Free The Human-Undead War Trilogy (Book 1): Dark Intentions by Jonathan Edwardk Ondrashek

cards with sky-high limits. A six-figure savings account. All of her check books. She also left me something in the refrigerator: A test tube filled with blood. I thought it’d been a snack for her, but I remembered her exact usage of the word ‘bequeathed.’ It implied something more than her dying wish for me to find the cure to what she called a disease.  
    “She’d left me a vial of her blood.
    “I went out and bought a freezing kit and every piece of scientific equipment I could find. Another week passed and finally I couldn’t contain it. I told Keith. First I made him swear he wouldn’t tell anyone what’d happened. Vampires didn’t exist, point blank. Until I could come up with something more plausible and logical, I asked him to remain silent. He agreed, even helped me cover up her death. Since I had access to my mother’s amassed fortune, it wasn’t difficult. I called her daytime job and told them she wasn’t coming back. They never questioned it. There were no headlines in the local newspaper regarding any incidents at the meat plant either.” Brian paused and swallowed hard. “She disappeared and not a goddamned soul cared.” He raked his arm across his face, tasting the salt of a tear. A wave of heat rolled through him. He shouldn’t allow Ruby to see him at his most vulnerable.  
    “Oh, Brian.” She reached through the bars and caressed his upper leg. “I had no idea.” 
    “Not many people did. And no one believed me anyway. I mean, I’d discovered the parasitic, symbiotic organism that existed in my mother’s blood and presented evidence to the government, top world scientists, anyone willing to listen. Still, they scoffed at me, thought I had created some bullshit virus and fictionalized its origin.  
    “Then Ashmore stumbled upon vampires, and the government busted down my door and asked me to head the URC. They offered me everything I could want, but I turned down the initial offer. I figured somebody else was more qualified. Someone more prominent in the field of vampirism, like a folklorist, someone more familiar with the creatures as we’d always imagined them to be. 
    “Strajowskie had done some in-depth investigative work, though. When I declined the offer, he used my past as leverage. He told me I’d have everything I needed to accomplish what my mother had asked of me. I never questioned how he got the information. I’d revealed the truth to several Harvard colleagues, although they thought I was eccentric. 
    “I figured if he’d gone to such lengths to dig up my past, he was willing to help me. I accepted the offer and began my work at the URC, gathering data on vampires, using my mother’s vial of blood as a control.  
    “I also pursued my hobby in the meantime: Botany. Mycology, actually. I was multi-tasking late one night, transporting a vial of vampire blood from one room to the next, and it spilled on a Morel mushroom I’d been transplanting to a new pot. Glass cut my thumb. I grabbed the mushroom and veins suddenly sprouted atop it. I was able to extract a few milliliters of blood before it withered away, and the proof was irrefutable: It had produced human blood. 
    “But even with the platelet mushroom a possibility, Strajowskie wouldn’t budge.” Brian snickered. “Stubborn ass.” He stared into Ruby’s eyes. “Now do you see why I have to do this? Why I think it might be the best option?” 
    “You feel betrayed by someone who offered you a way to honor a promise you made to your mother years ago.” Ruby lowered her voice. “But do you really believe Barnaby will help you any more than Strajowskie has?” 
    Brian hesitated. She was right. She usually was. In the one year she’d been his intern, Ruby had been right about everything from debunking vampire mythology to football team history. But he had to trust his instincts, muddled as they were. 
    “It’s not