Leo came over to the bed. She had the gun down at her side, hanging there in her hand. One step closer, and he could reach it. “You’re not human,” she said. “You’re a Keeper—or half a Keeper.”

It hurt, but he laughed. He really got a good laugh out of it. She was quite a bullshit artist.

“Okay. So, when do I feed on my fellow man? When I’m asleep?”

“You’re something that isn’t supposed to exist. They were trying to create a line that would live forever like they do, but not have to eat human blood. A better version of themselves.”

He remembered them in their lairs, their sneering, contemptuous faces. “They have utter disdain for the human species,” he said. “They don’t care whether they eat our blood or not.”

“They only hate those who kill them!”

“You’re a liar.”

“They do what they have to, to live. But there’s no hate in it. Just hunger.”

“You’re lying through your teeth! They hate us and they love to kill!”

“You think so? You remember when your dad died? The way he just suddenly disappeared?”

The words seemed to come from a very long way away—echoing, strange words, terrifying words. Because there was no way she could have known about that unless —

Bellowing like a stuck bull, he rose up out of his IVs and his monitoring cuffs and his oxygen line. She backed away, but he lunged at her—and collapsed against the shackles. He was a helpless pile of rags.

She stood over him, the gun expertly braced. Somebody had taught this lady how to make a mag work exactly right.

“Don’t you fucking move,” she screamed.“Don’t you fucking breathe!”

He stared up at her. “You lying bitch.” But he knew she was not lying. She knew something, all right. He hadn’t ever told any of these people about his dad.

“Your father was killed because he was a part of a failed mutant bloodline. We think you must have been overlooked. Unfortunately, because now you’ve gotten Miri pregnant with God only knows what.”

“The baby’s okay?”

“The first ultrasound’s in two weeks.”

During his outburst, she’d obviously tripped a silent alarm, because Miriam and Sarah came blasting in. They all had magnums. This place was hatching guns.

They got him rearranged in the bed.

So, Paul thought, I guess this is a setback.

Over the next few days, Dr. Sarah Roberts methodically showed him things about himself that he had never even dreamed. She took his blood and showed it to him under a microscope. He could see the strange cells that had been in the past attributed to a benign deformation. Then she drew blood from Miriam before his eyes and showed him the two samples side by side.