Page 159 of You Only Love Twice
"I hope he doesn't. He's the only one of you who seems to understand what's at stake." Malloryn pressed both hands on the desk. "Is there any chance we could focus on the mission? Any chance at all?" He shot Gemma a look that cut through the laughter. "I thought you wanted to take down the man who put that neural implant in your brain and took over your will?"
This time it was Obsidian's turn to lance the duke with a stare. He pressed his hand to the small of Gemma's back as she abruptly sobered. She'd been trying to forget what happened, and despite his unease with the easy way these people interacted, he knew she needed it.
Gallows humor and all that.
"Of course I do," Gemma replied.
"Have you got paper?" Obsidian asked.
Malloryn snapped his fingers, and Herbert managed to provide paper and a spring-loaded pen.
"What are we to expect?" the duke asked.
There was no way to explain the breadth and scope of the Core. Obsidian began to draw instead, sketching out a map of the internals.
"Munitions factory is here. Training center here. Medical. The lab. These are the cells," he murmured, his pen moving sharply over the paper.
"Munitions factory?" Charlie repeated.
"Cells?" Malloryn's icy gray eyes locked on him.
"Where the newly createddhampirare held. Ghost wants them kept separate until their training is completed and they can prove they're in control of the increased blood-lust." It was also where he kept the most dangerous of thedhampir. "This cell on the end belongs to X. Avoid this area at all costs. If this cell door is open, evacuate the Core immediately."
"Why?" Charlie asked suspiciously.
"X is one of the originaldhampir. When we were in Falkirk he started fixating upon one of the nurses. She was kind to him, and he was always... a little unhinged. Dr. Cremorne didn't approve and moved her to another area. X is the one who started the original breakout. He tore his reinforced cell door off and ripped half the building down looking for her. We took advantage of the unrest to escape, but in the fire, Mary died from smoke inhalation. He couldn't understand and he's never been the same. Ghost was forced to insert the neural implant in him to try and control him, but it had an adverse effect upon him. If he gets loose he will kill anything and everything in the Core. If he escapes the Core, he will continue his rampage until it's over. We keep a shock collar on him at all times, and Silas is the only one who can get through to him."
"Excellent." Charlie locked his fingers together and stretched them. "A volatiledhampirwho makes dangerousdhampirassassins sweat. Petition to avoid this entire area completely?"
"Granted," Byrnes said, as if he had the right.
"How manydhampirdoes Ghost have?" Malloryn rested his knuckles on the desk, leaning over the map.
"There are thirty-fourdhampirrecruits in the training center—or there were. A new brand of weapon, conscripted from those of his former Falcons who survived the revolution. Balfour wanted to improve his forces and strip the weakness from them, but only one in three survives the serum transformation. Dr. Richter was forced to replicate Dr. Erasmus Cremorne'selixir vitaefrom our blood samples, and the initial batches proved fatal. Hundreds died until he managed to get the formula to work. Balfour's been searching for Cremorne's diary for years, but one of the former inmates of the asylum said it was destroyed in the fire."
"Thirty-four is more than enough," Malloryn replied through gritted teeth. "His Falcons were more than enough. How the hell are we supposed to deal with over thirtydhampir?"
"We're going to need the Nighthawks," Gemma said. "For manpower."
"It gets worse, Your Grace. You're forgetting the rest of us."
"Rest of you?" Byrnes choked out.
"The originals," Gemma murmured. "Those blue bloods who were given over to Falkirk Asylum and survived Dr. Cremorne's experiments. Ghost, Obsidian, Silas, and X."
"Dido is with Balfour in Russia, along with one of the Russian operatives, Jelena. Pray you never meet Jelena. They call her the Ivory Kraken, and she’s almost fanatical in her devotion to Balfour. Neither of them were in Falkirk, but created within the Crimson Court." Obsidian strolled around the desk. "X is to be avoided at all costs, and I would prefer to keep Silas out of this if possible—"
"The queen wants the heads of all thedhampirarrayed against her," Malloryn pointed out, "or she may take her wrath out upon Gemma."
Obsidian laced his arms across his chest. "I will do anything within my power to protect Gemma. But Silas is my brother. He’s the only one I give a damn about."
"He made his choices."
"And I am making mine."
They stared at each other.
"I'm not alone in not having much of a choice," he said softly. "I don't want to redeem myself for actions I couldn't help taking. But I want to reclaim what is left of me. If I let him die without at least trying to sway him, then what does that make me? I told you I wouldn't always obey you. I know where he will be. I only need an hour to warn him before we leave, and you have much to plan before the night is out."
