Deliverance (13 page)

Chapter 15

S
amantha woke up in a small cell containing nothing but the little cot she was laying on. There wasn’t even a bathroom, which she very much needed to use. Her wounds had been bandaged and she could tell from how fuzzy her mind felt that someone had given her strong pain-killers.

Standing up, she waited for the lightheadedness to pass before she walked the perimeter of her tiny quarters. The walls were plain and white. She couldn’t even find a crack in the paint. The floor was white tile with a drain in the center. She leaned down to inspect it and saw a flaky, brownish reddish substance around some of the little circles.
Please don’t let that be blood.
But she knew she was kidding herself. It certainly wasn’t rust.

The door had no handle, just a handprint scanner at about the same level that the lock was probably located.

She stood in the center, staring at the door, uncertain if she should do anything. After a few minutes, her bladder made the decision for her.

“Hey!” she shouted past a dry throat, pounding on the door as she did. “I’ve got to use the bathroom!” She continued banging the door for a while before finally giving up. Rubbing her tender palms, she sat on the cot. Her shoulders ached and her wrists sported lacerations where the manacles had dug into them, but otherwise she felt fine.

“Except my bladder might explode,” she mumbled to herself.

Legs clenched together, she was eyeing the drain and wondering if she were desperate enough to relieve herself right there when she heard a series of beeps at her door.

Samantha stood tall, hoping that her expression wouldn’t reveal her fear.

A man in a nicely tailored suit walked in, followed by a woman in a lab coat. On the woman’s tail was a man dressed in the SWAT getup that Samantha had learned to associate with her father’s team. His submachine gun was trained on her. The door clicked ominously shut behind them.

The first two studied her curiously. The man in the suit spoke first. “You may call me Simpson.” He gestured to the woman. “This is Doctor Peterson.” He looked back at her with probing brown eyes. “And you, young lady, are the infamous Samantha.”

Samantha tried to swallow but it proved too difficult. “Where’s my father?”

He took a step closer to her as he answered. “You might be happy to know that he’s being detained with the members of his team. The same men that attempted to kidnap you on several occasions.”

A mixture of emotions churned her stomach. She didn’t want to analyze them too closely, but couldn’t turn off her brain.

It was a relief to know he wouldn’t be pursuing her anymore. Yet, she was still taken and currently trapped in what she could only surmise as some kind of government compound. Samantha’s brows drew together.
Did something happen to him? Do I even care?

“I can see you don’t understand,” Dr. Peterson observed. Her mousy brown hair was pulled into a French twist, and she smoothed down some flyaway strands. She looked to Simpson with a question in her eyes. When he nodded, she stepped up to the foot of the cot and turned back to Samantha. “I assume that you’re aware of the experiments your father was overseeing?”

“Yes,” Samantha answered slowly. “He used vampire blood to make super soldiers.”
What are you going to do to me?
She couldn’t bring herself to voice the question.

“Close enough.” Simpson pulled out his phone and glanced at it.

“It didn’t actually work,” the doctor explained.

“Yes it did. I saw those soldiers myself.” Samantha brushed her hair out of her face. “They had crazy reflexes and were able to beat vampires in a fight.”

“That is correct.” Dr. Peterson took a few steps closer. “But the side effects didn’t occur until about a year ago.”

“Side effects?”
Maybe if I keep them talking about this, they’ll forget I’m their captive.

The doctor searched for the right words before she responded. “From what I’ve been able to deduce, the men used up all of their reserve to harness those great physical feats, including staying young.”

“I don’t get it.” Samantha sat back down on the cot. “Vampire blood would slow their aging process, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s what we thought,” Simpson answered in a gruff tone. “But last year, all of the men who had been injected with your father’s formula began to age drastically. They were hearty and healthy one day, then the next, they had gray hair and swollen joints. It’s taken a huge toll on the military.”

Samantha could feel her stomach drop. “You mean you gave that formula to every man in the service?”

Simpson waved a hand in dismissal. “Of course not. There’s no way we could keep it confidential if we did. But most of our special forces opted for the ‘experimental supplements treatment.’ Now our most elite are dead or are lying around here waiting to die.”

Hand over her lips, Samantha shook her head. “It was wrong for you guys to do that at all. Now all of those innocent people are paying the price.”

