Toxic (Venom Series) Book Three

by Kristen Middleton

  “It’s okay. I really don’t need anyone’s help,” I replied and then quickly shut the door. Fortunately, this time, there was only silence from the other side.

  THE PLANE FROM London arrived on schedule. While we waited for the passengers to get off, I finished telling Bradan, and the others, what had occurred in the last couple of days, leaving out the X-rated details.

  “So, you really have it bad for this chick, huh?” asked Sean, scratching his goatee.

  I watched as the passengers began to step out of the terminal. “You could say that.”

  “So, what does this fella look like?” asked Bradan.

  “He’s short and thick, with gray hair and a beard. He also wears glasses and I’d say he’s probably close to sixty,” I replied, looking through the crowd of people.

  “What if he’s not on board?” asked Bradan. “What’ll you do, then?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Hopefully, Torin will find us something concrete and we’ll go from there.”

  “Let’s hope,” he answered. “I hate to see you suffering, so.”

  A few minutes later, the last of the passengers walked by us and I let out a ragged sigh.

  “Well, shit,” said Jimmy, turning to me. “This didn’t turn out the way I’d expected.”

  “It was a long shot,” I said, reaching for my phone. “I guess I actually did expect it to go this way. Sorry to waste everyone’s time.”

  “Don’t talk like that. You didn’t waste our time,” said Jimmy.

  “He’s right. We’ll find another way to get your lass back,” said Bradan.

  “I hope so,” I replied, dialing Aiden. As soon as I hit “Send”, I heard someone cough. I looked up toward the terminal and my pulse went into overdrive. “He’s here,” I said into the phone as Aiden answered.

  “That’s him?” asked Bradan, hearing me.

  I nodded.

  “Our Dr. Shephard?” asked Aiden.

  “The one and only. I’ll call you back,” I said, hanging up. I shoved my phone into my leather jacket and approached the unsuspecting scientist, who was blowing his nose. When he recognized my face, his turned white.

  “Hello there,” he said, looking like a deer caught in someone’s headlights. “Can I help you with something?”

  I smirked. “Don’t play me for a fool. You know who I am and you know what I’m capable of.”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  He tried playing dumb. “I’m sorry. Where’s who?”

  Furious, I glared at him. “You’re really going to make me do this?”

  “Do what?” he said, looking flustered. “Look, it’s true that I know who you are but I have no idea of what you’re speaking of.”

  I’d had enough of the bullshit. Before he knew what was happening, I picked him up and flew through the airport. When we reached the Exit, I flew through the glass, and up into the sky.

  “Please!” he screamed as I slowed. “Put me down!”

  I grabbed his collar and tried looking into his eyes, but he looked away. “Where is she?” I growled into his face.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he yelled, staring around us in horror. We were far away from the ground, about ten thousand feet.

  “Where is Chelsey?”

  “Who?”

  Irritated, I released him, letting him fall for several hundred yards.

  “Why are you doing this?” he cried, when I caught him. “I’m going to have a heart attack.”

  “Then tell me what I need to know.”

  “I don’t know what it is!”

  “Enough with the bullshit,” I snarled, staring into his face. “Tell me where Chelsey is! The girl that Lucian took from the castle.”

  “Castle Rylan? Yes, I was there but… I don’t know anything about a girl named Chelsey,” he replied, this time staring back at me with tears in his eyes. “I swear to God. Please, you’ve got to believe me!”

  I searched his eyes and to my dismay, found that he was telling the truth. He had no idea who she was or where Lucian had taken her. “He must have erased your memory.”

  “Who?”

  “Lucian.”

  “Lucian Frazer?”

  “Yes.”

  His face relaxed. “Yes. Yes, I know who he is! I also know his girlfriend, Vanessa. Please, bring me back down and I’ll tell you where they are. Maybe they could tell you where your friend Chelsey is?”

  Gritting my teeth, I flew down and then headed toward Rylan Castle. When we arrived, I set Dr. Shephard down roughly, wanting to hurt him for being involved with Chelsey’s kidnapping. His memory may have been erased, but in my gut I knew he was mixed up in everything.

