Page 20 of High Seas

Kael turns his attention to the small metal tray on the table beside him. Plucking a glass syringe from it, he flicks it with his finger and depresses the plunger. The needle sprays a small stream of the clear liquid, filling the barrel. “You’ll receive a series of three injections. Each will be more painful than the one before it, but it’s nothing a top Asset can’t handle.” He tests the other two syringes, placing them back on the tray in proper order.

“Okay.” I take a deep breath and lay my head back down on the scratchy paper pillowcase, folding my hands underneath my cheek.

“The injections have to be made directly into the spinal column,” he adds.

The muscles in my back involuntarily stiffen as he unties my gown and rubs a thick square swab soaked with cold liquid over my skin. “This is an antiseptic to prevent infection.”

I nod, trying to mentally prepare myself for the impending pain he warned me about.

“Injection number one,” he reports mechanically, before settling a gloved hand on my back. “You need to keep perfectly still. You wouldn’t want the needle to injure your spinal cord.”

“Can’t you numb the area?” I say before he inserts the narrow spike into my skin. I hold my breath, pressing my eyes tightly closed. It hurts, but I’ve felt worse pain, I tell myself. It’s over in a few seconds. Five, to be exact. My heart pounds and I struggle to take deep breaths, trying to calm myself before the next needle.

“There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he pronounces calmly.

“Why can’t you use a local anesthetic?”

He huffs a laugh. “Victor insists that his Assets be strong. What better way to test their strength – mentally and physically – than to see how they react to these procedures?”

I lift my head and open my mouth to protest, but he pushes me down onto the mattress, firmer this time. “Injection number two. This will be more painful. Again, you’ll need to be perfectly still or you’ll risk an injury that we cannot repair.”

There’s a pinch, then an intense river of ice flows into my spine. Gnashing my teeth, I grip the sliver of a pillow under my jaw. The frost spreads down my legs and into my toes, up through my arms to my fingers, and into my head where a vibrant rainbow of pain flashes across my mind. Kael removes the needle and I finally allow myself to scream at the sensation of ice being injected into my marrow.

A cold sheen of sweat bursts out on my skin. “Something’s wrong,” I warn. “I feel strange.”

“It’s perfectly normal, I assure you.” He glances at his tablet. “Your vitals are within an acceptable range. Perfectly normal,” he repeats.

“Normal for whom?” I pant. “Have you actually tested this on someone?”

He scoffs, taking hold of the third and final syringe. “Of course I have.”

My extremities feel heavy, too heavy to lift. I lay flat, plastered to the bed and unable to move, unable to blink as he inserts the third and final needle.

Where the second injection was pure ice, the third injection thaws. For a split second, it feels nice, but then the warm, pleasant flush morphs into something punishing. My veins fill with fire. My skin sizzles and boils. The scent of burnt hair fills my nostrils. Even with the needle still in place and despite the risk to my spine, I scream. He removes the needle and the burning intensifies instead of abates.

I’m a raging inferno.

Is he turning me? Is this what turning into a vampire feels like?

His lips are near my ear. “The pain will ebb soon. You are an Asset. One of the best, but if you lose control, Victor will see you as a liability. And you know what he does to liabilities. Now calm down.”

He holds me to the hospital bed, the palm of his gloved hand pressing me into the thin mattress. Kael isn’t smothering me as much as he’s steadying me, keeping me still when all I want to do is tear the room apart, piece by piece.

He watches patiently, holding me still until the flame dies down to a flicker and then winks out entirely.

Once it does and I can breathe again, he lifts his hands and steps away.

Things go fuzzy. My head feels like it’s full of cotton.

I blink lazily until the haze clears.

My legs feel rejuvenated. The burning sensation is replaced with a new one; something even more intense, but far less painful. The muscles of my legs feel tingly and weightless, but strong. I feel perfectly fine. Better than fine. Pushing myself up, I watch Kael as carefully as he watches me.

“How do you feel?” he finally asks.

How do I feel? I feel like I want to jam one of those needles into his asshole. Into his eyeball…

He puts his hand out. “Eve. Calm down.”

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