Phantom Shadows

“They stand to lose as much as we do if Emrys gets his hands on them,” Bastien insisted.



“The vampire king didn’t think so,” David stated. “Emrys promised him an army if he would capture and hand over Ami. I’m sure there are many vampires out there who would leap at such an offer. And many others who might leap at less. Their mental instability does not leave them with the best judgment.”



“So we convince them the offer is bullshit,” Bastien persisted. “Tell them Emrys is the one who killed the vampire king. That we were only able to defeat the king’s army because Emrys got there before us and destroyed most of them. Make us seem like the lesser of two evils and make the point so clearly that even a complete psychopath can see it.”



Us? Melanie stared at him. That was a slip.



In the silence that followed, Tanner cleared his throat. “It worked before.”



Seth turned his attention on the blond. “Elaborate.”



“The vampires who served under Bastien feared him.”



That surprised Melanie. Not because she doubted Bastien was capable of inspiring fear. He had frightened her a bit the first time she had met him in person and had no trouble in the intimidation department. But Cliff and Joe spoke so highly of him. Vince had, too.



“Most of them did anyway,” Tanner qualified. “It was the only way Bastien could control those who were starting to lose it mentally. He had strict rules. And the vampires feared what he might do to them if they disobeyed those rules.” He held up a hand when Roland started to speak. “Yes, some of them broke the rules anyway, but a majority of them didn’t or else there would have been a hell of a lot more Missing Person reports.” He looked to Chris. “Am I right?”



Melanie wondered just how much it galled Chris to nod his agreement.



“My point is,” Tanner continued, “the vampires considered Bastien the lesser of two evils. They knew they had a greater chance of survival with him than if they were on their own. And they knew that defeating the immortals would increase their safety. If they think Emrys and his soldiers—or whoever the hell he commands—pose a greater threat to them than you do, they’ll get the word out to the other vamps and the more stable ones may work with you to defeat him and help keep the others out of his hands.”



Richart studied Tanner curiously. “How can you be certain the vampires will listen to us?”



“They’re vampires,” Tanner said. “You can’t be certain of anything with them. But, as you know, enough listened to Bastien that he was able to not only raise, but successfully maintain a vampire army for the first time in history. And word went global.”



“You must be a charismatic bastard,” Yuri droned, scrutinizing Bastien as though he were some peculiar new insect species.



“He is,” Melanie said. Honestly she didn’t know why that would surprise any of them. “Charismatic, that is.”



Richart turned narrowed eyes on Bastien. “I don’t see it.”



Melanie rolled her own. “Well, if any of you had bothered to visit the vampires living at the network, you would. Spend any time at all talking with them and you’ll see just how much they respect Bastien and how much they like him.”



“Dr. Lipton,” Bastien protested.



“What?” she said. “It’s true. Even Vince liked and respected you and Vince was already descending into madness when he surrendered.”



“You knew that?” Bastien asked.



“Not at first. But now that I know the more subtle signs . . . yes. I can see that the brain damage the virus causes was progressing more rapidly in him.” She looked around the table. “Even when they’re succumbing to madness, what the vampires experience during lucid moments can alter their behavior. I interacted with Vincent daily. Spoke with him. Made him feel less like a vampire or lab subject and more like an ordinary guy. He liked me. He trusted me. And when those swift psychotic breaks would come upon him with no warning, he didn’t hurt me. He never hurt me. Anyone else who happened to be in the room . . .” She shrugged. “But not me. Because he trusted me.”



Lisette pursed her lips. “I have noticed that the vampires who travel in groups no longer seem to prey upon each other as they have in previous centuries.”



“The vampire king did,” Ami corrected. “I saw him tear into his followers with a machete.”



Stanislov grimaced. “And Yuri, Bastien, and I all saw the mess he left behind.”



Sarah wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Yes, but the vampire king was crazy as a bedbug. He wasn’t descending into madness. He was already there. I seriously doubt he gave a rat’s ass about his followers. If he considered them expendable when he was lucid . . .”



Étienne shook his head. “Isn’t all of this moot? Even if we actually considered embarking upon this befriend the vampire plan, it would be impossible to implement. Vampires hate immortals. They would never listen to us if we attempted to converse with them and coax them into . . . I don’t know . . . joining forces with us. And, though they might have listened to Bastien the vampire leader, they certainly won’t listen to Bastien the Deceiver, as he is now known. They despise him as much as or more than they do us. Where does that leave us?”



