The Geek Job by Eve Langlais
Chapter Ten
Lexie shot him up with drugs and then left the bedroom, but Anthony didn’t mind. She’d given him plenty of food for thought. Over the last while, he’d begun to wonder if their attraction to each other existed only in his hopeful mind. Sure, she’d kissed him the day of the attack, and ended up snuggling him nightly even if she scurried away every morning as if afraid he’d catch her.Like I wouldn’t notice the woman of my dreams molding her curves to me.Discovering her werewolf status should have sent him screaming in the other direction, but instead he felt as if a great weight had been lifted. Their biological differences kept them apart, not him and his geeky nature.
However, knowing she wanted him but was afraid of killing him didn’t bring them any closer to a solution. Actually, the way he saw it, there were only two options—cure Lexie of her werewolf side which he got the impression she’d probably protest, or he needed to change himself.
The bigger question, though, was could it be done? The answer awaited him in his lab where twelve lab rats injected with various nano’s—a forbidden technology that Mr. Thibodeaux readily encouraged—would tell him if the genetic disorders he’d located in both his employer and Lexie could be replicated, or reversed.
But how to get to his lab? In his current condition, Lexie wasn’t likely to let him go waltzing down to check on his test subjects. At the same time, the more time he waited, the more likely he’d lose his arm. Given the grave consequences, he could deal with her anger.
A great plan, if he hadn’t fallen asleep, the effects of the drug drawing him down.
When he woke, he sensed someone watching him. Opening his eyes warily, he saw Mr. Thibodeaux sitting by his bed. “Ah, the scientist awakes. How are you feeling?”
Anthony forwent answering for a question that had come to him while he slept. “Are you a vampire?”
His boss chuckled, and Anthony’s cheek flushed, wondering if he’d perhaps assumed wrongly.
“About time you figured it out. I began to wonder if you were as smart as I’d hoped.”
“Not so smart, apparently, given I fell for a woman who was paid to like me.” Anthony meant it as a snub. He still hadn’t quite forgiven his employer for the subterfuge, even if he meant well and had only his personal safety in mind.
“Ah, the luscious Lexie. She’s quite the woman isn’t she? Or should I say bitch?” At Anthony’s glare, Mr. Thibodeaux raised a hand. “Down boy. I referred to her animal status, not her actual attitude. I like kick ass women myself. I do apologize for the girlfriend ruse though. But honestly, you can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it?”
“Don’t ever do that again. It’s demeaning. How would you like it if you found out a woman only had sex with you because she was paid?”
“Fine. I’ll concede that point to you. You must be ecstatic now, then, that she’s refused payment to remain your guard.” Frederick finished speaking and watched him, waiting for a reaction.
“What?” Anthony’s brow creased as he tried to make sense of his boss’s words.
“Lexie told me after your accident there last night that she no longer wished to be paid to be your guard.”
“She’s leaving?” Panic clawed him. She couldn’t leave, not until he’d had a chance to see if he could solve the problem keeping them apart.
Mr. Thibodeaux sighed. “You know, for a smart man you are awfully dense. She’s not getting paid, but she’s staying. Or in simple terms, since you don’t get it—she’s staying with you because she likes you, not because of the obscene salary I was paying her.”
Anthony’s head spun. Despite her objections and assertion they couldn’t be together, she didn’t want to leave him. Anthony felt like jumping out of the bed and dancing. He couldn’t stop his silly grin when she walked in and, with a scowl, she growled, “What’s so funny?”
He and his boss laughed as she grumbled about men and their little heads doing their thinking. Mr. Thibodeaux left after assuring him he’d get the best medical care possible for his arm, and a hint about the progress of his sun allergy research. Anthony ignored the blatant probing even though he knew the solution possibly already waited in his lab.
Lexie slammed a tray down with dishes. “Dinner,” she announced unnecessarily.
“I need to go to my lab.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “Not likely. Now eat.”
“Just for an hour. I need to check on some mice I injected and run a few tests, else my progress will be moot.”
“Eat and we’ll see.”
Sighing, Anthony picked up a spoon and ate the stew the chef had prepared. Truthfully, the food energized him enough that as soon as she whipped the tray away, he swung his legs out of the bed and stood. He’d forgotten about the drugs though. He swayed as the pain medications made him woozy. Arms wrapped around him, steadying him, and he breathed deep of her scent, his cock twitching at her proximity.
“Idiot,” she grumbled.
Given her closeness, though, he’d actually have said more like genius. “I ate, now please can we go to my lab. Just for an hour. I promise to do the tests and observations sitting.”
“I want it known that I disagree totally with this, and when you faint and I carry you back like some pansy, I’m going to laugh at you.”
Anthony didn’t take offense. He finally understood her mean verbal attacks were a way of hiding her feelings. And besides, he’d gotten what he wanted.
