Yet a smile wasn't the only thing the vampire almost got out of him. He also nearly corrected Maddox by informing her that he did know how to dance—all thanks to his mother, and the lessons Ellen had insisted on taking.
The minute his sister learned that the mother she never knew was a dancer, there was simply no stopping her. From then on, it was tap shoes and tutu's every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and though Stephan didn't attend every class, he always took her, and volunteered on several occasions to act as a partner.
Strangely, he actually missed it. Or maybe he just missed his sister altogether.
Either way, the recollection instantly transformed his near-smile into a scowl, one that was intensified by the thought that he was being so casual with a vampire of all things.
It made him uncomfortable enough to merely shrug over Maddox's comment and seek an exit.
His lack of humor caused her to sigh. “You don't know how to smile, do you? Or is it just me?”
“Take your pick,” he retorted, opening the door. “I'm gonna go look up Ineya.”
“Oh, I'll come with you,” she qualified with a great deal of interest in her voice.
The announcement brought Stephan to a stop, and he groaned inwardly, casting a cold look in her direction. He didn't want her to come along, and not simply because having a vampire around would annoy him. It was also the thought of how many technical questions she'd ask about every little thing, prompting him to change his mind.
“On second thought, I've got other things to do first.”
Maddox rolled her eyes before he'd even finished his comment. “If you don't want me to go with you, just say so, Stephan.”
“Fine, I don't want you to go. I'd get things done faster without you around asking questions. Besides, the less time we spend together, the better.”
Exiting the room with his comment issued, he didn't stop this time when she asked, “Am I really so horrible?”
“You're a vampire, so yeah, you are,” Stephan retorted, shutting the door without a second glance.
On the way down the hall, relief to be out of Maddox's company overcame him, though he wasn't entirely convinced that it had to do with what she was so much as his reactions to her. She'd asked him to remember that an exception existed to every rule, and it seemed to be with good reason.
Her uniqueness from others made it difficult to recall that at the end of the day, she was an enemy, and now he couldn't figure out what was worse—working with a vampire, or treating one like a person.
Stephan only hoped Ineya wasn't too difficult to find, and had some revealing answers to offer so they could part ways sooner rather than later.
10
♦ ♦ ♦
Maddox had a blood link to an asshole.
For the umpteenth time that morning, she scoffed at the thought. It wasn't the first time she'd sensed a blood link to someone questionable, but Stephan took the cake. He was so willfully hateful, and even then, the blood link kept her incredibly curious.
What had Lillian done to make him so … cruel?
Whatever the answer, Maddox didn't spend much time thinking on it. His insult hadn't offended her in the slightest, and knowing of Stephan's past wouldn't change his bigotry. So instead, she spent her time learning about the technology available in the compound.
Still, it wasn't easy getting any of the mortal agents to show her things without significant prodding. Most just seemed to keep the pleasantries up while she was around, but could then be overheard gossiping once she'd left, and not everything said was complimentary.
Maddox found such two-faced behavior childish, deciding Stephan actually had a point in his favor after all—he was up front and honest about his feelings. But she didn't let their treatment stop her, and learned all she could before returning to her room with the intention of watching television. This should be interesting.
It took a while to figure out the functions of the buttons on the remote control, but it was certainly a welcome distraction to a particularly painful truth she discovered not long after the sun was blazing in the sky outside of the underground residence—daytime was incredibly lonely and depressing.
Maddox was no longer sealed away in the dark, but the truth of the matter was that being trapped wasn't the worst part of her entombment.
It was the isolation.
She'd never been one to appreciate being alone, and her time spent in the grave had only made such discomfort a million times worse. The lack of companionship and being cut off so completely from the rest of the world was stifling.
But sadly, Maddox wasn't remotely tired, and honestly didn't care to try sleeping through the day. So she sat on her bed alone, channel surfing until she found something interesting enough to catch her full attention.
At first, the difference between an advertisement and an actual show eluded her. But then she found a riveting tale of a married woman having an affair with a librarian who was actually the father of her sister's child.
The drama involved was absolutely ridiculous—and Maddox couldn't stop watching.
Still, the show ended without offering any resolution, and she sorely hated cliffhangers, flipping through the channels again to find something else, but nothing caught her eye. News, sports, cooking shows—there's something I'll never be interested in—and even more soap operas were playing, all of which offered a decent overview of the world at large.
And it was utterly depressing. So much has changed.
With each one, she became more and more frustrated, flipping faster and faster until she turned the television off and threw the remote in anger, standing from the bed to pace. Even in the somewhat spacious room, it felt as if the walls were closing in around her.
Maddox had never experienced such a sensation. Being stuck in that underground facility while the sun shined brightly outside was like being trapped in a coffin with no way out and no one to talk to all over again.
Kivsey wasn't around, Stephan hated her, and Maddox had no idea how to deal with such feelings, or get them to go away.
But she did know who to blame. Lillian.
