THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

She paused a moment to search for the right word, opting finally for Delano’s descriptor. “…candidates? Don’t we need to know what happens when they receive my blood?”
    “We do.” He nodded. “Presuming it works the way I’ve theorized and produces a reversal in a compatible subject, we’d then proceed to test it on a non-compatible subject. Again, we’d have to ensure they didn’t feed again after infusing your blood. Then we’d need to see if they experience the same mutation reversal. Finally, we need to observe whether or not they experience a hemolytic reaction following the reversal, brought on strictly by your blood and no one else’s, and how severe that reaction might be. It’s entirely possible it might be manageable. Webber’s wasn’t; he’d just infused too much incompatible blood.”
    She chewed her lip. “Then what? I mean, I know you’d use the knowledge of how the agent actually operates to create your vaccine, but what about the predators we test it on? If I knowingly lend myself to this experiment of yours and someone dies…”
    To his credit, Delano didn’t try to minimize the risk. “It’s a distinct possibility.”
    “Couldn’t you … I don’t know … extract some blood and inject it into the subject’s veins with a syringe?”
    His face went carefully blank. “That would work just as effectively, and with the tactical squad Eli has assembled, they could no doubt locate a predator during the daylight hours and Eli could inject him while he was immobilized by the day sleep.”
    That sounded easy enough. Why hadn’t he suggested it before? She held his gaze, probing for his thoughts, but came up empty. No, not empty. He was shielding. Then it clicked. He couldn’t do it himself, since he couldn’t move about in daylight, and he couldn’t bring himself to require Eli to do it for him.
    “Of course!” she said. “In that scenario, if the subject were to die, that would make you — through Eli — his active judge, jury and executioner. You’d pretty much be killing him in his sleep.”
    “Don’t worry about me. If that’s the way it has to be, that’s what I’ll do. Same goes for Eli.” He looked away.
    “No! I’d feel worse. At least with Edward Webber, he attacked me with intent to kill. He got what was coming to him. Sort of.”
    His lips turned up in an uncommonly gentle smile, at least for him. “Come on, Ainsley. Do you think you’re going to sell me on the idea that you’re a fan of an-eye-for-an-eye justice? A proponent of the death penalty?”
    “No, I couldn’t sell anyone on that idea, because I detest the concept of capital punishment. But in this case, he effectively killed himself, in the process of trying to kill me. Not to mention the second bite victim. I guess I can live with… Omigod!”
    “What?”
    “I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me to ask — what happened to the second victim?”
    “She escaped. Webber was too weak by that point to restrain her long enough to exsanguinate her.”
    Thank God. “Well, there’s a break. Of course, the poor woman probably now thinks she’s nuts. To be attacked like that, and then presto, there’s no evidence left, and no one to explain it to her…”
    “Oh, there was evidence,” he said, his face grim. “Because the feeding was interrupted, there was no coagulant infusion and no sealing of the arterial puncture.”
    Ainsley blanched. “So, what? She staggered away, squirting arterial blood from her neck?”
    “Not a pretty picture, I know. But she flagged down a motorist, who called 911 and applied pressure to the wound until the paramedics arrived.”
    “Did they believe her? That she’d been attacked by a vampire?”
    “They believed that she was attacked, all right. By a nutcase who fancied himself a—”
    “Holy shit.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Webber’s attack on me was interrupted. I distinctly remember lots of blood, on my hands, on my coat. It was all kind of pink, diluted by the hard rain, but I remember blood. He wouldn’t have had time to—”
    She stopped mid-sentence, as the truth struck her. Of course. Delano. She felt a flush creep up her neck.
    “You did it, didn’t you? You stopped the bleeding.”
    “Yes.”
    She watched his gaze drop to her neck. Drawn there by her rising blush, or by the memory of that night? Suddenly, another memory jarred loose. The dark stranger bending over her, pressing his mouth to her throat…
    Oh, yikes! She closed