Alice didn’t know how to respond. She felt like an idiot staring at the man, but his words made no sense. As she stared, she took in the man’s appearance. He had brown, wavy hair that looked as if he didn’t bother to brush it, and not in an artful or stylish way. His light blue eyes had a playful sparkle, and he had a crooked smile that appeared natural and unpracticed. He wore a T-shirt with the name of a band Alice didn’t recognize, khaki shorts, and—her eyes moved down—flip flops. She found the man cute in a golden retriever puppy sort of way.
“You must be the new scientist.” He held out his hand. “I’m Willis, and, dude, I am so glad to have some help. I mean”—he shrugged his shoulders—“at first, I wanted to do it all on my own. You know, because it’s like the discovery of a lifetime, but I’ve hit a wall, and I could seriously use another brilliant mind. I hope you can be that for me.”
Alice lifted her arm slowly and clasped his hand. He shook it vigorously and continued to speak. “I mean, it’s not every day that you learn about the existence of vampires, werewolves, fae, and elves, is it? And I think there are even more creatures out there that he hasn’t told me about. The boss isn’t exactly one for small talk. But getting to study their DNA is amazing. You won’t believe how different it is from ours. I mean, it’s freaking awesome!”
Alice knew she must look ridiculous with wide eyes and her mouth slowly opening and closing like a fish on land. Each time it opened, she planned to say her name, but then it just snapped closed. Instead of her name, Alice was pretty sure she was going to say something like, “What the hell have you been smoking, and can I have some?” When she didn’t respond, he chuckled and finally released her hand.
“Based on your facial expression,” Willis said, “I’m going to guess you had no idea what you were walking into.”
Alice cleared her throat and pulled her shoulders back. She wanted to tell this guy that as a scientist—if that was in fact what he was—he shouldn’t entertain such foolishness. But it was clear that tactic would get her nowhere. This fool had obviously taken the same crazy pills as her father. She grasped for any amount of professionalism she might have left in her. “I’m Alice, and I was told thiswas the opportunity of a lifetime.” Her father had repeatedly stressed that she wasn’t to advertise that she was the daughter of a high-ranking military officer, so she left that part out. “And yes, vampires and werewolves were mentioned, but—”
“You thought it was malarkey?” Willis laughed.
Her eyebrows rose. “Uh, yeah, obviously. Didn’t you?”
Willis crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “Not at all. I asked where to sign up. I mean, stories of mythical creatures have been around for thousands of years. Don’t you think some of that has to have a basis in fact?”
She ignored his question. “You just believed it all without question? I thought you were a scientist.”
“Absolutely. And as a scientist, I cannot disregard any hypothesis without verifiable proof refuting it.”
Alice’s confidence grew as she realized she had sanity on her side, and this guy’s lab kit was clearly missing a few test tubes. She raised a brow. “And have you seen theseso-calledvampires and werewolves?”
“He has.” A seductive voice came from behind her. “And not justanyvampires, butthevampire.”
Alice turned slowly and gulped when she took in the handsome man standing in the open doorway. “And you are?” She fought to keep her voice steady but wasn’t sure she succeeded.
His lips turned up in a slow smile, and Alice saw fangs. “My name is Cain. King of the vampires.”
She let out a hysterical laugh. “Of course you are.” Then Alice’s ire rose. Someone was taking her for a fool. She marched toward the so-called vamp king and lifted her hand, pushing at his lush lips. “You expect me to believe these are real?” To her surprise, the man didn’t jerk back. Instead, he only smirked while she performed an impromptu dental examination. This was clearly a set of fake teeth that those weird vampire fanatics liked to have surgically implanted. “I’ve seen these implants before. I know they aren’t real.”
“Probably don’t want to poke the vampire’s fangs,” Willis said. “Just throwing that out there.”
Cain took a step back and straightened his suit jacket. “Are you quite done?”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“Frankly, Alice,” he said her name as if tasting it like a fine wine, “I don’t give a damn if you believe in us or not. I could certainly prove it to you, but I don’t have time to waste on parlor tricks. For now, I simply want you to do the job we have hired you to do.”
“And what is that exactly? All I was told was that I’d be researching certain supernatural creatures.” She didn’t mention that she’d also been told to report back to her father everything she saw and heard.
“That is correct.” Cain motioned to Willis. “I will let him fill you in on exactly what we are doing. If you find the job is not to your liking, then you will be free to leave.”
With that, he turned and left, pulling the door quietly behind him.
“Why do I have a feeling that ‘free to leave’ doesn’t have the same meaning to me as it does to him?”
“Because he’s a scary-as-hell vampire.”
She sighed and threw up her arms. “All right then”—she turned to face Willis—“I suppose I should treat this like any other hypothesis. Until it’s proven wrong, I will operate on the assumption that vampires and werewolves do, in fact, exist.”
Willis smiled. “It’s not a hypothesis, Alice. This shiz is real.” He motioned her over to a microscope and switched out some slides. “Look in there and tell me what you see.”
She set her purse down on a chair. They had taken the bag that held all of her clothes and toiletries, and the driver had reassured her it would be placed in her quarters. After meeting the nut job with the fangs, she was considering asking for a hotel room—one far away from the facility.
Willis stepped aside so Alice could lean down and press her eye to the scope. She watched as the cells shifted about. The larger ones looked like animal cells, while the smaller looked like those of a human. There were also more white blood cells than would typically be seen in a healthy person. “You’ve mixed human and animal blood?” She turned the knob on the microscope to enlarge the image.
“Nope. That blood comes from one … person.”
