Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,57
against the wall, put her hand on it, and said, ‘Here?’
‘Yes, please.’
Jesse sat down, crossed her legs, and folded her hands in her lap like a church lady, which she was most certainly not. ‘Ready, aim, fire.’
‘Not funny,’ Anderson said softly, but she raised VLAD, sighted and pulled the trigger.
Nothing came out of the gun – no rays or smoke or visible sign of any kind – but Jesse sat up very straight, eyes opening wide. Anderson immediately let go of the trigger and replaced VLAD on the foam pad. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked, and took a step forward. ‘Jesse?’
‘Stop,’ Jesse said, and held her hand out. She looked … odd, and her face was utterly expressionless. ‘Irene, stop right there, please.’
Dr Anderson did, looking very worried, until Jesse finally dropped her hand back to her lap and relaxed. ‘That was … interesting.’
‘Apparently,’ Dr Anderson said, and smiled, though it was clearly a troubled sort of smile. ‘What just happened to you?’
‘I’m not really quite sure. I can tell you that when I sat down, I was feeling a little nervous about what was about to happen, and I was also feeling a little’ – Jesse cut her glance toward Claire for a second, and probably amended what she was going to say – ‘a little amused, I suppose. And all of a sudden I was both those things, still, but ramped up to eleven. It was … disconcerting, because those are not two emotions that go very well together. You understand?’
‘It amplifies,’ Claire said. They both focused on her. ‘The way I set it up to start with, whatever the vampire feels, it’s amplified by the device. I think it kind of works on humans, too. But more on vampires, obviously.’
‘Well, if your question was, did it work … it works.’ Jesse started to stand up, and – incredibly – suddenly faltered and braced herself against the wall. ‘Whoa. It also makes you wicked dizzy, in case you didn’t know that.’
‘I didn’t,’ Claire confessed. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Fine. Just have to shake it off.’ Jesse pushed away from the wall and smiled at Dr Anderson. ‘I’m not a wilting flower, unless that gets me extra special treats.’
‘It might,’ Dr Anderson said. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to do that, but I needed to know if this was something that had potential, or just another empty promise.’
‘Oh, it’s got potential all right,’ Jesse said. ‘If I’d been hungry and that thing had hit me, I’d have gone for your veins, and you’d have had to stop me any way you could. So be warned. It’s not a toy, and it might make an angry vampire damn angry.’
‘The idea is to reverse those emotions,’ Claire offered. ‘To make an angry vampire less angry, a hungry one less hungry … and like you said, it’s disconcerting. I suppose it could be used kind of like a vampire stun gun, I guess.’
‘You’re looking for something non-lethal to use to defend yourself,’ Jesse said. ‘Well, that’s not a bad goal, and it’s not a bad start. I suppose I’d be okay with testing it for you when you take it to the next step. But just remember: I’m not the usual vampire, either. I’ve got a pretty good grip on myself. The next one you run into might not be quite so in control.’
‘Jesse – I’m not ready to report to Amelie about this thing. Myrnin kept it from her for a reason when Claire was working on it; I’m quite sure she’d have shut it down if she’d known. I’d really like to proceed with this line of enquiry, but I’m afraid that she would object. So can we agree to keep it quiet, for now? Please?’
Jesse was silent for a long, long moment, frowning. She crossed her arms and paced a bit, and then finally bit her lip and nodded. ‘For a while,’ she said. ‘But you know I can’t keep it from her for long. And if she asks me a direct question about it, I can’t lie.’
‘I know,’ Anderson said. ‘You’ve always made it quite clear where your real loyalty lies.’
There was something strange in her smile, something almost a little angry, and she and Jesse locked stares for a moment that stretched on too long for comfort.
Then Jesse smiled, too. ‘You know, this is super fun, but I actually have to go sling some drinks tonight, and I need to get ready. Being this gorgeous ain’t