Mercy's Danger: Montgomery's Vampires Trilogy (Book #2) (Montgomery's Vampires Series) (10 page)

Leopold nodded. “Precisely. But sometimes—many times—it’s a split-second decision that must be made.”

“Like if the companion is bleeding to death?” I asked. “You wouldn’t have time to weigh the pros and cons of turning them if you were, say, on the side of the road by a car accident.”

“Yes,” Leopold concurred. “And there is something else that a lot of vampires don’t like to acknowledge, which is that we get lonely. One hundred, two hundred, a thousand years . . . That’s a very long time to be on your own.”

“I can relate to the loneliness, Leopold, but you’ve lost me,” I said.

“You’ve lost me as well,” Robert admitted. “How does this apply to this building?”

“Don’t you see? The world is rife with vampires who may regret
—resent
even—being turned.”

“I don’t regret or resent being turned,” Robert said with a hint of irritation.

“Yes, but not all vampires share your outlook,” Leopold countered. “I know this for a fact. And how I know relates back to this building. As I mentioned earlier, I got to thinking while Shelia was discussing the way Mercy’s blood filters out vampirism. It was more of an epiphany, really. I wondered, if Mercy’s blood had that effect on you, Robert, and Liz and Marlena, then would it have the same result on other vampires? More importantly, could that effect be replicated synthetically using Mercy’s blood?”

“You didn’t!” Robert hissed, his eyes blazing.

Confused, I said, “Let me get this straight. You wanted to prove that my blood could make other vampires human? Why? And why would this upset you so much, Robert?”

Robert sighed. It wasn’t a tired sigh, but an
I’m about two seconds away from losing my shit
kind of sigh.

“Robert?” I repeated.

“There’s a large part of the story Leopold isn’t telling us,” Robert said. “And I think I know what it is.”

“Calm down, my son,” Leopold soothed. “I assure you that I’m not hiding information from you. You two are here as my guests. If I had anything to hide I most certainly wouldn’t have invited you here.”

“By all means, please, continue,” Robert quipped. He was being inexplicably impolite. It wasn’t like him to disrespect Leopold, a vampire he usually held in high esteem. There had to be a cause behind his surliness, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what it was.

I gave Robert a hard look.

“It’s alright, Mercy. Robert will be much happier once I finish explaining,” Leopold said before resuming. “I had this laboratory built on my property so I could closely monitor the staff and their progress. Before conclusions are jumped to—” he looked at Robert meaningfully “—the main reason I had it built was to find a cure for Robert’s humanism.”

“Yet you still haven’t found a cure for me, have you?” Robert snapped.

“These things take time,” I said, trying to calm Robert. It was strange how abruptly our visit with Leopold had taken a sour turn.

Leopold ignored both of us. “I figured, however, if the lab was here already, and if I already had samples from Mercy . . . Why not?” Leopold turned to face me. “During my many years as a vampire, Mercy, I’ve found that those who constantly question why and what—
why do this and for what purpose—
never get much accomplished. They’re too busy asking questions to ever get anything done. They are unexceptional.” Leopold sat back in his chair. “I do not see a point in second-guessing. One should not ask why, but why not? Taking risks is how I’ve come to be the successful businessman that I am today. I do not mean to appear a braggart. I am merely trying to enlighten you on my standpoint.”

“I understand,” I said solemnly.

Leopold turned to Robert. “Though I suspect you might have already figured this out this, I went about replicating the effect Mercy’s blood has on vampires because I wanted to develop a serum.”

“A serum for what?” I asked.

“A serum for vampires who wish to become human.”

“That’s insanity,” Robert whispered.

“Insanity?” Leopold scoffed. “On the contrary. If a vampire no longer desires immortality, why not let them become human again so they can grow old and die the way nature intended? Without a serum, their only current option is suicide. Is it not senseless to force them to remain in a state they do not want to be in?”

“What have you done, old friend?” Robert’s voice was nearly a whisper.

“I’ve done it,” Leopold beamed. “I’ve developed a permanent cure for vampirism.”

10

For a long time, nobody spoke.

Robert was huffing and puffing next to me, his breath coming out in short bursts. He sounded like a steam engine. I couldn’t understand why he was so upset.

I also couldn’t stand the uncomfortable silence. “Robert, maybe you should hear Leopold out. He—”

“I don’t need to hear him out!” Robert growled, glaring at Leopold. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“I’ve just told you what I’ve done,” Leopold smiled serenely, looking mighty pleased with himself.

“You know what I mean! Did you stop to think about the harm you could inflict upon Mercy?”

“Me?” I asked. “What does this have to do with me?”

“I’m assuming your serum isn’t free,” Robert said to Leopold, ignoring me.

“Your assumption is correct. I do run a business and not a charity.”

“How much?” Robert questioned.

Leopold played dumb. “How much what?”

“The serum! How much are you charging for it?”

Leopold waved a hand. “I do not enjoy discussing money, Robert. It’s so
bourgeois
.”

“Humph. Must be a lot then.”

“Let’s just say that the serum costs more than a car but less than a house.”