  Bradan, Jimmy, and Sean landed next to us.

  “That was bad-assed!” cried Jimmy. “If he keeps giving you a hard time, can I be the next to interrogate him?”

  “Was it frightening?” asked Sean, approaching the doctor, his eyes like cinders. “Is your heart pumping and your pulse racing from being tossed around like a ball?” He leaned over and inhaled. “I love the smell of fear on a mortal. Especially when I haven’t fed for a while.”

  Dr. Shephard took a step back. “Are all of you vampires?”

  “Not a Rocket Scientist, are you?” I sneered.

  Just then, the front door of the castle opened and Aiden, Torin, and Liam stepped outside.

  “Well, look at who we have here?” said Liam, approaching us with a satisfied grin. “Dr. I’m-in-deep-shit-now.”

  Ignoring him, Shephard stumbled over to Aiden. “Mr. Rylan, thank God. I don’t know what’s going on here but this young man seems to think I know the whereabouts of someone named Chelsey.”

  Aiden crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. “And you’re saying that you don’t?”

  “Yes,” he said firmly. “I really don’t.”

  Aiden sighed and looked at me. “He’s been charmed, hasn’t he?”

  “I think so. He claims to know where Lucian and Vanessa are, though,” I replied.

  “Is that right?” said Aiden turning back to the doctor. “So, where are they, Dr. Shephard? And is that even your real name?”

  He nodded his head quickly. “Yes. Yes, my name is Shephard. Richard Shephard.”

  “Why did your plane ticket say otherwise?”

  “I… I don’t really know,” he answered, looking confused. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. “This isn’t right. My name is Richard, not Patrick. They have my named spelled wrong.”

  Bradan, who was standing behind Dr. Shephard, pulled out the old man’s wallet from his back pocket.

  “Hey, give me that back!” snapped Dr. Shephard.

  “Oh, relax,” said Bradan, opening up the wallet. He stared down at the driver’s license. “It says here Patrick Shephard, but I don’t know if this is his picture.”

  Aiden grabbed the wallet from him and smirked. “I doubt it. This man has to be twenty years younger than you, Richard. Do you make it a habit out of using other people’s ID’s?”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Dr. Shephard. He snatched the wallet from Aiden and stared down in shock at the license. “This is not me. That’s not my name. What in the hell is going on?” he asked looking stunned.

  “I bet Lucian set all of this up,” said Torin. “He obviously knew we’d be looking for a Richard Shephard. At least we know his real name.”

  “Where is Lucian right now?” I snapped.

  “He’s in London,” said Dr. Shephard.

  I relaxed slightly. I was half-expecting him to say ‘America’. “Where?”

  “I… I don’t know, exactly. I’m supposed to call him when I get back to New York,” he said.

  “You promised that you could tell me where he is,” I growled, grabbing him by his jacket. I stared down into his face, the beast inside of me wanting to devour every last ounce of blood from his veins. I’d forgotten to feed after ever
ything that had happened and now my anger was making me even hungrier. “I should just kill you since you’re no use to us.”

  “No… please don’t!” he sobbed, struggling to get away from me. “I’m too important to kill! All of my research would be lost forever. It would be such a waste!”

  Torin laughed. “He thinks pretty highly of himself, doesn’t he?”

  “Apparently,” said Aiden, grunting.

  Liam rubbed his hands together. “I say we just share him. Lycan get the top-half, vampires get the bottom.”

  “I’ll take anything at this point,” I said, trying to scare the little man, although my stomach was beginning to ache. I needed blood or things were only going to get uglier.

  “No! Please. I need to finish with the Hybrid study. We’re so close to creating the perfect mutation. So close. It can’t end like this.”

  “Tell us where in London Lucian is,” I snapped.

  “Let him go,” said Torin, now holding Dr. Shephard’s wallet. “We don’t need him to tell us.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, releasing him.

  Torin held up a receipt. “It looks like he purchased something at this pharmacy in London.”

