She hadn’t noticed her body sway. Her legs became weak and she could no longer hold her own weight. She dropped to the floor, trying to hold her head up. The first chance she got, she would bite the shit out of whoever came close enough.
“Open it up, Henry.” Dr. Phenix ordered.
“She’s not out yet.” Henry hesitated but pulled out his keys.
Mara focused on those keys until she could no longer hold her eyes open. She tried to listen for when Henry came close to her. Too late, she didn’t have control over her body. Again, darkness took her.
Chapter Four
Bright lights surrounded her. She couldn’t move, but she could hear everything going on around her. They rolled her onto her side. Her body had shifted back to normal. She couldn’t tell if the straps restrained her in that position or not.
“Do you think it’ll take hold this time?” the other man asked.
“Vampirism is tricky to work with, Henry. There’s no telling when it will take effect. I’ll give her a couple more. We don’t want what happened to the last bastard to happen to her. It would be a shame to waste such a magnificent specimen.” Dr. Phenix pushed a needle into the base of her neck.
It didn’t hurt, but she could feel the pressure. Mara tried to wiggle her toes just to see if she could. To her surprise, her toes moved with her. Trying not to make any big movements, she continued to wiggle them under the thin sheet draped over her. Her eyelids fluttered close. Maybe they wouldn’t know she wasn’t out of it. She glanced through her long lashes and realized she hadn’t been restrained. She fisted her hand where it lay under the sheet. Her limbs tingled.
Wait for it, the voice in her head spoke again.
Mara ignored it since she had no plans of moving until she knew she could. Slowly, she pumped her fist to get the blood pumping faster. The faster her blood flowed, the quicker the sedation would wear off. She would only get one chance at an escape. If she got caught, chances were they would lock her up even tighter. Timing would be everything.
“I need to get another vial of serum and check on our other guest. Give her another tranquilizer just to be on the safe side.” Dr. Phenix suggested then walked out of the room.
Henry had his back to her. No doubt filling another syringe. This was her chance.
Wait for it, the voice insisted.
She needed to make her move. Looked like there was only one person in the room. She could easily wait until he left, but by then, he would have already sedated her. He would lock the doors on the way out. Henry walked over to her, syringe in hand. As he drew near, she could hear his heart beating in his chest. Her mouth became dry, and she resisted the urge to swallow.
“Now!” the voice said when Henry came up next to the bed.
With no warning, she sprang off the bed. Henry didn’t even have time to jump back before she pounced on him. She bit his neck with all her might, ripping flesh from his body. It felt like instinct to go for his neck, but whose instinct? The thought of his blood being in her mouth sickened her. She spit the blood out and let Henry fall to the floor.
“Eww, that’s gross,” she said quietly, glaring at the lifeless man on the floor. “That’s what you get for shooting me in my ass, you bastard.” She kicked him.
She had to admit the blood didn’t taste that bad. Pulling herself together, she searched for the keys she saw him with earlier. Grabbing them from his front pocket, she went to the door and eased it open. The hall looked clear. She ran to the far end and didn’t look back. Covered in blood, her ass no doubt hung out of her hospital gown, she slipped out the service entrance.
She only saw darkness. How long had she been in there? All day or a couple of days? She couldn’t tell. Weeks could have passed, and she would have been none the wiser.
Footsteps sounded on the concrete, coming closer. Mara ran to a nearby column and quickly hid behind it. She peeked out just enough to see Frank, the night shift security guard, walk through the door she’d just exited. She could run to him for help, but she didn’t know who to trust. He might already know what Dr. Phenix was doing and would take her back to the basement.
She needed to get away from here and get help for the others. Would her car still be on the side of the road or hidden in a ditch somewhere? No way could she hitch a ride. She needed a phone. She wanted to call the police, but Dr. Phenix had lunch with Sheriff Langley often. She could contact Xeon; he was the only person she could trust.
After dashing across the walkway, she stayed to the shadows. The cover of night would lend a hand in concealing her. Running around in a hospital gown would draw too much attention to herself.
I’ve got this, the voice said in her mind.
Her stomach twisted. The cramps were not as painful this time. She bit her lip to keep from crying out when the change took over. She dropped to the ground, black fur sprouted from her arms and legs. She tried to stay close to the wall, so no one would witness her transformation.
While in her shifter form, she’d be able to hide in the shadows better. Her black body blended in with the darkness. If someone happened to see her, at a glance, they might think they saw a large dog. If they did recognize a panther, they’d probably think they needed more sleep.
She didn’t want to go home. Dr. Phenix had her address and would probably send someone after her the moment he realized she was gone. Instead, she went in the opposite direction. The more Mara got used to being on all fours, the faster she ran. Before long, she was racing at top speed. She didn’t pause at intersections because she didn’t want to chance someone seeing her. Only when lights were coming did she stop and crouch out of sight.
Just when she passed an intersection, she saw an emergency call box on one of the streetlights. This was definitely an emergency. She only had one problem. At the moment, she had paws in place of her hands. She had no clue how to get back to human form. What if she was stuck like this?
Just say so, the voice told her. She finally understood the voice in her head. It was the panther.
“I want to be human,” she said internally.
This time the transformation came with less pain. Hopefully, after a few more shifts, the pain will be gone for good. Did she want to be like this forever?
No choice, her panther told her. It felt strange having someone else in her brain.
“That’s what I figured,” Mara sighed.
She stood and dusted off her hands. Her palms were scratched from her sudden stop. She picked a piece of gravel out of her skin. The scratches slowly disappeared. Within moments her palms were completely healed.
“Now, I could get used to that.” She smiled.
Looking around, she made sure no one was passing by. Her body was naked from the shift, she needed to find something to cover herself with. Noticing a ratty blanket thrown by the dumpster in the entrance to the alley, she ran to grab it and wrapped it around her body. Disgusting as it was, it had to be better than showing her bare ass on the streets if she was going to try to make herself invisible. She had to make this quick so she could take cover and stay out of view. She ran to the phone box and opened it up. Thankfully, being good with numbers, she remembered the alpha’s from when she called him before. Her eyes searched the road as the phone rang.
“Come on, pick up.” She tapped her foot as she was impatiently waiting