We set back to wandering down the hall. A maze of halls and stairs awaits us, and we decide to go right for the belly of the beast and try to locate the area they would have taken Valen. The way he describes it sounds like a lab of some sort.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I ask him reluctantly, not wanting to set him off.
Valen swallows slowly, his steps becoming less confident the farther we walk. “No. I was so out of it down here I couldn’t tell you which way was up or down.”
“Zav and I can go ahead and you two can wait in the car if it’s going to be too hard on you.” I don’t like the idea of dredging up even more trauma for my mate and my best friend.
“No!” both Celine and Valen whisper-yell at the same time.
“We need to do this,” Celine adds after Zav and I look at them wide-eyed.
“Okay, as long as you’re sure,” I reply. “I do have to say, I can’t take any of you seriously in your getups.”
Everyone lets out a small chuckle and Zav puffs out his chest with pride.
We continue on, peeking into various rooms until, after what seems like forever, we find the lab. A sterile yet musty smell emanates throughout the room, and a small whimper comes out of Valen.
“I got you, I’m here,” I soothe and hug him from behind while he hovers in the doorway. He grabs my arms like a lifeline before pulling away to enter the space. I want nothing more than to rip him away from here, but I’m proud of him for persevering.
It looks like the police sorted through some things and took items for their own evidence. The cold storage in the corner is open, and it doesn’t appear to be working.
“They really cleared it out, didn’t they?” Zav asks while I shine a flashlight around. Dust floats in the air and I wrinkle my nose at the smell.
“Wait, I found something. It looks like something rolled under the fridge. I can’t reach it,” Celine groans.
Before she’s even finished saying it, Zavier picks up the refrigerator with ease and she bends down to scoop up whatever she spotted.
In her hand is a vial of blood with a label stuck to the side. She eyes Valen warily but reads out loud. “Patient zero, blood for vampire mutations round ZZ.”
Valen holds a shaky hand out and she gives it to him. Popping the lid and taking a quick sniff, he shudders. “Definitely mine.” I know he’s a vampire and doesn’t function like a human, but if he were, I’m pretty sure he’d be sweating bullets and on the verge of passing out, based on the expression on his face.
“Vampire mutations?” Zav asks what we’re all thinking. “They were using your blood to mutate other vampires? How does that make sense if you’re just a normal vampire yourself, albeit an old one?”
Fuck. That’s right. Zav and Celine don’t know about Valen’s angel status. He told me his backstory, but I kept it to myself out of respect for his privacy. I figured if he wanted someone to know something, he’d tell them.
I stay silent and wait to see if he wants to take this opportunity to say something.
“In my past life, and pre-captivity, I wasn’t a vampire.” Valen rubs his neck in a human way he must’ve picked up from others. “I was an angel.”
Zav’s and Celine’s mouths drop open, and shock fills their features.
A clownish smile fills Zav’s face in the next second. “Holy fuck. My Cupid nickname is even more spot on than I thought.” He chuckles, and Valen deflates as tension leaves him. “Wait, so you were an angel and then what? You fell?”
“Correct.” Valen nods. “I was looking for my sister before I was captured, but when I was cast out and sent here, I was cursed to be a vampire, which was rare at the time. The only others were other fallen angels, and there weren’t many of us.” Running a long finger along the dust-filled counter, he sighs. “I lived here a few millennia before I was captured. Whoever they are, they collected my blood and ran tests often. If you can even call them tests. I think it’s safe to say, based on what we just found, that they believed my blood could help with supernatural mutations. What are those mutations? I’m not sure.” He rubs a hand over his jaw. “Perhaps I should’ve paid more attention, but you have to understand: I long ago gave up on ever believing I would be free.”
“What a bunch of sick fucks,” Celine adds and I nod in agreement.
“I’m not done.” Zav holds out a finger. “You were one of the first vampires?”
Valen’s brows quirk, not understanding whathe’s getting at. “I suppose so. There were others before me, but none that I know of who were captured like I was. I was never in the presence of another fallen. We’re … different. I would have known.”
Zav advances on Valen and grabs his arm while bouncing up and down like a child begging their parent for candy. “Do you know what that means? If they were using your blood to mutate vampires, you’re like a vampire father.” Leaning conspiratorially close to Valen, he whispers, but is loud enough we can hear him. “Can I call you Daddy?”
Quicker than human eyes can track, Valen shoves him off and his features twist in disgust. “I am not your father. That is disgusting.”
“My dad is disappointed in me already,” Zav whines and throws himself dramatically against a counter. “This isn’t helping my daddy issues. Whatever will I do to get back in his good graces?”
My chest rumbles with laughter that quickly dies out when there’s a noise from down the hall. All of us are instantly on high alert, and my heart races.
