Secrets in Blood Read online

  “What about Daren? You were with him for a couple of months.” Cassie handed Evangeline her eReader and overnight bag. For the past few years, Evangeline had taken her treatments in the infirmary so Cassie could be there to give her painkillers if she needed them.

  “His hands were always dirty.”

  “He’s a botanist. What do you expect? He plays in the dirt all day with my mother. But come on…you have to admit there’s something sexy about a man who can provide food for you.”

  Evangeline snorted. “Daren doesn’t know the meaning of the word sexy. Or sex.”

  “And you do?” Cassie lowered herself down to the trunk Evangeline used as a small table. “Talk.”

  “What about Henry?” Evangeline teased.

  “He can wait. Talk.”

  “Nothing much to say. We had sex a few times. He got off. I didn’t. Well, okay, I did once, but that was because I put my foot down and told him I wasn’t letting him fuck me until he made me come.”

  “Oh my God!” Cassie clapped her hand over her mouth, and her cheeks flushed to a deep crimson.

  “What? I’m not a kid anymore, Cass. I read. A lot. Do you have any idea how many romance novels we have in the e-library? I know they’re exaggerated, but still…sex isn’t all about him getting off. I should enjoy it too, right?” Evangeline drained her water bottle, wishing she could skip the rest of this conversation and Henry’s “treatments.”

  “And where did you get the condoms? Because it certainly wasn’t from me.”

  “I don’t need them. I can’t get pregnant.” Evangeline frowned when Cassie made a pained sound. “Henry didn’t tell you?”

  “No!”

  Evangeline lifted a single shoulder. “Side effect of whatever he’s doing to me. I can run for twenty miles without getting tired. I don’t get sick, and the last time I cut myself trying to gut a rabbit, the slice healed in less than a day. All great benefits. One lousy side effect. I can’t have kids.”

  Cassie pushed herself up and shuffled over to Evangeline, then wrapped her in a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll talk to Henry. There must be something he can do. I mean, I take the same treatments you do. And obviously…” Cassie gestured to her swollen belly. “I’m sure Henry has a plan to fix you. Now, let’s get this over with so you can help me pick out some baby clothes to order for the next supply drop.”

  Resigned to the impending pain, knowing she had no choice, Evangeline let Cassie take her arm and lead her to the infirmary.

  Henry waited, a brow raised in disapproval, and he glanced at his watch. “You’re late.”

  Evangeline was tempted to check herself for stab wounds at his harsh tone. Though he hadn’t hit her in years—one benefit of growing up so strong—his anger took Evangeline back to her childhood years when every punishment included a slap or a shake or a twist of her arm so hard she feared the bone would break.

  Clenching her fists, she glared back at him. “I’m here, aren’t I? What about a thank you. ‘Thank you, Eva, for giving up your night. Thank you for the vomiting, headaches, and almost unbearable pain,’ all for some experiment you won’t even explain to me.”

  She dropped onto the cot. “Tell me why I shouldn’t walk out of here right now. I’m an adult, Henry. I don’t have to put up with this. Maybe it’s time for me to go. For good. Leave the catacombs.”

  Panic seized her heart as Henry blanched. For months now, maybe even years, she’d thought about the day she’d leave. But telling Henry? That had never been part of the plan.

  A sadness clouded Henry’s eyes. Such a strange sight—one she’d never seen before. He sat next to her and ran his hands over his thighs. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’ve had a trying day. You’re right. I don’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us. For my research.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments, Cassie leaning against the wall a few feet away.

  “What did you bring in today?”

  Evangeline stammered a bit at the unexpected question. “Um, j-just two rabbits. The snow was pretty deep.”

  “Winter’s always hard. But we have plenty of TVP to get us through. Some rabbit will flavor it nicely.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Nothing could flavor the textured vegetable protein. Not adequately. But Henry seemed to love the shit. A longing, leftover from the years when Evangeline still hoped her father would be…well, a father…took hold. “You look tired…Dad.”

