It brought me joy, granting him some discomfort. It was only fair.
Silas’s demeanor was bleary, burned-out. Maybe this was karma for depriving me of sleep for weeks. His gaze was glued to the wall like he was second-guessing his decision.
I took my place next to him at the edge of the table. Two glasscontainers capable of holding five hundred milliliters of fluid were placed neatly beside the apparatus.
“Give me your arm.” I snapped my fingers and held my hand out.
He rolled up his sleeve a little higher, offering his thick bicep to me. His lean forearm exposed several veins, so it would not be hard for me to find one.
The tourniquet tightened around his bicep, pushing on his veins to get them to bulge out a little more. I held his arm closer to inspect them.
Viktor made it look so simple, but I would not let it intimidate me.
Silas watched my movements cautiously, yet he had no choice but to trust me. On second thought, if he did not trust me, he could snap if I poked him the wrong way with the needle. It did not stop him from doing that to those girls in the river.
The long, curved needle lined up with a vein at the crook of his arm, pressing into the skin. As I squeezed the pump, the liquid came outblack. Unsure if it was just the lighting or if it was actually black, I studied it as it sluggishly crawled up to the glass cylinder.
“It worked.” I bit my lip in excitement.
“Have you not done this before?” He lifted his eyes in brief horror. “You are using me as a test rat?”
“I thought I was very clear about that when I said I was going to study you,” I said sweetly. “Besides, he only taught me how to do it last night.”
“He?” His eyes narrowed.
“Yes,he. Viktor. My lab partner.” I poked my finger into his chest. “If you kill him, then you go back on our deal. I need his help. Promise that you will not murder him.”
He grumbled something under his breath.
“I want to hear you say it, Silas.” I kept my eyes on him.
He averted his gaze.
“Silas!” I put pressure on the needle.
“Fine!” he hissed. “I won’t.”
“You won’twhat?”
“I won’t kill him.”
“Or maim?”
“I won’t maim or kill him.”
“I’m glad we are in agreement.” I let a pleasant smile grace my features, which only infuriated him.
As shown previously, I put pressure on the puncture before pulling it out.
I took the apparatus and emptied it into the glass jar. I began to write on it with a black wax pencil.
“What are you doing?” he asked, removing the tourniquet from his arm.
I turned the glass toward him.
“Creature” Sample #1was scribbled on the glass.
“You would not want to mix them up, would you?” I grabbed a rag and wiped the puncture on his arm, guiding his free hand to hold the gauze. “Now, just let me clean this, and I can do it on myself?—”
