the madness would help him when his own fight began.
“You’re one of the vampires?” Stuart asked hesitantly.
“Yes. I know you’re probably scared…”
“Is Cliff talking to him?” Melanie murmured.
“Yes,” Bastien said softly.
“I sure as hell was.” Cliff had been terrified he had just handed himself over to people who intended—as Vince had accused—to use him like a lab rat. Particularly after he met Dr. Whetsman. That asshole had refused to work with the vampires unless they were restrained. “But you can relax. Dr. Lipton is great. So are Dr. Machen and some of the others we work with.” Hopefully he wouldn’t meet Whetsman for a while because the man was still a prick. “And you don’t have to constantly be on your guard here, worrying about humans discovering what you are or vampires attacking you or wondering if you’ll find a safe place to rest during the day. You made the right decision.”
“How do I know you’re not an immortal just saying that to get me to drop my guard?” Stuart asked, his tone vacillating between suspicion and hope.
“Well, for one thing, immortals are powerful enough that they don’t need to coax you into letting down your guard,” Cliff responded candidly. “They can overpower you and do whatever it is you think they might do with very little effort. For another, I was one of Bastien’s followers. I surrendered the night of the final battle with the immortals at his lair and have been living here ever since. But you’ll learn all of this and more eventually.”
“What about the other one? Where is he?”
Cliff wasn’t sure how to answer that.
“Where’s Joe?” Bastien asked.
“I think he’s resting,” Melanie answered slowly. Apparently she wasn’t sure how much to say either.
“I’m here,” Joe said, his voice low and emotionless now that the sedative had kicked in. “The virus is fucking with my head today. Listen to Cliff. He isn’t as far gone as I am. I think… I think I’m not seeing things clearly right now. Cliff is.”
Silence fell.
“Can you help us?” Stuart asked, his tone subdued.
“I hope so, Stuart,” Melanie said. “That’s why I’m glad you’re here. The more I learn and the more insight you and other vampires can provide me with, the closer we’ll get to finding a method of preventing the madness.”
“What can I do?”
Relief suffused Cliff.
“For now?” Melanie asked. “If you aren’t averse to it, I’d like to take a small sample of your blood, then we can get you settled in your new apartment.”
“It’s… it’s really an apartment? It’s not a cell?”
Cliff answered swiftly, afraid the query might start Joe ranting again. “This isn’t a prison, Stuart. We live well here. We each have our own apartment with whatever furnishings and electronic gadgets we want, though our phone and internet activity is monitored for safety’s sake.”
“So… I get my own place?”
“Yes,” Melanie said, the smile returning to her voice. “We want you to be comfortable and, more important, happy here.”
“I’ve never had my own apartment before,” Stuart said with a note of awe. “Or my own room. I always had to share… with my brothers or with a dorm mate. Man, I had some sucky dorm mates.”
After living in close proximity with nearly a hundred vampires in various stages of insanity, Cliff could relate.
Melanie laughed. “Well, let’s hurry and do your blood work so you can get settled.”
Bastien and Richart left to continue their night’s hunt. A moment later, Cliff heard beeps as someone typed the security code into the electronic keypad outside his apartment. A clunk sounded; then the door swung inward.
Melanie smiled as she pushed the door open. “Hi, Cliff.”
He rose and circled the sofa to join her. A lanky guy who looked like he couldn’t be more than twenty years old stood behind her. When he peered into Cliff’s apartment, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
Cliff smiled. Most of the furniture was brand-new. An impromptu (or not so impromptu) sparring session he and Bastien had engaged in when Bastien tested the stimulant Melanie had developed to counter the tranquilizer mercenaries used on Immortal Guardians had reduced most of his old stuff to splinters. Everything he and Melanie had ordered to replace it was top of the line. Very posh, as Bastien would say.
When he reached them, Cliff offered his hand. “Hi, Stuart. I’m Cliff.”
“Hey,” Stuart murmured distractedly as he shook it. Then he pointed behind Cliff, his finger wagging back and forth. “This is your place?”
“Yeah.”
The younger vamp seemed stunned. “It’s like something out