Page 16 of Nightfall


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“What ended that partnership, if I may ask?”

He pursed his lips for a moment, his gaze growing far away. “A difference of opinions. A contrast in personal morals. Let’s just say that I wasn’t terribly surprised to learn about the events surrounding his death.” He glanced at Declan. “And it was at your hand, I believe.”

“My gun, actually,” Declan agreed. “Which, to be fair, was attached to my hand at the time.”

If that was supposed to be a joke, it definitely didn’t land with this particular audience. Dr. Reynolds turned his scowl to me before his expression evened out again.

“I tried to keep myself apprised of Carl’s projects as much as I could, despite his secretive nature,” he said. “From what little I gathered about the Nightshade formula, I knew that it could be an invaluable weapon with more testing, more research. And it still could be. Even though you’ll no longer be a part of it, Jill, I see no reason why the Nightshade program needs to be discarded completely.”

Yes, of course, that made sense. If I had died with the only sample in existence inside me, all that research would have died with me.

But I was still alive. And still fighting to stay that way.

Rogue vampires were out there, and they were a threat to any tasty human who mistakenly crossed their path. Any weapon that could be created to combat that threat sounded like an incredibly worthy goal to me that went far beyond my utterly self-involved drive to save my own life.

“I totally agree,” I said with a firm shake of my head, and a glowing sense of relief filling my chest. “All right, so when do we get started on this?”

“It could be as early as tomorrow,” Dr. Reynolds replied. “Once I gather the information I need from your blood samples, I promise that I’ll be in touch.”

Tomorrow? I couldn’t believe my ears.

The doctor handed me a tissue.

I looked at it with confusion for a moment before I realized a tear had slipped down my cheek. I touched it with the tip of my finger and looked at the shimmery tear of gratitude.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the tissue from him. “Thank you so much.”

Dr. Reynolds smiled gently. “Don’t thank me yet. But hopefully, you’ll be able to do just that in a few short days.”

I left the examining room with Declan and found Jackson still waiting in the hallway, studying the screen of his phone. He looked up at us, his expression tense.

“Are you done already?” he asked.

“For now,” Declan replied, then frowned. “Everything okay, Jackson?”

“Yeah, sure. Never better. Life is good. How did it go with Dr. Reynolds in there?”

“He hates dhampyrs because one killed his vampire wife,” I said. “Did you know that?”

He didn’t look surprised by that in the slightest. “Yeah, I knew. Why? What happened?”

“Let’s just say, we didn’t leave as good friends,” Declan said. “It doesn’t matter. He might be able to help Jill and that’s all that I really care about.”

“Fair enough,” Jackson replied with a nod. “Then let’s get the hell out of here for now.”

I understood why Dr. Reynolds didn’t like Declan, even if it wasn’t Declan’s fault, but I really would have liked a heads up on his dhampyr issues from the other hunter.

But Declan had seemingly already let it go. And currently, I was feeling a little woozy from all the blood samples the doctor had taken from me to continue this conversation. I stayed silent as Jackson led us back to the elevator and we took it up to the warehouse level.

We got off the elevator and walked through the empty warehouse until we emerged into the sunlight again.

“One complaint,” I said shakily. “No orange juice. I would have liked a little something nutritious after donating half of my blood to the cause.”

“Are you feeling all right?” Declan asked.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Or, I’m sure that I will be soon enough.”

“I’ll go get the car,” he said, then turned to Jackson. “Wait here with Jill for a minute.”

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