While they talked, I investigated my surroundings. The reason I couldn't move was because I was tied to the bed with a series of straps, each as thick as my arm. They glinted in the light.
I squinted. Was that? Yes, it was. The straps had silver in them. I'd be willing to bet all that I owned on that fact. They were perfect for keeping a vampire from attacking during one of their exams. If they'd used them before, it might have prevented me from walloping Thomas upside the head.
I let my head fall back. I wasn't going anywhere until someone came and undid these.
"You learn anything?" Liam asked.
"Her development is delayed, which is no surprise really, given the fact she hasn't had regular access to a master vampire's blood since her change. On the plus side, I think I figured out how she survived the change when the hex that Thomas suffers from should have killed her," Joseph said. "It might also explain why Thomas has no memory of her turning when he can remember his other attempts."
"How?"
"I don't think she was fully human before the change."
"How sure are you of that?" Thomas asked.
"Not one hundred percent. It's hard to get an accurate read since the transition would have rewritten much of her former makeup. Her vampire side is very strong and resisted the scan."
"Even her cells have her stubbornness." Thomas sounded half-admiring, half-aggravated.
"We've checked her family history and found no evidence of any other spook in their bloodline," Liam said. “Both her sister and niece show as fully human as do her parents."
I gritted my teeth. So much for my efforts to protect them. What would have happened to them if they'd come back as anything other than human? Would Jenna have been changed? Would they have changed her seven-year-old daughter, or would they have waited until the child was an adult?
"That's not all. Best I can tell, she had a nasty piece of protective magic lying dormant at her core. Once the change started, it would have triggered its defense. Even a routine magic scan set it off. Had I been any less experienced, I'd be lying unconscious on the ground. It's possible that when Thomas attacked her, it retaliated by wiping her from his memory."
"Could that magic have kept her from succumbing to the hex?" Liam asked.
"It's not only possible; it's probable."
There was a long pause.
"I do wish her sister showed some of the same traits. I would've liked to have studied her more in depth,” Joseph said in a wistful voice. “I've never seen anything like the magic crouching inside her. Something capable of circumventing Thomas’s curse would be worth studying and trying to replicate."
Thank God for small miracles. Looked like Jenna and her daughter were safe for now.
I didn't let myself dwell too deeply on what they'd revealed. Not when they were liable to discover me awake at any moment. That would come later, when I had time to process it.
At the moment, there was nothing I could do with that information anyway. Furthermore, it sounded like Joseph wasn't even sure that I hadn't been fully human. For all he knew, the magic he sensed was something I'd picked up after my turn. A lot of weird shit had happened to me this year, any of which could explain his observations.
I was human before. I know I was, and no vampire doctor with black ants inside of him was going to tell me different.
"Is there anything else?" Liam asked.
There was a short pause. "There is something, but I need to confirm it first. It would help if I could perform other magic on Aileen."
"No." Two voices voiced the answer.
"Not until we know why she reacted the way she did to your magic," Thomas said. "I would prefer it if my yearling didn't try to kill me every time she saw me."
"Perhaps it would have helped if you had thought of that before." Liam's voice was cool.
"Is this going to be a problem, deartháir?"
"That would depend on you and how you respond to this situation you've created."
"I’ve told you it wasn't my intention to cause her pain," Thomas retorted.
"You’ve said that before, but you have a history of badly misjudging situations when it comes to those you sire. Be very careful this does not turn into another situation like with Connor."
There was a crash and then Thomas said in a voice throbbing with power, "You forget who you're talking to. I am the master of this region and this city, and I will not be challenged."
"And I am the council's enforcer—their head enforcer. We have too few new vampires to sacrifice even one to your pride. If I judge her mental or physical state to be negatively impacted by interactions with you, I will pull her from this territory. You're not the only vampire who has had challenges with siring another. We cannot risk losing even one of our yearlings to negligence and stupidity," Liam said, his voice colder and more authoritative than I'd ever heard before. "Don't fuck this up."
There was another crash. I flinched as a door slammed hard enough to shake the building.
"You live dangerously, old friend," Joseph said.
"Thomas is many things, but he’s not stupid. He won’t strike me down for speaking hard truths. He recognizes the wisdom of my words even if it sticks in his craw."
"You weren't entirely fair to him. Connor wasn't his fault. Neither was this. We couldn't have predicted her reaction."
There was a heavy sigh. "We're past fairness. He claimed the selection by the smallest of margins. Had she made a different choice, we would have all suffered the consequences."
"Perhaps," Joseph said, sounding unconvinced. "Either way, your yearling is awake. It's best you free her. The last time I got close to her she tried to stick a broken lamp in my heart."
There was silence, and then Liam appeared in my view. We looked at each other for a long moment. His thoughts were hidden behind an impenetrable wall. Joseph didn't appear behind him, which was probably a good thing, considering I might have tried to attack him again.
"You gonna let me up, or are you going to just stand there?" I asked.
"I'm considering leaving you there," he said, arching one eyebrow in an arrogant look. "What could have possessed you to try to beat Thomas with a lamp of all things?"
My shrug was ruined by the fact that the straps prevented me from moving more than a centimeter. "I thought it time to redecorate. Everything in this office is an antique. Vampires included."
I didn't want to admit my attempt at homicide by lamp hadn't been entirely voluntary. I'd snapped, and the poor lamp paid the price.
He bent a censorious look on me. "Had Thomas been a different vampire you would be dead right now. We don't typically suffer such insults from our yearlings. You're lucky that your circumstances are rather unique, and that Thomas has need of you."
I sighed. He was right. Attacking a master vampire—the master of this region—was a quick way to commit suicide. My existence might shore up his power base and legitimize his claim to the region, but we all knew he was powerful enough without me that it would be easy to decide he was better off with me dead.