Page 101 of Twice Bitten

Leo pulled into the front drive and got out to open my door. Alric slipped out and waited at the front steps to guide me inside. “Come. This won’t take long.”

He led me through a veritable labyrinth of hallways and passages until we reached an area made of stone, so old I could almost feel the memories pressing against me.

His footsteps were loud against the gray stonefloor. He hadn’t said a word since we’d walked inside the mansion, his face a blank mask.

I felt bad about what had happened, though there was no way I could have prevented the magic drawing us together. Alric hadn’t expected those images either, so whatever happened between us wasn’t exactly normal.

Yet another thing I’d have to look into once I’d dealt with the Beckett problem.

Alric stopped at a set of massive iron doors. He pressed his hand against an oddly out-of-place modern biometric system that hissed and clicked, the door cracking open to allow us entrance.

Vesper opened the doors the rest of the way, giving me a strange look when she realized who was standing beside her Prime.

“Are you sure?” she asked Alric.

“She knows,” he said shortly, jerking his head at me to follow.

Once I was inside, I couldn’t help but gape at the setup. We were now standing inside a massive lab—no doubt the product of a shit ton of money and an apparently mad scientist.

Beakers and lab equipment, ancient and modern, lay scattered all over the room. Some held glowing potions with odd magical signatures. Others bubbled and boiled inside their glass prisons. Books of all shapes and sizes were crammed into towering metal shelves. Notebooks with random notes lay open on the metal tables.

My spell lab was organized chaos. This looked like a rich man’s Frankenstein fever dream.

“Quit gawking and follow the Prime,” Vesper snapped.

I shot her a dark look. “Is there a reason you’re such a bitch all the time?”

Vesper blinked. A second later, a snort escaped her. “Wondered when you’d find a spine, girl.”

Ifrowned. “Seriously? Fuck off, scooter girl.”

Her mouth opened and shut. “Scooter girl?” she murmured, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Vespa,” Alric called. “Bad pun, but she’s trying.”

“You can fuck off, too, Prime.”

Vesper grinned. “Atta girl. Now go follow the Prime before I bite you.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “This better be good.”

“From the wide-eyed awe in your eyes, you already know it is.” Vesper winked and shooed me away.

I glared at her, but she only laughed, the sound lighter and freer than I would have expected.

Was this the real Vesper, or was she trying to throw me off balance? Maybe I didn’t want to know the answer to that question. I followed Alric, taking in my fill of the bizarre place.

“Is she the scientist or is there someone else here who manages all this?” I asked when I finally caught up.

“She assists here sometimes. We have a dedicated team of scientists who are constantly researching vampire anatomy and our powers. The more you know and all that.”

“Huh. After all these years, you don’t know everything possible about your DNA?”

Alric scoffed. “Not even a little bit. We know our blood has healing properties, but why? Some of us can hypnotize, but why? Those are the questions we can’t answer. We need to know the why before we can figure out the how. One won’t work without the other.”

We came to another room with another biometric reader. Alric accessed that one and held the door open. I went inside and abruptly stopped, my brain trying to process what I was looking at.

Alric gently nudged me inside. “This is Beckett’s doing,” he said quietly. “We had to put all the infected in stasis. We can’t afford to wake them up until Beckett is neutralized.”