She wrapped her hands around the silver bars. “Nic?”
Only a bronzed blur registered before his hands were on hers, a grimace tightening his lips. “Dio. I feared…I could no longer sense you.” He held her gaze, and the intensity of his stare warmed her. “We are alone?”
“If my father knew I was here…” She shook her head. “I snuck in.”
“You are well?” Stepping back, Nic scanned her body. “I hoped…but you were so close to death…”
Evangeline pulled up her tunic to reveal the faint scars from the wolf’s teeth. Nic reached through the bars and stroked smooth fingers over the healing marks. His touch did something to her core she didn’t want to think about.
“I should have died. These are fading by the hour. How?”
With a weak grin tugging the corners of his mouth, Nic dropped his hand. “My blood.”
“What?”
“Vampire blood can heal any wound. Your father gave you my blood.”
She took a step back, hating the disappointment that shadowed Nic’s handsome features. “Is there a chance…I’m…?”
“A vampire?” At her nod, Nic shook his head. “No, cara. To be turned, a human must be drained to the point of death, then drink from a vampire’s vein. Only then would there be any chance. You would know. The bloodlust of a newly turned vampire is unmistakable.”
He sank down onto his cot and ran a hand through his hair. “I would not have offered my blood if I’d thought your father would turn you.”
“You offered?”
Even as she said the words, she knew he had. She remembered. “I was dying…”
“Longo could not stabilize you. He had another vampire’s blood. Bags of it. But the vampire is…was…young. The blood had been stored for more than a year. Too weak to save you. I am very old. My blood…fresh…” Nic shook his head, a lock of his black hair falling over his eye. “Thank God he believed me.”
“I have these vague memories…of you. Hearing your voice. And…you told me stories. So many stories.” Her legs trembled, and she eased herself to the floor, so tired again, but unwilling to leave him. “I don’t understand. I heard you. In my head.”
Nic stifled a groan as he joined her on the floor, only the silver bars between them. “You have heard of our ‘evil’ ways? Of the mind control we are capable of?”
“Yes,” she said as nerves fluttered in her belly.
He waved his hand, the scar on his chest straining with the movement. “I did not control you. But the blood exchange…when a human drinks from a vampire, in rare cases, a mental link can form. Weak, but enough to communicate. I have never been able to do so before, but with you…” His voice lowered. “I felt you, cara. Felt you slipping away from me. I did not know what else to do.”
“I lived because of you.” Evangeline reached into his cell and covered his hand with hers. “I had to hear how the stories ended. You saved me. Twice. And you’re here because of me. In pain.”
“Do not blame yourself, Evangeline. You were a child. Several times over these long years, I have wondered if I would have made a different choice knowing of your father’s plan. But no. A child should always be protected. Humans should always be protected. I told you all those stories because I could not stand to watch you die.”
“How long was I here?”
“I am not certain. But…perhaps two days? Then the woman came to take you away, and I could no longer sense you.”
Waves of sadness tossed her heart around, battering the weakened muscle against her chest. “I tried to ask Cassie about you, but she insisted Henry had cured me with his ‘medicine.’” Tears burned her eyes, and she swiped her free hand over her cheeks. “I hoped…maybe…she’d tell me the truth. That she’d been forced to help Henry. But she lied to me.”
“She hates me as much as your father does. Still…I am sorry for her betrayal.”
“Deep down, I knew.” She glanced around the room. The sterile metal table equipped with restraints lay empty now. Was that where she’d been? “I’m surprised he let me stay in the same room with you.”
Nic grinned, and his eyes twinkled. “I insisted. I told him that if you were parted from me before the blood had done its job, you would not recover.”
Evangeline snorted a laugh, pressing her hand to her still-tender abdomen. “And he believed you?”
“He would not risk that I was telling the truth. I enjoyed watching him sputter as he tried to argue with me.”
“I wish I could've seen that.” One question haunted her, but she feared the answer. “Why did you help me?”
