The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 94
I walked around the rock to find the panther sauntering up the narrow path toward me, amber eyes glowing. I automatically turned, searching for refuge. But the trees behind me had vanished. In their place, a large brick wall rose high into the midnight sky.
“You can only move forward from here, my child. Wait for Serapis.”
The panther bowed his head, as if to say, “Hi. Nice to see you again.”
I slowly nodded in return, going up to the amazing animal. He wiped his nose against my thigh, and I unthinkingly petted his head.
The area came to life. Men, women, and children roamed aimlessly, as though they were searching for life or loved ones. I quickly removed my hand, and the people became coffins. I stilled when I spied a body in the coffin the old man knelt in front of. My throat became dry, my legs weak.
“You must join me, child. I need to prepare you.”
I shook my head. Something in me told me I shouldn’t go anywhere near him or the coffin.
A bang sounded from somewhere behind me, jarring me out of my stupor.
The old man’s voice lowered to a growl. “Serapis, bring her.”
Backing away from the panther’s narrowed gaze, I screamed, and so did the creatures and maybe even the dead. Howls and hoots competed with me until something soft and soothing rose above everything and everyone else.
“Wake up, Jo,” the voice said, low and soft. “Pumpkin.”
Another scream tore from my lungs as I opened my eyes. “Let me go. I don’t want to go over there. I can’t.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Shhh. You were dreaming,” Dad crooned, holding me.
I shook violently as the dream burned in my brain. I wiped away tears.
“A bad dream?” Dad asked.
“The old man. He’s back. He was kneeling in front of a…coffin. He sent his panther to guide me to him. He wanted me to join him. I didn’t want to see who was in there.”
“Panther?” Sam staggered in, hair sticking in every direction. He crawled up the bed on the other side of me.
“Tell me more of your dream,” Dad said. He made himself comfortable as he sat back against the headboard.
“I want to hear about the panther.” Sam yawned.
As the three of us lounged on my bed, shadows playing on the ceiling, I pitched into a play-by-play of my dream. I even recounted my first one, when I’d met the old man.
“So you don’t know who was in the coffin?” Sam asked.
“No. And I don’t want to know.” I sniffled.
“As vampires, our dreams can give insight into our futures.” Dad had mentioned that to me before.
“Does that mean I’m the one in the coffin?” I might not be enamored with my vampire status, but I didn’t want to die. I still had things I wanted to accomplish in my life.
“There’s a reason the old man wanted you to see who was in the coffin. From what you’ve told me, he seems to be helping you.”
“He may be, but he’s also confusing.” In my first dream, a few weeks back, he’d rattled off some wisdom about me protecting humanity.
“Most dreams are, pumpkin.” He draped an arm over my shoulder.
I leaned against him with my head on his chest as Sam fell asleep.
“Dad, tell me more about Abbey,” I said.
“The vision she showed you. Was it your dream?” He crossed one ankle over the other.
“I don’t know. When she touched me, I was in a forest, but my dream didn’t have someone behind me with red eyes. Does her father have red vampire eyes like Edmund?”
His hold on me tightened. “Edmund is her father,” he whispered.
The world spun, or maybe my head twirled with shock. I wasn’t sure I was even breathing. “I thought her father…”
“Quade is essentially her father. He met her mom, Rachel, not long after Edmund was out of her life and out of the sentinels.”
“Are you sure then that Abbey is Edmund’s child?” I straightened and looked at Dad.
“Yeah, she is.” He pulled me to him. “Rachel found out she was two months pregnant when she and Quade met. And Dr. Vieira tested Abbey’s DNA against Edmund’s medical records.”
“So does Edmund know?” I didn’t think he did, for some reason.
“He must never know.” He kissed my head. “He and my brother would use her as a lab specimen to fund their mission of building the perfect army.”
“But she’s his flesh and blood.” Edmund was an evil vampire, at least to me, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t know he had a daughter. Maybe if he knew he had a child he would change his ways.
