“Sorry about that,” said Arsen. “I rectified that when I came to.”
“Look. Arsen built me a state o- t-e a-t lab.”
Jackson’s jaw twitched as if he wasn’t fully on board with the lab thing, or it was a memory of the horrific events that took place in Niko’s lab.
“That’s great, Sasha.”
“And you can help me with the next project.”
“That’s my thought too, and more than just me, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you later. But right now, I need to bring you up to speed on what’s going on with the vamps. There is some serious shit going down.”
Chapter 4
The odor of alcohol clings to everything in the lab.
Clinically, I’m impressed with the simplicity of Demetri’s cure. He intended to mass produce this at the lowest cost while selling it to desperate vampires for an insane amount of money. Someone had to fund his research to create this thing, generated from the most innocuous of viruses turned deadly with few biomechanical tweaks. Now I know what to look for I feel stupid for picking up on it sooner.
That bastard Demetri chose the West Nile Virus to play mad scientist with though I suspect he got his ideas from the Dengue Fever. Both viruses adhere to red blood cells, though Dengue does it more lethally. But because of its deadly potential, those samples are locked up more securely than a Mafia don in Federal prison. West Nile also likes to seep through the brain/blood barrier of the brain and infect brain cells, making it nearly as dangerous as meningitis. The modifications that Demetri made turned the thing into a moderately dangerous virus to a lethal one, exploding blood and brain cells as fast as it could reproduce.
No wonder vampires went mad. The pain alone would be excruciating.
And me?
Well, I had to dig deep into my brain for that one, but I dimly remember when I was five that I got very sick. Now, looking at my old blood samples that Jackson retrieved from Niko’s lab and knowing what to look for, I found the antibodies for West Nile fever. And the same antibodies interfered with the parasite just at a slower rate, so those fuckers were already on the road to purgatory before Arsen made me feed from him. It might be Arsen’s sacrifice wasn’t necessary, but I won’t tell him. Our shared blood bind us, which was the best thing that could have happened out of this whole mess.
So I had a couple answers and a lot of antiviral to make up and I am not a factory. And I could really use Jackson’s help that he promised more in the cryptic way, but right now I’m going it alone.
My bra buzzes and I’m so deep into my work my brain doesn’t connect with where my phone is. I pulled it out to see Niko’s ugly mug beneath his number.
Screw him. I put the phone done and continue my work.
It rings again, and I push the button to make it go to voice mail. Then I turned it off which gave me a few more minute uninterrupted.
Then another ring deeper toward the back of the room and I realize it is the lab land line Niko installed. Damn it. I’ll never get any work done. But I answer. It was probably an impatient Arsen because I told him I would call when I had another batch done, so we could administer a dose to his sister.
“Sasha,” grated Niko
What the fucking hell. Who let this call come in? When I find out there might be a beheading involved.
“I’m hanging up, Niko. Don’t bother calling me again, or I’ll find you and separate your head from its body myself.”
He laughed. “You always are good with the jokes. How’s bedding Arsen? Everything you’d dream it would be or are you ready for a real man?”
I scoffed loudly to drive home the point.
“That’s childish even for you.”
In the background I hear a public address system though I don’t make out the exact words.
“Sasha, I don’t have a lot of time here, but I’m giving you one more chance to come with me. I’m your maker and you owe me your allegiance. There is a place beside me for you.”
“I owe you nothing, Niko,” I spit.
“Arsen doesn’t recognize your value, what you can become. Under him, “he sniggered, "you’ll remain little Sasha, starry-eyed sycophant for the man who would be king but doesn’t have the balls to do it.”
“You know what I don’t have, Niko? Is patience for you. Don’t call me again.”
Slamming the headset into the cradle felt good until the phone broke in half. I’m not used to my vampire strength which has grown since Arsen cured me of my different illnesses. Hopefully, Arsen won’t be too angry with me.
The door to the lab swung open and it could be only one of two people that had access to the lab, Arsen or Jackson. I’d be glad to see either one.
“Hey, babe,” says Arsen. “How’s the work coming along?”
“Well, I’m nearly done with this batch. We’ll be ready to take it to your sister in just a few minutes.”
“Good. I’m thinking you are working too hard and we should take a break.”
“A bedroom break? Or are you going to take me on an actual date?”
“Date? What is that?” Arsen has mischief in his eyes when he wants to tease me and I see it now. There are times when he deliberately ignores the modern word for what I’m trying to say though he damn well knows it.
“I believe you may have called it courting.”
“Is that when you are trying to get a woman into your bed? I’m seem to recall you being there already.”
“Hey, it’s the 21st century. If a man doesn’t put out he might find himself alone in the bed.”
“Uh huh,” he says with a smile and he wraps his arms around me. “Don’t try to run. I’m faster than you, and I’ll catch you.”
“The Provokar proved who was faster.”
“Naw, I let you run ahead. I had too much fun throwing fireballs. Don’t get too much of a chance to toss those.”
Arsen lowers his mouth to capture mine in a kiss, and it feels so good, I don’t want him to stop. But the timer rings signaling the batch is done, and I need to pull it out before it’s ruined.
