Page 56 of Tell Me Why
“You aren’t going tolikea lot of what I have to say,” Isabella finally said when they were settled. “I know that. I know that you’ve always been… and yet you’ve spentsomuch of your life associated with Ginger. I’ve never understood.”
“No one understands Ginger, including her ex-husband,” Tell said. “Go on.”
“Ex?” Isabella asked, and Tell cleared his throat, indicating that the ‘go on’ part had been the relevant part of what he’d said. She looked up at him, two boughs up and a quarter of the way around the tree, then shrugged and went on.
“The parts trade has always been a part of… everything… since it was first discovered. My father dabbled in it from time to time, usually just moving parts on from one place to another, or coming into possession of them as part of…”
“He killed people and took everything they had,” Tell said. “Yes. I remember that.”
Isabella gave him a dismissive look.
“We didn’t have much use for them, because it’s sodegrading, but they havevalue, so he would sell them along into the markets that wanted them.”
“Who?” Tina asked, and Isabella looked sharply at her, as though she’d spoken out of turn.
“Who what?” she asked.
“Who uses vampire parts?” Tina asked. “And for what?”
Isabella sighed at her.
“How little do you know about everything?” she asked. “I ought to tell you to hush while the grownups speak.”
“They make you stronger,” Tell said. “Faster. More sharp-witted, more perceptive. They’ve been working out a thousand nuanced applications of them ever since we figured out that we could eat each other. But they degrade you. They make you morebase. And after a while, you become the monster that… well, they didn’t write about vampires as monsters because they came across the ones that acted that way, but it’s a natural progression. You lose your humanity, your civilization, your self-restraint, and ultimately your entire sense of impulse control. They’re temporary as boons, but the destruction is permanent. I’m also told they’re quite addictive.”
Was that what Ginger had done to Hunter?
Tell shifted to where he could see Tina.
Had she stopped breathing?
He made eye contact with her, making sure sheknewthat he knew that something significant had just happened, then he sat back and went on.
“It’s not without analogy to drugs,” he said. “Used lightly and occasionally, they do very little harm, and some vampires enjoy them. But you imagine even a recreational drug user who is immortal… there are always ultimately problems.”
“Yes,” Isabella said dryly. “But that isn’t a part of this conversation.”
“Isn’t it?” Tell asked with equal wryness. Isabella ignored him and went on.
“Regardless, we became…aware… of the networks of men involved in procuring and distributing it… and there wasverygood money in it… and power.”
“Shame,” Tell said. “Shame is one of the greatest levers ever invented.”
“I never said that my father was thegoodman in all of this,” Isabella said. “Just that he isn’t the bad guy.”
“Go on,” Tell said.
“And then the market exploded in the last… forty years or so,” she said. “It used to be mostly local. Very little actualshippinginvolved. Just harvesters and their little local networks of sellers. But someverybad men started to realize how muchmoneythere was in it, men who are…”
“New men,” Tell said with a snort. “You’re fighting off new men.”
“Like Daryll,” Tina said.
“Old money is only dignified by being old,” Tell scoffed.
“It’s more than that, Tell,” Isabella said. “It’sviolent. The… farms… You have no idea. You can’timagine…”
“I assure you, I can,” Tell said. “I wasn’t up in the high towers for all of that time, Isabella. I saw what humanity looks like at its lowest and hungriest, and I know that vampires can do just as badly.”