“They don’t have to like you to listen to you,” Tanner insisted. “Most of the vampires in Bastien’s army hated my ass.”



“I find that hard to believe,” Lisette said with a glance at his ass and a flirtatious wink.



Melanie grinned when Tanner seemed to lose his train of thought for a moment while he stared at the lovely French immortal.



Étienne nudged him.



“What? Oh.” Tanner smiled. “Right. Anyway, ah, the vampires in Bastien’s army hated me, but none of them ever tried to hurt me.”



“They knew I would destroy them if they did,” Bastien said blandly.



“That’s part of it,” Tanner acknowledged. “But I think it was also because we were on the same side, working against common enemies.”



Melanie’s interest increased. This confirmed her own hypothesis about the vampires’ subconscious holding on to what they felt in lucid moments even when the madness directed their other actions.



Richart shook his head. “Even if we could sway some of the vampires to our side and get them to warn the other vamps to beware of Emrys and stay away from his men, such would require us to let the vampires live and continue to prey upon humans. I don’t think any of us here can in good conscience allow that.”



Melanie thought furiously. “You could continue to destroy those who have already succumbed to the insanity and only recruit the youngest vampires. Maybe offer them bagged blood so they wouldn’t feel the need to attack humans.”



“Such would put a strain on our resources,” Seth said.



True. The bagged blood that immortals utilized was donated by members of the network and their families. It was one of the reasons immortals were so strict about only eating organic foods. (The other reason, of course, being pure stubbornness. After eating nothing but organic foods for hundreds if not thousands of years, most simply refused to change their diets.) The virus repaired even the most minute damage done to the body, using blood to do so, and immortals wished to reduce their need as much as possible so they wouldn’t have to seek alternative sources.



“You could do what Bastien did,” Tanner suggested. “Assign them pedophiles to feed upon.”



Melanie had heard about that. Rather brilliant thinking, in her opinion. Bastien had lacked a steady supply of bagged blood, so he had enlisted Tanner’s aid to track down pedophiles through a little cyber sleuthing and ordered his vampire followers to feed upon them.



“We lack the resources necessary to ensure they don’t stray from their diet,” Seth responded.



David nodded. “Though his army feared and respected him, Bastien was still unable to keep some of his followers from killing the pedophiles’ families.”



“Drug them,” Melanie blurted.



All heads turned her way.



“What?” Bastien asked.



“Drug them,” she repeated. “I’ve been experimenting with Cliff and Joe—” She broke off, realizing what she had just said and hurriedly caught Ami’s eye. “Not the way you’re thinking, Amiriska. I promise you: Everything I do with them is with their consent.”



Marcus tightened his arm around Ami, whose brow remained furrowed with doubt.



Vowing to choose her words more carefully in the future, Melanie continued. “What I meant to say is, I’ve been working with Cliff and Joe, monitoring the effects of various doses of the tranquilizer. And my”—not experiment—“research has given me real hope that regular injections of a low dose can help suppress the vampires’ violent impulses. It leaves them sluggish . . . and they don’t like that part of it . . . but they have far fewer outbursts and maintain control better. I realize it’s a temporary fix, but it might be something you can use to your advantage if you decide to go through with this.”



Leaning back against his chair, Bastien touched her arm beneath the table. “The drug really helps them?”



Pulse picking up, she nodded. “Yes.”



“Emrys used it to gain the vampire king’s cooperation,” Seth mentioned.



“He did?” Melanie asked. “How?”



“Every time the vampire king flew into a rage, Emrys tranqed him. If he managed to hit him with the dart before the vampire gave the rage free reign, it seemed to stop it in its tracks . . . or at least left the vamp too tired to do anything about it. If the vampire king was already destroying everything around him, the drug stopped him and, again, left him too tired to continue acting on impulse.”



Hope rose. If the drug could work on someone as insane as the vampire king, perhaps she would have more time to find a cure for Cliff and Joe.



“Then that’s the answer,” Tanner said, his handsome face lit with triumph. “If you can suppress their impulses with drugs, you can control whom they feed upon.”