“Miss Sage,” she said. “I was planning on calling you soon. I trust everything’s okay with the Dragomir girl?”

“Jill? Yeah, she’s fine. I wanted to check in on some other things. You got the info I sent you about the Warriors of Light?”

Stanton sighed. “That’s what I was going to call you about. Have you had any more run-ins?”

“No. And they don’t seem to have been following us anymore either. Maybe they gave up.”

“Unlikely.” Her next words took a long time to get out. “Not from what we’ve observed in the past.”

I froze, momentarily speechless. “In the past? Do you mean… you’ve run into them before? I was hoping they were just some… I don’t know. A crazy, localized group.”

“Unfortunately, no. We’ve encountered them before. Sporadically, mind you. But they pop up everywhere.”

I was still in disbelief. “But I was always taught that any hunters had disappeared centuries ago. Why has no one ever talked about this?”

“Honestly?” asked Stanton. “Most Alchemists don’t know. We want to run an efficient organization, one that deals with the vampire problem in an organized, peaceful way. There are some people in our group who might want to take more extreme action. It’s best then if the existence of our radical offshoot is kept secret. I wouldn’t have even told you, but with all the contact you’re having, you need to be prepared.”

“Offshoot… then they are related to Alchemists!” I was sickened.

“Not for a very long time.” She sounded equally disgusted. “There’s almost no resemblance anymore. They’re reckless and savage. The only reason we let them be is because they usually just go after Strigoi. This situation with Sonya Karp is more difficult. She hasn’t had any more threats?”

“No. I just saw her tonight… which brings up the other reason I called…”

I gave Stanton a rundown of the various blood experiments, including my own donation. I painted it in very scientific terms, how it had seemed useful as extra data. I then made sure to sound properly appalled by the second request—which wasn’t that difficult.

“Absolutely not,” said Stanton. No hesitation. Often, Alchemist decisions went through chains of command, even with someone as high up as her. It was a sign of how much this went against Alchemist beliefs that she didn’t even have to consult anyone. “Human control-blood is one thing. The rest she’s suggesting is out of the question. I will not allow humans to be used in these experiments, especially when the evidence clearly shows the former Strigoi need to be the focus—not us. Besides, for all we know, this is some ploy on the Moroi part to get more of our blood for personal reasons.”

I didn’t believe that last part at all and tried to find a tactful way of saying so. “Sonya seems to sincerely believe this would help protect against Strigoi. She just doesn’t seem to grasp how we feel about it.”

“Of course she wouldn’t,” said Stanton dismissively. “None of them do.”