Her question seemed to shock him, and he tightened his grip on her hand, resting their linked fingers on his thigh. “You were kind to me all those years ago. I wanted to protect you then. I still do. I sense something in you. Something good. If I do one more thing before I die, I will change your mind as to the evilness of vampires.”
Sitting on the floor, silver bars between them, after an attack that should have killed her, honesty flowed easily. “You don’t have to change my mind. I’ve never subscribed to my father’s bigotry.”
“I am relieved. Though also curious. Why not? Surely your father has attempted to indoctrinate everyone here?” Nic released her hand and sank back against his cot.
“You. When you helped me all those years ago, and I had to watch Henry shoot you, I started questioning everything. I can recite Bible verse until my lips turn blue, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe. Henry doesn’t love me. I don’t think he even cares about me—other than my ability to help him make his weapon. Why else would you hit your own child simply because they asked a question? Or confine them to their room for reading CNN? Or inject them repeatedly with God-knows-what, when the drugs cause nothing but pain?” Her voice cracked, and she swiped at her cheeks.
“He is a bastard, and I would kill him if I had the chance.” Nic’s low, warning growl frightened her. Danger, power, and pure animalistic rage simmered under his skin, and he rose to his knees, inches from the silver. “You must run, Evangeline. Escape this place before your father hurts you again. Please. Consider this my…dying wish.”
Meeting Nic’s gaze, she remembered him reciting La Vita Nuova, full of sonnets and verse about Dante’s love for Beatrice. When Beatrice had died, the sadness infusing Nic’s voice held her firmly in this world, though she’d balanced on the knife’s edge of life. More than once she’d tried to surrender, to slip into the warmth that called to her, the warmth that could only mean death. But he’d stopped her.
Only a few days before, he’d been a hollow shell of a man, starved for the smallest bit of kindness. Now, life flowed through his veins. The intensity in his eyes told her he wanted to live. And she could help him.
“What’s your shoe size?”
“Che cosa?” At her furrowed brow, Nic blinked hard. “Apologies. What did you ask me?”
“Your shoe size.” She nodded at his bare feet.
“Forty-seven. Thirteen in American sizes. Why?”
Evangeline reached into the cell, lacing their fingers and bringing their clasped hands to his heart. “Stay alive for me until tomorrow. Please. I’m too weak to run tonight. And there are things I need to do first. But tomorrow…I’m going to get the hell out of here. And I’m taking you with me.”
10
Fitful dreams left her feeling hollow—as if the wolf attack had left behind only a shell of the woman she’d been, and she slept well through breakfast and lunch—but once she pushed herself through a quick yoga and stretching routine, she steadied. By midnight, she and Nic would be free.
First, he needed clothing. I never thought I’d be thankful for a wolf attack. Evangeline rushed down the hall to the commissary, the small “store” that held clothes, books, the occasional DVD, and other supplies like toothpaste and soap. Geoff, the sixty-two-year-old half-blind attendant bobbed his head along to a tune she couldn’t hear, and she had to wave at him to get him to remove his headphone
s.
“Hey. I…uh…”
“Eva!” He broke into a wide smile, his pale green eyes lighting up. “I didn’t expect to see you upright for a few more days. Henry sent a bulletin about the wolf attack. You okay?”
“Tired. Sore.” She faked a limp as she approached his desk. “But the wolf tore up my clothes—and my boots. I need some replacements.”
“Sure thing. Want me to get them for you?” Geoff grimaced as he started to slide off his stool, but Evangeline shook her head.
“Nah, I can manage. I heard you got some new flannel colors. Maybe I could look around? Not a lot I can do in this place to feel pretty, you know?” She dropped her gaze, hoping he’d think she was actually concerned about her appearance.
“Go on, then,” he said with a wink. “If you go all the way to the back corner, I think there might be some lipstick in a small box on the top shelf. San Francisco sent it by mistake. I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“Deal.” She slipped by him, then waited until he’d put his headphones back on before getting to work. Grabbing a pair of boots in Nic’s size, she shoved a pair of thick wool socks inside. Everything she took would be inventoried, but if she wore the boots out, she might get away with it. How did the line go? Something about never looking at a man’s shoes. She’d watched Shawshank Redemption dozens of times over the years, fantasizing about breaking out of the catacombs.
