“Tiffany? Please. How do you know Dr. La Mond?”
She swallowed hard because she was sure Christian wasn’t making it a practice to tell his patients he had a life mate. According to her mother, since they hadn’t done the deed, she wouldn’t have the scent of a life mated person. Would Teresa believe her? “Christian is my life mate.”
“You’re human, but you’ve chosen to life mate with a vampire?”
“What?” Tiffany felt her eyes bug. “You’re mistaken. I’m not human. I was turned by Christian less than a month ago.” Boy she wished she could see this woman. Look into her eyes and vice versa. Teresa’s nose was obviously as messed up as hers, but if Teresa could see her eyes she’d know the truth.
“I apologize, but your scent is human. It’s faint for some reason and a bit different than most humans, but you definitely don’t have the scent of a vampire.”
Tiffany swallowed hard, wishing she could use her hands to rub the throb gaining momentum under her right temple. “That’s not possible. The majority of my family is vampire. Even my kid vampire half-siblings immediately recognized my scent as vampire. The drugs must be messing with both our noses because I can’t smell you either. I had no idea you were vampire.”
Now it all made sense, the resort, the shooters, Teresa’s kidnapping. She’d been at Christian’s mothers’ retreat and someone working with Katie had taken Teresa and maybe others. Blake? Possibly, but she said the shooter was female. Katie had to be one of those others.
Teresa let out a high-pitched sob. “Oh my God my water just broke. He’s coming Tiffany. Now! I need to push. Dear God, someone help me!”
Oh Lord, have mercy. Time ran out! “Teresa don’t push. Not yet. Are you restrained?”
“My arms are, but not my legs. They took them off shortly after I woke and discovered I was in labor. I can’t remove the restraints. I simply don’t have the psychic energy with this ungodly pain ripping through me.”
“Okay that sucks. There’s gotta be a plan B or something. Let me think.” Genius struck seconds later. “Okay, have you been in touch with your life mate? You know, mind speak?”
“Yes, of course. He’s losing his mind, but doing everything he can to help me through this. He’s completely tuned in and I just told him who you are and your situation.”
“Christian, uh Dr. La Mond is your OB right?”
“Yes.”
“Ask your life mate if Christian is with him.” Oh please be there. Please.
“Just a minute.” There was a lengthy pause then, “No. Jesse, my life mate is with Dr. Bradley and Dr. Langston at Dr. La Mond’s retreat, but he isn’t there. He’s searching for you. I can’t tell him where we are because I have no idea.”
Tiffany got that. Katie and her crew had been thorough in their attempts to keep them in the dark to their location. “If that’s the case why isn’t he answering me? I know I’m just a newbie vampire, but we’ve mind spoke several times.”
“I wish I had answers for that but I—” She broke off and let loose another long moan that kept ratcheting up in volume.
That was it! Asa or Noah could phone Christian, her family even and let them know what was happening to them through Teresa’s life mate. “Teresa, ask Jesse to have one of the doctor’s phone Christian, my family, someone.”
“He says they tried contacting Dr. La Mond just now, but he isn’t answering. Someone, uh, wait.” Another lengthy pause then, “Dr. Bradley is going to where he is. He-he said you should be hearing from Dr. La Mond s-soon. They’re going to keep calling—aahh! He’s coming now, she screamed. I need to push.”
“Don’t, don’t do that yet! Oh God!”
Tiffany had enough. She tossed consequences to the wind and began to scream at the top of her lungs. Between the two of them, someone had to come help Teresa. They might be insane monsters, but no one could be so cruel they wouldn’t help a woman deliver a baby.
It worked because moments later she heard a door open and slam against a wall. Fast, running footfalls followed with urgent voices all talking at once. One sounded very familiar.
“Hurry up you two. That baby’s coming.”
Katie!
Chapter 21
Katie started barking orders at whoever was with her. “Get her to delivery now! Give her another of round of the serum first just to be safe. We’re taking no chances on this one. Go. Go!”
