Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(13)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her stomach knotted. “You think this prison is failing.”

He gave a bitter laugh. “I know its failing. Hell, I was sent down here to clean up the mess that the last warden made, but there’s no cleaning up some things.” Case had stopped pacing. His grim stare leveled at her. “This place was a mistake. They’re too powerful to be kept here. Most of the time, I feel like we’re the prisoners, not them.”

“If they shouldn’t be locked up,” Olivia began carefully, “then they should be—”

“Dead. It’s the only way to keep humans safe.”

She leapt to her feet. “That’s not true. We can learn why they’ve killed. Why they’ve hunted—”

“It’s because they don’t have souls! They’re monsters!” He shook his head in disgust. “After what happened to you, hell, lady, you should know that.”

She tried to calm her racing heartbeat. “Harold Bath.”

“Who the hell is that?”

“A banker from Maine.”

“What?”

“One day, Harold came home from work. He shot his wife. His neighbor. Went on a rampage and hurt ten people before the cops arrested him.” She could see Harold in her mind. His slightly balding hair, his stooped shoulders. His flat voice as he said he’d just gotten tired of hearing his wife talk. “Most people would say he was a monster, but he was just a human. Twisted, but human.”

Case stepped toward her.

“Lindsey Jones.” Another image flashed before her. A pretty red-head with wide-set, blue eyes. “Female serial killers are rare, but Lindsey killed five men last summer along the Florida coast line and she was—”

“Let me guess,” he interrupted, voice tight, “human.”

Olivia nodded. “Monsters are everywhere. We have to learn why they kill, why they break, if we truly want to protect the innocents out there.” He had no idea how personal this was for her. Why? Why? That single question had haunted Olivia for most of her life. What made some people crack—what pushed them over the line and turned them into killers?

And will I be like that one day?

She slammed the door shut on that thought immediately. The way she always did.

“Maybe they’re just psychotic, did you think of that, doctor?”

“Sometimes, they are.” But the cases were often about more than just a chemical imbalance or some brain defect. They were about so much more. “My job is to find out why. I’m here because I want to save lives.”

“Even if you lose your own in the process?”

“I don’t want to die.” She’d never had a death wish.

His laughter was rough, a bit cruel. “Do you even realize how close you came to death yesterday?”

“It’s not the first time a test subject has tried to hurt me.”

Shock widened his eyes.

“I know the risks of my job. I can handle them.” She kept her voice calm with an extreme effort of will.

“You have an alpha vampire who wants nothing more than to sink his teeth into your neck and a werewolf who nearly killed you.” Case put his hands on his hips. “You actually think you can ‘handle’ them? Because I sure as shit don’t believe you can. I don’t believe—”

A shrill alarm cut through his words.

“No,” Case whispered. He whirled for the door. “No!”

The alarm grew even louder.

“What’s happening?” Olivia asked as fear pumped through her.

He yanked open the door. A guard stood there. “Sir, the prisoners—”

“Someone’s trying to escape from the facility. We need to get this place locked down, now,” Case snapped back to the younger man. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Get her back to her quarters. Go via the south side of the facility—”

The guard’s blue eyes widened. “That’s where the werewolves are.”

“I damn well know where they are.” Case grabbed a weapon from the cabinet near the door. “Right now, we need to keep her away from a certain vampire, so that’s the safest course. Get her back to her quarters, now.”

The alarm was still shrieking.

Then Case was gone.

***

She could hear the growls. The corridor was dark, too dark, and it felt as if she were walking right into a cave. The growls echoed all around her. The alarm had finally stopped, and maybe that should have made Olivia feel better. It didn’t.

“Why did you want to talk to the monsters?” The guard asked, glancing back at her. Evan. He’d told her that his name was Evan Jurant.

“It’s my job.”

He grunted, then turned back around. He pulled out a keycard and unlocked a door with thick, steel bars. He opened that door, swinging it so that it opened back toward them. He raised his hand, indicating she should go through first, but she hesitated.

Evan frowned. “Doctor?”

“This route will take me to my quarters?”

“Of course.” He eased back, making even more room for her to go first.

She pushed back her shoulders and advanced. I need to find Shane. She’d taken about four steps when she heard the door shut behind her. The sound was overly loud. Strangely final.

“You’ll have plenty of time to talk with the monsters now.”

Olivia spun around. Evan hadn’t followed her—he’d closed that door and he was locking it again. “No!” Olivia grabbed for the bars, but it was too late.

Evan looked as if he were barely twenty years old, but his brown eyes were so cold as they stared at her. “You’re not gonna get out, doctor. They’re gonna want to keep you.”

The growls had died away. Goosebumps rose on her arms. She could almost…almost feel others closing in on her, but Olivia was afraid to look over her shoulder. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I was paid, very well, for you.” He took a few more steps away from the bars. “You’re in the maximum security area, Dr. Maddox. Locked in with the most dangerous werewolves. I hope you enjoy your talks with them.”

Then he turned. Started walking away.

“No!” She screamed after him as Olivia jerked on the bars. “You can’t do this! The cameras—”

“Have all been turned off.” He paused. Glanced back at her. The corridor was so dark around him that she could barely see his face. “An escape is in progress. The Paras have sabotaged some of our equipment, and by the time all of our machines are back online, well…it won’t matter for you.”