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Authors: Dianne Duvall
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that.”
Melanie thought furiously. “You could continue to destroy those who have already succumbed to the insanity and only recruit the youngest vampires. Maybe offer them bagged blood so they wouldn’t feel the need to attack humans.”
“Such would put a strain on our resources,” Seth said.
True. The bagged blood that immortals utilized was donated by members of the network and their families. It was one of the reasons immortals were so strict about only eating organic foods. (The other reason, of course, being pure stubbornness. After eating nothing but organic foods for hundreds if not thousands of years, most simply refused to change their diets.) The virus repaired even the most minute damage done to the body, using blood to do so, and immortals wished to reduce their need as much as possible so they wouldn’t have to seek alternative sources.
“You could do what Bastien did,” Tanner suggested. “Assign them pedophiles to feed upon.”
Melanie had heard about that. Rather brilliant thinking, in her opinion. Bastien had lacked a steady supply of bagged blood, so he had enlisted Tanner’s aid to track down pedophiles through a little cyber sleuthing and ordered his vampire followers to feed upon them .
“We lack the resources necessary to ensure they don’t stray from their diet,” Seth responded.
David nodded. “Though his army feared and respected him, Bastien was still unable to keep some of his followers from killing the pedophiles’ families.”
“Drug them,” Melanie blurted.
All heads turned her way.
“What?” Bastien asked.
“Drug them,” she repeated. “I’ve been experimenting with Cliff and Joe—” She broke off, realizing what she had just said and hurriedly caught Ami’s eye. “Not the way you’re thinking, Amiriska. I promise you: Everything I do with them is with their consent.”
Marcus tightened his arm around Ami, whose brow remained furrowed with doubt.
Vowing to choose her words more carefully in the future, Melanie continued. “What I meant to say is, I’ve been working with Cliff and Joe, monitoring the effects of various doses of the tranquilizer. And my”—not experiment—“research has given me real hope that regular injections of a low dose can help suppress the vampires’ violent impulses. It leaves them sluggish . . . and they don’t like that part of it . . . but they have far fewer outbursts and maintain control better. I realize it’s a temporary fix, but it might be something you can use to your advantage if you decide to go through with this.”
Leaning back against his chair, Bastien touched her arm beneath the table. “The drug really helps them?”
Pulse picking up, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Emrys used it to gain the vampire king’s cooperation,” Seth mentioned.
“He did?” Melanie asked. “How?”
“Every time the vampire king flew into a rage, Emrys tranqed him. If he managed to hit him with the dart before the vampire gave the rage free reign, it seemed to stop it in its tracks . . . or at least left the vamp too tired to do anything about it. If the vampire king was already destroying everything around him, the drug stopped him and, again, left him too tired to continue acting on impulse.”
Hope rose. If the drug could work on someone as insane as the vampire king, perhaps she would have more time to find a cure for Cliff and Joe.
“Then that’s the answer,” Tanner said, his handsome face lit with triumph. “If you can suppress their impulses with drugs, you can control whom they feed upon.”
“My entire army consisted of men who were lucid when I recruited them and desired help,” Bastien said. “They didn’t want to become monsters. They didn’t want to prey upon the innocent.”
“But they did,” Roland said.
“Yes. Some of them. Because I had no way of curbing their madness. Dr. Lipton does. If this drug works as she says it does, we can seek out those few who can still benefit from it, recruit
Melanie thought furiously. “You could continue to destroy those who have already succumbed to the insanity and only recruit the youngest vampires. Maybe offer them bagged blood so they wouldn’t feel the need to attack humans.”
“Such would put a strain on our resources,” Seth said.
True. The bagged blood that immortals utilized was donated by members of the network and their families. It was one of the reasons immortals were so strict about only eating organic foods. (The other reason, of course, being pure stubbornness. After eating nothing but organic foods for hundreds if not thousands of years, most simply refused to change their diets.) The virus repaired even the most minute damage done to the body, using blood to do so, and immortals wished to reduce their need as much as possible so they wouldn’t have to seek alternative sources.
“You could do what Bastien did,” Tanner suggested. “Assign them pedophiles to feed upon.”
Melanie had heard about that. Rather brilliant thinking, in her opinion. Bastien had lacked a steady supply of bagged blood, so he had enlisted Tanner’s aid to track down pedophiles through a little cyber sleuthing and ordered his vampire followers to feed upon them .
“We lack the resources necessary to ensure they don’t stray from their diet,” Seth responded.
David nodded. “Though his army feared and respected him, Bastien was still unable to keep some of his followers from killing the pedophiles’ families.”
“Drug them,” Melanie blurted.
All heads turned her way.
“What?” Bastien asked.
“Drug them,” she repeated. “I’ve been experimenting with Cliff and Joe—” She broke off, realizing what she had just said and hurriedly caught Ami’s eye. “Not the way you’re thinking, Amiriska. I promise you: Everything I do with them is with their consent.”
Marcus tightened his arm around Ami, whose brow remained furrowed with doubt.
Vowing to choose her words more carefully in the future, Melanie continued. “What I meant to say is, I’ve been working with Cliff and Joe, monitoring the effects of various doses of the tranquilizer. And my”—not experiment—“research has given me real hope that regular injections of a low dose can help suppress the vampires’ violent impulses. It leaves them sluggish . . . and they don’t like that part of it . . . but they have far fewer outbursts and maintain control better. I realize it’s a temporary fix, but it might be something you can use to your advantage if you decide to go through with this.”
Leaning back against his chair, Bastien touched her arm beneath the table. “The drug really helps them?”
Pulse picking up, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Emrys used it to gain the vampire king’s cooperation,” Seth mentioned.
“He did?” Melanie asked. “How?”
“Every time the vampire king flew into a rage, Emrys tranqed him. If he managed to hit him with the dart before the vampire gave the rage free reign, it seemed to stop it in its tracks . . . or at least left the vamp too tired to do anything about it. If the vampire king was already destroying everything around him, the drug stopped him and, again, left him too tired to continue acting on impulse.”
Hope rose. If the drug could work on someone as insane as the vampire king, perhaps she would have more time to find a cure for Cliff and Joe.
“Then that’s the answer,” Tanner said, his handsome face lit with triumph. “If you can suppress their impulses with drugs, you can control whom they feed upon.”
“My entire army consisted of men who were lucid when I recruited them and desired help,” Bastien said. “They didn’t want to become monsters. They didn’t want to prey upon the innocent.”
“But they did,” Roland said.
“Yes. Some of them. Because I had no way of curbing their madness. Dr. Lipton does. If this drug works as she says it does, we can seek out those few who can still benefit from it, recruit
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