Dragon's Blood (Black Planet Book 1) by Belinda McBride Read Free Book Online

as this thing is concerned, you’re meat.” Her voice grated, painful in her throat. “I’m just entertainment.”
    He looked down the empty hall to the barricaded stairwell. He’d probably never felt the need to lock himself away before. Up until the day they hauled his ass to Oakland, Aiden had been secure in his ocean view tower. He was a big dog among the roving packs here in Wharf. Most knew to leave him be. Now he was prey. She knew damned well how he must feel.
    Aiden covered his face with his hand. “I’m sorry.”
    “For what?”
    He shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I just left like I did.”
    “You’d just lost Lisa. I can’t blame you for grieving.” There’d been no place in her life for blame, or even friends or family or co-workers who’d visited, their conversation awkward and unwelcome.
    “I was your partner. I wasn’t there for you. I didn’t trust you.” He sighed. “And I’m sorry. I was lost there for awhile. And now I’m better.”
    “I am too.” And she was. He was here, they were facing this together. She was still afraid, but she felt more grounded.
    “Get up.” He gave her his hand and lifted, bringing her up as though she weighed nothing. He was shaken, and yet he wasn’t surrendering. He held her hand and led her to the loft and she didn’t protest. She sat at the small wooden table while he made tea and dug out yesterday’s dim sum and congee.
    “Okay, Annie. I’ve seen the files and you’ve told me what you know from that night. I’ve got some questions now.”
    She bit into the sweet bean center of a bun and chewed slowly, listening, but not looking at him.
    “I want to know if it hunts in the day or night. Were the victims killed here in Wharf or outside the walls? If it hunted inside Wharf, how’d it get in? Is it passing for human?”
    She took a sip of tea and cleared her throat. She needed to focus, to grab onto the analytical side of the situation. “I need to check in with Greene today. There was another body last week. Like the others, he was a floater. Killed at night. Bled, gutted and partially consumed. The forensics should be ready by now.”
    She took another sip of tea. She felt better, and the raw edge of fear was receding. “We don’t know where it’s killing them. If it’s here in Wharf, it could be coming up from the water, but I think it’s coming in with some of the gamblers from the city. I don’t know how else it’s able to get so close to the victims.”
    He pulled out a sheet of paper and started taking notes. “So including Lisa, three women that we know of, five males between SF and East Bay. All enhanced.”
    She nodded, trying to remember other facts, items they might have overlooked.
    “We call it a he, you don’t. Why? Because it isn’t human? What’s the DNA say?”
    “The report came in. It’s so contaminated with all the DNA it absorbed that they literally couldn’t pull much off the killer. No gender, race… nothing. We know that it’s human, or started that way. If the lab can track down the nanites, they might be able to discover where they originated.”
    “And you think it’s got Dragon’s Blood?”
    She shrugged. “We know Hemo patients get increased protein cravings as their disease advances. They literally need blood to survive. If someone with the disease used illegal nanites, hoping to cure the disease, what do you suppose could happen?”
    He felt cold. Nanos like himself could still get sick. When he caught a cold, it wasn’t severe, but he was still sick. “Depending on the nature of the nanites, it could partially repair the damage, leaving the individual robust enough--”
    “To hunt its own blood. And the nanites it absorbed would duplicate, strengthening the new host, as well as fouling its DNA signature.”
    “Oh, Jesus, Annie, it’s a vampire,” he whispered, sounding horrified.
    “Of a sort, I suppose. Not like Dracula, but