by Cheree Alsop
“Where’s the keycard?” he asked.
I pulled it wordlessly from my back pocket and handed it to him. He swiped the reader and it gave a ding of approval.
He pulled the door open. “You coming?” he asked.
I glanced back once at the two guards that lay in a heap in the middle of the floor.
“Hold on,” I told him.
I grabbed the guards by the straps on their armored vests and pulled them into the shadows with the other one I had downed. On impulse, I also took their guns. I shoved one into the front of my waistband and another in the back, then handed the last one to my dad when I reached the door.
He tossed the baton down and took the gun.
“Let’s save your stepmother,” he said with a determined glint in his eye that told of his former self returning.
“I’ll go first,” I told him.
He followed me down the next hallway. The cloying scent of blood and demons was everywhere. I ignored the shadows of demons waiting next to closed glass rooms. Inside, the curtainless rooms contained a bed with a monster tied by restraints to the top. Some monsters were motionless while others fought their restraints and yelled for help. It was only the thought of Julianne in trouble that kept me moving forward.
The sound of talking made my footsteps slow. Dad did the same. We approached the next corridor with bated breaths, our guns ready. When we reached the corner, my heart constricted.
A huge glass-enclosed room to our left contained white-jacketed men and women standing around a table. On the table lay Julianne, motionless, pale, and looking more thin and frail than I had ever seen her. At the head of the table stood a husky-looking man with in a white lab coat. His black hair had been slicked back and a red bandana was tied around his forehead as though he was some sort of doctor rock star. He had a close-cropped black beard and a mustache that turned up at the corners. He was facing us directly; if either Dad or I moved, we would be in plain sight.
“As you can see, her vitals have diminished to the point that sending her back into the training grounds would be a waste. This is why humans aren’t good candidates for training, be they mothers of monsters or not.”
Several around the table laughed as though they were talking about bugs or pests instead of a mother whose baby had been taken away.
“What do you propose at this point, Sir Harbrand?” a young woman in a white coat asked.
“Termination,” the man with the bandana replied simply. “And as soon as her vitals show that she has expired, we’ll perform a full autopsy to better understand why a human can carry a werewolf child when no other monster has such capabilities.”
“Do we know if the infant’s werewolf gene will be active or dormant?” a man with a clipboard asked.
Sir Harbrand shook his head. “Unfortunately, only time will tell.” He winked. “Fortunately, we have the time that she doesn’t.”
Laughter circled the table again. My hand tightened on my gun. I heard Dad mutter a curse he would have scolded me for under different circumstances.
Sir Harbrand nodded at a young man near the machines Julianne was hooked up to. “Edgart, begin the process.” He turned to the others who appeared to be his students. “A mild sedative will be injected into her I.V. followed by a lethal dose of pentobarbital. It’s a seizure medication that in a large dose like the one Edgart will be administering, will shut down her heart and brain functions.”
“No!” Dad shouted.
I shot twice at the glass surrounding the room. I wasn’t surprised when the bullets didn’t penetrate, but the sound had the desired effect of stopping everyone, including Edgart, and turning their attention to me.
Sir Harbrand didn’t seem at all frazzled by our appearance. He walked toward the glass doors with his hands behind his back and a calculating expression on his face. He was at least a foot taller than me and, given the width of his shoulders, I had the impression that he could bench-press a bear. I guess it took strength to keep all of the monsters under his command in control.
“You must be the werewolf,” he said. His voice was muffled slightly by the thick glass.
“You must be Sir Fartcan,” I replied.
“Harbrand,” he corrected mildly.
I ignored him. “Tell your students to back away from the table.”
Sir Harbrand gave an amused smile at my command. “You can’t reach us in here.”
I pulled out Eileen’s keycard. “Can’t I?”
His eyes widened at the sight of the card. I waved it in front of the reader with a triumphant smile. To my dismay, the reader gave a flat beep.
