by Holly Hook
People screamed. Everyone in the room backed away from the door, but I waited. I was the only person here who didn't count as lunch.
But as soon as the four guards entered the room, it became clear I was the only one they wanted right now.
"Janine," the tall man said. "I'm assuming that's your name. The Mother will see you now."
He spoke with an official air so much that I almost laughed, but then a cold terror settled in my gut.
"Where are you taking her?" Maisha asked.
"Just stay here," I told her. I wished she would be quiet. I didn't like that these guards might find out we were friends. Already, the guy looked at her, as if he were making a note.
But Maisha wouldn't stay quiet. "You will not kill my friend!"
"This way," the man said, gripping my arm. His gaze went down to my legs, to make sure I wouldn't kick. I was dangerous, and he knew. In fact, his three friends knew, too, because they aimed their tasers at me. I cringed under the sights of three.
For that reason, I didn't struggle. I wasn't sure whether to be glad to be out of that room. The guy led me into the hallway while another guard closed the inner gate and locked it again.
"Janine!" Maisha shouted.
I sighed. The guards said nothing.
"What does she want to see me for?" I asked as they led me down the hall. My senses were still just as good as they had been after taking some of Xavier's blood. They must outstrip the guards'. I listened to the rest of the facility, even as another guard slid her card into the electric gate at the end of the hall. I watched her tuck it into her pocket.
"You'll see," the man said. He had a faint accent I couldn't place. I had never aced geography, either.
"What is she doing to Alyssa and Xavier?" I asked.
No one gave me any answers for that. They led me through the now-open electric bars and the female guard closed them again. They clicked. Even with my strength that electricity was terrible. There were warning signs around this gate, showing stick men getting zapped. Some skulls decorated the stickers. I might not survive trying to open this without a pass card.
But a dragon might.
Would he?
Was he even on our side? Alyssa told me he'd given her a snort of approval after she freed him, but who knew how loyal dragons stayed?
We stood at the bottom of a wide, sloping hallway made of concrete, one that led up to some double doors at the top. But we weren't headed that way. Instead, there was an opposite hallway at the bottom, right across from the electric one. No gate closed this one off. Bathory's people hadn't altered the place to their liking yet.
That was odd because the strongest prisoners were this way.
The second hallway was much longer than the first and lined with closed office doors. I sniffed and the dragon smell strengthened with each step. Some guards gagged. We could all smell him now. The wood smoke mixed in, but the burning rubber trumped it, hands down. Alyssa had said it was the worst smell she had ever encountered.
"We're going to the end," the tall guard said. His voice betrayed his thoughts. He was suspicious about why I wasn't fighting. I should be.
The dragon kept me going.
I wanted to be conscious when I found him.
The man opened the door with his free hand.
Instead of an office, there was another large cave on the other side. This one had no water pool, but pillars with carved demon faces held up the ceiling which had cracks that gave off an orange light. It looked as if lava were trying to seep through the cracks, but my vision told me it was an illusion. This was a place that Thoreau had altered to his liking, and maybe even a place where he had done gross demonic magic.
And now Bathory had borrowed it.
An orange glow filled the entire room, and it was hot in here as if it were the worst summer day imaginable. A few more guards stood around the periphery of the room. Another pained groan rose.
It was such a horrible sight that my mind didn't register it at first. The closest occupant groaned and tried to turn over on his bed, but the horrendous amount of Infernal Iron chains around the bed prevented him from moving. They pinned the old man's long gray beard to his golden robe. The burning rubber smell hit me full force. The old man chained onto the hospital bed was Gaozu, the ancient dragon emperor. He remained in full human form, helpless.
And he had tubes attached to him.
One of them went right into his neck, into what I guessed was his jugular vein, because it was full of the brightest red blood I had ever seen. It led down into a glass tea jug which rested on a low table. Next to it, glasses stood stacked by the jug's nozzle—and the big jug was half-full of his blood. It almost glowed in the orange light as if it wanted to catch fire. The old man contorted his face in pain while the Mother watched.
