Chapter 10
Lock
“Benny!” I exclaimed as I walked into his office.
He leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Lock. How are you?”
“I’d be a lot better if you had good news for me.” I hopped up on his desk, swinging my legs back and forth. “Even though I just cut a man’s face off, I’m still quite touchy, so keep that in mind.”
“Did you really?”
The skin made a squishing sound when I tossed it onto his keyboard. He recoiled a little, scrunching up his nose. Using a pencil, he lifted it by hooking it through the eye hole, and passed it back to me. I admired it again, turning it this way and that.
“This one turned out really nice. It appears the secret might be a good playlist.”
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
“I also learned that the pill is popping up on the streets. Vampire drug dealers.”
“That’s unfortunate, but I can’t say it’s surprising. Human nature is never fully bred out.”
“Perhaps. Now, what have you learned from Sam’s blood?”
He stood, motioning for me to follow him into his lab. The room smelled sterile and was almost too white. Most of the tower had dark accents, but for the purpose of good lighting, the labs and medical rooms were excluded from the aesthetic.
I watched as he pulled some petri dishes from a fridge, then set up a microscope. When he’d finished, I moved forward to look.
“It’s blood,” I said uninterestedly.
“That’s her blood at rest. There’s nothing for it to do, so it just remains there. Now look at this one.”
He switched out the slides, adding a drop of something to it. The blood seemed to reach toward it and as soon as it came into contact with it, the substance grew smaller until there was none left. The blood looked relatively unchanged, only a slightly smaller drop than before.
“That was a drop of vodka I added to the dish. As you witnessed, the blood cells attacked it, rendering it useless. It essentially absorbs it and burns it into nothing.”
“Right. This is the process all of our blood uses to heal us. What’s the significance?”
“That was my blood. This is Sam’s.”
Once again, he replaced the slide and added the drop of vodka. Just like before, the blood arched toward it and turned it into nothing. I didn’t see what the difference was, but then it kept moving. It began to bubble, then orange cracks began to appear in the plastic. Only a second later, the blood dissipated, changing state into something resembling steam.
“What was it doing?”
“Every time I test it, something like that happens. While our blood is sitting in the dish, it’s basically dormant because there’s nothing for it to do. After adding a foreign substance, it activates and starts to burn away slowly as more is added. With Sam’s, once it is stimulated, it doesn’t return to dormancy. It just starts shooting off little bursts of magic.”
“So it’s continuously working.”
“It appears so. Her blood is literally turning to magic, so she burns it off extremely quickly. It’s why she’s so thirsty and in pain. She needs more blood.”
“She seems to be doing better now.”
“Even so, I think she needs more.”
“How much more?”
“Impossible to know. Trial and error is our friend here. I’m guessing at least triple what we need.”
“Fuck. That’s a lot of blood.”
“She’s going to be more volatile if she’s not having enough.”
“Won’t more blood mean more magic?”
He shrugged and let out a breath. “It’s likely.”
“I can see she’s struggling, but I don’t know how to help her.”
“Mate’s blood is powerful. Let her feed from you and see how that helps.”
“We tried that. It helps, but she’s terrified of her power. She insists on drinking from blood bottles.”
“Bottles work just fine for us, but drinking from a vein is always preferable. You know that. If she won’t feed from you, she should at least drink from a human.”
I hummed thoughtfully. “We can’t run through bodies that quickly.”
“What about a disciple? She could drink bottles and supplement that way.”
“Vampires haven’t used disciples in centuries.”
“It would give her someone to feed on and you don’t have to kill anybody.”
“They usually only last a month or so, but one body each month is doable.”
“It’s an option. I’ll keep experimenting here. Maybe I can find something that makes the blood stabilize. It might be enough for her to learn how to tame it, if that’s possible.”
“That would be a relief. In the meantime, did you get what I asked for?”
“Oh, right.” He pulled a sleeve out of a drawer, showing me the four vials of clear liquid. “Will that be enough?”
“I’m sure it’ll work.”
“Great. I’ll get on with this, then.”
“Thanks, Benny.”
“Uh, Lock.” I turned, following his gaze.
“Right.” After swiping the mask from the table, I headed out of the lab.
“Rise and shine!” I shouted as I walked into the room.
Sam turned from her place by the window, one arm wrapped around her middle and an air of melancholy around her. I stopped at the end of the bed and cocked my head.
“You look like an early 2000s music video. All we need is some rain outside the window.”
