Cato_House of Flames

by Scarlett Grove

  Penelope grimaced, dropping her bagel on the plate and brushing off her hands.

  "That sounds horrible," she said.

  "Are you having second thoughts?"

  "No," she sighed heavily. "I'm not going to let my sister stay like that," she said, pointing at the raving lunatic behind the prison walls. "And if we have to perform this procedure to get her back, then that's what we'll do. This is the hardest decision I've ever made in my life."

  "I understand," Cato said, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

  He could feel Penelope's conflicted emotions roiling inside her, battling against each other in a heated battle of right and wrong. Should she allow her sister to live as a vampire, respecting her decision in her current state? Or should she believe that the real Flora would never have wanted this in the first place?

  He was glad it wasn't his decision to make. But he supported his mate one hundred percent for choosing to go through with the procedure. If the same thing had happened to anyone of his crew, he would have chosen the same thing. There is no way that Dax, Aidan, or Kian would ever want to be a vampire. Neither would any of their mates. It was a simple decision; as gruesome as it may be, they were trying to save her from a lifetime of psychotic madness.

  "I'm ready," Penelope said.

  Cato slid his fingers over the dashboard of the computer, giving instructions to Bethi to proceed. The containment unit began transforming into a medical blood transfusion chamber.

  Penelope watched in horror as her sister was pinned against the side of the chamber wall, cuffed at her neck, ankles and wrists. The chamber tilted back, resting horizontally on a platform that descended from the new base. Flora shook her head frantically from side to side, convulsing as she fought.

  Cato looked from Penelope to Flora and slid his hand over the dashboard, hiding the horror with an opaque cover. He couldn't change the situation, but he could prevent his mate from having to witness every gory detail of the transfusion. They watched a three-dimensional holographic diagram above the computer terminal as the transfusion IVs embedded in Flora’s arms.

  Watching the hologram was clearly easier for Penelope than witnessing her sister’s torment. As soon as the IVs were securely embedded, the transfusion began. The vampiric blood was pumped out into a receiving unit while the pure blood was pumped in.

  "How long is this going to take?" she asked, her voice trembling.

  "It will take some time. Possibly several hours. You should go back upstairs and get more rest. I can stay here and watch the process.”

  "No," she said, shaking her head. "I want to be here for her. Even if she hates me right now and would rather bite my head off than hug me. I'm not leaving her side for a minute."

  "You are a good sister," he said.

  "I hope so. I hope I'm a good sister and not just a selfish bitch."

  "Don't ever say that. If it were any one of the people I love, I would do the same thing for them."

  "I can't help feeling like I'm interfering. Like I'm trying to control her."

  "We both know that she did not allow that transformation of her own free will."

  Penelope looked down at her hands folded in her lap and let out a long sigh.

  "I know," she said without looking up. "I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. She would have rather died."

  "Then you have nothing to worry about, my beloved. You have a good, pure heart full of love for your sister. I don't want you to ever question it. As hard as this is, it is the right thing."

  "When she comes back to us," she said, looking up and brushing away the tears in her eyes. "Then I'll know if I made the right choice."

  He gripped her hands, willing her to be strong. He wished there was more he could offer, but he knew all he could do was support her and stand beside her no matter what.

  Chapter 20

  "Transfusion, fifty percent complete," Bethi chirped.

  Penelope watched the holographic screen before her, monitoring her sister’s vitals with unbroken attention. As a vampire, her blood pressure and heart rhythm were similar to a living human’s, if not slightly depressed. But at that moment, her entire system crashed. A high-pitched note filled the room, indicating a flat line.

  "What’s happening?" Penelope screamed, standing from her chair.

  Cato was frantically working on the medical unit, sliding back the shields that had blocked Flora from view. Flora was pale and lifeless, laying handcuffed to the bed.

  "Do something!" Penelope screamed.

  "I'm attempting to restart her heart," Cato said in a flat and even voice. "Please stand back.”

  Penelope was angry but did as he asked. Her panic was making her disruptive, and she knew Cato needed space to work.

  "Help her," she whispered under her breath.

  Cato slid his finger over his wrist device, standing over Flora's lifeless body. She jerked violently, but the tone of flat line continued. Cato growled and tapped the hologram on his wrist device several more times. Flora jerked again, arching her back and straining against her restraints. Again and again, a total of three times, Flora's body convulsed on the bed. When finally, a slow steady rhythm returned to the heart monitor. Penelope breathed a sigh of relief, a tear sliding down her cheek.

  "She's back," Cato whispered, turning to Penelope.

  She ran to him and threw herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face.

  "I was afraid we'd lost her," she sobbed.

  "So was I," Cato said, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

  "You did it, you brought her back."

  "We aren't done yet, but I think we passed the worst of it."

  Cato and Penelope sat in the lab all day, watching the progress of the transfusion. Everly and Kian brought them food. Aria came and sang to her. Winnifred brought the baby downstairs to visit Penelope and cheer her up. The support of the crew mitigated the terror and sorrow that weighed Penelope down like a mountain of despair piled on top of her. Late in the evening, the transfusion was nearly complete.