“Yes, and she’s human right now—a perfect age to study genetics. Aside from her mom and Quade, only Webb, me, and now you have this information. And I’m telling you this because I know you’ll keep asking. And I don’t want you to bring up this subject in front of any of the sentinels again. It is not to be discussed, whispered, or questioned from here on out. Do you understand, Jo?”
Inwardly, I smiled. For Dad to trust me with this information said a lot about how far our relationship had come. A month ago he would’ve told me it was none of my business.
“I get it, Dad. So how does she know her father has red eyes?”
“I suspect her visions.”
“Oh! She was trying to show me today when she touched me.”
“Maybe,” he said.
We sat quietly. The only sound in the room was Sam’s breathing, which I hadn’t noticed until now.
“Do you think she saw him earlier today?” I murmured.
“No. We found Ben’s car not far from the base. We think he was trying to sneak in again.” He rose. “We have a few hours until daylight. Get some rest.”
“What about Sam?”
We both looked at my brother. He had one arm underneath the pillow while the other one was tucked in close to him.
“Leave him. He’ll be fine.”
Wow, I hadn’t slept in the same bed with my brother since we were toddlers. Most of our foster homes hadn’t had enough beds, so we would share. Now we were adults, and even though I loved him to death, it seemed awkward.
Dad retired to his room. I tried to sleep over Sam’s heavy breathing and occasional snorts. A few times I punched him then laughed. My efforts didn’t work at all. He was dead to the world.
So I lay lost in thought about Abbey and Edmund. Aside from both having black hair, I didn’t see any resemblance between the two.
“You can’t sleep?” Sam asked as he stretched.
“How can I, with you snoring?” I turned on my side to face Sam and tucked my arm underneath my pillow.
“You want to tell me what’s bothering you? Is it your dream?” He rubbed his left eye.
I wasn’t allowed to tell him what Dad had shared about Abbey. “What do you think the future holds for us, Sam?”
“Sis, I’m not a fortune teller. I’m an Empath.” His tone was soft.
“I know. But what do you think?” Neither he nor I could foresee the future, but I wanted his thoughts.
He sat up, adjusting the pillow behind him. “I think we have a very challenging road ahead, Sis. If the story on the news is correct, and Edmund is responsible, we have a battle to stop his operation. Then there’s Ben. We don’t know what he is now or what he’s going to do. And let’s not forget the death of the Secretary of the Navy. Dad’s innocence is still up for discussion.”
I’d forgotten all about Dad’s grand jury hearing, although he hadn’t yet mentioned when it would be.
“The most important topic”—Sam raised his eyebrows—“is your court hearing for Blake’s death. When is it?”
“No idea. I guess I should ask Dad.” Not that I wanted to even bring up the subject.
A tiny ray of light sneaked in through a slit in the curtains.
“Was Kate or Edmund at the training facility yesterday?” The less I thought about the Council and what they might do to me, the better.
“Kate was, but not Edmund. At least, I didn’t see him.”
“I figured as much.”
“Didn’t Webb tell you?” He looked down at me.
“He told me she wasn’t there.” I should be upset that he lied, but all I felt right now was worry about our future, about why Kate wanted to kill Webb and what Edmund had in store for us. Plus the dream kind of freaked me out. Was it a snapshot of what the future held? If so, who was in that coffin? “So she’s still trying to kill him?” I sat up.
“It looks that way. Jo.” Sam grabbed my hand. “You know I would never betray you. Never. You’re my family, my life.”
I wasn’t even thinking about that. Deep in my heart, I knew Sam would never betray me or I, him. Still, his reassurance was exactly what I needed to hear.
Dr. Case greeted Sam and me as we entered the medical facility. He had his hands in the pockets of his blue lab coat.
“What’s he doing here?” Sam asked.
“Helping.” Dr. Case waved his hand out to his right. “You’ll be in the room in the far back corner.”
I shrugged. I’d fill Sam in later. The three of us walked down the center aisle of the medical facility with Dr. Case in the lead.
“A special room just for you two,” Dr. Case said, standing off to the side of the doorway. “Go on in.”
