“You’re not making me kill him as an initiation rite, are you?”
“On the contrary, he is going to help you.”
“How in the world is that thing going to help me?”
Maryl ignored him, went to the cage, and walked inside. The beastly man cowered in the corner; fear registered in his eyes. She bent down on one knee and took a firm grasp of his mouth and forced it open. She looked inside and found the tooth that most resembled a fang. She yanked it out and pushed him backward.
“You want me to wear that fang tooth around my neck like a necklace?”
She looked at the fang and shrugged. “If you want to and hand it down to the generations of your kin. But, right now, I have another idea for its use.”
“Like what?” Marty asked with uncertainty.
Maryl walked to Marty. “Take your sweater off and pull up your left sleeve.”
“Why? And why my left wrist? I am right-handed.”
“The vast majority of people are right-handed. You want to have secrecy. So, if you outstretch your right arm to shake hands, people would see the secret tattoo. Understand? And why are you daring to question me right now? That’s not part of the rules, remember?”
Marty struggled to take the sweater off quickly. “Yes, of course. I am sorry.”
When he pulled up his sleeve, he held out his exposed left wrist. It’s a good thing Stanley had the correct blood type because seeing Marty’s skin would have made her hungry.
Maryl rubbed the fang until she could see and smell the burning tooth. She deemed it hot when she placed the small fang on one side of his wrist and pushed it deep into Marty’s skin. She left it there for several seconds, watching Marty wither in pain. Then she did the same for the other side a half-inch away. After she was done, there were two impressions of the fang on his left wrist.
“You can get it tattooed some other time, Marty. You wanted an initiation; you got one.”
Marty admired the tattoo, but something was missing. “Suppose I do something worth the next step, like building an army for you? What then?”
Humans, all they want is recognition, thought Maryl. She shrugged. “I don’t know…vampires like blood… how about having a tattoo of a red blood droplet come down from each side?”
“Great idea!”
“But that part you would have to earn. It won’t be easy. Now, we need to discuss the specifics of the Fellowship of the Fangs, Marty.”
“And I need to know all about the vampires. You had mentioned that there were different types?”
“Yes. You hungry?”
“For blood?”
“No, human. I meant food, human food.”
“Yes. Do you eat our food?”
“No, but I need your full attention. I’ve noticed people with full bellies tend to remember things longer. Better yet, get some paper and a pencil because it’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter Ten
Clayton’s Lab
Present Day, July 13th
Clayton had to avoid the main roads even in once neutral areas. He was not happy that Maryl Rosser had broken the treaty. She would pay for her offenses!
All he wanted was a peaceful transition into other blood types dominion. Now he was pursued by both Ray’s tribes and Maryl’s.
Clayton had called in favors from his cousin tribes to get him to his lab.
Now that he was there, he would need his staff’s knowledge. Clayton called every one of his blood types, who were scientists in all disciplines, and told them to meet him at the lab as soon as possible.
He went to the conference room where he had his staff do a meet and greet. He counted thirteen experts, far less than he had hoped.
“Where are the other scientists?” Clayton asked.
“There were six others, sir, but they were ambushed en route here,” said Jack, an immunologist.
“Were any of you followed? Were the vampires that were ambushed killed or taken away to be tortured into giving away our location?” Clayton asked with frustration.
“The thirteen of us are positive; we were not followed. We think there is a high probability they were taken away and tortured. It’s only a matter of time before Maryl and Ray can extract our location from our brethren, sir.”
“Damn!”
“Yes, we are, sir,” Jack, who was one of the scientists, remarked. “And sir, let's not forget your former assistant, Desiree Maholmes, wants a piece of you too. She knows about this place. They might torture them even if Desiree gave them our location.”
“Double damn!”
Clayton paced around the conference room. “How close are we to changing the serum, Jack?”
“Not very, sir.”
“Triple damn!” Clayton looked around the room in frustration. “Any good news?”
“Yes. We have ample supply of our types of A B and AB blood for both consumption and use for our purposes,” Stuart said.
Clayton raised an eyebrow. “How did you obtain so much of those types of blood, Stuart?”
“When you first informed us of the serum, we decided to do some hunting.”
“Sir, if I may?” a scientist whose name escaped Clayton asked.
“I may have more good news.”
“Good! What is it?”
She looked around the room. Her dark eyes, coupled with her long black hair, made her look like a warrior and not a scientist. “May I be blunt without punishment?”
“Yes, I don’t make it a habit of punishing vampires, except if they’re O types. What is it?”
“This lab of ours is pretty old. Twenty years old, and that’s ancient for lab equipment.”
“Come to the point; we don’t have much time.”
“I am… friends with a human that is also a scientist. The lab she works at is light years ahead of this one.”
“Will this human let us use her facility?”
She smiled. “I’m sure she can be persuaded.”
“How? Will she want money?”
“No, she’ll want something entirely different.”
“Like what?”
“She wants to be my girlfriend.”
“Wait, a human woman wants to be girlfriends with a female vampire?”
“Yes, don’t sound so homophobic, sir!”
Clayton sighed. “I don’t care about your sexuality. I care about your friendship with
