Marrow was "the Red Cross. I'm the motha of all blood brothas. I'm the bank of Sangria"--in short, he had really, really good blood. While all the transgenics were universal donors, Marrow was "chock-full of endorphins, and coagulants, and all sorts of feel-good enzymes."

Marrow's extra-special blood enabled him to form his own little cult. Push (m), Lida (f), Rain (f) and others had barcode tattoos in order to be like Marrow and regularly "sipped" his blood. This gave them extra strength, but was also addicting. Marrow had informed his kids that they would die without continued sipping--once the shaking started, they were as good as dead.

Lida, however, wanted out. She left the group and tried to go to the hospital to get help. The rest of the Barcode Gang showed up and dragged her off before she could get any help. Max showed up before they could get away and fought Rain. The others got away, leaving Rain behind.

Lida had begun shaking. Marrow took her apart from the others and lectured her for a while before smothering her to death.

Max snuck into Marrow's place to spy. She got knocked out by one of the Barcode Gang and woke up chained to a post. Marrow told Max what he was up to: "You are a mutant, with tangled genetics and a barcode. . . just like me. The only difference between you and me is that you're still hunted, and I'm in demand. See, you are fooling yourself if you think you can go on hiding. Sooner or later, the world is going to realize that we are out there, and that we are better than they are. The time will come when they will declare war on our kind, and when they do, I'm gonna have my own private army to protect me. See, those kids out there. . . they'd do anything for me. Fight. . . kill. . . even die. They love me." That said, Marrow released Max because she had Rain and he wanted her back.

Meanwhile, off at Logan's place, Rain was also going through withdraw. She told Max and Logan that she had to get back to Marrow or she would die. Seeing no other choice, they decided to release Rain. On the trip back, Logan lectured Rain. He told Rain that Marrow had been created in a lab and that he was brainwashing the Barcode Gang. Since we already knew how ineffective Manticore indoctrination was (remember Jace's speedy change of heart?) it came as no surprise that on the strength of Logan's speech, Rain turned against Marrow. She refused to sip and told all the others that they wouldn't die if they didn't.

Max showed up again and killed Marrow. And thus ended Love in Vein for the Freak of the Week.