  “Do you remember doing that?” I asked.

  He pulled out a tissue from his coat and blew his nose. “Yes. I do kind of remember that. I needed more cough drops and some orange juice.”

  “How did you arrive at the pharmacy?” asked Torin.

  Liam’s eyes widened. “How is that going to help?”

  “Was it by car or foot?” asked Torin, ignoring his brother.

  “It was… it was by car,” replied the man.

  “Do you remember where you were prior to that?”

  “I don’t. I’m sorry,” he replied.

  Sighing, Torin reached into his jacket and pulled out a small pendulum. “Sit down,” he ordered.

  “You’re not going to hypnotize me, are you?” he asked in disbelief.

  “Yes. Sit down.” Repeated Torin.

  Dr. Shephard’s eyes widened. “On the ground?”

  “Yes. Get your ass on the ground,” he demanded, “if you want to get out of this alive.”

  The doctor quickly got down to the ground.

  Torin kneeled down in front of him. “I want you to relax.”

  He grunted. “Relax? Right.”

  “I’m going to hypnotize you and in order for it to work, you need to relax,” he replied gruffly.

  Dr. Shephard let out a ragged breath. “Okay. You’re not going to make me do something I’ll regret later, will you? My ex-wife once had me hypnotized and I was barking like a rabid dog.”

  “No, I won’t do that. Now, let go of everything that’s happened and relax,” said Torin, who proceeded to hypnotize him by swinging the pendulum and talking to him in a soothing voice. We all watched quietly as Torin delved deep into his mind until he was able to recover the information that Lucian had tried to cover up. He was so good it, that Lucian was able to get the exact address from Shephard’s subconscious.

  “You’re amazing,” said Aiden, slapping his brother on the back. “Too bad you couldn’t have someone hypnotize you into not gambling anymore.”

  “I tried. It didn’t work,” he said, putting the pendulum away. “Anyway, if you haven’t noticed, I have a lot more important things to do with my time, now.”

  “Yeah, we saw her. Megan Fontaine. She’s a real looker,” said Liam.

  “She’s mine, so stay away,” said Torin, turning toward Liam.

  “I’m not out to steal your woman. You might want to keep her away from me, though. She was eyeing me in the hallway earlier,” he replied, with a shit-eating-grin.

  “You’re so full of yourself,” said Torin, rolling his eyes.

  “What do you expect? I’m a Rock Star. Women dig us… don’t they Slade?”

  “Especially the blonde you had in your bedroom earlier. So, who’s coming with me to London?” I asked, looking at Bradan and the other two vampires.

  “Count me in,” replied Sean. “I’d love to a chance to kick Lucian’s scrawny little ass. I met him a few years ago and we got into it.”

  “You’ll have to stand in line. I get him first,” I replied. “Doubt there will be much left of him when I’m finished.”

  “Liam, what do he mean about the blonde in your bedroom?” asked Aiden, pursing his lips.

  “Nothing,” Liam replied, giving me his middle finger. “Ignore Slade. He’s not in his right mind now. Are you?”

  “Haven’t been there for a while,” I admitted. “Anyway, we need to leave. Now.”

  Torin handed me the slip of paper with the address. “This sounds like some kind of medical building. Maybe a retirement home.”

  “It shouldn’t be too hard to find,” I replied, memorizing the address. “Thanks, Torin, I owe you.”

  “No you don’t. Just go find your girl and bring her back,” he replied.

  “I’m going to try.”

  “I remember her, now,” said Dr. Shephard, staring ahead. He nodded. “Yes. I do. Pretty girl. I can see why you want her back.”

  “Is she okay?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “That depends on what you mean by okay. Now, you being a vampire might say she’s doing very well,” he replied, smirking.

  My eyes narrowed. “Why is that?”

  He took off his glasses and began cleaning them. “Because… soon, she’ll be one of you.”

