I recoiled at the sight and desperately called to my wolf. I heard the faintest of whimpers before one of the guards gripped my head and forced my mouth open. Muriel sprayed into my mouth once and then stepped back.
Pain lanced through me and poured down my throat like liquid fire. I groaned as it drained into my stomach, making me nauseous.
“Sorry, dear. Precautionary measure. You understand.” Muriel unlocked the chair and continued wheeling me down the plain white hallway lined with guards at every other door. “We’ve been testing your blood,” Muriel continued as if I wasn’t in pure agony. “Very interesting results. We wanted to see what would happen to a vampire’s blood if it came into contact with yours, and boy, was I surprised. When you take a look at your blood and a vampire’s through a microscope, yours attacks the vampiric cells, consuming and replacing them with new, live cells. It’s extraordinary.”
My head spun as my body acclimated to the silver. Slowly, the world righted itself and the agony in my throat turned to a dull ache.
“Now, we weren’t sure how your blood would react to shifter blood, seeing as your cells attack others,” she went on.
I blocked out most of Muriel’s ramblings until she mentioned experimenting with shifter blood. My body went cold as I thought of other shifters being kept here only to be injected with my blood. This was sick. And yet Dr. Siegfred spoke like it was the most exciting thing in the world.
“But when mingled with the blood of your friend, nothing happened.” Her blue eyes blazed with excitement. “Literally nothing. I couldn’t believe it.”
Thank fucking hell.
“Blood of my friend?” I asked. My brain was still processing slowly through the fog that settled every time they hit me with silver.
“Your panther friend. Jett.”
So Jett was allowing them to experiment on him now, too? I bristled. “And he chose that?” Despite the fact that Jett had put me here, part of me worried they had changed their minds about working with him and had thrown him into a cage somewhere.
He totally deserved it, but I wasn’t so callous as to wish this on my worst enemy.
“Of course,” Muriel said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I sighed. Of course. Muriel continued her little speech as she wheeled me down a long corridor and turned into another. Suddenly, it occured to me that I was out of my room. I was one step closer to freedom.
My heart raced, and my fingers tightened on the arms of the chair. I tried to take a deep breath and relax through the endless monologue Muriel had prepared. I inspected the hallway as it brought back to mind the route we had taken. We had only turned twice, and I hadn’t seen any exit signs or any windows. Did that mean we were underground? Or were they just keeping their super villain base windowless so I wouldn’t try to jump out the first one I saw?
“We’re here!” Muriel stopped beside a door identical to every other one in the long white corridor. She swiped her keycard over the panel next to the door, and it whooshed open. The doctor stepped through, pushing me in first while the guards crowded in after us.
The lights flickered on at our entrance to reveal another lab-like room. I blinked through the white spots dancing in front of my eyes until I could make out two different cells on the far side of the room. Both were like glass cubicles with another piece of glass between them. There was a commode in the corner of each, and a small cot on the other side.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” Muriel said, her excitement increasing.
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain in just a moment, dear.” Muriel locked the wheels on my chair, leaving me directly between both rooms so I could get a good look at their inhabitants.
I stared at the two people: both women, one human and one vampire. The vampire on the left looked ill, with graying skin and sunken eyes. She breathed heavily, something I was sure I’d never seen a vampire do before. Her brown curls fell lifelessly around her shoulders and in front of her face. She glared at Muriel, her red eyes filled with loathing.
I looked at the human, a young woman with pale orange hair, freckles, and vivid green eyes. She huddled on the corner on her cot, her thin arms wrapped around her legs. She didn’t look sick like the vampire, but she was pale and trembled from head to toe.
“What’s going on here?” I asked. The longer I looked at the two women, the more concerned I got. Cold dread pooled in the pit of my stomach until it formed a hard rock.
Muriel spun to face me, a controller of sorts in one hand and a clipboard folded under her arm. “Do you know Jade, Ariana? The human woman.”
My eyebrows furrowed. Did I know her? I looked back at the frail woman who had finally turned to us with wide, pleading eyes. “I don’t think so.”
“No matter,” Muriel said. She stood beside me, a smile plastered on her face. “You turned this woman. Jade used to be a vampire.”
I gasped involuntarily and swung my head around to face the woman. Her green eyes met mine, a thousand emotions rolling through her expression, the most vivid of them making me wince. Hate. This woman didn’t even know me but she despised me. Had she really loved being a vampire that much?
“Do you know what happens to a cured vampire if they get bit again?” Muriel asked.
My blood ran cold. Both caged women tensed, fear written all over their faces.
“You wouldn’t,” I said. Finally, I understood. Doctor Siegfred had brought me here as a witness. She wanted me to watch her little science experiment, to see how my blood affected those who consumed it.
“It’s all for science, Ariana,” the doctor said. “It took us weeks to find one of the vampires who attacked you, and it was even harder to capture her. Now, we’re ready to answer one of the questions that has been burning in the back of my mind.”
