‘You think that’s possible?’ Tom asked.

‘I’m close, I’m sure of it.’ She swabbed at the tiny bead of blood left by the needle in the crook of his arm. ‘Thanks to Rico. His blood is special stuff: it contains a highly reactive enzyme that seems toxic to the lupine system.’

Tom settled back on the examination couch. ‘What does this enzyme do?’

‘It attacks lycanthropic cells, causes fatal mutations in the chromosomes.’ She poured the blood into a Petri dish. ‘And since the lupine metabolism is far faster than a human’s, the cellular degeneration occurs so fast that the immune system is swamped.’

‘So, translating,’ Tom ventured, ‘any ’wolf attempting to chow down on Rico might as well be swallowing rat poison –except they’ll die a lot quicker. Right?’

‘Right. So I’ve been introducing Rico’s blood to samples of both lupine and human blood, and comparing the effects on the cells. If I can isolate all the genes affected in the lupine blood …’

‘You’ll have found werewolf DNA,’ concluded Tom. ‘Neat.’

She tapped the Petri dish. ‘And your blood could be a great help. Your resister gene should still be present even if it’s been mutated by the ’wolf factor. By comparing your sample to Rico’s, we can find which genes you share. It should speed up the search.’

‘It’s been slow work, huh?’

‘Damned slow,’ Stacy sighed, pushing back her hair absent-mindedly, ‘even with a genius like Woollard helping me out.’

Tom frowned. ‘I must be slow too. Why would the ’wolves go to all that trouble just to steal some blood samples?’

Stacy shook her head. ‘They weren’t just blood samples, remember? Woollard treated them –turned them into Stacy Serum.’

‘Into what?’

‘The interim measure until I find a proper cure: Stacy Serum.’ She smiled. ‘I believe that the cravings of the ’wolf –bloodlust, aggression, the urge to hunt – are just symptoms of the lupine infection.’

‘This is what Woollard was talking about,’ Tom realised. ‘The stuff in his case.’

Stacy opened the lid of the case they’d taken from Woollard’s and produced one of the test tubes filled with crimson liquid. ‘You’ve heard of certain synthetic drugs being used to treat heroin addiction?’ she asked him. ‘This stuff’s kind of similar. It’s just blood, but with a special hormone mixed in –a hormone that simulates the kick lupines get from the ’wolf-change and all it leads to.’

‘So … a consequence-free high?’ Tom regarded the phial doubtfully. ‘They sip that and the ’wolf cravings are satisfied? They lose their bloodlust?’