by Rena Marks
Entering the room in which screens monitored every camera in the camp, I was careful to look bored. But I knew exactly which wing I was interested in. The main wing, which housed the good doctor himself, along with my old quarters. It was where they would also keep Ethan, being the most secure branch of the facility. They would not waste the specially improved security once used on me.
I punched a few numbers into the detector.
“What are you doing?” The guard asked suspiciously.
I smiled sultrily, rolling my rrs. “Testing the rrecording mechanism. Do you see?”
I punched a button and the cameras recorded. I hit the button again and real time was displayed on the monitors once more. “We have complaints of the tapes not always being readable. Recorded, you see? I must test every camera to see which is the problem ree-cord one.”
“Every camera?” he groaned, his eyes skimming over the monitors.
“I should be a long while.” I smiled.
He sighed, resigned to my testing. After watching through a few of the tests, he was completely bored, lost in his own thoughts. I took my time, punching buttons here and there and resetting cameras as I wanted them. Eventually I took pity on the loser and finished up, still moving as slowly as I could to avoid suspicion that I just wanted into the compound after accessing his checkpoint. He escorted me to the front gate, where I turned to head into the main facility.
I walked straight up to the front door. It was buzzed from the inside and the guard posted at the door looked up as I entered.
“What the hell—” he was cut off when my boot clipped the side of his head. I paused for a second, listening for the sound of running feet to alert me that the outside guard had seen.
I was safe. After all, this now-unconscious guard had been as confused as hell as to why he didn’t see my approach on the monitors he had been watching.
Especially since this guard recognized me.
I walked down the hallway, still in my skirt and cap, my hair tucked up beneath.
When another armed suit approached me, I kept walking. “Ma’am? I need to see your credentials, please.”
I shot him.
The blast echoed down the corridor. Someone came running at me from behind. I never bothered to look back and check his size. After all, he was running fast enough that I could guess at his weight by the pounding footsteps. I flipped him over my shoulder and broke his neck.
Taking an explosive from my belt, I taped it to the door before me and covered my ears. When the blast ripped, smoke filled the small hallway, setting off the sprinkler system. I didn’t care, I was already inside the next compartment.
The laboratory of the most elite, the congregation quarters of the clique of top Russian doctors. At this point, I triggered my watch alarm to signal Reese.
“There’s no need to practically blow up the entire compound,” Dr. Trubachev said mildly. His voice carried over the intercom system. Speakers were in nearly every room of the compound. It brought back old memories of never being able to relax unwatched.
But I could be just as mild. Mimicry wasn’t my only strong point. Besides, I wanted to emphasize my femininity by being sweet. That was always the one thing they wanted from me. Procreation. The carrying on of my uniquely feminine genes and gifts. “Pardon me. But I felt I had to make a point of letting you know this isn’t a social call. I’m not here to stay.”
“Of course, we would never keep you against your will. You’re retired,” Trubachev agreed.
“Yet you have Ethan against his.”
“He is not human. He has no rights. This is a war, Afton. Us against them.”
I turned into a uniform storage closet. It was amazing that the facility stayed exactly the same throughout the years.
I quickly changed into more protective gear, not Extinguisher gear but training gear. More freedom to move about in. I continued speaking, knowing he had connections in the small room. And not caring that he watched as I changed. “If I stay to help you test your antivirus, you’ll release him?”
He sounded thoughtful. “You’ve always had a soft spot for the vampires.”
“That’s why I’ve killed more than my fair share?”
“No. Perhaps I mean just this one.”
I tried to keep my tone light. “He is my favorite.”
“He doesn’t know our little secret, does he?”
I hate when people generalize. He used “our little secret” when he knew damn good and well it was all mine. But as Fokusovich’s assistant, he was privy to details he shouldn’t have. That was when I decided my secret needed to die, once and for all.
I turned and kicked in the door to his office, striding in as if I owned the place.
“No one should,” I whispered purposefully as I faced the good doctor. “Right?”
He remained calm but ever so slowly, he swallowed. His Adam’s apple was hugely noticeable in his birdlike column of a neck. He was hardly aware of still having the attached microphone on, so our conversation continued to echo throughout the hallways. “Of course not. But back to the subject, Dr. Fokusovich and I will order his release once we’re allowed to test your blood. It should remain active for about five minutes once drawn, so we’ll have to act quickly.”
I knew there had been none on file.
“Where would you like me?”
“That’s the problem. Because your blood dies so quickly, we’ll need to get everything else set up. It should be tomorrow by the time we’re ready. You’re welcome to come back then, although I’m sure you understand we can’t release the vampire until our testing. If you would rather, you have free rein of the lab.”
“You’ll allow Ethan freedom within the lab?”
“I can confine him to your old wing. Freedom throughout the compound may make the guards nervous. I’d hate any accidents to occur.”
“I’ll stay in my old quarters along with Ethan then.”
“Of course.”
“And I do hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be disabling all cameras for my own privacy.”
