Vampires 101 (Twilight Hunters Book 1) A Vampire Romance (18 page)

“You bugged my apartment!” Now I was angry. I let him know this by pulling my hand away. “I can’t believe you’d do something like that … and without a warrant even.”

“It had to be done. Something was going on with you and we had to figure out what it was. We didn’t do it just to invade your privacy,” he said, trying to soothe my anger. It wasn’t working too well.

“So … what about the rest of it. What did you mean about Damian?” I was still angry, but I knew that Riley had info that I wanted, so I wasn’t ready to kick him out of my apartment quite yet.

“We’ll need to go back to the beginning. It’s the only way you’ll understand anything of what I’m about to tell you.”

“Ok.” I didn’t really know what else to say. It was obvious that he was getting ready to lay some really heavy stuff on me, but it wasn’t as if I hadn’t asked for it.

“Thousands of years ago, Damian’s people came to earth. They are a violent - warlike people. They are always looking for ways to expand their empire. Earth was to be one of their colonies.”

I held up my hand. “Stop right there. Are you telling me that he is a different species? I mean … I know vampires are not really the same as humans, but seriously … you are telling me they are an entirely different species … from someplace else?”

Riley nodded. “You have to let me finish before you’ll understand.”

I drew in a deep breath, hoping the extra shot of oxygen would help me wrap my brain around what he was saying.

“They are the ancient gods of the Sumerians, the Romans, the Greeks. Though they have been known by different names, they are one in the same. To mankind, they were originally known as the Anunnaki. The literal translation of these words is,
those that came from heaven to earth.”

I drew my brows together in confusion. “So you are telling me that they
are
aliens?”

He nodded. “They are that, but they are also the original vampires … the ancients. They are immortal in a way. As long as they consume blood, they can live for a very long time. When they first came here, they needed a slave race. At that time, humans were still in their infancy. The Anunnaki are an extremely advanced species with a technology that far surpasses anything you can imagine. Even thousands of years ago, they were more technologically advanced than what mankind is today.”

“So primitive man mistook that technology for supernatural power and believed they were gods?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

What Riley was telling me was interesting, but not all of it was new. Sean Taft had published the theory on his website. True, Taft hadn’t really made the connection to vampires, but Shadow had her suspicions.

“You’re not really telling me anything that I can’t find on a dozen websites,” I pointed out.

Riley smiled. “There are a few insightful people out there, but they have just made some lucky guesses. They don’t really have a clue to what is happening beneath their noses.”

Taking into account what I had discovered over the last couple of weeks, I kind of had to agree with him on that. There was so much more to reality than what most could comprehend. In fact, I had to wonder why I wasn’t more shocked than I was. It was like at some deeper level, I’d always known what Riley was telling me.

Noticing that my coffee was almost gone, he asked, “Would you like some more?”

I shook my head. “I just want to know what you meant about Damian and my mother.”

“That would be jumping ahead. You’d only get lost,” he explained.

“Ok … go on.”

“The Anunnaki altered the genetics of man, creating a species more advanced than they were originally. In fact, they did a number of genetic experiments, and not just with humans. Haven’t you ever wondered where the legends of creatures like unicorns and centaurs came from?”

Now things were getting way strange. “Seriously?”

Riley nodded. “They are also responsible for the virus that created the species that people think of as vampires.”

“But why?”

“It was meant to destroy the human - Anunnaki hybrids, but instead it created a race that could multiply by spreading the virus. This obviously wasn’t there intent.”

“So what exactly does this virus do?” I asked, thinking that maybe Shadow was right all along. Maybe these beings did have some way to cure the disease.

“It was meant to kill the host, and it does that … but it reanimates the cells and the infected are then reborn as vampires.”

Ok then. That explained the whole living dead thing, but how was I connected to all this?

“So what does all this have to do with me?” I asked.

“About six thousand years ago … the Anunnaki dissolved their colonies here, but that didn’t mean they were ready to stop their genetic program. They are still doing that to this day.”

“And I’m one of their lab rats?” It was all making a little more sense.

“A lot of people are … but you are a very special case. Important enough to warrant the attention of one of their most prominent leaders.”

“Damian,” I breathed his name.

Riley gave me a curt nod.

“Hold that thought,” I told him before getting to my feet and dashing to the coffee pot. I had a feeling I was going to need more caffeine. Truthfully, what I needed was a shot of whiskey, but since it was barely 7:00 AM, coffee would have to do.

I settled back into my chair, and looked at Riley. “Ok … tell me more.”

All of the sudden he seemed reluctant to continue. Instead of going on with his story, he took a deep breath.

“Riley!” I wasn’t about to let him stop now.

Leaning forward, he again took my hand in his. “Are you sure that you really want to know. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.”

“Yes … and Riley … why do you keep trying to hold hands with me?” This was almost as unsettling as what he was telling me.

Giving me a sad smile he shrugged. “I guess over the years I’ve grown attached to you.”

Ok, not exactly the most romantic of explanations, but what had I expected? This was the guy that swore I had been spawned from hell itself.

He released my hand. “Sorry.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Don’t be. It’s actually kind of a refreshing change.”

Clearing his throat, he picked up where he’d left off. “From what I know … and I don’t know everything,” he admitted. “Your DNA was changed shortly after your mother conceived. It was altered to give you the ability to see beings from other dimensions.”

