Page 54 of 'Til All the Seas Run Dry

Callum’s face pinched in confusion. “When have ye had time to do anything else?”

Robbie smiled. “Let’s just say that I have a side hustle that’s lucrative without taking up a lot of my time.”

“Illegal, I suppose?”

Robbie snorted. “Not that you’re one to talk, but no. It’s legally lucrative. Now, go on and git. Those squirrels aren’t going to hunt themselves, and if I’m not going to be dinner, I’ve got other things I can be doing.”

18

Two hours later, Callum found himself laying on a huge, flat rock under a tree next to Nat. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so full. And while the animal blood felt different in his body, it didn’t feel bad. It was fueling him just the same. More, perhaps, because he’d been able to eat his fill.

And without any death. He’d been able to eat his fill without killing anything.

Nat told him in very scientific terms that the average adult human man had one and a half gallons of blood circulating at any given time, whereas the average bull elk had six gallons. Callum guessed that he’d drunk three pints just now, which hadn’t been a remotely noticeable loss for the elk. The biometric sensors at his clubs stopped a vampire from consuming more than one and a half pints at a time—more than enough to sustain a vampire for two to three days even if the vampire probably wouldn’t feel completely sated. But he didn’t care about satiety. He cared about survival. Survival of his patrons. Survival of innocent humans. Survival of so much.

His mind was spinning. Why hadn’t he ever thought to feed this way? Or tried? Because he hadn’t been around large game in a long time? Or maybe because feeding from humans was how it had always been done and he’d never questioned it?

That wasn’t expressly true though, was it? He’d made his entire living making feedings safer for human blood donors. So hehadquestioned it. But while he’d sought to make the practice safer, he’d never sought an alternative altogether.

“Do you think it’s a business?” Nat asked, bringing Callum back to the present.

The air was cold and clean-smelling, and the waxing moon was high overhead. Night forest sounds, so different from the forest sounds in Georgia or Scotland and yet so very similar, filled his ears as he thought about Nat’s question.

“Nay,” Callum said.

“Why not?”

Callum laced his fingers behind his head, supporting it as he lay on the rock. “I dinnae think it’s scalable. To support bottling and manufacturing on any scale to make money, you would need a massive herd. And you wouldnae want to sacrifice quality so you would want them to range free, which means a vast piece of land. Then you’d need to hire people who could be discreet to manage the herds and the bottling, which would require every level of NDA possible. And if you managed all of that, plus bottling and distribution and inventory and lab safety testing, you would still have the public relations nightmare.”

Nat sighed. “That’s a damn shame. I thought I was onto something.”

They were silent for a while. Callum’s wheels were turning, though. Because the truth was, Natwasonto something.

“I dinnae think we can scale the elk operation. But what do you think about synthetics?”

“You mean blood made in a lab?”

“Aye.”

“Don’t you think that somebody would have done it by now if that was possible? I’m sure the humans have been trying to crack that one.”

“Aye, no doubt they have. But research needs money. Perhaps synthetic blood isnae sexy enough to get the big donor money that erectile dysfunction medications have.”

“And you have the money?”

“Nat, I have more money than I could spend in ten lifetimes.”

“Must be nice.”

“I willnae say that it isnaenice. But there comes a point when you have too much and you want to do something good with it.Iwant to do something good with it.”

“So, what, you would fund the research? You would own the company? You’d get richer?” Nat sounded testy. Callum wasn’t surprised. Nat worked as a park ranger, which paid well enough, but not enough that Nat didn’t have to worry about economy.

“That isnae at all what I was imagining, actually.”

Nat sat up. His eyes were bright in the moonlight.

“I would like to have you as a partner. Fifty-fifty split. I would provide the capital, but the idea was all yours.”