by D McEntire
“No, I want to look at them,” Kern urged as he leaned forward, continuing to study her eyes.
She opened her thighs to allow him to get closer. He stood in front of the table. Without thought, she wrapped her legs around his waist. The front of his blue jeans pressed against the crotch of hers.
Kern slid his hands under her hair and around her neck. His lips covered hers for a slow, leisurely kiss.
Marie’s body heated—a fire burning and spreading between her legs. She moved forward, pressing the seam of her jeans against the hardening bulge in his pants. Imagining him sliding his hand inside her waistband had her throbbing with arousal.
Before she knew it, Kern broke the kiss and unbuttoned her jeans, then slowly pulled down the zipper. His eyes grew dark with desire. Carnal passion swirled in their depths. The look told her she was in for another ride of her life.
As he tugged on her pants, Marie leaned to one side, then the other, allowing the material to slip over her hips and down her thighs. She smiled at his quick work of removing her panties in the same manner.
Kern bent to pull her jeans over her feet. He stopped and frowned, then slowly lifted her leg and stared at the cuts and scrapes from where she had injured herself while getting free of the manacle.
When his eyes met hers, she saw the guilt swirling in their depths before he returned his attention to her foot. He bent his head and when his hair fell forward, the strands tickled her feet. Just as she started to laugh at the sensation, his soft lips touched her skin with a kiss. After they parted, his tongue took their place. Its warmth and wetness almost made her moan as he laved over the injuries. Each swipe left a trail of tingles.
When he was done, Kern raised his head, and she glanced at her foot. The angry red marks had faded to pink, and there was no pain. He smiled, a wolfish grin she figured meant he was getting down to business. Picking up where he had left off.
Yanking her jeans from her legs, he let them drop to the floor. Kern’s hands found her ribs and splayed upwards, warming her skin with his touch.
Releasing the hook on her bra, he set her breasts free, and as soon as he divested her of her top, she pressed them against his chest.
Kern’s kisses returned, starting from her mouth, then the front of her throat, between her collarbone and down her sternum. Marie gasped when his hand cupped her mound with his palm.
This was what she wanted. She wanted his touch, his teasing, and she got it. One finger glided inside with a rhythm, then pulled out to circle her clit. Her sensitive flesh was wet, and she could feel the slickness begin to heat from the movement of his long fingers.
Marie rocked against his hand. She held on tight to his shoulders as she kissed his lips and devoured his mouth. As a climax grabbed hold of her body, Kern removed his hands, unbuttoned his pants and shoved them to the ground. He grabbed her hips and entered her in one swift thrust.
As Kern buried himself deep inside of her, the heat of her nether lips pressing against his groin had Marie opening herself for more. Suddenly, her inner turmoil and frenzy was gone, replaced by a hard climax, which slammed through her, tearing a cry from her throat. Marie dug her nails into Kern’s shoulders, hanging on for fear of flying away.
Wave after wave carried her, so powerful she sobbed from the pleasure. Never had she thought she could lose control in such wonderful bliss.
Kern threw back his head and let out a long, low groan, then shuddered until he was spent. Chest heaving, he bent over her body with his hands resting on each side of her. Marie loved the feel of being caged in his arms, and she hoped he would stay there for awhile.
Chapter Sixteen
A man walked through the laboratory door wearing an expensive business suit. His eyes were cold. Kern glared at the man with murderous intent. Suddenly, the man pulled a gun from his coat and fired. Kern slid to the floor, blood staining his shirt—spreading, darkening.
Marie heard screams, and as Kern shook her, she realized they were her own. Tears welled in her eyes, and she wiped them away with shaky hands. Her mind foggy from sleep, she looked around, momentarily confused as to where she was.
“It’s alright. You were dreaming.”
Marie continued her perusal of the room. Kern had made a pallet on the floor in one of the rooms, and she had fallen asleep in his arms.
Now fully awake, the dream would not let her be. It continued to play through her head. Marie’s chest tightened. She felt as though she was having a panic attack. An uneasy sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. This was no ordinary dream, she told herself. This was something she needed to listen to. They needed to listen to.
Marie rose from the pallet, ran to the lab and grabbed their clothes. She threw Kern’s at him and hopped around the room on one leg while trying to pull on her jeans.
“Hurry, Kern. We’ve got to get out of here. He’s coming.”
When Kern made no move, Marie stopped and looked at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Marie tried not to go off in hysterics. Her dream was clear as day. She had to get Kern to understand they needed to leave—now.
“The man from the recording is coming, and he’s going to kill you. We need to get out of here. Kern, you have to believe me. I saw it.”
Kern stood slowly and began to dress. “I’m not leaving.”
Marie had had a feeling he was going to say that, but she had hoped she was wrong. “You can’t stay here. Look, I know you can get the door open, and I know you want to wait for the doctor and make him pay for what he has done to you, but you can’t do this. He’s going to kill you.”
Kern dressed with jerky motions. Marie tried to ignore him as she quickly pulled on her clothes. She could feel his anger—at her.
