Page 42 of High Noon

Chapter Nine

Abram

I was boundto a surgical chair, my back craned in an uncomfortable position. As soon as I had landed, I was mobbed by the Special Containment unit. They strapped a leather mask over my face to guard against my fangs before wrapping me in silver and dragging me, kicking and fighting into the Compound.

The elevator descended into Kael’s lair, where I was then secured to this chair. My nostrils flared at the acrid scent of ammonia. “Release me,” I demanded. Kael studiously ignored my pleas. “Release me,” I said, stilling my body, “and I won’t kill you.”

That got his attention. Kael turned and glanced at me over his shoulder. “I need the venom you now carry.”

“How do you plan to extract it?”

“Vampire venom alters blood cells,” Kael answered clinically, “which means I need to drain the blood from your body.”

Kael turned back to whatever he was doing at a nearby counter. I couldn’t see past his sterile coat. He looked harried, like he’d run greasy hands through his hair too many times. He was skinnier than when we jumped, which said a lot considering how thin he’d always been. Still, he was diminished. His clothes hung from his gaunt body.

“Not all of it,” I replied, looking for him to confirm that he didn’t intend to completely drain me of blood.

“Hmm?” he murmured distractedly.

“You don’t need all my blood for your sample, right?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he said, preoccupied by his task.

Uneasiness settled over me with the realization that he planned to drain me. “What about my fangs?”

“What about them?” Kael scoffed. He turned to face me, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms and one foot over the other at the ankle.

I fumbled around in my brain for an alternative to being drained. “You can’t milk them or something?”

“You aren’t a viper, Abram. That’s not how this works.”

“But I have venom; surely, I could just bite something and you could collect the venom that way. A pure sample, and one that wouldn’t be muddied with my blood.”

Kael gave me a mollifying look. “Abram, calm down. We will work through this.”

A growl rumbled low in my chest as he grabbed a dental mirror and a stainless-steel tool that was hooked on either end and approached. “If you cooperate, this will make things much easier and less painful for you. If you are uncooperative, I’ll drain you and you will deteriorate slowly,” he promised. “It will be excruciating. Unlike anything you’ve felt before.”

“Worse than landing?” I spat.

“A thousand times worse,” he confirmed with a wicked gleam in his eye that said he might just drain me for the vicarious thrill of witnessing my horrific death.

I opened my mouth, granting him access to my fangs, vowing to myself that I’d turn him if this extraction didn’t go as planned. “Where is Victor?” I was shocked he hadn’t come to question me about my mission. It seemed all Kael cared about was Enoch’s venom.

“Which of the three bit you?” he asked, peering into my mouth.

“Enoch.”

His hands stilled for a brief moment and a satisfied smile stretched over his face. “Victor is busy, but I’m sure he’ll discover you’re down here soon enough. That’s why we must work fast…”

I was about to ask further questions when he jammed the sharp end of the dental hook into the gum above my right fang. My cry echoed through the room. “Get it out!” I tried to yell, but it came out all garbled.

Kael, who’d jumped away with my explosion, inched forward and grabbed hold of the handle, jerking it out. The pain ebbed immediately, but something warm and wet slid over my face. The tang of copper filled the air.

He held up the dental tool, his eyes wide as he took in my fang, still stuck on the hook’s tip.

“You tore out my fang!” I tried to yell, squirming, wriggling, pushing against the thick straps that secured me to the chair. My skin burned against the silver and the scent of it filled the air.

“I told you to remain calm,” Kael warned.

---