Authors: Kelley Armstrong
Dates From Hell (10 page)
Born and raised in Tornado Alley,
KIM HARRISON
now resides in more sultry climates. The bestselling author of
Dead Witch Walking; The Good, the Bad, and the Undead;
and
Every Which Way But Dead,
she rolls a very good game of dice, hangs out with a guy in leather, and is hard at work on the next novel of the Hollows.
For more information, go to
www.kimharrison.net
.
Lynsay Sands
1
“A
bunny.”
The disgust John Heathcliffe poured
into those two words made Claire Beckett roll her eyes as she rinsed out and refilled the water bottle from the rabbit cage. He wasn’t finished with his bitching, however, and continued, “I don’t know why we can’t—”
“You
do
know why, John,” Kyle Lockhart countered with what Claire considered the patience of a saint. He didn’t raise his head from the report he was reading, but added, “Because we have to follow safety procedures. We test it on animals to ensure that it’s safe
before
we let it anywhere near humans.”
Claire glanced toward John as she moved back to the rabbit cage, noting the irritation that flashed across his face. John, apparently, didn’t appreciate Kyle’s patience, but then she suspected there was little John appreciated about Kyle. Claire knew he resented Dr. Cohen putting Kyle in charge of the lab. John felt it should have been he. Both men were in the last stage of attaining their doctorates and it made their relationship somewhat competitive, at least on John’s part. Kyle didn’t seem to have the same issues, but then he was the one in charge.
“We’ve already tested it on a dozen mice and rats and now three bunnies,” John pointed out impatiently as Claire reset the water bottle in the rabbit cage.
“Yes,” Kyle agreed. This time he did glance up from the reports as he added pointedly, “And the first couple of those animals ended up a puddle of mush.”
John waved that away as unimportant. “Only the first few, and that was because we were giving them too much juice. We fixed that. We now know the amount needed per pound. We—”
“We are testing it on the rabbit, John,” Kyle said firmly. “And then we’ll test it on a bigger animal, like a—”
“Yes, yes,” the other man said impatiently. “We’ll test it on half a dozen bunnies, then half a dozen cats, and then another half a dozen dogs, and then monkeys, and then, and then, and then…I’ll be an old man before we test it on an actual human.
If
I’m still alive,” he said with disgust. “What use is it testing it on these animals anyway? They can’t tell us what it’s like. They don’t understand what we’ve done to them, and they can’t follow commands and try to change. They—”
“They can tell us if it’s safe by surviving the procedure,” Kyle countered shortly. “They can tell us what damage—if any—the procedure does to them physically by our following and testing them over the years.”
“Years,” John muttered. “Stupid, safe science.”
“Yeah,” Kyle said dryly as he closed the file and got to his feet. “Sucks huh?”
Claire bit her lip to keep from laughing and raised her eyebrows in question as Kyle turned his sky blue eyes her way.
“Claire, I need to go give Dr. Cohen the latest test results of our subjects. Would you mind getting Thumper out of his cage and strapping him into place while I’m gone? We’ll start when I get back.”
“Yes, Kyle.” Claire turned back to the cage as he headed out of the lab, but her eyes immediately found him in the rectangular mirror on the wall over the cage. Her gaze dropped over Kyle in his long white smock. He looked so sexy in the smock. She wouldn’t mind playing doctor/patient with him, she thought. Then her eyes moved to her own reflection, and she sighed as she took in the familiar features under the mop of red hair she had scraped back into a ponytail. She’d been told she was pretty more than a time or two in her life, and had a certain amount of confidence in her looks, but they didn’t seem to matter to Kyle. He treated her more like a buddy or kid sister than a woman.
“Yes, Kyle,”
John mimicked nastily. “Thank you, Kyle. Bend me over the counter and—”
“You are such a jerk sometimes, John,” Claire interrupted as she reopened the rabbit cage. She managed to use bored tones despite her irritation and embarrassment. If the man knew he was getting to her, he’d be like a dog with a bone. She knew that from experience. John had become increasingly rude since she’d refused his invitation to dinner two months ago. He’d decided her refusal was because she “had the hots” for Kyle. Which was true, but Claire had no idea how he knew that.