An extra-large flannel shirt, a pair of jeans she hoped would fit, and a canvas jacket—also extra-large—went into her pack. Slipping a pair of boxers down her pants, she finished with a pink and purple flannel shirt for herself. Breezing back to the desk, she rattled off her requisitions and said a quick prayer of thanks when Geoff didn’t bother checking any of the sizes.
Making her way back to her dorm without clomping down the hall in the massive boots proved challenging, but once she locked herself inside, she fell back on her cot, laughing at the sight of her feet in shoes at least five sizes too big for her.
Carefully, she arranged everything in her pack, then added her small stash of food to the front pouch. Digging in her trunk, she withdrew the only possessions she cared about in this world: her notebook, a framed photo of her mother, and her grandmother’s handkerchief. Those went inside a small tin that she shoved into a side pocket.
All she had to do now was get a portal generator and today’s code. Well, and get into her father’s lab, open the silver cell, and get Nic.
As she zipped up the pack, her door chime rang. Shit. Shoving the pack under her bed, she flipped the blanket down to hide it, then opened the door.
“You missed breakfast and lunch,” Henry said with a frown. He carried a tray loaded with TVP, fried potatoes, and spinach. “You need to eat to regain your strength.”
“I’m fine, Henry.” The sting of her tone flickered across his face, and she sighed. “Thank you…Dad. I figured sleep was more important. She accepted the tray and shuffled over to her bed, hoping her father would leave quickly. But as she scooped up a bite of potatoes, he dropped into her guest chair.
“How are you feeling?”
“Achy. And exhausted. What did you do to me? I was pretty sure I was dead.” She forced herself to appear interested—and clueless—as she stabbed a piece of the TVP.
“Eva, there are things you don’t know…about my research.” Pride straightened his shoulders, though a vaguely uncomfortable expression flitted across his face.
“So tell me.” She lifted a shoulder, pleased the movement didn’t cause her any lingering pain.”
“In order to make you stronger…to make you immune to a vampire attack… I’ve been giving you vampire blood. All of your ‘treatments.’ For years.”
Evangeline nearly choked on a bite of potatoes and dropped her fork. Oh God. He’s going to tell me…
“V-vampire blood? Where are you getting vampire blood?” She had to convince him she didn’t know anything about Nic. Henry glanced down at his feet. “And why the hell would you put that shit in my veins?”
Her attitude must have convinced him. Henry’s lips curved into what might have been a smile. “It was the only way. And it worked. You’re so strong. My greatest accomplishment.”
“I’m not an accomplishment,” she muttered. “I’m your daughter. And you never answered my question. Where did you get the vampire blood? How did you know it wouldn’t kill me? Or turn me?”
“Will you come with me? I think I should show you. You’re ready now.” Henry stood and gestured towards her door.
Setting her plate aside, she followed him, her heart thudding against her chest. The spring in the old man’s step worried her, but he was so excited, he didn’t bother to shield the keypad from her gaze, and she memorized his twelve-digit code.
Her stomach clenched as he led her down the hall to the lab. How the hell was she supposed to free Nic now? Was he even still alive?
Henry stopped just outside the door. “What I’m about to show you, Eva…you can’t share with anyone. I’m only telling you because…I need you to understand how important you are.”
She was going to be sick. Her stomach clenched as her father opened the door. No.
Nic lay on the metal table, naked, his wrists and ankles chained to the corners. A metal rod between his teeth exposed sharp fangs, and he moaned as Henry approached. His eyes had glazed over, but his nostrils flared, and he struggled against his restraints.
“Get out of here…Evangeline. I don’t…want you to witness…my death.” His voice in her head sounded slurred, drugged, and her heart threatened to crack into pieces.
“Henry, who is this?” Evangeline inched closer, desperate to touch him, to comfort.
