"I tried to deny it, but yes, I did think it. Too long with Midler had made me cold and hard… I resented his deeds, but not out of sympathy for the victims but because he made me an accomplice, and could send me to jail."
….
"Miss Mattox, I am not a disposal machine for your… mistakes. There are people out there who kill when you wish them to and they get paid for it. But I am not one of them."
"You never killed?"
"I have. When those I care for are threatened, I will react violently. But I have to be in a high emotional state before I do it. To kill this… creature because he is merely inconvenient does not fall in that category. What do you know about him? It is a him, isn't it?"
"It was an experiment of Midler to check for tissue rejection. He assembled a body out of several parts the more diverse the better so that he would have the most extreme rejection issues. I do not know where he got the brain and if it had been living when he took it out… in any case the creature did not seem to have much memory…."
"Well, Miss Mattox, you have to prepare a room for him. Because when I find it, I will bring it here."
"And what do you expect to do with him? You cannot keep him forever."
"No But Beverly knows people who might have the answers."
He left her and as he flew away, he was filled with gratitude towards Genevieve. Those night where he had been in haze as he thought had strengthened him. He was not afraid of himself nor of the future. The last lines of poem that Danny had recited came to him unbidden: "I am the Master of my Fate, I am the Captain of my Soul". Yes, he had to take blood from those around him – but he could avoid harming them. He had to enslave their minds and serve him, but he could make the burden light. He could not have saved Margaret Lafferty, not Genevieve, nor his sister Becky. But he could save Wendy and Frank. He could not have saved Lawson but he could save that pitiful experiment of Midler's. He was not buffeted by his needs nor his inner demons. He could CHOOSE.
And as calm and resolve filled him, he saw the crouched body under the bushes. He flew down. He looked at the sleeping figure and one glance told him that this was indeed the famous "experiment". The legs did not seem to be same length and one arm had black skin while the eyes had the epicanthal fold of the Chinese… Yes, this body was an hodge podge of spare parts, and the mismatching was meant to proclaimit.
The creature was cold and seemed grateful for the coat that Amos threw over it. It was not so grateful about being made to walk and it took Amos' power to keep him under control. He managed to get him to his home where Heather Mattox waiting him.
"You really expect me to take care of him?"
"You and me both."
"Why?"
"Because we are all he has."
"I did not agree to this."
Amos shrugged "You have no choice. Remember you came to me – you asked me to give you shelter. You have to be desperate enough to ask a vampire for a place to stay. So, you will help me care for him. And we will figure out what to do later"
…..
"Not much later Danny was released from the hospital and came to us." Amos continued "He grumbled at having to take care of "that overgrown baby" but he adjusted. And he avowed that apart from some unpleasant tasks, it was a fun experience trying to communicate with him… of course "Adam." I decided to call him Adam… the show got that right was too weak to do much… the problems would start later… and we would have problems"
"I hope you do not blame me" Frank grumbled "I know I accepted that package, but if it was not me Owen Raft would have found someone else… and I do not want another lecture about smuggling. I already admitted that I should not have done. I endured enough of the consequences to have to listen to another lecture."
"Still, you accepted the box, didn't you? And weren't you surprised when the box opened by itself as you were close to shore? And weren't you surprised to see what, or who was inside?"