Seduced by the Night by Robin T. Popp Page B

"Weber studied them for several months and discovered that these creatures have hollow fangs and they inject their prey with venom while they are feeding—like a snake does. Weber thought the venom might prevent the blood from clotting while the chupacabra is feeding. Anyway, once the animal dies, end of story. Not so with humans. The venom has a strange effect on people and when the human dies, the venom somehow restores life to the corpse, and two nights later the victim rises as a vampire."
    Bethany sat very still, willing herself not to reject, out of hand, what he was telling her. He obviously took her silence as acceptance and went on.
    "Of the two creatures found, one was an adult and the other was much younger. About six months ago, the adult chupacabra attacked and killed Dr. Weber and another man, Lance Burton. At that time, no one knew about the chupacabra -vampire connection. Two days later, Dr. Weber and Burton literally rose from the dead and killed the remaining members of their research team."
    Bethany gasped. "How awful." In her mind's eye, she saw an image of Mr. Yarbro , clutched close to the vampire's chest as it leaned forward, fangs buried in his neck. "Is that who's been after me? Lanie's father and this Lance Burton?"
    "No. Dr. Weber was never a threat. Burton , on the other hand, was." He paused and for a moment Bethany thought he might not continue. " Burton was a former SEAL, along with me and Mac. In life, he was psychotic, but when he became a vampire, he was much worse. He came up with a plan to assassinate the President and to do that, he needed help. So he kidnapped the adult chupacabra and forced it to kill several other members of our former SEAL team—men who had been his close friends. In that way, he created his own special ops team of vampires. Mac and I killed all but two of them six months ago, including Burton , but I believe it's the two who escaped who are responsible for the attacks on you."
    It was almost more information than Bethany could process, but there was one question above all others that she still wanted answered. "Why do they want me?"
    "I'm not sure. I think they want to continue where Burton left off—only there aren't enough of them to wage an all-out physical assault. So instead, they're going for a biochemical assault. Germ warfare. And they need a biochemist."
    Bethany gasped. "What? That's unbelievable."
    "It's the best theory I have right now," Dirk said.
    "And, of all the biochemists in the area, they randomly selected me?"
    Dirk's pointed silence caused a shudder to run through her. "I wasn't randomly selected?"
    His features were grim when he spoke. "I did some checking. Van Home wasn't just bragging when he said you were the best in your field—and trust me, they'll need the best. Your being a woman was an added benefit. They probably thought you'd be easy to intimidate."
    While Bethany digested this, the waiter arrived with  their food. As soon as he left, Dirk reached over and took her hand in his. "I won't let anything happen to you, okay? Now, let's try to enjoy the meal."
    He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. The gesture was meant to be reassuring and shouldn't have sent warm shivers up and down her arms. She wondered if the contact had affected him, too, but his attention was focused on the array of bite-sized food and pots of cheese. He viewed them with obvious skepticism .
    She used the opportunity to study him as he tentatively pierced a cube of bread and dipped it into the nearest fondue pot. Then he popped it into his mouth.
    "Not bad," he said after he swallowed it. Bethany smiled. She'd always thought there was something inherently feminine about eating fondue, but Dirk pulled it off with such smooth, masculine confidence, it left her wondering what those hands could do under different circumstances.
    She picked up her skewer and stabbed a vegetable piece, then dunked it into the cheese. As she lifted the food to her mouth,