Phantom Shadows Part 14

Thank goodness she wasn't the only one who understood that.

"Thank you," Bastien said.

She nodded.

"So, this stimulant needs more work? More testing?"

"Yes." She just didn't know how she was going to do it.

"How would it be delivered? Once we're hit with the darts, we don't have much time to react before we pa.s.s out."

"I've put it in auto-injectors similar to the ones you used the other night."

"I don't know that that's the best option. A hypodermic might be faster and easier to handle. You said it's similar to the ones I used, but not identical."

"Yes."

"Could I see one? I may not know much about the chemical itself, but I can at least let you know if you'll need an easier delivery system."

"Sure. I'll go get one."

Melanie had only made three of them. She took one from the lab and left the other two behind in a locked cabinet.

When she returned to Cliff 's apartment, he and Bastien were conversing rather vehemently in that way of theirs that was inaudible to human ears. Which was a trip, because it looked like they would be shouting if they were truly alone.

She hoped Bastien was convincing Cliff to stop pressuring her to test the drug on him. She just couldn't and wouldn't do it.

All conversation ceased when she entered. Closing the door, she approached Bastien with the auto-injector.

He turned it over and over in his hands, then flipped the lid off. "Could we carry it without the lid? It would slow us down less. And my motor skills were a little sluggish after I was tranqed."

"The lid is a safety release. You need to keep it on until you use it."

"Is it like adrenaline? Do you have to administer it in the leg?"

"No. Like the tranquilizer, it can be administered anywhere."

"And you just push it against your skin and hold it for three seconds?"

She shook her head. "Ten seconds."

"Ten seconds is too long. We'll either be fighting vampires who move about in fractions of seconds or humans firing automatic weapons. Could you cut that time in half?"

"We don't know how the virus will react to delivering too much too quickly."

A faint tap broke the silence that ensued. Melanie glanced down and realized Bastien had dropped the lid to the auto-injector. He followed her gaze. "Oh. Sorry about that."

She smiled. "I got it." Melanie bent down to pick it up. A tingle of foreboding scuttled down her spine, a warning that came too late.

Cliff leapt forward.

Melanie gasped as he wrapped his arms around her in a vicelike grip, yanked her back against him, and flew backward across the room, putting the sofa between them and Bastien.

"Cliff?" She struggled to free herself.

His hold tightening, he eased back several more steps.

Oh s.h.i.+t. Was Cliff having an episode? He hadn't had one yet, so she hadn't been expecting it.

Bastien turned to face them.

"It's okay!" Melanie blurted, terrified he would attack Cliff. "I-"

She tucked a shaking hand in her pocket the same time Bastien reached into his own and drew out the hypodermics containing the tranquilizer that should have been in her hand by now.

He had taken them? When? "What are you . . . ?"

Placing all three plastic needle guards in his mouth, he pulled them off with his teeth and spat them on the floor.

"Bastien . . ."

Drawing his arm back he shoved the needles into his neck and depressed the plungers.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing? Are you crazy?" she demanded shrilly.

"We have to see if this"-he held up the possible antidote-"is going to work."

Alarm shot to the surface as she realized what was happening. Cliff wasn't having a psychotic break. Bastien was testing the d.a.m.ned serum.

"You can't do this!" She intensified her struggles, but found them ineffective when pitted against a vampire who already held her immobile. "Cliff, don't let him do this. Please!"

"It's his choice, Dr. Lipton."

Bastien swayed as the triple dose of tranquilizer went to work.

"It could kill him!"

Cliff said nothing.

"Bastien, please! Don't do this."

Bastien staggered back a step and nearly lost his balance. Raising the auto-injector with the antidote, he shoved it into his neck on the side opposite the needle marks.

Panic seized Melanie, robbing her of the ability to move, to struggle, to call out. She couldn't seem to do anything but watch in horror as each second pa.s.sed.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Bastien tipped to one side and started to fall over, but caught himself by tripping over to the sofa and bracing a hand against it.

Nine. Ten.

Releasing the auto-injector, he let it fall to the floor.

"Well?" Cliff asked, all of the worry she couldn't see in his face there in his voice.

"I don't think it's working." He closed his eyes. "All I feel is the tranquilizer weighing me down." His words slowed and slurred.

Melanie hadn't expected this. She hadn't considered that there might be no reaction. That it wouldn't do a d.a.m.ned thing.

She patted Cliff 's arm. "You can let me go now."

Giving her shoulders a soft squeeze, he released his hold and stepped back. "I'm sorry. Bastien asked for my help. After all he's done for me, I couldn't say no even though it scared the h.e.l.l out of me."

She nodded and started forward.

Bastien's knees buckled.

Cliff leapt over the sofa and caught him. Looping one of Bastien's arms around his shoulders, Cliff guided him around to sit on the sofa.

"You don't feel anything at all?" Melanie asked.

He shook his head. "Do you have any more?"

"Bastien-"

"Get it. Maybe the dose isn't strong enough."

He leaned forward, braced his elbows on his knees, and let his head droop.

A thousand thoughts racing through her mind, Melanie left the apartment and dashed across the hall to the lab.

"Everything okay, Doc?" one of the guards outside Cliff 's room called out behind her as she swiped her card and entered the security code with trembling fingers.

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Because you look a little . . ."

The buzz sounded.

Melanie threw the door open and hurriedly retrieved the other two auto-injectors.

It hadn't worked. The stimulant hadn't worked. Why hadn't it worked? She hadn't been exaggerating when she had said she wouldn't use it on a comatose elephant. Any human injected with it would die. Quickly.

But Bastien had felt nothing.

Closing her door, she walked swiftly to Cliff 's apartment.

"Rattled," the guard said.

"What?" she asked absently.

"You look a little rattled. Are you sure-?"

"I'm fine." She forced a smile. "It's just been one of those days. Nights."

His expression remained doubtful. "Well, we're here if you need us."

"Thank you, Mark. I appreciate that."

Once inside the apartment, she closed the door and circled the sofa. "Any change?"

Cliff shook his head.

Bastien raised his head and held out his hand.

When Melanie started to remove the cap for him, he stayed her.

"I have to be able to do it myself."

She handed him the auto-injector.

His fingers were clumsy as he removed the green cap, then pushed the auto-injector into his thigh and held it for ten seconds.

Melanie held her breath.

"Anything?" Cliff asked.

"I think so." He held out his hand. "Give me another one."

"You need to give that one more time. It could-"

"I won't have more time in a fight. Give me another one."

She handed him the last one.

He had no difficulty uncapping this one.

Despite her concern, she felt a twinge of hope.

He pressed this one into his thigh, too. Held it for ten seconds.

He was right. Ten seconds was too long. Now that she had a better idea of what dosage she should use-an insanely strong dosage-she could cut that time in half.

Bastien tossed the auto-injector on the coffee table and stood. "Okay. It's getting better. I don't feel so sluggish now." Nudging Melanie aside, he stepped away from the sofa and started meandering around the room.

After all of the anxiety that had riddled her over testing the new drug, she couldn't help but find this a bit anticlimactic.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Cliff blurred and shot across the room, tackling Bastien and slamming him into the far wall.