The Rise of Vlad (The Seeker Series Book 3)

by Ditter Kellen

  “Neither have I. And it doesn’t mean anything to us. Once it leaves here, we forget it exists.”

  “But, Henry—”

  “No.” He glanced at his watch. “The crew will arrive in less than three hours to retrieve it, and then I develop amnesia. Do you understand?”

  “We have a little time before they get here. Show me please? This is too amazing to be true.” Several questions ran through her mind at once. She couldn’t voice them all.

  With a click of the mouse, another image appeared. “Do you see that?” Henry pointed to an object on the screen.

  “Yes, what is it?” She leaned in to get a better look.

  “The equivalent of lungs.”

  “But what is that?” She indicated something winged that grew from the sides of the organs.

  “They’re gills.” His voice took on an awed tone, which she could understand. She was in the same frame of mind.

  “It can’t be.” The evidence of it mocked her from inches away.

  Henry glanced up at her. “They’re gills, I tell you. I saw them on the back side of his ribs. His arms cover most of them and they wouldn’t be noticeable to someone that didn’t know what to look for.”

  “Do you realize what this implies? Gills for God’s sake.”

  “I’m seeing similarities to humans, amphibians, reptiles, and fish here, Abbie. The heart of a fish only has two chambers, one to receive blood and the other to send it out to the rest of the body. A human heart has four.

  “Notice that our blood leaves the lungs and enters the heart, while a fish’s blood leaves the heart and enters the gills. And take a gander at this.” Henry clicked the mouse once more.

  “What in the world?” she breathed, studying the image before her.

  “It’s the digestive tract. I would give anything to be able to dissect it.”

  His excitement at the possibility of a dissection disturbed her.

  Abbie glanced over at the it in question, and something tugged at her emotions. Some kind of beautiful creature had washed up on the beach only to be violated and sent to a place few had ever witnessed. Area 51.

  She shuddered and turned back to the screen. “Have you ever seen anything like this before? And why six chambers instead of two or four?”

  “I don’t know why the six chambers. I understand that an octopus, squid, and cuttlefish have three separate hearts, so perhaps it has to do with evolution.”

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, he continued. “I studied tissue samples taken from an unknown subject many years ago, but I wasn’t told its origin. And it had blood. This subject doesn’t. Well, not enough to fill a teaspoon, at any rate. And there are no wounds that it could have bled out from.”

  “What?” Abbie was sure she hadn’t heard him right.

  “Come here and I’ll show you.” Henry took up residence on the left side of the bed as she rushed around to the right.

  He lifted the creature’s left arm, turning the hand so she could see both sides. “We attempted to draw blood here first. Nothing. Not a drop could be found.”

  Replacing the arm, he gripped the subject’s chin next, tugging it to the side for her inspection. “One vein runs along here, from jaw to the bottom of the neck. Dry also.”

  “But— ”

  “I’ll come back to that. There’s more.” He dragged the sheet down to a small pink vertical scar on the creature’s abdomen. “Impossible,” he gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” Her gaze flew to her father’s face.” Henry had significantly paled.

  “I made that incision less than an hour ago. It’s nearly healed already. The thing is dead. I don’t understand.”

  “Are you sure he’s…gone?” Abbie couldn’t bring herself to refer to him as it.

  “No heartbeat.” Henry laid two fingers on the creature’s neck. “No pulse. It’s dead all right.”

  “So how did he heal if he isn’t alive?”

  “I don’t know. I was able to remove a very small sample of something resembling blood from the stomach cavity, but it wasn’t in any of the A, B, O, or RH classes. It’s an anomaly.”

  “Perhaps you should try giving him a universal donation to see what happens? I mean, if he healed, he has to be alive.”

  “He? It’s not a person, Abbie. And I’d thought of that. I was just about to try it before you snuck in here and gave me indigestion. I’m running out of time. I want you gone before that crew arrives.”

