by S. E. Babin
“Lila has fallen for the bait. She’ll be here in forty-five minutes, probably twenty to thirty to see if she can catch us in the act. We need to get moving.” He pointed to a bed over by the right side of the wall I hadn’t noticed before. A tall machine with tubes and buttons out the yin yang stood beside the bed. The dialysis machine. “Take Penelope over there.” He turned to me. “Take down your hair. You need to look less put together.”
I swallowed hard. It was do or die. “Umm, okay.” I reached up to take the two fasteners out of my hair and felt Watson’s hungry stare on me. I finger combed my hair until it fell across my shoulders and down my back in dark waves. Aaron motioned for me to come over to the bed and the weight of my entire twenty-five years came down around my shoulders.
I stood at the edge and stared at it. I was not looking forward to this.
Aaron touched my shoulder. “It’s time.”
I startled and nodded. “Okay.” I blew out a breath and climbed into the bed. My first thought was surprise at how comfortable it was. I hadn’t spent a lot of time in hospitals before, but when I did have to stay overnight, I remembered how little I slept because of how uncomfortable the beds were. I settled in, pulled the covers over me because I was feeling especially vulnerable, and waited for what came next. Masters and Watson were involved in a conversation, not paying attention to either of us. Aaron sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand.
I thought I should pull away, but I needed the comfort of another human touch.
“However this ends up, it will all work out.” Aaron pinned me with his gaze.
I sat there like a bug under a microscope trying to wrap my head around his words. “Well, I’m hoping we snag Lila and I get to keep all my blood.” I laughed.
Aaron didn’t. He had a funny expression on his face, and my heart beat a little bit faster. My mother’s words rang through my head. Notice everything. “Aaron?”
He blinked and patted my hand. “Of course. That’s what we’re all hoping for.” His strange expression cleared as he stood up. “Are you ready?”
I wanted to shake my head and scream, Of course I’m not ready! Instead, I nodded and offered up a wobbly grin. Aaron slid off the bed and pulled the dialysis machine closer.
“This is going to work, right?” I blurted. “I mean, I’m not going to suddenly start convulsing or something or have a heart attack, right?”
Aaron picked up the leather strap and placed my wrist inside. My heart thudded painfully slow against my chest as I remembered being strapped in by Lila. I needed to get a grip if I was going to get through this.
“Relax, the dialysis machine takes your blood out and puts it right back in. Watson modified the machine to prevent it from filtering or cleaning. It’s basically there to look convincing to Lila. We thought about putting the other tube in your thigh, but we’re just going to put it on your wrist just like we would if you were really getting dialysis. There’s a port here where Watson can pretend to withdraw your blood, but we have it hooked to withdraw from a bag of warm cow’s blood.”
“Watson isn’t carrying it in his pocket anymore?”
Watson spoke up. “Too dangerous,” he conceded. “Lila is already suspicious. I wouldn’t want something as simple as an error in sleight of hand to get us all killed.”
“You’re immortal,” Masters reminded him.
Watson rolled his eyes. “Yes, we know, but like Penelope said, a good beheading will be hard to come back from.”
Aaron scoffed. “I hardly think Lila is in to beheading.”
Watson shrugged. “You never know how far someone will go to meet a goal.”
“True,” I murmured as I studied Aaron. He just defended Lila. Notice everything.
Aaron strapped my other wrist in and began the process of hooking me up to the machine. I turned my head away so I wouldn’t have to watch. Watson came to my side and stroked my hair. “This has to suck,” he said.
I snorted with laughter. “You can try it if you’d like.” Aaron didn’t warn me, and a moment later a sharp prick in my wrist made me suck in air through my teeth. I turned my head to glare at him.
“Sorry,” he murmured sheepishly. “First time in, though. Bully for me.”
“Jerk.” I turned back to Watson. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He shook his head. “Sorry about your door.”
I chuckled. “I’ll just start keeping extras.”
He shook his head. “Don’t. My door breaking days are over.”
