Chapter 3

"Please," was the only word the young woman was able to speak. It was a plea for the man towering over her to have some compassion and leave her alone. Too late, the needle was plunged into her arm. She cried out in pain as the scientists easily held her down while once again, they injected her with a formula she dreaded. It was supposed to enhance her psychic abilities, yet it also made her deathly ill. She wasn't sure how much longer she could survive.

Her name was Arianna Castillo, and how she came to this place so long ago was still unbelievable to her. She had grown up here, in a hidden lab, where she was completely robbed of any normal childhood. She did have a family with parents and a real home at one time. As a child around the age of eight, she could remember when her loving parents took her to a magic show. She had been so amazed when she saw the magician move objects and could guess people's thoughts.

"How does he do that?" she asked her father with wide eyes. She remembered the twinkle in his eye and how he laughed.

"It's magic. No one knows. Some people just have a gift."

"Could I do that?"

"I'm sure if you put your mind to it, anything is possible."

Arianna remembered how hard she began to try making small objects move. For days, she secretly tried in her room, hoping she could proudly show her father what she accomplished. But time and time again, no matter what she did, she failed. One day, she'd gotten angry and frustrated after trying so hard to make a small rock move, that she pounded her fist on the nearby wall. To her astonishment, the rock lifted up in the air and flew across the room, breaking her mirror.

She tearfully try to explain what happened to her parents, but they hadn't believed her. Yet other than helping clean up the mess, she hadn't received any punishment. They seemed to be more worried that something else could be wrong.

For a while, she was scared to even try and move an object again. When she finally did try, Arianna had placed pillows and blankets over anything that was breakable. Once again, she found it frustrating that nothing was working until she got angry. She soon discovered it was her emotion that made it work. When she learned to control it, Arianna began to move even larger objects.

She had been waiting for the right moment to surprise her parents. She wasn't sure how they'd react, but knew finally they would believe her. What she didn't expect was using her power unexpectedly in front of everyone. They'd been eating out one evening in a family pub restaurant. Arianna remembered her father promising her that they'd play darts as soon as two boys were finished. The boys, maybe twelve or thirteen years of age, began to loudly challenge each other. They dared for each to quickly remove their own darts while the other ran to a certain distance and would immediately turn around to throw what they had. It was dangerous, as each boy barely had any time to move before the next dart came flying at the board.

Once the manager caught on to what they were doing, he walked over to get them to stop, but not before the one boy who had been hastily removing his darts, slipped and braced himself against the dart board. The other boy thought his friend was moving away and threw the dart right at his head. There was a shout of alarm from those who had been watching, followed by a gasp.

The dart had stopped mid-air, right in front of the boy's eye.

To stop the dart, Arianna had risen out of her chair, focusing hard on it. And now every head turned to look at her. The dart fell to the ground and she quickly sat down as her parents stared at her with wide eyes. At first, she thought they might be upset, as they didn't want anyone else to know she stopped the dart. They instead turned the attention on the boy, asking how he was the one to stop it. Most of those in the restaurant began to think it had something to do with him, instead of Arianna. She felt angry at this, because she wanted her parents to know it was her, but something inside told her they already knew.

But her father gave her another chance, quietly, once the commotion had died down. He asked if she could move other objects on the table. As soon as she moved her spoon, her father smacked his hand down on it. But he broke into a smile and told her how amazed he'd been. She wanted to show him more, but he told her it was a rare gift, something people would not understand. Then Arianna noticed he sharply looked up and she saw a man at a nearby table staring at them. Her father then gave a rather fake laugh, and ruffled her hair, saying how impressed he'd been with her 'magic trick.'

Arianna had excused herself to use the restroom and when she returned, she was surprised to see her father angry at the same man who was trying to give him what looked like a business card. When she got closer, her father quickly reached for her and they left the restaurant before she got to play the dart game. That night, the phone rang a few times, and her father had slammed down the phone after answering it each time. Arianna's mother assured her that everything was fine, just some sales people who had been calling their house.

Later at night while upstairs in her bedroom, Arianna heard her parents arguing about something. She tried to make out what they were saying, and she thought it was something about leaving to go somewhere. Her father seemed extremely concerned…something about 'those people' who wanted something and how they had to stay safe, even if that meant leaving for a while.

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she remembered was opening her eyes when she heard her mother scream. She bolted out of bed, running to her bedroom door. But a large man filled the doorway and she backed away from him.

"Now, now," he said in a firm voice, "don't fight us and then we won't hurt you."

"Where are my parents?" Arianna had cried.

