“No, really,” Hunter said wryly, “help yourself.”
Riker tossed back the contents of one of the glasses and poured another. “Thanks.”
Hunter ambled over and snagged the second glass off the desk. He had a hunch he’d need it. “So what’s the trouble?” He swirled the liquor, letting the heady fumes scour away the lingering softer scent of the females. “Tell me you caught the human.”
“Of course I did.” Riker shoved his hand through his hair. “I also ran into a ShadowSpawn scout party. They have Lucy.”
An instant, hot rage sizzled through Hunter’s veins.
Lucy might have the body of a teen and enough years on her to be an adult ten times over, but she had the wits and innocence of a child. He squeezed the glass so hard a crack popped under his palm. If anyone touched a hair on her head, Hunter would skin the bastard alive and leave the body to the scavengers.
“And?” he ground out.
“And they won’t give her back until their midwife is returned.”
“Son of a . . . fuck.” Hunter hurled his glass at the wall, shattering it into a million pieces that clink ed on the floor as they fell. He gave himself to the count of three to calm down and stop wasting energy on impotent fury. He was a leader, and whether he liked it or not, he had to act like one. “Did the human give you any problems?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle, and I got some interesting intel from her. New vampire weapon made of boric acid. Turns out that if we breathe it, we melt from the inside and explode.”
Hunter stared. “Seriously?”
“No,” Riker said with a shrug. “But it feels like it.
It kills, and trust me, it’s some nasty shit.”
Just when Hunter thought humans couldn’t sink any lower. He really needed to stop underestimating their knack for cruelty. “I’ll call the senior warriors together. You can go over everything at the meeting.
Where’s the human right now?”
“I left her in the lab with Grant. She’s got a doctorate in vampire physiology. Figured Grant might want to pick her brains.”
“When he’s done, I want her,” Hunter said, and he didn’t like the way Riker stiffened. “Don’t get attached, Rike. When we’ve gotten what we want from her, you need to get rid of her.”
“kill her, you mean.”
“We’re not in the habit of letting humans live.
She’s seen too much. You know that.” He didn’t give the other male a chance to either argue or agree. “I changed my mind about waiting until Grant’s done.
Take ten to clean up, and then let’s go see your little vampire expert.”
---------------------------
“Did you know that the black walnut tree is the only plant that cannibalizes other plants?”
Nicole blinked at the vampire standing across the lab counter from her. “Um . . . no.”
“That’s because it’s not true.” The salt-and-pepper— haired male Riker had introduced as Grant lowered his head and peered through a microscope lens at a clear drop of liquid. “They can kill many species of plants within up to eighty feet, but they don’t cannibalize.”
She rubbed her arms and wondered where the thermostat was. The surprisingly sophisticated lab was freezing. “Then why did you say it?”
“Say what?”
“About the walnut tree.”
Grant looked up, confusion flashing in his pewter eyes. “I didn’t talk about a walnut tree.”
How did this guy run a lab? Riker had warned her, but ugh. “So Riker said you were a microbiologist before you were turned.”
“Yes.” He moved over to a hematology analyzer and checked the readout. How did vampires get equipment like that, anyway? He even wore a white lab coat, although the professional appearance was ruined by a crimson tank top that clung to every honed muscle and butt-defining orange and black Oregon State University sweats. In college, he must have been the poster boy for sexy geeks. “And it was a black walnut tree.”
He might be handsome as hell, but he wasn’t the easiest guy to talk to. “Where did you work?”
“At Daedalus. Their Albuquerque facility.”
She drew a sharp breath. Was he aware that Daedalus was her company? “That’s the main blood-packaging plant.” The general consensus within Daedalus was that only the weirdos and people the company wanted out of the way worked at the facility. Nicknamed “Dracula
Diner,” the plant was where blood, drained from the corpses of deceased humans, was sent to be processed and bottled as vampire food.
By law, all humans in the United States must donate their blood after death. Organ donation was still a matter of choice. Nicole had always thought it was strange that humans were required to feed vampires but not to save the lives of fellow humans.