She had been harvesting dragon blood from him and drinking it.
I couldn't imagine why. Dragon blood must taste like burning rubber. Everyone's blood tasted the way they smelled. It was why no vampire would want to taste demon blood.
And Xavier.
Alyssa stood next to his bed, wrists in chains, helpless to do anything but watch as her boyfriend writhed in pain. Chains wrapped him, too, and another plastic tube went into a cut on his neck. I had never seen so much of Xavier's blood before, but some trickled into another tea jug. The was bright red with a hint of magenta. Xavier had so much magic now that his blood was showing it, or it might just be me and my heightened senses. The stuff filling the glass bottle had magical properties, no doubt about that.
And Xavier was in pain. I couldn't imagine him getting any anesthetic for the procedure which must have happened only a few minutes ago. This was why Bathory's people had stolen the hospital equipment.
They were harvesting blood from powerful beings.
"Janine," Alyssa said. One of her contacts had fallen out. Both eyes were bloodshot. She, too, had been crying.
I had seen her cry once before.
At my name, Bathory turned around and faced me. "Well, well," she said in that sickening sweet voice. "Tell me, you sampled some of this young man's blood, did you not? I am very interested in what it can do for me."
Chapter Fourteen
"Nothing," I squeaked.
There I was, sounding like a chipmunk again. That was great. It was the last thing I needed while facing the Mother.
Bathory took a step closer. Her assistants remained on the periphery of the room, dressed in their black vests and armed with their tasers. They were the reason Alyssa hadn't been able to fight back. That, and she had no weapon. She might have a unique heritage, even among Abnormals, but she was out-gunned.
I knew what that meant. This fell on me.
The Mother faced me from underneath her black veil. Why did she have to dress like she was at a perpetual funeral? I guessed it was appropriate since she caused thousands of them over the years. "I believe you know what I'm talking about," she said. Her voice was dainty, like it belonged to one of those creepy Victorian dolls who had heads made from china. Bathory's skin kept a pallor I could see underneath that veil. I had the best eyesight in the room, and I could tell that she was also wearing tons of makeup. This was a woman obsessed with her beauty, just as the legends said. Before Alyssa had met her, she thought this woman was a long-dead demon, not a vampire. She was bad enough to be one.
"I don't," I lied.
I heard a taser cock. The tall man had his hand on his weapon. I knew what it meant. I had to cooperate.
"My people have told me otherwise," she said, stopping only two feet away from me. Behind her, Xavier shifted on the bed, unable to break out of the Infernal chains. The dragon emperor did the same. More of his blood dripped into the glass container, glowing a fiery red. "You sampled some powerful blood, and it has given you strength far beyond what you should have. In fact, you could overcome Lawrence, one of my oldest vampires. Even Alyssa over here could not do that."
I searched the room for Lawrence, but he wasn'
t here. Maybe embarrassment factored into that.
They would have told their boss the deal. I got exposed the moment I fought Lawrence and the others in the park.
"I sampled nothing," I said, trying not to look at Xavier. But I couldn't stop myself from eyeing the dragon emperor. I wondered if Gaozu was biding his time. He should be able to escape from Infernal Iron chains. Bathory must not know he had that ability. She hadn't been there when Alyssa had broken free, and the mayor hadn't been able to tell her about how ineffective Infernal Iron was against that power.
He might be our only hope.
"I'm sure you did," Bathory said. She reached out to me and ran her finger down my shoulder. "It may still have an effect on you. It is time to make vampires a stronger species. With the mayor gone, we can shine how we should. For too long, we have lived in the shadows."
I got what she was saying.
The Mother wanted to harvest blood from strong beings to make herself—and her minions—stronger. I knew what would happen after that: a bigger harvest. She would go after the rest of the world. Bathory was no better than Thoreau in that respect.
