Chapter Eighteen
Reyna hated that Beckham had to leave. That they’d had to cut short the reunion they should have had in the first place. She had so many questions still, and her body ached for more of him.
After a quick shower to wash the remnants of the club off her skin, she changed, grabbed a snack, and headed down to the medical wing.
Meghan had said that Jodie was going to be fine, but she wanted to check for herself.
When she entered the sterile environment, she shuddered and closed her eyes as memories flooded her mind.
She waited for the feeling to pass before opening them again.
The medical wing was still there. She wasn’t back in Visage.
No one was going to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.
“Miss Carpenter,” Dr. Washington said, stepping out of a lab with a smile. “Good afternoon.”
“Is Jodie here?”
“She was just released with a bill of good health from Meghan. I believe she is likely sleeping off a hangover at the moment.”
“I see. Well then, I’ll just…” She gestured to the door.
“Could I steal a couple of minutes of your time, since you’re here?”
“I’m not going to donate blood,” she said hastily.
He waved his hand. “I simply wanted your opinion about something.”
“About something medical?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yes, I would like your insight.”
Reyna chewed on her bottom lip. This felt like a trick, but she couldn’t see what it could be.
“I’ll listen, but I don’t know if I have any insights.”
“Fair enough.”
Reyna followed Washington into a lab. It was white and clean, full of medical equipment. It looked like a science experiment gone wrong, with microscopes, petri dishes, blood samples, test tubes, and an assortment of other things she couldn’t even put names to.
“As you may remember, last night at the meeting you sat in on, we briefly mentioned the presence of diseased blood in the population,” Washington began.
“Okay.”
“Some blood illnesses are common, such as anemia, which is usually a result of an iron or vitamin deficiency. Others are not so common, such as sickle-cell anemia or hemophilia. You’ve heard of all of these cases, yes?”
Reyna nodded. “I did finish high school.”
“Of course. I’ve seen your test scores. You would have gone on to a top university if they would have funded you. Ah, easier times.”
“You looked at my high school test scores?”
“Visage has access to everything, and since I was working for them up until you were taken, I had access to whatever I wanted. As I told you, I have known William a rather long time. He trusted me with top-level security.”
“So did you already know about the other patients under Visage?”
Washington frowned. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Then why didn’t you do something?” Reyna raged.
“I was doing something. I still am doing something.” He pointed to his lab.
“This is what I’m good at. I’m not a fighter.
I have never been able to stand up to William or his ambitions.
I never could have gone in and retrieved you as bravely as Meghan did.
But I gave her all the information she needed to get you out of there, and I worked on the inside for many, many years, as Beckham does now.
Do not discredit my service to the organization because it does not align with what you wish it could have been. ”
Reyna sighed. She understood what he was saying, but she still thought it was shitty that Elle seemed to forgive him for his transgressions against humanity just because he had grown a conscience.
“But as I was saying…blood diseases,” he said, returning to his lecture.
“Many of these have no impact whatsoever on a vampire’s eating habits.
Anemia is problematic to the human if they cannot produce enough replacement red blood cells after having been fed on.
Or hemophilia would be incredibly problematic for a human if their blood is unable to clot, even with the added clotting components found in vampire saliva. ”
“Venom,” Reyna told him.
“Excuse me?”
“Vamp venom. Saliva sounds way too scientific. I’m really going to make venom a thing.”
Washington laughed. “Venom it is,” he said, indulging her. “A few new diseases, however, have sprung up in the last hundred years that affect vampires both physiologically and cognitively. The most prevalent is called cogitare anemia. Have you heard of it?”
“No. What is it?”
“Humans are the carriers, like mosquitos carry malaria. It does not affect them except that it appears like they have regular anemia with a deficiency in red blood cells. But in vampires…” Washington tapped the pen in his hand.
“Here, take a look. This is what happens to vampire blood that comes in contact with a human host infected with cogitare anemia.”
