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I would have been struck by panic if I didn’t know for certain that it stood no chance against her—she was much faster, much stronger, much more explosive.
As I watched them pounce and wrestle and tear into each other, I felt my brow furrow. The leopard should not be able to move at such a speed. It was slower than Maya, yes. But it was also far too swift for an animal. Surely it shouldn’t be that strong either. And wait, how had I not noticed the red glint to its irises until right then?
Was this another shapeshifting vampire? It had to be. Nothing else made sense. And yet, I knew of no other vamps at The Hollow who possessed Maya’s ability.
No doubt drawn by the roars and hisses, Paige and Stuart came skidding into view.
Paige gaped. “Mother of all that’s holy, what in the hell?”
Maya managed to pin the leopard to the ground. In a blur of movement, she’d ripped out its throat. Relief made a breath stutter out of me.
I frowned when the cat didn’t turn to ashes. All my kind did so upon their death. Which meant this couldn’t be a shapeshifting vampire after all. But it definitely was not an average animal. So what the fuck was it?
Alora blinked. “It’s not only me who’s thinking that that leopard seemed kind of vampiric, is it?”
“It’s not only you,” I said.
She nodded. “Good. I just needed to hear that.”
Back at The Hollow, I dumped the dead cat on the floor of Sam and Jared’s office. The Grand High Pair squatted on either side of the body while myself and the rest of the search party waited for them to examine it.
Jared got a good look at the red irises. “Baby, check these out.”
Sam did so and cursed. She briefly looked up at Alora. “You’re right, it does seem to be part-vampire. I can’t see how that would be possible, though. Vampirism doesn’t attach to the cells of animals, it doesn’t alter them.”
“It’s more like the animal has vampiric physical qualities as opposed to being a vampire,” said Jared. “But I can’t see how that would be possible either.”
“I tried communicating with it, but I couldn’t,” said Alora. “It was like a red haze covered its mind. The kind that comes with bloodlust. It was totally feral. Wanted blood.”
Sam pushed to her feet. “Who would attempt to Turn an animal when it’s believed to be impossible? The vampire in question wouldn’t have done it for shits and giggles. They had to have known it would sort of work.”
“Maybe they didn’t try Turning it in a conventional way,” suggested Maya, now back in her normal form and fully dressed. “Maybe someone on the island has the ability to somehow partially convert animals with a touch or something. To sort of trap them in a state of bloodlust that’s like a vampiric form of rabies. Infected animals like that would make good … soldiers, for lack of a better word. So this would be a seriously offensive gift.”
Rising, Jared pursed his lips. “I’ve never heard of a vampire having that ability.”
“You never heard of a vampire having mine,” Paige pointed out.
Jared inclined his head, allowing that. “No one here has reported that they possess such a gift. And if they’d lied—and I can’t see why they would—it would have shown when the researchers did their background checks.”
“Only if the culprit’s Maker is aware of the gift,” said Stuart. “I know of vampires who’ve lied about their abilities to protect themselves. Some Makers don’t want anyone in their nest to have a stronger or more unique ability than they do—it makes them feel threatened—so they banish or kill those that do. There are also plenty of Makers who use those with such power for their own gain.”
Sam twisted her mouth. “If I could have hidden what I could do from my old Sire, I would have.”
“Some vampires falsely claim that their gift is very weak and purposely don’t demonstrate its full potential,” Stuart went on. “For example, I knew someone who had visions of the future. They hated their Sire and didn’t care to advise him, so they lied that they only saw brief ‘flashes’ of the future, and they never reported anything useful. They were therefore dismissed as useless.”
Alora bit her lip. “Is there someone on the island who can, I don’t know, alter DNA or speed up vampiric conversions or something? They could be playing down what they can do.”
“I can’t think of anyone off-hand,” said Jared. “I’ll have the researchers look into it.” He looked at me. “If they don’t uncover anything, I may have to ask you to start scanning people’s minds.”
Yeah, I’d figured that was coming.
“Do you think there could be more animals out there who were infected like this, if that’s even the right word?” asked Maya.