His mouth tightened just the tiniest bit. For all his scientific training, for all he knew regarding the importance of breeding me, the thought of a human bedding a vampire disgusted him. And yet my compliance in breeding was the highest level of testing ever. My willingness to participate was the utmost priority. Hell, he had orders to look the other way if I’d have wanted to bed a cat. “As you wish. I’ll notify Dr. Fokusovich. Welcome home, Afton.”
I let him live that day. I turned and walked out of his office, making my own way to my old quarters. Guards had appeared while I was inside with Trubachev and were lined up and down the hallway in full attack mode. I didn’t acknowledge them, nor did they acknowledge me.
Down the left of the corridor, on a corner unit, was where I’d called home for most of my life.
I pressed my fingerprint to the electronic lock and it swung open without hesitation. Just like so long ago.
Ethan sat at a small conversation table as I entered. He was next to me in two easy steps, holding me close with his face buried in my hair, yet his voice shook with anger.
“What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear you weren’t to be told. This is a trap.”
“Of course it is. But I couldn’t sit back and let them have you.”
“Why do I love such a stubborn woman?”
“How can you not realize I take care of myself?”
He lifted his head to look around the sterile environment. “Now I see why you insist on trusting no one.”
I was almost embarrassed at how my rooms appeared as I looked through new eyes. Barren and cold, it was a bleak environment. There was nothing of personality, no color. Simply stark black and white.
“I can’t even imagine the horrors you went through,” he said, his voice hard. It was exactly what I needed.
“No child needs to go through it,” I agreed. Needing my own strength, I moved from his arms, climbed atop the tab
le and pulled the wiring from the main speaker located in the ceiling directly above. I waited until the disconnection fizzled and popped before I spoke again. “Which is why I’m back. I need to take care of matters. When I left during retirement, I destroyed my files. They don’t have anything on me. Dead blood samples of mine would be useless, even if I hadn’t destroyed them. My blood is unable to be activated, even with the vamp virus to stimulate it.”
“Why?” he was understandably puzzled. For in that respect, I was different from every other Extinguisher.
I sat down on the small bed. “It’s a long story. You’ll be the only other one who knows, besides me, the one who created me and his assistant.”
He sat next to me, reaching for one of my hands.
“The difference with me is not only was I stricken at three, instead of eight. If that had been the only thing, maybe I could have been recreated. But, well…” my voice dropped to a whisper. “I also have vampire genes.”
His voice was as incredulous as mine would have been if the situation had been reversed. “What! How can that be? Vampires and humans are not able to procreate.”
“Somehow, it happened with me.”
He stared in shocked disbelief. But I also knew he was trying to work out why so much of what made me unique made sense. “Who are your parents, Afton?”
“I don’t know. I mean, my mother is Virginia. She was human. She was committed to the insane asylum so her child—me—could be taken away and stricken. Somehow, two of the doctors here knew I was part vampire and wanted me desperately.”
“Then who is your father? The vampire.”
“I’m not positive, I just suspect. He was my first kill when I was thirteen. I’d discovered the top-secret files a year earlier, telling of my genetic makeup and hinting that it was an unknown vamp and human. But it wasn’t until he died that I discovered he had been the one. The doctors didn’t know he was the one either because they would never have allowed him to die if that was the case. I think that he was the only reason why I was able to be stricken. It was his blood they’d used. It was enough of a push to enhance my vampire abilities, baffling the rest of the doctors who didn’t know what my gene pool was. Yet they continually tried to re-create why I was the best of the Original Extinguishers.”
“But someone knew of the genes?”
“One knew. Dr. Fokusovich, the head doctor. Now his assistant, Trubachev, also knows. Neither was aware I knew. And still, no one knows that the vampire they used to infect me was my genetic father. To keep them from finding out, I had to kill Dr. Morozov along with my first vampire kill when I was thirteen, in case the correlation was revealed later upon discussion, or in his notes.”
“How can it be kept secret?”
“All Extinguishers contain vampire DNA when stricken. I appeared no different from anyone else.”
Ethan was quiet for a moment, studying my face intently. “Afton, were those the issues you had with me tasting your blood?”
I nodded.
“But we should find out whose genes you carry. It could affect which abilities you attain, or those you don’t yet know you have. Vampires have certain inherited skills.”
It was those “skills” I may have inherited that I dreaded finding out about. Yet, I had already resigned myself to this. Unfortunately, because I did suspect who the monster was who was my father.
“I know,” I said softly. “I just didn’t want to know for sure if he is definitely my father. But I know that we need to strengthen you for your release. You’re still weak from feeding you dead blood.” Finally, I allowed regret to tinge my voice. “I’m sorry about that.”
He knew it was necessary for him now to have my blood. Of that, there was no question but he tried to soothe my feelings beforehand. “There’s nothing I could learn about you that I don’t want to know, bella.”
He hit the nail right on the head. His rejection was the one thing I’d never been through. And this, this knowledge could cause it. Once he found out who I suspected the vampire was who fathered me, could he possibly still love me?
