CHAPTER 16
Using the tweezers and eyedropper, I place a piece of the somewhat dehydrated tissue on a slide. I look at Rick, take a deep breath then put the slide under the lens. After viewing the slide I look up and say, "Much of the same with the previous slide. The cells just look damaged rather than looking completely dehydrated." He nods and writes some notes as I remove the slide and use the eyedropper to put a drop of condensation on the tissue. After allowing a few moments for the fluid to saturate the tissue, I place the slide back under the microscope. I look through the lens trying to determine if there is any significant change that would indicate that the tissue is coming back from the dead as it were. I stand straight and shake my head. "From the looks of it, the cells just look more healthy, but no indication that reanimation would be possible."
Rick moves in close so that he can view the sample. Looking up he nods and says, "Just looks like what you would expect in rehydrating any material." He leans against the island with a curious look on his face. "Unless..." he begins, letting his voice drift off to an unknown conclusion.
"Unless what?" I ask.
His mouth opens and closes in a manner that reminds me of a blowfish before he says, "Unless blood would make a difference."
My eyes narrow. "What do you mean unless blood would make a difference?"
"Well," shrugging one shoulder, "blood makes ALL the difference to a vampire. It's what we live on. It just makes me wonder if adding human blood to the equation would have any impact on the tissue."
I grit my teeth, pressing my lips together in a thin line before I say, "As much as I would love to help in that regard, I've not seen any sterile instruments that I would use to extract any of my blood. Besides, I thought it could be any blood, not necessarily human blood?"
“You would support killing a rabbit or laboratory rat for this when you’re concerned about the way a criminal vampire was treated?” he asks.
I scrunch my face up in distaste. “Point taken. Still doesn’t help the fact that we don’t have anything sterile to draw my blood.”
Rick quickly goes to one of the cabinets. He returns to the center island with what looks like a diabetic care set for the morbidly curious. The set includes stick instruments, sterile strips, a syringe, test tubes, plastic tubing and shot glasses. I stare at the items and ask, "What the hell?"
"Don't look so shocked," he says. "These are common items that not only could be used in scientific research, but could be beneficial for vampires who have to spend significant amounts of time away from their donors or the admins."
"The admins?" I ask.
"The admins are basically surrogate donors. That's what I'm doing when I need to see Rita. I'm feeding."
I look away. "Okay, on some level I knew that, but I was making myself comfortable in denial by the fact that no one had come out and said it."
He smiles at me. "Sorry to destroy the illusion." With a more serious, concerned look on his face he says, "Are you sure that you're willing to do this? We could get one of the admins to help us out."
I ponder the offer for a few moments while simultaneously thinking about what I had already done and what I had seen happen to Thalia all for the sake of this project. I feel a deep need to go forward without involving anyone else. To stop at this point would be like admitting that I knew that what we are doing is wrong. If I start down that path, I would leave the project completely, which I don’t want to do.
I nod my assent. "I'll do it."
I remove the slide from the microscope and set it on the top of the island. I then proceed to insert one of the lancets into the sticking instrument. Rick watches me intently before saying, "You do this so flawlessly, like you have done it before."
"The unfortunate expertise of growing up in a family with multiple diabetics. You can learn a lot from just watching."
"Indeed you can," he says while smiling at me.
I give him a blank look before I hold the index finger of my left hand out in preparation for quick, stabbing pain. "Here goes," I say. I place the sticking instrument to the side of my finger and press the button, slightly jerking when the sharp tip strikes my flesh. Blood begins to well around the small wound. I place my finger over the specimen slide and begin to gently milk the tip so that more blood would flow into a generous drop onto the damaged tissue. Once the specimen is covered in my life source, I quickly put my finger in my mouth, sucking at the wound.
Rick raises his eyebrows at me. "So it appears that you do have a touch of the vampire in you."
I pull my finger from my mouth. "No, that's just a natural reaction from decades of habit. Now, if I would suck someone else's finger, that would make me like a vampire."
Rick looks longingly at my finger. His gaze rises to meet my eyes. "You have no idea." He grins as if his thoughts were creating a world where my fingers were his appetizers. I don’t even want to think about the main course. I quickly place my hand in my pocket. "Okay, let's see if there is any change."
I place the slide under the lens as Rick scoots closer to me. I peer into the scope and jerk to a standstill. Trying to keep my pulse rate regular, I breathe deeply as I continue to watch the ever so slight movement within what was previously dead tissue. Remembering that everything was being recorded, I make a conscience effort to control my movements so as not to give anything away.
"Nothing?" Rick asks.
I glance up from the scope and whisper, "Keep your voice low. We are being recorded. And Ms. Montgomery is actually watching us from the observation room. It would be best if we did not reveal what we have found. Best for humans and best for vampires."
His eyes grow wide as he subtly nods. He leans forward to look into the scope. After a few moments he draws back and stands up straight, watching me. Trying to act as normal as possible, I remove the slide and say, "Let's go ahead and talk about the results and possible ways to replicate them without the aid of the sun."
"That's an excellent idea," he adds.
