I hesitate.
The general glances around the lab and then back at me.
“Does she speak?” he asks Gage curtly.
“She does,” I say.
“Good.” He snaps his head back to me. “Now, can you make the poison or not?”
“I can.”
“All right, then I expect?—”
“But I’ll need some assurances.” I stand and face him. I knew this moment would come, the decision I’ve been wrestling with ever since I regained my memories.
The general’s eyes narrow. “What was that?”
“I said I’ll need some assurances before I do anything.”
“Georgia, General Lopez doesn?—”
The general holds up a hand, silencing Gage. His features are placid, stoic. Classic military, just like the people who were in Gregor’s cell with me. The ones who died. “Go on, Dr. Clark.”
“I can create the poison, and I can guarantee its efficacy, but what I cannot do is simply hand it over and allow you or anyone else to wield it as a weapon of genocide against all vampires.”
The general stares at me. Several beats pass. “Genocide?” he says, his expression a mix of incredulous and offended. “You mean what they’ve done tous? Hunted and killed and bombedhumanity into oblivion, and you’re here speaking to me about vampire genocide?” His voice rises to a shout. “What the fuck is this, Colonel Howard? A joke?”
“It’s not a joke.” I stand firm. “I won’t allow my work to be used to commit atrocities. I’m a healer, not a killer.”
“You work for the United States government. Forme. You’re what I say you are.” General Lopez glares at me, menace in his eyes. “And your work is for what I say it is. If you have any more bleeding heart bullshit ideas about the vampires, you can keep them to yourself. I expect a sample of this poison in my hands as soon as possible. Am I understood?”
“I don’t work for anyone.” I glance around. “There is no more government, no more country. We were barely holding togetherbeforethe vampires came. I’m a civilian, nothing more.”
“I think you’ll find that under martial law, you will do as you’re told or you’ll face severe consequences. I’m in command of this base and this country. I’m in command ofyou.” For a moment he reminds me of Vince, but without the good heart underneath the gruffness.
“Aren’t you going to ask about a vaccine?” I step toward him, hands on my hips, my ire rising like a flood. “Do you even care about that anymore? What aboutsavinglives?”
“How dare you?” he bellows. “After everything we’ve lost, after everything the vampires have taken, all the things your bitch of a sister gave them that they used against us?—”
“Whoa, whoa now.” Wyatt stands at my shoulder, Evie behind me. “Those are fighting words. We’re not about that life in here. This is a peaceful lab.”
General Lopez ignores him. “It’s kill or be killed, Dr. Clark. We will eradicate the threat by any means I deem necessary.”
“This doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If we can eliminate Gregor, we can bring their entire hierarchy down. Then?—”
“You think we haven’t tried that?” General Lopez snaps. “Gregor hides away in an impenetrable?—”
“The Black Cavern. I know. I’ve been there. I saw plenty of tough-as-nails military men just like you die there.” I hold his gaze. “I’m well awareyoudon’t have a chance of getting to him, but Valen can.”
He barks a short, cruel laugh. “The Specter, is that where you’re pinning your hopes? On the vampire who’s razed city after city, murdering countless people at the behest of his master? He’s a turncoat, giving us information on troop movements. A traitor to his own people. Colonel Howard believes he’s brought that creature to heel, but I beg to differ.” He scoffs. “If you put your faith in a vampire, you’re even more foolish than I thought.”
“And you’re out of your depth, General. You’re so badly adrift that you think annihilation is the only answer. It’s not. It never has been.”
He steps back, his demeanor fading into stoic control. “Colonel Howard?”
“Yes, sir?”
“See to it that Dr. Clark does her job. If she refuses, take her down to the holding cells for interrogation. It seems her time with the vampires has likely compromised her. Your reports of her being Valen Dragonis’s human whore were sadly accurate—” Wyatt lets out a “hey, now!” but the General barrels on, “If we discover she’s working for them, we will use any means necessary to make her talk then have her summarily executed as a traitor and an enemy of the state.”
