Page 62 of Fanged Embrace
Until I saw him.
He stood under those humming fluorescents, skin ghost-white, smile polite like he was welcoming a guest. He was exactly as I remembered him. The same white hair, the same pale hands that had cradled my chin when he called me extraordinary.
My lungs seized and my breath stilled and locked doors in my head blew open—needles, restraints, and flaring lights. All of it covered up with kind words and a smile and vibrant green eyes.
I hesitated—and he spoke.
“Laurie.” The Doctor stretched each syllable longer, like he was savoring the name on his tongue—a tongue that flickedout like a serpent testing the air. “Finally. How I’ve missed you.”
I forced a step forward, gun leveled at his chest. But the muzzle trembled, tracking a jittery path from one shoulder to the other and back again. My knees threatened to buckle. I couldn’t handle it—Iwasn’tready. I wasn’t prepared to look into those eyes. Not when I couldn’t bring myself to feel real hatred for him.
Despite the deadly weapon pointed his way, the Doctor smiled, pointed fangs present under thin lips. “Laurie, you don’t want to do something silly. Why don’t you put the gun down?”
I flinched, jaw locking tight. The barrel dipped an inch.Don’t trust him.But I could still hear the soft words he’d spoken back then, still felt his hand smoothing my hair after a rough procedure.
I hated that memory, hated that I’d mistaken his manipulations for love.You don’t mean anything to him,the rational part of my brain reminded me,you’re his prized experiment and nothing more.
But,my hands shook, gripping tight to the cool metal of the gun,but he was kind to me.
It was false, I knew that. But I couldn’t shake the lingering dependance, the overwhelming urge to simply do as he said and give in. I was stiff and indecisive, flailing in a sea of memories—the good, the bad, and the moments I couldn’t categorize as one or the other.
“Laurie,” he spoke again, soft and sympathetic just like he did back then, “you don’t need to keep running—you must be so tired.” He stretched out a hand, long, pale fingers reaching for me. “Why don’t you come home?”
“Stay back!” My voice cracked. The Doctor paused, gentlemanly as ever, but triumph flashed in his neon eyes. He saw the shake in the gun, the tremor in my stance.
Rage should have flared in my chest, but guilt stabbed hot and sharp instead. Maybe all of this wasn’t his fault. Maybe it was mine? I was the one who ran from the facility, and I’d lost my child because of it. I’d left others behind.Iwas the one to blame for my own suffering.
The gun wavered.
Maybe it would be better to just give up now? To return to the cage I was comfortable in. It’s not like life had really gotten much better on the outside. If anything, it was worse?—
“Laurie, get out of here!”
A new voice, a presence I hadn’t even noticed until now, called to me from behind the Doctor. Someone familiar, someone… kind. Not the false kindness I’d come to know in the facility, but real kindness. A kindness that asked for nothing in return.
I peered past the Doctor and that calm, collected smile of his, and saw… My heart thumped,hard, against my ribs. “River?”
River was here.
Howshe was here, I had no idea, but she wasn’t alone. There was another vampire woman with her—the woman who wore shadows like a veil—and behind them, Arlon. He was bound and unconscious, slumped in an open locker.
All at once I realized I’d been played. Grabbing Arlon, leaving his location on, this was all part of the vampire man’s plan to lure me here. To get me back. To take me ‘home.’
I met River’s eyes, stomach plummeting. She had no idea of the danger she was in. She wasn’t aware of the Doctor’s true power. “River.” I struggled to get the words out, my mind a muddled haze when what I desperately needed was clarity. “You have to–”
“Forget about them.” The Doctor sliced a hand down between me and the other three, severing invisible threads. Hegestured at the gun, still pointed at his chest, curling fingers to grab my attention. “Look at me.”
I fought it as long as I could, fought to keep my eyes on River’s, but when he said it again, I had to obey.
“Look at me, Laurie.” His words poured over me like anesthesia and my head felt heavy when I met those piercing eyes. “You’ve been running long enough,” he murmured, voice dipped in the same gentleness he’d used after every needle, every incision. “Lower the gun–I’m no threat to you. You’re safe with me.”
Safe.The lie felt warm, comforting. My wrists remembered restraints. I swallowed, stiff limbs eager to cooperate.
One command pulsed through the chaos in my head—shoot.Just pull the trigger and end this already.But the barrel was weighted with every awful memory, every shred of doubt. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fire. Every vile experiment replayed behind my eyelids, each one ending with his soft praise. His promise that next time, next time, it won’t be so bad.
My finger hovered on the trigger, numb. I drew in a breath, fought for control. “I?—”
Before I could speak, River moved. Faster than I could track. Faster than I could scream out a warning. She lunged for the Doctor, talons elongating as she swiped at his back—but she just wasn’t fast enough.
