Swiftly, he pricked his finger so a small drop of blood appeared. He guided it to her mouth. With his mind he sent his thoughts into her.

Open your mouth and take the medicine.

In her sleep her lips parted, and he let several drops of blood drip into her mouth.

Swallow.

A few drops would be enough to help her heal faster. By tomorrow, the black and blue bruises would be gone, and her aching bones and muscles would feel less sore. There would be no adverse effects. Vampire blood was a cure for many human ailments, and if scientists only knew, they would be hunting him and his brethren. Luckily, they didn’t even know vampires existed.

Sleep now.

Amaury kissed her forehead. With a last look at her face which already took on a more natural color than before, he left her room. His step was lighter than when he’d first entered the hospital.

Twenty-six

Gabriel rushed through the entrance door Carl had opened for him.

“He’s in his office.”

He didn’t even break his stride as he headed for Samson’s office in the back of the house.

Samson looked up from his desk and motioned him to come in as he finished a call.

“Thanks, Thomas, and when you’re done with it, we’re meeting here at—” he looked at his watch, “—eleven o’clock. Call Ricky and Amaury for me, will you? Gabriel just got here.”

He disconnected the call and stood up.

Gabriel hadn’t taken a seat yet. He preferred standing.

“Give me the lowdown.”

Samson always came right to the point. Gabriel appreciated that in his boss. No beating about the bush, no politics.

“We’re sure it’s Luther. Paul Holland confessed after a little persuasion by Zane.”

Samson raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“After he broke, I was able to get through to him. Luther wants revenge, that’s pretty clear, and not at all surprising, given what happened.”

Samson nodded. “Understandable. After he lost Vivian and his unborn child, he nearly went crazy. There wasn’t anything we could do to help him. He needed to blame somebody.”

“Don’t you think it would have been better if you had told him the truth?”

Samson shook his head. “Amaury and I decided it was better to keep the truth to ourselves. It would have killed him. When he disappeared, we first thought he’d followed her. But somehow I always knew he’d come back when he’d collected his strength. We knew we’d have to face him one day.”

“Now what?”

“We prepare as best we can. I don’t want him harmed, but we have to defend ourselves. Has Paul given you any indication as to what he’s planning?”

“I doubt he knows. I couldn’t find anything in his memories that would suggest he does, and Luther certainly is smart enough not to divulge too much information to his men. But you know him. He has a plan. He always did. We can be sure of that.”

“Then we’d better have a plan, too. Have you alerted your people to him?”

“Yes; they all know now who he is. Everybody is working on finding where he’s hiding out. We have a pretty good idea where he is. I found some hints to a warehouse in Paul’s memories. We’re confirming it right now.”

“Once my guys get here, we’ll mobilize our side. Who can we trust?”

Gabriel gave him a cautious look. “That’s just it, we can’t be sure.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s creating new vampires.”

He could see his boss’ jaw drop. “He what?”

Creating new vampires willy-nilly was a big no-no in their society. One didn’t just run around and turn people. It was irresponsible. “What’s gotten into him? It’s one thing to want to take his anger out on me and Amaury; it’s another altogether to go around creating vampires.”

“He’s using it to gain loyal supporters. If they prove themselves loyal to him, he turns them, as a reward so to speak. At the same time he makes sure he’s got some dirt on them, so they have no way of turning against him.”

Samson looked straight at him.

“What kind of dirt?”

“He has them commit a crime for him, makes sure everybody knows who the culprit is, then saves and turns them. And thus he’s created a loyal follower, somebody who owes him big. I think he’s collecting an army. And he’ll need it if he wants to destroy Scanguards.”

“Is that what Paul thinks?”

“Yes. It looks like he wants to take the company down to hurt you and Amaury.”