Patrick's Seduction (Scanguards Vampires #19)

1

“Where are you guys today?” Patrick asked.
He sat in his office at Scanguards’ headquarters in the Mission district of San Francisco looking into the computer monitor from which his mother smiled back at him.
Delilah, beautiful and forever young, her age frozen in the mid-thirties, stood on a balcony. It was mid-morning in San Francisco, and the sun was up, but behind his mother, it was dark except for the Aurora Borealis that illuminated her surroundings. Shades of pink, red, green, and yellow were painted on the sky as if waves of different colors washed over the heavens. The sight was breathtaking.
“We’re still in Fairbanks,” she replied just as his father, Samson, came into view, putting an arm around her shoulders as he looked into the camera.
Samson had been turned into a vampire over two-hundred-and-fifty years ago, but looked no older than thirty-five. And though Delilah was human, she didn’t age, because she was blood-bonded to Samson, whose blood kept her looking and feeling as young as the day they’d bonded almost forty years ago. And just like their good looks hadn’t waned in all those years, their love for each other hadn’t either. Instead, it had grown deeper with each year that passed. When he’d been a teenager, he’d always felt embarrassed watching their public displays of affection, but now, as an adult, he looked at them and wished that one day, he would find the same kind of love with his partner, whoever she might be.
“It’s an amazing sight, the Northern Lights, don’t you think?” Samson asked, smiling.
“It’s stunning, Dad!”
Delilah winked at him. “Your father is taking full advantage of the fact that we only have four hours of sunlight up here. I can barely keep up with him.”
Since his father was a pure-blooded vampire, he couldn’t brave the sunlight. It would reduce him to ash in mere moments, while Patrick, as a vampire hybrid, didn’t have that weakness. He had all the other advantages of being a vampire: preternatural strength and speed, immortality, and the fact that he didn’t age. In fact, he’d stopped aging at the age of twenty-one, even though he could see changes in himself when he looked in the mirror.
He wasn’t the wide-eyed kid anymore who did everything for a chance at adventure. He was more mature, weighing up all pros and cons, and had become less impulsive. In his eyes, he could see the years of knowledge and experience he’d gained, and the man he’d become, despite the rest of his face remaining free of the ravaging signs of aging. People who didn’t know him might believe him to be too young to bear any kind of responsibility, but in the eyes of his family and friends at Scanguards, he could see that they saw him as a confident man with strong ethics and boundless energy.
Samson chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to Delilah’s temple. “It’s a trip of a lifetime.”
“How are Maya and Gabriel enjoying it?”
“They can’t get enough of the snow,” Samson replied.
“They’re cross-country skiing right now,” Delilah added. “I had to pass on that. That’s way too exhausting for me.” She glanced at Samson. “You could have gone with them if you wanted to.”
“I’d much rather spend time with you, sweetness.”
“I should let you go,” Patrick said, recognizing that his parents had that look in their eyes that they always had when they wanted to be alone. He didn’t need to be a psychic to know what they did when alone—after all, a vampire’s sex drive didn’t diminish with age, nor did that of his blood-bonded mate.
“How’s everything at Scanguards?” Samson asked quickly. “Any issues?”
“It’s all running smoothly.”
“And the jeweler’s convention? Any problems with providing the extra security for them?”
“They’re all happy with us. Everybody feels safe. No thefts or even attempted thefts. We’ve got this.”
The door suddenly opened, and Nicholas, a vampire hybrid three years his junior, barged in. “Patrick, we’ve got a body in the Presidio.”
“What’s going on?” Samson asked, instantly alert, his sensitive vampire hearing having picked up Nicholas’s words.
Nicholas approached and looked at the screen. “Didn’t mean to interrupt, Samson, but Patrick is needed.”
“Go, son,” Samson said quickly. “Call me later and tell me if I can help.”
Patrick shook his head. “I won’t, Dad. You’re on vacation, and I can handle Scanguards. That’s why you put me in charge while you and Gabriel are away. Trust me, I have all the help I need right here. Right, Nicholas?”
“Totally.” Nicholas gave a quick nod, puffing out his chest in a show of confidence.
“Alright.” Samson sounded reluctant, but then he nodded. “I trust you.”
“Bye, Dad, bye, Mom.”
Patrick disconnected the video call and rose from his chair, looking at Nicholas.
“Give me the details,” Patrick demanded, already heading for the door, leaving the office.
Together they marched down the corridor.
“We got a call that the body of a jogger was found in the Presidio, near the Lyon Street steps. There was a lot of blood,” Nicholas reported. “Anita checked it out right away and restricted access by SFPD.”
“She suspects that a vampire did this?” Patrick asked.
Anita Diaz-Montgomery wasn’t only married to his fellow vampire hybrid, Cooper Montgomery, she was also the liaison officer in charge of assigning investigations of any crimes to Scanguards in which vampires or other supernatural creatures were suspected to be involved. She reported directly to the Chief of Police as well as to Samson—and in Samson’s absence to whoever was in charge at Scanguards. She was a very capable police detective and had been instrumental in taking down a vampire serial killer a few years earlier.
“I only spoke to her briefly, but yes, that’s her gut feeling,” Nicholas confirmed. “Buffy should already be at the Presidio securing the body so she can do a preliminary examination.”
“Who else is on scene?”
“Anita is still there. And Benjamin was in the area, so I sent him to assist Buffy and wait for us.”
Patrick nodded, pleased that all preliminary measures had already been set in motion. “Good.”
Over the last few years, Nicholas had turned into a dedicated and competent investigator and bodyguard ready to conquer the world, if given only half a chance. He still had something to prove, not necessarily to himself but to his strict father, Zane, a pure-blooded vampire. He’d inherited a fierce sense of justice from Zane, who’d survived the Holocaust. Zane had hunted down his Nazi tormentors for over six decades until he’d meted out the appropriate sentence for their crimes: death. Even today, he still had a penchant for violence, though he only directed it toward the bad guys.
“Do we know the identity of the victim?”
Nicholas opened the door to the underground garage and looked over his shoulder. “No. We only know it’s a male jogger.”
Patrick followed him into the garage, where they headed to a black SUV with tinted windows. Nicholas jumped in on the driver’s side, and Patrick took the passenger seat. Moments later, they shot out of the parking garage and merged into heavy mid-morning traffic in the colorful Mission district with its trendy restaurants and bars.
While Nicholas concentrated on driving, Patrick let his mind wander. He knew that his father was ready to give him more responsibilities, but did he really want that? Running Scanguards meant less time in the field and more in the office. While he was okay with overseeing certain things at Scanguards, he excelled at fieldwork: protecting humans, investigating crimes perpetrated by members of his own species, and saving the innocent. He couldn’t imagine spending all night at headquarters getting reports that required action, only to delegate those cases to others, when all he wanted was to get his hands dirty and take action himself.
