Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Aren’t you going to ask about a vaccine?” I step toward him, hands on my hips, my ire rising like a flood. “Do you even care about that anymore? What about saving lives?”
“How dare you?” he bellows. “After everything we’ve lost, after everything the vampires have taken, all the things your bitch of a sister gave them that they used against us—”
“Whoa, whoa now.” Wyatt stands at my shoulder, Evie behind me. “Those are fighting words. We’re not about that life in here. This is a peaceful lab.”
General Lopez ignores him. “It’s kill or be killed, Dr. Clark. We will eradicate the threat by any means I deem necessary.”
“This doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If we can eliminate Gregor, we can bring their entire hierarchy down. Then—”
“You think we haven’t tried that?” General Lopez snaps. “Gregor hides away in an impenetrable—”
“The Black Cavern. I know. I’ve been there. I saw plenty of tough-as-nails military men just like you die there.” I hold his gaze. “I’m well aware you don’t have a chance of getting to him, but Valen can.”
He barks a short, cruel laugh. “The Specter, is that where you’re pinning your hopes? On the vampire who’s razed city after city, murdering countless people at the behest of his master? He’s a turncoat, giving us information on troop movements. A traitor to his own people. Colonel Howard believes he’s brought that creature to heel, but I beg to differ.” He scoffs. “If you put your faith in a vampire, you’re even more foolish than I thought.”
“And you’re out of your depth, General. You’re so badly adrift that you think annihilation is the only answer. It’s not. It never has been.”
He steps back, his demeanor fading into stoic control. “Colonel Howard?”
“Yes, sir?”
“See to it that Dr. Clark does her job. If she refuses, take her down to the holding cells for interrogation. It seems her time with the vampires has likely compromised her. Your reports of her being Valen Dragonis’s human whore were sadly accurate—” Wyatt lets out a “hey, now!” but the General barrels on, “If we discover she’s working for them, we will use any means necessary to make her talk then have her summarily executed as a traitor and an enemy of the state.”
Gage shakes his head. “General Lopez, she’s not—”
“You think that scares me, General?” I close the distance between us, looking at him with every ounce of disdain I feel. “Torture and death? That’s your A-game?” I smile, my sudden anger giving me a fatalistic courage. “Do you have any idea what Gregor did to me while I was held captive? Do you have the slightest clue about what I’ve seen, what I’ve endured, what I’ve done to survive?” My smile turns into a grin, into a ‘fuck you’ written on my lips. “If you think you can break me, you’re more than welcome to try. Do your fucking worst, General.” I swear I hear Valen’s feral growl in the back of my skull, his delight like a rain of sparks along my skin.
Lopez’s eyes widen with surprise before he clamps down on it, his face back into its angry, controlled mask.
“Shiiitttttt,” Wyatt says under his breath.
The general considers for a moment, then says, “Place a guard on Dr. Clark at all times. Her base access is restricted. She may come to the lab, her sleeping quarters, and the mess hall. If she refuses to work, place her in the cells. If she doesn’t produce the poison in a week’s time, place her in the cells. If she steps out of line at all, place her in the cells. Dr. Clark, you will do what your country asks of you, or you will pay the price. It’s up to you.” The general’s glare only deepens, and then he turns and storms out, Gage following at his heels.
Once they’re gone, I sink down on the nearest stool, my hands shaking, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. My body may be weak, but my mind is nothing but a sea of pent-up rage and disappointment.
“Jesus, Georgia. You—holy shit, you just stood up to the scariest human I think I’ve ever met.”
“Stood up?” Evie’s voice quavers. “I think you mean bowed up. Fucking hell, Georgia, I thought he was going to hit you, or maybe you were going to hit him, and then we were all going to throw down. I’m not much of a fighter, but I would’ve done my best.”
Wyatt scrubs his hand down his face. “Place her in the cells,” he mimics. “Fascist prick. They can’t execute you. That’s, that’s not a thing. Right?”
“Badass.” Evie hugs me from behind and rests her chin on my shoulder. “But um, can you not do anything like that ever again? I think I may have peed a little.”