“Trove,” I hissed. “While he was droning on, we weren’t the only ones being filled in on the full scope of Madigan’s experiments. So was anyone with eyes and an Internet connection!”
“More sites are appearing as conspiracy theorists and cryptozoologists repost the information,” Mencheres said in somber agreement. “Tai is attempting to take them down to slow the progression of information, but . . . there are too many.”
To illustrate his point, Mencheres minimized that page and opened a new one.
WE ARE NOT ALONE, BUT IT ISN’T WHO YOU THINK, the new headline announced, followed by extensive pathology reports on Katie’s tri-species nature—and what had made that merging possible.
I was too devastated to even curse as Mencheres opened site upon site filled with even more information meant to inflame ghoul and vampire relations. He was right; it was too late to contain this. It had gone viral, just as Trove intended.
Granted, most people viewing these scanned documents wouldn’t know who Specimen A1 was, let alone believe that in vitro fertilization from a half-vampire egg would result in a quarter-vampire child who’d been able to absorb ghoul DNA into her genetics. I mean, I was Specimen A1, and I still had a hard time believing it. Throw in the fact that most humans didn’t know that vampires or ghouls existed, and the reaction, judging from the comments, was open derision.
But the problem wasn’t humans, who’d think all of this was a hoax. It was everyone else who’d know that it wasn’t.
At last, Bones handed back the tablet even though I’d still been reading with a growing sense of doom.
“We need to—” he began, then stopped abruptly when a slender blonde with porcelain-doll loveliness opened the main door without knocking.
“Need to what?” Veritas asked coolly.
I didn’t groan out loud, but it was close. A Law Guardian barging in? Things had gone from horrible to tragic.
“Veritas,” Mencheres said, his tone now smooth as iced butter. “Welcome.”
She gave him a look that said she knew she was as welcome as a festering case of herpes but nodded at the greeting. The pretty blonde might look like she was the same age as Tai, but she was older than Mencheres and almost as powerful. She also had the full weight of the vampire ruling council behind her. For her to show up unannounced mere hours after the leak meant that they were as freaked as Trove had hoped.
No matter what happened, I had to kill that demon for all he’d done.
Then the Law Guardian’s gaze landed on me. For a second, I thought I saw pity in her sage green eyes. Before I could be sure, whatever it was vanished, leaving nothing but granite resolve.
“You know why I am here,” she stated. “The council has already ruled, and their decision is final. Tell me where the child is. It must be destroyed.”
“It is a little girl who didn’t ask for any of this!” I burst out.
Her measured stare didn’t waver.
“Neither did you, according to the documents released, which is why you’re not under arrest for treason.”
I advanced forward until Bones’s hand on my arm stopped me.
“You’re saying the council would have considered it treason if I’d knowingly had a child when I was a half-breed?”
Now I was sure about the sympathy that flashed across Veritas’s face.
“People like you and I don’t get to choose our fates.”
A wistful note tinged her voice before it, and her features, hardened once more.
“If you don’t know that yet, in time, you will learn. Now, tell me where the child is.”
Even if she weren’t my daughter, even if she’d been brainwashed beyond repair and we would never succeed in hiding her, I couldn’t sentence her to death by answering with the truth.
“I don’t know.”
Katie deserved what she’d never been given before. A chance. I knew what I was risking by doing this, but what choice did I have? Maybe it was faith that made me believe God wouldn’t let our races destroy each other over not killing a child for the crime of being different.
Then I glanced at Bones, noting how tightly he’d closed down his aura and how stony his features were. He didn’t look at me, either. His gaze was all for the Law Guardian, whose stare grew pointed.
My soul seemed to suck in a fearful breath. I will do anything to protect you, he’d sworn. Would he betray Katie’s location in order to stop me from trying to save her? It might cost me my life, and both of us knew it.
Don’t, I thought, wishing desperately that he could still read my mind. Please, Bones. Don’t.
“If you’re looking for the child,” he said in an even voice, his power freezing my mouth when I began to interrupt him, “start with Richard Trove. He’s the demon that funded her creation. As for Madigan, take him with you when you leave. We’ve gleaned nothing useful from him. Perhaps you’ll have better luck.”
Then he turned his back, effectively dismissing her.