Aidan stood beside Bastien, his brow furrowed as though he wasn’t sure he liked what he was hearing.
“To put it briefly,” Melanie continued, “older immortals are always stronger and faster than younger immortals. It’s been that way for thousands of years until the past decade. When Roland, who is nine hundred plus years old, transformed Sarah a few years ago, she ended up being as strong and powerful as he is. Roland then transformed me and Jenna, and the same thing happened. We ended up being far stronger and faster than we should be. We weren’t sure if it was because we were transformed by an immortal or, perhaps, if it might be something unique with Roland.”
Dana frowned. “Weren’t there other immortals who were transformed by immortals?”
“No. Until Sarah, every immortal in existence had been transformed by a vampire.” She paused. “Well, except for Richart and étienne. Lisette accidentally transformed her brothers because none of them understood the nature of the virus at the time.”
“Oh.” That was messed up.
Dana didn’t realize until then that she didn’t know how Aidan had been transformed. So much had happened that she hadn’t had a chance to get the details yet, but it sounded as though he had been transformed against his will.
“Then étienne, a younger immortal,” Melanie continued, “transformed Krysta. And Aidan transformed Heather.”
Dana’s stomach sank. She looked back at Aidan.
Heather jumped up and down behind him, trying to see over his shoulder, then ducked around to stand beside him. “Ethan and I asked him to do it so I’d be stronger and better able to fight Gershom. But just FYI, there wasn’t anything romantic or sexual about it, and we aren’t bonded or anything like in the movies.”
“Oh.” Relief dispelled the jealousy that had risen so swiftly. “Okay.”
“Anyway,” Melanie said, reclaiming her attention, “we all thought Krysta was as strong and fast as étienne until she graciously allowed me to run some tests and we discovered that she isn’t. While she’s stronger than a vampire, she isn’t as strong as the immortal who transformed her. So we’ve come to believe that something different happens when immortals like Roland and Aidan transform gifted ones because they’re healers. We believe their healing ability alters the transformation process in some way and—since you’re planning to have Aidan transform you—I was hoping you would be willing to help us solve the mystery.”
“How?” Dana asked.
Melanie bit her lip. “By letting me take some samples and do some blood work, both before and after your transformation. And maybe during?”
Aidan stepped forward. “You only want blood samples?”
She hesitated. “Actually, blood and tissue samples would be best. But I would only need the tiniest—”
“Hell no,” Aidan blurted.
Dana didn’t like that sound of that either.
Melanie eyed Aidan warily but spoke to Dana. “It sounds worse than it is. The tissue samples are tiny. It would be no more painful or invasive than having a mole removed and tested by your dermatologist.”
“Oh.” Reassured, Dana nodded. She had actually had a freckle-like mole removed and tested three years ago. “Okay. Sure. If that would help you, I’m fine with it.”
“Well, I’m not,” Aidan protested.
Bastien clapped Aidan on the back. “It won’t hurt. I’ve seen her do it to Cliff and the other vampires loads of times. It really isn’t as bad as it sounds.”
Melanie offered Dana a hopeful smile. “Could we maybe do it now?”
“Seriously?” Aidan protested.
She nodded. “We don’t know what Gershom is going to do next or whether or not Dana will manage to come through it unscathed. If she’s seriously injured, you’ll go ahead and transform her ahead of schedule, so I’d really rather do it now, just to be safe.”
Dana took Aidan’s hand. “She’s right. If she doesn’t do it now, I may be immortal the next time she sees me. I’m fine with it. Really. Why don’t you go check on Cliff while we take care of this?”
“No, I want to stay with you.”
She grinned, both touched and amused by his concern for her. “I’m not having major surgery, Aidan. She’s just going to take some blood and a couple of itty-bitty tissue samples. It’s no big deal. My doctors have done it before. More than once, actually. You just go check on Cliff. We’ll be done by the time you get back.”
It took a little more coaxing, but Aidan finally agreed.
After he left with Bastien and Chris, Ethan turned to Melanie. “Do you mind if we grab some bags of blood? I want to tank up before our hunt tonight.”
“Not at all,” Melanie said and gestured to one of the small rooms that branched off the lab. “Employees just donated a fresh batch today. It’s right through there.”
Taking Heather’s hand, Ethan led her into the other room.
Melanie pulled a privacy curtain around them and motioned for Dana to sit on the exam table. “Thank you again for doing this. Shall we get started?”
His ears attuned to the murmured conversation passing between Melanie and Dana, Aidan started down the hallway to Cliff’s apartment.
“He isn’t there,” Chris said. “His behavior became too erratic after Melanie and Bastien left for the meeting, so I isolated him.”
Bastien scowled. “Isolated him where? In a holding room?”
Though Chris shook his head in slow, deliberate movements, he said, “Yes. We had to sedate him, too. Follow me. I’ll take you to him.” Then he motioned to the doors of the other vampires’ apartments and tapped his ear.
Aidan shared a puzzled glance with Bastien.
What didn’t Chris want the other vampires to hear?
Following Chris to the elevator, he noticed one of the guards was missing. Todd.
Aidan remained quiet as the elevator carried them to the ground floor. But he exchanged another confused look with Bastien as they followed Chris down the hallway that led to his office.
A dozen guards manned the entrance of the reception room outside Chris’s office. Inside the reception room, Kate—Chris’s assistant—sat at a large desk situated in front of a row of file cabinets. Garbed in a formfitting business suit not unlike the one Alena Moreno had worn, she glanced up at their entrance.
“Any calls?” Chris asked, striding toward the door to his office.
“Nothing that can’t wait,” she replied. When she reached to one side to pick up a sheaf of papers, Aidan spotted a weapon housed in a shoulder holster under her jacket.
Todd and a dozen more guards bracketed the entrance to Chris’s office.
What the hell? Aidan had never seen such before.
Chris nodded to the guards as he strode inside his office.
Aidan and Bastien followed.
Chris closed the door, crossed to his desk, and dropped his briefcase atop it.
Aidan glanced around. Something was different.
Chris’s sofa was missing.
Facing them both, Chris pressed a finger to his lips, then guided them over to the boardroom. Opening the door, he motioned for them to enter.