Serum

-Twenty-Eight-

“Into the car, you two or we’re leaving you!” Lana shouted. I made a face at Conner. It was a mix of disgust at Lana’s interruption, and disappointment that I couldn’t suppress. My whole body was buzzing as I trotted quickly towards the car with him following behind me. I noticed the twins had been squeezed into the back seat with Daniel. Apparently, I was to be squished between Lana and Conner. Conner I didn’t mind so much, but Lana…

“Tara and Tod’s parents will be following behind us. We judged it safer for the twins to ride with us in case something were to happen, that way there’ll be at least three trained fighters against whatever these fiends happen to be dealing out.” Lana explained. I wondered whether I was included in those trained fighters, thus insulting Daniel, Tod and Tara, or if I was one of the untrained being insulted. I decided it wasn’t important. Lana always seemed to be spoiling for a fight, and right now I was too busy trying to keep my knees from being knocked about by Lana as she shifted gears. It was definitely a good thing I didn’t have to worry about healing, since I was sure I wouldn’t get out of this without bruising. The car fairly flew down the roads, with Lana practically throwing the gear shifter through its paces, each careless toss of the stick another hazard to my legs. She began to explain what was expected of us when we arrived at her house. “We’re going to be splitting up. Daniel, you Tara and Tod are going to be going back with Adrian and Conner to the church. As it is, that’s probably the safest place for you to stay at the moment. After all, if they believe all the bologna about vampires being afraid of crosses, churches, holy water and stuff, they’ll never think you’ll be there. Human kind certainly have given us incredible perks as far as being ahead goes. All those silly stories.” Here Lana giggled girlishly like she had the first time I ever met her. I cringed at the sound. It truly didn’t match the person within.

“The older adults will be hunting for these ruffians of yours tonight. You three young ones will be hiding out until they are captured, killed, or run out of town. We’ll have to rotate you around for a while from safehaven to safehaven until then. I want you all to realize the importance of your mistake. The older vampires will all have to miss days of work and pitch in all their extra time until these guys are caught. That means no breaks for us, we’ll be on the lookout day and night, all for your safety’s sake.” Lana admonished harshly, the three friends in the back all dropped their heads to avoid the piercing gaze that she was throwing at them through the rear-view mirror. Then she turned to me. “Oh and Adrian, don’t think I have forgotten you, you still need to be examined by me.” I could have kicked her for involving me, if my legs weren’t so busy being abused. In the rear-view mirror I saw Daniel and the twins exchanging curious looks.

Upon our return to Lana’s house, Conner got out and stood back to open the door, like a gentleman. Unfortunately for him, as soon as he had moved out of my way, I shot out of the car like a wet cat from a bathtub. Conner looked at me with a half-bemused smile twitching on his lips, but Lana merely hissed at me about watching what I do in front of the neighbors. The twins and Daniel crawled out of the car as Lana unlocked her front door. Vampires of different ages and varying appearances were already queuing up in her parking spot. From some of them I could smell the age, a soft musk that floated around them, as if they had spent several life-times on this earth and the dust had just settled on them, instead of being brushed away. Or maybe it was more that the smell came from within. Like their bones had turned to dust. It made me uncomfortable, and I skirted them warily.

Lana ushered everyone in and as they passed, I noticed that many of the vampires would dip their heads in a show of submission. It made me bristle internally. There was no way she deserved that kind of respect from me, after what she did. However, Lana took it all in stride, regally standing by the door like some sort of queen, and as I paused there, trying to shake off the harrowing car ride and being forced to be so close to her, she called out to me.

“Adrian, before you kids take off..”

“What, we’re running back?” Daniel gasped, disbelief evident in his voice. Tara giggled, but her laughter was quickly stifled by a look from her brother. She shrugged at Tod as if to ask “what?” and he shook his head. I got the feeling that a conversation was going on that I couldn’t hear, or wasn’t privy to, which made me wonder if they shared a link much like Conner and I did because they were twins, or very close. Lana cleared her throat, interrupting my thoughts, and my attention swung back to her. Glaring, I strode towards her as the last of the elder vampires entered her house. More were arriving, but I just wanted to get in, get out and be off before Lana could inflict any more damage to me. As usual, Lana had other plans, it seemed.

