Vampire Redemption (24 page)

They patched the General in on a large screen in the living room, and there, Selah told everybody the truth. She began by stating the nature of her curse, how she had discovered it in Miami, outlining quickly how she and Theo had killed Sawiskera with Cloud's help. Then onto LA, their discovery of the Blood Thralls, Arachne's destruction, and how she had cured herself. That was hard. She simply stared at the wall above the screen as she recounted how Theo had dug out his own heart, how she had consumed it, and why. Again, the guilt washed over her, but she fought it down. She thought of Theo, back in the mountains, alone in the dark with nothing but a feral hunger for her death to drive him on. The silence in the room told her nothing, expressing neither approval nor disapproval, so she plunged on, explaining how she had summoned the military to take her in, and everything that had happened since then.

When she finally got to McCance, her voice was hoarse. She shrugged and offered the General a bitter smile. "So there you have it. The life and times of Selah Brown. I checked the news while we were driving down. Is it true? Are we-- Is President Lynnfield forming a joint task force with the vampires from Miami? How is that better than a vaccine?"

General Adams looked as if he had just tasted something sour. "Well, first let me congratulate you and your friends for accomplishing a very difficult series of tasks. It's no exaggeration when I state that our survival, our chances for victory, depend on your vaccine. Had you not done what you did, had you given up, then, well...

"That said, yes. It seems as if Lynnfield is eager to climb in bed with Plessy and join forces. There has been a lot of consequent civil unrest, but the public does not have a viable alternative at the moment, and the fear that the rapid spread of these 'Blood Thralls,' as you call them, has generated has made the public very pliable. Friends of mine have told me that special ops teams are already being formed, composed of vampires and humans both. Further intel has reported humans being deliberately vampirized to boost the strength of these teams."

Lee had been half asleep in an armchair, face slick with sweat and shivering, but his eyes snapped open at this last. "You're kidding me. We're what?"

The General nodded gravely. "The Hybrid Program has been deemed insufficient. This is what we have come to. Lynnfield has bartered our country's soul for the chance to fight fire with fire, not giving thought to what may come down the road. The idea is that only vampires can fight vampires effectively, and that by unleashing trained squads upon the Blood Thralls, we will be able to stem their momentum long enough for the infected to collapse."

"Leaving us with who knows how many trained vampire hit squads on the loose," said McKnight.

"It's more than that," said Selah. Everybody turned to look at her, and for a moment only, it felt strange to have so many professional and dangerous people take her interjection with such gravity. "If Lynnfield and Plessy win, if they beat back the LA infection, then sure, we'll have vampire hit squads out there. But they'll be our saviors." She remembered Cloud's original lecture back in Miami. How he had outlined Plessy's plans with such fervor and conviction. Now here she was, making his argument. "Plessy's PR campaign will have won. Everybody will believe that the Miami vampires are different, that they're good, that they care about us. Within a few years, you can bet the Miami Wall will come down, and Plessy will be free. Him and all his vampires will be welcomed back into society, and then its pretty much game over."

Everybody but General Adams took a moment to process this. The General simply nodded.

"Well, shit," said Ethan. He hoisted himself up onto the kitchen counter. "Then we need to arrange a hit on Plessy. Sabotage their relationship."

That stopped people in their tracks. Selah saw Fred nod. The General didn't look convinced. "Perhaps. The risks are very high. If the hit fails, it will only bring Plessy more sympathy."

Ethan smiled, and Selah saw a trace of what must have been his boyish charm. "The greater the risk, the higher the payoff."

Fred nodded once more, "We don't even have to get in close. Remote detonation. I doubt even a vampire could withstand a concentrated blast of C4."

The General raised his hands. "Well, let's table that for the moment. We need to focus on the most important long-term option we have--getting a vaccine made. That's our only real option. With a vaccine, we can blunt the Blood Thrall's advance, if not stop it altogether, and make Plessy's offer redundant."

"What about Lynnfield?" asked Selah. "He's said no to the vaccine. How are we going to make him go along with it now?"