“Come on, Thumper,” she cooed, scooping the white rabbit out of the cage. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“Right,” John agreed as he moved to the panel that controlled the destabilizer. “We’re just going to zap you with a molecular destabilizer that will turn you into a puddle of goo.”
Claire glared at his back as she closed the cage door, then turned her attention to Thumper. Petting the rabbit soothingly, she said, “Don’t listen to him. That hasn’t happened for a long time, not since we figured out we were using too much juice. You’ll be fine.”
Claire continued to whisper soothing nonsense to the rabbit as she carried him into the experiment chamber. It was a small room, built in the center of the wide back wall of the lab. The chamber was only ten feet square, its front and side walls made of protective glass to allow viewing. This was where the molecular destabilizer waited. It looked like nothing more interesting than an X-ray machine, but it wasn’t photons of electromagnetic interference that this machine shot out.
The automatic door shushed open for Claire, then closed behind her with the same soft sound as she carried Thumper to the table under the destabilizer. Setting the rabbit on the surface, she began to strap him down.
For some reason, this part of her job always bothered Claire. She didn’t like strapping the animals down. Of course, they always panicked and began to struggle at this point, but she couldn’t blame them, she wouldn’t like to be strapped down, either. Then too, they were probably picking up on some of her nervousness. As she worked, Claire found her eyes flickering nervously up to the funnel-shaped projector the destabilizer beam came out of. She was always nervous around the thing, afraid it would suddenly start spitting its beam at her, which of course it couldn’t do. Someone would have to turn it on for that to happen.
That thought made Claire glance over her shoulder and through the glass to the control panel. John was there, frowning and muttering to himself as he worked out the necessary calculations for the proper amount of power to use with Thumper. It was a very weight-specific process, needing a specific amount of power per pound of the animal. Too little and nothing would happen, too much and…but that had only happened with the first couple of trials.
Sighing, she turned back to Thumper and continued fixing the straps, making sure they were firmly in place, but not so tight they’d harm him. Despite her reservations about working so close to the destabilizer itself, Claire enjoyed her job. This was an exciting field to work in, this experiment on the cutting edge. They had used research on chameleons, as well as various changes natural in nature, such as gas turning into liquid when under pressure, and liquid to solid when cold. Putting it all together they had created their destabilizer, hoping that it would bring about cellular changes that would allow other animals to effect tonal changes that could act as camouflage. In effect, creating a chameleon rabbit, or a chameleon mouse, rat, dog, and—eventually—a chameleon human.
Finished with Thumper, Claire turned to head out of the room, pausing when John’s voice came over the intercom.
“Claire, Thumper isn’t aligned under the projector. Go back and fix it.”
Frowning, she turned and moved back to the table to peer at the rabbit. He looked to be in the right position to her.
“Are you sure?” Claire asked, knowing John would hear her through the open intercom. “He looks right from here.”
“The camera is only showing his lower half.” She could hear the irritation in his voice. “Maybe it’s the camera that’s off kilter.”
Claire glanced up, peering at the destabilizer itself.
“The camera is on the far side of the projector,” John announced. “Take a look at it for me, will you?”
Claire frowned. As far as she could see, there was no way to get to the far side of the projector without crawling over the table.
“The table slides back,” he said helpfully. “Just slide the table backward, then crawl under the projector and look up on the other side for a small camera. It should be aligned with the projector. If it isn’t, I’ll need Kyle to pick up some special tools on his way back from Dr. Cohen’s office so I can adjust it.”
She pushed gently on the table Thumper was strapped to. As John had said, it slid easily backward, leaving the floor under the destabilizer clear. Claire stared at the space, reluctant to fill it. She really didn’t like the idea of climbing right under the projector. It would put her in the direct path of the destabilizing beam.