In anger, Maddox turned to knock everything off of the dresser, including the television set, shouting, “That bitch!” As the items plummeted to the floor, she moved toward the nightstand and grabbed the lamp to throw against the wall, shattering it to pieces.
Next, she reached for the table it'd sat upon, but didn't get the chance to break the small stand when her wrist was snagged in a large fist as she was pulled backwards until she hit someone's chest.
“What the hell's going on?”
It was Stephan, but Maddox was so startled by his sudden appearance that she didn't register his identity, and quickly turned, using her strength to push him back against the nearest wall.
Bearing her fangs in the process, she growled up at him. But the violent reaction only lasted for a split second before realization hit. Instantly, her sharp expression dulled into wide eyed surprise, though it didn't blunt Stephan's response of shoving her back so hard that she fell onto the mattress—and the strength in his push was more than a normal mortal should've possessed.
Bouncing on the mattress, she quickly exclaimed, “You startled me!”
Her hostile behavior must have put him on the defensive because he glared, then took a deep breath to abate whatever aggression she'd sparked. But despite his harsh mien, the sound of his pulse—so familiar as it was—began soothing her anger. Damned blood link.
“Are you done?” he demanded.
Maddox sighed, retracting her fangs, but only to be civil rather than attempt to smooth things over. Stephan's bias would ensure he'd hold this against her regardless of any reparations made, and she certainly wouldn't apologize for it either, not after his own harsh treatment.
Instead, she returned his ire. “What does it look like? And what do you want?”
“To make sure you weren't killing someone. I heard you yelling all the way down the hall.”
>
“I'm pissed off,” she snapped. “Is that a problem?”
Stephan grumbled, looking around the room with a deep sigh of breath before he qualified more casually, “If you can pay for the property damages, guess not.”
At that, the tension ebbed out of her, and Maddox stared up at him in surprise. “Did you just … make a joke?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Is that a problem?”
Only when I'm expecting more hatred. Rather than voicing the thought aloud, she shook her head, muttering, “You're the most galling human I've ever met.”
“Likewise, vamp,” he returned, and it wasn't until that moment that she realized he looked just as baffled over her own behavior. Perhaps he'd believed she would continue attacking once she'd started, and didn't know what to make of her control.
But he never commented on it, and changed the subject as if tired of arguing. “Can't sleep, huh?”
Following his lead to prevent a headache, she muttered, “No, I'm not tired.”
“Not surprising after how long you were down. So what set you off?”
Despite her dislike of the mortal, it was nice to have company, and also good to hear him imply an understanding of her insomnia. That, combined with the blood link, made her feel as if he might actually listen, and she really needed to talk.
Taking a deep breath, she stood from the bed and paced to the foot of it, admitting, “It's like the walls are closing in on me, Stephan. I've never experienced such a thing, and I want to get out of here, but it's daytime. I feel like I'm trapped all over again.”
Stephan surprised her by nodding understandingly. “You need to get your mind off of it.”
“I tried to,” she qualified more softly. “I watched a show on the television, and it helped a little. But things are just so strange now that I started feeling strange, so I turned it off.”
Stephan looked down at the television now laying on the floor, and walked over to lift it back up onto the dresser. “What show were you watching?”
“I think it was called a soap opera?”
“A soap?” he asked in a manner suggesting he wasn't fond of that type of entertainment. “No wonder you started feeling bad, all that bullshit drama just makes you crazy. You need to watch some documentaries on history or something.”
“Documentaries?”
“Yeah, like … I don't know, those or … just fucking cartoons and commercials, anything but soaps.”
She couldn't help a smile, somehow finding his commentary amusing—and her sense of connection to him was certainly helping to soothe both her ire and anxiety. She no longer felt caged, and simply wished the comfort wasn't coming from such a hateful mortal.
With the thought in mind, she decided to keep things as formal as possible between them, asking, “So, did you come down here because you needed something?”
Perhaps he was going to apologize for his rude comment earlier. But Maddox didn't get her hopes up, and was right not to when he answered, “I just wanted to tell you I looked up the succubus, but I couldn't find anything recent. Chances are she's changed her name, so I'm gonna get Kivsey to search the records I found when she comes in later.”
Maddox nodded, thinking it sounded like a good idea, though she inquired, “Would it be possible for me to do a search with your guidance?”
Stephan shook his head. “Just let Kivsey do it. She's the information agent.”
His continued refusal to allow her to help was starting to grate, and Maddox had to ask, “Then what are you going to do for the next six hours? Just sit around and wait for her?”
“No,” he started, taking a moment to clear his throat before continuing, “I have some things to take care of, otherwise I'd still be looking for your friend.”
He'd given the same excuse earlier, but this time, Maddox believed him. With everything calmed down, she could see that the human actually looked a bit tired, and supposed he wanted a break.
“Okay,” she conceded, “but do you mind if I come with you this time? I promise I won't ask so many questions, I just need to get out of here and do something constructive.”
