sure I'd be able to tell the difference. " He looped his hands loosely around the bars. "How long are you going to wait?"
"The first time, we wait until the effects start to fade, so we can have a good baseline and we'll know how long it'll allow you to be out. Safely."
"And you'll keep your dart pistol ready at all times, yes?" He leaned casually against the bars, elegant and relaxed. There was still a faint glow in his eyes, just a little unsettling. "What shall we talk about, then? How are your studies, Claire?"
She shrugged. "You know."
"They're still too simple, I would expect."
"See? You do know." Claire hesitated. "We have visitors in town."
"Visitors?" Myrnin didn't seem overly interested. "Is it homecoming already? Why on earth Amelie tolerates these human traditions, I'll simply never understand - "
"Vampire visitors," she said. That got his full attention.
For a frozen second, he didn't speak, only stared, and then he said, low in his throat, "In the name of God, who?" His fingers tightened on the bars, squeezing so tightly she was afraid his bones might snap. Or the steel. "Who?"
She hadn't expected that reaction. "His name is Bishop," she said. "He says he's Amelie's father - "
Myrnin's face went as still and pale as a plaster mask. "Bishop," he repeated. "Bishop's - here. No. It can't be." He took in a deliberate breath - one he didn't need - and let it slowly out. His hands relaxed on the bars. "You said visitors. Plural."
"He brought two people with him. Ysandre and Fran?ois."
Myrnin said something soft and vicious under his breath. "I know them both. What's happened since his arrival? What does Amelie say?"
"She said we should stay out of it. So do Sam and Oliver, for that matter."
"Has she made any public announcements? Is she planning any public events?"
"Shane got an invitation," she said. "To some kind of ball. He - it says he has to go as Ysandre's escort."
"Jesu," Myrnin said. "She's doing it. She's acknowledging his status with a welcome feast."
"What does that mean?"
Myrnin suddenly rattled the bars. "Let me out. Now."
Claire swallowed. "I - can't, I'm sorry. You know how this works. The first time we test a new formulation you have to stay - "
"Now," he snarled, and his eyes took on that terrifying vampire sheen. "You have no idea what's happening out there, Claire! We can't afford to be cautious."
"Then tell me what's going on! Please! I want to help!"
Myrnin visibly controlled himself, let go of the bars, and sat down on the bed. "All right. Sit down. I'll try to explain."
Claire nodded. She pulled over a steel industrial chair - left over from this facility's use as a prison, she thought - and took a seat herself. "Tell me about Bishop."
"You've met him?" Claire nodded. "Then you already know all you need to know. He's not like the vampires you've met here, Claire, not even the worst of us. Amelie and I are modern predators, tigers in the jungle. Bishop is from a far colder, harder time. A Tyrannosaurus rex, if you will."
"But he really is Amelie's father?"
Myrnin's turn to nod. "He was a warlord. A murderer on a scale that you would find it difficult to fathom. I - thought he was dead, many years ago. The fact that he's come here, now - it's very bad, Claire. Very bad indeed."
"Why? I mean, if he's Amelie's father, maybe he just wants to see her - "
"He's not here for happy memories," Myrnin said. "In all likelihood, he's here to have his revenge."
"On you?"
Myrnin slowly shook his head. "I'm not the one who tried to kill him," he said.
Claire's breath caught. "Amelie? Not - she couldn't. Not her own father."
"It's best you don't ask any more questions, little one. All you need to know is that he has reason to hate Amelie - reason enough to bring him here and for him to try to destroy everything she has worked for and accomplished."
"But - she's trying to save vampires. To stop the sickness. He has to understand that. He wouldn't - "
"You have no idea what he wants, or what he would do." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, the picture of earnestness. "Bishop comes from a time before there were concepts among vampires of cooperation and self-sacrifice, and he'll have nothing but contempt for them. As you would say, he's old-school evil, and all that matters to him is his own power. He won't