Robert snorted. “I’m assuming the car you’re referring to is closer to a Tesla than a Toyota.”

Leopold remained tightlipped.

“I gathered as much.”

“Hello?” I waved. “Over here.
The one in danger
. Someone want to let me in on why you two are bickering? No, someone want to tell me why I’m in danger?”

It was Leopold who answered. “I’m assuming Robert is concerned that some of the less fortunate vampires—those who cannot afford a new car, shall I say—will come looking for you.”

“Damn right they will,” Robert snarled, his cheeks flushing with resentment. “Why would they pay for your serum when they could go directly to the source and get it for free?” He shook his head angrily. “I trusted you with our blood and
this
what you’ve done with it? How could you? You were meant to be finding a cure for me, not . . . this!”

I felt like I’d swallowed a few dozen bricks. A mixture of emotions sunk down in my belly, none of them pleasant: fear, anger, dread. If what Robert was saying was true, Leopold had essentially signed my death warrant by using my blood as ink.

Dizzy, I leaned forward and put my head between my knees.

Robert rubbed my back. “Mercy?”

Another thought occurred to me: Michael’s visions. With this serum, could I
actually
be the one responsible for eradicating the vampire race?

“I’m alright. Sorry. I . . . freaked out a little, once I realized what you guys were talking about.”

“You two!” Leopold clapped. “If you’d let me finish! I was going to clarify all this during the lab tour.” He took my hands into his. “Mercy, darling, you and Robert have no need to worry. Your information has been kept confidential. Frankly, Robert, I’m insulted you believe that I would have done otherwise.”

I countered, “That doctor knew my name.”

“She did,” Leopold agreed. “The only ones who are privy to your information are the scientists I’ve hired. Your information is kept in a highly secured vault. The same goes for Robert’s information.”

“And how are you certain they will not betray you?” Robert asked. “The doctors?”

“I know for the same reason that Marlena knows that her decoys will not betray Dignitary: I pay them too much. Also, the majority of the doctors here are human. They are far too frightened to take the information elsewhere and share it. I ran background checks on each and everyone of them—”

“You’ve been busy,” Robert said snidely. I sensed that he was going to follow up with:
so busy
developing your serum that you haven’t found a cure for me.
But he didn’t. It’s what
I
wanted to say.

“They all checked out,” Leopold continued. “Squeaky clean, the lot of them. If you want to know the names of Doctor Garran’s mother, husband, and children, or where they reside in Amsterdam, I can tell you. And they
know
I can tell you. No, they wouldn’t dare betray me, not when I could go after everything and everyone they’ve ever loved.”

Leopold was turning out to be quite the nasty character
.
Robert never told me that he could be so calculating, but maybe he didn’t know. It had been some time since they’d lived together.

Robert asked, “And how do you know others won’t steal the information? Outsiders?”

Leopold pointed skyward. “Perhaps you didn’t notice the guards on the roof.”

Robert nodded. “I did. And the fence. Of course I did. But it only takes one individual . . . One person or vampire to go into the vault when your scientists aren’t looking. Things happen, Leopold.”

“Paranoid hooey!” Leopold crowed. “When did you become such a stick in the mud?”

“And when did
you
get into the business of vampire pharmaceuticals?” Robert retorted. “This lab has nothing to do with your area of expertise.”

“Oh, Robert! Come to me after you’ve been running Bramson Enterprises for a few centuries. Then we’ll talk.” Leopold shrugged. “I’ve been doing the same thing for hundreds and hundreds of years! I got bored.”

“You got bored,” Robert deadpanned. “I don’t think you’re seeing the big picture, Leopold. Mercy aside, there will be repercussions.”

“It is you who isn’t seeing the big picture,” Leopold rebutted. “Imagine the lives the serum will change!”

I wanted to inform Leopold that he’d definitely changed my life. I’d never again be able to rest easy—at least not while my information was out there for somebody to come along and steal. I didn’t care how secure the lab was. Robert was right; things do happen.

“I don’t care about them,” Robert said. “I care about Mercy.”

The two of then were really going at it now. It was like hearing a verbal Ping-Pong match. Aggravated, I felt the need to speak up on my behalf. “I must say, I’m not too comfortable with my information being out there. If you want the truth, Leopold, it scares me. A lot.” 

“Vampire females who dream of motherhood can now rear children,” Leopold prattled on. “Vampires who no longer wish to be immortal can grow old with dignity instead of ending their own lives. Vampires who—”

“No-no-no-no,” Robert chanted. “Don’t pretend as if your motives are selfless. If that were the case, you’d be setting up clinics and giving the serum out for free and not charging big bucks for it.”

“So negative! The price is a purely a measure of population control,” Leopold countered.

“Meaning?” Robert asked.

“If I gave the serum out to just anyone, the vampire population as a whole could suffer. What if half the vampires in the world showed up to be cured? It would decimate our numbers.”

“Right.” With the tone Robert used, he might as well have said
bullshit
. “And what about the vampires who don’t want this serum getting out?”

“What about them?” Leopold asked with an edge.

“Think of all the harm it could do, Leopold.”

I needed clarification. “Why would vampires care if there was a serum? If they don’t want it, they won’t take it, right?”

