Captiva Capitulation by Talyn Scott

his stance was battle-ready though Maestru could see the warrior had been up all night. “All’s good. Put your weapons away.”
    He did, averting his eyes from the bed. “How may I serve you, my Master? Greetings, Dru.”
    “Afternoon, Kash.” Dru took several steps away from Dakota, his cheekbones sharpening against his skin.
    “You’ve misted Blythe, tasted her,” Maestru inquired. “Is this true?”
    Kash’s face paled, but he answered truthfully. “I’ve tasted, not fed.”
    “Compare Dakota’s blood to Blythe’s.” Maestru took a deep breath, wanting to kill Kash before he started.
    Without questioning his Master, Kash went to it, wrapping his lips across Dakota’s laceration. His mouth suctioned without biting. Not even thirty seconds in and the Vojak shivered, nearly burying his fangs into her, but managed to pull back without Maestru uttering a word or lifting a claw in warning.
    “Both of you reform inside my library.”
    After misting down to the library, Dru spoke first. “Relating Blythe and Dakota, I cannot make such comparisons beyond the addicting qualities of their blood. Highly addictive, that is. Considering when I tasted Blythe, she was anemic and still unbelievably extraordinary…”
    Blythe was quite a unique female. Maestru knew this. According to Sixten, none other than a Lovec sired Blythe, and they both agreed that the fewer who know about that potential sinkhole the better. “Go on.”
    “Dakota’s not anemic, and like I said, she’s addicting in a very personal way…but something’s different about her.”
    “Doctor,” Maestru pressed, losing patience, “you said human on your tongue, but not. Explain.”
    Dru shrugged helplessly. “I’m puzzled.”
    Kash stopped in front of an original Simone Martini, circa early thirteen-hundreds. “Dakota, well, it’s as though she’s mimicking human blood. Such as a counterfeit does for the original. It’s there and yet it’s not.” His pupils dilated much in the way a cat’s does at night, forming expanding black circles inside lavender-colored irises, Dakota’s blood still calling him back to her. “The lines, the shapes, and even the colors are there, almost perfectly so, but a proficient eye can see a hairbreadths difference. Or rather, a proficient tongue can taste it. I don’t taste vampire or werewolf…but something immortal. Something I’ve never tasted before.”
    Maestru neared the masterpiece, its copy hanging in a forgotten museum somewhere. “ The Miracle of a Child Falling from the Balcony ,” he whispered the title aloud. “The miracle of creating life in test tubes and beakers inside vile laboratories hidden underground, but they are oh so close .” His hands fisted at his sides. “Obviously, by the reactions of you two, Dakota’s a Donor, but I’ll be damned if those monsters are getting their hands on her.”
    Kash’s eyes flipped back to the painting. “I hope she never goes through what Blythe and the other females have.”
    “Parasites,” Dru muttered warily.
    “We have to find a lab those bastards haven’t yet destroyed,” demanded Maestru, finding thoughts of anyone taking Dakota from him unacceptable. “Go through every square inch of it and find a way to bring them down.”
    “My Master,” Kash said with frightening stillness, “I’ve been in their demolished labs…the funds they’ve invested is unimaginable, even by a vampire’s standards.”
    “Medically speaking, an operation like theirs,” Dru agreed, “would demand an incredible budget.”
    “We’ve have to find the source of their income,” insisted Kash, “and cut it off. When they’re scrambling, we find their jugular and take them out once and for all. It can be done. It has to be done.”
    Meaning Sixten would have to locate that damned wormhole - their jugular. Not another Habaline could arrive in this realm. Since all other creatures were already at great risk of subjugation, mainly humans. “Kash, you