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His actions flew in the face of his notions of himself. He'd always been a gentleman, a scholar, a healer. A male not subject to the base desires of his race.
But then, he'd always been well fed.
And the terrible truth was, he'd relished the taste of that blood. The smooth, warm flow down his throat, the roaring strength that came afterward.
He'd felt pleasure. And he'd only wanted more.
The shame had made him retch. And he'd vowed never to drink of another's vein again.
It was a promise he'd kept, though as a result he'd grown weak, so weak that focusing his mind was like herding a fog bank. His starvation was a constant ache in his belly. And his body, craving sustenance that food couldn't give it, had cannibalized itself to keep him alive. He'd lost so much weight his clothes hung off of him like bags, his face turning haggard and gray.
But the state he was in had shown him the way.
The solution was obvious.
You had to feed that which was hungry.
An airtight process coupled with a sufficient quantity of human blood and he had his living cells.
Under the microscope, he watched as the vampire cells, larger and more irregularly shaped compared to the human ones, slowly consumed what he had given them. The human count was decreasing in the sample, and when it was extinguished he was willing to bet the viability of the vampire component would dwindle down to nothing.
All he had to do was conduct a clinical trial. He would extract a pint from a female, mix with it an appropriate proportion of human blood, and then transfuse himself.
If everything went well, he would set up a donor and storage program. Patients would be saved. And those who chose to forgo the intimacy of drinking could live their lives in peace.
Havers looked up from the microscope, suddenly aware that he'd been staring at the cells for twenty minutes. The salad course for luncheon would be waiting on the table upstairs for him.
He removed his white coat and walked through the clinic, pausing to talk to some of his nursing staff and a couple of patients. The facility took up about six thousand square feet and was hidden deep in the earth beneath his mansion. There were three ORs, a fleet of recovery and examination rooms, the lab, his office, and a waiting area with a separate access to the street. He saw about a thousand patients a year, and made house calls for birthing and other emergencies as needed.
Although as the population had dwindled, so had his practice.
Compared to humans, vampires had tremendous advantages when it came to health. Their bodies healed fast. They were not subject to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, or HIV. But lord help you if you had an accident at high noon. No one could get to you. Vampires also died during their transitions or right afterward. And fertility was another tremendous problem. Even if conception was successful, females frequently did not survive childbirth, either from blood loss or soaring preeclampsia. Stillborns were common, and infant mortality was through the roof.
For the sick, injured, or dying, human doctors were not a good option, even though the two species shared much of the same anatomy. If a human physician ordered a CBC on some blood from a vampire, they would find all sorts of anomalies and imagine they had something worthy of the New England Journal of Medicine. It was best to avoid that kind of attention.
On occasion, however, a patient would end up at a human hospital, a problem that was on the rise since the advent of 911 and fast-response ambulances. If a vampire was hurt badly enough to lose consciousness away from home, he was in danger of being picked up and taken in to a human ER. Getting him out of a facility against medical advice was always a struggle.
Havers wasn't arrogant, but he knew he was the best doctor his species had. He'd gone through Harvard Medical School twice, once in the late 1800s and then again in the 1980s. He'd stated on his application in both instances that he was disabled, and HMS had permitted him special allowances. He hadn't been able to attend the lectures because they'd taken place during the day, but his doggen had been allowed to take notes and hand in his examinations. Havers had read all the texts, corresponded with the professors, and even attended seminars and talks that were scheduled at night.
He'd always loved school.
When he got upstairs, he wasn't surprised to see that Marissa had not come down to the dining room. Even though luncheon was served at one A.M. every night.
He went to her rooms.
"Marissa?" he said at the door. He knocked once. "Marissa, it's time to eat."
Havers stuck his head inside. Light from the chandelier in the hall drifted in, cutting a golden slice through the blackness. The draperies were still down across the windows, and she hadn't turned any of the lamps on.
"Marissa, darling?"
"I'm not hungry."
Havers stepped through the door. He could make out her canopy bed and the small swell of her body under the covers.
"But you missed luncheon last night. As well as dinner."
"I'll come down later."
He shut his eyes, concluding that she'd been to feed the night before. Every time she saw Wrath, she would retreat into herself for days afterward.
He thought of the living cells down in his lab.
Wrath might be their race's king by birth, and he might have the purest blood of them all, but the warrior was a bastard. He seemed totally unconcerned with what he was doing to Marissa. Or perhaps he didn't even know how much his cruelty affected her.
It was hard to decide which was the worse crime.
"I've made some important progress," Havers said, going over to the bed and sitting down. "I'm going to set you free."
"From what?"
"That... assassin."
"Don't talk about him like that."
He gritted his teeth. "Marissa - "
"I don't want to be free of him."
"How can you say that? He treats you with no respect. I hate the idea of that brute feeding off you in some back alley - "
"We go to Darius's. He has a room there."
The idea that she was being exposed to another of those warriors didn't make him any happier. They were all frightening, and a few were downright horrific.
He knew the Black Dagger Brotherhood was a necessary evil to defend the race, and he knew he should be grateful for their protection. Except he couldn't feel anything save dread at their existence. The fact that the world was dangerous enough, the race's enemies powerful enough, so as to mandate the likes of those warriors was tragic.
"You don't have to do this to yourself."
Marissa rolled over, turning her back to him. "Leave me."
Havers planted his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet. His memories of Marissa before she'd begun to service their dreadful king were so very dim. He could recall only bits and pieces of the way she'd been, and he feared the joyous, smiling young female was forever lost now.
And what was in her place? A somber, subdued shadow who floated around his house, pining for a male who treated her with no regard whatsoever.
"I hope you will reconsider luncheon," Havers said softly. "I would love to have your company."
He shut the door quietly and went down the ornate, curving staircase. The dining room table was set as he liked it, with a full complement of china, glassware, and silver. He sat down at the head of the glossy table, and one of his doggen came in to serve him some wine.
Looking down at the plate of Bibb lettuce before him, he forced a smile. "Karolyn, this salad is lovely."
Karolyn bowed her head, eyes glowing from his praise. "I went to a farm stand today just to find the right leaves for you."
"Well, I most certainly appreciate the effort." Havers cut into the delicate greens as she left him alone in the beautiful room.
He thought of his sister, curled up in her bed.
Havers was a healer by nature and profession, a male who had marked his entire life in service to others. But if Wrath were ever injured enough to come and see him, Havers would be tempted to let that monster bleed out.
Or kill him on the OR table with a slip of the scalpel.
Chapter Ten
Beth eased into consciousness slowly. It was like surfacing from a perfectly performed swan dive. There was a glow in her body, a satisfaction as she emerged from the buffered world of sleep.
Something was on her forehead.
Her eyelids flipped open. Long male fingers were moving down the bridge of her nose. They drifted across her cheek and then over to her jaw.
There was enough ambient light coming from the kitchen that she could dimly make out the man lying with her.