Sir Harbrand let out an amused laugh. “See? It’s our job to erase monsters from the earth lest it be overrun with their stupidity and—”
Whatever he was going to say vanished from his lips at the appearance of a man in a lab coat walking down the hallway with his gaze on a file he carried. I took a cue from Harbrand’s expression and fired without giving the man a chance to react.
“Check his coat,” I told Dad who was already on his way over to the fallen form.
Dad pulled out a keycard and held it up with a triumphant laugh. “We got it!”
“Don’t you dare,” Sir Harbrand threatened when Dad reached my side. He handed me the card. I waved it in front of the reader while keeping my gaze on those in the room.
An approving ding sounded. Sir Harbrand and I stared at each other for a brief second. I put my hand on the door. He backed off several steps and then ran. Chaos ensued inside the glass room. The students scrambled over one another to get away from the table. But the door we used appeared to be the only escape.
Calls of, “Mad werewolf!” and “We’re under attack!” rang out.
Someone bumped Julianne’s table. The smallest whimper of pain escaped from her.
“Freeze!” I shouted. My voice reverberated off the glass with the force of the shout. The students and Sir Harbrand stopped moving. Everyone turned around slowly as if certain they would be the one shot.
At my nod, Dad ran to the table. He quickly unhooked Julianne’s I.V. and gathered her into his arms. Any doubt I had that he was able to carry her given his condition faded at the protective look on his face. He would carry her to the ends of the earth if he had to.
I aimed my gun at Harbrand. “It’s a pity this gun doesn’t have real bullets. Someone like you should pay for the suffering you’ve inflicted on others.” I squeezed the trigger and the bullet struck the center of his chest. He fell writhing to the floor. I shifted my gaze to the others. They backed away at the intensity of my stare. “And to the rest of you, know that I will be coming for anyone who approves of and is involved with the torture of any creature, be it monster or human.” I lowered my voice to a threatening level. “If you stay with the Maes, I will hunt each of you down individually and see that you undergo the same tortures you have inflicted on the monsters here. I would recommend sleeping with one eye open from now on.”
“Let’s go,” Dad commanded from the door.
I fired several shots into the crowd before I left. I might not have enough bullets to shoot all of them, but those who were hit might hesitate to inflict such pain on others after they recovered.
I slammed a fist into the inside card reader before I left. The reader shattered and sparks flew up from the attachments beneath it. When I shut the door, I pulled on it, but it refused to open. I gave a grim smile at the thought that only a card from the outside would release the students and their fallen teacher of torment.
Dad was already halfway up the hall. I was almost to him when a form caught the corner of my eye. I turned to see a woman lying motionless on a bed. Something about her profile kept my attention. I slowed my steps and approached the door. The closer I got, the more certain I became that I was looking at someone from Vicken’s lineage.
I pushed the door, but it refused to open. I pulled the new card from my pocket and used it on the reader. The machine beeped and I heard the door lo
ck release. With my heart thundering in my chest, I crossed the floor toward the bed. The woman’s cheekbones stood out in sharp contrast to her pale skin; her aquiline nose and tightly pressed lips reminded me of my friend. I glanced at the band around her wrist. The printed name ‘Donessa Ruvine’ made my heart leap into my throat.
“Finn, what you doing? We’ve got to go!” Dad insisted from the door of the room.
“This is Vicken’s mother,” I replied.
Dad looked from me to the unconscious woman. He let out a breath and stepped into the room. “Right. What do we do?”
“She needs blood,” I said. I looked around for something I could use to cut myself. My eyes landed on a set of drawers against the wall. I pulled open the first one and was rewarded with an entire drawer filled with plastic-wrapped scalpels. I held one up. “This’ll do.”
I hurried back to the bed and had pressed the knife to the place just below Sparrow’s name on my wrist when my dad caught my hand. I glanced over to see Julianne resting curled up on her side where Dad had set her gently on the floor.
“She needs blood,” I repeated.