“Which is perfectly safe so long as it isn’t on,” she assured herself.
“Hello! I’m waiting here,” John said testily.
Sighing, Claire dropped to her knees and crawled into the space where the table had been. Once under the projector, she raised her head and peered up. Claire spotted the camera at once, but it didn’t look out of line to her.
“It looks fine,” she said with a frown. “It—”
The words died in her throat as a white beam suddenly shot out of the destabilizer’s projector. It hit her with a jolt, and Claire suddenly found herself unable to move or even scream. It felt exactly what she imagined being hit by lightning would be like. A quick crack of agony shot through her, hitting seemingly every nerve ending, then she went numb and unconsciousness claimed her.
“Claire?”
The voice sounded urgent and upset, but it took a moment before Claire could move or open her eyes in response. When she did, it was to find herself staring up at Kyle Lockhart. His blond hair was endearingly tousled, something she’d rarely seen since high school. His sky blue eyes were crinkled with concern, and his mouth a firm line in his chiseled face.
“Kyle?” Claire breathed.
“Oh, thank God.” He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them just as quickly and straightened. “Come on, let’s get you up.”
Claire peered around as Kyle helped her to her feet. They were still in the experiment chamber, but by the front wall, as far from the molecular destabilizer as possible. The white beam that had shot such teeth-jarring pain into her was still pouring from the projector.
“This way.” Kyle began to usher her to the door, but Claire glanced back toward the beam and frowned as she recalled what had happened.
“The destabilizer went off somehow while I was checking the camera,” Claire said as he urged her out of the room. She shuddered at the recollection of the beam jolting through her body.
“John is the ‘somehow,’” Kyle said grimly.
“John?” Claire asked sharply as he led her to a lab chair and eased her into it. “You mean he
deliberately
zapped me?”
“Yeah. The bastard was determined to try his human trials and must have decided you would be the test subject. The jerk.”
Kyle placed a hand on her forehead and used his thumb to pull one eyelid up. He peered into her eye for a moment, then shifted his hand to the other side to repeat the process.
“Your eyes are a little dilated,” he said with a frown. “How’s your vision?”
“Fine,” Claire assured him. The moment he removed his hand from her forehead, she turned her head to glance toward the control panel, looking for John. The dark-haired man was out cold on the floor in front of the machine.
“What happened to him?” she asked, more out of curiosity than any real concern. It was hard to feel concern for the man after what he’d done.
“I knocked him out,” Kyle muttered as he took her pulse.
Claire’s eyes shot to his face in surprise. John was six feet tall and handsome in his own way, but he had the body of a scientist, long and lean. He also had the studious nature of a scientist and wasn’t the kind of guy who ran around getting into fights.
Kyle shrugged uncomfortably under her startled glance.
“I came back in and saw what he was doing and punched him,” he said almost apologetically. “Then I ran in to the experiment chamber to pull you out from under the beam.”
“You
punched
him?” Claire asked, still marveling over the fact.
“It was just…instinct,” Kyle explained with embarrassment. “I was…upset.”
“Oh,” Claire said huskily. “Thank you.”
Kyle shrugged and avoided her eyes by staring at his watch as he took her pulse, but then his lips twisted with displeasure and he said, “It’s my fault. I should have realized John would try a stunt like that. He’s been crabbing about the animal trials from the start and insisting we need to do human trials.”
“It’s not your fault,” Claire said quickly. “I’ve heard all his complaining, but didn’t expect him to pull a stunt like this, either.”
Kyle nodded, but she could tell he still felt responsible.
“Your pulse is a little fast, but not alarmingly so.” He straightened and peered at her. “How do you feel?”
Claire paused and considered. She felt a little shaky, but then she’d been knocked out by the beam. Other than that, however, she felt pretty much normal.
“I feel fine,” Claire said at last. “I don’t feel different or anything.”