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  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.

  Chapter 17

  Samantha didn’t bother to raise her head when the telltale signs alerted her that she had a visitor. She wasn’t positive how long she’d been in her cell, but it
felt like it was at least three or four days. In that time, she hadn’t been given any food outside of the sporadic rolls. Occasionally, someone would put a jug of water inside her door. Samantha had had to resort to squatting over the drain in the middle of her floor. She also poured a small amount of her precious water over the drain, but it didn’t help much with the smell.

  All that time with nothing to do was like torture. Her thoughts constantly strayed to Nik, and what these people might be doing to him. She remembered all too well what had happened to Leisha when the vampire had been captured years ago. The thought of Nik undergoing that same malicious torture was unthinkable.

  “Hello, Samantha,” Doctor Peterson greeted. When Samantha didn’t respond, the doctor spoke to the others in the room. “Check her vitals.”

  Samantha continued to lay slack as they prodded at her.

  “Everything looks good.” It was the first time Samantha had heard the female assistant speak. Her voice was throatier than she’d have expected by looking at her.

  “Fine, Samantha,” The doctor said, irritation lacing her tone. “You want to just lay there? I don’t care. We can still monitor you for this next experiment all the same.”

  “If you would feed me some freaking food every once in a while, I might actually sit up for your crap experiments.” Samantha knew it wasn’t smart to speak that way to her captors, but she was too tired and grouchy to care.

  Doctor Peterson sighed. “The drugs work better in a clean system. I’ll arrange for you to have something today, but then you will need to drink a lot of water so you can flush your system again.”

  “Guess I’ll have to take what I can get.” Her teeth clenched at the thought of this treatment, but Samantha knew things could be much worse. Taking a breath, she sat up and glared at the doctor. “Let’s get this over with.”

  The assistants were quick to apply the cold pads and the doctor kept her expression neutral as she administered the drug into Samantha’s bloodstream.

  Again, she felt the strange sensations as the liquid rushed from her arm into her chest. This time, Samantha squeezed her eyes shut so her line of sight wouldn’t go weird. But instead of darkness, a strange gray greeted her. It seemed to swirl in dizzying circles, going from lighter and darker shades, but staying a solid gray.

  When all the muscles in her body spasmed, Samantha did her best to relax into the intense pain, but it was too difficult. She could feel herself thrashing around on the bed. Her hand struck the wall with bruising force, but she couldn’t get herself to stop.

  When the cramping muscles finally eased, Samantha opened her eyes. Her vision was still gray, but she could see the doctor and her assistants next to the bed. They were bent over Samantha’s body, but it looked like they were moving in slow motion. Then Samantha felt as if she were being pulled into a worm hole.

  This time, she wasn’t in the strange hell as before. Instead, she was walking down an empty road in a grassy countryside. It should have been beautiful to look at, but everything was still a drab gray color. It was worse than any black and white film Samantha had ever seen. The shapes and figures around her blended into each other because of their dullness.

  She felt movement from behind, and Samantha whirled and blinked her eyes at the brilliant color in front of her. It was a corpse, the skin a yellow-greenish. The red in her bloodshot eyes was piercing compared to the world around them. The woman blinked brown-crusted lids and focused on Samantha.

  “Dear Samantha.” When she smiled, the woman’s skin cracked and flaked, a few pieces floating silently to the ground.

  Samantha studied the zombie in front of her, then gasped in recognition. “Rinwa? What happened to you?”

  “You did.” Scarlet blood dribbled out the side of her mouth. “Don’t you remember? You, my friend, are Death.”

  “No! I’m not. I don’t believe you! I wouldn’t kill you or Nik.” Samantha’s breath became shallow.

  Rinwa scoffed, causing blood, skin, and black saliva to spray toward Samantha. “Not just me and Nik. Everyone. Like I said, you’re Death.”

  Suddenly, arms shot out of the gray dirt around them. Samantha slowly backed up as hundreds of corpses hauled themselves out of their graves and slowly approached. In their vividly colored eyes, she saw the contempt, the accusation.

  Murmurs from all around flew at her.

  “Death. You are Death!”

  “You killed us all!”

  A decaying hand slipped around her shoulders and Samantha gasped. She turned and was faced with a corpse version of Tafari. “Face it, my girl. You are the death of us all.” He chuckled. It was deep and filled her head with vibrations.