Dr. Peterson straightened. “We’ll fix the problem. Especially now that we have captured several thousand vampires. I’ll be able to take over your father’s experiments and figure out what went wrong.” She gave a soft smile. “I’m going to save your father, Samantha.”

Hot tears sprang into her eyes and Samantha blinked them away. She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. What he did to Leisha, all in the name of science, was unforgivable. Samantha hated the vampires, but she wouldn’t wish that kind of torture on anyone.
Dear God in heaven, please don’t let them hurt Nik!
“You should just take the loss and leave this alone. What you guys are doing is wrong. It will only backfire worse the next time.”

Simpson’s lips parted. He folded his arms across his chest as he leaned a shoulder against the white wall. “You don’t seem too concerned for your dear father.”

Samantha’s hands shook and she clenched them into fists. She didn’t know what to think about her dad dying, but she wasn’t about to discuss it with these people. “Mason is suffering the consequences of his actions. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Isn’t there?” Simpson countered. “I thought you were some kind of a psychic.”

Blood froze in her veins as she stared up at the man with wide eyes.

Dr. Peterson blushed. “I found out from your father’s notes. He conducted experiments on psychics a long time ago. You were a baby then.”

Nodding, Simpson started to become more and more animated as he spoke. “He made some great progress in those trials, and now we’re very curious what we can do with you.”

“With me?” Samantha whispered through stiff lips.

“Yes.” The doctor’s gray eyes were alight with excitement. “We’re hoping to use some of your blood for my experiments. But we also want to conduct trials on you to test if we can see into the future and figure out what the solution is so we can fix it now.”

Samantha’s head felt light. She rubbed her hands over her arms, thinking of sharp needles. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Not for you,” Simpson said. “But with the drugs your father developed, we think we can make some real progress with that special ability of yours.” His demeanor changed back to ambivalence. “I believe you said you have a need to use the bathroom. Doctor Peterson and Clive,” he pointed to the man with the gun, “will escort you.”

Chapter 16

S
amantha wasn’t sure how much time had passed. After she’d been taken to the restroom, they’d marched her directly back to her room. The layout, from what she’d seen, was almost like a hospital. There had been all kinds of machines and monitors that she’d seen in hospitals before. The major difference being that the “patients” were sequestered behind locked doors.

The only people that Samantha had seen walking around looked like either doctors or guards. She’d wanted to find out where they were holding Nik, but none of the doors had windows and there were no labels or charts to indicate who was put where.

When she’d returned, Samantha sat for several moments, staring at the blank wall. Her mind kept jumping back and forth between what these people had planned for her and what had happened to her father. Closing her eyes, she pictured how her dad looked when she’d last seen him. He had the same icy blue eyes as hers, his dark brown hair hadn’t shown any hint of gray. He had embodied a vitality from what she remembered, though that energy had been put to evil purposes. Still, it was hard to imagine him shriveled in a hospital bed somewhere in this building.

Unable to brood on difficult thoughts, Samantha stood and assumed the starting position for the tai chi routine that Leisha had taught her. She wasn’t nearly as graceful as her friend, but flowing from Lu movements and then into Peng helped Samantha to clear her mind. Once she finished, she collapsed onto her cot and fell asleep almost immediately.

Once she was awake, she slowly paced the room. She tried to think of what Leisha would do in this situation. Probably a bunch more exercises. The vampire had been held in a room when they’d stayed with the immortals years ago. Samantha remembered how her friend had gotten antsy and had danced and done tai chi to stay sane. But Samantha needed food to sustain her, and it didn’t seem that her captors cared too much about her sustenance.

Beeps sounded at the door again and Samantha turned to see who was coming. Doctor Peterson entered with a different man to stand guard.

“Good morning,” the doctor greeted. “How are you feeling today?”

“Hungry enough to eat you both alive.” Samantha had meant the statement to sound intimidating, but it came out more petulant.

Doctor Peterson looked at her with mild irritation. “Very amusing,” she said dryly.

Samantha’s nostrils flared before she spoke again. “Well, since you obviously didn’t bring me anything to eat, why are you here?”

Reaching into the pocket of her lab coat, the woman pulled on latex gloves. Then she grabbed something else from her pocket. It was a small needle. “I need to be sure that the drugs have flushed through your system before I can conduct my experiments.”