He held out his hand. “If anyone’s giving her blood, it’s me.”
I stared at him. “Dad, it’ll make you sick.”
“Would it make you sick?”
He watched me closely as I thought about my answer. “Well, yes,” I replied.
He opened his hand again. “Give it to me. You need to stay strong if we’re getting out of this.”
I couldn’t help my surprise when I asked, “Why? Shouldn’t you be the strong one?”
He shook his head. “I need you to come back for your baby sister.”
My mouth fell open. “Baby sister,” I repeated.
Dad nodded. In the place of the terrified, feral man I had found in the training grounds stood my father, calm, confident, and able to see the situation for what it was.
“I need to get Julianne to a hospital as fast as I can. It’s the only hope she has. You need to come back here and bring your baby sister home.” He looked through the glass walls and a hint of desperation surfaced in his gaze. “I don’t know how, but you’ve got to do it.” His gaze locked back on me. “You’re the only one who can.”
I nodded because it felt like the only thing I could do. “I’ll do it. I promise.”
He nodded. “Good boy. Now let’s get this vampire up.”
He pressed the knife to the vein at the base of his thumb. I heard his swift intake of breath just before blood welled from the wound. Without waiting for me to tell him what to do, he held his hand over the vampire’s mouth. I heard the minute splash as the first drop of blood fell onto her lips.
“She’s not moving,” Dad said. He squeezed his hand and more blood dripped down.
I saw the Donessa’s eyes move beneath her eye lids. “It’s working,” I whispered.
With a speed I should have expected but still startled me anyway, the Donessa’s head lunged forward and she bit Dad’s hand with her fangs.
Dad gave a startled yelp, but held still as she drank his blood.
I watched his face pale. “That’s not a sensation you want to experience every day,” he said, his voice level. He glanced at the straps that held her wrists. “Should we untie her?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
I watched her take several more deep gulps, then said, “Donessa Ruvine, you need to stop now.”
She didn’t. I wasn’t surprise. Both of the times I had given blood to Vicken, he had been at a point where being rational wasn’t an option. For any creature on the edge of death, survival was of the utmost importance, and by the looks of things, the Donessa had been on her way out of this life.
I put a hand on her upper arm. “Donessa Ruvine, you need to stop drinking now,” I said in a slightly louder voice.
Dad held his arm and I could see the fingers of his other hand begin to shake. I whispered, “Vicken, please forgive me.” I leaned over the bed and shouted, “Donessa Ruvine. Stop. Now!”
Her eyes flew open. Yellow irises peered up at me, then shifted to Dad. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth enough to withdraw her fangs from Dad’s wrist. He backed away. Without breaking my gaze from the vampire’s, I handed him one of the rolls of gauze I had found in a drawer.
“Wrap it up. You don’t want to bleed in front of a vampire. Trust me.”
The Donessa’s eyes narrowed. “Do I know you?”
I shook my head. “No, but I go to school with your son. My name’s Finn Briscoe. Vicken sent me to get you out.”
“Vicken?” she repeated. Her eyes filled with tears; when she blinked, they flowed down the sides of her pale face. “Is he safe?”
I lied to her because she was in no shape to take the truth. “Yes, he’s fine. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
Certain that my father and I were no longer at the risk of being drained dry by the Donessa, I undid her straps. As soon as her hands were free, she sat up and broke the bonds on her feet. With a fluidity of movement despite her weakness, the Donessa led the way to the door. Dad bent to pick up Julianne, but I beat him to it.
“Reserve your strength; we’re going to need it,” I told him quietly when I picked Julianne up in my arms.
“What happened to her?” Donessa Ruvine asked.
My dad’s voice was flat when he replied, “Sir Harbrand.”
The vampire’s lips pulled back from her teeth in a terrifying grimace. “If we run into him on the way out….” She left the sentence hanging.
“He’s stuck for the moment,” I replied. “I shot him and left him locked in one of his operating rooms.”