I gather up the slides in a box, doing my best to palm the bloody slide without the notice of absent, but observing eyes. Rick walks over to the whiteboard and begins cleaning it so that we can begin another brainstorming session. I straighten the logs on the island to give the indication that I have nothing in my hands. I very nonchalantly place my hand back in my pocket, "Before we get started, I'm going to get something to drink from the machines."
"Okay," Rick says over his shoulder.
I walk from the research suite and head down the hall toward the pop machines. Before getting to my destination, I turn right and head toward the public restrooms. I open the door to the women’s facilities and slowly walk past all of the stalls to make sure that I am alone. I then go to the sink, turn on the water and remove the slide from my pocket. I begin washing the remnants of our extracurricular experiment from the slide. Suddenly the restroom door opens. I jerk so quickly that the corner of the slide cuts my palm just below my thumb. I look up in the mirror to see Bree watching me. I lower my head and go back to washing the slide, trying hard to make it seem like I was washing my hands, which I am sort of since my hand is bleeding. I look back up into the mirror and Bree is still standing there, staring at me.
“What?” I ask, trying not to seem too irritated.
She motions to me with a slight lift of her chin. “I can smell the blood.”
“Oh, right. Vampires and their sense of smell.” I force a laugh. “I will be out in a moment.”
She continues staring at me, as if she is mesmerized by my very essence. “What are you doing here anyway?” I ask. “I didn’t think vampires had to use the bathroom.”
With her eyes focused on the sink she says, “Only if we drink various beverages. If the only thing we have is blood then we have no use for a toilet.”
I laugh nervously, “Well, please, don’t let me to interrupt your restroom trip.”
She continues to stare at the sink for a few more moments before she slowly moves to the first stall and latches the door shut. I quickly turn the water off, drop the clean slide into the garbage then get a few paper towels from the dispenser. I wrap the paper towels around my hand and exit through the door.
Free and clear in the hallway, I take a deep breath. I continue on my way to the pop machine so that Ms. Montgomery won’t notice my lack of beverage and question what I am really doing. After I select Coke, Tucker comes out of the cafeteria and walks my way. I turn toward him as I hold the cold bottle against my throbbing palm.
“Good evening, Emma,” he says, smiling broadly. The look on his face quickly turns to one of concern as he looks at my hand. “My God, what happened? You’re bleeding.”
I look down at the bottle pressed against my hand. The paper towel I have covering the wound has quickly turned red. I press against it harder, willing the bleeding to stop.
“I cut myself with a microscope slide of all things,” I force a lighthearted laugh.
Tucker reaches for my hand. “You need to be more careful. I can’t make it my full time job to clean your hand wounds.” He looks up at me briefly and smiles. He takes the bottle of Coke and motions for me to hold it with my other hand. He then carefully removes the soaked paper towel to inspect the cut. It is barely bleeding now, but still looks jagged and raw.
“It’s starting to clot,” he says, “but you need to make sure to put some antiseptic on it and a bandage. You can pick up some weird bacteria in a research facility, so you definitely don’t want it getting infected.” He lightly rubs his fingers against the back of my hand as he’s talking.
“I will. We have some supplies in the suite.”
He finally looks up at me, releasing my hand. “Good. Just be careful if Rick is there.” I give him a questioning look. “He’ll smell the blood and it might make him...hungry.”
“Ah, yes. I was reminded of that when I ran into Bree in the bathroom,” I grumble.
As if I had summoned her, Bree turns the corner ahead of us and walks in our direction, determination punctuating every step. Tucker and I both watch her as she stops just a few feet away from us. She is looking directly at me, before glancing down at my hand, which is still in Tucker’s grasp. I remove my hand from his and place it in my pocket.
She turns her gaze to Tucker. “We’re close to completion, Tucker. We don’t have time for fraternization. I expect you to get back to the suite a.s.a.p.” I notice the muscles in his jaw twitching as his lips nearly disappear. Glancing once more at me, Bree turns and walks back down the hall. We both watch her until she is out of sight.
Face still tense, Tucker turns to me saying “bitch” under his breath. I incline my head questioningly as I see a dark glimmer in his eyes that I’m not afraid to say makes me weary. Then just like that, as if someone has pulled the blinds, Tucker relaxes and smiles at me. “I should get back to the suite,” he says.
I nod, “Yeah.” I look at the floor before thinking of something. “They’re close to finishing their project?” I ask.
He nods quickly as he starts to back his way down the hall, “Yeah. But then they’ll have to test things to make sure it works. But, yeah, they’re close. I’m sorry, but I better get back. We’ll talk later about returning to the mine.” He smiles at me before he turns and disappears down the hall. I shake my head hoping that he won’t be too disappointed to learn that my answer hasn’t changed in regards to the mine.
Anyway, I need to focus. The race is on. We have some serious time to make up and hopefully Rick has already gotten us started in that direction. We shouldn’t have done the extra experiment, but hopefully we will learn from that and avoid further distractions. I clutch the Coke bottle against the cut. Yeah, no distractions, including my bleeding hand wafting in front of a vampire. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?