“That explains the ghosts and the reapers,” I said, more to myself than to him.

“So you have already discovered this?” He didn’t seem too surprised.

“Yes, but it’s probably not much different than a psychic might be able to do.”

“You are wrong there. You see … the Anunnaki have many talents, but sensing other dimensions isn’t one of them. They need you to move between dimensions for them.”

“But why?” Even with all of the information he was feeding me, I was still confused.

“We have been unable to find out exactly what their purpose is, but just the fact that Damian is involved … means it cannot be good. He is one of their warlords.”

Swallowing hard, I tried to dislodge the lump that had formed in my throat. So it was true. I was nothing more than a tool to him - a means to an end. Had he simply been grooming me so that I would be a cooperative little test subject?

“I’m sorry,” he spoke in a soft voice. “I know you thought there might be something different there.”

“What about my mother?” I asked, trying to ignore the pain ripping at my heart.

“Everything I’ve uncovered points to the Anunnaki. I believe they took her for some reason.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. Deceiving me was one thing, but taking my mother was something I could never forgive. He’d been so convincing. I’d almost believed that what we shared was special.

“So do you think that our local serial killer is one of them?” I asked.

Riley shook his head. “No. They have certain people they use as feeders. They don’t kill randomly. I think our killer is a reptilian.”

“A what?” I wasn’t sure my brain could handle any more without short-circuiting.

“A reptilian. They are the ones that have the underground bases. That’s what you wandered into last night,” he informed me before adding. “It is also the reptilians that are responsible for the human and cattle mutilations. They feed off of specific body parts. It’s a delicacy.”

“Ew … yuk!” It was all I could think to say.

“Normally it’s cattle and a few farmed humans, but something has gone wrong. They just don’t work this way.”

“But farming humans is ok?” I was repulsed by the idea.

“Right now there’s not much we can do about it. They are so integrated here … it would mean destroying the whole planet to get rid of them. And there’s always the fact that the world’s governments have a treaty with them. They allow them to be here in exchange for technology. Why do you think the world has progressed in technology so quickly?”

“No way! They wouldn’t go that far. I mean … I know politicians are crooks and all, but allowing them to eat humans?”

“They don’t,” he put in. “The government doesn’t know about that part.”

“So just tell them.” The solution seemed clear to me.

“It’s not that simple. They have infiltrated the government to the point that it’s impossible to know who you can trust.”

“That guy that attacked me. He didn’t look very reptilian.”

“He is probably a hybrid. Some of the hybrids look so human you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but they are about as far from human as you can get.”

“You knew this all along!” I accused.

“I didn’t,” he denied. “I wasn’t sure until he disappeared from the morgue. Reptilians are difficult to kill. You have to rip their heart out or cut off their heads. They have the ability to grow new tissue. This is something Prince Charming must have overlooked,” he said sarcastically.

“How did you know that was him?” I was startled that he apparently knew Damian had been the one to save me that night.

“I suspected, but I didn’t know for sure … until now,” he confessed. “Cassie … you have to be careful of him. What the two of you have done is considered a travesty by his people.”

“Wait a minute!” A thought struck me suddenly. “How would you know what we’ve done?”

He motioned toward me with his hand. “You were both half dressed. It would be hard to miss. I really didn’t expect him to go in that direction,” he added, his voice betraying his confusion, and something else that I couldn’t immediately identify.

For the first time, I realized I was still in nothing but a T-shirt. My face grew hot with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry … I didn’t look,” he promised with a wry smile.

Between what Riley had seen, and Chaz witnessing what he did the other night, I suddenly felt like a peepshow attraction.

Ok, so it didn’t take a genius to figure that much out, but how would Riley know about the rest of it?

“Are you one of them?” It was the only thing that made sense. How else would he know so much?

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not one of them … but I’m not human. I come from somewhere else.”

So I had been right all along. Riley wasn’t actually human. Of course I’d never really considered this to be literally true. It just goes to show that you can never really know someone as well as you might like to believe.

Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that John Riley was an alien. A demon possibly, but that was mostly because he ratted me out to Dad once, after he’d busted us drinking at one of our bonfire parties at the Old Mill. True, my friends and I were underage, and it was probably the right thing to do, but still. I think I would have preferred waterboarding to him telling Dad.

I spent the entire month I was grounded, throwing darts at a picture of Riley that I’d stuck on the wall. Dad wasn’t too happy when he saw Riley’s picture on my wall, full of darts. I ended up with another week thrown onto my punishment.

Yeah, I could probably accept demon, but he just didn’t resemble ET enough to be an alien. Nevertheless, that’s what he was claiming.

During our conversation, I’d accidentally revealed Sean Taft as being one of my information sources. Now Riley wanted to meet him. I didn’t know if that was such a great idea or not. If Riley decided Taft was a threat, there was no telling what might happen to the poor guy.

I’d agreed to take him to Taft, but only if he promised that nothing bad would happen, and that we would stop for breakfast on the way.

While waiting in line at the Burrito Factory to pay for my sausage and egg breakfast burrito, I turned to Riley. “So the Pleiades Star System you say? That’s just so totally awesome.” I was still trying to digest what he’d told me.

Riley gave me a look of warning, as the other people in line began to stare. After we’d paid and was on our way out to his car, he glared at me. “Really Cassie … you need to be a little more careful what you say around others.”