I sobered and winced as Aaron punched through my skin for the second time. “Bad joke. How much longer do we have?”
Watson glanced at his watch. “Ten minutes.” He stood abruptly. “Aaron, hurry up. She’ll be here in just a few. He nodded at Masters, who quickly dissolved into the shadows of the lab. Impressive, since the place was relatively well lit.
Aaron adjusted the fit of the restraints on my wrists, patted my leg, and turned the machine on. I felt absolutely nothing.
“Do you feel that?” Aaron asked me.
I shook my head.
“Good. That’s exactly what you should feel. Nothing.” He adjusted the tubes, pressed a few buttons, and backed away. “She’s ready,” he said to Watson.
My stomach went into my throat when I saw the first pass of blood through the tubes. I broke into a cold sweat. I could handle other people’s blood much better than I could handle my own.
“Relax.” Aaron offered a comforting smile, but there was something out of place about it.
You’re just being paranoid. Notice everything. I exhaled slowly and sought out Watson. He stood by the door staring at me, a perplexed look on his face. He knew something was up—at least with me.
I couldn’t see Masters anywhere, even though I knew he was in the far corner of the room. Aaron walked away to the other side, his weapon drawn at his side. Watson walked over to me, the expression on his face curious now. He leaned down. “Penelope? Everything okay?”
I swallowed. “I think so. Just a weird feeling.”
His gaze sharpened as he looked at me. “This business is built on instinct. Tell me what—”
“Hello, Watson.”
Watson quickly took the strap of one of my restraints and fiddled with it to make sure it looked like he wasn’t concerned about my well-being. My words died a quick and horrible death on my lips. My concerns would have to wait.
Lila was here, and she didn’t sound happy.
Watson stood with grace and less spazzing out than I would have, and turned to face his former lover. “Lila.” He nodded once and walked over to embrace her. She allowed him to pull her into his embrace and stared at me over his shoulder.
I met her gaze evenly, trying not to show the fear I was feeling. Or the jealousy. Because that might have been worse than the fear. I never held the thought that I was beautiful. Different, maybe. Original. Never beautiful. I was a strange mix of my tiny mother and larger than life father. There was no in between. I didn’t look Japanese, nor did I look one hundred percent Caucasian. However, Lila, that redheaded, evil bitch was beautiful and she knew it. Her arms crept around Watson as he bent down to embrace her and I wanted to spit in her face. And she knew it. Her red lips curved in a smile as we stared at each other. I dropped my eyes first, before I did something I’d regret.
When they pulled away from each other, Lila spoke first. “I see Penelope is here. How’d you get her to do that?”
Watson chuckled. “I didn’t have to do much convincing. Holmes has a cabinet stocked with the good stuff.” He glanced over at me and I didn’t like what I saw in his eyes. “A little slip of that in her drink and there was no convincing necessary.”
Lila strode over to me with that ridiculous prostitute-supermodel walk. I could never figure out which one it was. She leaned down, examined the blood coming out of the tubes, and glanced at the settings on the dialysis machine. I tried not to cringe as she handled one of the tubes and it pulled against the needle in my
arm. “How much were you able to get?” she asked Watson.
He came over to me. “As much as you need. Holmes’ safety features finally activated, as I’m sure you already know, so you’ll need more than normal.”
Lila pursed her lips in distaste. “Yes, I do know. Holmes has really been screwing up my life lately.” As Lila bent to take a closer look at one of the tubes, I noticed something that filled me with great pleasure. The roots of her hair were going gray. I sucked in a surprised breath and her gaze flew to mine. She stood up abruptly.
My father was right. Lila was dying.
I hoped I could help her along with that process very soon.
Chapter 29
Lila’s gaze narrowed as she saw where my eyes focused. I looked away from her hair and studied her face. There were fine lines around her mouth and eyes, not yet overly noticeable, but still discernible for those looking for them. She was still beautiful, but fading fast.