The man shook his head. "They can't take care of you anymore. But don't worry, we have a new home for you."

Even then, her power had been strong. She concentrated on everything and anything in her room, and the man cursed as a brush went flying through the air and hit his head. This was followed by her small jewelry box and books. As the man yelled in pain, Arianna tried to get away through her window. There was a large tree right outside and she climbed into it. There were voices below and she looked down to see several men looking up at her.

And then she smelled smoke.

Her house…it was on fire. She screamed for her parents, but they didn't answer. And when she heard sirens, Arianna looked down to see one of the men climbing up to get her. She angrily kicked at him but it was too late. The man shot her with some type of dart gun and she fell unconscious.

When she woke, Arianna quickly learned the only way to survive was to do what these strange men wanted. They wore lab coats and asked her to move objects. At first she refused, then relented when they began to inflict pain on her. For every experiment she did, Arianna was rewarded with food or a toy. When she refused, the punishment was usually a beating.

Coming back to the reality of present day, she blinked at the scientist named Derrick who now stood over her. He gave her a warm smile. "You know, if you wouldn't fight so much, it wouldn't nearly be as bad."

As she was released from the table she'd been on, Arianna rubbed her arm where the needle had stabbed her. "Well, it hurts. And you know I get sick from that stuff."

"I'm sorry, but that 'stuff', as you call it, enhances your psychic ability, giving you ten times the special power you have."

"If that were the case, I could move enormous objects and get free," she muttered.

"Arianna," he said firmly, "I have known you since you were a child. This new formula is working to do something never achieved before! Your psychic power is calling out to these evil creatures. The ones we've captured as a result have been so valuable in our research. Even you have to admit this is helping us to understand this strange species. We may be even able to find a way to get rid of them forever."

"I thought you wanted to just tell the world about your discovery. Become famous."

"Oh, I'll be famous," replied Derrick with a cocky grin. "But I'm not going to provide proof of vampires until we have a way to destroy them all. After all, we scientist should be hailed as great thinkers when shortly after we show them vampires, we suddenly find a way to protect all humans."

Arianna could start to feel the strange drug taking effect. Her body became sluggish, while her mind became more aware of everything around her and beyond the lab. She heard a loud hiss and then a bang on a nearby wall.

It was the remaining vampire they'd captured. He could sense her even more now, and he was trying to get free. Arianna swallowed hard, as she grew fearful. The scientists barely kept this one under control. She hoped like hell they'd make another fatal mistake like they had done with the other one they used to have. That vampire had almost gotten free and they attacked him with sunlight. They thought it would only weaken it, withdrawing the light as soon as they saw him begin to burn. But they were astonished at how quickly he turned to ash.

They had attempted to capture another vampire not long ago, convincing Arianna to wait by the river after they'd given her the formula. She was eager to get outside, and as she hated vampires, she obliged. But when nothing happened, Derrick had forcefully slit her arm with a knife. The pain and her blood seemed to strengthen whatever it was they sensed. Sure enough, a vampire had approached, but it was a younger one. He foolishly came right at her and hungrily fed on the blood from her arm. She screamed and tried to pull away as his teeth snagged her skin. The gash sprayed her blood all over him and she panicked.

But to her astonishment, the young vampire slowly licked the wound and it healed shut. When she looked into his face, there was a hunger which frightened her. The scientists had quickly closed in and shot him with a dart which contained a syrum to immobilize him. He stumbled and fell at her feet. But when the scientists made a move to grab him, the wind picked up and Arianna shivered.

Another vampire had emerged and swooped down, biting into one of necks of the scientists. Once he'd drained his victim dry, the vampire looked at her with glowing, red eyes. Then he saw the unconscious vampire at her feet and hissed. He bent down and picked up the young vampire, throwing him several feet away into the river where he floated downstream.

Arianna sensed the young vampire was still alive, but the scientists had little hope of recovering him. And they now had a new problem with an older, deadlier vampire who was obviously interested in her. She backed away, his glowing red eyes watching her closely.

"You are mine," he'd said in a ragged voice. "You are meant for me."

She felt cold. "If you stay, they will capture you."

He laughed. "Not likely."

Arianna lifted her chin. "Then see into my mind."

The vampire was surprised she'd given him an open window to her head. And what he saw, made him growl. She wasn't sure if she felt relief or even more frightened when he suddenly transformed into an owl and flew off into the night. He'd seen the scientists and what they could do. Despite his older age and skilled experience, he wasn't willing to risk sticking around to take her from them.

