by Jade Farhill
Elliot frowned, but looked like he believed her words more than Abby expected. Perhaps he was a decent guy after all.
***
Lynn took leave that day. Abby was glad that she felt safe to do so. With the troublesome father out of the way, she could relax. “I’ll return to work when I’m capable,” she said to Abby.
“You’ll always have a job here,” Abby replied.
Lynn gave her a smile so filled with joy and relief that Abby’s chest hurt. It must have been hard for ever since she got pregnant.
Jen approached Abby. “It seems that her father—” she whispered, gaze on Lynn’s retreating back “—was the one behind both poisoning attempts. The first was supposed to be a threat to her, to say that she can’t rely on your protection forever and that she’d better fall into line. The second was supposed to make you turn on her. I don’t know whether he genuinely wanted you to injure her, or just scare her.”
Abby gritted her teeth. “Arsehole.”
Jen nodded. “Yep. But I made sure that everyone connected to him is out, so she’ll be fine now. She can do whatever she wants with the baby too. She can even give it up for adoption within the hunter organisation now.”
“Was he trying to force her to keep it?”
“He was.”
Elliot moved closer, hand on his dagger hilt.
Jen stepped back. “The moment we put the perpetrators into disciplinary action, the blood supply to the kitchen cleared up. Astrid wanted me to let you know you’ve got a cup of clean blood waiting for you.”
“Thanks.”
The solicitor inclined her head, then left without even looking at Elliot.
CHAPTER 24
It took six months, in which another Christmas came and went, to figure out how to activate the genes in vampires. Lynn was back at work by this time, and was looking far too refreshed for a new mother.
“I adopted the baby out,” Jen said one day when Alice, the older geneticist, questioned her on Lynn’s seemingly extreme energy and alertness. “She’s with a hunter family in Perth.”
“Well, that explains it,” Alice replied.
“Hey,” Abby said, “this is a non-judgemental lab. You have to be if you’re going to work for a partial vampire.”
“I wasn’t judging her,” Alice responded. “I’m merely envious of her unbroken nights’ sleep.” She turned to Lynn. “Not that I’d give up my children to have that. But it would be nice to have one night where they’re not fighting, screaming, complaining or refusing to do anything I tell them to.”
Were all hunter kids horror children?
“What about your husband?” asked Trent.
Alice’s husband was a hunter. “Yeah, he does more parenting than I do, unless he’s on a hunt.”
Abby shuddered. Maybe now was the best time to change the subject.
“I need a live vampire to test our cure on,” she told Nina.
Ten minutes later, all the scientists and Abby’s guards were piled into a large elevator. It took them deep into the bowels of the complex.
When the door slid open, a sterile corridor greeted them. The lights here were harsh white. No mirrors were lining the walls. All the doors were shut; nothing was out of place. There wasn’t even a scuff mark on the floor.
Abby’s stomach went cold. There was a distinct smell of bleach on the air. “What is this place?” she ventured.
“The interrogation level,” Nina replied, eyes fixed hungrily on Abby, as if waiting for the chance to torture information out of her.
Trent took Abby’s hand. “We’re here for science, remember?” he said kindly.
Lynn placed a hand on Abby’s shoulder and squeezed.
They won’t let the hunters interrogate me, thought Abby. This helped her summon the courage to step into the corridor.
Nina looked disappointed, as if she’d wanted to frighten Abby. “Follow me.”
She led them to a room and when the door opened, there was a vampire strapped to a metal bed. The moment he saw the humans, he went into a blood rage.
And that was when Abby realised that blood rages were contagious. A red filter closed over her vision, and she became extremely aware of the blood pulsing through the humans around her.
She wanted to drain them all.
The hunters had their weapons out and ready to stab her; Trent was still holding her hand.
He was the easiest target.
An easy meal.
But when Abby looked in his eyes, she saw they were green, contrasting starkly with the sterile white surroundings.
Abby broke her blood rage and let go of Trent, stepping back and covering her mouth. “The hunters were right, I am a danger to you.” She bolted from the room.
“Abby!” he called after her.
But she was already at the elevator. The hunters were charging down the corridor after her, doubt in their eyes as to whether or not she’d broke out of blood rage.
The doors slid open and she hopped in. “Hurry up, then,” she said, waving at her guards.
They all piled in, daggers at the ready, but not moving to attack.
Trent came racing after them, but Abby quickly punched the button to shut the doors, locking him out. They rode up to the main hall and Abby headed to the refectory, hoping to find someone to talk to.
She found Harriet eating her lunch. Abby went straight to her and sat down.
“Rormton,” Harriet said, quirking an eyebrow. “You don’t normally interrupt my lunch.”
Abby told her what had just happened. “Blood rages are contagious,” she whispered.
“Well, that certainly explains a lot,” Harriet said thoughtfully. “But you didn’t hurt anyone, right?”
“I thought about hurting Trent. He was holding my hand!” Abby wailed.
“But you didn’t.”
“I could have.”
Harriet sighed heavily. “Look, Rormton, I’m as much a hunter as your guards are, but unlike them, I judge based on actions. And your actions are all about helping us. Sure, you can be a bit of a loose cannon—”
Abby winced.
