Genetics

Chapter 4

My eyes opened and I sat up. I glanced around to find I was in a room and not in the street of Arilis. I reached for my neck and felt a flicker of pain lash through me at even the gentlest of touches. I frowned as I glanced around the bare walls and found a mirror hanging off of one. I approached it and stared at my reflection, frowning as I saw my eyes were more orange than golden along the golden half. The bandages around the bite area were covered in blood.

As I felt around for part of the bandages that had been tucked in, the door opened. Mark walked in and upon seeing what I was trying to do, moved to stop me. He grabbed my hands and forced them to rest at my sides. He looked me in the eyes with a furrowed brow.

"Do not do that. It was difficult enough to get you bandaged up after you began to scratch at the wound and gave Samantha even more of a challenge to make sure you heal properly." Mark stated as he moved me back towards the bed.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hearing my voice was scratchy and weak.

Caleb stepped into the room as Mark opened his mouth to speak only to stop as he realized Caleb was in the room. Based on the somber look on Caleb's face, I began to recognize what happened. I sat there without fighting to get my hands free. Mark released my hands and sighed.

"You can tell her." Mark muttered as he sat down in a chair a little way away from me.

"April, do you remember when you first became an R2A Tiger-human and had three years of your life removed?" Caleb asked.

"Don't tell me three years have passed by Caleb..." I breathed.

"No. Three years haven't passed by, but three months have. We stayed here in Arilis to help you recover from the vampire bite, but every time you began to recover, you freaked out and began to scratch at the bite mark with your nails. Your golden colored part of your eyes were blood red and every day they slowly grew less red and more golden colored. What happened to you aside from that vampire bite? You've never acted that way before when you were bitten." Caleb explained with a worried look.

I sat there staring down at my hands. I must have lost myself for those 3 months. I couldn't even remember a single thing and it was like I was staring at a blank canvas every time I tried to think back to those three months. I frowned and moved to touch my neck only for Caleb to stop me. He held my wrist with a look of concern.

"You shouldn't touch it. You should get some more sleep." Caleb said as he sighed.

I frowned and shook my head. I didn't want to sleep. I felt like I was asleep for the last three months as it was. I tried to stand, and Mark moved to stop me, Caleb had stepped back, still looking concerned, but not wanting to force me into doing something I didn't want to do.

"Mark... do not stop me. I've felt like I've been asleep for the past three months. I need to get out of here and find my kids as is. I can't stay here any longer. It's been seven months since they were taken. I need to get them back before Michael can hide them even further." I said as I pushed him out of my way and headed for the door.

I pulled the door open to find two of Kevin's men standing guard with their hands on their swords. The second I stepped into their vision through their helmets, they turned to face me, their swords slowly drawing.

"Lower your swords. I don't bite." I growled as I shoved my way past them.

They walked behind me and as I glanced at them, I saw they still had a hold of their swords. With an annoyed shake of my head, I walked through the lobby of what I would guess was the hospital. I stepped outside and took a deep breath. It was when I took this deep breath that a faint memory of three months ago filtered into my mind.