A clinician’s yell. “She’s awake! Quick! Hold her!”
I almost didn’t recognize her.
I really didn’t recognize her at first.
Lila writhed violently on a padded table, hissing at her captors from where she’d been handcuffed by her wrists and ankles. She looked so completely different from the pale ghost of a girl I’d first seen on the plane––I could only stare at her, wondering who she was.
The Lila in Lila’s memory wasn’t a girl at all. She was a woman.
Well, an adult, female vampire... whatever one calls that.
She growled threats and hissed at her captors, thrashing with every ounce of her strength to free herself from the arms of at least six guards who held her down, who struggled to hold her even with the chains locking her to the padded table. I watched them stick a syringe into her neck, right before she jerked away and broke the glass vial with her forehead. They put another needle in her arm... then a third one in her leg.
I watched her fight them, fingers hooked into claws, fangs extended. Muscles rippled her bare arms as she screamed at them––a hoarse, terrifying scream that held so much rage, defiance and frustration I wanted to scream with her.
She knew who she was. She knew who she was.
And yes, there was something... magnificent about that. About her.
Her blond hair looked thicker, more vibrant, shining under the fluorescent lights. She wore dark red leather pants, a black tank top, leather armbands and a studded belt. An emerald-green stone hung around her neck; she wore a matching stone on her ring finger.
I watched them take the jewelry off her roughly, along with hoop earrings and a piercing in her navel. I watched her try to claw at them to keep them from taking the ring.
It took them a few times, but they finally got it from her. Her nails, already painted red, were dripping with blood by the end.
I heard her threaten them, fury and hatred rippling off her in a broiling wave.
She told them she’d eat their hearts... that she’d hunt their children, their mates.
I watched two of the men yank heeled boots off her feet, struggling to avoid her attempts to kick them even with her ankles cuffed to the bed.
Slowly, slowly... the drugs kicked in...
The image faded.
The girl on the forest green couch blinked at me, her eyes so wide they didn’t look real.
You see? she whispered. That’s how I am. That is how I truly am...
I wasn’t sure how to answer. I wasn’t sure how I felt.
You were amazing... I began carefully.
...I was a monster, she corrected, her words blunt. I am a monster still. In my heart.
There was another silence.
What happened after that? I asked her.
Grief came off her in another dense cloud, grief and a kind of longing. The images I saw that time came in flickers, scraps, pieces of light.
I got a sudden, shockingly visceral, surround-sound image of her and Brick fucking, making love... him laughing as he held her down, right before he bit her, angling into her with a thick groan as she writhed up against him. She laughed with him, a fierce joy in her heart, a knowledge that she owned him, she owned him...
Then, slowly, that vanished.
I saw her in that same glass room, half-conscious with drugs.
She fought to keep her eyes open while they took her blood.
Days had gone by, then days after that. They’d taken a lot of her blood, then most of her blood... until she looked on the verge of death. They drained her until she looked like a wasted skeleton... then, right before she would have died, they pumped her full of new blood, blood she’d never had in her veins before... blood that made her sick.
She got sicker and sicker. She started dying again, begging them... until finally they drained most of that bad blood and started feeding her something different through the hanging red bags.
Human blood, the present Lila explained. They went back to feeding me human blood after that. They had no choice. It was that or kill me. Her mental voice grew bitter. They should have killed me.
What had they given you before? I sent.
She only shook her head. She didn’t know.
My blood changed after that. Her mental voice grew more present, sharper than it had been. They said I was different. They said they could begin to teach me after that...
Different how? I sent. How were you different, Lila?
She didn’t answer.
Teach you what, Lila? I asked instead. What did they want to teach you?
She looked at me inside my mind, her brown eyes wide with surprise.
Not to do bad things anymore, she sent.
I didn’t know quite how to answer that, either. At my silence, her words rose to a keening whine, making me wince, then fight with her mind to calm her down.
They promised me! They promised they could fix me... but they never did! They never fixed me... they tried and tried but they never fixed me like they said they would... it’s worse now! I’m the same, but worse... I don’t have him and I just want to die...
I wrapped myself around her mind, blowing warm light over her.
I did it without thinking, like I might have done if she were human... or seer. I felt part of her react to what I’d done, even as another part recoiled, flinching away from that warmth as though it disgusted her, even made her angry. That part of her hated me, wanted to rip out my throat with her teeth. I was useless to that part of her.
Worse than useless... I was an enemy, one of them.
I felt the split there, the warring sides, and something clicked.
Once it had, wonder came over me.
Did it work, Lila? That wonder leeched out of my words, making them firmer, more insistent. Is that what happened? Did they start to turn you human?
I felt her confusion, a kind of refusal to hear my question.
Inside my mind, she shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.
It didn’t feel like a no, though.
They didn’t... She let out a pale gasp in that space. They couldn’t. They couldn’t do it... they promised it would be different. That it wouldn’t hurt anymore... that I’d be better...
