THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

unrepentant predator, and he richly deserved his fate.
    Delano’s mind slid away to another time, another place, another rogue to whom he’d given the benefit of a doubt. A creature who rewarded his act of compassion by going on to slaughter legions of defenseless men and women.
    “What in God’s name … have you done?”
    “ God’s name?” Delano lifted an eyebrow. “Not a bad idea to invoke it now, if you’re ever going to, Edward Webber. Because you’re dying.”
    Webber bared his fangs in a threatening hiss that normally would have made Delano leap back, but this time he made no attempt to move out of range. The vampire, or what was left of him, was too weak to threaten a kitten.
    “Fuck you, Bowen.” Webber’s chest rose and fell rapidly, abdominals pumping ceaselessly like a fish trying to breathe on dry land. “You’re crazy.”
    “I’m afraid you’re the one who’s fucked, as you so crudely put it. The first one you fed on — she was the bad choice. She carries the Merzetti blood.”
    “No!” Another shuddering spasm, another sustained, guttural groan. “No,” he rasped, when he had breath enough to talk again. “That’s a goddamn fairy tale. Told by long-tooths like you to keep the rest of us in line. Won’t work.”
    Slow as that message had come out, Webber had to pause a moment to recover his breath, signaling with an upraised finger that he wasn’t finished.
    “They’re prey, Bowen,” he said when he could continue. “ Prey! When you gonna get that through your head? Fucking food is all they are. And we’re at the top of the food chain.”
    “Not anymore, Edward. Not you, anyway.”
    “Shit.” Another shudder, this one weaker. “Merzetti Effect … it’s real?”
    Delano nodded. “As real as the genetic mutation reversal that’s going on inside you right now.”
    “Reversal? Jesus Christ. I’m really … going back?”
    “Yes.”
    “Sucks, but I don’t … see why it means … I’m dying.”
    “Trust me, Edward. You’re dying. Of acute hemolysis, to be specific. But thanks to your feeding again, I don’t know whether this attack on your red blood cells is being mounted by the Merzetti blood or whether it’s your second victim’s blood that’s killing you.”
    “Merzetti bitch… Had to be.”
    “Not necessarily. The mutation reversal might already have begun when you infused yourself with your second victim’s blood. Maybe she just wasn’t your type.”
    “My type?”
    “Your blood type, Edward. You could be suffering from a simple but catastrophic ABO incompatibility.”
    “No!”
    “I’m afraid so. You’re having an acute transfusion reaction. The mutation reversal would leave you open to it.”
    “Jesus!”
    “For what it’s worth, the Merzetti woman’s blood was your type, or at least what your type used to be, pre-mutation. I hoped it would reverse the mutation, but I didn’t know what else it might do. Now, thanks to your muddying the waters with your second meal, I still don’t know.”
    “You picked me! Motherfucker! You lured me … with her … as the bait.”
    “Guilty as charged.”
    Webber made a weak lunge. Delano didn’t even bother to retreat.
    “Kill you! Rip out your heart while it’s still beating … suck it dry.” The fight slowly went out of Webber as he realized the futility of his threat. “Must be something … you can do!” He clutched at Delano with clammy hands. “For God’s sake … Bowen … have mercy!”
    Mercy? Delano felt his face harden. He removed Webber’s hand from his arm.
    “First, Edward, you’d do better to ask for God’s mercy. I have none to give you. And secondly, you’re too far gone for my help. You were too far gone before I drew that blood. Even if I wanted to, I can’t offer you the support you need here. I just don’t have the tools. And you’d never make it to hospital, even supposing they knew what to do with you when you got there.”
    Another tremor. “Then don’t leave me.”
    Delano arched an eyebrow. “To die alone, you mean? Like you left every one of your victims to do?”
    “Please … I’m sorry.”
    Black-hearted sonofabitch wasn’t sorry. He’d do it all over again if he had the chance. But he was dying and he was frightened and he was human, dammit.
    Bowen sat on the nearby bed. “I’ll stay.”
     
     

 
    Chapter 4
     
    AINSLEY JERKED AWAKE. The room was dark but for a pool of yellow light cast by a small reading lamp in the corner, but she