I slowly peeled my gaze away from the cages to see the manic look in Muriel’s eyes. She had no idea what would happen anymore than she did when she mingled my blood with Jett’s. This could all go horribly wrong. I might not have read a lot, but I knew the story of Frankenstein. This was a dangerous game the doctor was playing.
“These are people,” I growled. “You’re hurting them.”
Muriel scoffed. “They’re safe as long as they’re with us.” She cut off my next argument with a flick of her hand. “There are three possibilities I believe have the most weight. One, the human who is bitten will be turned back into a vampire. Two, the vampire who bites the human will be turned human as well. And three, the vampire will die.”
Before I could even process what she’d said, Muriel held up the controller in her hand and hit a button. A click echoed in the room, and the glass wall between cages receded into the back wall.
The vampire’s eyes widened, and she flew to her feet. “Please don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt her.”
I drew back in surprise. The vampire didn’t want to hurt a human?
“Petra,” Muriel scolded. “We’ve talked about this.”
The vampire, Petra, pressed against the wall as far away from the cowering human as she could. Her breathing grew even more ragged as fangs poked her bottom lip. She groaned and closed her eyes, banging her head against the wall. “You’re a fucking monster,” she gritted out.
“Come on now,” Muriel prodded. She seemed to be enjoying Petra’s agony.
The vampire held her stomach and covered her nose. I realized she was trying to block out Jade’s scent.
“You must be thirsty, Petra,” Muriel continued. “We haven’t fed you in weeks. How can you resist your dinner?”
“Dinner?” Jade squeaked.
Petra glanced up. Her red eyes were hungry, and her skin was sallow. I’d never seen a vampires look so… ugly.
Muriel chuckled gleefully. “She’s about to cave!”
I winced, fighting the urge to leap up and come to Jade’s defense as Petra finally gave in. In a blur, she flew across the room and leapt on top of the
human. The girl screamed as Petra sank her fangs into the side of Jade’s neck. The vampire took a few pulls before leaping backward, slamming into the glass wall. She choked and spit, vomiting blood on the floor.
“She tastes like death,” Petra hissed.
“Now, now, Petra,” Muriel said. “You know that’s not all you’re meant to do. Turn her.”
“What?” I snapped. My heart raced as I pulled at my restraints.
“Turn her,” Muriel said again, more forcefully this time.
Petra looked from Muriel to the small girl groaning on her cot. “I can’t,” she said. “I promised I’d never turn anyone against their will.”
“Petra,” Muriel growled. “Turn her, and we’ll give you real, uncured human blood. Don’t, and we’ll just get a more willing participant to replace you.”
Petra blanched. I understood her pain and fear. If she refused, they might get someone violent who didn’t care about humans to do the job, and her reluctance would be for nothing.
“Please let me go,” Jade cried. Tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. “Please. I won’t tell anyone. I just want to go home.”
Petra’s lips parted soundlessly. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This wasn’t fair—not to anyone involved.
“Do it, Petra,” Muriel snapped.
Petra grabbed hold of her hair, cradling her head in both hands. Muriel snapped her name once more before Petra flew across the room. She tore through her wrist with her teeth, sending blood spraying across the glass. Then she forced the wound to the human’s mouth.
We all watched in silence as Jade struggled. A tear cut through the blood splattered on Petra’s cheek, and she finally yanked away. Pressing her lips close to Jade’s ear, she whispered an apology.
The human slumped against the wall, her eyes closed. This was what I was afraid of. What Muriel theories didn’t account for—what if the vampire killed the human? Tears pricked the back of my eyes. How could they do this? How could they get away with this? The girl was human for fucks sake. Sure, she had been a vampire, but she was one of them now! Was this how humans treated their own kind?
Jade jerked on the cot. Petra took a step back, and I squeezed the arms of my chair.
Please be alive...
The whole cot shook as the human seized suddenly, shaking on the bed, foam dripping from her lips.
“She’s dying,” Petra cried, falling to her knees beside the cot.
“Help her,” I snapped.
Muriel didn’t even glance at either of us. Her eyes were glued to Jade as a crack echoed in the hollow space. I froze, my pulse thumping in my ears.
The human’s once pale, freckled skin grew grey and hard. Strands of her orange hair began to fall from her scalp, slowly at first, and then in great clumps. Her hands gripped the metal edges of the cot, her fingers twisting and her nails blackening before turning into claws.
My mouth fell open as the once frail girl turned into a monster before my very eyes. It was like watching an old horror movie about Dracula, except Dracula was suddenly mixed with The Thing. The creature before me wasn’t human, but it wasn’t vampire, either. It was a hairless, gray thing with wide black eyes and elongated teeth too big for its mouth. Its body reshaped until its bones protruded, and it hunched over, vertebra jutting down its spine.
Petra was the first to move. She flew back into her own cell, a scream tearing from her throat. The monster turned its eyes on Petra, a thin white film like an extra eyelid blinking sideways over its lifeless gaze.
The monster reared back on its hind legs, which appeared almost broken and twisted backwards at the knee. It spreads its arms wide and screeched, baring several rows of teeth at us.
“Close the door!” Petra cried, cowering in the corner.