But perhaps he wouldn’t even know of Ramon Durant. Vampires were widespread, he could easily be from a distant clan.
“You’ve always tried to hide from me. I love you, bella. I love you exactly the way you are.”
I couldn’t answer him. I wasn’t used to feeling weak. I had no idea my head hung low until he raised it with a touch to my chin, lifting me. Startled, I blinked into his eyes.
“What are you trying to keep from me, my love?” His face softened with a slight smile. “I already know you love me.”
I smiled also. “I do love you. Maybe I don’t want you to know how much.”
“Let’s keep honesty between us always. Only then can we make this bizarre relationship work.”
I nodded.
“What is your biggest fear, Afton?”
“Still…it’s…if I should die.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Aren’t you?” he probed.
Oh, I was. “I’m not sure if it really means death. Or if I’ll rise as something else.”
He understood exactly. “And not knowing your father, you’re not sure what you’ll rise as?”
“I’m the unknown also. I suspect my father’s identity. If I’m right, my rising won’t be pretty. But, I’m not even sure that I will rise. The human factor in me could take over and leave me in a permanent death.”
“Are you ready to face your fear?”
I couldn’t not be. I had to prepare myself. “To face my fear, I have to embrace death.”
“Not necessarily.”
“I have to. We don’t know what tomorrow brings.”
“Exactly. But think baby steps. Rather than embrace death, let’s just take the first step and find out a little of what you are.”
He held me tight. His lips closed the distance between us.
I parted mine and he inserted his tongue. I met it eagerly, tasting and seeking and giving as much pleasure as I sought from him. His hand came up to cup the back of my head, possessively holding me to him as if I would even want to refuse his touch.
“Do not think about it,” he muttered, kissing along my jaw. I inhaled deeply, trying to get oxygen to balance my racing adrenaline.
This was it. This would make or break us.
He licked alongside my neck and I froze slightly. Was it time? Would he bite?
I needn’t have worried. As if he sensed my trepidation, he merely continued kissing me softly.
“God,” he muttered, pushing my head to the side to extend my neck to him.
Like before, he licked the skin first. “Afton,” he muttered thickly. Once again, his lips closed onto my neck. But this time, he scraped my outstretched tendon gently.
And then he bit, puncturing me.
It was painful, at first. But with pain comes pleasure. I felt his increasing joy as he nourished from my willing body. I experienced an almost maternal instinct that at the same time, pulsed like a sexual need. A wanton need, powerful and exotic. Both feelings flushed through my body, a wave of bliss washing over me.
A gasp, then a decidedly feminine moan. Good lord, it was mine.
Nothing mattered at this moment. I was with Ethan, we were together at last and the fear of the consequence of what my blood contained disappeared. It was as if a mood enhancer hit my bloodstream instantly and wiped away everything remotely negative.
But as soon as he stopped sucking, I came back to awareness. I could hear his deepened breathing near my ear, where he had brought his head down to my shoulder. While my racing heart slowed, the inner fears and doubts crept back in. I tensed, waiting for him to speak, to share with me what he’d learned.
I knew it wasn’t good. His white face said it all.
He leaned backward on the bed, flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. “God, no.”
There. It was out. There was no turning back. “I’m sorry. I gues
s it is…”
“Ramon Durant,” he said.
“Yes. That’s who I thought it may have been.” My gut twisted. “So you know of him?”
Ethan nodded, unable to speak. This was bad. Very bad.
“Who is he?” I whispered, cold terror deep in my gut.
“My stepfather.”
Oh, God. It was even worse. The monster who murdered his mother and sister. “What? That can’t be.”
“He was your father, Afton. You carry the genes of Ramon Durant, the one vampire I made the decision to exterminate for his twisted personality. My stepfather was your father.”
I caught my breath. It was as painful as I expected. I knew Ramon was the epitome of monster—he was my first experience at vampires.
“He was a horrible human. Now we know our basic human imprints are magnified when we become vampire. He was evil, insane. It became much worse when he crossed over.”
I struggled to find hope that I wasn’t related to the horrible creature, that I didn’t share his genes. “But you said you killed that vampire. It can’t be him. I killed him when I was thirteen.”
Ethan was silent. “Did you watch him die?”
“I ripped out his spine,” I said it before catching myself.
“He’s definitely dead then.” Ethan’s voice was mild. “Well, it’s possible he was captured by this place before completely cold. That perhaps I didn’t do the job. Remember I said I left him to greet the sun?”
I nodded. “What did he do for you to decide to destroy him?” I carefully phrased it so he wouldn’t lay any blame on himself.
“He was a rapist. He murdered my mother and raped my baby sister, making it his life’s mission to impregnate anyone he could. He’d become infertile when he crossed over, though apparently he wasn’t infertile to humans.”
“Your stepfather,” I whispered. I knew the story about Ethan’s family but somehow it seemed more real now.
Ethan flinched. “I should have suspected when Virginia was your mother. We hunted her because she was tortured by Ramon. You are that product?”