“You two! Oh God! No! Get away from me with that needle!” Teresa let loose an ear-piercing scream. Loud clanging followed like metal skittering across the floor. Cursing followed from some man.
“Shut up you stupid bitch. Neither of us have time for this bullshit. You keep screaming and fighting, that vampire brat’s gonna die before you make it to the delivery room,” the male said.
“Please no more drugs. I want to be awake for the birth of my baby. Please,” Teresa pleaded.
“This isn’t a sedative. Now just shut your mouth before I choke you out, you damned freak of nature.”
Tiffany heard Katie say, “That’s enough, Terry. Settle down before this child becomes another casualty of your stupidity.”
“I’d be calmer if you’d shut your trap, bitch.”
“I said, enough, Terry.”
Tiffany could hear the squabbling duo doing something over there. Clicking sounds, Teresa doing Lamaze breathing, movement; things that convinced her Teresa finally got the help she needed even if it was subpar. Tiffany prayed they wouldn’t hurt Teresa or her baby, but the very fact she’d been kidnapped didn’t bode well for either mom or baby’s good health.
Terry said, “No it’s not near enough. I have a lot I’d like to lay on you. For starters, I’m sick and tired of this vampire shit, but mostly your condescending mouth.”
“So you’ve said countless times. Talk about impeccable timing for a bitch session, Terry. This poor creature is about to have a baby. You and Chrissie need to get her to the delivery room ASAP. By now everything should be ready for our sister and our subject here who as you know is very important to our cause. We don’t need her anymore upset than she already is.”
“Cause? What cause? What are you planning on doing with my baby and who is your sister? Is she going to deliver my baby?” Teresa demanded.
Tiffany wondered the same thing and didn’t like the emphatic way Katie said the word cause or the term subject they’d used to describe Teresa. They completely ignored Teresa’s frantic questions and went on arguing.
“Your cause! That’s all I ever hear. Your cause is what got those people killed. I tried to stop her, but she went into a killing frenzy. You know how unstable our sister can be.”
“Unstable? Is your sister going to be delivering my baby? Answer me!” Teresa demanded.
Katie and Terry again ignored her and went on arguing.
“She’s not unstable. She suffers from PTSD as you well know,” Katie snapped.
“Yeah, I know it alright which is why I’m fucking sick over what happened. She should have never been there and you know it. You should have been with me that day, but you just had to have that one from the V clinic. When is this shit going to end? Huh?”
“When I say so. That’s when. If things had happened the way we planned there would have been no casualties!” Katie snarled.
Terry returned an attitude as sharp as his sisters. “Well, it didn’t work out that way, did it?”
“Quit talking, get your ass in gear and get our subject here to delivery!”
“I’m going. Shit! I can only work so fast here.”
“Oh for heaven’s sakes. Chrissie, get the damned IV untangled from the bed rail and move the saline bag to the bed’s IV pole. He can’t do anything right.”
At this point, Teresa was wailing with agony, obviously in the throes of another vicious contraction. God, the poor woman. “Heartless bastards! If you hurt Teresa when I get ahold of you, you’ll find out what real torture is like.” Big words for someone who couldn’t defend themselves, Tiffany thought.
She didn’t care. It sounded as if they wanted to use Teresa and her baby like some experimental animals for their cause.
Katie said from the other side of the curtain, “The other one’s finally awake. Good. I’ll deal with her. You and Chrissie get going.”
Tiffany reeled from everything she’d just heard. On top of all this with Teresa, their sister apparently murdered some people. Inconceivable. Everything happening scrambled her brain and she couldn’t pull her thoughts together for a sensible answer to the million-dollar question: why they were doing all of this?
Seconds later someone yanked back the curtain. It was Katie.
“I’m sorry about what you just heard. Good help and all,” Katie stated with a shrug and a little giggle.
“You,” Tiffany hissed. “What are they going to do with Teresa after that babies born? What’s this cause of your and what does that baby have to do with it?”
Katie, dressed in blue scrubs walked inside, pulled a hypodermic needle from her pocket and went directly to her IV pole.