“Excuse me. Mission of Mercy takes precedence over making out.”
“Says who?”
“Says Dr. Sasha, Medicine Woman. Step aside, kind sir, and let me amaze you.”
“I’m already amazed at how you can resist me.”
“It’s tough,” I say throwing my forearm across my head dramatically. “But sacrifices must be made to science.”
I take my batch out of the centrifuge and cap the vials and put them in a rack.
“How do you like my home cooking?”
“Not as tasty as you.”
“Work first. Dinner later.”
“Is that a date?”
“Oh? You're familiar with what a date is now?”
“No, you assumed I didn’t know what a date was. But I intend to prove otherwise.”
“Bring it, big boy. I want to see what you got.”
“It’s not a question of what I’ve got. It’s what you can take.”
“Oooh, big words.”
“And you have a big mouth. Which I will put to use later since you are hell bent on working.”
“Bent?” I say.
“Yeah, you want me to bend you over. I’ll do that too.”
“I’m taking that as a promise.”
“Take it any way you want to, babe. I’ll give it to you anyway you want.”
I wonder if this is gallows humor on Arsen’s part. That he’s joking to shore himself up for the task ahead. Arsen seems reluctant to take this step and hasn’t been in a hurry to administer the cure to her. He doesn’t talk about her condition either. The last time I saw her she was nearly feral and try to attack me despite her restraints. I’ve been too busy to see Arsen’s sister, and he didn’t exactly encourage me to do so. Maybe she is farther gone than he lets on and doesn’t want to let her go even if that’s the best thing for her.
I pull some syringes from th
e supply closet and take a couple vials.
“Let’s get this done.”
Arsen’s demeanor changed as soon as we leave the lab. We walk to his sister’s room. We enter, and Claudette slinks away. She glares at me through narrowed eyes, and if she could she’d make her own Provokar on me. But Arsen and I mated. He had declared it through the coven, and there is nothing she can do other than wish for my death.
Or plot it. One never knows with Claudette.
Arsen’s sister arms are lashed to the bed, but she lays limply as if all the fight had gone from her.
“Arsen? You said she was the same.”
“She’s been like this for a couple weeks.”
“There’s a chance this could hurt her rather than cure her, especially in a weakened state.”
Arsen closed his eyes and sighed. “We have to try.”
I nodded my head and filled a syringe.
“Hold her arm.”
Arsen’s sister stared upward at the ceiling, and her lip trembled but she did not cry out or try to thrash like the last time I was here. I swallowed hard staring at her limp form, and her feminine face so much like Arsen’s. What would it do to Arsen if she died? He seemed resigned to the possibly but as I learned in my Psychology of Death class, people can seem prepared, but fall apart when it happens. What would it mean for all of us if Arsen fell apart? Who would lead the Draugur? What would I do if faced with an inconsolable vampire with a burning need for revenge?
I had to work to still my hands so they didn’t shake as I put the needle to her skin. But I found a thin vein, and prayed it wouldn’t collapse. Arsen’s sister whimpered but otherwise didn’t move and I pumped the medicine into her. If it worked as well on her as me, this would cure her.
If not, it meant her death.
I pulled the syringe out and snapped the sharp end off and toss them both into a baggie I’ll dispose of in the lab.
“That’s all I can do,” I said.
“This is,” says Arsen as he held his sister’s hand. “more than anyone has done. I haven’t told you—all the risks you took. What you’ve been through. I very grateful, Sasha. Someone like you, who does the right thing because it’s the right thing, that’s very rare in my—our world.”
“You give me too much credit,” I said. “I’ve just been trying to survive, and to make sense of all of this.”
“And I’m so proud of you for how you’ve come through all this. Even if my sister doesn’t survive this, I’ll still be grateful. And now I must ask more of you, my Sasha. Tomorrow, I need you to sit with me at a conference and talk with some vampires about what Niko did.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve done my best to convince them, but there are some that do not believe that a human sickness can affect a vampire. And we’ve had centuries of walking among humans, taking them in all states of health, and not a single vampire got ill from drinking a sick donor. They think we are immune. You must tell them the thing that Demetri did. We must convince them to help capture and put away Niko.”
“If you can’t, how can I?”
“You can tell them how Demetri made the virus. They aren’t uneducated, just unconvinced.”
I remembered how well Niko did during my quiz during the Provokar and how impressed I was that he answered many science questions correctly. Those librarian vampires must do more than shelve old books. I vastly underestimated the amount of knowledge a vampire could gain over the centuries.
“One vampire lord will listen. He’s a friend and owes me a favor. The others think they are above me, and don't need to listen. Between my friend and you we may be able to get the others to come around.”
“Arsen, I hate to break your bubble, but is it possible, considering the paranoid nature of vampires that they’ll think it’s you that started the virus. That your new consort, the one with the convenient education in rare bloods, may be the one that crafted this illness?”
“That's possible. But I will be there to protect you.”