  “Then let’s hurry. I’ll help.”

  He shot her an impatient glance. “So damn stubborn.”

  “Yet another thing I inherited from you.”

  “You’re not too old for me to turn over my knee, young lady.” He spun on his heel and left the room.

  Abbie took advantage of Henry’s absence to study the beautiful creature before her. His wrists and ankles were strapped down with leather cuffs attached to bands that disappeared beneath the bed.

  He looked very much alive to her, with color in his cheeks and his lips slightly parted. She was certain his mouth had been closed only moments before.

  Her fingers shook as she reached toward him. She gently pushed his top lip up with her thumb. “Holy shit,” she whispered, jerking her hand back as if burned. He had razor-sharp incisors where his eyeteeth should have been.

  When nothing untoward happened, Abbie slowly leaned in again and froze. Heat instantly surrounded her upper body. She felt a soft tugging sensation that left a tingle in its wake. Her muscles relaxed without effort as something unseen moved up the sides of her face.

  A deeply accented voice invaded her mind. “Open.”

  Abbie knew she should run, but the allure of the command was more powerful than her fear.

  She allowed the warmth to pull her closer, never taking her gaze from his mouth, until she half lay across his massive chest with her arms on either side of his shoulders.

  A gentle pressure wrapped itself around her mind, and she found herself inching toward his parted lips to hover slightly above them. His breath mingled with hers, and she breathed him in. He’s breathing?

  Abbie felt as if his very spirit entered her body, traveling down her throat and circling her chest. The pressure continued to slide through her stomach and grew in strength as it reached her abdomen.

  She had no desire to move even if it were possible. Her insides turned to liquid, and she exhaled softly into his mouth only to draw him in again. He’s alive…

  Abbie shifted on his huge frame and stroked her fingertips down to his wrists. Though no pulse was evident, she could feel his energy, his breath teasing her lips.

  On instinct, she gripped his hands and slowly turned them over until she was palm to palm with him. A gentle electrical current traveled up her arms, tingling, throbbing, as if it had a life of its own.

  An image of herself as a child coming awake on the beach while waves washed over her legs suddenly flashed through her mind, and she jerked her head back. What the hell?

  The pulsing continued through their points of contact while Abbie held her breath, lowering her face close to his once more. Another jolt entered her palms.

  “Salutem.”

  Where had she heard that before? She recognized it as the Latin word for greetings.

  Images and voices began swirling together in a multitude of color and sound, leaving her helpless against the onslaught.

  “Abbie, did you know that dolphins can communicate with humans?”

  A groan slipped from her parted lips, full of pain and sorrow. Mother.

  More current slid from his hands to hers. “Salt from his tears.” Water. Coffin. Death.

  “No,” she softly moaned.

  Sand. Her lungs hurt. Heat snaking through her arms and legs. “Salutem.” Blessed darkness.

  Abbie heard a keening sound and realized it came from her. She slowly removed her shaky hands from his and brought them to his face. “It can’t be.”

  With unsteady fingers, she rested her thumbs on h
is eyelids and gently lifted. A soft gasp escaped as she stared into the emerald-green eyes of a dream she’d thought long forgotten.

  Memory was swift and strong, and she clung to it like a life raft on a raging sea.

  She’d wondered a thousand times about the day they’d buried her mother, when the teenage boy with the strange accent and rare-colored eyes had magically appeared to save her life.

  The memory had faded over the years until she’d convinced herself it’d all been the imagination of a child who’d recently suffered a trauma.

  Abbie couldn’t believe the boy from her dreams was actually real and strapped down before her now.

  She forced herself to break the connection and stand on legs that felt too weak to hold her up. His warmth abruptly disappeared, leaving an ache and emptiness in its place that was staggering.

  Chapter Three

  Unimaginable pain. Hauke could hear his sister’s scream piercing the night, ripping his heart in half. Sunlight scorched his skin. The cool, healing power of the water.