  Henry drew in a sharp breath. When was the last time she’d called him "Dad"? Probably the day she’d found the uncensored internet. “I’ve been working hard. Too hard.”

  “On what? You never talk about your work. I don’t even know what you do besides develop these stupid ‘treatments.’”

  Henry rose and started to pace the room. “You’re old enough now. I suppose you should know.”

  Cassie’s head swiveled sharply towards Henry. Her mouth opened, and a small stuttered sound emerged, but Henry shook his head quickly, and Cassie sighed and headed for the sink to fill a water bottle for Evangeline.

  “Know what?” Evangeline folded her legs under her and stared at her father. For years she’d longed to have an honest conversation with Henry. Would he really tell her?

  “I used to work on cancer research—long before we moved down here. I manipulated the DNA of the cancer cells to try and reverse the mutation that turned them dangerous. Vampires…their cells are mutated too. Just like cancer cells. This makes them strong, and something about their mutation allows them to control humans, both with their strength and their minds. I’m trying to fight that.”

  Evangeline sucked her lower lip underneath her teeth and started chewing on it. “How?”

  “By making us stronger. I think I can come up with a vaccine to make humans immune to their control. Everything I’ve done, Eva, my life’s work, has been to make us safe. You’re the strongest of all of the women here. You show the most promise. You’re special. I’ve altered your DNA. Not a lot, but enough. I think you’re the first human ever to be immune to their control.”

  Evangeline gaped. “So my whole life…all these nights of pain…the infertility. You think they worked.”

  “I believe so. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure, but I know you’re strong. You’re fast. And with what I’ve learned from you, I think Cassie’s child will be born immune as well. It’s why all the women here take these same treatments. So that the next generation will be safe.”

  “This…this doesn’t feel right.” Evangeline looked at Cassie. “You knew about this? Aren’t you worried about your baby?”

  “No, sweetie. I’ve been helping Henry for the past few years. I’ve seen him work. I had an ultrasound just last week. The baby’s healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes. Her little heart beats so strong. She’s even started to kick already.” Cassie beamed.

  “She?”

  “I’m having a little girl. Henry ran blood tests. All her levels are perfect. No Down’s, no chromosomal abnormalities. Really. She’s perfect.”

  “The baby’s DNA shows some of the same indicators yours does. She’s going to be as strong as you are, Eva. I know it.” Henry laid a hand on Evangeline’s shoulder. “Everything I’ve done has been for you. For the people here. For all humankind. Now please, sweetheart. I know I haven’t always been honest with you. My research is…delicate. How I do what I do… I can’t share everything. But I know what I’m doing is right. You’re going to save the world. You. And me.”

  She studied her father’s face, hoping to find some hint of dishonesty. But he took her hands, and the strength of his grip and the look in his eyes had her softening. She wished she had her coin. Somehow holding the ancient metal always made her feel better—more grounded. She’d hidden the necklace in one of her few paperback books before Cassie showed up to collect her. She couldn’t take the chance her father would find out she still thought of the vampire. Nicola had been kind to her, and something about him had settled in her heart.

  Henry
squeezed her hand. “Please, sweetheart. Trust me.”

  “Is this one going to hurt?” she asked.

  “No. I added some morphine. You’ll sleep through any pain.”

  “Okay.” She tugged up the sleeve of her tunic and offered Henry her arm. A small lump of scar tissue at the crook of her elbow from years of injections covered over-sensitized nerves that throbbed with pain as her father slid the needle into her arm.

  “You’re so like your mother,” Henry said softly while Evangeline’s senses fuzzed. “She was one of the strongest women I’d ever known. And the most beautiful. I’m so proud of who you’ve become, Eva.”

  Two days later, Henry’s whistling pulled Nicola from his meditation. Sitting cross-legged on his cot, eyes closed, palms up on his knees, he tried to continue his recitation of Hamlet. But the shrill, happy tone worried him. Whenever Henry was happy, Nicola suffered.

  “I know you won’t answer me, vampire, but I thought you should know your existence will end soon. This last batch of serum I harvested from Eva shows great promise.

