Narrative P.O.V.
Cain stood around the large, oval-shaped table with six of his best strategists.
Of those men, Daniel and Jai were included.
All of them wore a solemn expression, their eyebrows driven together as they studied the forensic evidence strewn in front of them.
Although an autopsy had been performed, there was no need to try and determine the cause of death.
The Indian Beta had been drained of every ounce of blood in his body.
Large pictures of his corpse taken from different angles and of different parts of his body were lined up in front of the men.
The lurid images told a story of a death so painful and gruesome that it made Cain's stomach twist.
His head hung from his body by a thread of a tendon, his neck nonexistent. It was as if the Vampire who had killed him had eaten the skin in an effort to drain him entirely. His face distorted by gashes and ribbons of flesh that hung from his cheeks and nose.
They found the Beta in his bathtub.
He was naked, but no water was in the tub. The dried blood that stained the tub and the Beta's body led Cain to believe there was no water in the tub at the time of death.
"It's staged," Cain said, splitting the silence and tension building in the room.
Daniel's head turned to look at Cain.
"How do you know?" Jai asked.
"See this?" Cain asked, pointing towards the dried blood.
Everyone leaned in.
"There was no water in the tub when he was killed and I very much doubt the killer drained the bath before he drained him."
"Maybe he was about to take a bath?" Daniel suggested.
"You ever get into the bath before turning it on?" Jai asked.
Daniel shrugged, seeing the point Jai had made.
"Besides," Cain added, "how many people get into the bath without a towel nearby? Judging by these pictures, he never even got one out of the cabinet."
The men in the room went silent as they all thought about each variable.
A knock on the door pulled Cain from his thoughts.
"Yes?" He asked, watching the door slowly creep open.
Cain raised an eyebrow as Dr. Zosak stepped in, being that he was the last person Cain expected to see.
"Can I speak to you privately?" the doctor asked.
Cain looked around and everyone took the hint, rising from their seats and exiting the room.
As soon as they were alone, Dr. Zosak closed the door.
Cain crossed his arms and leaned against the table as he looked at the doctor expectantly.
"I don't think you should send her away."
Cain fought the urge to roll his eyes as he stood up straight and turned to start gathering the photos that scattered themselves across the table.
"Do elaborate," Cain said.
Dr. Zosak noted the thinly veiled sarcasm that laced Cain's voice, but he spoke anyway.
"I have a bad feeling about all of this," he said.
Cain turned to look at the doctor, giving him an incredulous glare.
"You've just interrupted an executive board meeting dealing with the homicide of a high-ranking official to tell me that you have a bad feeling about a decision I made regarding my private relationship?"
"Don't go around building straw men just so you can kick them over," Dr. Zosak advised. "You know that this is deeper than that."
Cain sighed in exasperation.
"Do you have factual grounding for your feelings?" Cain asked. "I'm not going to alter my well-thought out plans on a gut feeling."
Dr. Zosak thought for a moment.
Well-thought out wasn't exactly the term he would have used.
"Does it all not seem convenient to you?" he asked Cain.
"What do you mean?"
The doctor gestured around him.
"Think about it," he said. "We've never had a soul get past the gates of this castle until the break-in a few weeks ago and now her brother has managed the same feat? You found your mate who happens to be wrapped up in this scandal involving creatures so rare and old that they were thought to be extinct? And it's all happening within months of each other?"
Cain narrowed his eyes.
"You don't see this as coincidental," he concluded.
"One thing that happens to cross paths with another would be a coincidence. But all of this merging together so quickly? It seems too unexpected and unlikely to be anything other than intentional."
Cain drew in a deep breath.
"So, what's your advice?" he asked.
"Take her with you to India," Dr. Zosak said. "At least that way you'll be able to keep an eye out for her."
"I couldn't take her to India, even if I wanted to," Cain urged. "She can't even stand, let alone be well enough to travel across continents."
Dr. Zosak drew in a deep breath.
