Page 16 of Sergi
I spent most of my working day memorizing each room. The layout, the location of the cameras, the labels on the cabinetsand drawers that identified their contents, and anything that was left on the counters. Their organizational skills were top-notch, but they were foolish to give the shifters too much information. Maybe they didn’t think we could read.
What I wanted to see were the contents of the refrigeration units. Each lab and office had one. Commercial-sized units in the labs and apartment-sized for the offices. All of them had keypads. Some of the staff, who’d been in the labs while we cleaned, had been lazy. I caught the first couple of numbers from one vampire and a couple other numbers here and there until I was positive what the five-digit code was. The only problem was that every refrigeration unit was in direct line of sight to the cameras.
I shook off the information I’d been gathering, which only left questions and reinserted my initial worry.
Why hadn’t anyone come for me this morning?
Had they noticed me talking to S-272? It might be nothing more than using the other shifter team to share the workload since the experiments were on hold. And if I didn’t think of something else, I’d drive myself into worst-case scenarios. Instead of going down that tortured path, I returned to reviewing everything I’d learned, starting with the main labs and working my way down the list.
Then I considered the overall lab operations. I’d once seen a map of the facility in one of the offices. I couldn’t look at it very long, always concerned about the cameras, but enough to get a bird’s eye view of the maze of tunnels and the direction of the exits, as if that would ever be needed.
A wolf could hope.
The place was run by vampires. I’d seen a couple of humans, but there must be more. Vampires would eventually require blood. They might be taking it from bags but why not from their workers? They couldn’t take it from the shifters. All pupslearned early on that vampires didn’t like shifter blood. It wasn’t palatable and didn’t provide the necessary nutrients. That was something at least.
It was an hour later when the lock on my door released. The same key card seemed to work on all the doors, and the lab workers and guards appeared to hold the same clearance. It could be anyone on the other side.
I sat up as the door opened but didn’t move from the bed. They didn’t like us close to the door, and I wasn’t going to take a chance on a beating. I also didn’t want to lose my work detail.
The guard waved me out as if he was in a hurry, and I was tardy. He didn’t say anything as he led me past the stairs leading to the first floor where the labs were located. Instead, he led me down the stairs to the third floor, where the walls and cells were made of stone. Was I being sent back to my old cell? Back to Tallon and the threat of abuse?
At the bottom of the stairs, a female waited. Not my normal handler. She was taller than me, thin as a rail, and had a pinched face. Her gray eyes matched the color of her hair which had been gathered in a tight bun.
In addition to a second guard, a young male stood next to her. He was a pretty boy, tussled brown curls cut short, average build, and while he held his head high, his gaze seemed unfocused or perhaps just uncaring. He wore a lab coat, so I assumed vampire, but he might have been human.
The female—there seemed to be a lot of them in charge—spoke to her assistant as if I wasn’t there. Of course, shifters weren’t supposed to be very smart. I’d play along if it meant they’d talk freely in front of me.
“It’s bad enough the experiments are on hold for another week, especially when it seemed we were so close,” she grumbled, her tone snappish. “Now I have to waste my time reassigning these shifters to keep them occupied.” Her irritationappeared to grow as her lips thinned, her focus on her tablet as she swiped and typed.
“Why aren’t they just kept in their cells?” The assistant had a deep, melodic voice. I wanted to punch his face in.
“We’re running low on the docile ones. Until a new shipment arrives, we need to use the ones we’ve trained. You know how long it takes to get them to understand basic commands.”
Okay. I’d like to punch her too. Another shipment. Like we wre nothing more than cattle. My wolf whined to be released. Pushed to rip out both their throats, but with the two guards nearby, that would be foolish.
Wait, wolf. Patience.
“Shifter S-473. I see you’ve worked in the labs for almost a month without any trouble. For now, you’ll clean the detention cells and guard’s quarters on this level during your morning shift. After lunch, you’ll go back to the labs. For some reason, the staff prefers your method of cleaning.” She stared at me, a sneer on her face until it turned into a tight grin. “You must have been a house slave before coming here.”
It was all I could do to swallow my fury and keep my expression blank. Or could she see that I wanted to bash her face in?
“She must have been a problem if she was transferred here.”
“It’s more likely they got a good price for her. The unruly ones are usually marked for experiments.”
I bit my tongue. I wasn’t sure what was worse. Her belief that I had been a slave, something that had been outlawed over two centuries ago, or that they were marking us for experiments. Would I have been marked as a test subject if I’d continued to rage at my keepers? Yet, they hadn’t tagged me after I’d stuck Tallon in the neck with a fork. Either way, the thought was sobering.
The female nodded at the guard who’d been standing next to her. “Make sure all the animals are either out of their cells or fully restrained before she’s allowed to enter. There’ll be hell to pay if we lose a decent cleaner.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The guard gripped my upper arm and led me to the far end of the hallway, toward the guard’s quarters.
I shivered at the cold air and wrinkled my nose at the stink. Had it gotten worse down here, or had I never noticed when I lived in these cells?
“I’m Dallas, and you’ll be brought down to report to me at the guard’s station each morning.” He released my arm when we entered the guard’s quarters.
I nodded. I wasn’t sure if his name was a given name or a nickname. What I did know was that he was a shifter. He must have been here a long time, like Tallon, to be trusted as a guard. So, not a friend.
“My understanding is that you’re a good worker, so I’ll show you your duties over the next couple of days. Then you’ll be expected to work on your own. You’ve lived down here before, so you should remember that guards walk the corridors. One misstep and you’ll find yourself back in one of these cells marked as a test subject.”
