Chapter Twenty-Five
Ricard compared slides of Joshua’s cells with Aurelia’s and nodded. “These are nearly a perfect match. It appears his body was almost completely transformed.”
“Right, just a little more time and he’d have made the change to vampire,” Lawrie said.
“Or something damn close to us,” Reade said.
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t believe it. How would it be possible for him to become a vampire? He…he…melted in my arms. My brother turned to liquid mush in the kitchen of our apartment. I’m fairly certain that doesn’t happen to vampires as part of the change.”
It wasn’t simply confusion emanating from his mate, but deep anguish at what happened to Joshua.
Ricard placed his hand on her back. “Love, the slides tell the truth of what was happening. How it was happening is what we need to determine.”
“Your mother had cancer, according to everything she and your father were told, right?” Lawrie asked.
“Yes. That’s what we believed.” Jessica nodded. “It was some aggressive cancer that Tyrone treated.” She cradled the hot cup in both hands, and Ricard pulled a chair up behind her.
“An aggressive cancer or experimental side effects,” Lawrie said.
“My dad studied the slides. He worked to try to find a cure in the cancer research lab.”
“Did he say anything, share anything about his findings? Do you have any idea where Matt left his notes?” Reade asked.
“Yes, the notes. Matt would have taken meticulous notes, especially relating to his wife.” Joao came near Jessica. “Those notes may hold the key for understanding how Raymond made this work.”
“I’ve sent Hunter and Alice with Oswald, Brandt, and Garrison to retrieve the notes from within the abandoned infirmary on Harlequin Avenue,” Serge said. It was clear from the size of the contingency he didn’t entirely believe the building to be empty.
“I don’t recall anything more than I’ve already offered. I was young and didn’t think that later in life I’d need to remember what he said in order to understand why or how my brother died. There must be more. Dad was constantly raving about the experiments. I’m sure I don’t remember because of the SMR.” She looked to Ricard. “You may not like it, but we need Rafe. What if there is more information available to us? We might find the answer to everything.”
To say he might not like the idea understated how he felt, but she was right. The answers to many of the questions may be within reach. Who was he to deny his mate the closure she needed?
Calling up as much reserve as he could, Ricard glanced toward Rafe. The other vampire made a slight bow of his head, then came to stand before Jessica.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” Sitting up straight on the chair Ricard had placed behind her, she squared her shoulders and stared straight into Rafe’s eyes. Not a single hint of worry could be detected in her.
That fact amazed and, strangely, comforted Ricard. The idea that she was not worried had once irritated him to the point of believing Rafe had abused his vampire prowess. But something in Jessica’s assured willingness caused him to understand she was doing this for a purpose and so was Rafe.
There was not one bit of malice of intent. The entire event was a mission for good.
Ricard watched the glazed expression blanket Jessica’s face as she slipped into a peaceful trance. Rafe brought her back several years to a moment when Matt experimented in his kitchen.
“He called the slides irrefutable proof. We didn’t understand. There were dozens of slides from Mom and Josh. Dad said both Mom and Josh had the same cells, the carcinosanguine cells, or something like that. He was frantic, pacing the floor, shouting, then mumbling. His paranoia took over. He thought there were people watching the house and that Mom might even be with them, though she had already died. ‘She might be out there, not resting where we put her, but walking among them.’”
Lost in a memory Jessica’s head moved from side to side as though she was watching Matt move about the room. A pained expression of worry and fear played across her pretty features.
“Carcinosanguine. He said that word over and over. ‘Vampire. Joshua is a vampire,’ he said. I couldn’t make him stop ranting. He was upset for hours on end, even forcing Joshua to stand in the window in the sunlight to see if it was too late for him.”
She reached her arms forward. “Josh, no!” Her head shook. “The sun always burned his skin so badly. Little red bumps, thousands and millions of them covered his body. Dad swore that was a sign. Proof that his poor son had been turned into something he couldn’t fix.”
Tears streaked her cheeks. “My poor father. Poor Joshie.” She sighed a ragged little sob. “Dad said, ‘he’s been unnaturally turned into something that not even a vampire can explain or welcome. He’s a second-generation carcinosanguine mutant. May God have mercy on him.’”
“Carcinosanguine.” Joao nodded and softly said, “That is the term Matt used to describe the vampire reproductive cells. They run through the blood, attacking the red and white cells, converting them all to killer cells. A war breaks out in the body, overtaking nearly every human aspect, erasing all trace, then replacing the weaker human cells with a supremely stronger, hungrier cell. The carcinosanguine cell multiples at a rate of a thousand times faster than the human cells.”
Jessica turned very suddenly as though she heard something in the distance. “The treatments? What treatments?” She stepped off the stool and walked a few steps. Ricard silently followed.
“Fertility? What are you talking about?” Jessica wandered the lab as though she was following some invisible person. “Mom? For Josh?” She appeared more confused with every statement.
Ricard glanced toward Joao, whose face paled.
“Rafe, let’s get her out of this memory. Find out if Matt knew how long Patricia received the treatments,” Serge asked.
Rafe asked the question, directing Jessica to tell him the number of treatments and how often they’d occurred, and if Matt knew of any other illness Patricia might have had prior to Joshua’s birth.
After determining she had begun and sustained monthly fertility treatments two years after Jessica was born, through her pregnancy with Joshua in order to maintain the pregnancy up to delivery, it was evident Tyrone had figured out how to suspend the advancement of the carcinosanguine cells.
Joao moved closer to Jessica. “Raffaele, ask her what Matt believed to be the answer to controlling this cell.”
“Jessica, did Matt know how to stop the carcinosanguine cell’s advancement?” Rafe’s voice remained the low seductive tone every vampire used to influence humans.
She shook her head. “There is no need to stop it. The cells change themselves. Once the transformation occurs, the reproduction rate slows to a near standstill. That’s why vampires live so long. The cell’s lifetime could be thousands of years.”
Joao nodded. “Yes, that is what Matt and Patricia had determined. The vampire cell, once mature does not easily die. Its lifetime cannot be determined as the carcinosanguine attacks only human cells. Where none exist, it lies dormant.”
He walked back to the board and began working one of the calculations. “This explains the vampire’s insatiable thirst upon change. The carcinosanguine cells are still programmed to kill more human cells.” He circled one calculation, the one that clearly defended the change from human to vampire.
“That’s not necessarily a mystery to us. How did my uncle manage to infect Patricia, but not turn or kill her?” Lawrie worked her own calculation. “And, if Patricia was carrying a potential baby vampire in her womb, how did that baby not kill her?”
“Rafe.” Ricard scooped Jessica into his arms, wanting to ensure his mate was no longer under anyone’s influence.
“Jessie, come back from your memories and into the lab.” Rafe gave the command in a direct, though gentle way.
With a deep breath Jessica relaxed against Ricard. “Did you learn anything useful?”
“Yes, darling. You were quite helpful.” Ricard kissed her head.
Beginning another calculation, Joao made a giant X in the middle and circled it in red. “Here is our duty. We owe this to everyone ever hurt by Panthera and most wholly to the Stevens family.”
The carcinosanguine information was new, though not completely foreign to anyone in the room. Like everyone else Ricard stared at Joao’s second calculation trying to understand how the carcinosanguine cells living in both Patricia and Joshua had not killed every human cell.
How had Panthera managed to keep vampire cells alive in a human body without turning or killing the human?