Watson noticed our exchange and took her by the arm. As they walked across the lab, their heads bent together in deep conversation, I laid my head back against my pillow. I wasn’t feeling exactly…right. I was a little bit light-headed. Perhaps it was nerves or the presence of Lila and knowing I was mostly helpless, but I couldn’t help but think it was something else.
Notice everything.
I watched as Lila and Watson embraced again, but this time, his head swooped down and captured Lila’s lips with his own. I licked my dry lips as tears pooled in my eyes. I knew this was only for my benefit, wasn’t it?
Anxiety began to prickle across my skin as I watched them. I still couldn’t see Masters or Aaron, but we didn’t have a need for them. Yet. I’m not sure how long I lay there, but it seemed like forever until Lila came back over with Watson. He pulled out a long needle from his jacket pocket and fiddled with my port. He cast a casual glance at me, his face blank. I pleaded with my eyes and I wanted to scream at him. My heartbeat fluttered at a faster than normal rate, and I was beginning to breathe heavier.
Something was wrong.
I blinked away tears I hadn’t known I shed and licked my lips again. “Watson?”
A sharp crack of sound rang throughout the air and my head flung to the side. Blooming pain spread across the side of my cheek.
“You will not speak. You are here for my purposes only.” Lila’s nostrils flared.
Anger blossomed. “You’re a stone cold bitch, Lila, and I hope you shrivel up and die sooner rather than later. We both know it’s coming anyway.”
I wasn’t looking at either one of them, but I heard Watson’s sharp curse and felt Lila raise her hand to me again. Blood trickled from my mouth down to my neck. She’d pay for that if it was the last thing I ever did.
“Enough,” Watson murmured. I closed my eyes and sent up a silent prayer of thanks until I heard his next words. “I need her still to take her blood.”
“My apologies,” Lila said, but she didn’t sound sorry at all.
“Bitch,” I whispered. I turned my aching face to her and watched as her skin turned a mottled shade of red.
“Penelope,” Watson barked. “Enough!”
I blinked at him. Where was I again? I moved and realized I was still restrained. Why was I restrained? Where were Aaron and Masters? “Why am I on the table?”
Watson’s brows flew together in confusion.
“Where is my mother?” I struggled against the restraints. My mouth began to bleed profusely, dripping down my neck and onto the black of my tunic. “Black is better for bleeding,” I murmured and began to laugh.
“Penelope?” Watson shook my shoulder. “Penelope!”
Lila shoved Watson away from me. “Your concern for her is touching. Give me the needle.”
“If you want her blood, you need to be more concerned about her welfare!” Watson snapped. “Something is wrong with her.”
Lila leaned into Watson’s personal space. “I don’t give a shit if anything is wrong with her. Give. Me. The. Needle.”
A gunshot rang out across the room. Blood sprayed across Watson’s face and my body. Lila’s mouth opened in shock as red bloomed across her chest. She collapsed on the floor as Watson looked around frantically for what had gone wrong. Aaron stepped out from behind the shadows, a gun resting in his right hand.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Watson shouted.
“It seemed like the best way to get the job done.”
“Watson,” I whispered, “something’s wrong.” He turned back to me and began to loosen my restraints.
“You’re ice cold.” He spun back to Aaron. “What did you do to her?”
The trembling started slowly, almost like I’d caught a chill, but seconds later, it became teeth-chattering and violent. I casually noted internally it might be shock. I was so weak. So cold. My arm fell over the side of the bed, limp, when Watson released it from the restraint. “Wrong. So cold,” I whispered.
“She has what I need,” Aaron said in a conversational tone.
“Traitor,” I whispered in a voice that didn’t sound like my own.
I blinked and tried to keep Aaron in focus. The gun was leveled on Watson as Aaron strode over to me. Masters stepped out from the shadows, his face and weapon drawn, pointed at Aaron.
“Aaron, don’t do this,” he pleaded.
Aaron smiled good-naturedly. “It’s too late.”
