Kingly Bitten by Lexi C. Foss

 

1

Calina

Thirty-six hours until self-destruct. Please make the appropriate preparations, and thank you for your service.

The message blared overhead, startling me out of my sleep. Lilith’s voice reverberated through my mind, demanding my attention.

35:59:59.

35:59:58.

35:59:57.

I gaped at the image on my wall, reading the numbers as the countdown initiated. The same numbers appeared on my wristwatch, the vibrating mechanism demanding I wake up as it alerted me to what was about to happen.

“Shit,” I breathed, running my fingers through my hair. “Shit.”

This was the doomsday protocol, which meant something had happened to Lilith. It was now my job to send all research through the appropriate channels before the evidence destroyed itself.

I also needed to make sure there was nothing left behind for unauthorized personnel to find.

Lilith expected me to kill everyone. Including myself.

This could all very well be a loyalty test of sorts, set to prove my integrity and willingness to follow the requisite procedures.

Or it could really be happening.

Which would mean my superior was dead.

I tried to search for her through the mental links, but all the programming and tests had dulled our connection so long ago that I couldn’t trust the emptiness I sensed through my bond with her.

I was also still alive, which suggested she might be, too.

Or at least one of my connections still remained. I felt fine. Immortal. Healthy.

Because of Lilith or my ties to…?

The ticking on the wall distracted me from my thoughts, providing an improved conception of reality. My bonds didn’t matter, only my duty did.

Unless she’s really dead.

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I had certain steps to follow.

Send the files. Kill them all.

A tremble worked down my spine. No amount of practicality or reasoning could prepare me for the latter task. These subjects had become my friends. They were… they were family… and they provided the few meager ties I had left with humanity.

Focus, I told myself. Maybe this is all just a test to see how I’ll react. Go through the motions. Pretend to be ready.

Clenching my jaw, I nodded and forced myself to engage in my morning routine. Part of the process was not to panic. There was more than enough time to complete my tasks without hurrying.

Shower.

Dry my hair. Assemble the long blonde strands into a tight bun.

Dress in the traditional blue scrubs and add a lab coat.

After finishing my to-do list, I glanced in the mirror to check my irises. The hazel rings were blue today, suggesting the links to my maternal side were stronger than normal. That meant the contained animal within me desired dominance.

My lips flattened. I supposed if a side was going to take control, it should be the most violent part of me. Perhaps the beast would help me kill everyone.

I shivered at the thought. Then I allowed myself one final sigh and checked the clock once more.

35:32:17.

All right.I opened the light oak door and left my pristine white quarters behind.

There were no countdowns or panic in the vacant hallway, and the marble area at the end of my corridor remained just as quiet and desolate.

Because no one else knew about the doomsday protocol. Only me.

“Mornin’, Doctor,” Officer Gerald greeted as the elevator doors automatically opened. His team would have alerted him to my movements with the surveillance footage in the hallway, therefore sending him up to retrieve me.

Staff weren’t allowed to operate elevators.

Not even me—the lead researcher of Bunker 47.

“Morning, Officer,” I replied to him in my usual tone. Flat. Emotionless. Bored. I’d mastered it over the last hundred-plus years.

He gave a nod as I entered. Then he keyed in my intended destination—the wing with my office and labs.

We were already deep underground, but the cage around us plummeted to the depths of hell before opening again.

“Have a beautiful day, Sunshine,” Officer Gerald said as I stepped out onto the obsidian floor.

His statement wasn’t unusual, as he called me that nickname every day because of my light-colored hair. But this time, I looked at him and wondered if he knew what was about to happen down here.

His gray eyes gave nothing away, just crinkled at the corners as they usually did.

He was a Vigil—a human trained in the art of protecting their immortal betters. I never understood how the mortal minds could be so feeble and accept such a ridiculous task. Vampires and lycans didn’t need protection. They needed humans to police each other in order to ensure their domain and rule over humankind. And mortals like Gerald fell right into that trap.

Would Lilith spare his life? I doubted it. She wouldn’t even spare mine. And I was one of her prized creations. Officer Gerald was merely a number to her. I at least had a name.

The elevator door closed before I could answer him, the Vigil off to his next task of retrieving one of my lab technicians. Probably James.

I blinked, then studied the white walls surrounding me. They were a stark contrast when compared to the slick ebony tiles beneath my sneakers.

Am I standing on explosives right now?I wondered, glancing at the floor. Or are they even deeper underground?

A subtle vibration against my wrist told me I didn’t have time to worry about it. A half hour had passed since the initial countdown began, leaving me with thirty-five hours and thirty minutes.

Research first, I decided, heading to my office to begin the tedious task of uploading all the files to the server. That objective alone would take hours to accomplish. And it required vigilance on my part to ensure everything transferred without error.

There would be no tests today. Just this.

I used my watch to unlock my office. The lights came on around me as I entered, the screens flaring to life with a warm welcome. “Hello, Doctor Calina,” the machines all greeted.

