“Harrumph.” He huffed like a child who’d been told he couldn’t have his favorite toy.
Lizzy’s butt grew numb. She rolled over and laid on her stomach, propping her chin on the palms of her hands. “How about we talk about something that takes your mind off what’s making you cranky?”
“Nothing is going to take my mind off you being the prisoner of a bloodsucker.”
“Well—” Lizzy began, but then the door to her cell opened, cutting off the thought. She turned her head and saw a woman step into the room. The newcomer raised her hands in a placating gesture.
“Lizzy…” Finn snarled.
She slammed the visual walls down in her mind, knowing he would lose his crap, which meant he’d attempt to destroy the room he was in, which only resulted in him getting hurt.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” the woman said. “My name is Alice.”
Lizzy rolled onto her backside and took in the woman’s appearance. The visitor was dressed in black slacks, a blue silk shirt, and a white lab coat. Lizzy narrowed her eyes in an effort to hopefully see past the lie the woman spewed. “Alice, huh? Does that make Cain the mad hatter and that other goofy scientist the Cheshire cat?”
Alice’s lips twitched. “I’m sure it must feel as if you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole.”
Lizzy shook her head. “No. I’ve tripped on acid before.” She held up her hand. “Mind you, not by choice. So, I know what it feels like to fall down a rabbit hole. This is a whole new level of Wonderland. Like instead of the queen of hearts being all ‘off with their heads,’ she’s like ‘chomp, chomp on their necks.’”
Alice smirked and slipped her hands into her lab coat pockets. “It’s not quite that dramatic.”
Lizzy’s brow rose. “Really? So, Cain doesn’t want to stick a straw in me and slurp on me like I’m the best frozen smoothie he’s ever tasted?”
Something flashed in the woman’s eyes. Did Lizzy see guilt there?
Alice shook her head. “No, Cain doesn’t want to drink you like a smoothie. He wants to put vampire blood into your system, along with my blood.”
“One of the first things you learn on the streets, Alice, is that you don’t exchange bodily fluids unless you want to end up with a killer STD. I don’t think vampire blood is an exception. Hard pass.”
Alice coughed, seemingly unsure as to what to do with the prisoner’s frankness. Lizzy shrugged. Why should she be polite to her captors?
After a few moments, the woman said. “I genuinely don’t want this to be difficult, Lizzy. The process will not hurt. And believe it or not, the transfusion will be very beneficial to you. Consider it a step up in the evolution cycle, but on a much quicker schedule.”
Lizzy shifted into a cross-legged position. “Well, I’m not entirely sure I believe in evolution, Little Alice. In fact, I don’t know what I believe, exactly. But I’ve been finding out some really interesting things lately. Things sound a whole lot more like the truth than the BS Cain has been trying to sell me. So, no, I think I’m perfectly fine with the blood God gave me. Thank you very much. Find some other sucker to inject your blood into. Ha, see what I did there? Sucker? That pun was not intended.”
The woman grunted. “So, you want to go back to the streets?” Alice’s voice was incredulous. “You want to go back to trying to hide from pimps, drug dealers, and the other street people who were constantly trying to steal your cardboard sleeping box?”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “I didn’t sleep in a box. I’m not a freaking animal. It was a large plastic bin I found in a dumpster. That’s like comparing a trailer to a mansion. Believe it or not, sometimes, I had furniture. That’s more than I can say for this place.”
The scientist didn’t look impressed. “Seriously, Lizzy. Think about this carefully before you make up your mind. You’re being given the opportunity to live a longer, healthier life—”
“Oh, so I get many more years to live on the street and fight off the other street people for my plastic bin. Jackpot!” She lifted her hands in mock excitement. “How could I turn down such an offer?”
“I assure you, that you will no longer have to live on the street. I know Cain has already explained that to you. You will be set for life.”
“But there’s a catch.” Lizzy dropped her hands to the floor and tilted her head back with a dramatic sigh. “There’s always a catch. I’m going to be in debt to Cain in some way, shape, or form. You might as well give it to me straight, Alice, or you better believe I’m going to be more than a little difficult to deal with. And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not quite as easily subdued as I was before.”
“Hmm.” Alice nodded. “Yes, the mate bond. Cain told me about that. It’s fascinating.”
“No.” Lizzy shook her head. “You’re not studying me and Finn like we’re a couple of mated rats. You can just forget that right now.”
“I’m a scientist. You can’t blame me for being curious.”
Lizzy laughed. “Chick, I can blame you for all sorts of things because you’re a scientist. And at the top of that list? I blame you mostly for working with vampires. I mean, seriously, in what movie, book, or TV show have they ever been the good guys?”
Alice opened her mouth, but Lizzy held up a finger. “I know they’re portrayed as sexy, elegant, rich yumminess. But even those kinds killed people.”
“Angel in that Buffy show. He only tried to kill bad people,” Alice pointed out.