  He could breathe once again. Voices. More pain. The distinct feel of a blade opening his skin.

  His defenseless state enraged him. To be trapped inside his own mind, unable to retaliate as someone violated his body.

  A female. Compassion.

  Images plagued him, making little sense.

  He clung to the female’s voice. She touched him. He knew she attempted to soothe him, yet he couldn’t read her thoughts.

  “Open,” he mentally implored.

  Her mind became partially exposed to him as he beckoned her closer. His spirit clawed its way to the surface, craving hers. It was a hunger unlike anything he’d ever known.

  Her breath entered his mouth, and he felt as if he’d died a thousand times. He saw her lovely face in its true form behind his closed lids. Soft, warm, and expressive. She cared about what happened to him.

  He took in her sweet scent, amazed as his spirit encircled hers, wrapping itself around her life force in a slow, sensual slide.

  The connection broke unexpectedly, and he panicked. The pain from it went beyond the physical to be felt in his very soul.

  Something pricked Hauke’s arm, and warm, blessed liquid traveled up, straight into his heart. It beat for the first time in hours— days… He was unsure of how long he’d been gone. If not for the membrane in the roof of his mouth producing the enzymes he needed to heal and keep his organs from shutting down, Hauke knew he would already be dead. He had no clue how long he’d been in the coma-induced sleep.

  The sensation kept coming, and he realized blood somehow pumped into him. The female had to be responsible, he thought, feeling his body soak up every last drop of the coveted source.

  Somewhere inside his subconscious, he knew it to be human blood now coursing through his veins. Forbidden among his kind, yet there was nothing he could do but allow it to happen.

  Moisture filled his eyes in stark relief, and his protective lenses slid into place. He lifted his lids enough to see shapes moving around the room.

  The female’s voice sounded from somewhere near his feet, and he zeroed in on her. She wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense, though she was still very attractive. Sensuality surrounded her. He wished she would come closer where he could see her eyes.

  A beeping noise echoed around him, and someone shouted from nearby. “It’s alive, Abbie! Get back.”

  “I’m okay, Henry. He’s strapped down and not fighting.”

  Abbie…

  Hauke’s people had been familiar with the English language since the great flood over two thousand years ago. Some of the words had changed over time, but he had little trouble keeping up. Although, the couple in the room with him did have strange accents, he silently admitted.

  Hauke didn’t recognize the voice to his left and cut his gaze in that direction. A tall man with gray hair, wearing a white garment stared back at him with wide eyes. Hauke growled deep in his throat, registering him as a threat.

  Abbie’s voice broke through his defensive state. “Hello? Can you understand me?”

  He brought his focus back on her, and his chest constricted with emotion. It was her. The young girl that nearly drowned in the gulf all those moons ago.

  The foreign feeling did little to slow his curiosity. He openly stared, drinking in her expressive features.

  Hauke wanted to communicate with her, but the older man would hear. He sent her a thought instead. ”I comprehend.”

  A small intake of air was the only sign that she might have heard him.

  He tried again. “Come.”

  She slowly moved forward until she stood next to his head. The fact that she’d gone to the same side as the man wearing white wasn’t lost on Hauke. She is protecting me. The thought warmed him.

  The female had no idea how much power he possessed. The only reason he hadn’t broken loose and snapped the old one’s neck stood before him now. He didn’t want her to fear him.

  “Abbie.” He liked the sound of her name.

  She appeared nervous but didn’t run. There was a determined set to her jaw that he found oddly sexy.

  “Move back this instant,” the gray-haired one demanded from behind her. “If that thing gets loose, you could be killed. And we have no idea what type of diseases it carries.”

  Abbie spun around. “Just stop it, Henry. He’s alive. Does he look like he’s trying to break free to you? Have you no heart? We have to do something before they get here. He will die at Area 51.”

  “It’s not our problem, Abbigail. Their crew is already on the way. There’s nothing we can do.”

