The Complete Crimson Forest series

Onyx: Chapter 3

After being thrown roughly into a large van parked behind the old shack next to the airplane runway, and then rudely tossed around as all the other Bryxx pile in, I am forced to settle against the hard floor. Five men uniformed in black hold Kade down although he's shackled and clearly very unable to struggle because he's unconscious.

"What do you want?" I squeak, and I'm greeted with complete silence. None of them even glance at me. The final uniformed Bryxx jumps into the van and she slams the door shut behind her, leaving us in the pitch darkness. The car ride is long in the back of the huge windowless van.

We eventually pull to a stop and the back door lets in light as it opens. It burns my eyes and I'm forced to squint so I can see properly. Outside of the van, I expect to see sunlight, but instead, I'm greeted with artificial lighting. We're in some sort of garage. Kade is yanked out of the van, bleeding and unconscious and I get up and follow the quickly moving Bryxx out of the van.

"Look, she's being cooperative," one female Bryxx with long brown hair muses.

"Radio the council and see where they want them," a man snaps at her and she nods once. She turns and pulls a radio from her pocket and says something into it quietly.

Before I know it, someone tugs my wrist and pulls me forward quickly. "God, humans are slow," he grumbles and then resorts to picking me up. I kick him in the ribs out of pure aggravation and he laughs at me.

I'm carried through a long white hallway and then tossed into a windowless room. The door is slammed closed behind me.

Less than a minute later, before I even have the chance to take in the entire room, the door swings open again and a man in a white lab coat yanks me up and points to the chair in the corner of the room. "Okay, here's how this works. You cooperate, you'll be put through a lot less pain, okay?"

I'm about to reply when he pulls my arm outwards and turns it to expose the underside of it. A sharp prick causes me to try to jerk my arm back but it's useless. I stare down at the needle the man has inserted into my arm and is now using to take my blood.

"What are you doing?" I ask him and jerk back again.

"It's been a long time since we've had blood like yours to study and with modern medicine having come so far in that time, we have decided to take advantage of your existence." I'm almost surprised when he answers me and answers me sounding truthful on top of it.

I gulp. "How'd you know I was alive?" I ask.

He sighs. "I only work in the lab. I have no idea how they found you, where they found you-nothing. I'm not privy to that information. I have been told to take as many samples of your blood as I can without seriously harming you and use it for research that I am not at liberty to explain to you. You and I will be spending much time together, so if you're cooperative, it'll make it much, much easier for you."

I want to protest but really, what can I do? The shock begins to wear off and I begin to shake and cry. I'm so sick of being pushed around by immortals thinking I'm some sort of toy they can just use whenever they feel like it.

"And why did they bring Kade?" I ask him, hoping to get some other sort of answer.

He snorts. "They brought him back here? Oh, god knows, but with the way everyone used to fawn over him before he was a vampire and even after, I'm sure they're planning on using your blood to cure him. He was a big loss to the Bryxx."

If they're going to cure Kade of his vampirism, they have to use all my blood while it's fresh. Kade has to drink from me until I die, there's not a way around that. I shudder. They won't be able to make him do that. There's no way...right?