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“That might be true. I’m a soldier, and I do what my country needs or demands of me. No more and no less.”

“Would you put your head in an oven if instructed to do so?” Curtan asked.

“If that served a purpose, yes.”

“Blind obedience.” Curtan sighed and turned away.

“You would not have been able to control the soldiers, you know. With our blood, they would have run riot.”

“Warner was working on something to stop the blood thirst.”

“And we haven’t searched for a cure? They’d never find a way. Vam’pirs had far more superior technology that what you have today.”

I laughed bitterly.

“That’s true then. The story of your origins? Atlantis didexist,” Jarvis questioned, amazed.

“You thought the legend untrue?” Inka asked.

“Of course? Damn, I’m actually looking at some Atlanteans. Unbelievable. This is amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough of the wide-eyed amazement,” Nathan cut in. “Time to finish this shit and kill him. We know enough to find the others and destroy whatever records they hold and kill them.”

The commander backed against the wall and looked resigned. Jarvis pulled himself up to his full height and stood. His arms dangled by his sides as he stared death in the face.

“No!” I ordered. “Jarvis is not dying today. There has been enough blood spilt tonight. I will not have him killed.”

“Who do you think you are to dictate our actions?” Li’zel rounded on me. Together, they all closed in a tight bunch and left me with James, Amelia, and the six vampires on the other side.

“This is my territory, and my word is law. Do you want to argue about it?”

“Yeah, I’m up for that,” Nathan stated, coming forward. I crouched down and felt someone beside me do the same.

I glanced to my side and noticed James in a fighting stance. James saw my look and smiled grimly.

“Jacques, I owe you, and you just happen to be right. I can guess what you’re considering, and that will work.”

Nathan growled and pounced, and James got there before me and threw him to the ground. Before a full-on fight broke out, Ricardus stepped forward and grasped Nathan by the arms. Ricardus pulled him back and looked at James.

“What are you thinking?”

“Wipe Jarvis’s memory. We are telepathic, are we not? Search out all the information in his head and destroy it,” James said.

I turned to Jarvis. “This will not hurt you, but you’ll remember nothing about what happened here. We’ll take you home, and you can wait for your superiors to contact you. It will be like you have a year’s amnesia. In fact, I will give you a knock on the head, and they’ll believe it.”

“You can do that?” Jarvis asked.

“Yes, it means that you get to keep your life,” I said as Jarvis gave me a grateful look.

I remembered Jarvis had a wife and children, and he had been completely honest with us. Sure, it was coerced, but Jarvis had spoken the truth. He didn’t deserve to die. There had been enough death tonight.

“I will submit to this being done on one condition. Don’t take me home to my wife, let me wander the streets. That way, the police will have to search for my identity, and there’ll be no chance of my leading others to you again.”

That was acceptable, and I nodded in agreement and faced the others.

Without a word, they turned to leave.

Refusing to let them leave without having the final say, I added, “One more thing. You owe someone a thank you.”