  "One percent remaining," Bethi chirped.

  Penelope sat up and watched Flora, who had remained unconscious since her heart had restarted. The last drops of the synthetic blood pumped into her system.

  "Transfusion complete."

  Penelope stood, hurrying over to her sister. Cato scanned her with his wrist device, reading her vitals and DNA.

  "Did it work?" she asked, grasping her sister's hand.

  "It's hard to say," Cato said. "Her physiology reads as ninety-nine point nine percent human. It appears that the vampiric transformation has been reversed. But point one percent vampire remains. I don't know what that means, and we might not know until she awakens."

  "Penelope?" Flora said weakly.

  "Flora?"

  "Where am I?" Flora asked, trying to sit up.

  "Don't you remember?" Penelope asked, looking into her sister's eyes.

  Flora’s eyes had turned from pitch black to their normal hazel. The color had returned to her cheeks, and she looked like the Flora Penelope had always known.

  "The last thing I remember…" Flora's face fell into abject terror. "Oh my God. Oh my God!"

  "What is it? What's wrong?" Penelope asked.

  "They took me. They drank my blood. And then… They tortured me for days. The pain was unbearable. They told me I could either die or join them. I wanted to die. I told them to just kill me. But then in the very last second, right as the black night of death gripped me in its cold embrace, one of the vampires offered me his blood-soaked wrist. And I… Oh what have I done?"

  "It's okay, Flora. You didn't have a choice."

  "I did. I could have refused. I could have let myself die. But I didn't, I accepted. I drank from his wrist. And then, then I became a thing like them. How did you bring me back?"

  "We gave you a full blood transfusion. The transition wasn't complete, so there was still time," Cato said.

  "Can I get out of these cuffs?" Flora asked. />
  "She still has slight vampiric physiology," Cato objected.

  "Let her up."

  "We don't know how she will behave," Cato said.

  "Cato, she's fine. She's back. Can't you see that?"

  "Okay," Cato finally relented.

  He slid his finger over his wrist device and the cuffs on the medical bed retracted. Flora sat up, rubbing her wrists and looking around.

  "Where are we? What is this place?"

  "This is the helm of our spaceship."

  "Who is this guy?" Flora asked, hopping down from the bed.

  She wobbled on her feet, and Penelope helped her to one of the chairs before the computer dashboard.

  "Cato, a dragon from the House of Flames," Penelope explained.

  "Interesting," Flora said, examining the computer. "And you have the technology to synthesize compatible blood and run an entire transfusion? What else can you do?" Flora asked, running her fingers over the dashboard of the computer.

  "We will explain everything in due time," Cato said, drawing her hand back.

  Penelope narrowed her eyes at him, not sure why he was being so suspicious. One second, Flora was sitting in the chair beside her, and in the next, she was on top of Penelope on the floor. Flora sank her flat teeth into Penelope's neck, biting so hard it drew blood. Cato was there instantly, pulling the ravenous woman away. He flung her across the room and she smacked against the wall, falling to the ground unconscious.

  Penelope gripped the searing pain of her sister’s bite. Hurt and confused, Penelope approached her sister, looking down at her with utter disappointment and dread.

  "What happened?" Penelope asked as Cato scanned her vitals.

  "My educated guess is that the tiny bit of vampire physiology overrode her true self and compelled her to drink your blood. But from my readings, it appears your mated Dragon Soul blood has reversed the final vampire physiology."

  "Subject is now one hundred percent human," Bethi stated.

  "Are you sure?" Penelope asked, still holding her neck.

  Cato lifted Flora off the floor and deposited her on the medical bed, he cuffed her and turned to Penelope.

  "Let me help you with that," he said, getting a tube of healing lotion from synthesizer.

  He scanned the bite and said, "It doesn't look infected." Cato dabbed lotion on her wound, instantly relieving the pain. He then applied a bandage from his wrist device and took Penelope's hands, looking into her eyes sympathetically.

  "Are you okay?"

  "The pain is gone.”

  "I don't mean physically.”

  "Emotionally? No, definitely not."

  He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight and trying to console her.

  "Do you think she'll be okay now?"

  "I hope so. I don't know what else we could do."

  "Penelope," Flora sobbed.

  Penelope turned away from Cato and ran to her sister’s side.

  "I'm here Flora," she said, gripping her cuffed hand.

  "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. It was like I was possessed. I needed blood like I was suffocating without it."

  "I understand. We removed the last tiny bit of the vampire DNA inside you. It was killed by my blood."

  "Do you think it will stick?"

  "We can only hope," Penelope said.

  "Can I get something to eat?" Flora asked. "I'm starving."

  "That's a very good sign." Cato said. "Vampires don't eat anything but blood."

  Chapter 21

  Cato constructed a comfortably sized containment unit for Flora to rest inside, with her agreement, and brought her several meals’ worth of food to eat while under observation.

  "When can we let her out?" Penelope asked.

  "It's going to take some time," Cato admitted. "I can't let her loose in the house near the baby if there is any suspicion that she may revert."

  "I get it," Flora said, eating up the leftover barbecue ribs from the night before. "These are delicious. Who cooked them?"

