by J. P.
“The minute I have every last drop, you can start drinking this bag.” He puts a bag of blood in my lap. My stomach growls as I stare at it. “Maybe I should hold onto it until it’s time,” he says as he takes the bag back.
I groan as I feel weak all over again. I glance down at the large bag that’s full of my blood. It looks like it’s just about a gallon. My heart starts to slow as I feel my head get dizzy. My breathing gets shallow, and indescribable pain takes over. My body feels like it’s on fire.
“I need blood,” I snap to Ethan.
“Almost.” He watches me and writes something down on his notepad.
A heartbeat fills my ears, Ethan’s, and the scent of blood fills my nose. “I need it. Now.”
“You’re not drained yet.”
“You’re sick, do you know that?”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” he says sarcastically.
All of a sudden, it’s like someone took all of the air out of the room. I gasp as I try to catch my breath. I grip the leather armrests, and I choke on nothing. I feel so weak, and my eyelids get heavy. I feel it in my gut that if they close, they will never open again.
“Okay, here,” Ethan says. It sounds like he’s underwater.
I feel something heavy hit my lap. I look down, and it’s the bag of blood. I want to reach out for it, but I’m too weak.
Suddenly, Ethan grabs the bag and holds the little plastic straw up to my lips. I try to use the straw, but I can’t.
“Damnit,” Ethan curses as he takes the straw off the bag and pours the blood into my mouth.
After two gulps, I take the bag from him and get every last drop out of the bag. I have never been so hungry before in my life. I drink three bags before I feel full. Ethan stays next to me, watching and taking notes.
“Okay, now we must work quickly before you metabolize any of it. Then the results will be skewed.”
Before I can even process what he just said, he stabs me in the thigh with a stake. He rips it out and then starts a stopwatch.
“Ouch!” I scream. It doesn’t actually hurt, but I’m pissed that my body is being put through anything else after the trauma I just endured.
“Amazing,” Ethan says under his breath as he watches me heal. He presses the button with his thumb, stopping the time. “Wound to the thigh, seven seconds.” He reaches up and stabs me in the abdomen before he starts the time again.
I let out another scream as the stake makes contact with my body. This is going to suck.
“Seven seconds again. Okay, one more. Sit up.” He takes my shoulder and forces me up after I don’t listen to him. He forces me to lean over and then stabs me in the back.
I don’t scream this time. Instead, I cry. Tears fall down my cheeks as I feel completely defeated. I’ve been so stupid, thinking that I would be able to get away from this unscathed. Did I really think I could chill in my room, train with Olivia, and leave this mansion without this evil man torturing my life? Maybe if I was more in reality, I would be more prepared. Or maybe not.
“Seven seconds again.” Ethan pushes me back against the seat. “No matter where you’re stabbed, you heal yourself in seven seconds on a full stomach.” He nods his head once as he scribbles everything onto his paper. “Next, we are going to drain you again, and I’m going to give you two bags of blood instead of three. Let’s see how it alters our data,” Ethan says as he grabs the needle.
“Last time I almost died,” I snap at him.
“Almost is the keyword.”
I roll my eyes as I sniffle. I bite my lip as he sticks the needle back in and starts to drain me all over again. It’s just like how it was before. I feel like I’m dying, and just when I’m about to give up, he spills blood into my mouth.
I finish the first bag greedily and snatch the second one out of Ethan’s hands. When I finish it, I still feel hungry.
“I need more,” I tell Ethan, the scent of blood in my nose.
“No.” He turns and grabs the stake. “Here we go.” He stabs my thigh, and it hurts more than it had the first time.
I bite my lip and wince, refusing to scream anymore.
“Interesting,” Ethan says as he stops the stopwatch. “Two minutes.” He writes it down before I get a stake to the stomach.
I take two minutes to heal from the wound in my stomach and two minutes to heal from the wound in my back.
“You’re healing is consistent. It’s very interesting.” He turns back and puts his notebook down. “Time to drain again.”