  The zombies were on her now, all of them grabbing at her hair, her body. They screamed incoherently at her as they tried to rip her limbs out of their sockets.

  At first, Samantha tried to claw her way free. She kicked and stumbled, but there were always more bodies, suffocating her with their sickly sweet and acidic smell.

  After doing her best to escape, strength left her and Samantha tilted her head back to scream.

  Coming to, Samantha realized she was struggling with two men trying to hold her down. Once she was able to think more rationally, she slumped. “Get off me.” It came out harshly, and she wished she had enough gumption to punch them. That’s what Leisha would do.

  The guard and the assistant hesitated a moment before slowly lifting off of her. All three of them were panting as if there was not enough oxygen in the confined space. It sure doesn’t feel like there’s enough oxygen for me.

  Doctor Peterson didn’t wait for Samantha to recover. She held out her tablet to capture Samantha’s response. The doctor was bouncing in her chair, and Samantha wanted to smack the excited look on her face. “Tell me everything that you saw. Every detail.”

  Samantha’s body felt as if it had just been hit by a train as she slowly sat up. She didn’t bother to tell the doctor that her vision hadn’t been real. Instead, she did as was demanded of her and explained everything that happened. Her stomach was heavy, and it had nothing to do with the drugs. I’m so weak. Leisha would never have cooperated with these lowlifes.

  Eyes narrowed in thought, Doctor Peterson turned away as she murmured quietly to herself. The others gathered up their equipment and quickly followed her out, the guard backing out last with his gun trained on Samantha until the door closed.

  Lying back on the bed, Samantha closed her eyes and tried not to think too hard about her latest vision. It’s because of the drugs, she told herself. I’m not Death. I’m not.

  Chapter 18

  Leisha’s hope dwindled. It had been more than a week since they’d discovered the abandoned vampire lair, and they were still no closer to finding Samantha and Nikita.

  Twice, Rinwa thought she’d found a lead, but it only took them to secret government warehouses that had been deserted for at least fifteen years. They still searched the compounds for any clues as to where the occupants had relocated to, but they found nothing useful.

  “Maybe we should fly down to that compound where they took me a few years ago,” Leisha offered. She knew her suggestion wasn’t a very good one, but she wasn’t any help sitting around in their hotel room, looking over Rinwa’s shoulder.

  Tafari glanced in her direction, his gaze traveling over her face. Leisha felt as if he could read every emotion she tried to keep hidden. “Do you remember where it was?”

  Shrugging, Leisha walked over and sat next to her husband. “Somewhere in the Virgin Islands, if memory serves.” She patted his knee. “But I know you remember how to get there.”

  “Yes,” he admitted. “But I do not think it will serve us—”

  “I already know what you’re going to say,” Leisha interrupted. “And I agree with all of your protests. But we’re getting nowhere here.” She waved her hand in the direction of Rinwa and her c
omputer. “At least we could comb the place and see if they left any clues behind.”

  Liam came into the room then. He glanced between his parents and Rinwa, studied Leisha’s face, then nodded his head. “You two go on. I’ll stay here with my sister. We have some things to discuss anyway.”

  “Like what?” Rinwa stopped clacking on the keyboard to send a good-natured glare. “Do you feel deprived because I wasn’t around to torment you like a good sister should? I’d be happy to make up for that now.”

  “You think you can pretend that you’re not intimidated by me when you get aggressive like that. But you forget that I can read your mind.” Liam smirked in a playful, carefree way that Leisha rarely saw on her son.

  “I do not think it is a good idea for us to separate,” Tafari interjected, steering the conversation back onto the subject at hand.

  “Actually, I think it’s a great idea.” Rinwa stood and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen counter. “I think I’d be able to do more work with a little less tension in the room.”

  Though her daughter was nice enough not to look in her direction, Leisha knew Rinwa was talking specifically about her. The vampire moved close and nestled herself into Tafari’s side. “I can’t help it. I can feel something going wrong through our bond, but I don’t know what exactly is happening.”

  Tafari tightened his arm around her shoulders. “We know you are not at fault.”

  Liam came over and stood on Leisha’s other side. “I think you and Tafari never have enough alone time anyway, and you know that I’ll be safe here with Rinwa.”

  Leisha looked over at her daughter as she thought it through. The hotel they were staying in was well off the grid. Leisha didn’t think anyone would track them down here. And she also knew how fierce Rinwa was in a fight. Of course, Liam was also more than capable of defending himself.