  I TOOK THE pregnancy test first and held my breath. When it came out negative, I had mixed feelings. I wasn’t ready to have a baby but there was a part of me that wanted Slade’s child, especially now that he was gone. Knowing that I still could be pregnant, since we’d just had sex the night before, I took out the other box and read through the directions. Fortunately, it was fast and the results didn’t take long.

  “How’s everything going in there?” asked Lucian from the other side of the door.

  “Uh, okay. I’ll be right out,” I replied, turning on the sink to wash my hands. When I was finished, I walked back into the room and they both stared at me with anticipation.

  “I’m not pregnant,” I said. “At least the test shows that I’m not.”

  “What about the other one?” asked Lucian.

  I held up the stick. “Just call me Fertile Myrtle,” I replied with a little smile.

  They looked at each other and grinned.

  “I guess I’ll have to wait a couple more weeks to make sure that I’m not pregnant,” I said, throwing the stick away. “Which is too bad. I was hoping that we could just get this over with.”

  “You mean making you a vampire?” asked Vanessa.

  “Yes.”

  Lucian cleared his throat. “Actually, there’s really no need to wait.”

  “What if I’m pregnant and the test didn’t pick up on it?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. You aren’t. The odds are against it,” said Lucian. “It would have to be a miracle.”

  “But, if I am pregnant and it’s Slade’s, I’d never forgive myself,” I replied. “I’m sorry, but I’m waiting.”

  Lucian sighed.

  Vanessa stood up. “No… no… no… It has to be now. You can’t wait,” she said, looking anxious. “Tell her Lucian.”

  I frowned. “Excuse me? I thought this was my decision?”

  “Hold up,” said Lucian, raising his hand. “If she wants to wait, she can. It is your decision.”

  Vanessa looked furious. “But-”

  “But nothing.” He turned to me. “Why don’t you relax while Vanessa and I grab a bite to eat? We’re both hungry, especially her.”

  My eyes widened. “Eat?”

  “Well, you know… feed,” he said chuckling.

  Images of myself drinking blood made my stomach churn and I wondered if I could really handle that part of the change.

  “Okay,” I said, relieved that they were leaving as I was actually beginning to wonder if I’d thought everyth
ing through. “Could you bring me something to wear other than this thing? I hate wearing hospital gowns.”

  “Of course we will. Come, Vanessa. Let’s go.”

  Still scowling, she followed him out of the room without saying another word.

  I FOLLOW LUCIAN outside, frustrated with everything. Chelsey was obviously ovulating and we didn’t need to waste any more time.

  “I don’t understand why we’re going to wait. Victor will be arriving soon and like she said, she’s ‘Fertile Myrtle’. We should call Dr. Shephard.”

  “We aren’t waiting,” he replied, looking up toward the second floor of the building, where Chelsey was waiting for them. “I’m going to go back in there and finish what I started while you go and feed. I just told her that so she’d relax.”

  I sighed in relief. “Thank God. What about Dr. Shephard?”

  “We’ll call him afterward. We don’t need him right now, anyway. It will take a few hours for her to complete the change and by that time, Victor should be getting off of the plane. We’ll give him the girl and he can handle the insemination process.”

  “You mean rape her?” I asked dryly.

  He shrugged. “Whatever. It’s going to have to be done this way. We already knew that.”

  “Yeah, but what if it doesn’t work?”

  “Dr. Shephard seems to think that it will. All we can do is allow Victor to have her as many times as he can in the next couple of days. By then, Dr. Shephard will be back, and he can perform an accurate pregnancy test.”

  The way he said it made me feel sick to my stomach. Chelsey would be raped repeatedly, all in the name of science. But, I wanted the baby and that made it easier for me to ignore the guilt niggling away at my conscious.

  ‘You’ll charm her into wanting him?”

  He grunted. “I can charm her into wanting me, but I’m not sure if it will work the other way.” He wrinkled his nose. “Especially for a Lycan’s benefit. We shall soon see, however.”

  “What about Slade?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What about him?”

  “What if he finds her?”

  “We’re in London. He doesn’t have a clue as to where we are. Besides, do you honestly think he cares that much about the girl that he’d fly back to New York to try and look for her?”