Chapter 14 Treacherous #3
The air turned cool, and Rin couldn’t suppress a shiver. At her back, Cyrus inched closer, a constant presence. A part of her was so grateful he was here—yet, she couldn’t help but feel scared for him. Another person to worry about, but so far, he had protected her more than she had him.
It was nice, to be cared for.
The ground sloped down, and Valkar cast a look over his shoulder, red eyes gleaming in the dim light. "Not much further," he grumbled.
"Right," said Rin. "Is this the part where you kill us?" Maybe she’d spent too much time around Cyrus; his jokes were rubbing off on her…
The incubus huffed a laugh, stirring the still-damp hair at her nape. "I’d like to see him try, doll." Suddenly, his lips were by her ear. "Remember the gas station…" All Cyrus said—a reminder.
That made Rin have questions of her own, but she held her tongue.
"Do you want it in writing? Do you want a vow at the altar—again?" Valkar’s voice echoed off the stone walls, and the air was drafty the further down they went, the sloping floors turning to stairs, until the ceilings grew taller and a dank mustiness clung to the walls.
They were underground.
"What?" she asked, distracted.
Because they were in a lab.
A lab—or a crime base? Rin didn’t know.
Monitors lined the walls, filled with blue-scale images, flickering by too quickly for her to keep track of.
The far side was an open garage, filled with cars, trucks, motorcycles, and even a few heavy-duty vans—all with tinted windows.
The ceilings were lined with metal beams. Thick, hollow cords wrapped around the concrete, snaking to the ground near even more monitors, displaying medical readings—those Rin was very familiar with due to her history.
Valkar walked confidently to the lab area, and her throat tightened as he spoke. "I said I don’t want to kill you, even if you test me. Do you need a vow from me?" The last part was a near growl.
"No," Rin managed. "No vows." She doubted she’d trust him either way.
It was silent and empty. Only the three of them were here.
She shivered again as Valkar started typing away at a monitor. It was large, numbers flashing by with an empty outline of a body. His foot hooked around a rolling chair, and he tugged it out, sitting on it as he pulled out his phone, typed something, then pocketed it.
Then, he waited.
Rin wrapped her arms around her midsection, Cyrus standing close to her side.
"Okay?" he whispered, fingers curling in the ends of her hair where it fell over her shoulders.
No. Rin nodded anyway.
Footsteps alerted her to a new presence, and she stiffened, turning to a heavy metal door nearby, as it opened and an older man emerged, dressed in a lab coat.
Something about him seemed strange, though.
Her eyes narrowed, honing in on the frayed hem of his coat and the small blood splatters on the collar.
"What is this?" Rin questioned.
The newcomer spoke, voice thin and reedy from age. "This the new Aetherborn? Have you spoken to her yet?"
Valkar nodded. "We have an agreement."
"Spoken to me about what?" Rin interjected, feeling out of sorts without her Echogun.
Her heart raced at the blood spattered on his coat—for some reason she couldn’t pinpoint. Memories flashed in her mind… Memories? Or dreams? She wasn’t sure. But the sight made her palms clammy.
Cyrus held her shoulders. "Ves, you need to calm down."
Valkar stood from the chair, walking to her, but not touching. "Your heart is racing. Is it another episode?"
"No. It’s not," she said plainly, hating the wobble in her voice.
Valkar and the older man shared a look.
"This is my associate," said Valkar.
"I’m Nessen, miss. Rhyden here keeps my clinic safe, and in exchange, I help him with the Aetherborns he brings in." Nessen stepped forward—she couldn’t look away from the blood.
Rin searched for Cyrus’s hand, tangling their fingers. "You mean the Aetherborns he blackmails into giving up their Stella?"
Valkar blew out an audible breath.
"I’ve known Rhyden here for years. He saved me, after all.
Any Aetherborns that come here do it of their own free will," Nessen supplied, walking to a leather chair near the monitors, those hollow tubes connected to the back.
He began fiddling with them as he spoke.
"A fact I thought you should know, considering you’re here. "
Valkar stepped in. "I’ve not had time to tell her much. She knows I siphon Stella and offer safe harbor to the Aetherborns… We’ve made a deal. I’m going to help her, and she’s offered up her Stella."
Rin held back the fact that she didn’t have any.
Nessen turned to her. "What’s your name?"
"None of your business."
"Her name is Vesperin," said Valkar, and she hissed.
"Vesperin, I won’t hurt you," Nessen said to her.
"Then, why is there blood on your collar?" Rin couldn’t help but ask.