He walked out of the room without saying a word. Marie made a beeline for the small room where Kern had been chained and retrieved her backpack, then sat on the cot to put on her shoes and socks. When she sprinted into the lab, Kern was not there.
“Kern?”
Marie found him in the kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. He grabbed a beer and popped the top.
“What are you doing? We’ve got to go.”
Kern’s eyes were again the cold, dark pools she had seen when he had attacked her. Instinctively, she took a step back.
“I said, I’m not going. Why do you want me to leave? So I don’t kill him? Is that it? Did you know all along when he was coming?”
Marie’s heart shrank in her chest. She shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. How could he think such a thing?
“No. I’ve told you the truth. I…”
“You dreamed it, right? Or did your dead grandmother tell you?”
What was wrong with him? Marie wanted to scream. She wanted to throw something or slap some sense into him.
“For eight long months I’ve wanted to kill the son of a bitch, and now I’m going to get the chance since you’ve finally told me when he is going to return.”
Marie could feel tears stinging her eyes. She was at a loss for words. Turning on her heels, she returned to the small room and sank on to the cot to think. One thought floating through her mind was to walk out the door and forget about him. She had done her job, right? But she couldn’t. She was caught up in this, and after the doctor killed Kern, she would be next. The doctor would not want any witnesses to what he had done.
Marie’s mind screamed she could not let this happen. She closed her eyes and sought calm. There was only one way to stop what she feared would happen, but it was not going to be easy. In fact, it was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done. Kern was determined to face this man, but he was going to die if she didn’t get him out of here.
Marie continued to sit on the cot, hugging her backpack to her chest. She felt numb. Her life was still spiraling out of control. When would the chaos end?
Kern entered the room, but she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t after what he had said to her, and she figu
red he was here to fling more accusations. He sat on the cot, but not directly beside her. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Marie closed her eyes for a moment and held her breath. It was now or never for what she had to do.
Marie turned and shoved her backpack into Kern’s chest, sending him falling off the cot. She was up and out the door in a flash. After swinging the door closed, she locked it before Kern could reach her.
Kern rushed the door, slamming into it with his fists and shoulder. The door trembled under his assault. He growled, roared and hissed in a rage. “So, this was the plan all along, huh? To keep an eye on me until the doctor returned. Let me say you did a wonderful job being the distraction.”
Marie vehemently shook her head. Hearing his harsh, hateful words sent knives of pain through her chest. She needed to make Kern see he was in danger, and she was only trying to save him. The man who put together this lab needed to be stopped, but not at the price of Kern’s life.
“Kern, I’m so sorry. I need you to understand the man will be here soon. You can’t fight him because he will win. Please. You have to believe me.”
Hot tears streamed down her face. She hated to see the anguish in his eyes at being locked in the room once again.
“I’m going to find someone to help us. Maybe someone from the clinic. Perhaps a security guard. I don’t know what else to do to save you. Please, you have got to trust me.”
Marie had spoken loudly in hopes Kern could hear her words over his tirade, but she could tell from the look in his eyes and on his face he was too far gone to listen to anything she had to say. He was caught up in his anger at the belief she had betrayed him.
It was all too clear. If she returned, Kern would kill her as soon as he was free of the room. The intent was written on his face and blazed in his eyes.
Kern continued to emit a feral hiss, his fangs gleaming. “You know how serious I am about killing him, so you’re going to warn him. Was this some sort of experiment to see how a human female could make a fool out of me?”
Marie placed her fingers on the window, wanting desperately to soothe him, to touch him. Her heart was breaking at what she was putting him through.
“I could never hurt you, Kern, and I hope someday when you are at peace with yourself, you will realize I did everything I could to save you. You never deserved the horrible things the man did to you, and I pray you find some sort of happiness in your life to take it all away.”
Marie stepped away from the door, tears dripping from her face before she used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe them away. She looked at Kern one last time. He was calmer now, but staring at her with those dark, cold eyes she knew all too well. He hated her, and she couldn’t stand it.
“Goodbye, Kern,” she whispered, then turned and ran to the lab, opened the heavy, metal door as she had seen Kern do, and made her way through the dark tunnel as fast as she could. She had no real plan on where she was going, only the need to find help for Kern. Someone had to release him from the room before the doctor returned, but how would they get him to leave?
Marie’s heart stopped in her chest, and she froze in mid-step. If she sent someone here, she was most likely sending them to their death with the state Kern was in right now.
What do I do?
The chill from the basement hit her as she stepped out of the tunnel and headed up the stairs. Her jacket, gloves and hat were in the lab, but she dared not go back. She could not do that to Kern. To let him think she was returning for him. Instead, she continued up the stairs to the first floor and out of the building.
Her backpack.
She’d had to sacrifice the backpack in order to escape.
Marie remembered walking about a mile from the clinic before she had found this place. Perhaps if she notified the police and the officers went into the lab, Kern would realize they were there to help and not attack them.
But, what if he did?
There were so many reasons tugging at her as to why she couldn’t go to the police. First of all, they wouldn’t believe her. Second, if they did and Kern attacked, the officers would kill him without hesitation. Third, how would she answer the myriad of questions that would inevitably follow? Who owned the lab? What was the man doing there? How did she find him?