Eyeing the guard holding the large semi-automatic weapon at the door, Samantha decided to save her energy and comply. She sat on her cot and held out her arm.

The doctor appeared surprised that Samantha wasn’t going to put up a fight. She hesitated for a moment, then proceeded to tie a rubber hose around Samantha’s arm to make her vein bulge. It took little time to fill the vial with her blood and Samantha was proud that she hadn’t flinched during the whole procedure.

“Could I at least have some water?” Samantha asked when Peterson was done. She tried to sound as meek as possible. “It might help to flush my system faster.”

Doctor Peterson narrowed her eyes as she studied Samantha, then finally nodded and left.

A few minutes later, a man dressed in scrubs and shadowed by a guard brought her a plastic jug of water and a roll. It wasn’t much, but Samantha figured she was lucky to get anything at all in this place. It was gone all too quickly and Samantha resigned herself to another long day of solitary confinement.

It was two more days before anything happened. During that time, she received a pitiful ration of bread and water, and was allowed to use the restroom twice per day. The monotony and gnawing hunger played havoc with her nerves, and she felt certain she would snap if something didn’t happen soon. Then, on the third day, Samantha had been lying on her cot, tapping out a beat on her stomach when the door beeped.

Doctor Peterson’s eyes were alight. Her feet moved quickly and she barely touched the ground, like she’d been looking forward to today’s events her whole life. She was flanked by a man and a woman dressed in scrubs. The woman was pushing some kind of monitor in front of her while the man held a medical kit filled to the brim with needles, test tubes, and wires. The same guard as before stood by the door with his gun drawn.

“Your system is officially clean, Samantha.” The doctor held out her hand and the man gave her a vial filled with greenish liquid. “We can finally start the experiments.”

Samantha was suddenly unable to swallow. Her mouth slowly fill up with saliva while her head was light. “What exactly are you going to do?” She eyed the thick needle attached to the vial.

The female assistant started to operate the monitor she’d wheeled in. As she attached wires and pushed buttons, Doctor Peterson explained. “First, we’re going to inject you with this drug that I created based off of experiments your father conducted over twenty years ago. Then we’re going to closely monitor your brain waves and vitals to see if we can tap into an induced vision.”

The woman stuck pads over Samantha’s temples. They were cold, almost clammy. Again, Samantha wondered if she should try to fight, but highly doubted she would get anywhere in the compound, even if she could fight off all four opponents in her cell. Her hands started to shake at the realization that she couldn’t do anything about this situation.

The male assistant put a large band over her upper arm and pumped it until it was squeezing her arm uncomfortably. After listening to her pulse through his stethoscope, he nodded to Doctor Peterson.

The doctor immediately pushed the needle into one of Samantha’s bulging veins. She gasped when it pierced her arm.

The initial prick burned but quickly dissipated. Then Samantha could feel coolness spreading through her arm until it reached her chest. It was at that point that she could start to feel the effects of the drug.

Her vision turned blurry, colors mixing together where they didn’t belong. Samantha tried to shake her head to throw off the strange reaction, but that only made the bizarre sight shift to gray.

She opened her mouth to complain about the sensations, but then realized she couldn’t find her voice. The more she tried to speak, the more her throat threatened to close up. Rising panic invaded her mind and her limbs thrashed.

A voice yelled, “Hold her! Keep her stable!” But it was so distant that she couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman talking.

Every muscle in her body started to spasm and clench, and Samantha knew she couldn’t take any more.
After everything I’ve been through, this is how I die?
It wasn’t fair. She’d figured that, if she died young, it would be at the hands of either the immortals or the vampires. Now her life was about to end because of a mad scientist and her queer drugs.

Thanks a lot, Dad
, was her last thought before her body slumped into a strange state of semi-consciousness.

Samantha was in hell. At
least, that’s what it looked like to her. There was no sunlight, no grass or plants or trees. Just rocks, ash, and a colorless sky. She expected to smell something hellish, like brimstone, but there wasn’t even a smell at all. She didn’t see any people or sign of life. Since she wasn’t in her physical body, she moved forward, feeling like a ghost floating over the empty terrain, uncertain of what she was supposed to see.

