Phantom Shadows (7 page)

Bastien looked down at her, face full of surprise for a few heart-stopping seconds.

Melanie waited for a caustic comment.

Instead, the corners of his lips twitched before he looked away.

She heaved a silent sigh of relief and told her heart to stop pounding. Bastien was irresistibly handsome when he almost smiled.

Seth held up a hand. “Neither Bastien nor Dr. Lipton has betrayed the network, Chris.”

“Then how—”

“The vampires have hearing that is almost as sensitive as ours. They hear things while in their apartments, in the labs, and in the other areas they are allowed to frequent. Not that it matters. They never leave the building and neither possesses telepathic abilities, so who are they going to tell?”

Chris actually seemed to think about that as he turned back to Melanie. “You should have told me they could hear us.”

“To be honest,” she replied, “it never occurred to me that you didn’t know.”

He nodded. “You’re right, of course. I
should
have known and should have taken that into consideration.”

Melanie hoped he didn’t plan to soundproof everything at the network now. The restrictive lives the vampires led sometimes bored the pants off them. And Joe had once confided that listening to all of the “bullshit goings-on” at the network was a bit like watching a soap opera.

Would Janet finally agree to go out with Charles? Would Kevin get the promotion for which he and Sam competed? When would Tara tell Jack she’s pregnant?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Bastien shifted in his seat.

Realizing she was still holding his arm, Melanie flushed and withdrew her hand.

At David’s end of the table, Ami leaned forward. “Bastien, if you weren’t talking about Cliff and Joe, then what did you mean when you said we should bring the vampires into the loop? What vampires?”

“All of them.”

Melanie had to admit she could understand the
What the hell?
looks sent his way.

Darnell said, “You’re kidding, right?”

“There was no way those soldiers could have known whether they were hunting an immortal or a vampire,” Bastien said.

Tanner nodded. “No way they could have kept up with the chase from UNC to Duke at the speeds Bastien and the vamps traveled either. They had to have been waiting, hidden somewhere at Duke, hoping one or the other would happen to come along.”

Bastien didn’t seem pleased by the other man’s input, though Tanner had made a good point. Melanie wondered why. Cliff and Joe had mentioned Tanner nearly as often as they had Bastien and seemed to think the two men were good friends.

Chris began to scribble in his notebook again. “Did you make a phone call before you left to pursue the vamps, Bastien?”

“Who the hell would I call?”

“He didn’t,” Seth answered for him.

“What about you, Richart?”

“No. I took care of the vampires left behind, followed Bastien’s trail long enough to discern the others were leading him toward Duke, then teleported to the campus to search for them.”

Chris stopped writing.

Darnell leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Montrose Keegan told the vampire king to have his vamps stake out all of the garages with tow trucks and wait for an immortal to call for a cleanup. If Keegan told Emrys that college campuses are prime vampire hunting grounds, he may have done the same thing, just divided his soldiers amongst a few of the campuses and . . . waited.”

“Or
all
of the campuses,” Lisette added. “We don’t know how many men this Emrys commands.”

Bastien leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Those men could have had no idea who would’ve made an appearance last night: a vampire or an immortal.”

Seth nodded. “The odds were greater of it being a vampire.”

Melanie looked up at Bastien. “Would they even know how to tell the difference between vampires and immortals?”

Vampires were humans who had been infected with the virus. Immortals were
gifted ones
—men and women born with extremely advanced DNA—who had been infected. That DNA, whose source remained a mystery, not only lent immortals special gifts, it gave them all certain similarities in appearance: namely black hair and brown eyes. Only Sarah had brown hair and hazel eyes, a result of the
gifted ones’
DNA being diluted with human DNA over so many millennia.

“No,” Bastien responded, meeting her gaze. “Keegan only knew there were genetic differences, that immortals’ DNA is different.” Yet again, he had said
immortals’
DNA rather than
our
DNA. “He wasn’t aware of the physical characteristics immortals share. Even vampires seem to be unaware of those. Hell, I wouldn’t have noticed it myself if Sarah hadn’t pointed it out to me. Vampires don’t survive encounters with immortals often enough to compare notes.”

