"Delilah cutting off Samson's hair, a mortal taking away a superhero's power, his immortality so to speak. That's the key to it. In a normal human it's a dormant condition, no more harmful than any other part of them. But if they have it and a vampire bites them, there's a strong likelihood the vampire will contract the dis- ease. Our research indicates that the dormant condition is becoming more common in humans, which makes safeguarding your Mis- tress's blood sources even more important. " "Why is it becoming more common?" She shrugged. "That's the type of thing that's hard to prove, mak- ing it easy to jump to conclusions. There are so many things we don't know about adaptation and evolution. I know the news reports more and more mysterious deaths where the victims have been bitten, their blood drained. Humans of course typically assign that to hu- man psychotics, killers with illusions that they're vampires. But we know it's evidence of vampires ignoring Council laws and taking more human kills to test their authority. So perhaps the virus is a defense mechanism developing in the human DNA. It would be a rapid adaptation, but we have proven to be a remarkably resilient species. " Debra's expression hardened. "Everything we're seeing in the lab tells us if vampires don't heed the warning signs, they'll have an epi- demic. That's why Brian is in such a rush to meet with the Tusca- loosa facility. He wants to be ready with as much data as he can to present at the Council Gathering. Our only blessing so far is that the virus is a limited, one-way street. It can only be passed from a human to a vampire. The vampire isn't contagious to another vampire and can't pass it to a human. Perhaps because once it's in a vampire's system it attacks the brain more than the blood, as far as we can tell. " Her face clouded. "However, with a human servant it's different. " "What do you mean?" She considered the notebook spread out in her lap this time, her brow furrowed. "Jacob, some of this isn't validated. So please . . . " "This conversation remains between us. Please. I couldn't bear to lose my Mistress like this. " Just in time, he managed to bite back the word can't. The hitch in his voice caused her gaze to flick back up.
From the softening of her expression, she seemed to take it as an emotional reaction. "Once contracted from a `normal' human, we think a vampire has about ten years before he or she succumbs to it. However, there's a far more virulent strain. We've only discovered it recently. In the Russian vampire. Ironically, Brian's excited about it because he said that difference could provide vital clues to a cure. " A brief hesitation, then she said through stiff lips, "Lord Andrev got the Delilah virus from his servant, Helina. She'd been his servant for eighty-six years. " "How . . . ?" Jacob's brow furrowed. "If they have the condition dormant in their blood, then wouldn't he have contracted it almost immediately, the first time he drank from her?" Debra nodded, her eyes somber, her tone telling him how revolted she was by the information she was imparting. "There's research on this disease going on elsewhere. In the labs of vampire hunters. We believe they figured out a way to inject the dormant condition into a human. Lord Andrev was not a very compassionate man. Helina could have just killed herself to escape him, but apparently she . . . " Debra shook her head. "I love my Master, Jacob. I could never coun- tenance such an idea, but I also know there are servants who are taken unwillingly into ser vice. They come to accept the idea over time. But when Masters are like Andrev . . . Helina apparently was brave enough to decide she wasn't going to let anyone else be brutal- ized by him. " "She had to be extremely clever as well. Focused. " Jacob consid- ered the effort it took him to misdirect his thoughts from his Mis- tress's notice, even knowing he didn't have a chance in hell of doing it when she was paying attention. "That's an understatement. Apparently, she did it by having thoughts of revenge and retribution constantly. Like staking him in his sleep, or setting vampire hunters on him, but she never followed through on the thoughts. A very deliberate `Peter and the Wolf ' strat- egy. Her vindictiveness and apparent cowardice amused him. He used it to taunt and torment her further. " "Why didn't he just kill her?"
"Andrev took joy in her misery and suffering, " she said sadly.
"He got off on punishing her for her wayward, disloyal thoughts. He didn't take her seriously, overestimated his ability to read her should she actually try to do something to him. " "Did she tell you all this?" "No. " Debra clasped her hands together, fingers pressing white circles into her flesh. "When he started having the first effects, she told him what she'd done in front of a gathering of his territory over- lords, like our dinner the other night. Laughed in his face. Spit on him right there. " She shook her head. "She had a knife with her Master's blood--God knows how she got that--and was going to plunge it into her heart, one sure way to kill a full servant, but unfor- tunately they stopped her. He had her tortured to death. Because of our resilience to wounds, it was a good two months before she died. And when she did, she wasn't recognizable as human. Some of the researchers were allowed to visit her, question her . . . " Debra swal- lowed. "I'm glad I wasn't one of them, as cowardly as that sounds. " Jacob closed his eyes. Remember how savage we are . . . His Mis- tress's own words, when he was learning his role in her household. "In the end, he went to extra lengths to help us understand the disease, even at the expense of his own comfort. I never knew if it was revenge on her, to make sure another servant couldn't have this power over her Master again, or if he was trying to make amends, as people facing their own end sometimes do. It doesn't matter now, regardless. Except to the two of them. "Based on the tests those researchers did, we know that a human servant injected with the dormant condition will get what we call the Delilah-B virus. The symptoms are somewhat different, but from the samples of her blood they took, they estimated she would have died in less than two years. Unlike a human carry ing the natural gene, who isn't affected by it at all. " Thomas had died in less than two years. Jacob forced himself not to react to the thought. Fortunately, Debra was focusing on the in- formation sifting in her mind. "It also accelerates the Delilah virus in a vampire. They don't have ten years. Lord Andrev was dead within two years as well. If he'd had a full servant at that point, it's possible he might have lived longer without showing signs of the disease, for as you probably know, a vampire can draw off the energy of a full servant.