But her sister was here. She didn't want to lose Shanna again. She didn't want to lose her niece and nephew. I saw Constantine fly. How could Shanna possibly explain that?
Shanna winced. "I'll do my best."
Caitlyn stiffened. "You're reading my mind."
Chapter Two
Caitlyn took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Maybe she shouldn't be so shocked. She was a psychic linguist, so it was entirely possible that her sister had psychic abilities, too.
Shanna motioned for her to accompany her to the refreshment table. "I'm not making a conscious effort to read your mind. I want to respect your privacy, but some of your thoughts are so intense, I'm catching them."
Caitlyn glanced back at the other women across the cafeteria. They were busily chatting, so thankfully, she could now speak privately with her sister. "You have telepathic powers."
"I'm usually better at blocking messages than sending or receiving," Shanna confessed. "But with you, I've always had a strong connection. Remember when we were young, and we'd always - "
"Finish each other's sentences," Caitlyn said with a sad smile. If their connection was so strong, why did her sister leave her?
"Are you telepathic, too?" Shanna asked.
"I don't think so. Most of my psychic ability is centered on language."
"You have a rare gift." Shanna ladled some punch into two red plastic cups. "When I was at boarding school, I would think of you often and dream about you at night. You were surrounded by snow, and you wore a bright red woolen coat and mittens."
Caitlyn's breath caught. From the ages of ten to twelve, she'd worn a bright red coat.
Shanna passed her a cup of punch. "Later on, I saw you in Washington, D.C., then you were back in the snow. A few years ago the dreams changed. I saw white sandy beaches and palm trees. Elephants and tigers."
Caitlyn gulped down some punch. "I graduated from Georgetown University before joining the State Department. I was stationed at Minsk, then Bangkok and Jakarta."
Shanna's eyes glimmered with tears. "I always hoped I was seeing images from your real life. I missed you so much."
Then why did you leave me? Caitlyn blinked back tears and grabbed a paper plate featuring a red cartoon car. "I don't know anything about your life. I didn't even know you had a husband and children."
"Dad didn't tell you?"
"No." Caitlyn put some crackers and sliced cheese on her plate. "He just warned me never to come here."
Shanna sighed. "Well, I'm glad you did. Thank you."
Caitlyn took another sip of punch. "Why didn't our parents come?"
"Mom does whatever Dad tells her to do. And Dad...well, he doesn't approve of me." Shanna motioned to some chairs next to the table heaped with gifts. "Did you know Dad works for the CIA?"
"Yes." Caitlyn set her cup and plate on the table, then took a seat. "I used to think he worked for the State Department, but when he helped me get a job there, he confessed it was only a cover, and that he'd always worked for the CIA."
Shanna nodded. "For the last six years or so he's been in charge of a secret group called the Stake-Out team. Emma MacKay used to work for him."
"Really?" Caitlyn glanced over at Emma, who was helping the baby Jillian eat.
"And another employee at MacKay S and I, Austin Erickson, worked for Dad."
"Can I ask why they left?" Caitlyn figured it had something to do with her father's overbearing personality. The thought of having him for a boss was definitely making her think twice about accepting his job offer. She topped a cracker with a slice of cheese and bit into it.
"They couldn't agree with the mission of the Stake-Out team," Shanna explained. "Dad's investigating a group of...people with the ultimate objective of hunting them all down and destroying them."
Caitlyn swallowed hard as the cracker stuck in her throat. "Terrorists?"
"Some of them are. I know all about it 'cause Dad tried to hire me, too. Our psychic power is inherited from Dad, you know. Our brother didn't seem to get any."
"I know, but what does that - "
"Everyone on the Stake-Out team needs enough psychic power to resist mind control," Shanna continued. "Dad's enemy has the ability to control minds and erase memories. He considers them a dangerous threat to mankind."
"They sound dangerous."
Shanna sighed. "Some of them are, but not all of them. The ones I know are perfectly nice."
Nice mind controllers? Caitlyn had to wonder if Shanna's mind was being controlled if she thought some of them were nice. This had to be the source of the friction between her dad and her sister. "Who exactly are we talking about?"
Shanna hesitated, then whispered, "Vampires."
Caitlyn blinked. "What?"
"Dad is hunting vampires."
Caitlyn sat back. She couldn't be hearing this right. "You mean he's gone off his rocker?"
"No, he's perfectly sane. That's why he calls it the Stake-Out team. You know, staking vampires."
Goose bumps prickled Caitlyn's arms. Her dad and sister were crazy. She rose to her feet. "Is this some kind of joke? Some kind of...party game? I don't find it amusing."
"It's not a joke." Shanna regarded her seriously. "Vampires are real."
"They're make-believe."
"They're real." Shanna lifted a hand to stop further objections. "I know it comes as a shock. If you don't want to believe me, you can ask anyone else here. Or ask Dad. He wants to hire you, so he must be planning to tell you."
A chill skittered down Caitlyn's spine. It couldn't be true. How could her sister lie to her? Then again, what could Shanna possibly gain by making this up? But wouldn't it be foolish for her to trust Shanna? She hadn't seen her sister in years.
She would have to talk to Dad about this. But what if he claimed it was true and he was hunting vampires?
Her thoughts swung back and forth, truth or lie, the pendulum increasing in speed, faster and faster till she felt dizzy. She slumped in the chair. "Are you seriously telling me vampires are real?"
"Yes, I am." Shanna nodded. "And I should know."
A frisson of alarm shot through Caitlyn, and she sprang to her feet. This was why Dad had warned her never to come here. Shanna has changed. She can no longer be trusted. Stay away from her at all cost. "You're a vampire?"
Shanna's eyes widened. "No. I'm the same as I ever was."
"Oh, thank God." Caitlyn pressed a hand to her chest and collapsed onto the chair. "You scared me to death."
Shanna smiled. "Relax, sweetie. I'm not a vampire." She patted her arm. "My husband is."
"Ack!" Caitlyn jumped back to her feet. "You - You're married to a dead man?"
"He's not dead. He's outside playing basketball."
"But - " Caitlyn frowned, trying to make sense of this. "Isn't he...sorta dead?"
"He's Undead."
The dizziness returned and Caitlyn sat down once more. "I don't really see the difference."
"Dead is dead all of the time, but Roman's only dead when the sun is up."
Caitlyn rubbed her brow. She was still tumbling down the rabbit hole and couldn't tell which end was up. "So he's fifty percent dead?"
Shanna chuckled. "I guess you could say that. But boy, when he's alive - " She sighed with a dreamy look on her face. "He's totally alive. All night long."
With trembling fingers, Caitlyn grabbed her cup and gulped down the rest of her punch. Apparently, vampires were good in the sack. Who would have guessed? Her thoughts returned to the gorgeous mystery man on the basketball court. Was he one of the Undead? Was he available? Could he give her the same sort of dreamy, well-satisfied look that Shanna had?
Caitlyn slapped herself mentally. What was she thinking? Within seconds of learning about the existence of vampires, she was imagining having sex with one? It was the damned lure of the exotic. It always tempted her. "Does he bite you?"
Shanna's mouth twitched. "Not for food. Roman and all the good Vamps drink synthetic blood."
"And you're happy, married to a vampire?"
"Oh, yes. And I'm not alone." With a grin, Shanna motioned toward the other women. "A lot of my friends here are married to Vamp men."