I shivered because once again Arsen conveniently downplayed the danger to myself and him in engaging other vampires. I’ve seen the level of animus between Arsen and Niko, and one was not safe in the same room with them. I had the bruises to prove it until they healed. Now, new vampires on Arsen’s property? Ones that don’t regard him well? And these guys rarely travel anywhere alone. The idea jacked my nerves to a new height.
“It’s important that we get the other vampires together on this. Niko is a danger. Now that he bought one scientist to do his bidding, he’ll buy others. He’s power hungry, and he wants nothing more than the murder of all Draugurs and possibly the other covens.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“That’s what Jackson said.”
Surprise wings through me. “You talked with Jackson?”
“Yes, we’ve been working together. Jackson is reaching out to his contacts too, to help locate Niko.”
“I didn’t know you were working so hard to find him. He called me today.”
“Why didn’t you tell me.”
“Honestly, I thought he was just harassing me. He told me ‘there’s a place by his side’ and a bunch of nonsense. I told him to shove it.”
Arsen smiled wryly. “That’s my girl. But did he give you any idea where he was?”
“No. But I heard a public address system, like he was at an airport or something.”
“When he calls you again, see if you can find out where he is.”
“Why would he call?”
“Because he can’t stand me having something, or rather someone he wants.”
Arsen’s sister whimpers and I don’t know if we are disturbing her /
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this in front of her. Some scientists think that even when they appear comatose, patients hear everything.”
“Good,” says Arsen. He dropped to his knees by the bed and bent his head as if in prayer and it shocked me. I suppose I shouldn’t be. I know very little about Arsen’s life before he became a vampire.
“Sweetheart,” he says taking her hand. “My little bird, don’t leave. Stay. Get well. Sasha made medicine for you. It will make you better. I want you to meet her. She’s a wonderful woman. You’ll love her as much as I do.”
I'm going to cry. Vampires aren't monsters who don’t care about anyone. That’s not true. Arsen loves his sister, and the depths of it rolls over me. I get no vibes from his sister, and it’s clear that she’s checked out.
Did we get to her too late? Will she recover?
I touch Arsen’s shoulder and he grabs my hand. And we stay there for a long while before he stands and reluctantly walks away.
Chapter 5
We start for the staircase that will bring us to Arsen’s room, when one of his security men, who among other things, answered the door, ran up to him.
“My lord,” he said. “We have a representative from the Baetal at the door.”
“Bring him to my office,” says Arsen. He put his arm around me. “Come. We will talk to this Baetal together.”
“You want me there?”
“Whatever this is about involves you. Yes.”
We entered to see a Baetal standing by a bookcase with a sour expression on his face. And I recognize him. It’s Brady, the vamp I partied with.
“Hi, Brady.”
He bowed formally, as if he learned how in an ancient court, and he probably did. It was a little at odds with his black turtleneck and slacks. But one thing I’ve noticed is that vampires are usually as a strange mix of old-fashioned gentility and ruthless murderer.
“My Lady Draugur, Lord Draugur, I am pleased the lady is well.”
“No thanks to the Baetal that attacked me.”
“Unfortunate,” says Brady puckering his lips in disapproval. “Lord Nicholas ordered the attack. We could not refuse.”
“So, Brady,” Arsen says slowly, “why are you here?”
“I understand that you have a cure
for the virus. My brother is sick. Whatever you want, whatever is in my power to give, my service, my blood, my life even, it is yours, if you help him.”
The man stood stock still a testament to vampire stoicism. But worry lines crawled from the corner of his eyes. If he knew the truth, of who allowed the virus to infect the Baetal, would he hate Niko? Would he turn his allegiance to Arsen and serve him? Or would he be a spy, a snake in the grass, ready to strike the first opportune moment?
I glanced at Arsen’s face and his expression is unreadable.
“Despite,” says Arsen, “the ill feelings I hold toward Nicholas, I’ve never harbored ill will toward the Baetal. I had hoped that Nikolai would uphold the peace he swore to in Brackloon Woods.”
“I was there, my lord.”
“Good. Then just know that I do this to uphold that peace and honor the promise I made to my father to do so. We will help what Baetal needs it, within the limits of our abilities. Sasha has made a limited quantity of the cure, but there is not enough for all.”
“My lord, that is most generous.”
“Go. Tell your people we are coming to the compound later tonight. We have other business before then. And if a single one dares to lift a hand to me, Sasha or whoever is with us, I will kill you without mercy. Do you understand?”
“Of course, my lord. Considering the circumstances, it is more than fair.”
“My security will see you out. Be prepared to welcome us. I will not tolerate bad behavior.”
“Yes, Lord Draugur.”
Brady, escorted by the man who brought him in, left us. Arsen stood before the gas fireplace and stared at the flames.
“Are you up for this, Sasha,” he says without looking at me, “to walk into the Baetal compound again?”
I don’t know. The last time I was there I almost died. Niko’s mansion holds bad memories. Still, our help will extend an olive branch to the Baetal and we could have another ally in our camp to hunt down Nikolai.
“I’ll do what I need to.”
“Good.” But he still stared pensively into the fire, and I get that something is bothering him.
Girl, Immortal (Girl, Vampire Book 3) Page 4