Watson’s face paled and he scrambled to open the machine. Aaron fired one warning shot into the ceiling. “Step away from it. Now. Otherwise I pump Penelope here full of nine millimeter bullets, right in her pretty little face.”
Through the haze of my vision, I could see Watson’s torn gaze. After a moment, his shoulders fell and he stepped away from the machine.
Masters cursed under his breath. “Do you want me to shoot him?” I heard him ask Watson. I didn’t hear his response. Aaron kept his gun trained on Watson until he was at the machine. He pressed the cold, business end of the gun against my forehead.
I reached up to touch him and had to muster an incredible amount of strength to do even that. “Why?”
He sighed. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. He opened the panel and unhooked a bag mixed with my blood and something that shimmered a glowing white. Watson’s horrified inhale of breath told me exactly what Aaron had done.
He’d rigged the machine to separate the serum from my blood. I wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but Aaron had taken us all for a ride.
“My God,” Masters whispered.
Aaron patted me on the arm. “I’m so, so, sorry, Penelope. If they reach you in time, they might still be able to save you.” The funny thing was, he did actually sound like he was sorry.
My eyes closed against my will as Aaron dropped the tubes and my blood spilled against the stark white of the floor.
“Penelope!” Watson’s anguished shout rang out through the room.
I smiled. I loved his voice.
Chapter 30
Dying was wonderful. It was coming back to life that was a major bitch. My eyes fluttered, trying to open as I was jostled to and fro, carried against someone’s strong chest. I thought I might have been running at first, but quickly dismissed that point. I hated to run and I would have already been out of breath.
Shouts and gunshots rang out around me and alarms went off. It was chaotic and noisy, and all I wanted to do was shut my eyes and slip away into the waiting embrace of whatever came next. I smiled involuntarily. Immortality wasn’t so bad right now, because in my heart, I knew it was gone.
Whatever Aaron had done to me had stripped it away. The familiar hum of the blood in my veins was gone. The particular essence I felt after the serum activated was gone. I was almost gone, too.
Someone laid me gently down, and I began to panic. “No. No!”
A comforting hand was laid across my head. “No restraints, I promise.”
My eyes fluttered briefly. “Masters?”
“The one and only,” he said softly. “You’re going to
be fine.”
“I’m not,” I whispered.
Silence fell. “I know,” he said after a moment. “But humor an old man for a moment, would you?”
I smiled. “I knew we’d be friends one day.”
His hand tightened across my head. “Friends.”
I nodded and slipped away.
Words slipped in and out of my consciousness.
“Serum untraceable.”
“Class Four hemorrhage.”
“Lucky to be alive.”
“The changes wrought here could be catastrophic.”
“You piece of shit motherfucking shit-eating bastard!”
My eyes opened slowly and shut right away due to the bright white ceiling lights above me.
“Calm down.”
“You’re telling me to calm down, you stupid bastard?”
“Yes.” I made out my father’s calm tone.
A crack of sound rang out in the room. “That’s what I think about your patronizing bullshit attitude, you piece of shit!”
“You’ve already called me that. Twice.” The barest hint of impatience began to show in my father’s normally unflappable demeanor.
“It’s true. You took my only daughter, Holmes. My only daughter. You will make this right. You will make her whole.”
That was my mother. I inhaled and coughed against the intrusion inside my throat. I began to gag.
“She’s awake,” a voice I’ve never heard before said. A pause. “And breathing on her own.”
“Take the tube out,” my father said.
“Do you understand me, Sherlock?” My mother sounded more enraged than I’d ever heard her and I’d done plenty to make her angry throughout the years.
“She will survive.” There was something strange in my father’s voice.
A cooling sensation spread through my veins and my eyes closed again.
“At what cost?”
My father sighed. “I do not know.”
Concerned and grateful amber eyes loomed over me when my eyes opened for the second time. Watson. I mustered a smile for him.
“Penelope. My God.” He looked uncomfortable looming above me. I weakly patted the side of my bed and he sat down with a happy expression.
