“What did he do to you?”

“He would supply me with Pandora, but only a little bit here and there.”

Not Pandora, Sebastian corrected her. Pandora doesn’t have those effects. He gave you blood from a pregnant carrier.

“Then Paul would . . . deny me.”

“Because of the side effects?”

“No. Well, I did get some. I started getting nosebleeds, a lot of them, and one time, when it wouldn’t stop, I went to the ER and they said my blood wasn’t clotting properly, and they gave me some meds. That helped, but then I got sick—like a flu on steroids. My immune system was really weak. They thought I had cancer, but it turned out I didn’t.”

In his mind’s eye Sebastian saw the video Maya had shown him of Sixto Ferreria bleeding out, then thought about what Candice Jackson had just shared. She was lucky to still be alive.

“And then Paul stopped giving you this new Pandora product.”

“Well, yes. Eventually. But when I said he denied me, I was talking about, you know, sexually. I would want him in the worst way, and he’d say no. He would make me . . . beg for it. And I would. I did. I begged for him, and later, I begged for the blood, because once you have it—once you have that feeling it gives you—you never want to give it up.” Candice was speaking like someone was standing on her neck. “The way I wanted him—I never wanted another man like that, and it disgusted me, and I couldn’t help myself. And the blood, too. I wanted that blood.”

Sebastian heard the self-loathing in the woman’s voice, Candice having no idea she’d been used as Paul’s personal guinea pig.

“No matter what he did, no matter what he asked me to do, I came back to him—for him,” Candice said. “I still don’t know why I did the things he asked. But it keeps coming back to the blood. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Are we talking illegal things or . . . private matters?”

“Private. Things that turn my stomach. Degrading things.” Her voice cracked, the woman sounding like she was coming apart at the seams. “I became this completely different person after trying that blood the first time. Booze is the only thing that helps.”

Until it doesn’t, Sebastian thought. He felt for the young woman, in more ways than one.

Faye said, “I’m sorry for doing this to you, asking you questions, dredging everything up.”

“Hey, if I can save your life—your sanity—then it’s worth it.”

“You know who I also can’t seem to find? Bradley Guidry.”

“I told you, I never heard of him.”

“Did he hurt you, too? Guidry.”

A few beats of silence followed; Sebastian sensed Candice’s reluctance to get into the details and wished Faye would push a little when Candice said, “I only met him once, but he was . . . he just gave off this creepy vibe.”