"We won't give him a choice." The general's smile was smooth and cold. "We'll present the vaccine to the public and allow the consequent pressure to force his hand. He can only sit on the vaccine while nobody knows about it, or while he can claim it's an urban legend. Real proof will give him no choice. So what we need is to get you and Dominique to an appropriate lab as soon as possible."

At the General's request, McKnight and Fred went upstairs and returned five minutes later with Dominique. She had showered, and walked unassisted, dressed in the same clothing the folks from McCance had provided her. Lee vacated his armchair for her and she sank into it gratefully. Selah stepped up and squeezed her hand. Dominique looked up and smiled tightly, her gaze still slightly vague.

"Dr. Sanderson," said General Adams. "Thank you for all you have done. I understand you were injured during your escape from the lab. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you," said Dominique. "I think my concussion is disappearing. I'm still having some trouble remaining focused, so bear with me if I lose my train of thought."

"Of course." Sam stepped up and handed Dominique a glass of water. She smiled at him and took a sip. "We need to produce a viable sample of the vaccine. What do you need to make that happen?"

Dominique frowned as she thought this over. "A sample? I would need a fully-equipped lab. Preferably a couple of helping hands. What time frame are you looking at?"

"We need the sample as soon as possible. Each week puts us deeper in the hole. We have at most a month to disseminate the vaccine to the public, at the very latest."

"I would need a week, minimum, to create the vaccine itself. That's assuming the lab has the right equipment. I can provide you with a detailed list of what I'd need, but..." Dominique shook her head. "It's a pretty specialized process, made all the more complicated by the fact that we don't really understand why Selah's blood does what it ... does. We've also done no trial runs, no controlled tests, nothing." Frustration began to rise in her voice. "This is going to be incredibly risky. There's no guarantee that it would work on the first try. Usually it's a question of trial and error till we get it right."

The General shook his head. "We don't have time."

Dominique shook her head right back. "The urgency of the deadline has no influence on whether the hemaglutinin proteins we'll be producing will bind with a patient's antibodies, or determine what kind of response such a binding might induce. We're operating beyond our range of knowledge here. Nobody has ever worked with material like this. It could sicken the patients, or even kill them. We simply don't know."

Selah stirred restlessly. She had thought this a sure thing.

"Dr. Sanderson. I hate to say it, but we simply don't have a choice. We're out of time and this is the only possible solution we have." The General spoke in measured, guarded tones. "If we don't produce a vaccine, then either the Blood Thralls wipe out our civilization, leaving behind a barbaric wasteland for the vampires to rule, or the Miami vampires defeat them and become so entrenched and socially acceptable that we will never be able to dislodge them. This simply has to work."

Dominique opened her mouth to complain, and then settled for shaking her head again. "Look, I'll do it. I'll do my best. We came up with a theory at the USAMRIID, but I have to tell you upfront we don't understand why the theory works. It's based on observations of how Selah's blood reacts to vampiric contamination, but even those observations were more speculations than definite fact." She took a sip of her water and then set it down on the coffee table. "To be honest, we don't know for sure that what happens when Selah gets bitten can even be explained through pure science. I never thought I'd say this, but there you have it. There may be something going on that defies our understanding."

"Dr. Sanderson--" said the General.

"I said I'd do it. I'm just making sure you all understand what's going on here. Far more takes place then a simple immune system response. It's not like Selah gains the ability to bend iron and leap tall buildings with a single bound because she has the right T-cells. Her very genetic makeup responds somehow, reconfigures itself, while the vampires who drink from her... Who even knows what happens biologically to the vampires to explain the resurgence of emotion and deprivation of their powers.

"What we're going to try and do with this vaccine is ignore all that. Focus on the one aspect we've been able to tease out of this process and emphasize that in the hopes of providing an immune response that will allow a person to reject infection. Will it work? We don't know. Is there a chance? Sure. But there's also a chance the subject will die as their immune system runs amok. We were actively debating the possibility of the subject developing an auto-immune disease as a result of the inoculation."

