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The doctor grasped the vampire’s chin and squeezed. “Last week this soulless creature killed a family whose car had broken down at the side of the road. Three children and two adults died to feed his hunger.”
“I was so hungry.” The vampire’s voice was weak and reedy. “I couldn’t stop myself.”
“You’re a murderer who took five innocent human lives. You’ll receive no sympathy from me.” Dr. Reynolds let him go, and the vampire’s chin dropped to his chest. The doctor wiped his hand on the front of his lab coat with disgust.
My stomach churned at the thought of it. At the moment he didn’t look that dangerous. “Is it safe to have him in here with us?”
“For now. Even the most powerful tranquilizer won’t last long when it comes to monsters like this. But don’t worry, Jill. This won’t take very long at all.”
I’d have to take his word for that.
I eyed Lawrence, the helpful research assistant with the missing wife. If he didn’t show his fangs, I’d have guessed he was as human as anyone else, apart from his gray eyes and pale skin. He stayed on the other side of the room, a good twelve feet away from me. Most vampires only had a problem with the scent of the Nightshade if they didn’t keep their distance. I’d really rather not have any more problems today if I could help it.
“If you’re meaning to have this vampire bite Jill,” Declan’s voice was no more than a warning growl, “then you’d better think again.”
I shuddered at the suggestion of it. “Oh, hell no. That’s not going to happen.”
“No, that’s not what this is,” Dr. Reynolds replied.
“Then what sort of experiment is this?” I asked.
“It’s an experiment to show you how your blood reacts when it’s outside of your body.”
I shook my head. “I suggested that to someone else, but if it hits oxygen, it’s supposedly useless as a weapon. Something about the air keeps it from working properly.”
“That’s true.” Dr. Reynolds opened a case on the table to our left and removed what looked like a gun. It was small and silver, with a short, thick needle protruding from the end of it. “Inside this is a small sample of your blood, protected from contact with oxygen. Now, allow me to demonstrate.”
He held the device in his right hand and approached the vampire.
I tensed. “What are you going to—?”
I didn’t have the chance to finish my sentence before Dr. Reynolds raised the device to the vampire’s throat, jabbed the needle into his flesh, and squeezed the trigger.
CHAPTERNINE
The vampire gaspedas he was injected with the sample of my blood—a near mirror image of what had happened to me. He looked around as if seeing us for the first time.
“What did you...?” He drew in a shaky breath, and his face began to show distress. “Please, no...I need to—”
His words broke off, followed by a chilling moment of silence. Then he screamed, rising up off the chair. Before he could get fully to his feet, fire poured out of his mouth and quickly consumed his entire body.
A moment later, just after the stench of burnt flesh filled my nostrils, he exploded in a scattering of fiery ash. It was the usual death of a vampire—one I’d seen several times before this. Quick. Efficient. Scary as hell.
I stood frozen in place, my hand against my mouth, my eyes wide with shock. I’d known what was coming, but that hadn’t made it any easier to witness. It was exactly the same as what happened when a vampire bit me. It was my poisonous blood—but the fast food take-out version.
“Holy shit,” I managed to say.
Dr. Reynolds regarded us with a wide and victorious smile. “It’s amazing. This is the third vampire we’ve tried this dose on. And the same result every single time.”
Lawrence nodded. Considering he, too, was a vampire, I was surprised he didn’t look more disturbed by what had just happened. “Nightshade is a perfect weapon,” he said.
Declan stood stoically beside me as he watched the proceedings. “The Nightshade formula alone is useless, I’ve been told. It has to be bonded to a human’s blood to work properly like this.”
Dr. Reynolds’s smile faded as if he’d forgotten for a moment that the dhampyr was still in the room with us. “From what I know about the original project, I have to agree with those findings.”
He nodded. “Carson told me that Nightshade was originally tested on several vampire subjects. It weakened them but didn’t kill them. The bond to a human’s blood was allegedly what would make it impossible to resist as well as lethal.”
“Moth to a flame,” Lawrence supplied.