“Exactly!” Leopold cried, as if I was defending him. I wasn’t.

“I know I’ve said this before, but you give vampires too much credit, Mercy,” Robert said. “Think the vampires opposed to what Leopold is doing will let it slide? This serum is dangerous.”

“How?” I asked.

“I assure you, Mercy, you have nothing to be anxious about.” Leopold wrapped a hand around Robert’s forearm. “Look, Robert, you’ve gone and upset the poor girl. She’s frightened.”

“She should be,” Robert said. “What’s going to happen when vampires decide to use the serum as a weapon? What if one vampire uses it against another as a means of incapacitation? Or vengeance?”

“That’s a very expensive weapon,” Leopold huffed.

“Okay, think on a grander scale. What’s going to happen if the vampire government uses your serum to start a war? Or commit vampire genocide?”

“Why would vampires turn against their own kind?” I asked, frustrated. There was so much about vampire culture I didn’t understand. I hated feeling like an outcast, like I was sitting in on a conversation with two individuals speaking French when all I knew was English. I was like a child with all my questions, a kindergartener in the backseat:
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Thankfully, Robert was patient. “For the same reasons humans turn on other humans: land, money, territory, power . . . The list goes on and on. Just because vampires are no longer human, it doesn’t mean that they don’t occasionally have human impulses.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Leopold stated.

“Am I, Leopold? This serum is an atom bomb waiting to explode!” Robert shrilled. “You don’t think ‘bad vampires’ can hire scientists of their own to replicate your serum? And what about the humans? Who knows what would happen if
they
ever managed to get their hands on it. Imagine the consequences!”

“Good God. You sound like the VGO!” Leopold mocked. “They also believe it’s a disgrace to our race for any vampire to want to become human again. What antiquated hogwash!”

Robert’s mouth twisted in horror. “Tell me the VGO haven’t gotten involved in this!”

Leopold snorted and then rolled his eyes so far back into his head that for a second all I could see were his whites. “Who cares about the VGO? They can’t touch me, and they know it.”

“I . . . I can’t . . . What is wrong with you?” Robert reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck, a gesture he made when he was at his most stressed. His hands were trembling down to the fingernails. “They’ve paid you a visit, have they?”

“At the lab?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Robert commanded. “Yes, at the lab.”

“So what if they have?” Leopold was defensive. “It’s not like it was some great journey for them. Their headquarters are up in Scotland, so they were probably in the area anyway.”

Robert made his scary face again, the horrorstruck one. “So what? Have you gone mad?”

“Will somebody please tell me who or what VGO is?” I blurted.

By the time Robert had finished answering my question, I almost wished I hadn’t asked. The Vampire Globalist Organization—VGO for short—was a comprised of the meanest and most powerful vampires on the planet. Unlike most vampires I’d encountered through Robert and while working at Dignitary, the VGO did not value human life. They were radicals who took care of “unofficial” vampire business on behalf of what they believed to be the greater good of the species. They operated outside the confines of the law, both human and vampire. The human government knew nothing of their existence. Conversely, the vampire government (vampires had their own judicial system, I learned) knew of the VGO but turned a blind eye to their activities. Why? Because, at the core, the VGO were vigilantes who had a habit of stepping in when the hands of the vampire government were tied.

However, the VGO weren’t radicals or vigilantes in the traditional sense—at least not what I thought when I heard those terms: rebels hiding out deep in the jungle with machineguns and terrorists bombing subways to send political messages. The VGO were cunning, well funded, and enduring. They were, as Robert concluded, what would happen if the IRA, Yakuza, and Italian mafia merged into a single organization. If a vampire treasured his or her life, they did
not
tangle with the VGO. Making unruly vampires vanish without a trace was one of their fortes.

I turned to Robert and said, “You’re exaggerating.” But I knew he wasn’t because Leopold hadn’t contradicted him once.

“I’m afraid he’s not, my dear,” Leopold said, confirming what I’d already realized. “But I’m going to repeat myself: So what?”

Robert rubbed his temples. “Okay, so what did the VGO say when they came here?”

“The same sort of malarkey you’ve been spouting:
What if the serum gets into the hands of humans? What if it’s weaponized? Etcetera, etcetera.
You sound just like them.” Leopold sighed.

“And?” Robert prompted. “Is that all?”

“They did also invite me to shut down my lab. But I declined.”

“They will murder you, Leopold,” Robert said with certainty. “They are going to make you disappear and then find out who Mercy is. It’s only a matter of time. They have methods of getting what they want. They always do.”

“I’d like to see them try to come after me,” Leopold challenged. “I have connections of my own, don’t you forget. And they know it. I made half the VGO members who they are today. They owe me their respect and their allegiance. It was more of a courtesy call on their part. They expressed their . . . disappointment with my new enterprise. Nothing more.”

“And what about my information?” I demanded. “Will they get it, Leopold?”

“No, my dear. I told you, it’s locked away. Safer than Fort Knox, as you Americans say.” Leopold smoothed down his hair. “It’s too late for them to stop production, anyway. My first shipment went out a week before they paid me a visit.”