Wild and Free (The Three #3)(148)
When he did, Abel felt a chill glide down his spine.
“I want to build a great fire and have you control his mind so he walks into it himself and burns to ash, all while we record that and send it to Etienne.”
“I hear you,” Abel said quietly.
“Alas, we cannot do that,” Gregor continued. “So I believe our best course of action right now is to return him to his home and continue to monitor him, with you programming him to report to us should there be communiqués he receives while not in his house. If those who call themselves The True believe we’re scrambling or inactive, and still don’t know we’ve turned their own against them, we build our upper hand.”
“Right,” Abel agreed. “But he’s got three kids that he’s…” Abel trailed off when Gregor shook his head.
“They’re hangers, Abel.”
“He’s abusing them. They think they like it but—”
Gregor interrupted, “They do like it.”
Abel turned fully to the vampire. “It isn’t healthy.”
“No, agreed, it’s not to your understanding of what’s healthy, as well as mine, as well as anyone who has a fit mind. However, hangers do not have healthy minds and they cannot be rehabilitated. This has been tried. It would serve no purpose to keep them away from Miko. They’d only find the next closest vampire and hope for more of the same.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to get them help?” Abel asked.
Gregor again shook his head. “There have been vampires who have studied hangers quite thoroughly. The agreed theory is that they’re descendants of those who offered the same services to our kind in times when vampires were not ruled by any governing body, likely against their will. However, there was no Council, no Dominion. They were free to do as they wish; treat humans as they wish. The ancestors of hangers endured what we consider abuse for centuries to the point, perhaps so they could retain a modicum of sanity, that they convinced themselves they enjoyed it. To the point it became part of their psyche. It’s who they are. It’s what they crave. There is no way to help them. It would be as impossible as making you not vampire, not wolf. They are, Abel, what all of humanity will likely become if The True succeed in their aim.”
Abel tasted the thought of that in his mouth and it was foul.
“It would be interesting to see if you could use your ability to change this,” Gregor commented. “But I predict that would fail.”
Abel crossed his arms on his chest. “Right, then I was responsible for letting those kids loose for this *”—he jerked his head to Miko—“to treat them like shit once. Gotta tell you, not hip on being responsible for doing it again. If I can’t adjust what they crave, at least I can wipe all memory of this guy from their heads, and them from his. They’ll be cast adrift, but they’ll also be safe for a while.”
“If that’s what you wish to do, then do it.”
“That’s what I wish to do,” Abel told him.
“Fine,” Gregor replied, now sounding distracted. “Then I’ll ask you to finalize things. I need to be upstairs to see if our media specialists have managed damage control. You’re good to finish here?”
“I’m good.”
“I’m sure I’ll see you later,” Gregor finished, giving Abel a dip of his chin, Miko a cold glance, and walking out of the room.
Abel looked back to Miko. He dealt with wiping all memory of the compound, interrogation, and the three young men from his head. He continued with giving him orders to become their informant. And he finished with commanding him not to take another hanger, ever.
“Now you get to go home, *,” he muttered to the slack-faced vampire, then turned to the door, opened it, and gave orders to the soldiers out there to find someone to take the f*ckwad home.
*
Abel stood with his shoulders leaned against the back wall of living room eight, his eyes on the TV.
The newscaster was talking.
“All across social media sites today, disturbing videos depicting the apparent rape and murder of several women were posted. As the murders appeared to be actual vampires draining their victims dry of blood, this alarming multitudes of people, experts examined these videos and found them to be an elaborate hoax, seemingly perpetuated for no purpose but to shock the masses and titillate the few who might find this depravity appealing. A task force of federal law enforcement has been created to track and arrest the individuals responsible. And the large social media sites have sent widespread messages to their users that if any of these videos were again shared, the user would face lifetime bans from their site.”
And there it was—Gregor’s media specialists had done their jobs.
“You agree with that play?” Abel asked Callum, who was standing beside him in the same stance.
Jian-Li and Regan were sitting on the couch in front of them, their attention to the TV.
Sonia and Delilah were up in Lucien and Leah’s bedroom, giving Leah whatever they had to give and checking on her state of mind.
“No good play after that,” Callum answered. “The Dominion and my kingdom come out saying there actually are immortals, but we’re not all murdering rapists, it’d cause mass panic.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“After that shit, how we gonna lead humans and supernaturals into living together harmoniously?” Abel asked.