Head Maiden of Castle Dimitrescu

21

"You got her too big of a fucking sample," I hissed toward a panting Caiden. We were exhausted. We were here for maybe two days? Was it two? Honestly, I stopped checking after day one. Sweat poured down my brow just like blood dripped out of Caiden's cuts. A small pool from days' worth of cutting and research beaded and coagulated beneath her. My eyes turned to Mother Miranda. She busied herself into preparing another sample. I stared down at my hands for a split second while Caiden regained herself for the next experiment. This virus that infected the two of us were no different from a divine curse. I took in another deep breath as my hands gripped on the edges of the experimenting table we used. We were sectioned off into a separate part of the lab where Mother Miranda admitted a week earlier to using for blood draining and dismembering bodies. The last thing I wanted to know was the body count. I had a feeling that it rivaled Alcina's basement dungeon.

Mother Miranda smiled at us with a honey like sweetness. A sample of skin in a white dish was placed gently in front of us. Expectant eyes told us to get to work. Caiden shook her head as she visibly paled. How much more blood could the girl loose? She glared at the sample as thoughts swirled through her head. My eyes turned down to the skin cells. This was insanity. We were doing the same thing over and over to no avail. It would form into a congealed mess of cells and blood, but never take the fetal shape. Instead, it died off rather quickly. We were missing a third component, but I had no idea what. Science was not my thing. Caiden shakily brought up a hand and a few droplets of blood plopped on top of the mass. I sighed as I raised my own hands.

A flash of bright white light jump started life into the cells. I forced them to work and heal and mold into what I needed. Blood coagulated and multiplied from Caiden's end, and we were able to start molding something. As Caiden supplied the blood, I created the fetus. It was formed into a semi-usable design for a fetus. As the fetus grew, Caiden visibly irked. I grunted slightly as my concentration went to speed racing the creation of the fetus into a baby. My light flashed brighter as more blood was added. "C'mon...." I groaned. As it started to look like a baby, the cells ran rampant again and I battled for control. However, the specimen vibrated and wiggled. Moments later, half made organs and blood exploded again. Another failure. Caiden openly groaned while I hit my leg with a fist. Bile rushed to my throat and my legs felt heavy. I brought a hand up to my throat as the dizziness came.

"Mother Miranda, may we take a break?" Caiden asked as she tended her own wounds. I took in deep breaths and bit back the sickening feeling that crashed through me. "We are obviously wasting samples." I slowly nodded in agreement as I choked back some more vomit. Mother Miranda hummed as her attention focused on the samples she destroyed. A subtle nod was our only answer.

"Elena, Caiden, get over here. No need to stand over our failures." The woman snapped. Caiden and I slowly trailed down toward the woman's side. She turned away and tapped her foot against the ground as she huffed out her irritation. "I just don't understand what I could possibly be missing. Cathleen matches with Eva's DNA. She is obviously a good donor and with your blood, that should help the process of regeneration." A tired, aggravated side escaped her lips as she turned back to us. "Would anyone like lunch?" Caiden raised her hand as I nodded. "I'll make a call." Hurried footsteps carried her out of the room. Caiden turned her attention to the neat written notes from the psychopath's notebook.

"Do you even understand what is on those papers?" I asked. Caiden shrugged slightly. Her wounds slowly bandaged up completely as she did so.

"A bit from the experiments my parents did on me. They would show me different scales and charts and explained the data."

"What did they use you for anyways?"

"Well, my dad was a scientist. He just wanted to know why. My mother, on the other hand, wanted to be able to recreate it so she could sell it as some sort of weaponry. Why did your parents send you to Umbrella?"