“It’s a vampire, sweetheart.”
Resting her hand on Nic's shoulder, she tried to soothe him while keeping her expression neutral. “Obviously. What are you doing to him? He’s in pain.”
“Please, cara. Go.”
Fuck, she wished she could speak to him as he spoke to her. With the barest shake of her head, she whirled back towards her father.
“You need to explain this. Right now. Why is there a cage in the corner of this room? How long has he been here?”
“Many years. I’ve been studying him. And when you were dying, I gave you his blood to save your life.” Henry’s icy tone confirmed every terrible thought she’d ever had about him.
“Goddammit. I knew it.” Tears threatened to choke her. Nic would die if she couldn’t find a way out of this. “I didn’t ask for this…for you to torture him so I could live. You have to let him go. Just…drug him and send him out the portal. If your research depends on keeping him in a cage, doing God-knows-what to him…you’re no better than the vampires you say want to murder us all!”
The harsh crack against her cheek sent Evangeline spinning, and Nic roared, his words lost to the gag, but not the tone. She gripped the edge of the table, her gaze locked on his.
“Do not fight for me. He will kill you. Run.”
“Let him go,” she whispered as she tried to straighten and cupped Nic’s cheek. He leaned into her hand, his eyes closing and the uneven stutters of his breath calming. If she fled now, she’d die anyway. Her soul would dry up and disappear, and she’d wither into nothingness. Forcing strength into her tone, she repeated her demand. “Let. Him. Go. Henry.”
Her father grabbed her wrist and wrenched her away from Nic. The vampire railed against the cuffs, and Evangeline shrieked, “Goddammit, Henry, don’t fucking touch me. He saved my life. His blood saved my life. And this is how you repay him?”
“I saved your life.” Henry advanced on her, but she didn’t care anymore.
“Oh no? Fuck that. I heard him. I thought I was hallucinating at first. But I wasn’t. He practically begged you to give me his blood. You’re a monster. You’ve tortured him…for years. How could you?”
Henry’s hand flew, and he backhanded Evangeline hard across the cheek. She stumbled against Nic, steadying herself with her palms o
n his chest.
His gaze held pain and longing, but most of all, resignation. “Goodbye, Evangeline.”
“Nic,” Evangeline whispered in his ear. “Hold on for me.”
He shook his head slightly as Evangeline righted herself. “You made my last days bearable.”
“Jake and Gary told me not to tell you. But I thought you were smarter. Get out of my sight. Go back to your room and stay there. Your topside privileges have been revoked until further notice.” Henry jabbed the intercom on the wall. “Tell Don she’s benched and then get in here. We have work to do.”
“Jesus Christ, Henry. I’m not a fucking child.”
Her father grabbed her by the throat. Evangeline wheezed, panic seizing her limbs as Henry tightened his grip. Not enough to kill her, but enough to warn her he could. “You will not take the Lord’s name in vain. Be thankful I don’t lock you up next to that thing. Your body belongs to me. You’re the catalyst. You incubate the serum for me. You have for years. I’m so close to perfecting the process in the lab, but for now, it’s so much easier to use you. I made you, Eva. And I own you. Don’t ever forget that.”
Gary and Jake pushed through the door, and Gary rested his hand on the butt of a gun in a holster on his belt.
“Escort her back to her quarters,” her father said. “And ensure she stays there. I have a few more tests to run on this pitiful thing before the end, and I don’t want any interruptions.”
Evangeline screamed and fought as the two men dragged her from the room, but as strong as she was, the two of them were stronger. She held Nic’s gaze as long as she could, fearing she’d never see him again. When he cried out, her tears spilled over.
Terror coursed through him. In all of the years he’d been trapped here, he’d never been so frightened. His sweet Evangeline was in danger. Longo had called his lab assistant and handed her a bottle of pills and a syringe, then told her to “take care of Eva.”
Weakened by the serum, Nic’s hearing couldn’t pick up every word, but he feared he wouldn’t be the only one to die tonight. If he’d sealed Evangeline’s fate…
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