I finished the analysis on the samples you sent me. As soon as possible, I would like to speak to you in person. I will leave you my mobile phone number.
Dr Madison Silver
When he had read the e-mail Christopher had frowned thoughtfully. That the doctor wanted to discuss the results of the blood tests in the test tubes in person disturbed him. He dialled the number at the bottom and waited.
"Hello?" The woman's voice was fresh and lively.
"Hi, this is Christopher Barclay. I read your email."
"Good morning! I am on duty today until eight o'clock."
"I will come in the afternoon then."
"Fine, I'll wait for you."
***
The Central Hospital, despite its name, was not located in the centre of Oldgrove, at least not anymore. The old structure that had housed the hospital until the end of the previous century had been abandoned in favour of a new building, complying with all new health regulations but located on the western outskirts of the city. The name had not been changed for administrative reasons.
Christopher parked the midnight blue Mercedes in the underground car park and drove to the reception room on the ground floor, where he asked for Dr Silver. They directed him to the fifth floor.
In front of the doctor's room he knocked and waited, but there was no answer. He tried again. Nothing. He had just taken his mobile phone out of his pocket, when a woman with short blond hair and a petite physique approached. "Looking for me?" she asked.
"Dr Silver?" He did not remember her being so pretty. She nodded, "I am Christopher Barclay."
"Oh, good. Have a seat," she said, opening the door to the room and ushering him inside.
As he went to a filing cabinet and began to rummage inside, he pointed to a white plastic chair. When he found the folder he was looking for, he went around the desk and sat down.
"I'm sorry to have made you come all this way, but I wanted to talk to you in person about the test results."
Christopher nodded.
The doctor opened the folder and turned the papers towards the pack leader. "I think someone is trying to turn vampire blood into some kind of werewolf drug."
Christopher looked up from his papers and squinted. "Can you explain further?"
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "Vampire blood has the effect on werewolves of increasing their strength, stamina and speed, but it is also lethal. All the beneficial effects last for a few hours, before the vital organs collapse and the subject dies." He waited for Christopher to nod, then continued. "Someone is trying to make the blood maintain the beneficial effects, but no longer prove deadly."
Christopher leaned back suddenly aware of the scope of the project Nereus had set up.
"And did they succeed?"
The doctor shook her head. "They managed to slow down the process, but the blood still remains lethal; the samples you brought me destroy werewolf cells in less than twenty-four hours."
A shiver ran down Christopher's spine. If Nereus had succeeded, his werewolves would have been very difficult to defeat. "Do you think it is possible to make blood tolerable to a werewolf's body?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't say that."
The only way was to find Nereus and his laboratories and destroy everything.
"Who do you think has any interest in doing such a thing?"
Christopher refocused his gaze on the doctor. "Someone who has not assessed the consequences of his actions." He couldn't believe that Nereus had gone to such lengths. "This must not become public knowledge."
Dr Silver nodded. "I will not speak of this to anyone."
Christopher stood up and extended a hand. "I thank you."
"You're welcome. I hope what I told you was helpful."
"Very." And so saying, he left.
***
Christopher called the warriors back to headquarters. The boys did not take the news well. Amid curses and expletives of various kinds Ty's silence stood out, but that was the way he was: he never expressed thoughts or emotions. Around him, however, one could feel the icy air created by his anger.
Between the strays left around even though Nereus was no longer in town and the newly arrived hunters, the situation in Oldgrove was complicated enough without this new threat looming over them. It was up to Christopher to keep them united and grounded. He was not to allow their anger or tiredness to get the upper hand and lead them to commit rashness. He had to learn to be a good taskmaster in an extreme emergency situation, which seemed to be getting worse and worse.
He wondered if he was up to it. The mistakes he had made had made him doubt himself, but he could not afford weakness, not then, not with them. For the first time he realised how hard it must have been for his mother to lead the pack alone for so many years, and he regretted that he had often made harsh judgements against her. Perhaps it was he who had not been able to help her....
"What is the programme?" Leon's question interrupted his thoughts. His military upbringing never made him lose sight of the objective: carrying out orders.
"The night patrols in Oldgrove will continue: we have to clean up the town of the remaining strays. In addition, we will check every site that Markus identifies as a possible laboratory."
The warriors nodded.