Dad gave me a triumphant look. The sight of his black eye and bruised face made me wish I had done far more than just shoot the man.
“Good,” the Donessa replied. She peered down the hall, then glanced back at us. “How are we getting out of here?”
I gave an embarrassed shrug. “We’re sort of winging it at this point.”
She nodded. “Fair enough. Let’s go.”
Chapter Six
The Donessa turned out to be a very valuable ally. She had no problem ranging ahead to see where the guards were. The glass walls gave us little the hide behind, but with the vampire’s excellent eyesight, she saw them and directed us down different paths before we were spotted.
The sound of a siren reached my ears. I slowed.
“What’s wrong?” my dad asked. His face was pale and I could see the sweat standing out on his skin. He was already feeling the effects of being bitten by the vampire, but he refused any assistance.
“Sirens. They’re onto us,” I replied.
The Donessa nodded. “Good. Change of plans. I thought we could make it out through the original garage, but instead, we’re going out the way you came in.”
I couldn’t help my shock. “But it’s heavily guarded.”
“I’ll bet it’s not right now,” she replied.
We burst through the doors near the escalator just as the sound of footsteps rang down. The Donessa grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shadows beneath the escalator before they stormed by. My dad leaned with his hands on his knees, his breath coming in gasps. I shifted Julianne so that her head rested against my shoulder. The sound of her heart was faint.
“We need to hurry,” I whispered as soon as the guards disappeared through the infirmary doors. “She doesn’t have long and he doesn’t look good.”
“Why are you three here?” the vampire asked with suspicion in her yellow eyes.
I went with the truth because the Donessa would find out from her husband if we ever got out of the restructured mall.
“I’m a werewolf. They took my dad and stepmom in the hopes of getting a werewolf to study, but Dad’s genes are dormant and Julianne is human.”
The Donessa studied me. For a moment, it looked as though she was weighing leaving us behind. I was struck by the coldness of the vampire’s gaze. The look in her eyes was one I had
only seen once on her son’s face, and that was when he nearly beat me to death during my first days at Haunted High. At least I knew where he got his prejudice against werewolves.
“You saved my life,” she said finally. “I wouldn’t expect that from one of your kind.”
I thought my dad would argue against her words the way he had when Don Ruvine had shown the same kind of prejudice at the Academy. When he didn’t, a glance in his direction showed that his condition was rapidly declining. He had sunk to the ground. Sweat stained his tattered shirt and he eyes were fever bright. He looked up at me without appearing to see me.
“Dad?” I asked.
“It’s the bite,” the Donessa replied levelly. “It does that to a human.”
The thought that her bite might affect him more powerfully than me hadn’t occurred to me. “Is he going to be alright?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Not without fluids. He needs to get to a hospital.” She paused, then said as though she forced it, “Or one of our infirmaries.”
I knew she referred to the mansions that were the vampires’ lair. Each was fully stocked with staff and a complete infirmary ready to deal with a multitude of inflictions. I made myself ask, “Will you take them there?”
She let out a breath as if saying the words hurt, “I might take them. But not you.”
I fought back the urge to bristle at the accusation in her tone. “I don’t need to go,” I told her. “Just save them. I need to stay here. They have my baby sister somewhere in this place. I’ve got to find her.”
She looked at Julianne. “That makes sense. Your stepmother smells of blood.”
I knew by the pallor of her skin that the vampire hadn’t drank enough blood to fill what was lost. Even running to the escalator had cost her. She needed blood as much as Julianne and my dad needed help. Getting all three of them out of the Maes headquarters was the only way to save them.
I turned so that the vampire had to look at me instead of Julianne. “I saved your life by getting you out. Do you promise to take my parents to one of your mansions and care for them until they can go home?” I knew better than to say until I came for them. We would be lucky to leave the headquarters once; I didn’t dare hope I would escape a second time, but I had to try for my sister’s sake.