  At the mention of Evangeline’s name, Nicola tried to stifle his growl. He hadn’t caught a whiff of her sweet scent in a long while. Perhaps even years. He’d wondered, from time to time, if she even remained underground. She would have to be over eighteen now, though, with no clocks in the room or any indication of day and night, he had no idea how many years he’d been Henry’s prisoner.

  “We tested some of your blood against the serum this morning. I can’t wait to see how you react this afternoon.” Henry grinned and poured a clear liquid into a beaker over an open flame.

  Fear churned in Nicola’s gut. No. He could control his mind. Concentrating on the face of the young girl he once knew helped center him, and he resumed his Hamlet recitation.

  Hours later, bound to the cold metal table with silver shackles at his wrists and ankles, Nicola forced slow breaths through his nose. He didn’t bother fighting any longer. Gary had tranquilized him before moving him from his cell, and struggling would only make the silver cuffs burn and chafe.

  Would they cut him this time? Beat him? An IV in his arm dripped a cold liquid into his vein.

  The room started to swim around him, and he moaned quietly. He felt thin. Deflated. Another few breaths and he couldn’t force his eyes open.

  Please.

  Nicola pleaded with a God he feared had long ago forsaken him. This weakness frightened him more than any pain.

  “Look at me, vampire,” Henry commanded.

  Nicola could only manage a hoarse whimper.

  “Can’t, can you?” Henry laughed. “This batch of serum is perfect.”

  A flash of white-hot pain against his inner thigh preceded a gush of blood. They’d severed his femoral artery again. He knew from past experience that grooves in the table under his body would carry any spilled blood into a collection chamber underneath him. Longo never wasted a single drop of Nicola’s blood.

  Let me die. Take me and let me be done with this life.”

  Poised on the knife edge of death, he felt his skin start to knit back together.

  No. Please.

  Longo and his men cursed, and something crashed to his left. A pinprick of another needle in his neck marked a fresh dose of the tranquilizer that would soon send him into unconsciousness. He would not die today.

  5

  Snoqualmie Catacombs - April 2031

  Tense whispering from close by greeted him after his medically induced unconsciousness. The dose of the serum they’d given him hours before had failed miserably. Rather than weakening him, the clear liquid flowing through the IV had made him stronger.

  He’d broken the chain around his right wrist and had been seconds from freeing his left when Longo had tranquilized him.

  The extra boost of strength had faded, though, and he didn’t think he could do anything about the silver bars around him.

  “Mickey and Will are headed north of Seattle with Olivia and another set of fireworks. We have to get another vamp in here. They clearly avoid this area of the forest, but there’s a contingent close to the coast an hour out of town,” Jake said.

  Longo's thin voice grated. “I’ve sent Eva hunting in every direction for fifty miles, and she’s never seen so much as another footprint.”

  “I want to try to get that one to bite her again,” Miss Duffield said.

  If only the lab assistant had been willing to talk to him—to listen. But she believed a vampire killed her father. Nicola had no way of knowing the truth of her words, but he couldn’t blame her for her hatred of him.

  “How?”

  A door opened, followed by clipped footsteps. “Will called. They found a small cluster of houses north of Puyallup. They’re going to observe for a couple of days—see if the residents are human or vampire. If they find vamps, they’ll use Olivia. Smear a little blood on her clothes, send her off to play. If the vamps come close, we’ll grab as many as we can. Then we won’t need that one to bite Eva.”

  “Shut up,” Longo spat. “The bloodsucker is awake. And listening to us.”

  “No, he’s not,” Miss Duffield said. “The tranq we gave him should last at least another hour.”

  Longo’s slow, deliberate footsteps approached Nicola’s cell. “Whenever we mention Eva, that thing holds its breath.”

  Nicola opened his eyes. The doctor’s observational skills were improving. “Sei una testa di cazzo.”

  “I can only imagine what that means,” Longo replied with a thin-lipped smile.

