“The Ram controlled the chaos to gain the people’s favor,” Arthie said. Just when she thought the government couldn’t get any worse, the Ram had found a way. “Pacify the people to keep them in check, and no one notices you furthering your own agenda.”
“First power, now profit,” Jin said, disgust dripping from his tone.
Arthie didn’t know how the Ram had managed to work in a personal cut in the deal between the government and the trading company, but here they were. Flick looked as if she was sick to her stomach.
“Felicity? Are you all right?” Jin asked.
She rubbed at her chest, her gaze distant.
Arthie snapped her fingers. “Flick.”
Flick looked up with a gasp. “What do you do when you’re angry?” Her voice was tight, and the way she asked the question made Arthie think the emotion was foreign to her.
Arthie understood. “I let it fuel me and everything that I do, but it’s important to note the difference between fuel and dictate.”
Flick nodded, half to herself, deep in thought.
Jin looked up from the ledger. “What does this mean?” he asked, taking it to Penn. “The Ram’s been logging each transaction with some sort of shot. The earlier ones failed, but the later ones have had a good success rate.”
Penn drummed a quick hand on the desk. “They discovered a way to formulate silver into an inoculation for the betterment of the human population, but silver is detrimental to a vampire’s physique. Inject them, and they’re immobilized for long enough to starve and seal in a crate and ship off to the front lines.”
They knew the stories of the Wolf of White Roaring. Of the horrific attacks that cropped up from time to time across Ettenia. A vampire starved beyond reason was a machine with a single purpose: carnage.
“A second half dose is administered just before the drop point,” Penn continued, “so that once the vampire reaches the battlefront, they will ravage the enemy until either the vampire or the soldiers are overcome.”
“Despicable,” Matteo said.
Penn tilted his head. “Ettenians were being enlisted, and vampires refused to do the same. We are predators and refused to partake in unfair wars spurred by colonization, and the country capitalized on that.”
Refusing to take no for an answer was certainly a peaky thing to do.
“We always knew the ledger was damning,” Arthie said to the others. “Nothing has changed. And so long as we have it, the Ram won’t know peace.”
“Nor will we,” Jin pointed out. “We came here to retrieve the ledger and save Spindrift. I warned you that this would be bigger than us.”
The fireplace crackled in the silence spurred by his words. It stretched shadows across the room, lengthening already concerned faces and heating the atmosphere of dread.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you have it. The ledger is the only proof I have in the case I’m building,” Penn said. “I’m waiting on leads to a few of the vampires who’ve gone missing before I appeal to the court.”
“Appeal?” Jin repeated with an incredulous laugh. “Are you serious? If the Ram could fabricate his way to a crown, I doubt the evidence you gather will go anywhere.”
He was right. They were weaponizing vampires. Arthie didn’t think proof would make a lick of a difference. There were too many variables in his plan, and almost all of them ended with the ledger being destroyed.
“You are young and jaded, and in many ways correct, but some of us refuse to use unethical avenues.” Penn gestured to a leather folio on his desk. “If I have enough proof, they’ll be unable to refute it. As such, I’ve also uncovered a lead to the laboratory where the scientists first produced the silver doses.”
“Wait,” Jin said, a hush to his voice. “Scientists?”
Penn nodded. “Old friends of mine.”
And then he tossed Jin a clove rock.