Pain expanded off her, a dark, nightmarish cloud that caught in my chest, making it hard to breathe, to even see her. I felt the dread there, the self loathing, the will to die.
When I could see her again, more tears streamed down her face.
They promised me... and now they’re all dead.
8
Love is the Hardest Truth
I SPENT WHAT felt like days in Lila’s mind.
In truth, it was probably only a few hours.
Maybe it wasn’t even that.
In any case, I don’t think I learned much beyond that initial truth I came upon, that somehow, something those scientists did to Lila reversed some portion of her vampire nature, turning her more human.
Since I didn’t really know what made vampires vampires in the first place, not outside of the mythology, that is, I had no idea what that even meant. In Lila’s memories it looked almost like some form of extreme genetic manipulation, utilizing a combination of blood transfusions and manmade DNA-altering viruses. Brick had said essentially the same thing.
I didn’t understand that side of things partly because Lila herself didn’t understand it. She had zero scientific background and she wasn’t seer, so didn’t have our photographic memories. Anyway, she’d been unconscious or drugged for most of it, so didn’t remember enough relevant details to help me piece it together.
Brick refused to believe it.
He paced on the thick green and black rug between me and the stone fireplace, grilling me on everything I’d seen, forcing me to repeat the same details again and again. Fury distorted his handsome face, nearly making him unrecognizable as he paced. That fury grew darker, more murderous, the longer he wore tracks in the carpet, the more my words grew real to him.
&nb
sp; “What do I do?” he barked at me finally, standing in front of me.
He was breathing harder, his long hair mussed, his fangs extended, his body blocking most of my view of the fire and outlined in its yellow glow.
He’d already bitten me... twice... so that he could see everything I’d seen while I’d been inside Lila’s mind. I’d wondered how he hadn’t gotten most of this from biting Lila herself, but, being a vampire, apparently Lila had more control over what he saw. She also apparently hid some truths from Brick deliberately, fearing how he might react.
The big one was that she didn’t want to be a vampire anymore.
She was just human enough now to want to be human.
She remembered being human before. She remembered, and didn’t want to be a vampire. In fact, she’d decided she’d rather be dead.
Brick must have felt that on me when he fed from me, too.
“What do I do?” he repeated, his chest heaving through the tailored dress shirt. “How do I fix her?”
I pressed my lips together, torn between feeling sorry for him and annoyed impatience.
“Which part? You can’t remove her empathy, Brick. She doesn’t want to murder people anymore. She doesn’t want to live forever, murdering people... do you get that?”
“No,” he snarled. “How do I make her like she was?”
I frowned, looking up at him. “I did my part in this, didn’t I?”
“I am asking for your help, goddamn it!”
I flinched at the violence in his voice, then frowned. I was tempted to remind him how little I owed him in that area, then didn’t, sighing as I reverted to my “doctor” voice.
“Can’t you just...” I waved a hand. “You know. Turn her again?”
He clenched a hand in his own hair at his forehead. “I tried that already.”
I pursed my lips, watching him. Of course he had.
Sighing, I combed fingers through my own hair. “Well, I can’t help you with the science part...” I said, shaking my head. “I have no idea what they did to her, Brick. And she seems to think you killed all of the actual scientists, so there’s not much you can do in terms of asking them.” Pausing, I said, “Did you take any of the actual data they left on the project?”
He shook his head, still staring down at the carpet.
Then, seeming to think about my question, he inclined his head impatiently to one side.
“Yes. It was worthless. They were extremely careful about documentation. None of the actual experiments were on the server.” He gave me a murderous look, but it didn’t seem aimed at me. “...We burned the lab,” he said, voice cold. “I only realized later that they did most of the work by hand, as a security precaution.”
I frowned, lifting a hand and letting it fall to my lap. “Well. You’re pretty much screwed, then, Brick. All I can tell you is what Lila herself knows... and what she saw. Neither is enough to really help you. And genetics isn’t really my area.”
“And she really wanted you to kill her?” His voice was stricken. “My beautiful girl wanted to die? She really said those things to you, to not tell me... to end her life in spite of me?”
I stared at him, unable to really deal with the emotion I saw in those red eyes. Still, something in my face must have given him the answer he was looking for.
He broke eye contact.
I watched him as he stared at Lila, that rage and desperation visible on his face, his chest heaving as he looked at her.
Then, before I could make sense of his expression, he turned.
I watched in disbelief as he stalked over to the fireplace, grabbing the cross hilt of that long sword that stood over the stone hearth. Pulling it off the wall in a single, smooth stroke, he stalked back towards the sofa and chairs.
I stood up, backing away from him.
My heart leapt to my throat as I held up a hand. My mind went to Black.
“Brick!” I said. “I did what you asked! I did everything you asked!”
But he didn’t seem to hear me.
He walked up to Lila instead.
Without pause, he wound his arm and waist up and to the right, gripping the sword in one white-knuckled hand. That fury and grief shone from his eyes like a living force, turning his irises blood-red. The sword itself barely paused at the apex of that arc when he swung it down... hard... putting most of his weight behind it.
