Chapter 72: The Gift of the Cross, Sheffield's Findings

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" 

The resolute statement struck Lestat like a thunderclap. 

He had never imagined that his reclusive, aloof younger brother could harbor such intense emotion. But still… 

Lestat sighed. Though he remained silent, he knew Richard didn't understand his concerns. 

So, he simply watched, his heart heavy, as Richard unclasped the cross from his neck and gently draped it around the sleeping girl. 

Lestat stepped out of the room, his footsteps slow and measured. 

In his hand, he held a cross of his own—nearly identical to Richard's, save for the gemstone. Richard's bore a ruby; his, a sapphire. The cross was the emblem of the Morris family, yet Richard had given it away so freely. 

Though they were brothers, their personalities were polar opposites. Richard acted without hesitation, heedless of consequences, while Lestat was cautious and deliberate, always overthinking. 

In truth, Lestat wanted to ask Richard—what if, one day, her body grew cold, her complexion pale, her blood no longer warm, her scent no longer inviting? What if all the traits that drew vampires to her vanished? 

But Lestat couldn't bring himself to speak the words. He knew Richard wouldn't care. His younger brother lived in the present, unburdened by hypotheticals—and that, too, was something Lestat envied. 

————

Sheffield returned to the castle swiftly, having successfully collected blood samples from two ** s. He also managed to gather a few drops of blood the vampire had left at the scene during the fight. Working through the night, he conducted a series of experiments. 

The results were startling, contradicting their earlier assumptions. 

"Master, I haven't fully deciphered the components of the drug you brought back earlier. However, I conducted an experiment. I administered it to two rats and placed them in a cage with other rats. The injected rats attacked the normal ones but didn't harm each other. After about half an hour, the effects wore off, and they returned to their usual behavior." 

"As I suspected, those injected with the drug can recognize their own kind," Richard remarked. What puzzled him was how they could distinguish one another. 

Sheffield nodded and continued, "Additionally, the man who died in the bar district was an ordinary human. The wounds on his neck were caused by teeth, and he died from severed arteries and blood loss. At the scene, I found a syringe, but the vial was crushed. Without the residual fluid, I couldn't conduct further tests. The perpetrator was the man who died in another district. He, too, was human but had been injected with the drug. Given the time elapsed, the drug was no longer detectable in his bloodstream. I suspect it came from the broken vial—likely the same drug you retrieved." 

Pausing to gather his thoughts, Sheffield added, "Like the rats in the experiment, the drug caused that human to go berserk and kill the man in the bar district. When I examined the perpetrator's body, I found traces of flesh on his teeth—a perfect DNA match to the victim."