The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,18
worked. They tore him up. And the big guy just kept sending him through more and more until he bled out.” He shook his head. “I saw the vampire’s eyes glow blue. I saw its fangs. I watched it draw its last breath, then shrivel up like a mummy until there was nothing left but his clothes and his fucking dental fillings.”
“Brad…”
“I didn’t understand why the big guy—Gershom—wanted those fail-safes in place until tonight. They just brought in a big group of them—vampires. That’s why I was finally able to sneak in and see you. These vampires are so fucking powerful that almost all the soldiers standing guard in this wing have been diverted to the one holding the vampires. Everyone is distracted. Everyone is excited and nervous as hell.”
“Why nervous?” she asked, wanting to believe him. He seemed earnest. But… vampires? Really?
“Because they’re worried more vampires will come and break the new ones out. And it isn’t just vampires. There are two babies being held captive here, or rather toddlers. A red-haired little girl and a dark-haired boy. They were brought in with the vampires. I don’t know what those kids are—they don’t appear to be vampires—but they are not normal children. One of them can get in your head and…”
Lisa glanced down at her belly. “Did they… did they do something to the children to make them that way? Did they do that to my baby? Are you saying I’m carrying a baby like that?”
He quieted. “No.”
Her heart began to pound. “Is it… is my baby a vampire?”
“No.” His fingers tightened around her hands. “Vampires aren’t the only paranormal beings they study here. They also have an alien.”
She swallowed hard as her breathing grew shallow. “An alien?”
“An extraterrestrial.” His gaze dropped to her stomach.
Her pulse skipped as fear plowed through her. “Wh-Why did you do that? Why did you look at the baby when you said that?”
His eyes were tortured when next they met hers. “It isn’t human, Lisa. I read your file. They fertilized your egg with—”
“No.”
“I didn’t want to believe it either. I don’t know how or when they captured the extraterrestrial. But they’ve had it for years.” It. Not him. It. “Your baby is half-human, half—”
“No!” she repeated, shaking her head in denial. “No! You’re making this up!” She would have covered her ears if Brad had let her.
“I’m not. That’s why they’ve kept you in a medically induced coma. They weren’t sure what would happen when they mixed alien and human DNA.” Again he glanced at her stomach. “That’s why it’s growing faster than a normal baby would.”
It. Not him or her, but it.
Hysteria threatened.
“That’s why it’s more active. They’ve been giving you drugs to keep you unconscious while they waited to see how carrying it would affect you… if gestating a human-alien hybrid would change you. But they started to worry about the effect the drug might have on…”
On the baby.
The baby in her belly that was half alien.
Images from sci-fi movies swirled through her head like a tornado, buffeting her and ratcheting up her fear. “What does it look like?” she whispered.
“The alien?”
She nodded.
All hope that Brad was insane and this was all a lie dwindled when tears welled in his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I only saw it once,” he admitted in a hushed voice. “I snuck into the observation room that looks down on where they dissect it. Everyone was distracted by the new arrivals, so I went there right before I came here. And…”
“What?” she whispered.
“It’s a monster, Lisa,” he admitted, his voice hoarse. “And I’m scared to death that thing inside you is going to kill you.”
Her whole body began to tremble.
“Look.” He leaned closer until his nose nearly touched hers. “I’m going get you out of here. I need to do it while everyone is distracted, so it’ll be soon. Kelly’s going to help me. She’s my ex. She did a story on battered women and stalking victims last year. And she has connections who can help you disappear. I know you’re scared. I sure as hell am. If these people find out I’m helping you, they’ll kill me.”
“Then why would you risk it?”
“Because I did this to you,” he blurted, his voice full of self-loathing. “Because I helped them find you. After that first interview with you, I was so excited. I hadn’t really expected to find an actual psychic, but there you were, getting almost every damn answer right. I kept