Tainted Love

6 -Sneaking in

Once at the Infirmary, Doctor Annette has me sit on one of the beds while she examines me under the watchful eyes of my mothers.

Yara has already been sent to our room to get some rest.

I allow Dr. Annette to apply an ointment to my now healing wounds. It stings a little, but it is nothing to complain about. While she applies the ointment, I look around the familiar Infirmary. I come here often, but not for the reasons one usually does.

Ever since I was young, I discovered I have strong healing powers and I have always wanted to use them for good. I was fortunate enough for Dr. Annette to allow me to help her out occasionally.

The Infirmary is not much, but it is the only medical facility the entire Academy has. It has been enlarged over the years, but it is still rather small for the number of people living here. There is also a lack of materials necessary for certain procedures, but Dr. Annette always manages to make do with what she has.

The walls have been covered with plastic covers to make it easier to keep clean, unlike the usual stone walls of the rest of the Academy.

As Dr. Annette finishes treating me with a smile, I smile back at her. I have gotten to know her better over the years I have come here to help. She is an extraordinary person, having managed to get her degree in Medicine shortly after the calamity happened. I still don’t know the details of how she found the Academy, seeing that she is human, but I’m sure she’ll let me know one day.

She has really nice features. Her skin is pale and even has some freckles complementing her expression. Her hair is tied in a neat bun, but it has a unique blonde color, which almost looks white sometimes. But what I like the most about her are her honest brown eyes.

“Alana will be just fine” She tells my moms with her thick British accent. “She only had some bruising from the impact. She managed to heal her fractures quite well, but I would assume they are still sore. She just needs some rest”

“Thank you, Dr. Annette” My mother Anastacia says.

While my moms and Dr. Annette continue talking about what happened to me and how they can get me to feel better after getting hurt by the Leviathan, my attention turns to the small metal table with medical supplies next to me.

I pay particular attention to a scalpel blade. It looks awfully sharp. Dr. Annette must have used it in another procedure before having me, even though there is no one interned here tonight.

I notice a shadow pass by me but take no notice of it as I stare at the blade. Unconsciously, I find myself picking it up and placing it next to my wrist. I wonder what would happen if I just ripped…

“What do you think, Alana?” I hear my mom Cyla’s voice but it sounds so far away. “Alana?”

A touch on my shoulder snaps me out of it and I let go of the blade before anyone notices what I was about to do. I have to blink repeatedly to focus back on the real world.

“What?” Is all I manage to say.

“We were asking if you would like to spend the night with us today” Mom Cyla repeats but it still takes me a while to register her words. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

“Actually, I think it would be better if she spent the night here” Dr. Annette suggests, and I look confused at her. My injuries are nowhere near severe enough to have me spend the night at the Infirmary. “That way I can keep an eye on her during the night and apply more ointment if necessary”

“Alright, that is a good idea” Mom Anastacia agrees. “Thank you so much, Dr. Annette”

My mothers both kiss me goodnight, leaving me alone with Dr. Anette at the Infirmary afterwards.

“I don’t think I need to spend the night here, doc” I say. “I feel fine”

“Neither do I” Dr. Annette says matter-of-factly. “But you want your friend Celine to meet the Leviathan, right? She must be feeling terrible after discovering her mate and not being able to be with him”

I look shocked at Dr. Annette’s knowing smile. She was only planning to get my moms out of the picture.

“Y-Yeah, but how-” I start.

“I have to go examine him now anyway” She explains. “After all those tranquilizers and the shockwave he endured, HPS is worried it might have been too much for the poor boy”

“I know, but still” I say. “How are you going to be able to get her in? The place will probably be crawling with HPS members”

“Use this” She tells me, handing me a magnet. “Once there, get into the vents and I will guide you through”

“The vents?” I ask, confused.

“Why don’t you go get her? We can meet at the entrance to the old sector” She says.

“O-Ok” I say, still extremely surprised by Dr. Annette’s willingness to help us when all the other adults were so against having us anywhere near the Leviathan. “I’ll go get her now”

“Oh, but do be careful” She says. “I did promise your moms that I would take care of you tonight. Don’t get me in trouble”

I chuckle and smile at her as I head to the exit of the Infirmary. “Never”

I rush to get back to my dorm room, being careful to avoid all the cameras. The Academy has security cameras all around and I’m sure Owen is carefully monitoring them right now after our sneaking out earlier. What he doesn’t know is that our group has memorized all of the blind spots over the many times we sneak out.

I nearly break the room door down in my excitement. Upon my extravagant entrance, my friends all look at me from each of their beds. I can tell they were all getting ready to go to sleep, Celine already being laid down. She looks so upset. I doubt she would get much sleep if not for my good news.

“Let me guess” Yara starts. “You found a way to break us into the old section to meet the Leviathan”

“You did?” Celine asks, looking very hopefully at me.

“I did” I say, triumphantly. “Well, Dr. Annette did. She said she can get us in”

“She did?” Celine asks.