“Can I have a break?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“No, we need to get this done now.” He stabs me with the needle, and I feel my body deflate just from knowing that I’m going to go through all of this again. “Especially now since I know that Chrome is onto us.”
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Don’t play dumb.” He frowns at me. “How long have you known where my headquarters are?”
“We didn’t know,” I tell him, and he scowls.
“You don’t have to lie. I already know that Chrome knows.” He turns away from me and walks over to his desk. “Although I don’t understand why you would send only one person.”
“What?” I ask as I slowly try to sit up, but I get dizzy and lie back down.
“You sent that one stupid kid to try and infiltrate my organization?” he asks with a laugh. “I guess Marcy is grasping at straws.”
“Who did they send?” I ask, now panicked.
“You should slow your heart rate. I don’t want anything to affect my study,” he says as he walks back over to me. “I don’t know, he’s just some stupid kid. We took him into custody this morning.”
I think back to this morning, and I remember Olivia getting pulled out of class. Who did they send?
I wince as I go through the whole almost dying process all over again. Ethan gives me only one bag, and I’m still gasping after I finish it.
“I’m going—to die,” I wheeze.
“You’re fine,” Ethan says before he stabs my thigh.
I try to hold in my scream, but it escapes my lips. Pain shoots up my leg, and it doesn’t disappear for a while. I try to focus on my breathing to distract myself.
“Very interesting. It’s been fifteen minutes, and you’re still not even halfway healed,” Ethan observes.
“It’s going to take a while.”
“How do you know?” he asks as furrows his brow.
“Sarah stabbed my stomach and dragged the stake down, leaving a hole in my abdomen. It took me days to heal because I was already low on blood,” I explain.
“Days?” Ethan asks. He scratches his chin. “I’ll wait a few more minutes, and if you’re not healed by then, I will just generalize it and say it took you longer than thirty minutes.” He looks down at me. “I must say this is quite interesting.”
“I’m glad you’re entertained.” I scowl at him.
“I have always been entertained by science. Studying you might be the highlight of my summer,” he says with a grin. “Besides capturing you, of course.” He writes something down in his notebook and then grabs the needle again. “I’ve studied a lot of things. This might be in my top three. The best, though, was studying my wolf. Now that was interesting.”
“I didn’t know werewolves existed.” I don’t even flinch when the needle enters this time. I’m already in too much pain from the wound still in my leg.
“They do. They’re inferior to us. Olivia found me the best of the best, and I use him for special occasions, like to find you. He tried to track you but was unsuccessful, so then I sent him after your cousin, Embry, to see if you were with her or if she knew where you were.”
“What?” I ask as I jump.
“He found your cousin but wasn’t able to track you through her. I believe he terminated her.”
My heart stops in my chest as I squeeze my hands into fists. “You’re an evil monster.” Tears fall down my cheeks as I imagine my poor, inno
cent cousin, dead because of me. I’m about to call him a thousand more names when I start gasping again.
He only gives me half a bag and then stabs me in my other thigh. He takes pictures of my wounds to use for comparisons later.
I lay back in my chair and try to focus on my breathing again. I push away all thoughts of my family, whoever is in a holding facility downstairs, my cousin, and I just try to stay alive. I shut my eyes and attempt to ignore the pain.
I hear a phone ring, and Ethan crosses the room.
“Hello? Yes, okay, I’ll be right there.” He drops the phone back down onto the receiver. “I’ll be right back.”
I ignore him as I hear him leave the room.
15
My chest aches as I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. I feel a sheen of sweat on my forehead as my body starts to shake. Something is wrong. This has never happened to me before. I need blood.
I try to pull my wrists out of the leather bounds, but they don’t budge. My heart races as the room starts to feel smaller. He’s going to come back and find me dead. I start sweating even more as I try to calm myself again. I try to stop shaking, but I can’t.
Suddenly, the door to the room opens, and Ethan walks through.
“Help,” I gasp.
