Playing With Fire (Phoenix Fire #3)(22)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He surprised her. “You—you brought me here for my blood?”

“Um, that’s part of the reason. I’ll take that blood, study it. Replicate the poison.”

The poison that could take down a vampire in seconds. The poison that lived in her.

“But I want more, Cassie. I want you to work with me. You’re the best researcher in paranormal genetics. You could create soldiers, design a fighting force that the world has never seen.”

A force that the world wouldn’t be able to handle. No, thank-you.

“I’m not making any more monsters.” She shook her head. “You can keep me locked up for as long as you want, but I’m not doing—”

He was laughing at her. “Cassie, Cassie . . . so brave, now. But as we discussed, you really don’t know much about torture.” He backed away from her. Looked mildly regretful. “That’s about to change.”

She knew more about torture than he realized.

The door opened behind him once more.

“This time, you get to see what it’s like to be the test subject,” Jon said as he tilted his head to study her. “And I’m afraid that this part will hurt.”

Guards came in then. They grabbed her. One lifted her upper body, one caught her thrashing legs. In less than a minute’s time, they had her strapped down on a gurney. The wheels were squeaking as they rolled her down the hallway.

She screamed for help, but her screams were met with silence.

Jon brushed the hair off her forehead. “You should probably save your strength.”

“And you’re a sadistic bastard who should let me go!”

He just smiled. The smile that flashed his dimples. The smile that chilled her.

She was pushed into another room. A room with even brighter lighting. And men and women in lab coats came toward her. A hysterical bubble of laughter broke from her.

Jon thought he was so smart, trying to frighten her by making her the test subject. I’ve been the test subject my whole life. Try again, jackass.

“Remember times like this?” His hand was still on her forehead. “I was strapped down once.”

He’d volunteered for it. Been eager to jump on that gurney. No one had taken him, kicking and screaming.

“But you still came in that day, and you tried to get me out of there. Tried to get me to leave.” His brows lowered. “What the hell were you thinking?”

That she could save him.

But he hadn’t left. He had turned her in. If it hadn’t been for her family connections, she would have been killed for her actions that day.

“We need to find out what dear old daddy did to you. That way, we can do the same thing to others.”

And what? Eradicate the vampires with her poison blood?

“Should we sedate the patient?” one of the doctors asked.

“I’m not a patient!” Cassie screamed. Seriously, they saw that she was fighting.

“No sedation, but we should probably gag her.” Jon did. The bastard actually tied a gag around her mouth.

The doctors just watched.

“Dr. Shaw, we’re going to need extensive blood work, skin grafting, a spinal tap, a bone marrow sample . . .” Jon began to rattle off all the procedures. The doctor nodded quickly and pushed instrument trays closer to her.

Cassie shook her head.

“We’ll keep her stationary for some of the procedures—temporary paralysis may be needed—but we want to make certain that Cassie is fully aware of everything that happens to her.” He bent toward her face. Smiled again. “That way, the lesson will stay with her much, much longer.” He put his mouth near her ear. “After this, you’ll do anything to make sure you’re not the one who winds up on the table.”

Her gaze flew toward the men and women in lab coats Tears were leaking down her cheeks. Please . . . She knew her eyes said what she couldn’t. Help me. Don’t let him do this. Don’t you do this to me.

But they wouldn’t meet her gaze.

The first needle was driven into her vein, and at almost the exact same time, a scalpel sliced across her arm.

Jon eased away from her, but he didn’t leave the room.

He just stood back there and watched.

She didn’t cry out. Like she could with the gag. But she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of watching her pain. Her gaze turned up to the light.

It isn’t me. It isn’t me. She just had to pretend that the pain was happening to someone else.

He thought it was her first time to be under the knife? How did he think her blood had come to be poison?

She stared up at that light. Focused only on it.

It isn’t me.

The harder that she looked at the light, the more it looked like fire.

Dante.

She could almost see him there.

Dante stared at the low buildings sprawled across the land. From the outside, they looked like he was staring at an old ranch, one that had fallen into disrepair.

But the reinforced fencing around the ranch—that heavy barbed wire—and the dozens of vehicles that had gone toward the place told him the ranch was far from abandoned.

And the fact that there seemed to be no animals there?

Well, the barbed wire had to be an effort to keep someone in.

His gaze went to the left, to the right. Guards were out there, patrolling. He’d caught sight of them a few times.

They hadn’t seen him yet. That was why they were still living.

His stare returned to the row of buildings.

Cassie was in one of those buildings. He knew she was. He’d followed the bastards who’d left him in that field. They’d been so busy running away that they hadn’t bothered to look behind them as they sped off in the SUVs.

He’d been right there.

Another motorcycle had been hidden in that shed. Dante had jumped on it, and hauled ass after them as quickly as he could. The night had helped to cover his tracks. He hadn’t bothered with headlights.

He’d kept the SUVs within sight. Followed them all the way.

The helicopter was behind the ranch. He’d spotted it earlier.

The trick was to get it. To get her.

He didn’t plan to leave without Cassie.

“I didn’t realize that the subject was incapable of feeling pain.”

Jon glanced up at Dr. Shaw as she approached him. A faint frown was on her face. A pretty face—pretty but cold.

“You should have told us sooner,” she said, her pale blue eyes showing her censure. “It would have made the others feel much less nervous about the procedures.”