“It does not,” Ethan said, “but I still have no idea what it means.”
“Research means new findings,” Luc said. “So, maybe it’s not about access or facilities. Maybe it’s about the blood itself. New things it can do? New technologies?”
“New means to our destruction?” Ethan suggested. “He invented a gun that shoots aspen—the ultimate weapon against vampires. The perfect way to best them. Figuring out a way to manipulate blood—to use it against us—would be well within his wheelhouse.”
Jonah appeared in the doorway, face wan, his magic chaotic. Ethan and Luc, still debating McKetrick’s murderous intent, were oblivious to the shock in his expression.
Slowly, Jonah walked to the table, but he didn’t sit down.
“Are you all right?” I whispered.
Luc and Ethan, finally realizing something was amiss, looked up at him.
“Jonah?” Ethan said.
“I need to go—to see Brooklyn.”
“Did something happen to her?” I asked.
“They can’t figure out how to make her better,” Jonah said, complete befuddlement in his voice. “I think I should go see her.”
Ethan and I exchanged a glance, and he was out of his seat within a second. “We’ll go with you.”
“With me?”
“She’s not sick,” Ethan said. “This isn’t a random illness. She could be the key. And that means she’s ours to protect.”
They looked at each other for a moment, something passing between them. Some unspoken exchange that had everything and nothing to do with me, and everything and nothing to do with Brooklyn.
After a moment, Jonah nodded. “Let’s go,” he said.
Chapter Nineteen
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE VAMPIRE IN THE NIGHTTIME
We drove together in Jonah’s car. I rode shotgun, and Ethan took the backseat. There was nothing symbolic in the seating choices, but it still felt weird to be in a vehicle with Ethan in the backseat.
This time, the hospital was on the north side of town. It was new and shiny, with a two-story lobby and a sculpture of colored glass that hung down from the ceiling like a frozen waterfall. As hospitals went, it was lovely, but it was my second time in a hospital in two days, and I was nearing my saturation point.
Brooklyn’s room was on the third floor. Jonah paused at the threshold, taking a breath and steeling himself to walk inside. He finally walked in, and I followed, Ethan behind us.
The room was as nice as the lobby had been—a private suite with a sitting area and a bank of flower vases along the windowsill. A silver get-well balloon rotated in the draft in front of the window.
Brooklyn lay on the bed, undisturbed by the wires or tubes that I’d assumed—dreaded—would have invaded her frail body. She looked just as pale and thin as she had before; a blue sheet covered her body, but it couldn’t hide the outline of her skeletal form.
“She’s stable.”
We all turned, finding Dr. Gianakous in the doorway behind us. He walked inside and grabbed a chart that hung at the end of Brooklyn’s bed.
The Grey House doctor, I silently told Ethan. He nodded slightly to acknowledge me.
“That’s an improvement, right?” Jonah asked.
“In a sense, yes,” Gianakous said. “She hasn’t worsened, which is great. But she’s a vampire. She should be healing, at least theoretically. If this was a wound, or even one of the few illnesses to which we’re susceptible, she would be. But that’s not what this is.”
“Do you know what it is?” Ethan asked.
“Mr. Sullivan,” the doctor said with surprise, apparently just realizing a Master vampire had joined the conversation.
Ethan nodded regally.
“Unfortunately, we don’t.” Gianakous walked to Brooklyn’s bed and checked the readings on a monitor beside her. “We tried to provide her with blood, but she wouldn’t accept it.”
“She wouldn’t accept it?” Jonah asked. “What do you mean?”
“She had no interest in drinking.” He pulled a small printout from the monitor and put it in the chart, then flipped it closed. He looked up at us again, concern in his expression. “And we have no idea why.”
“Do you have a theory?” Ethan asked.
Dr. Gianakous crossed his arms. “We’ve ruled out anything bacterial, common parasites. There are no drugs in her system. No toxins. Could be a virus, but it certainly doesn’t match any we’ve seen before.”
“What about a weapon?” I asked.
His brows lifted. “What kind of weapon?”
“I don’t know. Something created specifically to kill vampires. Something involving biochemistry. Something that could be injected.”