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.”
“How do you know she’s in the final stages? Aside from her blood being primarily human. Does the serum cause loss of senses, strength?”
“Yes, once your blood cells are one hundred percent human, you’ll feel like a human again because you will be.”
“That may be true, but right now I feel weak and dizzy.”
Charla patted her arm. “That’s due mostly to the anesthesia which will wear off soon. The serum will affect your vampire senses and strength somewhat too.”
“Like how? And how soon?”
Charla hunched a shoulder. “Based on the fledging subjects here who have lost the majority of their keen senses and abnormal strength, I’d say you’ll find yourself somewhere in between human and vampire abilities for a while. Katie seems to be a bit of an enigma. Her blood work shows her at about eighty five percent human, yet for some reason she retains the speed and agility of a vampire. Then I have to consider the fact her sire is a feral vampire and they are by nature a much heartier beast physically and telekinetically. We’re hoping once Katie’s turning is complete her abnormal abilities will decrease and her mental state will improve. I believe the feral vampire’s blood caused Katie to experience a psychotic break along with her captor’s abuse of course. Once we gave Katie the serum and she started to respond, we stopped the experiments at the clinic. I can’t say we’re sorry the V clinic’s patient and fetuses didn’t survive the serum. As I said before the world doesn’t need more vampires. But we’ve discontinued experimenting there for obvious reasons.”
“They were on to you,” Tiffany hissed.
She let out a scoffing laugh. “They have no idea I’m behind this and they never will until all of us are far away from this place.”
“Oh they will figure out you kidnapped me and Teresa. You stole Nathan’s SUV.”
“Yes, well that was necessary to get you here. It doesn’t matter if they do figure out I’m behind the testing at the V clinic. They’ll never find me. Or you.”
“Dear God. Where are we?”
“Never you mind.”
Tiffany didn’t figure she’d get very far there, but other questions fired through her head so fast she struggled to pick one. “How did you do it? How did you pois—put the serum into the food or drink without being noticed.”
A sly smile spread across her face. “You were the only person whose food I tampered with. The other test subjects received the serum in their vitamin booster vials they were each given per their doctor’s order. I simply removed some of the vitamin serum and put the correct amount of my own serum in the vials. The subjects did the rest when they added the vitamin regime to their daily blood transfusions. It was absolutely perfect. See the serum doesn’t work unless the test subject is taking daily human blood transfusions along with the serum. A mature vampire doesn’t need to feed but once or twice a week, but a pregnant vampire needs human blood daily.”
Oh God! How many more of Christian’s patients had this woman poisoned? She had to know because Christian had to know in order to help them. “How many of the V clinic patients were part of your study?”
“The number is irrelevant now. The doctors discovered my final subjects and began reversing my treatment with vampire blood. Thus the reason you and the three pregnant females are here. If we achieve success and all test subjects turn human the trial studies will cease. We’ll begin offering the drug to vampires who truly want to be human again or vampire parents who want to save their child the horror of a life wrought with blood lust. For a price, naturally. No charge to you of course. Your thanks will be enough.”
Thanks? The woman truly was mad. “Well, lucky me, I guess. You keep saying we. Who’s we?”
“My brother, Terry, Katie and I and a few successful test subjects who are now a part of our team. They reside here at the lab and assist wherever necessary, like Chrissie. She was an OB nurse like Katie before some sick vampire turned her.”
Tiffany would just bet those test subjects weren’t here helping Charla’s cause of their own volition.
“So is Blake your brother too?” It would make sense with his suspicious behavior and nosy questions.
“Blake my brother?” She let loose a dark, yet somehow feminine trill of laughter. “Heavens no. He was an idiot. I don’t even know how he graduated from nursing school.”
“What? Wait a minute. What do you mean was an idiot?”
“He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Terry is my only brother. He has no medical background but I’ve trained him to be a decent lab assistant for our test subject fledglings. None have tested one hundred percent negative for vampire blood, but I give them a few more weeks.”
“Wait. Back up. What do you mean Blake was in the wrong place? What happened to him?”
“Hon, he’s dead. Look, I know you have many concerns and questions, but if you want me to get through this story you need to quit interrupting. I have other patients to see soon.”
“Uh, sure.” Oh my God. Blake was dead! And she conveyed the information as if she were merely telling her the time of day.
“Anyway, while I worked for the CDC in California this happened to Katie. She was an OB nurse for Dr. Langston’s mother in Los Angeles. One night she encountered the feral vampire who destroyed her life, but we knew nothing about why she disappeared at the time. Weeks passed then finally one night she was able to escape and get to a phone. We rescued her, tried everything to help her mentally and emotionally deal with the attack and repeated rapes. Nothing helped. She slipped further and further into insanity.”
Oooh! That’s a shocker. Obviously, the nut case gene ran strong in that family. Tiffany could muster little sympathy. The real Katie was in on this too. And God, she was a murderer!
“So, long story short we moved here. Katie was to take the RN position at the V clinic, but she was in no state of mind to do so. I did instead. Katie and I have been working on the cure for her, here at our laboratory for about five months now.”
