Drowning In The Dark - Pippa DaCosta Page 0,34

all. Beneath his eyelids, his eyes twitched, as though he dreamed.

“They’re physically fit, athletic almost. You don’t keep them like this?”

“No. When Subjects Gamma and Delta are not in use, we put them in stasis. They have a strict training regime keeping them physically and mentally challenged.”

Adam stood behind my left shoulder, thankfully out of my peripheral vision. I couldn’t see him, which meant he wouldn’t be able to see my sneer. What he was doing here, it was so fundamentally wrong that it boiled my blood without the help of my demon.

“Do they have real names?”

“No.”

Of course not. That would humanize them. Like this, they were subjects, projects, pets.

The girl lay as still as her brother. Eyes closed. Chest rising and falling. She had a heart-shaped face, almost pixie-like. I imagined a bright, exaggerated smile on her pale lips if these kids ever smiled. This was no life. I thought I had it bad, but these kids were machines.

“Can they summon from the veil?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Are they aware? I mean, do they know what they are, who they are?”

“They know they belong to the Institute. They obey commands without fault. They are quite remarkable.”

I withdrew my hand from the boy’s shoulder. “You know these are kids, Adam?” Turning a little, I glared back at Adam Harper’s impassive face. This was routine for him and totally acceptable in his world.

“They’re half-bloods, hybrids. You know as well as I, uncontrolled half-bloods are dangerous. This is the best option for all of us.”

Stefan had listened to this bullshit from his own father for his entire life. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate Adam any more, he surprised me. “Don’t they get a chance at life? Y’know, school, friends, real things…”

“That method failed with Stefan.”

My hands curled into fists as the urge to argue swelled inside. “I’ve seen enough.” Following behind Adam, steps heavy, I imagined myself plunging a dagger into his back. It helped. How was I going to tell Stefan about these kids? For him, it would be like looking in a mirror. He wouldn’t react well.

At least I’d seen them. They existed. They were real, and Adam seemed to believe they were powerful enough to draw from the veil. We would need them if we had any hope of beating back the princes.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

L ess than an hour later, it occurred to me as I sat opposite the unchained and impossible contradiction that was Akil, that he probably knew all about the half bloods. They were, in fact, the very reason he was there. In all likelihood, he’d planned to get captured so he might discover the Institute’s underground facility— much the same way I’d wormed my way inside.

He looked back at me, posed sideways in his chair, reading my face while I tried to stare the answers out of him. Shirtless, he oozed masculine predator. And it wasn’t his demon either. The man looking back at me was exactly that—all man—and my internal Akil BS detectors were spiking off the charts.

“Have they gone?” My soft words somehow hardened in the quiet.

He blinked and answered without checking the mirrored glass. “Yes. Although they’ll be listening, recording, scribbling notes, making assessments, measuring me against their inadequate benchmarks.”

Could they see the smile lurking on his lips from behind their monitors or how the amber in his eyes shimmered like sunlight on water? I doubted it, which was exactly why he let me see it. They were so screwed.

“What are you waiting for, Akil?” I realized I’d subconsciously mirrored his relaxed posture and sat upright, shuffling in my seat. They’d at least furnished him with a table, chairs, and a bed. Not that he’d care. He’d happily sleep on the floor or might not sleep at all.

His keen gaze warmed my skin as he slid it from my face, down the hollow of my neck, and let it linger on my chest, undressing me with his eyes. For a few moments, he did nothing then slowly, languishing in the rising tension, he lifted his searing gaze. “I find I have a new respect for humans. You suffer emotions well. I, on the other hand, am struggling to contain the many feelings flocking like frightened birds in my head.”

Nice try. “You can’t be human, Akil.” He might be damn close to it while trapped in his vessel, but the elemental creature inside him wasn’t of this world. “You can’t experience human emotion.”

“Then tell me why I spent months grieving your death?”

Blinking rapidly, I