Reyna leaned forward with interest despite herself. She pressed her eye to a microscope and watched the interaction as the two specimens were combined. Her eyes widened with shock as the perfectly normal vampire blood seemed to shake and tremble against the invasion of the new blood.
“Whoa. What kind of reaction is that?” Reyna asked, pulling back.
“What you’re witnessing is the deterioration of the antigens on the blood.
Antigens are markers on the surface of red blood cells that invoke an immune response; they are also what determines your blood type.
There are 342 different known antigens in a person’s blood.
The most common are the Rh antigen, which you either have or you don’t, and the ABO antigens. ”
Reyna leaned back against the counter. “So, this disease destroys antigens on the blood cell? If a person is A negative or B positive, and it rips that away, what does that mean for the vampire?”
“Excellent question. If a vampire no longer has a blood type, then they can no longer drink from a blood type match.”
“Oh God,” Reyna whispered as realization dawned on her. “They revert back to how they were?”
“Worse, I’m afraid. Without a blood type match, the disease effectively eliminates the ability for higher thinking and exacerbates the animalistic tendencies of my brethren.
But if it goes untreated, the red blood cells can further deteriorate so that any blood they ingest will be rejected.
It’s the same response we see in humans when they receive a non-match blood transfusion and the blood is rejected.
And while the vampire is frantic for food, they seek out more people to eat and pass the illness back into the human population. ”
“It’s passed from vampire to human. Does it pass from human to human?”
“Yes. Though we’re not entirely sure how, as there are no symptoms in humans, which makes it more difficult for us to track.
It is like men who carry the HPV disease with no signs and then spread it to women who can then get cancer.
This is the blood disease that has been circulating so effectively throughout the city. ”
“What does that mean for the population?”
Washington frowned. “There are more rogue vampires on the loose, more humans are getting attacked, and the disease is spreading swiftly. I haven’t seen anything so widespread in decades.”
Reyna’s head swam with all the new information. “And there’s a cure?”
“We’ve found a way to stop the deterioration of the red blood cells. However, new blood cells would have to be created, and a safe blood supply would need to be acquired to keep everyone safe. We’ve never had an outbreak like this.”
“It sounds engineered.”
“How so?” he asked.
“It sounds like someone is trying to drum up hysteria in the population. Like when the recession hit ten years ago, it was prime picking for Visage to swoop in like a savior. No one bothered to look more closely because we were in such dire straits. This blood disease sounds like a similar issue.”
“That is an interesting theory. It would fit the intensity with which the disease seems to be spreading. Especially considering we have a cure.”
“So someone is keeping them from being treated?”
“It’s a possibility.” Washington drummed his fingers on the counter. “Well, thank you for your insight. It is always nice to have another person to bounce ideas off of.”
“You think he’s planning something, don’t you?” Reyna asked intuitively.
“William is always planning something.”
“But it’s related, right? Did he engineer this disease for his purposes?”
“I really do not know. Right now, I am hoping to find a cure for those vampires who were not fortunate enough to get treatment early. Also, I would like to find out if there is an indicator I’ve missed in the human blood so I can begin testing a way to stop it at the source. Maybe if I had a sample of your blood…”
“No,” Reyna said immediately.
“It would give me a basis of comparison,” he finished.
“Absolutely not.”
“Miss Carpenter, you can be of value here.”
“While this was all enlightening,” she said carefully, “I don’t want to be of value in that way. I won’t be used for my blood ever again.”
“I understand your hesitation.”
“I don’t think you do. I find the blood diseases interesting. I hope you find a way to stop the cogitare anemia spreading in the city so that nothing else bad happens, but I am never going to be anyone’s blood bag again. Got it?”
Washington sighed. “I do wish you would reconsider.”
“Don’t count on it,” she said before turning and hurrying out of the medical wing.
When Reyna wandered downstairs, she was hoping to clear her head, which was still full of the blood science talk with Washington. She felt like a hematologist after that one conversation. Antigens and antibodies and red blood cells, oh my!