The old doctor fumbled for his coat, lifting the collar until he saw the red flecks on it. "I’m a messy eater. Just a little dinner." He rubbed his fingers over it, and her brow furrowed.
What?
Valkar leaned against the desk with the monitors. "Nessen is a vampire."
A breath she hadn’t known she was holding fell from her lips. "Oh." She hadn’t known vampires could be, well…
"I was turned," Nessen revealed, finishing up by unhooking the wires on the chair. "Rhyden saved me when I was an old man who didn’t know what to do with this new hunger for blood. That was years ago."
Rin found herself studying Valkar at the information. He met her stare with an overt challenge.
"All set," Nessen finally said, patting the chair. "Up you go. I won’t hurt you, Vesperin."
Valkar arched a brow. Right. She’d made a promise.
Cyrus was reluctant to let her go. "Ves… you’re sure about this?"
She licked her chapped lips as she stared into his purple eyes. "We need help."
He followed closely as she walked to the chair, crawling awkwardly into it. She shifted as Nessen hooked electrodes to her temples, fitting fabric cuffs with wires running on the insides to her wrists.
Her eyes widened as Nessen swung a circular device over her chest, making her flinch deeper into the chair. It hovered inches from her breastbone.
"It’s alright. This allows me to get a better read on your Stella. Painless." Nessen waved a hand over it as if to demonstrate.
She nodded shakily.
Nessen stepped back to the monitors, and Cyrus stayed right by the armrest, not moving even when Valkar barked an order.
The monitor was lit with real-time heart rate, brain waves, and data she couldn’t wrap her head around.
Her heart kicked up, showcased by the spiking lines on the monitor.
Valkar’s jaw ticked. "You won’t feel any pain."
The circular thing over her chest whirred to life and began to spin. Its soft whooshing noises made her eyes squeeze shut.
True to Valkar’s word, she felt nothing, just a faint thrum from the proximity of the machine and dull pinch where the velcro of the cuffs on her wrists rubbed her skin—tender from the fabric ties he’d used to tie her to his bed, when she’d struggled to break free.
Eventually, the whirring stopped, and Nessen spoke. "Are you sure she’s an Aetherborn?"
Rin opened her eyes, Cyrus staring down at her. Sometime while the machine had been going, she’d rested her head on the chair back.
"I’m positive. There was nothing?" Valkar asked, looming behind the older man, staring at the monitor. A thick purplish-blue mass shimmered over the outline on the screen. Was that the Aether?
Nessen pointed to the mass, and Rin sat up, curving around the equipment to get a better view. The cuffs tugged at her wrists.
Nessen’s finger traced the outline of the body on the screen. "This here is the shape of the Stella." He pinched the screen and zoomed in. "It’s empty."
And it was.
A hollow, vast space right beneath her heart.
She had known her Stella was nonexistent, but to see it…
Valkar looked away from the screen, toward her. She strained against the cuffs, wanting to be released, and his lips quirked darkly as he watched her struggle.
"Let me up," Rin demanded.
Cyrus tugged at the electrodes on her temples, and the machines beeped loudly.
Nessen was so focused on the screen, he merely waved a hand.
Valkar grumbled but stalked forward, shoulder-checking Cyrus as he began to loosen the cuffs, his rings cutting into her skin.
When Rin was free, she reached up to tug the rest of the electrodes loose, eyes cutting a violent trail up Valkar’s chest, to his face.
"I told you," Rin said.
Valkar rolled his eyes. "Childish."
Rin wouldn’t be dissuaded. "I told you," she repeated, "that I have no Stella."
The vampire stared down at her. Cyrus had moved to her back, hands on her shoulders, chin hooked over the back of the chair.
Nessen spoke. "She’s right. Somehow, her Aether is entirely gone."
Lucien’s shoes clicked over the polished tile floors. His lab coat fluttered behind him as he walked. He kept his shoulders back, chin held high—even though he was not supposed to be in this wing of the lab.
The underground laboratory hidden in Nova Zone 21.
Sabine had called him here to help run more tests on the new Aetherborn samples. Lucien never did anything but test samples and run numbers. He rarely saw the Aetherborns, himself; though, the simple fact of knowing they were here against their will was corrupt. Wrong.
And he hated it all so, so much.
He had swiped a keycard from one of his associate’s pockets—another doctor, he only saw underground, in these plain white halls, where screams sometimes echoed from deep below, and the air was hollow and heavy, all at once.
The keycard burned a hole in his pocket. His fingers flexed by his side.
He was playing with fire.
But he had to know.