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"A couple of bullets?" Dani asked, turning back to Decker
"It doesn&039;t matter," he said quietly
Dani frowned, but then decided he was right and it didn&039;t really htmare she&039;d ever had in her life and she wished it would end She wanted to wake up and assure herself everything was all right, that Stephanie was at hoe, safe and unharaze focused on the face of the drea where her ie Had she seen hiht him attractive, and inserted his face in her dream? If so, she really should have -bearing vah to listen toher hands He looked pretty doubtful on that score
However, Dani felt perfectly callanced down at her hands She tried to shake off his hold, intending to pinch herself, but heher with concern Not seeing any other recourse, Dani suddenly threw her head backward, sla it into the not-a-drea?" Decker bellowed, reaching for her
"Trying to wake ht her by the shoulders as if to keep her froain He needn&039;t have bothered; the pain presently radiating through Dani&039;s skull was enough to convince her she wasn&039;t drea It seemed she ake and in an SUV with two s to back up the clai," Justin said quietly from the front, his usual a the truth though"
"Stay out of her thoughts," Decker said, but his voice was ry, and Dani wondered what he was talking about when he said it She didn&039;t really care though, except that it was a bit annoying not to knohat they were talking about half the time
"Dani," Decker said firmly "Trust me, this is not a drea out so coh her "Vampires aren&039;t supposed to be real And how co All evil, vile people should look as ugly as they are inside"
"We aren&039;t ev-" Decker halted his denial, and then he did so she hadn&039;t yet seen him do and lifted his lips in a very rare-and in her opinion, totally inappropriate-grin as he asked, "You think I&039;m cute?"
"Earth to Major Decker," Justin said dryly "She thinks you&039;re a cute evil bastard"
"Right" He frowned and shook his head as if trying to shake her words out of it, and then said, "We&039;re not evil or vile We aren&039;t even vas, and that Lucian fellow said-"
"He said your people insisted on calling us that," Decker reminded her firmly "But we aren&039;t"
"Well, we kind of are," Justin corrected "We just don&039;t like to be called that At least the old bloodsuckers don&039;t I don&039;t knohy I think it&039;s kind of sexyon a bad fake accent he said, "I am a vampire, and I vant to suck your-"
"Justin," Decker said with thinly stretched patience "You aren&039;t helping here"
"Sorry," he s and drink blood and-"
"Bricker" Decker snapped, turning to glare at hiaze in thehisat hiain "Tell her about Atlantis"
Decker sagged, his eyes closing briefly, and then he took a deep breath and said, "Yes, Justin, I was just about to do that"
"Atlantis?" Dani echoed with bewilderment
"Orhis mind "She&039;s a doctor She&039;ll understand the science part of it better"
"Yes, I know Thank you, Justin, I can handle this" Decker said gri it He then turned to Dani, eyed her with a sigh, and asked, "Will you at least listen to me?"
Dani nodded It wasn&039;t like she really had any choice, not after having seen those fangs
"Okay," Decker said with relief "We&039;re hu exactly the saans and tissue would be re is exactly the same but our blood," Justin put in
"That&039;s true," Decker acknowledged "Our blood is different It has nanos in it At least that&039;s as good a description as any" When Dani simply stared at hi to develop a way to repair or res like cancer, infection, and serious injuries without resorting to surgery and inflicting further trauma on the body What they caizh the bloodstreaenerate theenerate tissue, or surround and kill off any infection or illness that e him to continue So far what he&039;d told her wasn&039;t anywhere near crazy She had read about recent experiy for a similar purpose
"They succeeded beyond their expectations," Decker continued "The nanos did go in and perfor else that attacked the body It was hailed as a h The sick and injured lined up in droves to receive it Mythose first infected with them"
"Whoa, back up," Dani interrupted at once, "Your randparents!"
Decker nodded "My grandrandfather, Ramses, was seriously injured in an accident Both were terminal They were subject one and two, both treated at the same time It&039;s how they met They were married three months later, and my uncle Lucian and his twin brother Jean Claude were born a little less than nine months after that They were the first born infected"
"Oh, see now" Dani sat back, shaking her head "You were doing really well right up until the grandparents bit Before that you had me suckered, but there is no way they had this kind of technology fifty years ago"
"Fifty?" Justin snorted, aze in the rearview mirror when she turned his way "Try several thousand"
Decker took a lare in his direction and then turned back to Dani "This is the part that&039;s hard to believe" He paused and took a breath and then said, "Our ancestors came from Atlantis"
"Atlantis," she said with open disbelief "Atlantis, Atlantis? The legendary lost land?"
"Yes As the legends claiically Unfortunately, it was also terribly insular and didn&039;t share that technology with anyone They didn&039;t share anything with anyone They lived surrounded by sea on three sides, with mountains between them and the rest of the world, and it was how they liked it So when Atlantis fell, those who survived crossed the mountains to find themselves in a much more primitive world They had no way to store blood or perform transfusions"
"Wait a minute" Dani interrupted "You skipped from a miracle cure to no blood and transfusions Why the need for bl-?"