She shouldn’t have been surprised that Washington had asked for her blood.
That was the last thing she wanted to do with her life.
In that moment, she missed her camera and the freedom to photograph whatever she chose.
It wasn’t a job, per se, but it gave her purpose.
She doubted she’d find anything like that here.
She passed the mess hall only to find her brothers sitting together at a table by the far wall. She angled toward them.
“Reyna,” Brian said, jumping up and more or less tackling her.
She laughed. “Um, hey.”
Drew was there in another second, pulling her into a hug. “We heard what happened.”
“You did?”
“You tried to run away?” Brian asked with a sigh.
“I didn’t try to run away.”
“Guys, breathing room,” Brian’s fiancée, Laura, said from her seat.
Reyna waved off both her brothers. She took a seat next to Laura and drew her into a hug. “It’s been so long.”
“I know. Sorry, I haven’t been feeling well or else I would have found you already.
” Laura truly didn’t look too well. She had always been pale, but she looked a little green.
Her blond hair at least shone as if she had taken special care with it.
She’d even put on makeup. Reyna felt drab in comparison.
“I’ve been a bore. Let me see your ring.”
A smile split Laura’s face from ear to ear as she shoved her left hand in Reyna’s face.
It was an oval-cut ruby with little crusted diamonds around it on a simple band.
Nothing too fancy, but still classy, classic, and beautiful.
The fact that Brian had been able to purchase anything on a meager warehouse salary was amazing.
“I love it,” Reyna gushed. “When is the wedding? Next year?”
She turned from Brian to Laura and back. Brian opened his mouth and then closed it. It wasn’t often that he seemed flustered, and he was never lost for words.
Laura’s cheeks flushed. “Well, actually, we were just discussing moving it up.”
“Oh yeah? To when?”
“Christmas,” Laura said with a small giggle.
“Christmas,” Reyna cried. “That’s two weeks away.”
“When did this happen?” Drew asked with wide eyes.
“We decided yesterday,” Brian told them.
“That’s so soon,” Reyna said. “Oh my God, do you have everything planned? Do you need help with anything? I can help.”
“We don’t have anything planned,” Laura said. “It’s all happening so suddenly. I don’t even know who to ask to get the things we need for a wedding or if we can legally do that here or what.”
“I can figure that all out,” Reyna told her. “Don’t worry. We’ll make it a day to remember.”
“Thank you, Reyna,” Laura said, beaming.
“But why are you moving it up?” Drew asked.
Brian and Laura exchanged a look, and her cheeks turned rosy again.
“Oh my God,” Reyna whispered. “Are you…?”
“Pregnant.” Laura bit her lip. “Found out yesterday!”
Reyna squealed, drawing the attention of half of the cafeteria with her excitement. Screw everything else in life. This was too incredible not to celebrate.
“A wedding and a baby,” Reyna said, clasping Laura’s hand.
“Congrats, bro,” Drew said. He slapped a sheepish Brian on the back. “Guess this is my cue to move out of the room.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Laura protested.
“Well, actually,” Brian said with a laugh.
“It’s cool. I think Gregory has extra space,” Drew told them, his cheeks flushing again.
“Gregory, your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Drew grumbled. “Yet.”
“Ahhh, boyfriend,” Reyna said. “You have been holding out all this good info from me. I can’t believe this. Good things do come out of horrible circumstances, huh?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Drew repeated under his breath.
Laura laughed. “Can’t say I don’t agree.”
Reyna felt a rightness settle over her as she grilled Laura on all the details about the baby and the future wedding and Drew’s maybe new boyfriend.
Hanging out with her brothers and her future sister-in-law and just being totally normal reminded her of everything she had been missing since she left home to work for Visage.
Brian and Drew were the reason she had gotten the job in the first place.
She loved them so fiercely that she wanted to give them a better life. And now they were all living it.