She slid her arm around his waist and draped his good arm over her shoulder. Anthony didn’t really like having to lean on her for help—he did have some pride left after all—but if his fervent wishing came true, soon, she’d be able to lean on him.
The trip down the elevator and up the hall to his lab made his stomach roil and a cold sweat broke out all over his body. A glance over at Lexie showed him tight lips and a furious look in her eyes, but she got him into his lab and seated before she spoke.
“This better be important or I will beat you worse than those wolves did,” she growled. “Now where are those mice?”
Anthony pointed at a door and she wheeled his chair over. They entered and she wrinkled her nose. “Eew. Stinks in here.” She peered at the cages and made a moue of disgust. “Mice. Nasty things. I don’t know how you can work with them.”
“Since they gross you out, why don’t you wait outside then? I just need to take some notes. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
She threw another glance at his test subjects and shuddered. “Fine. But if they get out, don’t expect me to catch them. I’m a wolf, not a fucking cat.”
She left and Anthony focused his attention on the animals in the cages. The results astonished him.
He grabbed his clipboard off the metal counter and verified the serial numbers he’d assigned for the different serums. Cage 00011—the two mice injected with an untwisted version of his boss’s DNA were unrecognizable, their bodies misshapen, but the horrifying part was their elongated teeth which they’d apparently used to feed off each other in a frenzy before dying.Okay reversing the vampiric condition is not a feasible option at this time.
He went on to the next cage, 00014. Inside the two mice peered at him with red eyes. He leaned forward and the critters suddenly hissed, displaying pointy fangs as they flung themselves at the bars.Interesting. I’ll have to test and compare their DNA mutations to Mr. Thibodeaux’s. If I can provoke the vampiric condition then there must be a way to suppress or eliminate it.
He’d left the most important cage for last. Inside, only one mouse appeared, grooming itself. Anthony could see pale scars as if the creature had hurt itself, and yet, he knew the previous day the mouse had been unmarked. Excitement began to build in him as he perused the cage for the other specimen. He opened the cage and kept a watchful eye on the live mouse, but it just regarded him placidly. Anthony grabbed the plastic house and upended it. He recoiled at what tumbled out, mostly because of the blood and the deadly wound gaping in the creature’s neck. However, fascination had him look past the gore to see the miracle he’d created—a miniature wolf with white fur. Apparently its death had frozen its state. How interesting that even though the moonlight hadn’t touched it, the mouse, injected with Lexie’s wolf DNA, still changed.
Even more fabulous, it worked.Logic dictated he run some tests, that he duplicate his trial run, that he exercise caution; however, the fiery pain in his arm and the shooting red streaks he could see creeping across his hand let him know time was running out.
Done in here, he debated how to get to the fridge where he’d stored the surplus nano imbued serums. Lexie wouldn’t just let him shoot himself up, so he’d just have to get her out of the way for a few minutes.
“I’m done in here,” he called.
Keeping her eyes averted from the cages, she strode in and pushed the wheeled chair back out into the main lab area. When she continued towards the door back to the hall, taking him away from where he needed to be, he spoke, “Wait. I’m not quite done. I need you to take cage number 00014 and place it in the solarium. I need to verify the next stage of the sun serum for Mr. Thibodeaux.”
She didn’t pause. “I’ll come back and do it after I get you back to bed.”
“No.” He almost shouted the word and his vehemence made her spin the chair to face her and her narrowed eyes. “That is, I still need to enter a few things on the computer while you do that. It will only take you a minute and it’s just down the hall. Plenty of time to run back if I need you.”
She didn’t look certain and bit her lip. “Fine. But, you better be done by the time I get back or I’ll haul you over my shoulder and carry you off cave girl style.”
Anthony wanted to snap at her to stop treating him like a weakling, but he could almost her mocking reply. Like, love or not, she currently held the upper hand when it came to strength.
Not for long though if this works.
He pretended to type one handed as she entered the specimen room. She emerged with her nose wrinkled dangling the cage. Anthony knew he doomed his mice to death given the sunlight that would arrive in the morning, but their demise was a small price to pay. The door no sooner clicked behind her than he pushed away from his workstation with his one good arm, sending his chair skidding over to the glass door of the fridge. He pulled it open and fumbled through the vials, but the one he wanted was at the back of the tray. He lifted the tray onto his lap and located his prize. He snapped the ampule onto the syringe he’d stashed in his pocket. He didn’t think, he didn’t contemplate the insanity of his actions, he just jabbed his leg with the needle and depressed the plunger. Unsure if the small dosage he’d given the mice would be enough, he grabbed a second and third vial, injecting each in quick succession.
It was only as he slid the tray back into the fridge that he noticed the third phial wasn’t the one for Lexie’s Lycan gene, but his boss’s vampiric one. Then it was too late to think as his body went into convulsions and the blood coursing in his veins caught on fire.
