Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

The only other mortal in the room didn’t move. “I already have two 9mms under my lab coat and extra mags in my pockets,” Darnell murmured distractedly.

Nicole swiftly donned shoulder-holstered 9mms equipped with 33-round magazines. Sean grabbed several extra mags and stuffed them in her smock pockets.

Seth, David, Tessa, Bastien, and the doctor entered.

Seth eyed Darnell and Melanie. “Where are we on copying their data?”

Darnell never looked up. “I need you to buy me some time.”

“Me, too,” Melanie added.

Seth turned to David. “Go take Jared’s place in the other lab so he can spirit Tessa away. He’s driving me crazy.”

Shaking his head with mild amusement, David vanished.

“What the hell is happening?” the doctor whispered shakily as she looked wildly from one to the other. “Are you… are you messing with my head? Did you drug me?”

Jared zipped into the room and halted two feet from Tessa.

The breeze created by his swift arrival blew the hair back from her face and startled a yelp from the doctor.

After several rapid blinks, Tessa looked up at him.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked, his sharp gaze taking in every aspect of her appearance.

She smiled. “Yes. I’m feeling better every second.”

Jared turned to the doctor Bastien still restrained. His eyes flashed bright gold as his face darkened with fury. “You’re the one who drugged her?”

Fear widening her eyes, the doctor plastered her side to Bastien’s, then tried to slip behind him.

When Jared took a threatening step toward her, however, Tessa hastily grabbed his arm. “Don’t.”

Jared swung a confused gaze upon her.

Tessa studied the woman. “She was kind to me. One of the other doctors intentionally hurt me, tightening the manacles too much, jabbing me multiple times with the needle instead of inserting it in my vein.”

“Fucking Orson,” the doctor muttered.

“This woman verbally bitch-slapped him and forced him to leave, then loosened the manacles a bit and inserted the rest of the needles herself.”

Jared’s countenance remained dark. “Seth said she nearly overdosed you.”

The doctor stopped trying to disappear behind Bastien as alarm entering her features. “What?”

Spinning on her, Jared snarled, “You could’ve killed her!”

The doctor looked at Tessa in horror. “I’m so sorry. TJ said the dart barely slowed you down when he tranqed you. He said it was so ineffective that he had to knock you out and told us immortals required twice the normal dosage.”

Tessa scowled. “He didn’t knock me out. He nearly drowned me while he waited for the sedative to kick in.”

The doctor shook her head, her face full of dismay. “You roused shortly after they brought you in, so I thought he was right and… I-I just…” Rubbing a hand on her thigh, she swallowed hard. “I was afraid if you struggled, it would give Orson the excuse he needed to hurt you more.”

Jared remained unforgiving. “You’re still complicit. You knew they brought her here against her will, and you did nothing to free her!”

Anger entered the woman’s face, surprising the hell out of Sean. Though Jared was usually a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, he could be damned intimidating when he was angry, especially to mortals who hadn’t spent time around more powerful beings.

“What could I do?” she countered with a frown, her voice rising. “If I called the police to tell them she was being held here… sure, they would’ve shown up. But as soon as they saw her glowing eyes and the other doctors finished giving them an earful about her being immortal, they would’ve carted her off to another lab. A government lab. One that would focus on weaponizing her differences instead of finding ways to help people with them.”

“How will enabling Benford and his ilk to live forever help people?” Jared countered, taking a menacing step toward her.

She didn’t back down, daring to step toward him instead. “It won’t. But discovering why she and others like her—others like you—don’t suffer cognitive decline as she ages will help millions!”

Seth held up a hand. “Jared. Let it go. Dr. Baker is only here because her mother has Alzheimer’s and her father is showing signs of dementia.”

Melanie turned her swivel chair so she could study the doctor. “Did she hurt the vampires?”

“No,” Seth said the same time the doctor said, “Yes.”

All looked at her.

“One of them.” Her gaze flitted to Seth. “The cameras record video twenty-four hours a day, but they don’t record audio. During Cole’s last lucid period, I was intentionally careless with my equipment and accidentally left a scalpel within his reach. With the camera behind me, I whispered for him to take it, then turned my back to fetch an alcohol swab. The scalpel was gone when I faced him.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought Cole would use it to free himself. They didn’t use metal manacles then. They used heavy canvas restraints he could cut through. I told him he could escape through the roof if he made it to the lounge at the other end of the hall. But he didn’t. He slit his wrists while we were all in the conference room.”