Before I could make so much as a sound...
The sword cut clean through Lila’s neck, severing her head from her body.
I watched, numb, as it fell with a loud-feeling thunk, hitting into the couch’s wooden armrest. Her head tangled in her blond hair, following the direction of the sword as it tumbled off the arm of the couch and then onto the floor.
Blood didn’t spurt, like I would have expected; it welled up and over the stump and bone of her neck and spine until it darkened the top half of her dress. The body hung upright for a long-feeling few seconds before it slumped into the corner of the couch like a broken doll.
I stared down at Lila’s head, at her open eyes, half-covered in tangled blond hair.
Already, those eyes no longer looked like glass tinted with red.
They’d darkened somehow, just from being severed from her vampire heart.
In my mind they were brown... and the look in them was relief.
I knew I must have imagined those things, though.
I was still staring down at her face when Brick threw the sword into the fireplace, using enough force to send up a cloud of sparks like fireflies into the room. A handful of those sparks fell far enough from the hearth to smolder on the carpet.
Brick was already walking away.
I watched, silent, as he stalked towards the door of the room, that lost, murderous fury still etched in his features, darkening his face. Before he walked out entirely, he dug a set of keys out of his pocket, throwing them violently towards the hooded man still cuffed to the wall.
He didn’t look at where he threw them.
He didn’t spare me so much as a glance.
9
Highland Dawn
IT WASN’T EASY getting the man with the sword tattoo back up those stairs.
I’d taken the dark hood off his head, un-cuffed his wrists and ankles from the wall.
He was still groggy from whatever they’d given him, so I supported him, slinging his arm over my shoulders and holding it there as we made our way back up to the ground floor. He lost his balance a few times, nearly tumbling both of us down those stairs, but I managed to catch us both before that happened.
I’d already called Black.
He’d been close.
I didn’t ask him how he’d tracked me, but I wondered. He must have heard me wondering, because he’d answered the question anyway.
I implanted you with another chip, he told me. A second one, I mean. One designed to fool most scanners.
I was still bringing the tattooed man up the stairs, so I huffed for breath. Seriously? When did you do that?
While you were asleep. Maybe a week ago. Maybe ten days.
My mind spun around his words. I honestly couldn’t decide if I was angry, worried about his mental state, or feeling some other emotion entirely.
We should have found you sooner, he added, his thoughts more cautious. But I think that basement you were in must have been lined with lead... or maybe steel.
Another pause at my silence.
Miri, I’m sorry... but only that I didn’t ask you. Taking that tracker out of me was the first thing they did when they grabbed me. I didn’t want them doing that to you.
I nodded. I understood his reasoning.
Truthfully, him not telling me about it made me wonder about him a lot more.
I’m sorry about that, too, he sent, gruff. I meant to tell you, I really did. I woke up one night... after one of those fucking nightmares. I chipped both of us. I couldn’t sleep until I did.
I nodded, feeling something in my chest relax at his explanat
ion.
Forgive me? he sent.
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. Maybe.
Maybe?
We’ll discuss it later. When you can make it up to me. I sent him a sliver of heat and felt him react. How far out are you?
I’d just gotten me and the sword tattoo guy to the top of the stairs. I leaned him up against the wall of the corridor outside the door, trying to catch my breath. Glancing around, I saw tapestries hanging on the walls. Antique tables covered in china and stained-glass lamps dotted the narrow hallway. Adjusting the weight of the guy with dirty blond hair on my shoulder again, I began walking both of us out of the carpeted hall and back into the stone foyer.
I looked up at the high ceiling, seeing three floors of stairs.
Jesus, I muttered. Black, this is a castle... like an honest-to-goodness, for-real castle.
I know. I can see it. We’re about to set down now.
Set down?
He didn’t answer, so I started walking with the man again. I got us to the front door, then leaned him against the adjacent wall so I could open it.
Once I had, I could hear the approaching helicopter.
It was dark out, but I could see the first hint of dawn on the horizon. I got hit by a rush of cold air. That green smell hit me, stronger with the rain I could now taste in the wind.
When I started to pull the man with the dirty-blond hair back to his feet, he groaned. His eyes flickered a bit wider, but he waved me off when I tried to grab ahold of him again.
“Help’s coming, right?” he said, panting.
I nodded.
“Can we wait?” He held his side with bruised hands. “I’d like to wait for more people, if it’s all the same to you.”
Looking down at him, I nodded, realizing I probably should have done a better assessment of his injuries before I dragged him upstairs. I’d been so anxious to get us both out of that damned dungeon I’d barely felt him over.
“What happened?” the man said. He was panting, pain etched in his features as he squinted into the darkness past the open door. He raised a hand, shielding his eyes from the overhead chandelier hanging in the hall. “Where are we?”
Black Blood: A Quentin Black Mystery Story: Quentin Black Mystery #5.5 Page 6