Page 35 of Thicker than Blood

Enyo simply stares at me with a shocked expression.

“They could smell me, and allegedly, I smell good and pure to a supernatural nose.”

“You let Elias feed?”

“No.” I shake my head. “He just pricked my finger.”

“Mind. Blown.”

“Same. I need to figure out what’s wrong with the vaccine. It’s the opposite of what should have happened. I’ve been looking at my notes all night and I can’t find the deviance.”

“Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe it just had a weird effect on you. You need more participants to understand how it works.”

“I don’t have approval for that.”

“Yeah, well you didn’t have approval for this either.” He grins. “Take me to the pleasure palace. I’ll test your vaccine.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“You did it and survived.”

He has a point. “I could ask Elias to come here.”

“That changes the testing criteria.” He grins, knowing he’s got me. “It has to be apples to apples.”

“Fine. You’re right. What time is it?”

“Time for you to go home and take a shower. Maybe sleep for a few hours. I’ll finish your documentation.”

“Thanks, En.”

My phone buzzes across the table and Meredith’s name flashes on the screen. I grab it to answer.

“Hey, Meredith.”

“How’s it going so far?”

“What?”

“Geordi. You had a mission, remember?”

“Right. Of course. I met with Elias. He’s gonna reach out to some vampires he trusts to get information.”

“Okay. And on your side?”

“I haven’t started yet.”

“What are you working on? Whatever it is, this takes priority.”

“I know. It’s related, but I’ll get on it.”

“Good. Ronald Shaw is coming to meet you later. Bernard volunteered him. He’s his nephew and used to be military until he came down with a lingering virus. He’s better now, and he has skills that can be used.”

“Military? Come on, Mere. Do we want to go down that route?”

“Formermilitary. We could use the insight.”

“True. Okay. What time?”

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