"I have an idea."
- - -
Ella's P.O.V.
"Ella..."
The sound of my name split my unconscious mind in half.
"Ella, I need you to wake up."
I opened my eyes to see Dr. Zosak standing over me.
"We need you awake for this," he told me.
I felt the bed begin to tilt upwards, a mechanical whirring noise filling the room as it did so.
Turning to my right, I saw Zak as he helped me sit up straight.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"We're going to test a theory," Dr. Zosak said.
I looked over to see him standing beside a cart that had been pushed beside the bed. He was unraveling tubing and various other phlebotomist tools.
"What are you going to do?"
"Your brother's blood type isn't a match for you," Dr. Zosak said. "We can't transfuse his blood with yours."
"So, who else are you going to try and match me with?" I asked.
Dr. Zosak looked up from his tools and made unflinching eye contact with me.
"You."
My eyebrows furrowed.
"Me?"
Just as I said this, Cain entered the room.
"He drank your blood," Dr. Zosak said. "All we have to do is put it back in you."
I looked from Cain to the doctor, and back to Cain.
"You're joking."
Cain shook his head.
"My body doesn't produce its own blood; it only filters the blood that I ingest."
I looked at him incredulously.
"There's a science behind it, Ella. We wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't safe," Dr. Zosak explained.
He grabbed a new IV line and began to approach me.
"Well you better explain it to me or you're not going to touch me," I said, pulling away from him.
Dr. Zosak sighed.
"When a foreign substance, known as an antigen, enters your body, it induces an immune response, which produces antibodies. When Cain drinks blood, his body produces these antibodies and the blood is purified for his body to use, meaning protein and iron levels are normalized and cholesterol is leveled-out. If we put this purified blood back into your body, your immune system isn't as likely to attack it because it's your blood type."
At this point I began to feel dizzy again. I wished I hadn't asked, having rather been uninformed than light-headed.
"Wait," I said suddenly. "Isn't that how you turn someone into a Vampire? By draining all of their blood and replacing it with a Vampire's blood?"
Cain gave me a baffled look.
"I did research," I said sheepishly.
"I'm not sure what Brad Pitt movie you pulled that idea from," he said, "but Vampirism is a disease that enters the body like a virus; most commonly through bodily fluids entering open wounds."
"Like saliva," Dr. Zosak added.
"So why didn't I turn whenever Cain bit me?" I asked.
"Because I wasn't trying to," he answered frankly.
"The virus secretion is triggered by a hormone release in the brain," Dr. Zosak said. "Once the virus is in someone's system, it takes over. More often than not, the turning process is very quick. It happens in a matter of minutes. Occasionally, the process is interrupted one way or another and we can help intervene. It helps reverse these effects to provide the victim with clean, fresh blood—which is what we are trying to do with you."
"Which is why it's imperative that you listen to us and let us do the blood transfusion," Cain said.
I drew in a breath to protest further but Cain stopped me.
"Ella, we don't have the time to fight with you about this."
My eyebrows furrowed.
"Why? What happened?"
"I'll explain it to you later," Cain said. "Right now, I need you to just trust me."
Trust you? That's a rich request coming from you, I thought.
Zak's hand came to rest on my shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly. I looked at him and he gave me a firm nod.
I assumed they had informed him of what was going on somehow. Zak wasn't the type to be talked into things easily. If he was okay with this, I knew I would be fine.
"Fine," I said. "This better work."
The look on the doctor's face was one of hope rather than certainty, making me all the more nervous.
He waved Cain over, who pulled up a chair beside the bed. He sat down and laid his arm down next to mine.
Even though his arm wasn't touching mine, I could almost feel the heat radiating off of him. It made shivers shoot down up my spine.
Dr. Zosak worked quickly to insert an IV into Cain's arm and connect it to the one that was running up to mine.
