Free Ripper by Lexi Blake Page A

two in the same sentence. A zombie mindlessly seeks flesh. The flesh is temporary—useful but dumb. Blood is the basis of life. It holds the soul. This is the nourishment the vampire seeks.”
    I wanted to roll my eyes, but I was turning over a new leaf. I nodded like he was telling me something important. “I understand. Vampires are important in this class of yours?”
    Professor Hamilton’s eyes lit up, and I knew I’d hit on something. “Vampires are the pinnacles of our desires, Ms. Atwood. They are death and life immortal. They are the gods of this age.”
     I couldn’t argue with him on that. Pop culture wise they were experiencing a renaissance. You couldn’t turn around without another brooding vampire trying to sink his fangs in to someone. I wondered if Daniel had seen Twilight . I doubted seriously that he had ever once sparkled.
    “I really liked ‘Buffy,’” I admitted with fondness.
    He huffed, showing his utter disdain. “I’m talking about the real thing, Ms. Atwood. Vampires have been taken over by simpering romance novelists and their ridiculous female fans. The true vampire is a creature of great darkness. They don’t spend their time whining over human females. They are the bringers of death to the unworthy and life immortal to the blessed few.”
    Which proved that the good professor didn’t know crap about vampires. My father had, for the most part, avoided vampires like the plague. He told me he avoided them because they were dying out on their own anyway, but I thought it was because they were too badass to risk a confrontation with. What the professor had wrong was how a person is made a vampire. They aren’t. You’re either born one or not, and no one can tell who’s a vampire until they die and rise again. I heard a rumor a few years back that a king could actually sense latent vampires and turn them while they’re vital, but as far as I knew it was just a rumor. A vampire king is so rare as to be legendary. It’s a story vampires tell fledglings to scare the crap out of them.
    “So you sat around and talked about vampires?” I didn’t need to set him straight. He wouldn’t believe me anyway.
    He sat forward, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t believe in the supernatural?”
    “You would be surprised what I believe in.”
    “Imagine if they were real. Lonely gods walking the earth. What if you could talk to one? What would you ask it? Would you worship the vampire? Leave it gifts and pray for the hand of those who defy death to seek you out in kindness?” He gave me a moment to ponder his completely pretentious words. Then he sat back and let out a deep breath. “These are the questions we ask.”
    It was time that I asked one of my own. “Professor Hamilton, were you having a sexual affair with Joanne Taylor?”
    His swift reaction told me a lot, which was precisely why I blindsided him. His face went blank as though the question caught him completely off guard, and I knew in an instant that he hadn’t even considered it. “No, I don’t sleep with my students. That might be what other professors do, but I consider it beneath me.”
    I believed him. “I apologize. I had to ask. You’re an attractive man and she was a lovely girl.”
    He preened under the compliment. “Well, I will admit Joanne had a little crush on me. It’s inevitable. Young girls look for powerful, intelligent men to protect them, but I have my work to think of. I could be dismissed if I was caught with a student. I owe them my work, you know.”
    “Was Joanne involved with anyone in class?”
    He thought about that for a moment. “Not that I could tell. She actually held herself apart a bit. She certainly participated, but she had odd ideas about things. Once she posited that vampires were almost exclusively male, which makes no sense. She got laughed at and she was quiet for a while after that. I don’t know.”
    Wow. Joanne had seriously skirted trouble with the Council. If she’d been