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Sitting back, he braced his foot again and crossed his ar the tiht, two of them had fits like you described I wanted to be certain They’re likely caught in transition"

"What does that mean?" Too late, she realized she didn’t know if she had permission to ask questions Fortunately, he didn’t seem offended

"A normal adult vampire transition is over in severaldeals with bloodlust, and is typically under the care of a sire for at least a year as he or she learns to ested he had Matthew and William for just over a year There’s no history on the others You said they don’t communicate Do they verbalize at all? Talk, that is"

"They’ll gesture, point, nod Miah and Nerida will so I can’t h, and neither could the blackfellas at the station,All of the, but it’s as if their spoken language skills are gone"

"They’re not" He pushed the file away from him, a frown on his face "I ive e animals, so he punished the skills, that deentler emotions Their minds are a thicket of chaos, the best defense they could h it only adds to their impulse-control problems"

She of course had suspected that, but to hear it confirh, already well aware of Mr Malachi’s iave her a sharp look "While they’ve learned to ht, the ability to speak, I don’t believe they are incapable of it They’ve just done what brutalized slaves or prisoners have done for centuries Figured out other ways to coe in front of others, and likely talk to each other when they’re alone If they are capable of trust, they may become more interactive"

"I’veI’ve never noticed that"

"It’s often done in h to even befor it"

She thought about Jere she’d interpreted as a burning desire to coed him to speak, he never would He si to the back of his cage in the barn

"How long will they be caught in transition?"

"It depends" He sighed, ran a hand over the back of his neck, an unexpected gesture of agitation, as if so bothered hiing on every word already "Bloodlust seizures are like when you have too nified a hundred ti desire to draw blood" His glance suggested he thought it unlikely she knew, at least of late, what it was like to have an overabundance of energy Elisa couldn’t deny it, but she sat up straighter in the chair "Since we know at least Willia has gotten hung up, developet past that"

He arched a brow at her forced, bright tone and Elisa told herself to be quiet Fiercely

"Victor was different," he continued "From Danny’s notes, it appeared the seizures becarated that killer instinct into his personality It was no longer an episode, but what he was Leonidas appears to be on a si to what you’ve said about the frequency of the attacks And Jeremiah--"

"He does it a lot less than Leonidas When they happen, he fights it, trying to keep hies it"

"If what happened to Victor is happening to Leonidas and Jere it year after year will take its toll"

"You can’t predict anything like that," she insisted "The children are all different" At his warning look, she pressed her lips together "The fledglings They’re so different in how they react to things, different levels of emotion"

"Elisa, I know you wish to help--"

"I can help"

"Not if you keep interruptingher opinion counted for so much more with Danny and Dev She didn’t want to feel animosity toward Mal--she really didn’t--and she knew he just needed to get to know her, but to do that, he had to give her the opportunity to prove her value, right?

"You are proving it, by following my direction I expect when you entered Lady Danny’s household, you had to do that for a while before she trusted your judgment, correct?"