Page 74 of The Rebirth
“I need to run tests. Lots of tests,” Doc said with equal parts excitement and trepidation. “I’ll be right back.” He scurried in the direction of his office.
Dane leaned against the opposite lab bench. “I sure as fuck hope that a creature like Rianne, who was made in a lab, can’t turn humans. If so, we’re more fucked than we thought. Think zombie apocalypse.”
I felt my forehead. It wasn’t protruding like Rianne’s. I glanced at my nails. No claws in sight. Just fangs.
“I don’t see any inhuman resemblance to Rianne, Noah, or Carly,” Sam said.
“Maybe not,” I countered. “But it might take time for me to develop claws and all the other transformation features.”
Doc returned with a folder, placed it on the bench next to Sam and me, and opened it. He sifted through the sheets of paper, fast and furious. “I highly doubt that Rianne’s bite turned you, since her saliva is highly toxic.”
“But doesn’t her saliva have the serum in it?” Sam asked.
“I want all of you to take a step back for a second,” Doc said sternly. “We can’t rush to a conclusion. I think I know how this happened. Layla, remember the day in the birthing suite when you told me you drank a vial of blood that had Sam’s name on it? But the tray of vials had been labeled wrong by the nurses. As it turned out, the blood you drank was Orion’s.” Doc found the paper he was looking for.
“Are you saying Orion’s blood turned her?” Sam asked, beating me to the punch.
“That would certainly be better than Rianne’s,” Dane mumbled.
I was more concerned about me growing hair and claws or even going feral.
Then a light bulb came on. “If that’s true, then could he be our child who’s tied to the prophecy of turning witches?”
Dr. Vieira began to pace. “Again, don’t jump to conclusions. I need to think. The babies gave you powers while they were in your womb. You craved blood while you were pregnant. Even after you gave birth, you still have that hunger for blood. Maybe the quadruplets are responsible for your change. Then Rianne’s venom killed you, but your system fought off the poison, thus restarting your heart.”
Sam pressed the heels of his palms into the counter. “Kind of like the process of natural-born vampires. We essentially die as our internal organs go through the change, right? Someone who’s taken the serum doesn’t die.”
Doc was frantically pacing in the aisle between the two benches. “There is a window of time that the heart of a natural-born vampire stops in the process during the change, yes.”
I set the bottle on the shiny black worktop. “If I’m hearing you correctly, I would’ve eventually turned into a vampire?”
“I will hold my answer until I run tests,” Doc said. “Until I know more and can explain the science behind your change, I prefer we keep this to ourselves, except we’ll have to tell Steven. After all, he’s our leader.”
“Not even my sister?” I asked.
Doc stopped abruptly. “I know Jordyn is suffering. But I would like to be sure of my findings that Rianne didn’t turn you. The last thing we need is people panicking.” He eyed Dane, wagging his finger. “You can’t even tell Dr. Hammond.”
Dane raised his large hands. “She probably wouldn’t believe me. She would think the surgery to remove my chip screwed with my brain.”
I’d completely forgotten that Dane had been brought in as a wolf and hadn’t been able to shift.
Nevertheless, if Rianne was responsible, that also meant the genetic-altering experiments would truly involve a monster-type virus, and humanity wouldn’t survive. Maybe a child of mine wouldn’t upset the balance of the world. Maybe my mom’s message was wrong.
My rebirth would certainly erase any chance of peace between vampires and humans if Adam’s program created monsters who had a supernatural virus.
The severity in Dr. Vieira’s expression made me recoil. “I need to start testing. The sooner I can find the answer, the more we can relax. I need about twelve hours. I also need to postpone my meeting with Isadora Blackman, the witch scientist with the Midnight Raiders. She’s due in tomorrow night.”
“We should also cancel Zoey Thornton’s trip as well,” I said. “I might need time to grow into my supernatural skin.” Or maybe the powers that be would lock me in a prison cell until they knew I wouldn’t be a threat.
As if Doc knew what I was thinking, he said, “Layla, you’ll need to stay in the infirmary until I have answers.”
I nodded in agreement. As much as I wanted to see my children, I couldn’t risk hurting them if in fact I was truly a monster.
“I’ll alert my dad,” Sam said.
“This has been fun,” Dane piped in. “I’m heading home. I have a mess to help clean up. Sam, we’ll be in touch. Layla, don’t die again.” He nodded at Sam. “You about killed your husband.”
After we said goodbye to Dane, I went into a room on doctor’s orders with Sam on my heels.