Tiffany swallowed hard and tried to wrap her mind around what Charla told her. It all seemed so improbable that a pair of psychopaths were smart enough to come up with a cure for vampirism. “Why Christian’s facility? What does the V clinic have to do with Katie getting attacked by a feral vampire?”
“Questions. Questions. Then I suppose in your position, I would be asking a bunch too.” She resumed her seat. “The particular reason had to do with Katie applying for a position there last summer when her job in Los Angeles ended. When I learned the V clinic was a renowned vampire fertility clinic, I knew it would be absolutely perfect for obtaining specimens. So, I became Katie and went to work for the V clinic. Mrs. Langston’s recommendation got Katie or rather me the job. I easily fooled Dr. Langston who tried to enchant me prior to hire and failed. When we had the new serum finished and were seeing good results here with captured subjects, we began more aggressive testing at the V clinic. Had I not worked for the CDC in a special department that lets just say knows vampires exist, I wouldn’t have gained the knowledge to create the serum. But that’s a long story and rather top secret.”
Oh sure, protect the secrets at the CDC. We wouldn’t want to do anything smacking of no ethical behavior, now would we?
Tiffany needed to keep her talking. She had to find a way to get her to tell her something about this location so she could tell Christian. “Sorry. I’m still not understanding why this only works on fledglings and babies? What’s up with that?”
She sighed and crossed her arms. “I think eventually it will work on mature vampires, but our success rate is best with very young fledglings such as yourself. And babies of course. In the beginning, we merely stumbled onto this fact. If you can find one, fledgling vampires are very easy to catch because they don’t develop physic or telekinetic abilities for at least a year or two after they’re turned. None of them responded to the early version of our drug.”
“What happened to them?”
“Unfortunately, they were victims of collateral damage. As I said, at that point we hadn’t perfected the serum.”
Tiffany really wished her hands were free if for no other reason than to grabbed the sides of her head and shake out some of the crazy going on inside her skull. “Okay, but why the poisons like arsenic? Wouldn’t that kill the mothers and babies or cause major side effects? Obviously, it did, there were multiple miscarriages at the clinic. A mother died too.”
“There’s a rather complicated answer to that question, but I’ll give you the short version. Basically, those poisonous substances we mixed with what we call the human turning serum, or HTS, when administered to pregnant vampires kill off their blood cells, giving a way for human blood to dominate. However, with a mature vampire it doesn’t work as well and I don’t know why. At this point the serum seems to only be affective on very immature fledglings like yourself or vampire fetuses who have limited antibodies.
But in answer to your question, we’ve had so few test subjects we simply haven’t been able to figure out exactly how much HTS is too much. We’ve learned a great deal in the short time I’ve worked at the V clinic. Dr. Langston who in my opinion is a most arrogant creature and not too bright, did a poor job of keeping his findings in a safe place. He stupidly left them in the top drawer of his desk giving me access to where they stood on their little investigation and what they were doing to reverse the effects of my serum.”
“Well, I can agree with you on the arrogant part. Noah’s a class A snob.” She meant that, but she wanted this woman to think she was beginning to understand the purpose behind her cause. It might give her the leverage she needed to get out of these restraints and this freak lab.
Charla laughed and gave her arm a friendly pat. “You’re funny. I really am fond of you, you know. Believe it or not, just because you’re a brand-new fledgling isn’t the entire reason I brought you here to test the HTS. You were so upset after Dr. La Mond turned you. I felt so terrible for you. Eventually, you seemed to come to terms with it, but something tells me that’s not really so. Is it?
Tiffany stared at her, so glad Charla couldn’t read her mind. What she envisioned doing to her and her brother and anyone else embroiled in this mad science going on here would get her far worse than a slap across the face.
“Well? Surely you can’t accept the horror that doctor inflicted upon you. I know you have a thing for him, which I find disgusting, but your violent reactions spoke volumes.”
Tiffany nodded and answered honestly. “I was beyond pissed, yes. At first I wanted to tear up anything I could get my hands on or anyone who came near me. I accepted it though. What choice did I have?”
“None. It was unfair what Dr. La Mond did to you, seducing you. It was bad of you to allow it, but both vampire sexes have very seductive sexual powers. I can see how you were lured into his web. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Once I realized he actually had romantic feelings for you, I knew you’d be the perfect candidate for the HTS. He would have never let you die. And you would have died had he not had the insight to turn you, but I knew he would.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
Charla looked at her as if she were nuts. “Because he’s in love with you, or as close as one of those beasts can come to feeling such an emotion. I caught the way he looked at you. Tell me it’s not true.”
“It’s true.” The bitch was so stupid. Her actions had removed one of the critical barriers for her and Christian to be together. Tiffany was okay with it now, but not the way it had all happened. “So why try this HTS on me if it’s been working on your sister? It makes no sense.”
Charla smiled and reached over to pat her arm. “Because you didn’t want to be vampire. I’m doing this for you, Tiffany. To right my wrong by giving you the drug initially in order to make you a test subject and to right Dr. La Mond’s wrong. He should have never tried to seduce you while you were human.”
