he returned, he held something in his fleshy hands. Before I could make another smart remark, he jammed a ball gag in my mouth and strapped it around my head. I bit down, thinking I'd crush it with my preternatural strength, but it was apparently made of diamond fiber because I nearly broke a tooth.
"Don't be too rough on the poor chap," the man with the monocle said. "I wouldn't want to spoil him with too much stress. Cortisone levels and all that rubbish, you know."
"Would you like a taste, Master?" Maximus said.
The other man raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "He looks a bit unwashed."
Master? The word caught me off guard. I'd never heard Maximus defer to anyone. Could this be the mystery vampire helping him turn people?
Dash came around to my neck and squeezed hand sanitizer from a bottle. I felt the cold gel as he rubbed it against my neck. "There you go, sir. All clean."
The Master took off his monocle, leaned down and sniffed. "I daresay he's a tad ripe, Maximus, but his blood practically sings, doesn't it?"
"Exactly, sir. And that's why I think he's the solution to our supply problems."
The needle prick of fangs pressed into my skin. I jerked, but the Master gripped my head tight and held it. Either I'd already lost a great deal of strength, or he was much stronger than most vampires I'd fought. Probably both. I thrashed with my body to no avail. My breaths came in rapid pants through my nose. Despite my horror, a rush of pleasure flooded through me like a drug.
I'd never done hard drugs, but I imagined they would feel a lot like this. And it scared the hell out of me, because I never wanted the euphoria to end.
The Master pulled back and wiped daintily at his red lips with a handkerchief. "Marvelous. Magnificent." He looked with amazement at Maximus. "You didn't tell me he was so much better than other Daemos."
The rogue leader gave a feral grin. "At first, I thought it was just me. But there's definitely something about this kid, isn't there?"
"Night and day, young man."
"Give me time and I'll quantify and qualify the differences," Dash said, holding a slim wand to my wrist. He twirled it once, and drew it away. Blood squeezed from a pore in my skin until a globule the size of a quarter hovered in the air. Another spin from the wand caused the sphere to rotate faster and faster until the plasma separated from the red blood cells. A separate layer of glowing blue liquid formed. Dash held out a vial and pointed into it with his wand. The blue liquid drained from the sphere. He filled two more vials with the remaining fluids.
"What is that?" Maximus asked, looking at the glowing blue.
A slow grin spread across the Arcane's face. "If I'm right—and I usually am—this is the answer to our problems."
The Master cleared his throat. "Meaning what, exactly?"
"I can advance Maximus's blood potency and increase the amount of blood serum we're producing. Soon we'll have enough to turn thousands of mortals into vampires."
Chapter 14
Elyssa
Elyssa hated short deadlines.
It meant she had to hurry, and hurrying usually led to mistakes. In this case, she had no room for error. She watched through the window as Underborn and his hulking companion headed toward a tool shed behind the guest bunkhouses where a very small man waited on them.
Phissilinth.
She'd met him the first time Justin had sought out Underborn to make him call off a hit on his father. While the small man seemed harmless enough, she knew without a doubt he was every bit as deadly as Underborn.
Phissilinth pulled out a key, inserted it into the tool shed door lock, and opened it. Through the opening, Elyssa saw a hanging chandelier and a rich red rug running down a long hall lined with portraits. She didn't need to ask where it led because she'd been there before. It was Underborn's lair. As to where the lair actually was, she had no idea. The key Phissilinth used could apparently be used to open doors and take them almost anywhere.
Her mouth dropped open as a thought occurred to her. She blurred outside before the three men crossed the threshold, and jumped in front of Phissilinth.
"Good day, Madame." He bowed with a flourish.
"Hello, Phissilinth."
"I'm pleased you remember my name, Miss Borathen."
She smiled. "It's a hard one to forget."
"What do you need?" Underborn said, gazing warily at the lightly