Willis clapped his hands together. “Yes! I knew when they told me you were coming that you’d totally be on board.”
She frowned. “But you don’t know me.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. But they said Alice was coming. And everyone knows that Alice always jumps down the rabbit hole and makes Wonderland her bitch.”
“I’m not sure that’s exactly how the story goes.” She tilted her head and smirked. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that Wonderland madeAliceits bitch.”
Willis waved her off. “Well, then consider this a re-telling.”
“If I’m Alice, does that make you the rabbit?”
“Psht, seriously?” He motioned to his body. “I’m totally the Mad Hatter.”
“Oh, my bad.” She shrugged. “I was giving that character to Cain.”
“He’s the Cheshire cat.” Willis grabbed a stack of ancient-looking books and pushed them toward her. “He hisses and everything.”
“Of course he does.” Alice pulled the books close and began leafing through them.
“You read and listen while I talk.” Willis jumped off the stool. “Let me make us some coffee. I hope you don’t need sleep because Cain’s got some military asswipes pressuring him for more progress.”
“I’m sure he does.” Alice muttered under her breath. She considered all the not-nice things she was going to say to her father when she spoke to him next.
“Cream and sugar?” Willis held up a couple of packets.
“Please.” Alice nodded and turned her attention to one of the books. Her eyes ran across words written in Latin, a language that she only recognized because of the many scientific terms that had their foundation in it. The pages felt fragile against her skin when she ran her fingertips across them. She leafed through it, then paused when she saw an illustration that spanned across both pages. “This looks like a picture of werewolves fighting each other.”
Willis set a cup of coffee next to her. The smell instantly refreshed her frayed nerves. “Yep.” He took a quick sip of his own coffee. “That’s the infamous werewolf wars.”
She looked up from the book. “So humans aren’t the only species to have civil wars?”
“Nope. However, I’m pretty sure the United States’ Civil War wasn’t secretly started by a different species.”
Alice looked back at the page of warring wolves, her fingers running across the angrily drawn muzzles and raised hackles. “If the werewolves didn’t start their own war, then who did?” The door to the lab opened, and Alice’s head snapped up. Her eyes met pitch black orbs.
“We did.” Cain licked his lips and then blotted his mouth with a dark handkerchief. “But that’s not what’s important.”
“I was just about to fill her in on everything,” Willis said, his voice losing all of its playfulness.
“Good.” Cain walked over until he stood on the opposite side of the table. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. “Are you done having your human freak-out moment?”
“I didn’t freak out.” She took a sip of the liquid caffeine. Alice had to fight the satisfied hum as the warmth soothed her ruffled feathers. Something about Cain irritated her.Probably because he’s a freaking parasite that you just watched feed off a human being. She mentally chastised herself.But is the person dead?As if the thought had slapped her, she nearly dropped the coffee mug. Alice quickly set the cup down on the table. “Is she dead?”
Cain’s lips turned up in a smug grin. “I’m very old, Alice. You’ll have to be a bit more specific about whosheis. And even then, I might not have a definitive answer for you.”
He’s got jokes. Alice bit the inside of her cheek and reminded herself that he was a monster that could rip her throat out. Or at least she assumed he could because that’s what vampires in movies could do. Who knew if any of that shit was real? Maybe vampires were actually weakbecausetheir bodies didn’t manufacture their own blood, which would make them iron deficient, and iron makes people strong, right?Bloody hell, Alice, you’re not a five-year-old!Pull your head out of your over-hypothesizing ass and focus.“The woman you just bit.” She motioned to the window. “Is she still alive?”
“Of course she’s still alive.” He huffed and rolled his eyes as if the question was ridiculous. “Why would I kill someone I need?”
“A better question is why you would kill anyone.”
Cain frowned at her. “That’s just silly. There are many reasons why I would kill someone.” He dropped his arms and slid his hands into his pockets. “I can think of five for killing you right off the top of my head.”
“Again, I feel like I need to point out the obvious,” Willis chimed in. “Maybe don’t threaten to kill the really smart scientist we need to help us with this project?”
“That.” Alice pointed at Willis.
“Moving along.” Cain gave her a bored look and then walked to the window. He pulled up the blinds so the entire room of still bodies was revealed. “What we need to discuss is how to not only keep them”—he pointed to the room—“alive but also how to join the vampire virus with theirs so that they can become hybrids.”