And I had the sense she had been drinking the dragon emperor's blood for that reason. "You can control the weather," I said. It was an ability that as far as I knew, only Gaozu had.
"Correct," the Mother said, clapping her hands together like a kindergarten teacher. "It's quite a useful ability for a vampire, is it not?"
"You drank that stuff?" I asked, pointing to the dragon blood tea jug. "Doesn't it taste terrible?"
"It's worth it," she said, striding over to the old man. She grabbed a glass and put it under the nozzle. Bathory filled the glass with blood, and the burning rubber smell got so bad I gagged. Alyssa and the guards did the same. The stench must be the worst for me. I still had the heightened senses.
Bathory turned towards me. "Oh, don't think I'm giving you any," she said. "Once we become stronger, we will need a leader."
"I'm disappointed," I said. "Not."
I watched as Bathory lifted her black veil enough to bring the glass to her lips. "Oh, I need to top up occasionally," she said. "Gaozu is comfortable in that bed. He won't be getting up again." She drank.
"That's sick," I said. I wasn't sure if I was talking about her downing blood that must taste the way it smelled, or if I was talking about keeping the emperor trapped in that bed with a tube in his neck. Maybe both. Gaozu wasn't evil as far as I knew. He had helped to kill the mayor.
Xavier groaned. He must know he was next. More of his blood trickled into the jug. Soon, it would climb to the nozzle and Bathory would pour herself a glass.
I had to stop the Mother from drinking it, or she would become even stronger. How powerful was I, compared to her?
The emperor looked at me as if he wanted me to know something. Why didn't he break his chains, morph into full dragon form, and roast Bathory? It was as if he were waiting for something.
But I knew one thing.
He could remove the manacles from around my wrists, and this monster in front of me didn't know. It had to happen before she sampled Xavier's blood.
"Shall we get back to business?" Bathory asked. "What effects has this being's blood had on you?"
"Nothing," I said. "I feel a little stronger, but that's all."
"I don't think that's all," she said, drawing closer. Her dress swished as she approached. It was a scary, dangerous sound. "Shall we have to tase you to get answers?"
"Fine," I said. If I got tased, then I could never get these chains off. I couldn't fight in this state. But I also couldn't get to the emperor's bed before someone shocked me. "But before I tell you what effects this is having, you have to tell me what your plan is for the world. I think I deserve to know if I'm playing such an important role in it."
I had rubbed the Mother the wrong way. She advanced and grabbed the front of my shirt. Even now, I could tell that she had incredible strength, a strength that might beat mine. "You are an accidental experiment," she said. "A mistake. Xavier's blood is for me and always was. The mayor promised it. I will get it. You will be very lucky if I decide not to dispose of you afterwards. I doubt your loyalty to my cause."
"So you'll kill the vampires who aren't with you?" I asked. Her words lodged into my chest and burned. Just like the mayor, she had a way of seeing into my soul and knowing my torments. It didn't surprise me. Thoreau had helped to create her. She might have some of his abilities.
The Mother tightened her grip on my shirt and lifted. My collar dug into the back of my neck as my feet rose from the ground. "I will test loyalty," she said. "Every vampire not with me must die. I can create new ones, now that I understand the process. I have already had a successful experiment."
"So we're being tested?" I asked. I glanced at Alyssa. Fear shone in her eyes. "You know, if you kill my friend, Xavier goes with her. That means no more powerful blood for you. And I don't know if I'm somehow Bound to Xavier from biting him. That means if I die, he might, too." I had just admitted what she wanted me to, but it went with my plan to stay alive. I thought of Trish and the others she had kidnapped. Were they all waiting in another room for their testing? What did they have to do? Was Trish even still alive?
"So you have sampled his blood. Who else would have let you bite them?" Bathory asked.
"He didn't let me," I said. She knew how to push my buttons. It was a talent she must have gotten from hanging out with a demon baron for the past few millennia. How old was this woman?