Dominique sat back and surveyed them all. "To develop a working vaccine that can be mass produced within the week? That would require that all of our assumptions and conclusions be correct, and that everything reacts as we hope it will. Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely?" She looked at Selah. "No."

Everybody sat in silence. Ethan was the first to move. "We need to arrange this hit."

Chico blew out an exasperated sigh. "We're not going to solve a war with more violence. Somebody will simply take Plessy's place."

"But that will buy us time."

McKnight shook her head. "That's not the issue. The Blood Thrall advance is the issue."

Ethan smiled and spread his arms open wide. "We need to focus on what we can do. We can take a hit out on Plessy."

"Toward what end?" McKnight shook her head disdainfully. "So that we feel better about ourselves for having done something while we drown in a plague of vampires?"

"We're not asking you to be involved," said Ethan, an edge to his playful smile. An infuriating smile.

Chico raised his hands, "Guys, enough, come on."

"I'm just saying," said Ethan. "It's a clear and viable option. We could be in Miami or DC in two days and ready to go."

"What we need," said the General, "is for Dominique to provide us with a list of equipment or name some labs that would suit her. So get some rest. Sleep, and tomorrow morning, we'll plan our next move. Whatever is going to happen next will happen fast. We're going to do
 
our best to stay ahead of events and steer them in the direction we wish them to go. Understood?"

People nodded, and then the general closed down the line. A moment of hushed stillness, and then Ethan hopped off the counter. "All right. I'm going to cook up a large pasta carbonara. It's my specialty. You guys hungry?"

Selah's stomach gurgled at the thought of hot food and she nodded. McKnight did so almost reluctantly, but Dominique had fallen asleep again. Selah looked over to Lee, and realized that he had disappeared. Ethan entered the kitchen and began to rifle through the fridge, and Chico stepped up to crouch by Dominique and talk softly to her. Selah turned and began to head out of the room, but Dominique stopped her with a light touch.

"Don't," she said. Chico fell silent. Dominique shook her head. "There's nothing you can do to help him. Nothing anybody can do. He just needs time."

Selah opened her mouth to protest and then closed it. She nodded. Dominique smiled sadly, and reached out to squeeze her wrist. Selah bit back her protests and sat down. Some things, it seemed, would have to wait.

Chapter 20

Plans were set in motion early the next morning. With crisp mountain sunlight coming in through the windows, they ate a light breakfast cooked up by Ethan and listened as General Adam ordered his thoughts and told them what he thought was best.

Selah, Dominique, and McKnight would head out with Chico to Brightstar Labs in Iowa, a private research lab that had granted Dominique access to whatever she needed. Lee and Gordon would check themselves into a medical clinic an hour away from Brightstar, where Dominique could keep an eye on them and ensure that their withdrawal symptoms and treatment were handled correctly. Ethan, Fred, and Sam were to head to DC.

"You're going to do it," said Selah, a bite of crepe lifted to her mouth. General Adams frowned and didn't answer, so she looked over at Ethan. He was wearing a black apron with vertical white stripes down its front and was about to pour more batter into the crepe pan. He raised his eyebrows, affecting an innocent expression that was belied by his self-satisfied smile. "You guys are going to try and hit Plessy."

Fred looked beautiful in her sky blue fleece pajamas, somehow exuding elegance and class as she sat back at the round breakfast table, one leg crossed over the other. "Selah. Plessy must be stopped."

Selah turned back to General Adams. "This isn't right. We shouldn't fight them like this. We'll hand them all the ammo they need to paint us as a terrorist cell or something."

"They're not executing the strike straight away," said General Adams. "They're going to get into position. If your vaccine falls through, we'll have no other choice."

Selah frowned and bit down hard on her wedge of crepe. She almost resented that it was delicious. Ethan was making a huge fuss about cooking for everybody and his smug attitude made her want to slap him. "Fine. It won't be necessary. Our vaccine is going to work."

Ethan raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical, and flipped the next crepe. Fred bounced her foot, and sipped on her freshly squeezed orange juice. Sam leaned back, chewing slowly on his bite of crepe, and studied the ceiling.