives them home, they don’t have a hangover the next day.”

“Wait, he syphons the alcohol out of their systems?” Brian asked.

Anna nodded. “So he tells me.”

Everyone looked at Baz, who seemed completely preoccupied with his phone and what he was reading on it.

Brian picked up his glass and gulped down a few swallows.

Evan also took a sip or two, but not very much.

Baz suddenly got up and went to the front door. He came back with his girlfriend, Nika.

She was wearing jeans, a dark blue shirt, and a jacket almost the same color as the shirt. She also had a handgun in a holster on her right hip, and a police badge clipped in front of the gun on her belt. She held a large bag in one hand.

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