Ash began falling from the sky, creating a drab curtain in every direction. Then movement around her. Turning, she narrowed in on a shadow that she couldn’t make out. Fear enveloped her and she rushed away from it.

“Nik!” she called in a sudden state of panic, even though he wouldn’t hear her in a vision.

As if to contradict that thought, the vampire appeared out of nowhere and faced her.

She gasped when she saw his face. The first thing that struck her were his irises. They were as colorless and lifeless as the sky. The hollows around his eyes were sunken and black. His skin was gray and green, rotting off in places all around his body.

Nik smiled. His teeth were gone and his mouth dripped bright red blood. “Thank you, Sam.”

“F-for what?”

He pulled her in to him as if she had a body. She could smell the overly sweet scent of decay all over him. It overwhelmed her senses and made her eyes water. “For killing me.” He bent down as if to kiss her. A drop of blood fell from his mouth and onto her lower lip. It was ice cold and felt as thick and cloying as oil.

Samantha screamed and bolted away from him. She could hear his heavy steps pursuing and she plowed deeper into a wall of ash.

A stinging slap across the
face brought her back. Samantha gasped for breath as if she hadn’t been inhaling the whole time she’d had her vision. Blinking her watery eyes, she couldn’t help but feel the sharp stinging in her cheek. It felt as if she’d been slapped more than once.

Glancing up, she saw Doctor Peterson raising her hand for another blow.

“Stop,” Samantha croaked. Her throat was scratchy, dry. “Don’t.”

The doctor lowered her hand and appraised the patient before her. “What was your vision?”

Samantha tried to swallow, but couldn’t. She licked her lips and choked out one word. “Water.”

Sighing with impatience, Peterson nodded to the male assistant who pulled out a small water bottle and handed it to Samantha. She gratefully accepted it with shaking hands, then gulped down every drop.

“I didn’t have a vision,” Samantha informed them.

Mouth twisting, the doctor shook her head. “You did. We monitored your brain waves, remember? That certainly wasn’t a dream. Now please tell me every detail of what you saw.”

Samantha’s brows drew together.
It couldn’t have been a vision!
She was about to protest more when it a realization stopped her. “It’s the drugs.”

“Excuse me?”

Looking up at the older woman, Samantha tried to explain. “It’s happened before. It was the only time I ever got drunk and had a vision during it.” She shook her head, but stopped when she got dizzy. “I still don’t understand what the vision was trying to show me because the alcohol turned it into a crazy nightmare. Drugs and alcohol skew my visions to the point that they’re not cohesive, just hellish.”

Doctor Peterson scrutinized her closely for several minutes. “I think you’re just trying to buy yourself some time,” the doctor said. “I designed this formula myself, and I know it induced a vision. Now tell me what you saw!”

Samantha rolled her eyes as she said, “I was in a strange place with no sun and no life. There was only rock and ash. I saw a vampire that I know. He looked like a zombie and thanked me for killing him.”

All three of the medical personnel were typing notes into their tablets. Samantha was surprised at how seriously they were taking her account.

“You guys can’t honestly think that’s going to happen sometime in the future.” Samantha guffawed. “I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff. Experienced things for myself, and I don’t believe that what I saw will actually happen.”

Tapping her chin, the doctor watched her. “You said that you know this vampire, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it a man or a woman?”

Shrugging, Samantha answered. “A man.”

Doctor Peterson pursed her lips in thought. “And do you have any special connection to him?”

Samantha could feel a flush creeping up her cheeks. “No.” When she met the doctor’s gaze, it was clear that they both knew she was lying.

“Perhaps you don’t want to believe your vision because you can’t accept the idea that this vampire will die, and because of you.”

“What about the weird atmosphere and all that other crap?” Samantha sputtered.

“You of all people should know that some things in a vision can be symbolic.”

“Maybe for the other psychics you’ve kidnapped and tortured, but mine don’t work like that.”

“Perhaps this formula is helping you to better develop your abilities.” That was all that was said to her. The doctor directed the others to clean up with a tilt of her head, and within moments, Samantha was once again left to herself.

She hugged her torso, trying to process what had just happened.
I’d never kill Nik,
she thought.
Even if he asked me to, I could never do it.
Sleep was difficult for a couple of days as she repeated the little mantra to herself.