“Your nervous systems are heightened by the presence of the electrical current you control,” Makeda said. “I’m not insulted. Amnis makes your processing faster. Other factors being equal, you are more intelligent.”

“But you can keep up,” Katya said. “How long did it take you to figure out Dr. McGrath was a vampire?”

“Three days.” Makeda frowned. “In my defense, we did not interact much at the beginning, and he’s not as pale as most vampires.”

“He’s also young and blends into groups of humans extremely well because of his mannerisms,” Katya said. “That’s part of his job for me. At the last lab he worked in, no one discovered he was immortal for over a year.”

“That’s surprising.”

Katya shrugged. “Scientific observation can be less precise when it’s not under a microscope.”

“Are you implying my colleagues and I are myopic?”

“Of course you are. That’s why I hired you.”

Makeda couldn’t argue with that.

“But,” Katya continued, “it’s not salient to the reason I called you here tonight. You’re brilliant for a human, which means you can keep up with our kind who are also very bright. You also have keen insight to the subject matter because of your research into thalassemia, which I believe will be useful on this project.”

“I assumed the thalassemia project would be shelved because of the Elixir problem.”

Katya’s eyes sharpened. “What do you know about Elixir?”

“Not much more than the basics,” Makeda said carefully. “Information is… limited. And obviously there are no journal articles published about it.”

“But you’ve heard about the strange wasting disease that has affected small populations in Europe?”

Makeda paused. “Rumors only. Word of mouth. But I’m a hematologist, not a gastro—”

“It’s tied to Elixir,” Katya said. “And it’s related to the blood. Everything is related to the blood in humans.”

Makeda didn’t agree, but she wasn’t going to argue. After all, the vampire controlled her funding.

Katya said, “I have a very small, very private lab in Northern California that has been working on finding a cure for Elixir for three years now. And I’ve decided, Dr. Abel, that the lab needs your brilliance.”

Her heart pounded. “You want me to head a lab looking into an Elixir cure?”

Finally. Finally!

“Of course you’re not going to head it,” Katya said.

Makeda’s heart dropped. “What?”

“There is already a project lead, and he’s brilliant. In fact, he is considered by some to be one of the defining minds of our race. But he’s at an impasse. He needs fresh eyes. Perspective.”

Her boss wanted her to play second fiddle for a brilliant vampire doctor? That was so far from a promotion she felt an angry rush of blood to her neck before she could temper her reaction. “Ms. Grigorieva—”

“Katya.”

“With respect, Katya…” Her father’s words lurked in the back of Makeda’s mind. Be careful. She took a breath. “I lead projects and have not been an assistant for many years. It’s a different set of skills to support and work with someone who is in charge of the direction of the research. A move like this hardly seems like a good use of my abilities.” Makeda paused to take a breath. “What I mean is—”

“You’re not an assistant,” Katya said. “You’re a boss. Don’t apologize for it; it’s one of the reasons I chose you for this position.”

I chose you.

Done. It was already done, and Makeda had to live with it. She tried not to let the wretched disappointment show on her face.

She knew the reality of going to work for a vampire. Her father had warned her, and she’d taken it under advisement. Huge funding opportunities, but there was no grievance committee. If your boss wanted you to do something, you did it or you quit. And quitting was only an option if you had the right kind of boss.

“You’re not going to be Lucien’s assistant,” Katya continued. “You’re going to be his partner. You’ll have your own staff and your own assistants. But I want your take on his research so far. I think you can add to it.”

“I don’t know anything about this vampire, but I know scientists, and your head researcher is going to hate this. Has he asked for a collaborator?”

“No.”

Makeda closed her eyes. “Then collaboration will not work.”

“Yes, it will. He doesn’t have a choice.”

She opened her eyes. “Does he have to obey you?”

“No. But I fund him, and he’s got three years and personal loss invested in this project.”

Makeda shook her head. “It’s not going to work. We will butt heads constantly. It might actually set the project back instead of advancing it.”

Catching Katya’s eye, Makeda could see the skepticism in her expression.

“I’m not trying to be contrary,” she continued. “I understand what you’re saying, and you could be right that another perspective on the research is all that’s needed to find a cure. Brilliant advances can happen during collaboration, but unless he’s looking for help, he’s not going to welcome it. Scientists can be as territorial as vampires. I don’t even want to think about a scientist who is a vampire.”