I remained silent as I always did. Technology didn’t require formalities or placative words. Instead, it appreciated keystrokes and logical demands. So I unleashed several onto my computer, telling it to begin the download of all the logs.

Passwords I’d memorized decades ago flickered to life in my mind, causing my fingers to move with ease across my keyboard.

I knew what needed to be done.

But as I neared the second-to-last list in my mind, my typing slowed.

If this was all a loyalty test, then Lilith might end the game as soon as I hit that button. Or she might wait until I killed a few subjects first.

However, if she was truly dead…

I closed my eyes as I forced that thought to leave my mind. Choices are just false hopes, I told myself. Do what you’re told. That’s how you survive.

With another deep exhale, I continued on with my task, my resolve hardening with each keystroke.

Until I reached the final sequence of commands.

The ones that required me to pull up the video feed of the lab and unleash the toxins onto all those inside. The two lead lab technicians were the only ones who could stop me from completing my task; therefore, they needed to be incapacitated.

My two closest friends in this hell.

My only true family.

Not because we enjoyed each other or often spent time with one another, but because we all grew up here. We all understood this place, our purpose, and the research our lives helped perpetuate.

I was created first, almost six decades before them. As a result, I often chose to remain in my head.

But James and Gretchen… they’d chosen a different path. One they exuded now as they smiled and helped one of the lycan shifter pups up onto a table. The little one gave James a big lick across the cheek, causing him to grin in that boyish way he favored. Gretchen watched on with an adoring gleam in her dark, almond-shaped eyes.

The two of them were in love, something Lilith knew and allowed because it made their research stronger. Hence, the product of that love sitting on the lab table now.

A baby.

A tiny little white ball of fur.

One Lilith wanted me to kill with a single stroke on this keyboard.

I swallowed and closed my eyes again, my mind reciting all the doomsday sequences that had been drilled into me for the last century. Longer than that, really. This lab had been created before the revolution.

Half my staff were immortal subjects turned researchers. James and Gretchen were the only two I considered to be family, but the others were still part of my life. They meant something to me on a level I couldn’t define.

Murdering them would protect them in a way. The explosives might not be able to do the job, but I had the weaponized serum in my arsenal that absolutely would. We were all difficult to truly kill since most of us were linked to an immortal out there in the real world—immortals we didn’t know.

Our bond mates. Lilith’s biggest secrets.

My jaw ticked as I considered our options.

Lilith had tested me ample times throughout my life, but never with an experience like this. She was cruel, but also practical. Destroying all her creations seemed a bit far, even for her.

Which suggested, again, that she really was dead.

And meant I had options to consider.

Tapping my nails against the table, I considered the files waiting in the outbound folder. They were still loading, and that final keystroke would enable the course of action designed to send them along.

After incapacitating Gretchen and James.

I sat in my chair and studied the screen, then looked at the lab surveillance feed once more.

My wrist buzzed again. Thirty-five hours, I translated, realizing I was losing time. But I couldn’t move. It was as though fate had tied my hands to the chair, refusing to let me execute the final order.

Instead, I uttered a vocal command to bring up videos throughout the compound, checking on all the other labs under my control. It was business as usual, everyone testing results and cataloging their findings. Some socialized freely. Others remained quiet and kept to themselves.

None of us were here by choice, but we recognized that our lives in this bunker were more favorable than being on the outside. Humans were toys who existed purely for vampire and lycan enjoyment. Like pets, only far less cherished.

At least we were somewhat respected in this bunker, our knowledge and skill sets seen as worthy of a higher distinction than cattle.

However, we would only maintain that status if we followed the rules. And right now, I was breaking the biggest one of them all by not hitting that button.

They could kill me for this disobedience. Yet they were asking me to die regardless. So what was the difference? One option provided an ounce of dignity, allowing me to leave this world knowing I’d done the right thing. While the other choice would send me to my grave as an honorable and obedient disciple who had never really lived.

My fingers curled into fists.

Lilith had taken everything from me—my freedoms, my choices, my life. I’d obeyed her to the best of my ability. But could I do it again now? Did I even want to?

Another buzz. Thirty-four hours, thirty minutes.

Then it became thirty-four hours.

Thirty-three.

Thirty-two.

I half expected Lilith to barge through my door at any minute and punish me for failing her test. Except she never came.

If Lilith’s truly dead, then what do I have to lose?I found myself wondering. That musing grew into a myriad of ideas as the minutes passed. Because nothing happened. No Vigil arrived to escort me out for an execution—something Lilith had threatened me with on countless occasions throughout my long life.

“Do you know what it’s like to die and come back?” It’d been a softly spoken question, one she’d followed with an action by dragging a blade across my throat.

I’d drowned in a pool of my own blood.

Only to awaken an undetermined amount of time later with the memory firmly etched into my thoughts.

It hurt to die.

It hurt even more to come back.

