Page 61 of Wicked Bite
He shook his head. “Why keep this one?”
“None of your business,” I growled.
“I hope the bastard who left their progeny to go feral like this pays for it.” Jester pulled a set of manacles from his back pocket and clapped them around her ankles. “You sure the King would want this particular one?”
Definitely not. “Don’t concern yourself with such matters.”
He is going to kill me . . . and Grayson.
Get ready, brother. We’re coming home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
GRAYSON
“I don’t bloody well understand what I am doing here.” I marched toward our holding facility and lab area.
“I was told to fetch you, Your Highness.” The lab assistant was wringing his hands nervously as he walked beside me toward the stairs that would lead to the lab. He was meek, with short dark hair and small black eyes. He was much smaller than me. He barely had an ounce of muscle. Everything about him was nervous. His posture was hunched, his words were stilted and humbled, and sweat beaded his brow.
“By whom?”
“M-M-M-Mr. Savage,” the man said, shuddering at Atlas’ name.
I motioned for us to continue through the doorway that would lead to the depths of the castle. “Very well.”
The stairs were made of that dark stone and kept winding down deep into the castle where the light of day would never touch. The stone architecture turned from dark and gothic to a light, sandy color. It reminded me of the walls of the Grand Canyon, except this was no rustic get away.
When I got to the bottom, a state-of-the-art facility was in full swing. Stainless steel beams, countertops, and equipment made up the lab. Vampire technicians in white coats buzzed around with their iPads in hand. Some sat at tall tables with microscopes and others stood in front of a sixty-inch touch screen with DNA strands on display. Our genetic research was some of the most important done in the world of Evermore. Some believed it was the key to unlocking the secrets of the supernatural. Others believed that magic couldn’t be explained by a blood test. Me? I thought it made life for vampires a lot easier. The technology we developed here gave us the power to run our blood stores, our vampire police, and our tactical teams. We weren’t in the dark ages in this gothic castle.
As a whole, we advanced with the times. Gone were the days of hunting humans in back alleys. Some still did that for sport ,but the more refined of us called for delivery. This lab allowed for vampires to become civilized in a way that was never possible before. We were more than just a kingdom of vampires, we were a technological empire. It was a beautiful contradiction: old world values and looks with all the advantages the new world had to offer.
On the perimeter of the lab were holding facilities for the vampires who needed our medicines the most. Some had lost their minds after an infinite lifetime. Some had been born feral and left to die. We tried to help them all. Three of the walls of their holding cells were made of thick rock that was unbreakable even to a vampire. The front wall was a special kind of glass that was also strong enough to hold any kind of supernatural while also allowing our doctors to study them at a safe distance to maybe someday help them.
As I walked by the containment units, the inhabitants were in various stages of madness. One stood in the corner with his back to me, muttering to himself. Another sat on the ground drawing pictures with her own blood on the floor. Farther down was a guy strapped to the bed while a red and black mist swirled from his body and shot back into it, the muscles in his arms, legs, and neck all straining against his restraints. It was like blood magic had gone horribly wrong inside of him. But he was not a born-vampire. I could tell from his lack of heartbeat and pulse. He thrashed on the bed, bellowing in agony.
My brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with that one?”
The assistant stammered for a moment, then ran his hand down his face and composed himself. “We have no idea, sir.”
The young vampire paused before we reached the next holding room. He shuffled from one foot to the other and didn’t make eye contact with me. “I was told to leave you here, and if I didn’t leave you here, my entrails would be my dinner tonight. And I fancy my entrails right where they are.”
I waved him on. “Yes, we will leave your entrails where they must be. Please let Sav know I’m here.”
I’d texted him several times. Usually he answered me within seconds. This time, not one of my messages was answered. A scream echoed from the open door and the sound of metal tools crashing to the floor filled the air.
“Hold her down!”
“Grab her hand!”
“Pin the shoulder!”
Goosebumps broke out on the back of my neck, and I took a step toward the door. The lab assistant ran into the room. A moment later, he flew from the door like a rag doll and slammed into the wall. He fell to the floor in an unconscious heap, his white coat balled around his midsection and shoulders as he slouched to the side. Another scream. I had to know. Had to look.
“Give me the taser!” a familiar voice bellowed.
Sav?
“The sodding thing doesn’t have a charge left in it. You’ve hit her too many bloody times!” a man yelled back at Sav.