“—but the only time you’ve only ever injured someone—the big softie behind you—was indirectly, and that was because you were trying to save Lynn.”
Elliot narrowed his eyes at Harriet.
Elliot was a softie? Surely Jen must see something in him to actually want to date him.
“I’m of the same opinion that Kenny and Annette had of you,” Harriet continued.
Abby started.
“Your human half is in control of your vampire half.”
As if on cue, the little hunter’s fresh blood wafted towards her.
But Abby didn’t react. Instead, she looked down at her hands. “I see.”
“And I think Trent, Astrid, the chef, Lynn, all the kitchen staff and your scientific team see it too,” Harriet finished.
Abby nodded. “But I’m still terrified of hurting him.”
“Yes, but if you weren’t, then I’d be worried.”
Well, that made sense.
She looked up to see Trent running into the refectory. “Abby!” He rushed over and knelt in front of her, his hand cupping her cheek. “I know you’d never hurt me.”
Harriet sent Abby an ‘I told you so’ look.
Abby took in a trembling breath and leaned into him. “I’m so sorry, Trent.”
“Shh, it’s okay.” He rubbed her back comfortingly.
“She was just coming to her senses, Harriet,” Elliot snapped.
“I don’t think she was,” Harriet replied coolly. “Besides, I trust her—not to the extent Trent does, obviously—but I do see why he likes her.”
Abby sent her a shy smile.
Elliot huffed.
When Abby felt calmer, she approached Nina. “I can’t work when that vampire’s in a blood rage. Get him some blood and break him out of it or the cure won’t progress.”
Nina’s mouth went into a thin line, but she a
greed.
After lunch, Abby and her scientists headed down to the interrogation level once more.
Inside the room, the vampire focused on Abby. “Release me,” he compelled.
Abby bit the inside of her cheek to break the compulsion. “Please—you’ll have to do better than that.”
He looked at the scientists. “Release me.”
The scientists and Trent all blinked, then frowned. They stayed where they were.
Abby smiled, glad that Kenny and Annette had trained them in breaking compulsions.
She turned her attention back to the vampire, swabbing his skin and injecting him with the cure.
He hissed at her, then convulsed and roared in pain. His veins throbbed and his muscles strained against the chains. His eyes rolled back into his head.
Then he went still.
The room held its breath.
“Did it work?” Trent asked into the silence.
“I’ll check,” Elliot said, stepping closer.
But Abby couldn’t hear a heartbeat. She cast her mind back to when she’d first tested the cure on Sharon. Hadn’t she wanted to lure Abby close to take a bite?
Elliot was now within biting range, his hand going for the vampire’s neck to check the pulse.
The vampire lunged for his throat, going for the kill.
“No!” Abby shouted, and used her vampiric speed to get between the two, putting her back to the vampire. Pain exploded in her left shoulder and she cried out.
She heard the sound of someone swallowing behind her, followed by a beating heart.
“Abby!” Trent shouted.
Abby sent a panicked look at Elliot, who was staring at Abby’s aching shoulder.
“You saved me,” he whispered.
Trent took a step towards her, and Abby moved pleading eyes to Nina.
The squadron captain put her hand in front of Trent and shook her head. “Don’t get any closer. Vampires drinking each others’ blood always ends badly.”
The heart stuttered to a halt behind Abby and the vampire spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. “What’s wrong with your blood?” he cried. “Half of it tastes delicious, the other half rotten.”
Abby’s wounds were slowly closing over. She reached up and pressed her injured shoulder, hoping to stem the flow of blood before it made her hungry. Then she turned and glared at the vampire. “Now you have a glimpse of how complicated my life is!” She stabbed him with the needle and injected a second dose of the cure.
He roared and shook violently, lashing out at her, nails going for her heart.
Elliot grabbed Abby’s arm and pulled her away just in time. This shocked Abby more than being bitten. Elliot refused to meet her eye.
Suddenly, a heart was beating where there’d been silence before. Abby gaped at the vampire. “He’s human,” she whispered in awe. “I just got the dose wrong.” She turned to meet Nina’s gaze, and the squadron captain gave an approving nod.
Abby gingerly approached the new human, who was panting and sweating. “I’m sorry I hurt you,” he said.
“It’s fine, you weren’t in control of your actions,” she replied. “Show me your teeth?”
He bared them for her.
“Definitely human,” Abby reported. She instructed the scientists to get some samples—skin, hair, mouth swabs—and test them back in the lab.
“Are you joining us?” Trent asked.
She shook her head. “I have a history of failures. I want to see how long it takes for him to turn again.”
Trent hesitated at the door, then handed his samples to Lynn. “Mind if I stay with you?”
“You can’t just shunt your work onto me whenever you feel like it,” Lynn complained.
“Better go do your tests,” Abby said with a smile. In all likelihood, Trent would return well before this guy Turned back into a vampire.
***
Abby was right on both counts. Ten hours later, the vampire was back—and he was angry.
