Gregori! Savannah’s distressed cry was in his mind. Let me come to you. She was trying to free herself from the invisible wall he’d erected around her, fighting his safeguards.
Be calm, ma petite. You think I did not deliberately allow this imbecile to inject me with poison? I am the healer for our people. If they have something that can harm us, I must find an antidote.
Savannah pounded on the invisible barrier to get to Gregori. She could feel the hot tears gathering in her eyes, the terrible fear threatening to overwhelm her at her own helplessness. The poison was painful, crawling through Gregori’s system, paralyzing him. Cramps and sweating, muscles clenching and locking. She felt it with him and raged at her inability to get to him, to be able to help him, as was her right.
Gregori remained as calm and impassive as ever, studying the chemistry of the compound, as interested as any scientist. He was barely sparing the jubilant reporter any of his attention. He had gone seeking inside his own body, flowing through his own bloodstream to follow the path of the spreading poison.
Carter was nearly jumping up and down. If it had not been for his precarious perch, he would have. Of course, he had no idea how he was going to get such a big man into the car and back to the laboratory. He would have to call for help. But otherwise it had been so easy. The lab techs were right. The poison was perfect! All those years of research had finally paid off. And he was the one to get the glory!
He poked at Gregori’s chest with a knife and, drew a spot of blood. “You don’t look so tough now, vampire,” he gloated. “Not so impressive at all. Are you feeling a little sick?” He laughed softly. “I’ve heard the older the vampire, the greater the sensitivity to pain.” He poked again, slicing downward so that he opened a flowing cut. “I hope so. I hope you take a long time to die when the techs get you. Meanwhile, you just remember who will be playing with Savannah. I have plans for that little whore.” He bent close to peer into Gregori’s hooded eyes. “Not that this is personal, you understand. It’s all in the name of science.”
Savannah’s burst of strength, fed by her rage at the reporter taunting Gregori and causing him pain, landed her against the invisible wall. The foundation didn’t budge. Whatever Gregori had constructed to contain her was stronger than she thought. She pounded until her fists bled, tears streaming down her face. She could feel every cut, every slice the reporter inflicted. She could hear his taunts and threats. She implored her lifemate to allow her to come to him, but silence was her only answer.
None of it seemed to affect Gregori. He felt the pain but simply put it aside during his self-examination. The poison was thick, moving slowly and painfully throughout his system. He began to break down the chemicals to analyze them so that his people could come up with their own antidote to such a thing. Most of his kind could never do what he was doing. But he was a healer, knowledgeable in herbs and chemicals, poisons both man-made and natural. This was an interesting mixture, fast-acting and dangerous. They had used blood they had taken from their victims for a base. The pain had gone from a dull ache to agony in a few short minutes, enough to incapacitate all but the ancients and their most learned healers. As soon as he had the compounds broken down, he broadcast them to Aidan Savage. The hunter had studied the healing arts under him and would be able to utilize the information.
Within his own body he began the. healing process, breaking down each chemical to its natural and separate form and disposing of or absorbing it. Only when the process was complete did he return to his outside surroundings. He had been aware of the reporter poking at and cutting him with a knife, presumably to make him weak from loss of blood. He was bleeding from several different cuts. He could feel the sting of them as the wind tugged at his tattered clothing.