Addict (Hunter #2)(64)

Marcus huffed. “Of course, don’t trust the vampire. We should place more faith in the Hell lord.”

Gray regarded Marcus sullenly. “At least we know why he’s doing it. He’ll do it because he wants an even bigger hold on me. I have a lot to offer him.”

Marcus’s smile was ruthless. “And Alexander will do it because I’ll pull his heart out if he does not.”

“He’s a warrior,” Gray shot back. “I doubt you could best him in battle, and your mental tricks won’t work on him.”

“Ah, but he sleeps, Lieutenant,” Henri Jacobs pointed out. “And we do not.”

The doors swung open again. Hugo strode back in, his face set in serious lines. I like to think of it as his lawyer face. “Your Highness, my client wishes to be assured of complete immunity from prosecution if he is to proceed.”

Donovan’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “Why?”

I didn’t need a magic eight ball to answer that question. Alexander Sharpe was a doctor. An evil doctor. “You’ve been experimenting, haven’t you, Sharpe?”

The vampire shrugged and flicked at his fingernails. “I am a curious lad.”

“Dr. Sharpe will not answer any questions concerning the nature of his medical experimentation without the aforementioned immunity,” Hugo stated. “Not that I’m affirming or denying that the doctor has actually been involved in any form of experimentations.”

“Right.” Donovan shook his head as though he wished he didn’t have to do what he was about to do. “This had better work, Hugo. He has immunity.”

Sharpe clapped his hand together. “Excellent. I’m going to need a couple of donors. I need a bit of the lieutenant’s blood and the king’s as well.”

“Naturally,” Donovan said, taking off his jacket nonetheless.

Gray sat down in the chair closest to my bed. He had his muscular arm out, allowing Henri to start a line. Henri’s movements were quick and efficient, as though he’d done this a thousand times before, and he very likely had. In no time at all, Gray’s blood was flowing into the plastic donation bag. The king stood to the side, waiting his turn.

“You want to explain what you’re planning to do to me?” I watched Sharpe neatly fold his jacket and roll up his sleeves. There was an almost gleeful light in his eyes.

“I would love to explain everything now that I know I won’t be executed for it.” Sharpe was back at my side, holding my dead arm up for inspection. “I had a theory, you see. The king there is a miraculous thing. Back when he was a young lad thinking about taking over the Council, King Daniel made the intelligent decision to bring me on board.”

“It was that or kill you.” Donovan stood back, watching the small crowd. His blue eyes slowly patrolled the room. I got the feeling very little got past the king. “I didn’t think I could get away with the better option.”

Sharpe completely ignored his monarch. His face was more animated than I remembered. He enjoyed being the center of attention. “When the king brought a vampire on board in those days, he turned us again. He required a blood oath. I made it. I’ve had a lot of blood in my life, Hunter, and none of it could touch that bit the king gave me. My own special talents were greatly enhanced by taking the king’s blood. It made me think.”

“So the king’s blood didn’t give you his powers.” I was grateful for that fact. I didn’t like to think about a supercharged Alexander Sharpe.

“God, no,” Donovan interjected. “If that was true, I’d never share it with other vampires at all.”

“The king’s blood strengthens whoever takes it.” Marcus was the only one in the room who had ever met a king other than Donovan. I’d heard stories of how he dethroned the first vampire to rise with a king’s power. Apparently, he hadn’t been as sane as Donovan. “It doesn’t change the power of the one who takes it. It intensifies the power. Even among non-vampire’s, it has this effect.”

Gray got out of the chair after finishing his donation. “What do you mean?”

Donovan took his place and Henri began working on him.

“Take Devinshea,” my boyfriend said. He held my good hand in both of his, as though trying to give me his strength. “I remember when he couldn’t control his magic. After he began regularly taking the king’s blood, his fertility powers exploded. Even the queen’s glow became stronger with her husband’s blood.”

“Yes.” Sharpe sighed with longing. “She’s almost too bright to look at sometimes.”

“How is this going to help save my Nex Apparatus’s arm?” Donovan asked impatiently as his blood began to flow.

Sharpe went over and opened up the large leather bag he’d carried in with him. It was a doctor’s bag, but nothing modern. I would bet he’d brought it with him when he journeyed to the new world. “Well, Your Highness, your blood is going to act as an accelerant for the demon’s healing powers. I could use one of the wolves’ blood, but I think the demon blood is stronger. Your uncle can heal, but in the case of a serious injury, the lieutenant is naturally better able to not only heal, but actually regrow body parts.”

“What the hell is that?” I asked as he pulled out an outrageously large needle. “Tell me you use that on horses.”