  "That was Kian, the leader of the House of Flames," Penelope explained.

  "Tell me about these dragons," Flora said as Penelope sat beside her on the other side of the containment wall.

  Penelope started the story, explaining the history of the dragons and how they came to Earth. An alarm sounded throughout the compound. Kian's voice came through Cato’s mental link. "We are under attack, Cato. You better get up here."

  "The vampires are here," Cato said.

  He turned and hurried up the stairs, joining the crew on the first floor. Aria was singing to all of them as they discussed their battle plans. Cato brought up a holographic display of the compound on his wrist device. The intruders were coming from all sides. He scanned their faces, recognizing Victor and the five elders they'd fought before.

  "Reinforce our outer shields," Cato instructed Bethi.

  "I want all of the ladies in the safe room," Kian said when Aria finished her song.

  "I've got Ember," Everly said, holding the baby tight against her chest.

  Winnifred, Aria, and Everly hurried downstairs to the basement where they locked themselves inside the safe room.

  "Penelope should join them," Kian said.

  "I don't think she'll leave her sister." Cato said. "I'm closing the hatch to the ship. It's impenetrable by vampires."

  "Shields at ninety-eight percent," Bethi said through the mental link.

  Dax, Aidan, and Kian all looked at him, and he gritted his teeth.

  "They're breaking through more quickly this time," Kian said.

  "The elders’ magic is strong," Cato said.

  "We better get out there," Kian said.

  The dragons shifted on the lawn. Dax popped into his full dragon form, Aidan took half shift with his laser swords in hands Kian became full dragon, and Cato half shifted, needing to monitor the battle with his wrist device. He constructed his laser gun and gripped it in one hand while analyzing the shields with the other.

  "Shields at ninety-seven percent," Bethi said.

  "Dax to the north. Aiden to the west. I'll take the south. Cato, take the east,” Kian commanded.

  Cato hurried to the east side of compound, flying to the edge of their shields. He saw a dozen vampires clawing and snarling as they banged and smashed at the shields. One of the elders walked among them, she lifted her hand, palm up and shot a blast of magic at the shield. It shimmered and vibrated at the hit.

  "I want to attack these goons," Dax said.

  "We're going to need to go on the offensive," Kian said. "Dax, you have permission to cross the shield. You all do."

  Cato watched his holographic screen, monitoring the compound and saw Dax, Aiden and Kian cross the barrier to meet the enemy head on.

  "What's wrong little dragon?" the vampire asked on the other side of the shield, tilting her head and smiling. "You afraid of little old me?"

  "No," Cato said. "I'm simply looking for a better way to defeat you. You see, the rest of my crew are fighters. I am a scientist. I will defeat you with my mind, not my muscle."

  "So you're going to stand there like a coward," she asked, her lips pulling back to reveal her sharp bloodied teeth.

  "Not at all," he said. "I'm working on a new weapon."

  "Bethi," he said inside his mental link. "I want you to find a way to imbue our weapons with the antibody from the blood of mated Dragon Souls."

  "Processing," Bethi said.

  "What are you waiting for?" the vampire screamed as her minions smashed against his shields.

  "Shields at ninety percent," Bethi said.

  Cato pointed his finger into the air, indicating that she should wait. "I'll be with you shortly," he said.

  "Bethi, have you found a way to imbue the antibodies yet?"

  "Still processing," Bethi chirped.

  "That's thirteen vampires," Aiden said over the mental link.

  "I'm on fourteen," Dax said.

  "Keep it up," Kian said. "By the way, I
'm on twenty."

  "Processing complete," Bethi said. "Activating antibodies in all weapons."

  "Whoa," Dax said. "What just happened? I just took out five with one swipe?"

  "I have added the antibodies of mated Dragon Souls to all of our weapons. This should allow us to dispatch these vampires, including the elders."

  "You shrinking little coward!" the vampire screamed from the other side of the shield.

  Cato raised his weapon, aimed it at her, and shot her right between the eyes. She gasped one last time and fell to the ground. The minions who had been banging on the shields looked up and stared at the lifeless body of their leader. In a massive rush of shadows, the minions swept away and disappeared.

  "Where are they going?" Dax complained. "This was just starting to get fun."

  "I killed one of the elders," Aiden said triumphantly.

  "I have, too," Cato said. " I think they will all be leaving now."

  "Shields stabilizing," Bethi said as the rest of the vampires rushed away.

  The dragons met on the back lawn, shifting into their humanoid forms.

  "That was some fast thinking," Kian said, commending Cato. "Well done."

  "It wasn't much of a logical leap," Cato said. "If the antibodies are toxic to vampires, including elders, we only had to find a way to inject them with it. This upgrade effectively makes all of our weapons poisonous to vampires."

  "They'll think twice about attacking again," Kian said.

  "Or they'll awaken the rest of the elders and attack us all at once," Aiden said.

  "It is possible that they have exhausted the amount of resources they have available in this area. Their current compound is located near Vancouver. It is possible that they have exaggerated their numbers." Cato said.

  "We must be prepared for anything," Kian said. "But this new weapon will definitely help."