Everyone left but Aries and the little woman wringing her hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand why I wasn’t shown the threat.”
“Not your fault, Sage. The Astraeus couldn’t see it either. Why don’t you check on little bean? I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“What? You’re going too?” Her eyes widened.
“Wouldn’t be much of a leader if I didn’t fight.”
“Hold on, you’re leaving? What about me? What am I supposed to do?” Grayson exclaimed.
Aries glanced at the woman. “Can you handle him?”
She shook her head. “Little bean will be waking from her nap and demanding food.”
“What about asking Rebecca or Ruth to give him a tour and a rundown?”
“And have their respective partners pitch a jealous fit?” Sage replied with an arched brow.
Aries glanced at the ceiling. “Tower, can you spare one of your protegees to give us a hand with our newest warrior?” Despite not seeing anything, Grayson assumed he talked to some kind of security camera.
No reply, but Aries didn’t seem concerned. “I’ll be back soon.” He dipped his head to kiss the woman. “If you do see anything, report it to Aquarius. He’ll be able to get in touch with us.” Aries glanced at Grayson. “As for you, stay here until Tower sends someone. We’ll speak more upon my return.”
With that, Aries and the woman left.
Grayson pursed his lips. Now what?
Waiting sounded boring as fuck. He hopped to his feet. Time to check out the place and see if this was truly happening or an elaborate retirement prank.
CHAPTER 4
A set of skates,along with gore-soaked apparel, appeared on Leila’s stainless-steel counter, and she frowned at them. “What’s this, Tower?”
A newspaper hit her counter with tomorrow’s date, the headline,Stanley Cup Final Interrupted by Monster Attack!A brief scan of the article had her lips pressing into a tight line.
“The warriors want the blood analyzed. Got it.” She slipped on some gloves before she touched the samples. A smart scientist never took chances when working with biological matter. “I assume they’re seeking out the species.” Which couldn’t always be determined with a test. Some mythical beasts had never been medically catalogued, but she’d been doing her best to rectify that, her way of contributing and as a thank-you for being saved from the violence of her old life. Not that she saw it as a chore, as research was her passion.
Leila hummed as she worked, happy to be doing something other than fixing people. She acted as Tower’s physician and laboratory tech, the former being mostly for minor ailments—cuts needing stitching, burns that required salve and bandages, broken bones that had to be set and encased in plaster. However, when she didn’t have to play doctor, she ran tests.From the samples collected by the warriors, she studied the genetic makeup of the monsters found on Earth. If a body could be recovered, she dissected it to find out how the sometimes-magical subject differed from mammals and other species. If a new poison came into her possession, she manufactured a serum to counter it because pharmaceutical companies didn’t have remedies for someone infected with an undead virus or who had their flesh turned to stone.
Carefully, she scraped the black ichor from the blades onto a glass slide. A slight chunk of flesh caught on the sewn number of the hockey jersey got placed on a second. Soon as she put them under the microscope, her brows lifted.
“What are you?” she murmured, increasing magnification. Unlike human blood, or even animal, for that matter, the sample didn’t show any red or white blood cells. It also lacked platelets. In their place, some squiggly, worm-like cells, that wiggled!
She leaned back from her microscope. Strange. Usually, once blood was withdrawn from the body, the cells ceased all movement. A switch of slides had her peeking at the little chunk of flesh, and her mouth rounded even more for the flesh, woven in an intricate cellular lattice unlike anything she’d ever seen, appeared to be trying to repair itself. It should have been impossible. Without a body, it shouldn’t be alive, let alone trying to heal. Was she dealing with some kind of zombie? She’d studied samples of those before, and they didn’t resemble this.
“Tower, I don’t suppose they recovered a body?” She’d be interested to see if the corpse attempted to repair itself. Zombies couldn’t heal at all and were simply animated by the parasite that controlled the nervous system, so she found this rather intriguing.
No reply from Tower meant she had to work with what she had.
She returned to the microscope and gasped. The hunk of flesh had somehow propelled itself and sat closer to the edge of the glass. Escaping or seeking? The slide with the gory smear was only inches away. Curiosity had her pushing it close enough the two touched. She watched as the flesh slid close enough to the edge to touch the black goo. Absorbed it, actually, incorporating it into the tissue matrix. It didn’t take long before the smear was gone.
Leila glanced at the skates and wheeled her chair over to scrape some more of the gore, dumping the flakes on and around the pea-sized tissue. Once more, the cells joined the lump, repairing and forming, strengthening the cellular matrix. In other words, self-regenerating. How fascinating.
An hour later, she was even more enthralled. Since she had only a limited sample to play with and quickly ran out of blood to feed the lump, she decided to introduce other kinds of elements to see what would happen. Water? Ignored. A drop of acid? The cells it touched retracted and repelled the eroding fluid—a remarkable display of their ability to sense danger. Bits of salad left over from her lunch had no effect, unless the squiggly lump moving away counted. She dropped a piece of ham in the dish, the only meat she currently had access to, and gaped as the tissue swarmed it, wrapping around and dismantling the ham and, in the process, growing a little bigger. Evidently, it thrived on protein, and as she kept feeding it—Tower providing her with more meat to use—the lump of flesh grew big enough to be seen with the naked eye. More astonishing, it visibly pulsed with life.
A glance at the clock showed she’d been working for several hours, and she pursed her lips. Almost dinner. If she asked Tower, it might bring her meal to the lab. Usually, though, it encouraged her to visit the dining room, where she briefly said hello to the other refugees. Most eschewed socializing many still dealing with the trauma that brought them to Tower. To helpwith the healing, and their antisocial nature, Tower provided them with areas that allowed them to avoid contact with the warriors and pretty much anyone else they wanted to ignore.
Rather than beg Tower for a dinner plate, she chose to take a break and headed to the dining room a floor above. Perhaps she’d overhear gossip about the monsters and get a better idea of what she dealt with. The newspaper article had called them unknown monsters. She could have technically asked one of the warriors—nothing forbade her from doing so. However, she found them daunting. An impression she’d formed watching them from afar. She’d never spoken to one directly.
As she entered the dining area, she noticed some of the regulars. Akilah, a beautiful woman of dark skin and brilliant green eyes. She’d only barely escaped being sacrificed by her village, who thought her virgin blood would end the drought. Akilah took turns with three other refugees providing the meals. There was Carlos, the tower librarian, a former monk who’d lived through the Inquisition and almost died for helping some of the supposed infidels escape. Every one of Tower’s protegees had a story of hardship and rescue. Each also possessed a talent that enhanced the lives of those residing in Tower.
