Page 86 of A Steeping of Blood
“Well then, howarethese brilliant vampires being made?” Bloodworth asked.
“Through the untold effects of the silver inoculation—onaccident,” Arthie whispered, looking at Shaw. “You don’t know, do you?”
It took several moments before Shaw shook his head.
“The silver inoculation triggers a mutation in some vampires that, over time, alters their brain function until only the need for survival remains,” he said quietly. “They do not respond to their names, or at all. They’ve been stripped away of what makes them human, and with no moral boundaries, they’re—”
“Monsters,” Bloodworth whispered, drifting to stare intently at one of the vampires suspended in the blue fluid. “Weapons of the highest caliber. Without these supposed morals and values, they can kill without mercy. But an accident?” He didn’t look angry that Shaw had lied, no. He looked excited. “By golly, the Ram would be astounded to hear this. We’ll just have to starve each of your silver-injected vampires long enough to become these brilliant beasts. Immortal, impossible to injure, bones of steel.”
“Since when?” Matteo asked. Bloodworth might not have even existed for the way he stared at Shaw.
“At least two years.”
“Seven have mutated. So the one hundred and fifteen vampires out there and the rest waiting to be delivered from Ettenia are doomed to lose their humanity too?” Jin asked, and Arthie didn’t need to hear Shaw’s heart crushing. It was clear in his eyes when he saw Jin’s face.
“They could,” Shaw answered, his eyes flicking to Bloodworth for a moment before he decided to continue. “But we’ve found that coconut fights the silver. At the very least, it will delay the alteration, but blood test comparisons between those who had consumed coconut and those who hadn’t were vastly different.”
“Keep drinking coconut water, and it’ll keep the monster at bay,” Jin said. He slid a glance at Arthie when the words were out of his mouth, for that was her life for a near decade. “Literally speaking. Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Shaw looked away. Thewhywas clear enough. This was a horror of his own making, hisandSora’s.
Shaw looked at the vampires locked in the canisters. “We were too late to save them though. We could do nothing but put them to sleep.”
What were the vampires in those canisters thinking? Was some part of their brains still conscious? They looked asleep, dead. Arthie was reminded of herself, adrift in a sea of blue, afraid of the monster beneath her skin commanding her bones.
That was how she’d felt when she’d been made into a half vampire. This—this was tenfold of that.
“Save? Hold on there a moment,” Bloodworth said, brow furrowed as he tried to follow along. “You and Sora—you’ve been feeding the others coconut water. I saw it! You’ve beenstaving offthe effects?”
Shaw paused, glancing not at Jin nor Matteo, but at Arthie. It was a look Jin had given her a thousand times before:Get ready.
Good. The countdown had begun the moment they’d parted wayswith Sora, and Arthie couldn’t glance at her pocket watch to keep track of the time with her hands cuffed behind her.
“Why do you think they’re in these canisters, Bloodworth?” Shaw asked.
“Because! The longer the better, you said during our meeting months ago. The stronger they’d be.”
“The longer they stay in the canisters, the slower the silver takes over. I’m not making monsters. I’m trying to stop them.”
Understanding settled in Bloodworth’s form. Arthie saw how he almost relaxed with the information, as if he had long wanted, possibly even suspected, Shaw and Sora to be traitors. He toyed with something beneath the folds of his overcoat, and Arthie caught the glint of a ring of keys before he straightened his coat.
“Is that so? Oh, Shaw, I do love a good tell-all moment when I know our audience won’t be able to tell anyone after,” Bloodworth drawled.
Arthie caught Jin’s eye, making sure he saw her unlatch her cuffs. She gestured to Matteo to do the same.
“Everyone, stop.”
Bloodworth pulled out a dart gun. The guards leaped to attention with weapons of their own. Matteo froze several feet to her left, Jin to her right, and before Bloodworth could decide where to aim, Arthie drew Calibore and leveled it at his head.
“Drop it,” she commanded.
“And why would I do that?” Bloodworth asked.
Arthie cocked her pistol, watching the guards out of the corner of her eye. “Because if you don’t, I will put a bullet through your brain.”
Bloodworth looked among them. There was a madness about him, something keen on suffering. She could tell from the loving way in which he’d regarded the vampire in the canister, from the glitter in his eyes and the vile words he’d spewed.
He would not lower his weapon, even if she threatened him. Even if she fired first. He would fire his weapon regardless.
