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.Barrett’s eyes narrowed.“You would be wise to tell me everything I want to know.”“And if I refuse?”“You won’t,” Barrett replied, his expression smug.“The woman seems to care for you, and I’m guessing you also care for her.Unfortunately, she has become something of a liability, one I can’t afford to keep around, if you know what I mean?”“You can’t just.just exterminate her!” Alex exclaimed, horrified by the casual way the doctor spoke of killing.“I can.But don’t worry, I promised her it would be quick.However, if you refuse to cooperate with me, I’ll have to renege on that promise.”“Let her go, and I’ll tell you whatever you what to know.”“I can’t do that.You know as well as I do that she’ll go running to the police the minute she’s free.I can’t allow that.”“Bring her to me.I have the power to make her forget everything.”Interest sparked in the doctor’s eyes.“What power?” Barrett paused to check the IV dripping into the alien’s vein.“What do you mean?”“She carries my blood.We’re connected.I can control her mind.I can make her forget everything.You, me, everything.”Barrett shook his head.“I don’t believe you.”“I can prove it.Tell me something she can’t possibly know, and I’ll plant it in her mind.” He shuddered convulsively as the sun’s heat scorched his flesh.“But.not.now.”“Why not now?”Alex closed his eyes.“Can’t think.The sun.”Barrett rubbed his jaw, his brow furrowed in thought.If what the alien said was true, there was more at stake here than money or fame.Much more.Going to the door, Barrett called for Kelsey.“Yeah, Doc?”“From now on, I don’t want the alien exposed to the sun for more than a couple of hours in the morning and late afternoon.”“Why? I thought you said the sun kept him weak.”Barrett nodded.“It does, but there’s a chance too much might prove fatal.Let’s cover it from twelve to four and see what happens.”“Right.You still want it covered at night?”“Definitely.Tomorrow, I want the cover in place by, oh, say eleven.I want to try an experiment tomorrow night, so I’ll need you and Handeland to be here at seven.”Kelsey glanced at Alex.“Right.Anything else?”“No.I’ll be in the lab if anyone needs me.”The tension drained out of Alex as the door closed behind the two men.As near as he could figure, it was a little after ten.That meant another two hours before they covered the skylight.A long, shuddering sigh rippled through his body.Another two hours of feeling the sunlight on his skin, burning his eyes, leeching his strength, until it became an effort to breathe, to think.He comforted himself with the fact that it was only another two hours.He could endure it for that long.He had to endure it, for Kara’s sake.He tried to focus his thoughts on a way to escape.He needed to think, to plan.He had to find a way to get Kara away from this place before it was too late.But try as he might, he couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think.His skin felt tight, his blood ran hot—hot with pain and rage.Hot with the ancient need to hunt, to destroy his enemies.To taste their blood upon his tongue.Vampire.He turned his face toward the wall, troubled by the images the word conjured in his mind.He had written about vampires for years.Perhaps, in some vicarious way, he had been living out his own suppressed desires through the lives of his characters.Perhaps the men of ErAdona would never be free of the innate urge to drink the blood of their enemies.Hands clenched, he stared into the sunlight, hoping its heat would burn the hate and the anger from the depths of his soul.But the pain only fueled his rage.Barrett would pay, he vowed.Pay for the fear and pain he had caused Kara.Pay for the pain that he himself was suffering, for the indignity of being strapped to this metal table.Oh, yes, Barrett would pay!Alex? Alex, can you hear me?Kara’s voice, soft and sweet, filled with concern.It washed over him like cool water, easing his pain, smothering his anger.Alex? Please answer me if you can.I hear you, Kara.Are you all right?He took a deep breath.Yes.I told Barrett the sun was dangerous for you.Has he done anything to protect you from it?Not yet.Tomorrow.tomorrow he wants to do.to do some sort of test.A test? What kind of test?Can’t explain now.He took a deep breath, his hands clenching and unclenching as he struggled against the thick leather straps that bound his wrists to the table.But he was weak, so damn weak.Alex?So.tired.try not to worry.will get you.out of this.promise.Alex, I love you.Love you.Love you, love you.He repeated the words over and over again.It was his last thought before he surrendered to the darkness of oblivion.Shortly before eleven o’clock the next morning, the heavy cover rolled into place, shutting out the sun’s blinding light.Alex sighed with relief, feeling the tension drain out of him as the room grew blessedly dark.The pain in his flesh receded almost immediately.Never before had he been exposed to the direct rays of the sun for such a long period of time.It might take days, perhaps weeks, for his body to regain its full strength.Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.Perhaps now he would be able to formulate a plan of escape.He was aware of Barrett beside him, fiddling with the IV bottle, and he wondered what drugs the doctor was giving him along with the glucose and saline.He’d been here for three days, Alex thought wearily.Surely the longest three days of his life.In that time, Barrett had drawn copious amounts of blood, taken urine samples, examined Alex from head to foot.This morning, the doctor had cut a small sliver of tissue from the ridged flesh on his back.The pain of the scalpel on the sensitive skin over his spine had been excruciating, and the only thing that had kept him from screaming had been the thought of the revenge that would be his once he’d attained his freedom.“Remarkable,” Barrett said.“Simply remarkable.”“What’s remarkable?” Kelsey asked.“The similarities between humans and this alien.” Barrett laughed with real amusement.“All these years, Hollywood and the tabloids have imagined aliens as intellectually superior to us, but physically inferior [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]