  “She is your daughter, stronzo. You should be ashamed of yourself. Using her as bait…experimenting on her. One day she will find out just how evil you are.” Nicola turned over on his cot. Facing his captors left a sour taste in his mouth.

  Longo chuckled. “She believed me evil for years, vampire. Ever since I shot you in front of her. But Miss Duffield changed everything. Eva has forgotten all about you. Her blood is so strong. She is the key to wiping out your entire race.”

  Gritting his teeth, Nicola struggled not to throw himself at the bars in a futile attempt to reach Longo. His near perfect memories of Evangeline’s face, her laugh, her sweet smile…they had gotten him through so many years. Hearing she now hated his kind broke something in him he hadn’t known could shatter. The last thread of hope. If one human in this cursed place didn’t hate him, he could fight. But now…

  “She’s the only human here who can incubate the serum. She endures such pain…all for the cause.”

  Stop. No more.

  “Such pure, perfect poison. The child you tried so desperately to protect will be responsible for your death. Maybe I’ll even have her deliver the killing dose herself.”

  For several moments, Nicola couldn’t speak. Death would be a relief. Death at Evangeline’s hand? That would be pure torture.

  “Does she know?” Nicola asked softly, still facing the wall.

  No one answered him. Soon, the lab fell quiet as footsteps faded into silence. The steel door clicked shut, and the light dimmed slightly. Alone again, his thoughts turned to Evangeline.

  My sweet one, I pray your father is lying. That you have not fallen for his trickery. Run away from here. Leave this evil place. Be free.

  Drawing back her bow, Evangeline watched the buck as he munched on a fresh crop of blueberries next to a stand of tall trees. She waited, her gloved fingers curled in anticipation. The buck would feed her and the other residents for at least three days, and the hide would be used for clothing. She hated killing, but her accuracy with a bow allowed her almost unlimited freedom to be outdoors whenever she wanted, and the luxury of a few days without the tasteless manufactured protein everyone ate most of the time.

  Her cape—covered with bits of tree bark and leaves—hid her well. The buck looked around, as if he’d scented her, but then went back to his snack, completely relaxed.

  A memory pushed at the back of her mind. Her father. A shot in the darkness. Blood. Nicola.

  Frowning
, Evangeline shoved the memory away. Only her prey mattered now. As the buck stepped over a fallen branch, Evangeline took her shot. The arrow flew straight and true and sunk deep into the buck’s eye. The animal whined, then fell to the ground. After a single spasm, he lay still.

  Picking her way over the forest litter, the memory threatened again. The vampire’s pained cries. Panic.

  I’m so sorry, Nicola.

  Evangeline reached for the coin she often wore around her neck, but she’d left the necklace in her trunk. Something that precious shouldn’t be worn hunting.

  Seconds after she’d removed the arrow, Jeremy came crashing through the bushes. “Shit, Jeremy. If you’d been a minute earlier, you’d have scared away my buck!”

  The teen, six-feet-tall and skinny as an arrow grinned at Evangeline and opened his pack. “But look at how many berries I got!”

  With a sigh, Evangeline nodded. “Good job. Now help me with the buck. I don’t want to be out here much longer. Tamlyn needs help changing out the water filters.”

  Jeremy snapped to her aid. He had a crush on her, and since he’d shown a talent for foraging, her father often saddled her with the teen when she hunted. His pathetic attempts to kiss her as they passed through the portal annoyed the hell out of her. She had ten years on him—any sort of relationship with him was just…wrong.

  Though she could have handled the buck on her own, giving Jeremy something to do would keep him from ogling her. Evangeline’s strength eclipsed almost everyone in the catacombs—all but the very strongest men. As much as she hated her father’s treatments, she loved being able to drag a deer across the forest floor by herself.

  Jeremy zipped up his pack and glanced nervously over his shoulder. “Yeah, I don’t want to be out here any longer than we have to be. There could be vamps. Not…that I’m afraid or anything.”

  “And when was the last time you saw a vampire?” Evangeline asked as she jammed her palm on her hip.