Relic (The Brethren Series) (26 page)

Serena stood abruptly. Now that his intentions were transparent, she had to do something. She had to try to escape. Roberta was nowhere around. It was just the two of them, one a well-toned female, the other a wheelchair bound invalid.
Now, who really has the upper hand here
?

“I wouldn’t move another inch, if I were you,” Dr. Chappo ordered. “I know what you’re thinking. You think you could escape easily right now because I’m in this chair. But if you move so much as a hair, a poison dart will slice through your pretty little neck, rendering you quite dead in a matter of seconds.” Serena stood frozen in place, heart pounding fiercely in her chest. “You see, I’ve rigged this baby with the latest technology and weaponry so that I can never be taken advantage of in my current state. At this very moment, I indeed have a poison dart aimed right at your jugular. Dead or alive, I will have your eternal life.”

Okay, just stay calm, Serena, and for Christ’s sake, don’t move
! She saw Dr. Chappo flip a switch on his laptop control board, and she nearly lost all control of her basic functions.

“Roberta, would you come in now, please? I’m in need of assistance. Thank you.”

No sooner had he called then Roberta flew through the doorway. “What can I help you with Dr. Chappo?”

“Sirona isn’t quite up to speed with our plans, Roberta. See to it that she is more, shall we say, compliant.” He laughed as though he’d found something funny. Like the cackle of a raven, it sent floods of shivers up and down her spine.

He truly is insane
. Insanely polite at one turn, then just plain insane the next. Still glued in place, fearing for her very life, she saw Roberta in the periphery reaching for something in her pocket.

A syringe.

Serena prayed.
Dear Lord, protect me and deliver me from evil
!

“What…what is that, Roberta?” Serena stammered. “What are you going to do?”

“You’ve gone and upset the doctor, after all he’s done for you.” Roberta approached Serena with the syringe. “You can’t see your way to giving a little back? Well, if the good doctor needs you compliant, then compliant is how you’re gonna be. I warned you, Serena—Sirona, whoever you are. I told you to mind your manners. You’re just a hard-headed, selfish, good-for-nothin’.”

Serena had a split second to decide what to do. She could fight Roberta off and run the risk of being killed by some lethal something-or-other the doctor had hidden in his wheelchair, or let herself be drugged up and have God knows what done to her. She chose the first option and grabbed hold of the other woman as she closed in on her. Serena seized Roberta’s wrist, wrenching it back farther than nature intended. Roberta screamed.

They tussled about, falling to the floor, each scrabbling for the upper hand. They yanked hair, slapped, and clawed at each other’s faces, and the two women became hopelessly entangled. Serena fought to keep the syringe away from her skin, amazed that Roberta still held it in her right hand. At one point, Roberta had gotten a hair’s breath away from sticking her with it right in her stomach, but Serena used her knee to knock it away. Roberta managed to stand up, pulling Serena up by her hair with one hand. As the maniacal nurse readied to plunge the syringe into her, Serena noticed Roberta was vulnerable to attack from Dr. Chappo as well. So she immediately grabbed hold of Roberta’s hand and her own hair and flipped her over in order to shield herself from anything the ‘good’ doctor would fire.

Dr. Chappo let loose with the poison darts. However, he only managed to hit Roberta, killing her. Before she faded away, her eyes widened in utter astonishment, her lips curled in rage, and shrieking out her last breath, made one last ditch effort to sedate Serena.
Damn, if she didn’t just nick me
!

Soon after Roberta hit the floor, so did Serena.

Chapter Thirty-One

“Steve, there’s been an unfortunate accident in the guest suite. Get Jim and Harry to come clean it up, please. I want you and Wheezer to come as well, quickly. I have another job for the both of you.” Not waiting for a reply, Dr. Chappo turned off his intercom. He wheeled around Serena’s still form on the floor. Not sure how much of the sedative Roberta had gotten into her, he knew he had to act quickly. If she were to wake up now, before he’d had a chance to hook her up to his blood transfusion machine, he’d have no choice but to kill her. He’d save that as a last resort, since the life-saving procedure he’d devised was meant to transfer living blood.

Before too long, four men entered the room, and without any further direction, two of them began the cleanup of Nurse Roberta.