“Don’t you dare jack me up again. I deserve some answers here.” She struggled against the restraints, knowing it was a useless endeavor, but pure will to live would let her do no less.
Katie ignored her, inserted a needle into a rubber cap on the IV line, then depressed the plunger. Done, she turned and faced her with a strangely empathetic expression as she capped the needle and slipped it into her pocket. “Don’t worry, Tiffany, this is not a sedative. I want you fully awake from here on out so we can monitor your progress and do some additional testing.”
Tiffany didn’t know where to begin. Everything happening since she’d opened her eyes had been a scientific horror show. “What progress? Why am I here and what do you want from me?”
Katie gave her an ambiguous smile, scooted a white padded folding chair next to her bed then sat down. “I’m sure you have dozens of questions which will all be answered in time. Let me assure you if things go the way I’m hoping, you’re going to be very pleased. In fact, the life you once knew depends on the drug I just administered. You’ve been receiving these treatments since you arrived three days ago and you’re doing marvelous.”
“Marvelous? Are you kidding me?” This bitch belonged in a padded cell with cattle prod happy cowboy. “What do you mean three days ago? I’ve been unconscious for three days?”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes and be glad you were. A turning is very painful in the beginning stages. You’re through the worst of it. There will be no pain from here on out, just some general fatigue for a few days.”
“Turning? What do you mean by that? And what about Teresa? What are you planning for her?” Tiffany was sick to her stomach with terror. She was worried about Teresa too because she could hear squeaky wheels on a hospital bed rolling away, Teresa still intermittently crying and moaning. She lifted her head, hoping to see something out of the small opening Katie had made in her curtained prison, but she could tell by sound, the cart or bed traveled the other way, curtesy of that nut entourage.
Katie chuckled softly. “I think you have some idea. She’s about to birth a child. A human child we hope. If not—well it will be unfortunate for her and her child. The world certainly doesn’t need more vampires.”
Chills slithered down Tiffany’s spine and she couldn’t suppress a shudder. They planned to kill Teresa for certain and maybe the baby. “Who’s tending to her? You’re sister? Is she going to deliver her baby?”
“Don’t concern yourself with that. I have people very capable to deliver the child.”
“Why would you do this? Any of this? How could she deliver a human child? In vitro?” Blake had mentioned mixed species couples often chose in vitro to conceive a child. Was he wrapped up in all of this too?
“No, that scenario isn’t the case at all. She and her life mate were born vampires and are mature specimens. I’m sure you have a million questions, so let me cut to the chase. You, Teresa and a number of vampire subjects have received a very special drug designed to do the exact opposite of what Dr. La Mond did to you when he gave you his blood while you were human. We counted on him turning you. And he didn’t disappoint.”
She appeared inordinately pleased, but all Tiffany could perceive in her cornflower blue eyes and smile was abject insanity. None of what she said made a lick of sense. “So, you poisoned me, in hopes Christian would save my life by turning me vampire?”
Her sick, smug smile widened. “Yes. Exactly. We’ve come very close to turning vampire fetuses human and newly made vampires too. In the beginning our serum caused numerous vampire casualties, but a couple of the stillborn infants were born with a very high rate of human blood, which gave us hope. So we adjusted the serum a couple months ago then began to test on V clinic subjects and a few new fledglings we have here. As you probably know, we aren’t getting a hundred percent success rate, but some of the blood work from the stillborns at the V clinic showed excellent signs of a turning. Best of all, some of our V clinic test subjects are handling the serum quite well and have had no complications which means in theory they should birth healthy human babies, but unfortunately the doctors intervened with my trial studies so I’ll never know. I’m hoping that Teresa and the two other pregnant vampire subjects here suffer no complications and turn out beautiful human babies.”
The woman was crazy, but Tiffany couldn’t help wonder how she knew all this? Christian said the VHS thing was top secret.
Katie continued, interrupting further thoughts. “Certainly, there were losses along the way with both pregnant specimens and fledgling vampires such as yourself who we’ve been testing here at our facility. Any drug has side effects. Consider it collateral damage for the greater cause if you will. That’s only natural when testing a new drug, but the good news is we’ve almost perfected the formula and it’s beginning to work. I have a couple other test subjects like you, newly made vampires, but a bit more mature. They’re responding slower to the treatments, but they are responding. You however are turning much more rapidly.