“Actually, I have to—,” Stephan started, but covered his mouth with a sudden cough that lasted a moment before he cleared his throat a second time. “I've gotta go—”
Yet again, his statement was interrupted—and this time, he started hacking full force.
Tilting her head curiously, Maddox waited for the coughing fit to subside before inquiring, “Are you alright?”
Once Stephan caught his breath, complete with a sniffle, he offered a clipped, “I'm fine,” then turned to go like he couldn't leave fast enough.
And Maddox wasn't at all convinced.
It probably wasn't serious, but something was wrong. Coughing and sniffling meant illness, and though it'd been ages since she'd experienced such a condition herself, she'd never forget how badly even a minor malady could make one feel.
Moving into the doorway behind him, she watched Stephan walk down the hall and disappear around the corner. He may have been able to take care of himself, but she knew he wouldn't tell her the truth about it regardless—and he didn't have to. Maddox wasn't savvy enough to conduct a search with computers, but she certainly knew how to sneak about for answers.
It beat sitting around her room waiting for the sun to go down anyway.
11
♦ ♦ ♦
The serum had no half-life.
After his coughing fit in Maddox's room, Stephan returned to his quarters. The living space was laid out like all the others in the underground residence—or at least, the ones that weren't occupied.
Even after five years of living there, he'd done little to give the place a personal touch, and if it weren't for the messy bedsheets and a few items randomly strewn about, one might think the room was vacant.
Locking the door, Stephan headed to the nightstand next to the bed and opened the drawer. The only item inside was a small black case which he pulled out and unzipped, revealing a few disposable hypodermic needles and five small medicine bottles filled with a clear serum.
Two of the bottles were already missing, and he took the third along with a syringe, then replaced the case in the drawer and headed to the sink in the kitchen area.
Preparing the syringe and his arm, Stephan resisted a sudden urge to cough that hit the moment he pushed the needle into his vein. He'd done it so many times now that he didn't even need to look, watching the serum drain from the tube and into his body.
The urge to cough grew nearly undeniable until he finally tugged the needle out and tossed it into a waste bin, then leaned on the counter, hacking and sputtering.
Every month, it was the same thing. The medicinal serum he took to slow the progression of Ithrim wore off, and within only a day or so, he'd have flu-like symptoms again, including a sense of lethargy that wouldn't cease no matter how well he'd rested.
That morning, while searching their records for Ineya, his throat had grown sore and his nose started to run, proving the time for another shot was coming. But Stephan was too busy looking for the succubus to immediately get one, knowing he had at least a few hours before the symptoms worsened.
He'd also been instructed to wait until they were noticeable before taking another dose of the serum anyway.
The doctor overseeing his case had offered a technical reason for the wait, but Stephan only understood the basics. Because Ithrim was actually an alchemical substance, the magical properties of the disease allowed it to adapt to the medicine too quickly if it was taken on a set schedule, rendering it ineffective.
This was one of the reasons it still had no cure. Ardilon said the alchemical formula was evidently developed by a mage with the intent of immunizing vampires to the poisonous effects of draconian blood—but it hadn't worked. Not only did Ithrim infect vampires as well as humans, it killed them even more quickly.
So any vampire who tried to drink Stephan's blood would inevitably die—not that he'
d ever allowed one to bite him. Spreading Ithrim in such a fashion was simply too dangerous, and besides, the medicinal serum was designed to drastically lessen the chances of passing it on.
Because alchemy was a mage study, The Crucible contacted The Arcane Assembly to research a cure, but even the most skilled mages were having a difficult time figuring out the magical formulas used to create it. All they could do was develop a serum that prolonged a carrier's life—a meticulous process as each batch had to be based on the blood of the infected mortal, otherwise it wouldn't work.
So it was imperative to contain the disease until a cure could be found, and The Crucible had gone so far as forbidding vampires from traveling to and from the mortal realm without submitting a blood test.
Some vampires had taken issue with the edict, but the divinians refused to explain their reasons as the disease was classified in light of its sensitivity—if draconians learned an attempt had been made to immunize vampires to their blood, gods only knew what kind of reaction they'd have, but it definitely wouldn't be pleasant.
Still, the only thing Stephan hoped was that they found a cure without an epidemic coming about, and for now, he focused on his own efforts of getting well.
Likely, it would take the serum around an hour or two to knock out his cough, not to mention the slight fever he probably had going, and in the meantime, he'd end up napping whether he wanted to or not.
Finally, Stephan pushed himself and stepped away from the counter, so dizzy after his coughing fit that he stumbled a few steps. Righting himself, he turned to go sit on his bed, grabbing a tissue from a box on his nightstand to blow his nose. The urge to take a nap was growing stronger by the minute as well, making him think he could've fallen asleep sitting up.
But even in his lethargy, Stephan started to feel as if he wasn't exactly alone, and tossed the wadded tissue into the trash with a roll of his eye.
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