“This is so unfortunate, Roberta. You’ve been with me for so long. But, ah, what is one to do? Can’t cry over spilt milk,” Dr. Chappo murmured as he watched the two men hoist the body onto a cart and wheel it away. He turned his attention to the other two men and Serena.

“Steve…Wheezer,” he began, “I need you to bring her to my lab immediately. Follow the red lined border on the floor. It will take you directly there. Once there, put her on the surgical table. I don’t have my nurse anymore, so one of you will have to follow my directions explicitly during a procedure I have scheduled. Figure out who it will be by the time I’m done scrubbing in.”

“Yessir, Dr. Chappo.”

Dr. Chappo left the suite ahead of the men, needing to prepare for the procedure he’d created and practiced for months now. He wheeled down the corridor to his lab, all charged up. Having studied hundreds of medical books and watched countless procedures on tape in order to perfect his diabolical plan, the time had come.
I am closer now than ever to ridding myself of this dreaded disease and living forever.

After punching the key code on his laptop, he glided in and headed straight to the scrub room. He would take no chances on possible contamination. Without his nurse around, he did his own scrubbing, a process that would take him twice as long as a surgeon due to his deteriorated condition. Every time the sponge stroked the back of his hand, he shuddered, not only from the agonizing pain, but from the ecstasy and anticipation of his dream finally realized.

***

“Hey, Wheezer, I’m having a little
déjà vu
here, aren’t you? I mean really, why are we the ones who have to deal with the bad kitty all the time?”

“Yeah, but at least this time, she’s out cold,” he quipped, reaching down to grab her legs.

“That’s what you think, asshole!” Serena shouted and kicked him square in the balls with both feet. She rolled away as quickly as she could, and scrambled to her feet while Wheezer fell to his knees moaning.

“That’s twice you’ve done that to me, you little bitch! I’m gonna cut you! I’m gonna cut you so deep your dress is gonna turn red!” Wheezer’s face turned scarlet, and he seethed like a rabid animal.

She realized she had a slim chance of leaving that room alive, but would be damned if she’d let those two touch her again. She thanked the good Lord that Roberta had barely pricked her with the syringe. She had been out cold, but quickly regained consciousness, only to find herself in the current predicament.

Steve had immediately given chase as she fled. The only way out was through the sliding door.
But how do I open it? There’s not enough time to figure that puzzle out
. So as she led Steve on a circular chase throughout the suite, she picked up the bronze relic of Sirona that had been sitting on an occasional table in the bedroom. As she neared the sliding door, she heaved the heavy statue with all her might. An angry sound of shattering glass pierced the air, and she made a break for it, heedless of the damage the glass would do to her bare feet.

“Damn you! You’re dead! You hear me? When I catch you you’re dead!” Steve shrieked as he flew out of the room. “Wheezer, get up, ya pussy, and help me catch the dead bitch!”

Serena didn’t know where to run; she just knew she had to. She had turned left out of the room, since she always saw Roberta go that way and figured it had to lead to some sort of exit. But the corridor, painted a sterile white, kept turning right, then left, and right again in a dizzying and disorienting fashion.

Steve, fast on her heels, left her no time to try opening any of the doors that whizzed by her as she fled. All the while, he taunted her with sadistic threats. She had no time for revulsion or distraction, so she blocked his voice out and focused on escape.

Without warning, a door opened to Serena’s left and out walked an unsuspecting man. A large, unsuspecting man with a large gun strapped to his hip. She’d been running so fast, she had no time to slow down or even maneuver out of his way. Instead, she barreled straight into him, knocking him off kilter, and ricocheted herself backward in the air a good five feet, until she came down with a hard thud on the solid tile floor. She slid to a stop at Steve’s feet. He proceeded to yank her up by her hair.

“Ahh!” she screamed as pain blasted through her scalp, and instinctively grabbed a hold of his hands in order to flip him as she had Roberta. The problem with that plan? He was a bit heavier than Roberta and wouldn’t budge. She would have to try something else. So she did what any woman would do. She stomped on his foot, elbowed him in the gut, and twisted around to scratch and claw at his eyes and face. All the while, the large unsuspecting man with the gun regained his composure, approached the melee, and nonchalantly stuck his gun to her neck.