He rushes over to me and curses. “Here.” He shoves a blood bag onto my chest and begins pouring it down my throat.
I take the bag and hold it close as I drink. After the first bag, I’m still gasping for air. Ethan gives me another. I gulp down the second one and reach for a third.
“You can’t still be hungry,” Ethan says as he keeps his arms crossed over his chest and stares at me.
“I—I need—more,” I say in between gasps.
He hesitantly gives me another.
I snatch it out of his hands and drink the whole thing in less than a minute. Finally, the shaking stops, and I feel like I can finally breathe again.
“What happened?” Ethan asks, his pen pressed to the paper.
“I don’t know, I just started sweating, and then I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” I sigh in relief as my muscles ache from shaking.
“Odd.” He places his notebook down. “Maybe your body went into shock because of how many times your blood levels changed today.”
I frown as I take deep breaths, grateful that I’m finally starting to feel better.
“I’m going to bring you back to your room now so you can rest up. We will resume our testing tomorrow.” Ethan undoes my wrist bounds.
The second my feet touch the floor, my knees buckle, and I would’ve collapsed if Ethan didn’t catch my forearm. He pulls me out of the room, and I can barely stand up straight. He drags me down the hallway and into my room. I collapse onto my bed, my face smushed into the pillows.
“Get some rest,” Ethan says before I hear him walk out of the room.
As soon as he leaves, tears flow down my cheeks. I relax into the bed and clutch a pillow to my chest as I sob. I was suppressing everything, and now it’s all coming out.
“Nina!” I hear a female voice from the door.
I slowly pick my head up, and I see Olivia running towards me. She jumps onto my bed and wraps her arms around me. I hear another set of footsteps and find Luke slowly making his way towards us, his eyes glued to mine. There’s pain painted on his face as his mouth is pulled down to a frown. He stops at the foot of the bed and keeps his arms crossed over his chest.
Olivia pulls back, and I tear my eyes away from Luke. “Are you okay? What happened?” Olivia asks with tears in her eyes.
“He experimented on me.” I sniffle. “He drained me and then injured me to see how long it would take me to heal.”
“He drained you?” Olivia asks with a gasp.
“Four times.”
Olivia gasps, and Luke makes a strange choking sound. I want to look at him, but I keep my eyes down on the comforter of my bed.
“How did you survive?” Olivia asks.
“I don’t know,” I sniffle again. “He left to do something, and while he was gone, I wasn’t doing well. If he didn’t come back in time…” I trail off. “That’s not even the worst of it. I think he killed my cousin.” I start to cry all over again.
“Embry?” Olivia asks.
I nod my head as I wipe my eyes.
“She’s not dead,” Olivia tells me.
“How do you know?”
“Because I just checked to make sure. She was a little roughed up, but she’s alive.”
I feel the tightness in my chest loosen, and I sigh in relief. “Thank goodness.” I relax, and my muscles start to ache all over again. “Who’s here?” I ask, remembering the next thing on my list to stress about.
“What do you mean?” Olivia asks as she looks around.
“He said someone was here from Chrome,” I explain.
“Oh, it’s some guy they’re calling the Chrome Solider,” Olivia says.
“It’s Tyler,” Luke says suddenly.
“What?” I ask, my eyebrows raise, still too tired to jump up.
“We found him sneaking around the building. He’s safe in the holding cell downstairs,” Olivia tells me.
“Okay,” I exhale with a nod.
Luke clears his throat, and we both look over to him. “She needs sleep,” Luke says, his eyes glued on me. “Olivia, make sure everything is running smoothly and then get some rest.”
“Okay.” She looks down at me. “I’m happy you’re okay. The second he took you away, I ran to find Luke, and we spent hours trying to find you.”
“Thank you,” I say as I reach out for her hand.
She gives me a smile and squeezes my hand before she slowly gets up and walks out of the room.
My eyes find Luke again, who’s still staring at me as if I’m a ghost.
“Get some sleep,” he repeats. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you while you rest.”
