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Inhale.
Exhale.
“You’re going to stay here and get well.”
She huffs. “There’s no getting well, Marina. I’m a damn monster.”
“You aren’t,” I stress, curling my fingers around the bar. “Julian is going to make sure you get back to yourself.”
“You’re going to stay here, right?”
“I wish I could, but we have to get back to Louisiana. There’s a lot going on right now. I promise I’ll be back.”
“You can’t leave me,” she yells, fingernails digging into my skin.
I yelp, pulling away from her. Blood oozes down my wrist from the open cut she created. It wasn’t done on purpose. Her vampire strength is something she hasn’t gotten a handle on.
“Shannon, I—” my words cut off when my head lifts. Her appearance is morphing back into the crazed creature from earlier, eyes darkening and a sinister grin spreading across her face. Before I have a chance to think, she snaps out her hand, grabbing my wrist and pulling me roughly against the metal bars.
My head hits the door with the force of her pull and my world spins. In my dazed state, I barely hear the chaos that ensues. Addy’s mouth is open as she screams, but I can’t make out the words. Julian is trying to grab me out of Shannon’s grasp, but I’m hardly reacting. The world is fuzzy and except for the ringing in my ears, everything else is muffled.
“Marina, you have to talk to her,” Addy bellows, shaking my shoulder to knock me out of the trance I’m in. My head lifts and my eyes latch onto hers. “Bring Shannon back.”
“Shannon.” The name falls from my lips as though I’m just testing it out. The hold the creature has on me loosens and that’s what finally has me snapping to. “Shannon,” I say once more. “It’s me. Marina. You have to let me go.”
She drops my arm, toppling backward and landing harshly on the concrete floor.
“I-I’m so sorry.”
Before I have a chance to react, I’m being shoved out of the way by a man with a buzz cut. He stalks into the cell and drags Shannon up, basically throwing her onto the mattress.
“Playtime’s over,” he rasps. “She needs rest,” Buzz Cut calls back over his shoulder.
“Let me in there,” I say, trying and failing to get past Julian.
“You can’t, Marina. It’s dangerous.” Julian gets between me and the cell, preventing me from getting any closer.
“Out of my way, Julian,” I say through clenched teeth. “That man is going to hurt her.”
“Get her out of here,” Buzz Cut yells. “She’s getting more agitated.”
Shannon thrashes around, baring her teeth at the man. He mocks her by baring his own teeth before pulling a syringe from his back pocket and stabbing it into Shannon’s arm. I gasp as she goes limp. Julian picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder as I curse and kick, trying to get to my friend.
“Julian, let me down. Now!” I’m screaming, pounding my fist into his back.
He puts me down roughly, grabbing both of my fists in his hands. “Stop,” he commands, and I continue to try to pull loose from his grip. “Marina... calm down and listen to me. It isn’t what you think.”
“It isn’t what I think?” I shriek. “I just saw him manhandle my friend. A friend who is confused and scared. Then if that wasn’t bad enough, he stabbed her.”
Julian groans. “I know this is difficult, but you’ve got to listen to me.”
“Difficult? We are way past difficult.”
“This is exactly why I haven’t brought you here,” he says, dropping my hand. “I knew you couldn’t handle it. You’ve got to get your human emotions in check, Marina, because they are going to get you killed.” I stiffen at the ice in his voice, but he doesn’t appear to notice.
“We’ve discussed this. She’s my friend,” I say, stabbing my chest with my finger for emphasis.
“That in there”—he points back toward the door—“is not Shannon. Your Shannon is buried somewhere deep within that creature. A creature who will think nothing of tearing your heart out.” He exhales, stepping toward me and placing a piece of my hair behind my ears. “We had a breakthrough today, but it was a small one, Marina. They always are. This process takes time.”
