Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 82

Myrnin nodded. "As I am, so shall they all be. Every vampire who lives will suffer this in the next ten years, unless it is stopped."

"Amelie brought us to Morganville to buy us time, to find a way to ensure our survival. She believed -- she believed that humans might hold the keys to this plague, and she also believed that we could no longer afford to live as we had, preying in the night or hiding. She thought that humans and vampires could live in cooperation, and find the solution to our illness together. Most thought her mad, but she was the only one of us left who could create young, and so she is, by default, the one we must obey."

"So -- Morganville's a kind of lab. She's trying to find a cure, and protect all of you at the same time."

"Exactly so." Myrnin rubbed his hands over his face again. "I'm getting tired, Ana. Best give me the crystals."

I poured out a few in his hand. He met my eyes. "More," he said. "The disease has advanced. I will need a large dose to stay with you, even for a while."

I poured about a teaspoon out. Myrnin popped it in his mouth, made a face at the bitterness, and swallowed. A shudder went through him, and I actually saw the weariness and confusion fade. "Excellent. That really was an amazing discovery. Too bad about the doctor, really, he was very bright." Oh dear. Myrnin was swinging toward the manic now, thanks to the drugs. That was dangerous. "You're very bright. Perhaps you could read through the notes."

"I -- I'm just now starting advanced biochemistry -- "

"Nonsense, your native ability is clear." He pointed toward the shaker of crystals in my hand. "Take it."

"No. It's your medicine, not mine."

"And it will help you keep up with me, because we have very little time, Ana, very little." His eyes were bright and clear, like a bird's, and with about as much affection. "There are two ways you can assist me. You can take the crystals, or you can help me extend this period of clarity in other ways."

I sat back on my heels. "You said you wouldn't."

"Indeed. But you see, the disease makes me a sentimental fool. If I am to find an heir to my knowledge, and find a cure for my people, then I can't be burdened with such considerations." His gaze brushed over me, abstract and hungry. "You burn so very brightly, you know."

"Yeah," I muttered. "You said." I hated this. I hated that Myrnin could change like this, go from friend to enemy in the space of a minute. Which one was real? Or was any of it?

I shook half a teaspoon of the crystals into my palm.

"More," Myrnin said. I added a couple, and he reached out, took the shaker, and poured a heaping mound of it into my hand. "You have a great deal to learn, and you are operating from such a disadvantage. Better safe than sorry."

I didn't want to take it -- well, I did, a little, because the strawberry smell of the crystals brought back flashes of the way the world had looked: diamond clear, uncomplicated, simple.

Hard not to want that.

Myrnin said, "Take it, or I will have to take you, Ana. We have no more moves on our chessboard."

I poured the crystals onto my tongue and almost gagged from the bitterness. The strawberry flavor was overwhelmed by it, and the aftertaste was rotten and cold on my tongue, and I thought for a second I might throw up ...

... and then everything snapped into hot, sharp, perfect focus.

Myrnin no longer looked strange and pathetic, he was a burning pillar of energy barely contained by skin. I could see that he was sick, somehow; there was a darkness in him, like rot at the heart of a tree. The room took on a fey glitter. Neurotransmitters, I thought. My brain was rushing a million miles an hour, making me giddy and breathless. My reaction time must be ten times faster.