Sam and I walked in. Wow, he was right. Our names were taped to the monitors mounted on the wall—two for Sam and two for me. Two exam tables and two carts with needles, charts, cotton swabs, and specimen slides sat in front of the monitors.
Dr. Case flipped a switch, and the monitors on the wall powered on.
“Glad to see you wore your workout gear,” Dr. Vieira said, gliding into the room. “Up on the tables, both of you.” He punched his password on the keyboard. “Okay, Dr. Case. I’ll take it from here.”
Without a word, Dr. Case left and closed the door behind him.
“You don’t trust him?” I hopped up onto the paper-covered table in front of the monitor with my name on it.
“As you learned yesterday, Jo, he’s here to help decipher any data we have from the thumb drive. Nothing more.”
“Is Olivia okay?” Sam asked as he made himself comfortable on his bench.
“She’s stable. Her immune system has been compromised, so she’ll need time to recover.”
“Have you found out what was in the bullet?” I asked.
“We’re working on it. Now, let’s get started.”
Dr. Vieira slipped his hands into a pair of latex gloves. Then he began drawing blood, swabbing our mouths, checking our hearts, and measuring our height and weight. Once he completed those tasks, Brian, his curly-haired lab assistant, came in and collected our DNA and blood samples then left the room.
Dr. Vieira picked up a wand-like device, pressed a button on the handle, and scanned my computer chip, which was embedded in my lower back on the right. The wand beeped once before my information scrolled across the screen.
Josephine Juno Mason, born December twenty-first. Father: Steven Mars Mason. Brother: Samuel Jove Mason. Blood type: AF negative. Heart rate: twenty bpm. Eye color: silver and violet. Hair: black with purple streaks. Notes: A diamond-shaped birthmark behind left ear. A seven-pointed star tattoo located on back, upper right shoulder.
I read through each line at least five times. I’d forgotten about my birthmark. No one could see it unless I had my hair up, away from my ears.
Dr. Vieira repeated the routine on Sam. I gleaned one new thing about my brother. His heart rate was fifteen beats per minute.
“Why is Sam’s heart rate lower than mine?”
We’d learned early that, as we grew, our pulse would decrease to five beats per minute.
“Everyone is different, Jo, and male vampires advance faster than females in some respects. Females, on the other hand, gain their powers before males.”
Dr. Vieira examined us thoroughly, recording every stat in the computer as he progressed from one area to the other.
After two hours, he pulled off his gloves. “Let’s discuss my findings so far.” He sat down on a rolling stool adjacent to the exam tables, putting the keyboard in his lap, and tapped a few keys. “Here’s your basic data, vitals, height, weight, et cetera.”
Wow, I had grown two inches since turning vampire—five feet, eight inches. Sam had grown four, to six feet, four inches.
“You both have the same blood type.” Dr. Vieira hit a key, and the screen advanced. “Heart rates are dropping nicely to the normal vampire level. I would say another few months, and you should be right in line with five beats per minute or thereabouts.”
The exam room door opened, and Dad strolled in. “Are these two healthy, Damon?” Dad clipped his phone to his belt.
“Better than healthy. I won’t know the results of the blood work and DNA samples for at least two weeks. It depends on how backed up the lab is.”
“What about the anomaly you spoke of?” Dad settled between the exam tables, stance wide.
“I’d rather wait until the lab results come back before I say for certain.” Dr. Vieira looked at Dad then me.
“Humor me, Damon. What do you think is going on with Jo?” Dad crossed his arms over his chest.
Dr. Vieira rose then set the keyboard on top of Sam’s cart. Then he cleared his throat. “The tests I ran on Jo after she turned vampire a few months ago revealed that her DNA has a quadruple helix structure. Normal natural-born vampires have a triple helix. I hadn’t said anything to you, Steven, because I wasn’t certain of this, and I’m still not.”
Dad chewed on his cheek as if he was thinking. Or was he mad?
So I had a different DNA makeup than normal vampires. What was the big deal?
Tripp and his wolf bloodline popped in my head. “Dad, did Mom have any wolves in her lineage?”