"So we have pride," Bathory said. "I like that trait in my people. We should be proud of ourselves. We are young, we are beautiful, and we have power. That is something we need to own."
"Does that mean I get to live?" I asked. My collar dug harder and my feet continued to dangle. I didn't think of myself as someone proud.
"We shall see," the Mother said, releasing my shirt.
The pressure vanished, and I fell a few inches to the floor. I straightened up as a ball of tension grew in my gut and threatened to pop. My stomach rumbled as if warning me of what was to come.
"Connor," she ordered the tall man. "Go into the prison area and bring one of the Normals. We must begin the testing."
"Testing?" Alyssa asked. "Nobody needs to be tested for anything. Janine's powerful. She can see better than any of us and hear better, too. She's also strong."
I flinched. Why was Alyssa betraying me? But then I realized she was trying to save my life. She seemed to know something I didn't.
Or maybe I knew it, too, and didn't want to face it.
Connor, the tall guy, left the room. I listened to his quiet, graceful footsteps as he walked towards the prison area. The electric gate clicked, stopped buzzing, and slid open.
I expected the Mother to face me again, but she didn't. Instead, she watched as more of Xavier's blood dripped into the glass container. It would fill soon, and then she would drink. She would gain these heightened senses. "That's interesting," she said. "It looks as if I will sample it soon. Of course, I could always bite him right now--"
"No!" Xavier shouted.
"Leave him alone," I said, inching towards the dragon emperor's bed. The man never spoke. I had never heard him say a word. Alyssa had told me he didn't seem to speak our language even though he seemed to understand it a little. He eyed me and nodded. It was a silent plea for me to come closer. He could help me.
Or he would hold me hostage and demand to get let out of here. I figured anything was better than what Bathory had planned.
But then Connors returned. His footsteps were accompanied by heavier, more terrified ones. Even before he got close to the door, I knew who he had brought.
He opened the door with one hand and dragged in Maisha with the other. More tears flowed down her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot. The scent of adrenaline mixed in with wood smoke and burning rubber.
In one horrible moment, I understood.
Bathory faced my friend and spoke. "Janine, if you wish to join me and surviv
e, drain this girl to death. Refuse, and I will tear you apart in front of your friends."
Chapter Fifteen
"Drain me?" Maisha shouted. "What do you mean?"
It was a rhetorical question. She knew what it meant, and what I was. Maisha turned her tear-filled gaze to me and trembled. The adrenaline smell intensified, filling the room. I had never smelled someone so horrified in my life.
"I'm not hurting my friend," I said. There was no point in me hiding that fact anymore. The guards already knew. It was why Connor had chosen her out of everyone in the prison room. I imagined him snatching her, kicking and screaming, while the other students tried to free her. He would have tased a few of them.
Did those shock guns have a battery life?
Alyssa and Xavier had once told me they seemed to. Both had used them before.
That meant that Connor just might have a useless weapon.
I forgot about the dragon emperor. Bathory stood there, feet away as if waiting for me to make my decision.
And then she spoke.
"Do you wish to die? I would hate to lose such a powerful servant."
"I'm not your servant!"
"Then you are unworthy of your immortality?" she asked, shuffling closer. "Over history, I gave my blood to a few, maybe only a half dozen beautiful people. I chose only the best to receive it, to join me. But I thought my method of trying to create new vampires did not work. I couldn't Turn them, so I stopped giving away my blood. It took a thousand years for me to realize how the process worked. It is why few today Turn when bitten. You are fortunate, and you are refusing your gift?"
Maisha sobbed and tried to pull out of Connor's grasp. "Janine, I can't believe it!"
"I won't let you die," I said.
"Let her out of here!" Alyssa yelled. "We don't have to do this." She stayed by Xavier's bedside, pulling against her chains. Though she had access to dragon fire, she needed her sword to summon it.