“I was behaving in my normal fashion, chérie,” he reminded her gently.
“I take it we’re going on a vampire hunt tomorrow night,” Gary said, laughter in his voice.
Gregori took the list of names from Gary and glanced at it, committing the contents to memory before handing it back. For a moment his silver gaze rested on Gary’s face, a cold, bleak reflection of emptiness. When Gary shivered, Gregori blinked, and the illusion was gone. Gary wondered just which was the illusion—the warmth Gregori showed on occasion, or the harsh, soulless void in his eyes.
Savannah flounced off the bed, sent Gary a flash of deep blue eyes, then tucked her hand into the crook of Gregori’s arm. “We’ll meet you at the blacksmith shop—well, bar, tomorrow at eight.”
“I’ve got to get back to work,” Gary objected. “I’ll lose my job.”
“You can’t go back,” Gregori said softly. “The minute you told Morrison you were going to call the police, the minute you objected to his changing your formula, you sealed your own fate. He will send his people after you, and all of them will be controlled with a compulsion to kill. Morrison is the master vampire—we know that now—and you have crossed him.”
“I’m not worth his attention.”
“Power is everything to the vampire,” Savannah said softly. “He’ll come after you with everything he has. It will fester, drive him crazy that you got away. And he knows I was with you in the swamp. By now he knows Gregori was there also. He can’t touch us, but he will feel that if he gets to you, he has somehow bested Gregori.”
Gregori nodded, astonished that she was so adept at reading the situation. Gary was in far more danger than he could ever conceive. “Have you made any calls from this room? Given your address to anyone, even within your family?”
Gary shook his head. “No, I was going to call the airlines and see if I could use the same ticket on a later flight. And I’ll have to call my boss tomorrow. I’ll be fired, Gregori, and I don’t want that to happen. Even if I
did end up working for you, I do have a reputation to look after.” The toe of his shoe scuffed at a worn spot in the carpet. “I like research. I don’t want to get stuck in a job I hate because of all of this.”
Gregori took the laptop from Gary and brought up the word processor with skill. Savannah watched in astonishment as his fingers flew over the keyboard. He typed out a long list of places and businesses. “Take your pick, Gary. I count myself lucky to have you. In the meantime, I will leave you cash. I do not want them tracing you.”
“You haven’t seen my resume,” Gary objected. “I’m not looking for charity.”
The silver eyes glinted, a brief, hard humor. “I had your formula inside my body, Gary. That was all the proof of your genius I needed. The society had access to that blood for some time before you did, but none of them were able to come up with anything that worked on us.”
“Great, I get that dubious pleasure. Someday you’re going to introduce me to one of your friends and you can say, ‘By the way, this is the one who invented the poison that is killing our people.'”
Gregori did laugh then, a low, husky sound so pure, it was beautiful to hear. It brought a lightness into Gary’s heart, dispelling the gloom that had been gathering. “I never thought of that. We might get a few interesting reactions.”
Gary found himself grinning sheepishly. “Yeah, like a lynching party with me as the guest of honor.”
“We will have an antidote for all our people soon,” Gregori reminded him softly. “There is no need to worry.”
“If I had my equipment, I could have one immediately,” Gary said. “I always make certain I can reverse whatever reaction I create. It wouldn’t be all that hard to find where they perverted the formula. In fact, maybe you still have some lingering aftereffects in your bloodstream.”
He looked so hopeful, Savannah burst out laughing. “The mad scientist is going to chase you around with a hypodermic needle, Gregori,” she teased.