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Jennifer and the other male shape-shifter followed them. She looked at me, her eyes widening with recognition. “I know you,” she said. “The bookstore…”
I nodded.
Cagin came in last, carrying Susie in his arms. He sat on the sofa, cradling her against his chest. No one else sat down.
“Now what?” the male Vampire asked. He was a nice-looking kid, no more than twenty-two or twenty-three, with fine blond hair and sleepy blue eyes.
“How do you feel?” Rafe asked.
“Weak,” the male said, looking confused. “And hungry.”
Rafe's eyes narrowed. “Hungry? For what?”
“A chili dog and a Coke,” he said, and then frowned.
“What about you?” Rafe asked the female. She was a pretty little thing, with curly black hair and heavily-lashed brown eyes. She couldn't have been more than twenty or twenty-one at the most.
“I feel empty inside,” she said. “Just…empty.” She took hold of the male's hand. “Jimmy, I want to go home.”
Rafe regarded the two of them a moment. “How long have you two been Vampires?”
“Only a few weeks,” Jimmy said. “Gina was turned on our honeymoon. I asked her to bring me across the next night.”
Rafe grunted softly. “I don't think you're Vampires any longer.”
“Really?” Jimmy asked, his eyes wide. “You mean it worked?”
The girl smiled as if they had just won the lottery. “Human again!” She threw her arms around her husband.
He picked her up and swung her around in a circle, then drew her close to his side. They stood there, beaming at each other, no longer aware of the rest of us. So young, I thought, and so much in love.
Rafe turned toward the shape-shifters. “What are your names?”
“I'm Jennifer,” the girl said. “Jennifer Westover.”
“Gary Linden,” the man replied.
“How did the formula affect the two of you?” Rafe asked.
“It hurt and it made me a little dizzy,” Jennifer said, and Linden nodded in agreement.
“What about you?” Rafe asked, speaking to Cagin.
“The same,” Cagin said, “but it didn't last long.”
“Can you still shift?” Rafe asked, looking at each shape-shifter in turn.
“I don't know,” Linden said, frowning. “I think I can.”
Jennifer nodded. “Me, too.”
“I know I can,” Cagin said. “I can feel it inside me.”
Rafe looked at me. “How did it affect you?”
“It burned like acid and left me feeling numb all over.”
Rafe gazed at the two men standing across the room. “How did the serum affect you?”
“It was like she said,” the taller of the two replied.
“Yeah,” the second one agreed. “And then, for a little while, I couldn't move.”
Rafe swore softly. “So, it works, at least in part. Most effective against Vampires, by the look of it.” He glanced at Susie, who seemed to be sleeping now. “We don't know for sure what its effect is on the Werewolves. Maybe it only kills the males, or maybe it only kills those who've been Weres for a long time,” he mused. “But that doesn't make sense. You'd think the oldest would be harder to destroy.”
He shook his head, then looked at the two human males. His eyes took on a faint red glow. “After you leave here, you will not remember this night, this place, these people, or anything that happened here.”
The two men nodded.
“Go home now,” Rafe said, “and forget everything you've seen and heard.”
Gina regarded Rafe curiously. “Why didn't it affect you?” she asked after the two men left the house.
Rafe shrugged. He stood unmoving for a moment, and then he moved closer to the two former Vampires, his gaze locking with first one and then the other. “You will not remember this night, this place, or anyone in this room, do you understand?”
Jimmy and the girl nodded.
“You will not remember that you were once Vampires. You will not remember whatever lives you may have taken, or feel any guilt. You will not remember this place or anything that happened after you were turned. Is that understood?”
Again, they nodded.
“Don't go home. You won't be safe there. Leave town now, tonight. Do you understand?”
They both nodded.
“Go now.”
Looking a little lost and confused, Jimmy took Gina by the hand and they left the house.
“What about us?” Jennifer asked. “Are you going to take our memories, as well?”
“No. But I wouldn't advise either of you to go home.” Rafe's gaze hardened. “Few people who know where I live survive to tell the tale. I hope you'll remember that.”
“Don't worry,” Jennifer said. “I'm getting out of Oak Hollow tonight.”
“I owe you my life,” Gary Linden said. “I won't betray you.”
Cagin waited until the two shape-shifters left the house, then looked up at Rafe. “What do we do now?”
“Destroy the serum we have,” Rafe said, “then get in touch with Mara. I've got the formula, but there may be other copies. I'll give mine to Mara when she returns. She can get in touch with Clive. Maybe they can come up with an antidote, just in case the hunters make another batch.”
Cagin stroked Susie's brow. “Can you do anything for her?”
Rafe shook his head. “I'm not a doctor.”
“She's dying,” Cagin said quietly.
“No!” I looked at Rafe. “Please, don't let her die.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Cagin stroked her hair. “Make her a Vampire.”
Rafe stared at Cagin as if he had asked him to turn a chunk of lead into gold.
“It's worth a try,” I said. At this point, making Susie a Vampire seemed better than the alternative. Vampire or not, Susie had three children who needed her.
“It could kill her,” Rafe said flatly. “I could kill her. I've never brought anyone across.”
“You can't hurt her,” Cagin said. “She's already dying.”
Rafe shook his head. “She's barely accepted being a Werewolf. What makes you think she'd want to be a Vampire instead?”
“I want her to live!” Cagin said, a low growl in his voice. “Dammit, just do it! What have we got to lose?”
Rafe looked at me. “I haven't fed.”
I knew what he was saying. He was hurting from the effects of the holy water and the silver manacles, but, more than that, he needed to be in control so that he didn't savage Susie, so that he didn't take her past the point where she would be able to recover. The small amount of blood he had taken from me hadn't been enough to restore his strength or satisfy his hunger.