That incident had just been her own musings, not a true punishment.

Oh, I’d endured many of her choice reprimands over the century, too. All of them had included death and rebirth. Each one a subtle lesson in her superiority, always meant to remind me of my place.

Sometimes she killed me just to prove she could.

Sometimes she killed me as a way of testing my immortality.

And sometimes she pretended to love me, just to break my mind.

The latter never worked. It was something she claimed to like about me.

“You’re beautifully resilient, Calina. My perfect creation. I hope you never change.”

Staring at the screen now, I wondered if that was the point of all this—to destroy everything I’d built just to see if I could mentally withstand it.

Lilith loved her mind games.

I rarely ever played.

What happens if I defy you now, my queen?

She would undoubtedly kill me again. But would it be for good?

No.

She couldn’t afford to lose me and all the knowledge I possessed.

But what if it’s real?

I couldn’t quiet the part of my mind that kept musing over the possibility that she truly was dead. That this wasn’t just a test, but actually happening.

Several more minutes passed.

Still, I stared.

Contemplated.

Considering every angle.

Waited for her to appear. To slaughter me. To berate me for my insolence.

More time passed, bringing the countdown to thirty-one hours.

Yet no one bothered me in my office. No one called. No orders flared to life on my screen. Just the ticking of the clock against my wrist and the request to proceed flashing on my monitor.

My world didn’t stop moving.

But the clock kept ticking.

The vibration this time indicated I was down to thirty hours. I’d spent almost every second in this office, sitting here, staring at screens. It was almost impossible to consider, like I’d fallen into some sort of complex catatonic state while I considered all the alternatives.

My mind never stopped working, calculating every move and risk. Every countermeasure I could take. Every potential outcome of disobeying a directive.

The technicians were still in their labs. The Vigils were all preoccupied with their supervisory tasks upstairs. And I was tired of watching the countdown flare on my wrist.

“Fuck procedure,” I said, looking right at the screen. “Fuck it all.”

I reversed all the orders, then added ones of my own. Having spent all my years in this lab, I knew the technology inside and out. I’d also set subtle traps throughout the years, allowing myself to be alerted should a doomsday sequence be engaged without my knowledge.

I checked all those now, bolstering them and taking control of all the monitors inside. No one would take control of this situation without my permission.

However, the explosives were not within my control, suggesting they could potentially be updated from the outside.

Which meant I needed to make it look like I was doing exactly what I’d been told to do, just in case anyone from above checked in on the situation.

My mind worked quickly, formulating a plan that had long existed at the back of my head—a plan I had never expected to need and yet, somehow, always desired to use.

Escape had always appealed to me. I just never knew when to make my move. As it turned out, I had less than thirty hours to do it now.

Okay.

I pulled up the server destination for the documents and opened a less secure communication channel than necessary to distribute the data. It would cause a security flare on the other side because these encrypted files would arrive via an unexpected tunnel.

Whoever existed on the other side would have to play with the parameters a little to determine the source. Once they realized they were real, they’d begin to download.

But that would only buy us a few hours.

And then they’d have to piece all these files together like a massive puzzle, giving us even more time.

By the time they realized what I’d sent, it’d be too late for them to reach out for the real documents. All this data was old gibberish. Useless. The kind of details that would set them back fifty years.

This put Bunker 47 at risk as well, this new channel placing us on the technological map. If anyone was searching through satellites or using data scanners, they’d be able to pick up our location.

But it was a risk I was willing to take.

Because it would give us more time to find a solution to this situation. To escape.

I eyed the lab screen again, nibbling my lip.

Toxin malfunction, I typed. Will address immediately. —Dr. C.

I hit the Send button, aware that the message would arrive at the home base before any of the files. But maybe they would think I was too busy handling the toxin issue to notice the unsecure outbound documents.

I waited to see if I received a reaction. If Lilith was watching me, she’d make it known right about now because she would be furious over my clear break in procedure.

Minutes passed and nothing happened.

No alarms. No calls. No toxins in the air.

The queen is dead.It was the only natural explanation for the lack of a response. She’d never let me get this far into a game without showing her hand.

And if she wasn’t, well, I’d cross that bridge later.

Because we now had less than thirty hours to escape this hell.

Or we would all be buried alive down here.

I stood and ran from my office into the vacant hall.

No one stopped me. Just as no sirens blared.

I should have done this hours ago, tested the limits of the disaster plan to determine Lilith’s intentions, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time now fretting over how long it had taken me to make this decision.

No scientist ever jumped to a conclusion without weighing all the evidence from their observations.

My researchers would understand that reasoning just as well as I did.

I shoved through the door to their lab, finding the ball of fluff snuggled into Gretchen’s lap. She blinked up at me in surprise, then smiled. “Hey, Calina. What—”

“Lilith is dead and we need to go.” I pulled the sleeve up to expose my wrist. “This whole place is going to self-destruct in just under thirty hours.”