“Everyone, this is Adrian.” Lana announced as more vampires streamed into her house. “She’s relatively new locally, and relatively new to our world, really.” She again gave voice to the obnoxious giggle. I was under the impression that most of the vampires had no clue what she meant by the last remark, but a few had sudden sparks of understanding in their eyes. I glowered up at Lana, wondering if they were in on her crazy mad-scientist plans. I blanked out, as she continued talking, instead examining all the new faces in front of me, and then I caught her looking back at me with unadulterated pride in her eyes. Not necessarily pride in who I was; but pride in that I was her proudest specimen, her proudest lab-rat. Sudden rage raced through my veins like boiling water. Oh, she was all so concerned for my safety. Yeah, because I was one of her greatest creations! She was pleased at how well her Serum had worked, and how good of a job it had done on me. In her eyes, I belonged to her as her greatest piece of artwork yet. Me, myself as a person? I didn’t exist to Lana. I was just a thing. Stiffening, I pulled away from her. She had ended her little talk and noted the movement. Looking at me sharply, she pushed me gently towards the hallway where I had first taken a shower after becoming vampire-kind. The move was subtle, but I recognized when someone was trying to avoid a scene. She steered me to the room where the vials and syringes had been stored in the refrigerator. I wondered if they were still in there. I gave it a look of disgust, crossing my arms. Lana looked at me, a frown marring her face, but poked her head back out into the hall all smiles for her audience.

“I’ll be right back, ladies and gentlemen.” She called over the general babble of the crowd gathered in her living area. I scoffed under my breath even as she ducked back into the room. “Ok, now off with the shirt, I need to see how that bullet wound has healed.” She demanded.

“Well, I’m obviously moving, aren’t I? So I’d say it healed pretty well.” I growled at her. She simply glared back. Her foot began tapping on the floor, and her arms crossed over her breasts. Sighing, I realized neither of us would yield our positions, and with her blocking the door, if I ever wanted to leave, I might as well give in.

“Fine you…mhufvrflukn” I mumbled into my shirt as I yanked it over my head. “...barbaric, blood-sucking, witch.” Oh I hoped she caught the words in there. Lana ran her cool fingers around my side, turning me slightly, examining the path of the bullet, entrance and exit. The scars were just faint white tissue, a shade or two lighter than my skin. Honestly the back reminded me of those old cartoon paint splatters now, in a strange way. Or maybe a weird octopus if you were getting creative. But the wounds were most definitely fading.

“Marvelous. Absolutely amazing.” Lana murmured to herself. She grabbed a notebook and pen and began recording her findings, which made me roll my eyes, catching the motion, she shot at me “Oh, and, witches aren’t real.” never looking up from her notebook.

“Yeah, and neither are vampires.” I mimicked back at her. This time, she looked up sharply, an expression of interested observation in her eyes that only made me even angrier.

“You’re healing up marvelously.” She told me.

“Yeah, so I heard.” I muttered mutinously.

“Well, I’m still going to want to keep checking on you, say every two weeks or so, just to keep an eye on your progress.” Lana stated, yanking my shirt back on. In my head, I mocked her bitterly. She’d be checking up to see how her serum is working. The hatred forming within me for Lana hardened a little more. “Now only you, Daniel, Conner and I know where the church is, or that Conner is using it as his home. Tara and Tod will obviously find out after you take them there, but if you don’t want anyone else to know, I suggest you take this.” Lana remarked, pulling out a cell phone.

“I have my pager number programmed into it. The pager is required by my place of work, so I carry it constantly. If you should come across trouble, page me and I’ll be there as fast as vampiricly possible.” Lana smiled, canines flashing. What place still used pagers? I crossed my arms as Lana continued. “Though I would prefer you didn’t have to use it, so try not to use it, you know? Keep out of trouble. And with that there’s only two things more. First, be careful.” As she said this she held the cell phone towards me. I grumbled, but grudgingly put out my hand to take it. Something stung my wrist as I did so, which made me yelp. “And second, I’ll need a skin sample.” She grinned wolfishly. “Which you just provided.”