“You may wanna be stopping that now, seein’ as how I got this here gun kissin’ your pretty little neck,” he drawled. Serena, so caught up in her frenzied quest for freedom, didn’t even paying any attention. “My, but you are a feisty one, ain’t ya?” As he shoved the barrel of the gun deeper into the side of her throat, she coughed and froze instantly. Steve grabbed her wrists and wrenched her hands away from his face.

“Move aside, Harlan. I got this now,” he barked. Harlan eased off with the gun and backed away, keeping his gun trained on her.

As the gunman begged off, Steve wiped his cheek on his shoulder and left a red stain of blood. What she saw next could only be described as a man possessed by the devil. His eyelids lowered until she could barely see the color of his eyes. His right cheek rose and twitched slightly as his lips pressed firmly together in a wicked grin. He pulled her face so close to his that his hot breath scorched her ear. He whispered demonically, “Little sister, you’re gonna pay for what you’ve done to Wheezer and me. Dr. Chappo’s gonna have to wait his turn, ’cause you and I have a little score to settle.” Wheezer came limping down the hall and leaned against the wall, glaring at her. Steve turned his head toward Harlan and ordered, “Leave. Now.”

He focused his attention back on her. Cold defiance set on her face as she stared back at him.
He expects me to cower and tremble in fear of what is coming. I bet he likes it when victims tremble in his hands
. But she wouldn’t even blink. Unfortunately, it only proved to fuel his growing rage.

Before Serena had a chance to flinch or fight, he hoisted her up, and as she screamed Raphael’s name to the heavens, he threw her crashing against the wall.

***

“Serena!” Raphael cried out as he fell to his knees. “Oh God, she’s alive! Gabriel, she called to me! I feel her!”

The Brethren had been trolling systematically throughout the mansion, dismantling more hidden security and cutting down security guards, yet hadn’t gotten any closer to finding Serena. “Oh God, the pain! She’s in so much pain….” He couldn’t go on, as he too experienced her pain. Writhing on the floor, his whole body felt like a bag of broken bones. Through the phantom pain something seemed horribly familiar.

She’s reliving history. Sirona’s history.
There is no way on this earth that I’m going to fail her the way I failed my wife
. “Never again!” he shouted in agony. He had to find her before it was too late.

“Michael,” Gabriel called. “Get over here quick and see what you can do to shield him from Serena’s pain. But make sure the threaded connection still exists so we can locate her.”

“Sure, sure.” He hurried over to Raphael who remained thrashing about on the floor. He placed a talisman around the Savior’s neck, held the medallion in his hands, and spoke a silent prayer that wove silver and gold threaded light around Raphael’s head. “It is done.”

The Savior looked up as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “You are amazing. I don’t know how you do it, but you are a lifesaver.”

“No, that’s your job, brother. I just protect your ass. You’re good to go. So tell us, where is she?” He extended a hand and hefted his teammate up off the floor. Raphael started walking quickly down the hall.

“We follow this corridor to the end. Take the stairwell down to the bottom floor. There is a whole other set of corridors to go through down there. I’m not getting a specific location, only a general sense. So let’s get going and maybe I’ll find out more along the way.”

***

“What took you so long?” Dr. Chappo barked.

“She gave us a bit of trouble, sir, so I gave some back.” Steve laid her down on the surgical gurney. “She’s alive, don’t worry.”

“How could she give you trouble if Roberta knocked…oh. She must have awakened. Very well, as long as she’s alive. That’s all I need. Now, Wheezer, stand guard outside the door. I don’t need any surprise visitors. Steve, go scrub in. In case you don’t know what that means, go wash your hands in the scrub room and put on surgical gloves. Then, help me with mine.”

The two men did as they were told. The doctor wheeled himself over to where Serena lay unconscious. He checked to see that the necessary instruments were ready. A tray with a blood recipient set for him, which included a filter and tubing with a drip chamber for the blood, stood next to her. A small box with nozzles on either side for connective tubing sat next to the tray. Finally a venipuncture kit and multi-lead tubing that is typically used to transfer blood from a bag rested on top of the box. He would use the bag to collect his diseased blood. Dr. Chappo’s specialized procedure allowed him to acquire blood, a goddess’s immortal blood, directly from her, all of it.