Melanie considered the consequences of Emrys’s capturing a vampire. She had read the files on Ami, knew the gruesome details of her capture and subsequent torture. Their
study
of her.

They had justified the inhumane treatment in their notes by insisting they
must
study her in such fashion in order to protect themselves from a possible alien invasion. But no doctor would consider what they did to her merely studying her.

Melanie
studied
the vampires who lived at the network. She carefully scrutinized their blood, examined tissue samples, searched their DNA for anything dormant that could be stimulated to act as the immortals’ DNA did and protect humans infected with the virus from the brain damage it caused. She routinely ran tests—CT scans, MRIs, and more—to seek the same. But all of this was done with the express permission of the vampires. And none of it harmed them.

Ami had basically been dissected while she was still alive. They had cut her, burned her, removed fingers and toes, even entire organs . . . all while she lived, while she was alert, without anesthesia and with a complete disregard for the agony they inflicted. If her body did not have astounding regenerative capabilities, she would be dead.

And Ami had approached them in peace.

Melanie doubted Emrys and his crew would show any vampires they managed to corral more regard or handle them with more care than they had Ami. Particularly since, unlike Ami, there were plenty of other vampires around to torture, making them expendable.

“Emrys could learn almost everything he needs to know about you—your strengths and weaknesses—if he got his hands on a vampire,” she murmured. “I’m sure any doctors he employed would be utterly ruthless in their study.”

Bastien nodded. “Because he was too afraid to work with vampires when I knew him, there was much Montrose still didn’t know. But Emrys clearly doesn’t have such fears. He also may have the balls to go public with whatever he learns without worrying about facing the scorn or disbelief Montrose feared. That’s why we need to keep the vampires out of his hands.”

“By befriending them?” Roland asked dryly. “Hunting and destroying them will keep them out of Emrys’s hands just as efficiently.”

The other immortals all nodded.

“No, it won’t,” Bastien insisted. “There are too many of them. And you can’t divide your attention between hunting vampires and hunting Emrys’s men. Immortals are already stretched too thin because vampires continue to flock to this part of the country.”

“And whose fault is that?” Marcus queried.

“Marcus,” Ami stated softly, “Bastien was there for us when the vampire king took me. At least listen to what he has to say.”

The eight-century-old immortal frowned down at his wife. Seconds later, his eyes began to glow faintly and a decidedly
not
irritated look entered them. A slow smile slid across his features. “You don’t play fair,” he told her.

She grinned. “I know.”

Shaking his head, he motioned for Bastien to continue.

“The only way we can possibly succeed in keeping the vampires out of Emrys’s clutches is by bringing them into the loop and warning them that humans armed with this drug are now hunting them. Word of mouth is what keeps luring them here in the first place. They’ve heard about the uprisings and want to see what’s going on firsthand. Word of mouth can also warn them of the new threat and work to our advantage.”

“Have you never heard the saying
the enemy of my enemy is my friend
?” Roland drawled.

Bastien’s lips tightened. “We all have. That’s precisely my point. If we can convince the vampires that they have a
new
enemy—one the two of us share—who poses an even greater threat to them than we do, then perhaps we can work together to defeat Emrys. For whatever reason, the vampires today are more willing to band together.”

“Again, I think we know whose fault that is,” Roland drawled.

“Why not use that to our advantage?” Bastien persisted. Melanie silently applauded him for not rising to the bait. “Why not have them band together and work
with
us instead of against us? Find a way to make it worth their while?”

Roland emitted a bark of laughter. “If you think I’m going to work with vampires, you’re out of your bloody mind. And I’m sure as hell not going to let Sarah work with them.”

Sarah’s eyebrows flew up. “I’m sorry. Did you say you’re not going to
let
me?”

He cleared his throat. “I meant I’m sure as hell not going to let
them
work with
you
.”

“Shouldn’t that be my decision?”

He smiled. “Only if you agree with me, sweetling.”

Sarah laughed and shook her head. “You’re impossible.”

“I know.”

“Roland made a good point,” Marcus threw in. “How do you know the vampires won’t side with Emrys against us? It’s too great a risk.”

“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.”