Deeper than the Night - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,21

what's wrong with Kara? I know it's something awful, or they'd tell us."

"I'll find out what's going on," Alexander said. "Don't doubt it for a minute."

Gail sniffed, then smiled. "I believe you."

"Good. You'd better run on home now. You don't want to upset your grandmother. She has enough to worry about."

"All right. You'll call as soon as you find out what's wrong with Kara?"

"I will."

Impulsively, Gail wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a hug.

Startled, Alexander could only stare at her. In two hundred years, no child had ever embraced him. It stirred old feelings, familiar feelings that belonged to another life, another time. He felt oddly bereft when she let him go.

Flashing him a shy smile, Gail ran out of the house.

Alexander stared out the window. Kara was being kept in isolation. He digested that fact, and knew he was to blame.

He had given Kara his blood without considering the consequences. Mixing his blood with hers must have caused some sort of chemical imbalance. No doubt the doctors in charge of her case had been told of the abnormality, and when they couldn't pinpoint it, they had decided to do some experimenting. And what better way to do research than with the source close at hand?

The thought of Kara being kept in isolation while doctors examined her filled him with fury.

And a rising sense of dread as he considered the consequences if Kara's doctors somehow discovered the true cause of the abnormality in her blood.

He could not leave her there. The risk of discovery was too great. He hadn't survived for two hundred years by taking unnecessary chances. For her sake, and for his own, he had to get her out of there.

She woke to darkness. There was a foul tastein her mouth; her stomach felt queasy. For a moment, she lay still, wondering where she was, and then, in a rush, it all came back to her: the examination, Dr. Barrett telling her they wanted to do further tests, her refusal, the prick of the needle in her arm.

She slid her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Groping in the dark, she found a light switch and turned it on.

She was in a small, square room furnished with nothing save the bed and a small table. A door led to a tiny bathroom that had a small sink and a toilet. No shower; no tub. There was a plastic glass on the sink, a thin white washcloth, and a bar of soap.

She washed her hands and face, then filled the glass with lukewarm water and rinsed her mouth. Where was she?

Returning to the other room, she looked around again. There was a window above the bed. Climbing on the mattress, she pulled back the shade. The window was barred.

She whirled around as the door opened.

"You can't get out that way," Dale Barrett said.

"Where am I?"

Barrett closed the door, then leaned against it. "In isolation." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a nasty-looking syringe. "I need to take some blood."

"No."

"We can do this easy or hard, Miss Crawford, it's up to you." His eyes narrowed ominously. "But mark me well, we will do it."

"I want to go home."

"All in good time."

Kara glanced at the syringe, then at the door.

Barrett smiled and shook his head. "The hard way, then." He opened the door, and two men dressed in white lab coats and masks entered the room.

Kara backed away, but there was no place to go, nothing to use for a weapon, no one to hear her if she screamed. She screamed anyway.

Screamed in anger when the two men grabbed her arms, screamed with frustration when they forced her down on the bed.

Screamed in panic when they uncovered the restraints on the bed and strapped her arms and legs to the solid steel frame.

Barrett stood over her, shaking his head. "This would be so much easier for all of us if you would just cooperate."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I told you before. We found an unknown antibody in your blood. We haven't been able to identify it as yet, but it might be toxic. Until we know for sure, we need to keep you isolated, not only for your own protection, but for that of your family and anyone else you might come in contact with."

"An unknown antibody," Kara remarked. "But that's impossible."

"I wish it were. We needto make sure your life isn't in danger." Barrett smiled inwardly, pleased with how readily she had