Lizzy gave a bark of laughter that made her sound unhinged. Her eyes bounced all over the room, and Cain noticed a distinct wildness in them, like an animal with its leg caught in a trap. “Well, let’s see. I’ve recently discovered vampires are real, been imprisoned by those vampires, been placed into a coma, and been woken by a voice in my head. You think I should eat the food offered to me by these vampires? I may be a little thick at times, but I’m not that stupid.”
“You weren’t scared when I told you what I was, Lizzy.” Cain leaned his hip against one of the lab tables and attempted to appear harmless. “In fact, your words to me were something along the lines of ‘anything is better than living like this, sleeping with one eye open and constantly waiting for a knife in the back.’”
“Guess what, vampy? I’ve since learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Better a knife in the back than fangs in the neck.” Lizzy’s gaze moved from Cain to Willis. Her eyes widened when she saw the syringes arrayed out in front of him.
“You’re too young to be so jaded,” Cain flicked his hand at her.
She seemed to have her panic under control, though her eyes still looked a bit too big for her face, or at least she was hiding it better. “If you’d lived the life I have, then you wouldn’t think that.”
Cain noticed Alice wince from the corner of his eye. His little scientist was a bleeding heart. He hoped that wouldn’t become an issue once they started running their experiment. “Well, as I told you before, this is an opportunity to improve your life. You won’t be vulnerable anymore. You’ll be able to fight back against anyone who would want to take advantage of you. Isn’t that why you agreed to come with me when I found you?”
Lizzy pursed her lips. “Are we doing this or what?”
“You’re not even going to fight a little?” Alice frowned.
“And how would you have me fight back, scientist lady?” Lizzy’s head swiveled around to take in Alice. “Should I scream like a girl? Is that somehow going to sway this guy?” She motioned her head toward Cain. “He doesn’t mind kidnapping innocent people to accomplish whatever twisted plan he has. I’m betting very few of those sleeping beauties out there came of their own free will like I did. Is he going to suddenly find it in his undead heart to let me go?”
“I would like it noted that ‘undead’ doesn’t make any sense if you are trying to imply that I am not alive,” Cain said dryly. “And as I still have a heartbeat, I am still alive.”
Lizzy rolled her eyes at him. “Nobody cares.” Then she looked back at Alice. “So, after all that I just pointed out, should I fight?”
Alice shrugged. “I just expected you to because you seem like a fighter. And you survived living on the streets.”
Cain’s eyes snapped to Alice. “Why are you trying to talk her out of this?”
“If a person volunteers for this procedure of their own free will, then I’m completely fine with it.” Alice raised her chin at him. “But if this is being forced on anyone, then I don’t agree with it, and I think they should fight back.”
Cain walked over to Alice and gripped her chin in his hand. “Are you going to fight me?”
Lizzy made a gagging sound in her throat. “It looks like Mom and Dad need some adult time.”
Willis laughed and tried to cover it with a cough when Cain glared in his direction. The vampire dropped his hand from Alice and then motioned to the chair where Finn had been strapped down a few days prior. “If you please. This will be relatively painless. Just a couple of sticks.” Alice picked up a pair of scissors and cut the cable ties to free the girl’s hands.
“Oh?” Lizzy sidled over to the chair and dropped into it, rubbing her wrists as she did. “I’m sure this is a completely routine procedure. I suppose you get the blood of a supernatural being shoved into your veins all the time. No? Of course not. So how the hell would you know if this is relatively painless?”
“I think I liked you better when you were desperate to get off the street,” he muttered and looked at Willis. “Do it.”
Alice walked over and slipped on a pair of latex gloves. “Let me.” She took the tourniquet and bags of blood hooked to the IV tubing. Cain and Alice had already given their blood earlier that day, so it would be ready to go once Lizzy was prepped.
“Is this women’s solidarity?” Lizzy watched Alice bring the items over to her chair. Alice hung both bags of blood on a pole above the chair and then set the rest of her supplies on a tray table.
“This is me owning my part in this.” Alice looked over the inside of Lizzy’s arms, tapping them in different places. When she found a vein she liked, she tied the tourniquet over Lizzy’s biceps and then prepped the area to be stuck.
Alice paused and looked up at Cain. “My blood type isn’t the universal donor.” She clenched her jaw. They’d argued many times over the past twenty-four hours until Alice had finally realized that she had no say in the matter. Alice was there to work for him and the US government, and she would do her job, or she would suffer the consequences. Cain had yet to decide what those consequences might be. The discovery that Alice was a gypsy healer had certainly changed things. Okay, it had drastically changed things.
“And?” Cain stared at her blandly.
Alice’s eyes narrowed on him. “It means my blood could kill her if we’re not a match. Why not find one”—she motioned to the other dormants—“that is a match?”
Cain shook his head. “She has the highest amount of dormant blood compared to all the others I’ve tested and is therefore the most likely to be a success. Regardless, her supernatural blood will intervene with that issue. It’s not the same for us as it is with humans. Do your job, Alice. I will worry about the details.”
“I am doing my job,” she snapped back. “And as a scientist, even the smallest detail can mean the difference in success and failure.”
Cain glared at her. “The only failure you need to be concerned about is yours. And the only way you can fail is by refusing to do what I ask when I ask.”
Alice looked at Lizzy, and Cain followed her gaze. He was surprised to see the girl’s head was relaxed back, and her eyes were closed. She looked like she was about to get a massage instead of undergoing a procedure that could not only potentially kill her but change her life completely if it was successful. Humans were so strange.
“Lizzy, are you ready?” Alice’s brow rose.