“Yeah” I confirm. “We’ll have to get into the vents, and she told me not to worry about the rest. She’s waiting for us at the entrance to the old section”

“The vents?” Yara asks, looking a bit disgusted. “Wait and what about the cameras? Even knowing the blind spots won’t get us through undetected. Owen will be watching those screens like a hawk”

“I can help with that” Felix volunteers “My dad will be happy to have a late-night snack. I can sneak into the kitchen and get his favorite treat. It will distract him long enough not to notice you sneaking around”

“Are you sure?” Celine interjects. “Owen might be suspicious with all that”

“Owen with snacks and quality time with his daughter?” Yara says. “I don’t think so. No offense, Felix”

“None taken. I know my dad” Felix says.

“Alright” Celine gives in, clearly getting excited at the prospect of meeting her mate. “Let’s do this”

“Great” I say. “Let’s go now”

We carefully make our way through the empty corridors, heading for the old section of the Academy, while Felix heads to the kitchen on the very important mission of distracting her dad.

We find Dr. Annette at the entrance to the old section, but she is not alone. Raphael and Renee are with her, probably explaining how to act in case the Leviathan wakes up.

Raphael and Renee are two humans part of the HPS, who used to be vampires. They are usually the ones responsible for keeping our Academy a secret hideout and ensuring we have food and supplies to live out our lives here, in the Himalayan Mountains.

It’s been a while since I properly saw Raphael and his wife. They usually don’t linger for long at the Academy except on special occasions. Their kids have long since joined the Organization too, so there’s really no reason for them to be here.

Renee has dark skin like mine and her hair is always combed in tiny braids that stay attached to her head.

Raphael looks older than the last time I saw him, but he still looks well for his age. His black hair is tied at the base of his neck and his green eyes look as lively as ever. The biggest difference since the last time I saw him is that he has decided to grow a beard.

“Now what?” Yara whispers and I look around, trying to find what I need.

I manage to find a rusty grid that is decadent enough for me to force it open. Once I do, I start to work as silently as possible to break it down.

These old vents were made rather large to be able to allow air from outside to circulate through these corridors, which is fortunate for us because we can easily fit in there.

A gust of wind comes from inside, along with some dust balls. It looks disgusting in there, but we have no other option if we want to get closer to the room where they are keeping the Leviathan.

“You’re not claustrophobic, right?” I ask Yara and Celine.

“You want us to get in there?” She asks me.

“Are you afraid your allergies are going to act up?” I tease her.

“How are we even going to know where they are keeping the Leviathan?” Yara asks. “He could be anywhere in the old section”

She does have a point and I really don’t know how to answer, so I take out the compass Dr. Annette handed me earlier. It looks just like a regular compass so I’m not sure how this is supposed to help us find our way.

“Someone’s coming” Celine warns us.

“Quick, get in” I say and crawl inside, followed by Celine.

However, Yara doesn’t come inside and instead works on placing the broken grid back in place.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I ask, trying to look back at her in the tight space.

“I’ll stand behind” She says. “I’m sure there are cameras in the room the Leviathan is at. You won’t be able to be with him if those are on. I’ll work on turning them off”

“Oh, good idea” I say.

“Thank you, Yara” Celine says.

“Don’t thank her yet, Cece” I say. “I’m sure she just didn’t want to come in these dusty vents”

“Aw, you know me too well” Yara replies with a smile and then walks away before whoever is coming this way finds her.

“Let’s get going then, Cece” I say and continue crawling through the vents, away from the entrance.

We crawl for a bit, my sense of orientation telling me that we are going toward the center of the old sector, but I still have no clue where we are supposed to go.

As I try to make something out of the compass in the dark vents, Celine sneezes behind me.

“Sorry” She whispers. “It’s so dusty in here, my nose is getting itchy”

“If only I knew where we should be headed, we could get out of here in no time” I mumble to myself.

Suddenly, I realize that the compass is not facing a steady direction. The pointer is moving. Having an idea, I start following the pointer while crawling the vents and eventually reach a place where we can hear voices.

I advise Celine to stay quiet while I focus to try to hear what they are saying. The sound is muffled but I do find another grid that allows me to hear better.

I can identify the voices as being Raphael’s and Dr. Annette’s. I suppose Renee stayed at the entrance.

“We can’t have many people in here, since he woke up a while ago” Raphael explains to Dr. Annette. “He gets too agitated and we’re afraid the net won’t hold”

With this, I assume the Leviathan is still in his original form. They don’t say much else afterward, so it is hard to tell what is happening.

“Can you leave the room for a moment?” I hear Dr. Annette ask. “I want to try communicating with him, so I can draw blood, but I’m afraid he won’t let me with you in the room”

“He knows me” I hear Raphael reply.

“I am aware, Raphael, but he is also scared” Dr. Annette explains. “After all, you were one of the people responsible for bringing him down earlier”

There is an awkward silence afterwards.

“If anything happens, we are right outside the door” I hear Raphael say and then hear the door closing. Dr. Annette did it. She is alone with the Leviathan.

She waits a moment before coming to the grid I am close to.

“Stand back” I hear her say and do as she says.

She gently kicks the rusty vent in, managing to open it. We crawl out right after. I take a moment to shake all the dust from my clothes and when I look up, I find Celine standing face to face with the Leviathan.

He is looking directly at her, his eyes glazed in hers.

I am starting to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.