“She has taken Elixir, Natalie. She’s walking poison.”

Tulio grunted from the corner. “And an appetizing one, too. Any vampire who smelled that blood would want to have a taste.”

Temper raised its head. “So what? Are you going to kill her when she’s not useful anymore?” She rose to her feet.

Baojia grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “Of course we’re not going to kill her.”

“I would if it were up to me,” Tulio muttered. Cirilda sneered and said something that sounded insulting in her own tongue. Tulio shrugged. “According to you, she’ll die anyway.”

“Then we have to find a way to help her,” Natalie said. “There has to be something we can do.”

She sat when Baojia pulled her down. “We’ll figure something out. According to Dez, they’ve been trying to find the right doctor to study this formula. Hopefully someone immortal with experience in medieval alchemy. Maybe having a live… patient will help whoever they find. But she can’t go back. Not as she is right now. You can ask your friends—she’ll die within months without treatment.”

Natalie sat, irritated with Tulio’s callous regard for the girl and heartbroken over the situation. “It’s not her fault.”

“Of course it isn’t,” he said. “But would you have her spread it to others? What if this is a blood-borne disease and anyone who touches her blood or comes in contact with it is also infected? What if they also spread it? Not only vampires, but humans are in danger until we know more.”

She nodded. “Fine. But what are we going to do with her? You think it’ou blood-s a good idea to take her to Gio and Beatrice’s House of a Thousand Vampires?”

“Probably not.”

“We will keep her,” Cirilda spoke in heavily accented English.

“I knew you could speak English!” Natalie almost shouted while Cirilda smirked.

“Woman, you do not consult with me on this?” Tulio asked gruffly.

“We’ll take her and keep her until you can find a more permanent solution,” Cirilda said, ignoring Tulio. “She’ll be safe here. And he won’t touch her blood. He only likes mine anyway.”

“He only drinks from you? Is that safe?” She blurted out the question before her brain caught up with her mouth. “Sorry, none of my business.”

Cirilda stood and walked toward Tulio, patting his cheek as she left the room. “Don’t let his face fool you. He is an old, old man. I’ll get some clean clothes for the girl and some food for you. You should eat before you leave.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The road was black and empty on the way to Los Angeles as Natalie and Baojia tossed ideas back and forth.

“You mentioned something about a priest who might know some of the missing girls,” she said. “Was it Father Andrade?”

“Yes, how do you—?”

“The first time I worked with my friend Manuel it was on a drug-mule case and he was a source.” He saw her eyes drift to the window. “That was a good story. Well, not good, but it had good results.”

“These girls, they’re a little like drug mules if you think about it.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She turned back to him, frowning. “So, Father Andrade? You want someone to go to the mission? I know who he is. I could go down during the day and—”

“Too close to Ivan’s club. Even during the day, he could have people watching and they might know who you are. If Brigid’s husband comes, he’d be the best person.”

“I still think if it was during the day—”

“No, Natalie.”

He saw her eyes narrow, but she changed the subject. “Brigid’s husband was a priest?”

Baojia nodded. “He’s left the Church—well, the priesthood, I guess—and works mostly with Brigid now. But I’ve been told he still maintains a close relationship with the Vatican. He’s an earth vampire. I don’t know him that well, but I know he has a huge clan. From what I can tell, he and Brigid have been quietly investigating Elixir ever since it showed up in Dublin, where they live. They have a lot of contacts and if Father Andrade knows something, he’d be more likely to confide in someone connected to the Church.”

She was silent again, and Baojia could almost hear her brain spinning as she stared out the window. Finally, she said, “I wonder how long Rosa was kept.”

“I was wondering the same thing. Does it take time to work into a human’s system? How much do they give them? Does Elixir make the blood more appealing the longer they’ve been on it?”

Her eyes were lit with wild curiosity. “And why? What’s the point of all this? Pure amusement? Or are they inviting people who might not know what the drug does? Political enemies? People they want to weaken? How would they convince them to come? How much do Ivan’s people even know about it? You said yourself you’d only heard rumors.”

It was a question that had been swirling around ever since they’d made the connection between the missing girls and the Elixir. “It’s entirely possible that they know very little about the lasting effects of the drug. I had heard rumors, but only about the benefits. No one mentioned the downsides.”

“Big surprise there.”

“And Paula doesn’t seem to know anything about it. Rory?” he muttered. “I don’t know what to think about Rory. When did the first bodies show up in the desert around here?”