In a way, he wasn’t so different from his father. On more and more occasions, he could see in his father’s eyes that he too wanted to carry out missions. But after Samson had been kidnapped and nearly died five years earlier, he’d learned to suppress the urge to join the most dangerous missions for Delilah’s sake. The fear of almost losing her husband sat deep in her bones, visible to anyone who cared to look. His parents had grown even closer now if that was at all possible. Their love had grown in the presence of danger.
He sighed. Would he ever find a woman he could love the way Samson loved Delilah? And one who loved him like that in return?
“Something wrong?” Nicholas asked with a sideways glance.
Patrick shrugged, deflecting from his thoughts. “Do you think people will ever stop killing each other?”
“Doubt it. It’s in everybody’s nature. We’re all capable of it. We just need the right catalyst.”
Surprised at Nicholas’s wise words, he nodded to himself. “Well, then let’s see what the catalyst was this time.”
Nicholas pulled to the side of the road and parked at the Eastern edge of the Presidio, where the Lyon Street steps led down to the Marina, and an iron gate that stood open led into the Presidio where the wooded area was interspersed with walking trails, bike paths, and narrow streets.
The fog still hung low in the park, an unusual occurrence for January. Normally, during the winter months, the days were clear without fog, and only the occasional rain clouds blocked out the sun. But today, even the sun hadn’t peeked through the thick fog yet. As if she didn’t want to shine a light onto the unfortunate man who’d met his end while jogging.
Upon getting out of the car, Nicholas opened the trunk and took out a large black bag. Patrick was aware of its contents: a forensic kit with which to collect evidence at a crime scene.
They had to walk only four or five hundred yards before reaching the crime scene, an area with several tall trees and a few bushes along the walking trail. By the looks of the broken branches and trampled plants, it appeared that the victim had tried to get away from his attacker. But the chase had been a short one, indicating that the victim’s speed had been no match for the perpetrator’s.
The smell of blood became more intense with every step that brought them closer to the dead body. Benjamin nodded at him and Nicholas as they approached, his gaze sweeping the area for any unsuspecting civilians, so he could keep them away from the gruesome scene. Benjamin was one of the twin sons of Amaury, the pure-blooded vampire who was Samson’s best friend. Benjamin’s twin, Damian, had found his mate a few years earlier, leaving their joint apartment to move into a house in the Marina with Naomi. Benjamin always claimed that he wasn’t ready for matrimony. However, Patrick couldn’t help but wonder whether Benjamin secretly envied his twin for having found his soulmate, while he still lived the life of a womanizer who had suddenly lost his wingman.
Patrick’s gaze was drawn to Buffy, the 26-year-old black human stepdaughter of John Grant, a pure-blooded vampire in Scanguards’ employ. She crouched down next to the dead jogger, examining what was left of him. He admired Buffy for how calm she was at handling this important task, collecting forensic evidence off the body and its immediate surroundings. She’d assisted Maya, Scanguards’ own physician, many times, administering not just emergency medical care but also performing autopsies. This would be the first autopsy she handled on her own during Maya’s absence.
Next to Buffy stood Anita. The tall blonde was beautiful and acted as their liaison with the SFPD.
Patrick stepped closer. “Hey, Buffy. Hey, Anita.”
“Patrick.” Buffy looked over her shoulder, her face serious. She let out a breath.
To one side of her rested a gurney with a body bag on it, waiting to transport the corpse to HQ once it was ready to be moved.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Anita said. “I’ve never seen anything so brutal.” She pointed to the body on the ground.
Patrick stared down at the corpse. The man’s jogging suit was soaked in his own blood, his face smeared with it, his forearms showing long cuts as if somebody had sliced through the flesh using multiple knives. The worst was his torso. It was ripped open, the chest cavity exposed, ribs sticking out at odd angles.
He couldn’t stop his fangs from extending, an automatic response to the massive amounts of blood that impregnated the air. The chest cavity itself was filled with blood and dirt, even some leaves from the bushes around the area.
“Buffy, any idea how long he’s been dead?” Patrick asked.
“A couple of hours, maybe longer. The body is already feeling cool, and rigor mortis has set in. I should know more when I can take the liver temperature back at HQ.”
Benjamin approached. “So, he was killed before the sun came up?”
Buffy nodded. “Quite likely.”
Patrick exchanged a look with Benjamin and Nicholas. They were all thinking the same.
“Could have been a vampire attack.” He looked at Anita. “Thanks for keeping SFPD away. The fewer people who see the body, the better.”
“You think we’ve got another serial killer on our hands like a few years ago?” Anita asked.
For the length of a breath, Patrick held her gaze. “God, I hope not.”
Nicholas placed his forensics bag on the ground and started unzipping it. “Guy looks like he was mauled pretty bad.”
Patrick grunted to himself. “Looks like it. But given that we don’t have bears or mountain lions in the Presidio, it sure looks like a vampire attack. A pretty brutal one.”
He forced himself to be all business despite the horrific sight. He was in charge here, and it was time to get everybody organized.
“Nicholas, I need you to scout the area for footprints, tire tracks, and anything else that could lead us to the perpetrator. Search the immediate surroundings to see if the killer could have lain in wait.”
“Sure,” Nicholas said and began following his instructions.
“Benjamin, you’ll help Buffy transport the body to HQ, and assist Nicholas if he needs any help. But your first priority is to keep humans away from the scene. There are bound to be other joggers and people walking their dogs in the area.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Benjamin assured him.
“Anita,” Patrick continued, “go back to SFPD. Keep your eyes and ears open for any reports of physical altercations, assaults, stalkers, and the like. You know what to look for. Anything out of the ordinary that could point to a vampire.”
“Alright. I’ll see what I can find.”
Patrick acknowledged her reply with a nod, then ran a hand through his hair. “We need to find out who the victim is. That might give us a lead as to who did this.”
“Patrick, I found this on him,” Buffy said from her crouching position.
He bent down to her and took the small item from her hand. It was a hotel key card. He turned it over and read the name of the hotel. “Hotel Drisco.”
“That’s only two blocks from here,” Benjamin said. “Pretty expensive place.”
“I’ll go there. They’ll be able to scan the card to see which room it belongs to,” Patrick announced. “Nicholas, I’ll take the car.” He glanced at Benjamin. “Can he ride back with you?”
“No problem, bro,” Benjamin said. “We’ll be a little while longer anyway before we can move the body.”
With a nod, Patrick acknowledged Benjamin’s words. “I’ll see you all at HQ later.”
Confident that everybody on his team knew what they were doing, he turned his back to them and headed to the car. An uncomfortable chill crawled up his spine, and he stopped for a moment, freezing in place, slowing his breath and his heartbeat to concentrate on the sounds around him. Was the killer still in the area?

