Deadly Liaisons by Terry Spear

vampire died at the hands of another before he could turn his lover.”
    “Bernard’s telepathic,” she said under her breath. “I thought he had the ability because your brother had turned him.”
    “No. Bernard hid this fact from you and everyone else he knew. He couldn’t risk having anyone dig into his family ties to learn why he had telepathic abilities—because he was of mixed heritage. In your case, I’ve discovered your deceased aunt was a telepath, and that’s why you have the ability.”
    “You’ve been investigating me?” She hated how shril her voice sounded.
    He gave her a mysterious smile. “What if you’d had vampiric roots as wel ? One never knows, now, does one?” He ate another bite of his salmon.
    Her fork clattered to the plate, and she clenched her fists. “You can’t turn my sister.”

    “I’m not saying anyone should turn her, only that it would be a way for someone to shield her mind from the trauma. If her thoughts could be control ed, the painful memories hidden, maybe you could reach her telepathical y and she could return to our world.”
    “I can’t do away with the emotional injuries she’s sustained. And I can’t contact her telepathical y. I can only speak with someone who has telepathic abilities. Though I’ve tried to reach her mind, to learn what she’s thinking, I can’t. Not with the way she’s been traumatized. Her thoughts are nonsensical, useless or total y blanked out.”
    “Since you are her sister, she would more than likely open her mind to you. But you need to shield her from the horrors that paralyze her and al ow her to see who committed the crimes.”
    Tezra frowned. “But I told you I can’t do that.”
    He didn’t respond, the look in his eyes unfathomable, the expression on his face formidable.
    Her mind swirled as she considered what he was thinking. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, no, no, no.” She waved her hand at him.
    “You would have to turn me into a vampiress!” She glared at him. She hated him for suggesting such a thing, yet she realized his plan could mean the difference in a living death or real life for her sister. Her throat clogged with tears.
    “As a vampiress you would be able to control her thoughts to a degree. To free her from the trauma. It’s the only way I know to bring her out of the darkness.”
    She’d always sworn she’d do anything for her sister, anything to give her life back. Now she had the opportunity? A life for a life?
    She swal owed hard. It was only fair, since it was her fol y that had caused her sister’s suffering and their parents’ death.
    “There’s something else.”
    “What?” Tezra asked, her voice hol ow. She didn’t want to become a vampire, not in her worst nightmares, but for her sister…
    “If your sister is able to speak again, she’d be able to testify in front of the SCU High Court and tel them the name of the vampire who kil ed your parents. Justice would prevail.”
    “What about the chief? He said Krustalus was the kil er.”
    “And you trust him?”
    “I have to speak with him, learn how he knows.” Then a distasteful thought flickered across her mind. Wouldn’t Krustalus be surprised if she came after him with a set of fangs? She rubbed her temple. If she didn’t rein in her darker side, she’d be no better than the murdering vampire.
    Glowering at Daemon, she wasn’t sure who she was madder at—him for suggesting she be turned, or herself for getting into the predicament she was in by taunting Krustalus so long ago. “I suppose you’d be the one to turn me.”
    Daemon leaned back in his chair. “I no more want to change you than you want to be turned.”
    After the way he’d acted toward her, like he wanted to taste every inch of her, she didn’t believe him for a second, yet his words fed into her insecurities. No one wanted to risk being with her, not even a blasted vampire, once he learned she’d been instrumental in her parents’ deaths.
    “Who then?