Page 53 of Immortal Unveiled

“They look like humans?” she asked, shocked.

“Like ordinary humans, with two exceptions: they have green blood, as Pearce has already mentioned, and they have poison-green eyes.”

“You mean all people with green eyes are demons?”

Manus chuckled. “No, of course not. In fact, the green eyes you think of are just normal human eyes. A demon’s green eyes are entirely different. You’ll recognize them when you see one, trust me. Unfortunately, they’ve gotten smart. They use sunglasses and colored contact lenses to disguise their eyes, making it impossible for us to spot them. That’s why we’ve allied ourselves with vampires.”

“You mean they can see through the disguise?”

“No. But they can smell the demons. Thus, they can warn us from an ambush.”

“But you look like humans too, so how would they be able to ambush you? I mean, how would they even know you’re Stealth Guardians?”

“We have an aura, and they, just like any other preternatural creature, can see our aura. That’s how they recognize us.”

“And you can’t recognize theirs?”

“They have none.”

“That’s convenient,” Kim said dryly.

“Yep, it sucks,” Manus confirmed and shrugged. “That’s why we borrowed a couple of vampires from our friends in San Francisco to help us detect demons.”

Kim leaned forward and cleared her throat. “Yeah, about those vampires…”

“What about them?”

“Aren’t you afraid that they’ll turn on you and suck you dry? I mean, they seemed pretty bloodthirsty when I met them. No offense.”

“Offense taken.”

Manus whirled his head in the direction of the male voice, which he recognized as Grayson’s. Grayson and Ryder marched into the room. Despite the harsh words, Grayson had a charming grin on his face.

“I’m not bloodthirsty,” he said and approached the couch, but Manus rose and blocked him from getting too close to Kim.

“What do you want?”

“I just want to prove to our guest that I’m not bloodthirsty,” Grayson said and peered past Manus. “Well, unless she likes it that way.”

Before Grayson could push past him, Manus had him by the collar of his shirt. He couldn’t tolerate the eternal womanizer making a pass at Kim. It was disrespectful. Besides, he would never allow some young buck to invade his territory and lay claim to something that had already been claimed.

“Hands off her,” Manus hissed so low he knew only the two vampires in the room could hear him.

“You had your chance,” Grayson replied just as quietly. “And we all know how that worked out. She didn’t fall for your charm the first time. Now’s my turn.”

The young hybrid really thought he knew everything. Maybe it was time to update him on recent developments. “Shame you’re about twenty-four hours too late.” With a grin Manus released Grayson and added just as low, “I’m surprised you can’t smell her on me.”

Grayson’s chin dropped in disbelief. Behind him, Ryder had difficulty suppressing his laugh.

Finally, Manus turned back to Kim and smiled at her. “It’s all cleared up. Grayson was just joking. Weren’t you?”

“Sure,” Grayson pressed out through clenched teeth before turning toward the kitchen. “What’s for dinner?”

As he walked to join Hamish and Tessa, Kim leaned over the coffee table and said in a low voice, “I thought vampires don’t eat.”

“Hybrids do, in addition to drinking blood. But let’s get back to more important things,” Manus replied. “Namely the reason why your mother was killed by the demons.”