How was she going to explain she had discovered Kern’s existence and knew about his torture from her dreams, not to mention the urging of a dead relative? She would be carted off and returned to the institution before the dust settled.
What if Kern did survive? He was a vampire. If morning came and he was taken outside by force, what would happen? If vampires couldn’t come out in the daytime sunlight would hit Kern like a vat of scalding grease, turning him into crisp bacon in a blink of an eye.
Trying to stop her tears at the whirlwind of emotions and fear of not knowing what to do, Marie stumbled through the snow. Her pant legs were soaked and sticking to her skin as she walked. Marie hugged herself close in an effort to shield her body from the biting wind as she rounded the side of the building.
Reaching the front, Marie stopped in her tracks at the sound of a car door slamming shut. Peering around the side of the building, she saw a man carrying a briefcase and walking in her direction.
It’s him.
She was too late to get help. The man from the recording was already here.
Marie turned and ran as fast as she could to the rear door, praying the man wouldn’t notice her tracks in the snow. She quietly closed the door behind her and blindly made her way in the dark to the sitting area where she ducked behind the dusty couch.
Chapter Seventeen
Dr. Pearson rounded the corner of the old Military Hospital, stopping abruptly at the footprints in the snow. He followed them to the rear of the building and to the door. Scowling, he scanned the area, but didn’t see any more tracks. Had someone gotten inside?
A thought struck him. Had his guest somehow gotten out of his chains and his room?
Another possibility entered his mind. A trespasser or vagrant may have entered the building to get out of the cold. Dr. Pearson opened his briefcase, pulled out a tranquilizer gun, then loaded several rounds of the special drug he’d created. Vampire or vagrant, it didn’t matter. Whoever was inside was going to get pumped full of poison.
After he had taken care of the creature and the vagrant, if there was one, he would take care of the lab. Since he would soon have full and private use of one of Dr. Olivia’s elaborate labs with state-of-the-art technology, this one was no longer necessary. He was finally going to get everything he wanted. The thought put a broad smile on his face.
Closing his briefcase, he stood inside the doorway for several minutes, listening for any noise indicating the location of whoever made the tracks in the snow. Silence. Dr. Pearson stepped inside.
The light from the open door allowed Dr. Pearson to see the couch and chairs by the fireplace as well as the door to the basement. He carried his briefcase to the sitting area and set it beside the couch, his mind warning he needed to be ready for the vampire and not burdened with the briefcase until it was needed. After setting the case on the floor beside the couch, he headed for the basement door, turning around several times to avoid any attack from behind.
The basement steps were dark so he grabbed the large flashlight he kept on a hook high on the wall beside the door. The illumination provided enough light to shine into corners and shadows as he searched for the creature or someone hiding inside the building.
It took only minutes to reach the door to the tunnel. A moment of fear ran through him at seeing the secret panel open. The possibility the creature had escaped his bonds had increased.
At the end of the tunnel, Dr. Pearson came to a halt, staring at another open door. He readied his gun and stepped into the doorway of the lab. Emitting a small sigh of relief when nothing happened, Dr. Pearson entered the lab further while checking both sides of the door for an ambush.
The lights were on. Dr. Pearson was certain he had turne
d everything off before leaving for Colorado. Not wanting the vampire to escape he pushed the door closed. Dr. Pearson first checked the bathroom, then the kitchen, but found no one. After turning around, he headed for the room which held the vampire.
Standing several feet from the door, he strained his eyes to see through the window. Movement inside caught his attention. The creature had not escaped.
With a grin, he stepped closer to the window. The vampire was inside and staring at him with dark eyes. His fangs shown as he snarled.
Dr. Pearson noticed the vampire was no longer chained, another strange discovery. It didn’t matter, he told himself. The creature would soon be dead, and he could get on with his new plans.
“I see you’ve relieved yourself of your chains. Interesting, vampire.”
Dr. Pearson weighed his options. He needed to get to the vampire to shoot him. Although what he had planned for destroying the lab would kill the creature, his hatred for vampires was so intense it had eaten at him like acid since the death of his wife. No, he thought. He was going to do this the way he had always planned. Besides, it was the perfect way to ensure his new brew worked.
He had worked hard to come up with a poison strong enough to take the creatures down slowly and painfully as they deserved. If he left the vampire locked inside the room and destroyed the lab without first testing the poison, he would have to wait until another subject was acquired and held at one of Dr. Olivia’s labs to run the experiment.
Steeling himself for confrontation, Dr. Pearson reached over and flipped the lock on the door before running to the lab. He didn’t want to face the creature in the narrow hallway. He wanted plenty of space between them.
Marie held herself still, both hands covering her mouth so even her breathing could not be heard. When the man came toward the couch, she feared she had been caught. Thankfully, that had not been the case.
The opening of a door followed by the creaking of the basement stairs brought Marie out of hiding. She eased out from behind the couch and stared at the open basement door. She knew where the man was headed. Kern.