  Hauke listened to the exchange, understanding enough to know that the one Abbie referred to as Henry planned on sending him somewhere to die.

  He could feel his strength returning with the help of the blood now inching through his veins. The hunger for more grew by the second, and his fangs began to throb in time with his pulse.

  “I’m disappointed in you, Daddy.”

  Hauke didn’t miss the catch in her voice or the parent reference. He’s her sire. He filed that piece of information away for a later time. His first priority was to get out of there and find the group that had been with him before the explosion.

  His heart ached with the knowledge that his sister might not have survived. If she’d died, he would destroy every last human involved in blowing the oil well that separated Naura from him.

  “What do you expect me to do? Take it home with me and set up a college fund for it? Come on, Abbie. Be reasonable. You saw the X-rays. That thing may resemble us to a degree, but that’s as far as it goes. Now keep your distance while I check on the incubated samples. It’ll be gone soon, and we have no choice but to forget we ever saw it.” Henry stalked off, leaving a fuming Abbie to gape at his back.

  The door suddenly opened, admitting a short, beefy man wearing dark blue clothing. Something shiny hung from his shirt. He stood there for a moment, leering at Abbie before coming fully into the room. “What are you doing here, Doctor Sutherland?”

  It would appear that Abbie was a healer, Hauke noted, watching the man in blue slowly advance forward.

  “My father called me to bring him a case of files he’d forgotten.”

  “I thought you weren’t allowed back inside the building. And who is that behind you on the bed?”

  Abbie crossed her arms over her chest. “I was laid off, Donald. Not fired. This man is sick. I wouldn’t advise you come any closer.”

  The guy’s beady gaze wandered slowly over her body. “It doesn’t surprise me that you were dismissed.”

  “I’d be willing to bet not much does surprise you,” Abbie retorted.

  Hauke didn’t need to open his mind to feel the venom in her words. They fairly dripped with it.

  “I think I’ll just double check with your father about you being up here. Where is he?” Donald turned toward the door Henry had disappeared through only minutes before.

  “You can’t go in
there, Donald. He’s spinning samples at the moment. You’ll run the risk of contamination.”

  Donald stared back at her with traces of suspicion and lust swimming in his eyes. Lust won out in the end.

  “Fine. I’ll be in the restroom if you need me…for anything.” Donald winked at her and sauntered across the room, disappearing behind a row of bottle-filled shelves.

  Hauke bit down hard enough that one of his incisors pierced his bottom lip. He would kill the man for his filthy thoughts of Abbie. Hauke didn’t need to touch him to read his intentions.

  “Abbie.” Her name came out in a whisper only to be swallowed up by the insistent noises of the room. He tried again. “Abbie.”

  She spun around to face him with surprise registering on her face. “You can speak.”

  He attempted to lift his arm, but the restraints held him back. It would be easy to break free, apprehend her, and escape back to his home. But the thought of frightening her in any way was unacceptable to him.

  “Ubi ego sum?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand?”

  Though Latin was commonplace among his people, Hauke spoke many languages. English had been the most difficult to learn due to the backhanded slang most humans used. The need to practice it over the years had been rare since he’d only come in contact with a small handful of them.

  He cross-referenced words in his mind. “Where am I?”

  “You’re in a lab. Someone found you on the beach. We thought you were dead.” She cleared her throat. “Wh-what… Who are you?”

  “I am Hauke. Son of Klause. What means Area 51?”

  She averted her eyes. “Are you in pain?”

  That would be an understatement. He ached from head to feet. Even his hair seemed to hurt. “No pain.”

  “You must be thirsty.” She darted away before he could answer.

  He would have laughed if it wouldn’t hurt to do so. Any other time, he’d enjoy teasing her. And there would plenty of times, of that he was certain.

  Hauke tested his bonds. Simple. They thought to hold him with their straps.

  Abbie returned to his side, holding a clear plastic cup. He gave her a questioning look.