And if a vampire like that wouldn't 'save' her, then who could?

Derrick had been furios with her. After that incident, he'd began to regularly administer a 'mind blocker' formula they'd use on their scientists. This way, no vampire could see into her mind.

And now they wanted to try again to capture another one.

When she grew rigid, Derrick laughed softly. "Another one nearby? And so soon?"

Arianna felt her chest grow tight. This one she sensed…he was…different.

Derrick grabbed her arm. "Is he close?"

Her heart was suddenly beating wildly. For some reason, she didn't want the scientist to find this one. She had no idea why. Vampires were in fact evil. As much as she hated the scientists, the more she'd thought about it, the more she realized she could at least aid humans in some way to kill off these evil creatures.

But not this one.

"Well?" demanded Derrick.

"He's turning away," she lied. Actually, he was in great pain. It was as if sensing her was hurting him. Which didn't make any sense.

Derrick roughly grabbed her arm. "Tell me his location. Now!"

A shout interrupted them as a lab assistant came running into the room. "It's Mark. They found him. He's-"

"Dead," finished Derrick flatly. "And did he deliver his package to our source?"

"Yes, but our carrier has chosen to remain hidden."

"With what he has, there is no reason to worry!" snapped Derrick.

"Then you need to call him. He refuses to leave his secret location. He says its not safe."

Cursing, Derrick looked at the others in her room. "Put her back in her cell." He glared at Arianna. "I will deal with you later. What a damn waste of formula!"

As she watched him stalk away, the lab assistant looked at her. "Come on, you're going to need your rest before the next experiement. I'm sure you're worried, but we'll do everything we can to control him."

"What?" she asked confused. No one had told her of any other experiment. Wasn't this one enough for now? She was already feeling sick, her stomach rolling in great waves.

"Derrick needs to see the interaction between you and the vampire."

She froze. "No! He'll kill me!"

As she was too weak to walk, the lab assistant simply picked her up like a mere child and carried her back to her cell. "We don't think he's going to kill you. There's something very special they appear to see in you. We want to see what happens. Damn shame though about Mark. He was supposed to be the leading expert on how to use something new we'd found. But at least he was smart enough to use someone else to guard it."

Her head was feeling dizzy. The formula usually wore off in about an hour and maybe she'd get her wits back. She tried to focus on what the assistant was saying to her. "I don't understand. What does that have to do with seeing how the vampire will interact with me?"

The man entered her cell and gently set her down on the bed. "Well, we think they want more than just your blood…"

Arianna trembled. He was right. When she'd seen the one vampire look at her with hunger, it was more than just feeding from her. "Are you saying…you would let him…?"

"The minerals would have helped us control the thing better, but we don't want to wait."

"Minerals?"

"Oh, damn. I shouldn't have said that. Whatever. You don't know what I'm talking about anyway. Look, it's obvious they want to mate with you so we want to see what happens."

Arianna grabbed his arm before he could pull away. "You're going to let him rape me?"

He looked down coldly at her. "It's not like it would be your first time."

Tears stung her eyes. He'd was right about that. After she'd turned eighteen, Arianna was shocked when a few of the scientists began to use her for their own pleasure. They knew every inch of her body already from so many experiments, and it was a formula for disaster as none of them ever left the lab due to the high secrecy of their work. The first time it happened, she could remember the lab had been so quiet, as everyone was asleep. The scientist who entered her cell had a look on his face she'd never seen. When he raped her, she thought he was killing her. But unfortunately, she lived, and other scientists soon began abusing her as well. Derrick was the only one who never came to her. Given the beatings she'd received from him, Arianna was grateful she didn't get to experience what sex might have been like with him.

She let go of the assistant's arm as he smirked at her. "How can you be…so cruel?"

"You know what? I don't see it that way. We're trying to save humankind. We spend day and night working on finding a solution to prevent these vampires from taking over. We deserve a few perks with the job we do."

"Get out!" she hissed.

"Oh, you're just upset we're going to let the vampire have you. Look, you know if we have to, we'll let the sunlight in should he try to actually kill you. Although, that would be a shame. What if you get pregnant by him?" His eyes looked excited. "Can you imagine what research we'd achieve if that happened?"

"I said get out!" she cried. The man rolled his eyes and then left, locking her in the cell she'd come to know so well. Pulling her knees up, Arianna tightly hugged herself. Maybe the vampire would succeed in killing her.

Maybe then she could finally be at peace.

Author's note: Keep the reviews coming so I stay inspired to keep writing! Thanks. -anne