“Funny.”
It certainly didn’t sound like she thought it was funny. I didn’t know what she had to be sad about. She made me carry her unconscious body back to the tower before the sun had even fully set. It was harder to blend in as a cloud of black smoke when it was still light out.
“Catch.”
She put her hands up immediately, her eyes widening when the mask landed in them. With a girlish shriek, she shook it off. A wet thud sounded when it hit the floor.
“Now there’s going to be gunk all over it. I’ll have to wash it delicately. Skin is fickle once it’s been removed from the wearer.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted.
I raised a brow. “Me?”
“Who else?”
“Do me a favor and turn around.”
When she just glared, I grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her toward the window, pointing at her reflection.
“You offed yourself where anybody could’ve found you. What happens when the paramedics take you to the morgue and you wake up in a cold, cramped compartment?”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. Releasing her, I settled on the edge of the bed and crossed my legs.
“No big deal, huh? Here’s what I find to be a big deal. Spending time and money on covering up needless incidents. Being unable to find you when something like this happens. This entire city would go up in flames in my search for you.”
“Okay. I get it.”
“No, Samara. You don’t get it. What happens when our vamps hear how unstable you are? Or the rest of the covens. Do you think there wouldn’t be a single one that might wish to take advantage of the slightest weakness?”
A tear slid down her cheek. “They’re just hypotheticals.”
“This time. It’s a good thing I was following you or that’s exactly what would’ve happened. Do you know how many people have asked about you? You’re completely absent. We can’t afford to have a single vampire doubting us.”
“So, what? I should just suck it up?”
“You should deal with it instead of hiding. I understand that you’re having a hard time, but you chose a life of power. That means others must see that power or you learn to fucking fake it.”
“What if I can’t?” she asked barely above a whisper.
“Then we go to Mark and instate him as Domini.”
“No. I don’t want that.”
“Then you need to tell me right now what’s going on. Why did you snap your neck?”
She swallowed and dropped her gaze. Squeezing my eyes shut, I drew in a couple deep breaths.
“We’re supposed to be past this shit, Sam. I don’t understand why we have to keep playing these games.”
“I’m not playing a game.”
“Then talk to me!”
“Just leave me alone!”
A tendril of light blue smoke sprung from her palm, nearly colliding with my chest. I stepped out of the way just in time and watched as it hit a picture on the wall. Fissured ice spread outward from the place of impact until the entire frame was encased in it.
“Hm. That was cool.”
Apparently, she didn’t think so. Her breaths sounded wheezy as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“I’m sorry.”
“Not this again. Stop apologizing.”
She shook her head back and forth. “I’m so sorry. I can’t do this. It’s too much.”
The harder she cried, the more strongly the wind slapped the window. Clouds above darkened the city just before there was a loud clap of thunder. The rain I’d mentioned earlier started coming down heavily, setting the perfect backdrop.
“Calm down, Sam.”
“I’m trying!” she shouted.
“Getting angry clearly isn’t helping. Maybe try some deep breaths.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
The lights in the room flickered, then one of the bulbs exploded. I swore, cupping the sides of her neck.
“Come on, baby. I know you’re strong enough.”
Her mouth opened, but no words came out. The lights continued to flicker and the storm raged outside.
“God, it hurts,” she cried, clutching at her chest.
“What hurts?”
“All of it. My veins feel like they’re being cut open.”
“When did you last have blood?”
She just covered her head with her arms and gripped her roots tightly. With a sigh, I grabbed the sleeve Benny gave me and took one of the vials out. After sucking the liquid into the syringe, I pulled her against my chest. Her skin was on fire, which just made me wonder how she wasn’t harmed by the heat inside her.
“Remember how we talked about going on a vacation?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“That’s what we’re going to do. Just don’t be too pissed at me, okay? One of your tantrums could literally kill me these days.”
Before she could react, I sunk the needle into her neck and depressed the plunger completely. She gripped my shoulders tightly, her lip curling. A moment later her eyelids fluttered closed and I caught her before she fell to the floor. The lights steadied and the rain immediately stopped, casting the city in the moon’s glow once again.
People probably thought Atakan was up to some super villain shit at this point. I could see the headlines already.
Atakan Industries At the Apex of Mysterious Storms.
Is Billionaire Hemlock Giudice the Real-Life Lex Luthor?
I laughed to myself as I lifted her into my arms.
“Alright. That wasn’t so bad. Now let’s hope it lasts.”