“Beginning to work? You’re trying to make me human with some non-approved drug that could be doing anything to my body?” Tiffany knew her mouth was agape. All this was too much to comprehend.
“Yes. Tiffany all new drugs are non-approved. That’s the purpose of testing. Surely, you’ve heard of research facilities that do that sort of thing. But that’s beside the point. Our goal is to stop vampires from turning humans and stop as many vampire births as possible.”
This was no testing facility. This was frickin’ Frankenstein's lab!
“Anyway, we found that fledglings and fetuses are our key to success. Our study proves about fifty percent of treated vampire mothers birth near human babies and the number is rising with the new version of the serum. Fledgling vampires respond to a re-turning at about a seventy percent rate. The newer the turned vampire the better the results. You’re blood work shows you have about eighty percent human red blood cells and only twenty percent vampire. Soon all the vampire blood in your system should be gone. Isn’t that great news?”
God! She’d been using her as a guinea pig, a lab rat. Teresa and her unborn baby too! It was beyond conceivable! Who was this woman she’d once thought sweet and caring, a girl next door type?
Spewing the rage boiling inside her onto this lunatic wouldn’t propagate answers. And Tiffany had a lot more questions. “You still haven’t explained why you’re doing this, Katie. What’s the point? Why are you trying to make vampire babies human or me for that matter?
Katie nodded, her expression actually sympathetic as she regained her seat. “Let’s back up a bit. First, my name is not Katie. I’m Charla Nettleson. Katie is my twin sister, whom you’ve never met. About nine months ago, a feral male vampire turned her. What he did to her—” She broke off, shuddered and grit her teeth. “—well, it was unimaginable. The horror she went through, along with the male vampire’s infected blood he forced her to drink turned Katie into a feral vampire.”
“I met one once. I get that they’re insane and evil, but so are you. What you’re doing here, this-this experimentation on innocent people is definitely in the same league. It’s a human rights violation of monumental proportion.”
Charla stood and slapped her hard across the cheek. It smarted like hell and tears stung her eyes, but Tiffany refused to give her the satisfaction of so much as a peep.
“They are not people and there is nothing innocent about a vampire! They are all a danger to mankind. Just because ones like you and that sick disgusting Dr. La Mond and his partners take blood transfusions makes you, him and the rest of them no less a danger to society. Vampires are predators, plain and simple. Oh certainly, they can appear civilized, but take away their blood supply and I assure you no human would be safe around them. Like a starving wolf, they’d rip out your throat and drain you dry. That’s what almost happened to Katie and the only reason she’s alive is the vampire who attacked her chose to keep her as a pet. A sex slave. What she suffered at that bastard’s hands doesn’t come close to anything her brother and I have done to try and save her life.”
“You’re trying to turn her. That’s it, right?”
“Yes, but we had to make sure the drug was safe first.”
“How long has she been vampire?”
“Eight months. Her brother and I were beside ourselves. We’ve had Katie back for only seven months. During that time, her mental state has been quite fragile, but she’s getting better. In the beginning, given the chance, she’d have killed anyone, even us, her own siblings if we’d upset her enough.”
You go, Katie, girl. Get pissed off and drain their crazy asses dry.
“Her state of mind is much better these days, but under stress she can be dangerous. Her brother and I foolishly exposed her to a volatile situation a few days ago and she snapped and killed some people but that wasn’t her fault. Memories of the trauma she suffered returned and she acted out. That’s why we’ve been working so hard to get the formula right. We were beginning to lose hope until the last few case studies showed copious amounts of human red blood cells in the stillborn infants. Same with the fledglings we’ve treated. Anyway, that success rate gave her brother and I the confidence Katie would pull through the procedure. About two weeks ago we began giving her the serum. She exceeded our expectation and now she’s in the final stages of turning human.”
Dark Experiments Page 29