“You should have never poisoned me to begin with. I could have died before and during the turning. Do you even care about that fact?”
She hunched a shoulder. “You’re young and healthy. I expected you to live and of course I wanted you to live. I needed you. Fledgling vampires are not all that easy to come by.”
“Bull Charla. You were righting no wrongs. You needed a lab rat and chose me.”
“Fine. I did,” she said, obviously exasperated.
“You still haven’t answered my question. Why me if this has been working on your sister?”
“Because my clinical trial studies aren’t over yet. My original plan was to treat you immediately after your vampire turning, but Katie didn’t want to wait any longer. The other fledgling test subjects were coming along nicely and well, honestly, I was so caught up in Katie’s treatment, I had no time to take you here and administer the HTS until the day we commandeered the pregnant females. You see we still need to do this further testing because someday my hope is to get the formula to work on all vampires no matter their age or if they’re turned or born. You however, although a most surprising subject are more of a charity case born of my guilt. You see what I mean, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Makes perfect sense.” If you’re Josef Mangele! “Okay, so explain to me why I’m restrained if you feel sorry for me because of your mistake and Christian’s. You said I’m responding to the treatment, which is obvious. I’m tired and weak. My senses are dulled. I certainly don’t feel vampire any longer. I’m no physical threat. All that should be a good thing in your book. Right?”
“Of course.”
“Then when can I go home?”
“When your turning is complete.”
“When that day comes, will you release me?”
She pursed her lips and frowned.” I don’t know yet, but I do know how you feel about Dr. La Mond. If I were to let you go with the mind set you have right now, I know you’d run right back to him and beg him to make you vampire again. I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other. You even allowed him to bite you, drink your blood. I can’t understand that. It’s sick. I’m not about to release you so he can jeopardize everything I’ve worked so hard to do for you, Katie and others like her. You’ll see things differently once you regain your humanity.”
“So, I’m basically a prisoner here? Wherever here is. Are we still in New Orleans.”
Charla stood took hold of her hand and squeezed ignoring her last question. “I have no intention of keeping you tied up the duration of your stay. Just long enough to trust you’ll cause no trouble. In fact, later this morning I’ll allow you a walk outside the facility prior to daylight. You can even take your breakfast outdoors if you’d prefer. Under guard of course.”
Tiffany battled tears of desperation and lost. She couldn’t help herself. How would she survive being in this place for days, maybe weeks? She didn’t think she could endure another hour. Human, vampire—she didn’t care. She just wanted to go home.
“Tiffany, please don’t be upset. I know right now this seems overwhelming, but in the end, you’ll be you again. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted? To be human? Certainly, a little time inconvenience is worth that?”
“Yeah, sure.” This could not be happening. It had to be a dream, a really bad dream.
Charla stood and gave her hand a pat. “Try to get some rest. I have other patients to attend to. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Okay?”
“Wait. If you don’t trust me not to tell someone what’s happened to me here, why would you ever let me go?”
Charla shrugged, her expression sage. “When Katie is whole and all of us can safely relocate you can go home. But if you do anything to jeopardize this facility or Katie’s treatment the only home you’ll be going to is your Makers.”
Her threat didn’t make that much of an impression because Tiffany already knew her life dangled by a thread. Nothing Charla said could be trusted.
Charla turned and started out of the room.
“Wait.”
She faced her, clearly agitated. “What now?”
“What about Teresa and the baby? Please don’t hurt them.”
She sighed. “Do you honestly think I could let her walk out of here with everything she’s witnessed? The baby has a very good chance of having a normal human life and it needs its’ mother for a while, so quit worrying about Teresa. Someday perhaps the HTS will save millions of vampires from their sorrowful disease. It’s my mission, my greatest hope that some vampires will thank me for all the work I’ve done and the sacrifices I’ve made. In the meantime, the only thing you need to concern yourself with is your own wellbeing. Get some rest.”
“I can’t. You still haven’t explained this place. Where are we?”
She laughed softly and wagged a finger at her. “You’re smart, but not smarter than me. Where you are is none of your business. Rest. Consider your stay an extended vacation. You might not think this way right now, but one day you’ll thank me when blood lust no longer dominates your every waking thought. Tell me I’m not right?”
She couldn’t because she’d had her moments, but she’d never considered attacking someone. She’d break into a blood bank before that ever happened.
“I thought so.”
Tiffany watched her leave so sorrowfully sick. For herself, but also Teresa. At some point, Charla intended to end her life and probably the lives of every test subject she had here. She began to shake imagining the ghastly horror of Charla’s veiled threat.
“Lord, if you’ve got a miracle handy, please save Teresa. Please. If you can give another, help both of us to get out of here in one piece.”
Tiffany knew with prayer she needed to believe and look beyond the circumstances. Actually, she should even pray for Charla and the lot of those murderers. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. Scripture also talked about the whole eye for an eye thing. Tiffany liked that line of thinking much better.