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I watched them warily. Declan stood like a statue beside me, his hands clasped behind his back like a soldier at ease.
“How were they different?” I asked.
Lawrence wrung his hands and looked at me. “My wife is human—a human married to a vampire. But Victor’s wife...she was a vampire.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
Reynolds put his glasses back on. His face was still, his emotions now under control He’d managed to put a lid on his grief for the time being. “Clara was already a vampire when I met her,” he admitted grimly. “It was difficult for her sometimes to control her hunger, but she maintained herself with class and dignity. Right up until she was murdered in cold blood.”
“Murdered by a dhampyr,” I said, my chest tight.
“Yes.” Dr. Reynolds’s expression had rapidly turned from raw emotion to absolute ice. “The very dhampyr who stands with us in this room.”
CHAPTERTEN
My gaze shot to Declan.He watched the doctor carefully, with no outward reaction showing at this accusation.
“You’re saying that I’m the one who killed your wife,” he said evenly.
“Yes.” The word was no more than a hiss.
I waited for Declan to deny it, to say it was impossible that he’d killed Dr. Reynolds’s wife.
But he didn’t.
Declan didn’t move from where he stood, his expression didn’t change, but his gaze grew more intense. Dr. Reynolds had gotten his full attention. “I only kill rogues. I don’t creep up behind every vampire and slit their throat. I face them head-on. They know who I am and why I’m there. That’s when they usually attack me and that’s when I usually fight back. It’s a fight that rarely lasts very long.”
The low-level hate I’d previously sensed from Dr. Reynolds now spilled over like a vat full of acid. I’d assumed he hated dhampyrs in general. I had no idea that his hate had been specifically focused on Declan.
“I’m sure she attacked you in self-defense,” he snarled. “Of course, she did. What other choice would you have given her?”
Declan regarded him patiently, but there was not an ounce of understanding in his gaze for Dr. Reynolds’ naked grief. “I would have given her a choice, like any target. To explain who she was. To deal with me on an intelligent level. If a vampire does that, I might give them the benefit of the doubt.”
His words surprised me. I believed that Declan hated all vampires equally, born from a hatred of his birth father, whom he’d been told had violently abused his mother, ultimately leading to her death.
It had been a lie originated by Dr. Gray herself.
I really didn’t miss that woman in the slightest. The world was better off without her.
Matthias had been a dangerous man, one with thirsts that went far beyond his need for blood. He was power-hungry, undoubtedly a narcissist, and every bit as deadly as the poison in my veins. But he was also someone whom I believed had a moral center and no true desire to destroy the world. Under his reign, his vampire subjects followed rules that kept humans safe. Without him...all bets were off.
He was my proof that vampires could be reasoned with. They could be more than mindless monsters who only wanted to kill.
That Declan believed there were vampires like this out there as well gave me some more of that shiny hope that the world was not only black and white, right or wrong, good or evil.
“Lies,” Dr. Reynolds said to Declan. “You’re nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer.”
Still, Declan didn’t flinch at the doctor’s accusations. “I’m sent out after rogue vampires who cause damage and death, not loving wives of scientists. If I slayed your wife, it means that she was too dangerous to live another day.”
“You can justify it any way you want to. It doesn’t change what happened last month.”
“A month ago,” Declan repeated. “Where was this?”
“San Jose,” the doctor bit out. “Clara had family there she was visiting.”
“We’re done here.” Declan hissed out a breath from between his clenched teeth. “This isn’t someone with any real plans to help you, Jill. Not today anyway. Let’s go.”
He was right. At the very least, Dr. Reynolds didn’t seem focused on the Nightshade anymore. While what he’d said was chilling and turned my stomach, I also believed Declan. If he’d killed Clara, he’d done so because she was a serious threat.