I watched as the blood in the tube darted from his body, up to the bag that was connected to my IV line. It trickled down the tube that was attached to me and into the needle that was taped to the dorsal side of my hand.
"Alright," Dr. Zosak said as he finished. "This should only take about forty-five minutes to an hour."
He pulled off his gloves and threw them into the trashcan beside a sink in the corner.
Zak sat on the side of the bed and sighed.
'I'm leaving,' he signed.
I sat up a little straighter.
'What? Why?'
'I have to go back to D.C.,' he signed. 'They need me at work.'
I looked between him and Cain.
'Is he letting you leave?'
Zak nodded.
'Am I coming with you?' I asked him.
He shook his head.
My eyebrows furrowed.
'I thought we were leaving?' I signed.
Zak sighed.
'He'll explain later,' he said, gesturing towards Cain.
I huffed.
I was sick and tired of being in the dark about everything.
Zak threw up the sign for 'I love you' as he stood up from the bed. I returned it reluctantly before watching him walk out of the room.
It was hard watching him leave.
I had to remind myself that he was a grown man, the same as I was a grown woman. I couldn't stop him from leaving anymore than he could have stopped me when I left.
It did seem a bit convenient though, that he was leaving almost as soon as he arrived.
Dr. Zosak cleared his throat, breaking my thoughts.
"I'm going to grab a bite to eat, anyone want anything?" Dr. Zosak asked.
Cain and I both shook our heads.
"Bring her back something," Cain said.
Dr. Zosak nodded as I began to protest.
"I'm not hungry," I said.
But no one acknowledged my words and the doctor left the room.
I huffed as the door closed.
"You need to eat," Cain said, staring at the wall behind me.
"I'm not sure why you care so much," I said.
Cain closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.
When he didn't open them, I sighed.
"Care to explain to me what this is all about?" I asked. "What happened to make you come back? And why are you in such a hurry?"
He didn't answer me, remaining perfectly still with his eyes closed.
"Hello?" I asked.
"I'm trying to concentrate," he said, his eyes still shut.
"On what?" I asked. "Trying to ignore me?"
"Trying to ignore the three pints of blood that are exiting my body."
Oh.
I looked down at the IV again.
It never occurred to me that it might have been just as miserable to him, especially given his condition.
In a bold move, I reached over and grabbed his hand.
"Thanks."
He hesitated.
"Don't thank me. The only reason you're in this situation is because of me."
I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm my heart that raced partially because his fingers began to trace the skin on the back of my hand and partially because of how angry his comment made me.
"I told you before," I said. "It's not your fault. I'm the one who stuck my wrist in front of your face. I made a decision and I'm dealing with the consequences of it."
"I hurt you, Ella," he said. "That makes this my fault and my problem."
I huffed.
"You can retire from your position as general manager of the universe," I told him. "Not everything is a problem that you can solve."
He finally opened his eyes and looked at me.
I expected him to look sad, but there was a certain fire burning behind his eyes.
"You have no idea," he said.
"Well please enlighten me," I quipped. "We're not going anywhere anytime soon."
I lifted my arm and gestured to the tubes connecting us.
"This isn't what you think it is," he said.
I looked at him, waiting for the answer he was dancing around.
"Lychanthropes live in packs. They have leaders known as Betas, who answer to me, the Alpha."
"And..."
I trailed off, clearly not seeing his point.
"I'm responsible for nearly twenty million Lycanthropes," He said. "When something goes wrong, I'm the only one who can fix it. Just like with the Beta who just died."
"A Beta died?" I asked.
"Killed," he answered.
"What happened?"
"Vampire."
I felt my heart drop.
"There's something going on that we haven't quite figured out yet. We're trying to figure out why these creatures are coming out of hiding after so long. Until then, you're not going home."
My heart leapt in my chest.
"That's why we're in a hurry actually," he said. "I have to go to India."
"India?!" I asked incredulously. "What's in India?"
"The dead Beta," he answered.
"And you're coming with me to the funeral."
- - -