Finally, Valentine seemed to heed the warning and understand that Zane meant business. “Fine, I was ravenous. I needed a fix.”

“A fix?” Zane repeated. “Elaborate!”

Valentine’s eyes darted to the window as if he was worried about who was watching him.

Zane growled. “I’m waiting!”

“A fix, you know. Of blood. To get high. And the chick, she was Asian. I figured she might have what I needed. She looked like the others. But . . . ”

“But what?”

“It was just ordinary blood. Nothing special. I couldn’t get high. It wasn’t the right stuff.”

Zane looked up to the window, a strange look on his face, as if wanting to ask Thomas and Cain if they knew what Valentine was babbling about.

Cain pressed down the button for the speaker. “What makes you think the blood would get you high?”

Valentine jerked up at hearing the voice from the loudspeaker and looked up to the window. But Cain knew he couldn’t see him, since the window was mirrored on the other side.

“Because I’ve had it many times. But they’re not there anymore. And I needed a fix. I needed the rush. It’s not my fault. Once you start, you can’t stop.”

Cain recognized an addict when he saw one. And this vampire was an addict. But what was he addicted to? Blood? Was he falling victim to bloodlust? Before he could ask anything else, Zane continued questioning him.

“Let me get this straight. You’re claiming you’re suffering from bloodlust and that’s why you went berserk on that girl?”

Valentine shook his head. “No! I’m not in bloodlust! Are you crazy, man? I’ve just got a substance abuse problem. It’s nothing major. I can handle it. I just need a fix and I’ll be fine.”

“A substance abuse problem? What the fuck are you talking about? Do you think I was born yesterday? Drugs have no effect on vampires. Every newborn knows that! So don’t dish up crap like that or I’m gonna shove it back down your throat!”

Valentine jumped up from his chair. “But you have to believe me!”

Zane glared at him. “I don’t have to do anything! You almost killed that girl! And whoever the other vampire was, he butchered another one downstairs. Or was that you too?”

Shocked, Valentine shrunk back. “No! I didn’t kill her. Larry, he was even more in need of a fix than I. I swear! It was Larry, he killed that girl. He couldn’t stop. And when he realized she didn’t have the right blood, he went apeshit on her.”

Zane snatched him by the collar of his shirt. “What right blood? A specific blood type?”

“No! Not a blood type. It’s not that. It’s just . . . ”

“It’s what?” Zane growled impatiently.

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s like a drug. It makes you high. It comes from those Chinese girls. They keep them in that place.”

Cain let out a breath and exchanged a quick glance with Thomas. Was this conversation going in the direction he thought it was?

“What place?”

“Down there, an old building in Hunter’s Point. They keep a bunch of them there. They rent them out. It’s expensive, but that shit is good. But fuck, they’re gone! They just left from one night to the next!”

A look of realization crossed Zane’s face as he lifted his head to look up to the window.

“Are you saying that there’s a place in Hunter’s Point where vampires are keeping women for their blood?”

Valentine nodded. “It’s not just ordinary blood. It’s like a drug, like crack or heroine. And all the girls are Chinese. That’s why we figured, Larry and I, that if we found some Asian chicks and fed from them, maybe we’d find one who has the same kind of blood. But it wasn’t the same. It was just ordinary blood.”

“Shit!” Zane cursed.

Cain looked at Thomas. “Ursula was telling the truth.”

“Thomas, get the guards in here and have him taken back to his cell,” Zane ordered.

Moments later, the guards picked up Valentine.

“What are you doing with me? You have to let me go!” Valentine whined as they dragged him from the room. “I told you everything you wanted to know!”

“What the fuck are we gonna do now?” Cain asked.

Thomas shoved a hand through his blond hair and leaned back in his chair. “Find those bastards.”

“And Ursula?”

“There’s nothing we can do now. Oliver wiped her memory, and she would have landed in Washington DC by now. Maybe it’s for the better.”