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"It takes hold that quickly?"

"Depends According to preliminary reports from the field, some vamps are immune Others take weeks to show sy and succumb within a matter of hours"

"And what are the syression, and an unnatural y high tolerance for pain We’re cal ing them wraiths"

"Why?"

"They’re shadows of their forhts on, no one home Their minds and personalities are shot, but their bodies are stil cruising right along with the party The ones I’ve ment and ray And check this"

Grace brushed the bangs back fro hand "Sorry, buddy," she whispered, before reaching for a corded, handheld device that looked like a retail checkout scanner Holding his wrist, she ailow

Ultraviolet light

Vash bent closer, exaeted skin It rippleda spasn of irritation "Holy shit UV tolerance?"

"Not quite" Turning off the device, Grace set it aside "There’s no real i at an accelerated rate The da destroyed Ergo, no visible or lasting dae I ran some tests on two of the other subjects we had in here Saet excited," Graceal the other syer coy expenditure required for regeneration The aggression co to death-- al the dah pain tolerance co else but the need to feed They can’t seem to think, period Have you seen a wraith in action?"

Vash shook head

"They’re like frenzied zoher brain function is subverted by pure instinct"

"So you’re transfusing him because he’l die without a continuous intake of blood?"

"I learned that the hard way I sedated two of the captures so I could study theet near them when they’re ful y functional--and they liquefied Their metabolisested themselves Pile o’ mush Not pretty"

"Is it possible that Adrian cooked this up in a lab so the elite unit of seraphi lycans as herding dogs, Adrian prevented the va into more widely populated areas The result was both territorial and financial suppression

"Anything is possible, but I wouldn’t have"I can’t see Adrian doing this Not his style"

Truth be told, Vash couldn’t either Adrian was a warrior to the core If he wanted a fight, he’d do it face-to-face and hand-to-hand But he had a lot to gain if the va His mission would be over and he could leave the earth--and its pain,he’d even want to leave now that he had Lindsay, aher voice, Vash conveyed her sympathy "I’m so sorry about your friend, Gracie"

"Help me find a cure, Vash Help me save him and the others"

That’s why she’d come, the reason Syre had sent her Reports of the il ness were cropping up al over the country, the spread so swift it was quickly beco an epidemic "What do you need?"

"More subjects, more blood, ether ar "I need to knohere the Wraith Virus first appeared Which part of the country, which state, which tohich house, which roo or old Race and build I need you to find the very first person who got sick Then I need you to find number two How did they know number one? Did they live in the same house? Share the same bed? Or was the connection more tenuous? Were they blood relations? Then, find nurees of separation gone wild I need enough data to establish a pattern and point of origin"

Suddenly feeling suffocated by the hazmat suit, Vash strode toward the door Grace met her there and typed in the code that released the seal to the antecha about a hel of a lot ofGrace’s exa on a painted circle on the floor

So over her head, surrounding her suit in a fine mist

"I know"

There were tens of thousands of ht seriously hindered their usefulness The original Fal en had no such restriction, but there were less than two hundred of therant thee the pave necessary to carry out the requested task in a ti out of her suit, Vash rol ed her shoulders back and set her mind The initial reports of the il ness had surfaced at the sa down a timeline would help her to decide if the Sentinel leader had culpability or not "I’l make it happen"

"I know you wil " Grace paused in the act of ruffling her choppy blond hair and her gaze "

Vash looked down at the black leather pants and vest she wore andAfter sixty years, the pain was stil there, throbbing to re One day she’d find a lycan who could give her the information she needed to pick up the trail of Char’s kil ers She could only hope that happened before the ones responsible died of old age or on a hunt Unlike Sentinels and vaet that list," she said crisply, ready to start on the monumental task ahead of her

Syre watched the video to the end, then pushed to his feet in a burst of agile hts on this?"

Vash tucked her legs up beneath her on the chair that faced his desk "We’re fucked We don’t have enough people to attack this as quickly as the virus--the Wraith Virus, she cal ed it…As fast as it’s spreading, we don’t have the resources to tackle it"

He shoved a hand through his thick, dark hair and cursed "We can’t go down like this, Vashti Not after al we’ve been through"

The Fal en leader’s pain was a tangible force in the room As he stood before the s that overlooked Main Street in Raceport, Virginia, a town he’d built froht of the world was on his shoulders It wasn’t just the problems they faced that pressed down on hihter after centuries of praying for her return And he was altered by that loss

No one else had noticed it yet, but Vash knew hied in him, a switch had been flipped He was harder, less flexible, and that was reflected in the decisions he wasto do the best I can," she proive up"