The moment a red haze flowed over Abby’s vision, she threw herself against the wall, away from Trent. The night crew was guarding her by this time—Elliot had practically run out the door the moment his shift ended—and they drew their weapons on Abby.
She closed her eyes and thought of colours and Sharon. A moment later, she was back in control, the red filter gone from her vision.
“She’s not hurting anyone!” cried Trent. “If she was going to, then she would have attacked me. I was holding her hand. She’s over there because she doesn’t want to hurt me!”
“She’s a loose vampire in a blood rage,” said Mae, her voice cold.
Abby met her eyes and the hunters froze.
“See, she’s fine now! Aren’t you glad you didn’t kill her?” shouted Trent.
The hunters scrutinised Abby suspiciously. She moved away from the wall and bits of concrete tumbled to the floor.
What? Abby looked at where she’d just been and went pale—it was as though a wrecking ball had just bashed into where she’d been standing. Had she done this?
She took a moment to collect herself. “I need to return to the lab and find out why the cure didn’t work.”
“I’ll come with you,” Trent said.
She shook her head. “You need sleep. You can help me in the morning, when your mind is sharper.” She went back to her lab, only her guards accompanying her.
Why had the cure failed this time?
What would happen if she combined her original genetic cure, the partial vaccine and the current activated dose? If she bombarded the vampire with cures, how would he respond?
“It is a bit overkill, but we might need that,” she muttered and created a super dose, then returned to the vampire. Before she left her lab, she ensured that he was fed blood.
When she injected him, he went through the convulsion again and returned to human form.
And stayed like that for almost a week. It was Abby’s best record yet. While she observed him, her team worked on perfecting the vaccine.
Elliot took a few days off, but returned to his shift with fresh resolve in his eyes. “We’re even, Vampire. You saved me, I saved you. We’re back to where we started.”
Abby accepted this. He wouldn’t hesitate to attack her, but at least he knew there was a decent human somewhere inside her. Just as she knew he was a decent human underneath it all.
***
It took another eight months to create a fully working vaccine.
This time, when Abby tested it on the vampire, he turned human and stayed human.
Finally, the hunters started looking at Abby with respect, as if the time she’d spent there wasn’t just a waste of their time and resources.
Abby requested more vampires to test, and live ones were dragged into the complex in droves. Abby shuddered whenever she passed them in the hallways—they were always strapped to a gurney, eyes wide with wonder thanks to the garlic they’d been drugged with.
The tests progressed well. So well, in fact, that the president of the organisation eventually called Abby to his office.
Jen, Astrid and Trent accompanied her in support.
“So,” Don said, not bothering to look up as Abby entered, “it seems you’ve developed a cure and a vaccine, but you’re only testing the cure?”
“Well, there are only two ways to test if the vaccine actually works. One is testing the cure on vampires, since the cure requires the working vaccine. The other way is something I doubt you’d do, given how hunters react when they’re Turned by a vampire.”
The president finally met her eyes, a gleam of anger in his own. “Are you suggesting we send hunters out to intentionally get Turned?”
“Not at all,” Abby replied firmly.
Don inspected her for a moment. “You’re sure your cure works?”
“All the tested subjects are still humans—even those the hunters have cured in the field.”
“I’ll ask for volunteers, then.”
Abby
jerked back. “Is that a wise id—”
“I will not be questioned as to how I run this organisation, Vampire.”
She snapped her mouth shut.
“Miss Rormton,” Jen corrected. “And don’t speak to my client in that way. She’s fulfilled her contract, and can leave at any time.”
Don and Jen exchanged a fierce glare—but the president relented. “Miss Rormton,” he said through clenched teeth, “can you work on creating an aerial dispersal cure? Injecting vampires with this puts my hunters at undue risk.”
“I can do that.”
“Good. That’s all.”
“Oh,” Jen exclaimed when they were out in the hallway, “that arrogant prick.”
“That’s my boss you’re insulting,” Elliot reminded gently.
“Well, if he wasn’t a jerk, I wouldn’t be insulting him.”
Abby had to agree with that one.
Elliot pulled a face, looking like he was of the same opinion but wouldn’t say it out loud.
“Yeah, he’s technically my boss too,” Trent added. “But I dislike him more than I dislike Elliot.”
“Hey,” Elliot protested.
Trent quirked an eyebrow at him.
Elliot mockingly put a hand over his heart. “You wound me deep.”
“Sure, he does,” Astrid drawled. “And I have to side with Jen, especially after that conversation.”
They all looked expectantly at Abby, but she shook her head. “I appreciate what you’re saying, but I can’t voice my opinion here.” Especially with all these hunters listening in.
***
Abby created an aerial dispersal unit for the hunters. She started wearing gas masks in the lab in case she accidentally inhaled the cure and turned herself human—she couldn’t let that happen. Not yet.
She was called to the president’s office again a month later. Trent, Astrid and Jen attended this meeting too, along with hunters she’d never seen before.
“Vampire,” Don said, “these hunters represent the international hunting community. They’re very interested in your work. One of them has asked to take you into their country so you can work with the best scientists in the world to create a cure that will be accessible and easily dispersible.”