I want to rush over to him and sob into his arms while he tells me everything will be okay. Olivia’s request to leave him alone repeats itself in my head, and I frown.
“Okay,” I say with a nod, my mouth involuntarily frowning. I turn away from him and lie back down, clutching the pillow back to my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and feel a sob get caught in my throat as tears spill down my cheeks.
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I startle as my eyes snap open again. I look up to find Luke. He sits beside me and frowns down at me. I stay as still as possible as he brushes my tears off my cheek with his thumb.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers as he lays next to me.
I stare at him, unsure of what to say or how to react.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.” He clears his throat as if holding back his own tears. “I’m here now.”
My jaw drops as my entire body fills with relief. I don’t care if this won’t last. I don’t care if this is the real Luke or not. Right now, I need this.
Slowly, I take the pillow between us and place it behind myself. I inch closer to him, and I can hear him hold his breath as I rest my head on his shoulder.
“How can you still trust me after all I’ve done to you?” he whispers in my ear as his arms wrap around me, holding me close to him.
I’m in heaven right now. My body practically floats off the bed as the feeling of bliss warms my heart. As long as Luke is here, I’ll be okay. I’ll be safe. My eyelids flutter shut as I listen to the sound of his heart, ushering me to sleep.
I start awake and sit up, panting. It takes me a few seconds to take in my surroundings and remember where I am.
“Hey, you’re okay,” Luke says as he touches my shoulder.
I turn back to look at him, and he gives me an easy smile. I give him a nod as I try to slow my racing heart. I drop my head in my hands and try to relax.
“Did you have a nightmare?” The bed squeaks as he moves closer to me.
“I don’t remember,” I tell him honestly.
I take a few seconds to catch my br
eath as I look back at Luke again. Concern fills his eyes as he studies me.
“What time is it?” I ask him.
He pulls his phone out, and it lights up, illuminating his face. I can’t stop staring at him, now that the act seems to be over. “It’s just after midnight.”
“Okay.” I nod my head as his eyes find mine again.
He studies me, and I hold his stare until it becomes too intense, and I look away. “What are you thinking?” he asks me.
I shake my head, unsure of how to answer his question, as I run my hand through my hair.
“Can we talk?” Luke asks after a few moments of silence. “Or I can try to explain myself while you listen. If that’s okay.”
“Okay,” I agree as I look down at the comforter on the bed, not sure if I’m ready to hear whatever he has to say.
“It all started back in Laguna Beach when Jeremy paid us a visit. He said that if I brought you back here myself, I would be welcome with open arms. After we captured him, that line kept playing over and over again in my head. Finally, it hit me. Why should you and your family keep running? I could take you here myself, protect you, and give Marcy and Aaron time to figure out how to take down Malum once and for all. I presented my master plan to your father, and he agreed that it would be best. He was hesitant to give you away, but I promised I would keep you alive.”
He pauses, and I look up, already anxious for him to continue. His eyes meet mine, and he looks so sad. I reach out and rest my hand on his knee. He jerks away, and I pull my hand back, embarrassed by his rejection.
“Please, I don’t deserve your kindness.”
I open my mouth to argue when he interrupts me.
“Let me just finish what I have to say, and then you can decide whether or not you still want to be around me.”
I nod, and he clears his throat before he continues.
“The plan was to let me bring you back with Jeremy by my side. He would be ostentatious enough to distract my father with his big personality while I would do what I could to keep you safe. The plan was delayed due to Sarah’s stupid games. Your dad decided it would be better if he held on to Jeremy while I took you back myself. It would be one less person to worry about killing you. I was to tell Tyler his orders were changed that night that he found you, and I was to take you to headquarters. I always knew where it was. I told your dad after Sarah almost killed me and left me on your doorstep to die. He saved my life the day. I never completely trusted him before that. I wanted to step away from Malum, but I wasn’t sure about completely betraying my family, especially since my sister was still here. I made Aaron promise that he wouldn’t hurt her, and he gave me his word.”