I looked between the vampire and the monster as it swivelled towards Petra, a growl rumbling from its throat. “Close it!” I screamed, yanking against my restraints.
Dr. Siegfred blinked as if out of a stupor and lifted the remote, hitting the same button she had before. The gate slowly appeared from the wall to close off the cells from one another.
The beast shrieked again, the sound grating against my ears and making me wince. It crouched, ready to spring, and then lunged into the glass wall. It growled and hissed and spit, raking its humongous claws across the glass as it tried to wedge its hands between the cells. But the door didn’t stop, and the monster was forced to pull back.
My ragged breaths finally slowed as the safety wall clicked into place, blocking off Petra from the monster. Still, I continued to gape, unable to believe what had just happened.
Muriel turned from the cages, her eyes still bulging. “Well, I didn’t expect that.”
13
Ariana
Dr. Siegfred barely seemed to notice I was in the chair as she rushed it back to my room. I searched for exits all the way, finally seeing one down a long corridor that was more poorly lit than the rest of the lab.
“That was extraordinary,” the doctor mused, but I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me or the guards or herself. “I wonder if it does the same to all of them. I’ve never seen such a creature.”
I tried to calm my hammering heart, shuddering at the memory of that beast throwing itself against the glass. Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn’t human, and it wasn’t a vampire, either. I couldn’t help but be even more relieved that my blood hadn’t done anything to Jett’s. Not that I’d expected it to. I’d fought lots of shifters, and I hadn’t escaped without a scratch or two of my own. Plus, I was a shifter, so of course my blood wouldn’t affect my own kind.
Muriel’s trial to see if it would work on shifters concerned me more than the results. She’d promised me that first day that she only wanted to turn vampires human, but what if something could turn shifters human, too? What would happen when her organization decided another species was a threat? Were they really trying to eradicate all supernaturals—or at least hold the possibility in their power?
She deposited me in my room and promptly left, still marveling over the transformation we’d caused. I shivered at the thought, and then at the image of the grotesque monster that my blood had created. Even though the doctor had set it up and executed the plan, I couldn’t deny that I’d played a part, however unwillingly. My blood was… Something worse than toxic. My blood had the power to do that to vampires, whether I wanted it to or not. It didn’t just turn them human. It turned them monstrous.
Yes, the vampires who worked for Dante had been assholes, but then, I’d worked for Dante, too. No one under his employ had much choice in the matter. They’d taunted me cruelly, but was that worse than what I’d done? I’d killed for him—sometimes people of my own kind.
I began to pace the room, though I barely had the energy. Adrenaline alone fueled my agitation. Yes, vampires had attacked us several times. I’d killed them to protect myself and my mates. But I didn’t hate all of them. After seeing Petra, it was obvious not all of them were evil. And after seeing the monster she’d created with my blood…
I felt sick at the knowledge of what ran through my veins.
The door popped open, and Jett strode in. My wolf awakened and whined pitifully, not understanding why our mate wasn’t saving us from this hell.
Before I could stop them, words flooded from my mouth. “Jett,” I said, my voice choked. “Do you know what the doctor is doing? She’s crazy. You have to get me out of here.”
Surprise flashed across his face. “What happened?”
“She turned a vampire into…into…” My breath hitched as the horror of the scene washed over me again, and my knees threatened to give way.
“Ariana,” Jett said, using my name for once. He rushed forward, his warm hands closing around my upper arms. He held me at arm’s length, and I found myself wanting to pull him closer, to curl into his strong arms. “What is it?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
For a long moment, we stood staring at each other. My
heartbeat felt labored and funny, but my gaze stayed locked on Jett’s warm, brown eyes. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure it was just the silver making me weak.
Which was idiotic. This man was not my mate. He was the enemy.
“Of course I’m not okay,” I said, pulling away. “I’m being poisoned, remember? And speaking of poison, my blood turns vampires into…monsters. Not just humans. I’m literally lethal.”
Jett’s lips pressed together. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Because you didn’t see it,” I said, sinking onto the edge of the bed. “You probably can, though. I bet the doctor is keeping her there to try some more of her sadistic experiments on her. She was human, Jett. And then she was…” I broke off with a shudder.
“It wasn’t your doing,” Jett said, taking a seat beside me and rubbing a hand gently over my back. “None of us can help what blood runs through our veins. You can’t help that any more than you can help being a wolf, or I can help being a panther.”
“You’re right,” I said, shrugging off his hand. “It’s not my fault. It’s yours.”
I glared at Jett, and his concerned expression began to harden. My stupid shifter side felt a flare of disappointment, wanting nothing more than to connect with him again in whatever small way we had the moment before.
“I’ll talk to the doc,” Jett said, standing and moving away from the bed, his back to me. “She shouldn’t have made you witness that. There’s no need for it.”
“No need for me to know what you’re doing with my blood?”
“I didn’t know it did that,” Jett said. “I’m just trying to do what’s right here, the same as you.”
I snorted. “Holding me prisoner and dosing me with poison is what’s right? Wow, Jett. Your moral compass never fails to astound me.”
Her Bear: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 3) Page 8