Sam snorted. “Are you crazy?”
“Um…dead serious. Talk to Tripp?”
“What?” Sam gaped. “Tripp is a wolf?”
“Let’s not get off track,” Dad said. “To answer your question, Jo, not that I know of. Our lineage has always been—”
“Odd,” Sam supplied.
“What does this mean, Damon?” Dad asked, his gaze on Dr. Vieira.
Dr. Vieira ran a hand through his short brown hair. “For as long as I’ve been studying genetics, especially ours, I haven’t come across a natural-born vampire with a quadruple helix.” He pinned his brown eyes on me.
“I take it I’m normal?” Sam asked.
“Your earlier tests are normal.” Dr. Vieira’s hand went over his face.
“You seem a little concerned for some reason,” Dad said as he uncrossed his arms. “Is there something else you’re not telling?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “If I were in Patrick’s shoes, and I was trying to genetically change humans into vampires, I would want to study Jo. Look, we know he’s developed something that works. Only there are flaws. If he finds out Jo is different, he’ll want her. You know he will, Steven. I’m not trying to scare anyone, but we have to think like him.”
“Shit!” Dad barked.
Electricity charged the air. My mouth hung open as horror settled in my veins. I’d rather be dead than in the hands of my uncle, Patrick. I remembered when we’d found Sam. He was lying on a table in a glass-enclosed room with his arms hanging off the sides. His skin was pale, and he had a weak pulse.
Sam swore.
“Are you sending their samples to our lab in Boston?” Dad began pacing.
“Yes. And I’ve already spoken to Fred Lambert, who’s in charge of the lab. I’ve asked if Grace can run the samples. She’s discreet and trustworthy,” Dr. Vieira said.
“Put a rush on them if you can, and make sure it is discreet. If Edmund gets wind of this info, Jo’s life will be in jeopardy.” Dad blew out a breath, his fangs extended.
What else was new? He wanted me dead anyway. At least, he’d told me so. Regardless, I had to live my life. Even as a human in foster care, I had to protect myself from other kids or even foster dads, although I didn’t do a very good job. Sam had always been my protector.
“He’s already planned my death. So what’s the difference? I’ll never be able to live a normal life, will I?” It was more of a question to myself than anything.
“Not unless Edmund is dead,” Sam said, matter of fact.
Dad looked as though a zillion questions were running through his mind.
Suffocating silence hung over us.
Dad bit the inside of his cheek. Dr. Vieira started to power down the monitors.
“Can I go?” What was the point of worrying or watching Dad have a meltdown?
He glanced down at me through silver eyes. “We do need to take extra precautions with you.”
“Now, Dad,” I said. “You’re protective enough. I don’t need for you to put a noose around my neck.”
Since I started living with Dad, he’d kept a close eye on me, to the point that I had a bodyguard on me at all times. But that was mainly due to my bloodlust, given the humans who lived on base. Over the past week, he’d loosened the restrictions. I liked not having someone watch me all the time.
He arched a brow as though I’d given him a great idea.
“By the way, Doc. Are we free to drink any type of blood now?” Sam asked as his fangs slid out.
“Not until the final results are back.”
“Then I need to run to the apartment.” Sam jumped down. “Are you coming, Sis?”
Sam and I practically ran out before Dad protested. We wandered through the long hallways and stairwells of the building—Sam in his world, me in mine. I agreed with Dr. Vieira. Uncle Patrick would want to study my DNA. But I couldn’t worry about my uncle or what he might do. Besides, as long as I stayed on base, I was protected. Or at least I hoped I was.
“I don’t like any of this,” Sam finally said as we approached a bank of elevators.
“I don’t, either. But whether Edmund finds out about my unique DNA or not, he isn’t stopping his plan. He’ll attack us no matter what. We just have to be ready. Sam, promise me one thing.”
“What?” The tips of his fangs glinted in the bright hall lights.
“If anything happens to me, please make sure Webb doesn’t do anything stupid, or…you or Dad.”