The Scanguards Vampires series is full of fast-paced action, scorching love scenes, witty dialogue, and strong heroes and heroines. Vampire Samson Woodford lives in San Francisco and owns a security/bodyguard company, Scanguards, which employs both vampires and humans. And eventually some witches. Throw in a few immortal guardians and demons later in the series, and you'll get the drift! Each book can be read as a standalone and always centers around a new couple finding love, but the series is more enjoyable when read in order. And of course, there are always a few running jokes - you'll understand when you meet Wesley, a wannabe witch. Enjoy!

Book 1: Samson’s Lovely Mortal

Book 2: Amaury’s Hellion

Book 3: Gabriel’s Mate

Book 4: Yvette’s Haven

Book 5: Zane’s Redemption

Book 6: Quinn’s Undying Rose

Book 7: Oliver’s Hunger

Book 8: Thomas’s Choice

Book 9: Cain’s Identity

Book 10: Luther’s Return

Novella: Mortal Wish

Book 11: Blake’s Pursuit

Novella 11 1/2: Fateful Reunion

Book 12: John’s Yearning

Book 13: Ryder’s Storm (Scanguards Hybrids #1)

Book 14: Damian’s Conquest (Scanguards Hybrids #2)

Book 15: Grayson’s Challenge (Scanguards Hybrids #3)

Book 16: Isabelle’s Forbidden Love (Scanguards Hybrids #4)

Book 17: Cooper’s Passion (Scanguards Hybrids #5)

Book 18: Vanessa’s Bravery (Scanguards Hybrids #6) (pre-order)

Scanguards Vampires (Books 1 – 6)

Scanguards Vampires (Books 7 – 12)

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