"The nanos used a lot of blood to support themselves and make repairs More than the huiven to those who had been treated with the nanos That was fine in Atlantis, but when Atlantis fell"
"Nonohether to believe hiht, and that&039;s when the nanos began to change our people They had been prograenerate and basically keep their host alive and at their peak condition physically Without blood, our ancestors would have died, so the nanos changed them in ways that would help them stay alive and at their peak health-wise It et the blood the nanos needed"
"The eyes," she ht like a cat or raccoon"
"Because we are nocturnal hunters like them," Decker said quietly
"You said this Sa the day while Mortiht?"
"We can," he ade, which means the nanos have more work, which ed blood now, but before blood banks and bagged blood, ere forced to feed off our neighbors and friends And we did our best towe needed to do"
"And the nanos brought on the fangs too?" she asked
He nodded "They gave us all the physical attributes needed todown to her hands and trying to take it all in It was a lot to s, alend about dead, soulless creatures cursed to walk the earth for so, but Atlantis? Thousands of years ago? True, she&039;d coends about the fabled Atlantis over the years, but those were just myth Weren&039;t they?
"Would it be easier for you to believe if I claimed ere the cursed undead?" Decker asked wryly As if reading her ht, and that reminded her about Nicholas and Lucian&039;s claiave you the physical attributes needed to make you better hunters Is that all?" she asked, eyes narrowing on him
He hesitated and then adhts and control ht now?" she interrupted abruptly
Decker shook his head "As Lucian said, I can&039;t read you, Dani"
"I can," Justin said, drawing her gaze "You&039;re thinking of your sister"
Dani turned to frown at theof her Try again," she ordered, searching her iraffe," Justin said
"Again " she demanded
"A purple elephant" This ti "Shall I control you now?"
"Can you?" she asked, eyes narrowing, and then glanced doith shock as her hands rose and clapped several ti her hands in his
"She asked," Justin said defensively
Dani stared at Decker, her hands un in his, and asked a little shakily, "How? Why can&039;t you if he can?"
HeIt was Justin who said, "Because you&039;re his life aze flickered to thethis earlier, but she turned to Decker when she asked, "What is a life aze dropped to their hands, rose to ain, and finally he said, "The nanos don&039;t just allow us to read mortal&039;s uard up to block others frohts It makes life so So much so that some immortals avoid others as much as possible just so that they don&039;t constantly have to be on guard But isolating oneself can lead to depression, rage, and ue" He paused briefly, and then explained, "A life mate is that very rare person e can&039;t read and who can&039;t read us They can bewith them is like an oasis of calm We can relax and be ourselves around theht we have And, since we can&039;t read thehts either They can be a true mate, someone we can&039;t read or control and e can spend our long lives with, happily"
Dani stared at hi exactly what Lucian had said: I&039; us, a va Decker, who is the only one here who can&039;t read or control your thoughts That makes you a possible life mate for him, but you &039;II be the one to decide
He&039;d said possible life ht not be? Or that she was Decker&039;s life mate, but that she could reject him if she wished? Before she could ask, Justin suddenly said, "Decker?"
He turned reluctantly away frolance at Justin "What?"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I&039; and we&039;ve picked up a radar cop I could try to handle him myself, but I don&039;t want to take my concentration off the road"
"I&039;ll handle it," Decker said, and glanced out the rear
Dani twisted in her seat to watch what could have been an instant replay of their first encounter with the other officer The flashing lights on top of the cruiser were suddenly shut off and the car slowed and dropped away When she could no longer see it anymore, Dani turned back to Decker "You controlled him and the other officer as on our tail earlier"
When he nodded solemnly, she asked, "But you can&039;t control me?"
He shook his head, and Dani&039;s eyes narrowed "But Justin can?"
His nod this time was almost reluctant, as if he suspected a trap
"So it was Justin who made me sleep in the back of the van after the incident in the clearing?" Dani asked, already suspecting she knew the answer It would explain why she couldn&039;t recall actually getting into the van and going to sleep
Decker winced at her sharp tone, but nodded
"What else has he ," he assured her solemnly
"Why should I believe that when you&039;ve done nothing but lie to me from the minute I met you?"
"I only lied because, had I told you the truth, you would have thought us mad and you were already shaken up after your encounter with the rogues and were hardly in the mood to trust us," he said firmly "We are Council enforcers, Dani Vampire cops, if you like Our people have laws and we have to enforce theue immortals that break our laws"
"What kind of laws?" Dani asked, relaxing a little She could hardly argue that he should have told her the truth froht She hadn&039;t been in any condition for this little revelation then Heck, she wasn&039;t sure she was ready for it now, but she was beginning to accept it, and a lot of her fear was slipping aith every passing minute
"The first and most important one is not to feed off of, or harm, mortals"