Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) (26 page)

The entire room was silent, everyone sitting on the edge of their chairs, staring up at the screen with childlike wonder. She ran back over to the microscope and replaced the slide, placing yet another dark crimson drop on it.

“If we place the dominant blood on the slide with the blood we’ve treated with the antirejection serum…” She paused again and filled a dropper with blood from another tube. She gently placed a drop on the slide. “Watch.”

The same pattern emerged as in the previous demonstration. The larger cells and the smaller cells danced around one another, only this time, when the larger cells went to eat the smaller ones, they were overcome by the smaller, lighter cells. One by one, the larger cells were consumed by the smaller cells. The blood that remained on the slide was filled with smaller cells that were overstuffed and bulging on the sides. The same violent shaking that had taken place before was beginning to take place again, but this time, the cells didn’t explode.

They grew. The cells were actually growing. With every shift and slip, they expanded, and their colors deepened to the same dark burgundy hue that was present in the first dominant cell.

“Merciful God,” Taris whispered.

“I know, right!” Sarah’s excitement was contagious. “And the same thing happens if you do it with compromised blood, too. We tested Nick’s blood and—” She stopped and turned to face Nick. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to let that out.”

He smiled and shook his head. “It’s okay. Just keep going. Please.”

“Well,” she continued, “we took Nick’s blood and tested it, and the same thing happened. Instant acceptance and adaptation. You know what this means?”

There was a heavy silence. Six pairs of admiring eyes stared at Sarah and Nick. In the silence, a soft cry was muffled. Achan let his head slip down into his hands, and his shoulders began to shake. Zillah and Rhiannon wrapped loving arms around him as they too began to weep.

“It means that the two of you saved us,” Judah whispered.

Kalin hit her knees on the floor in front of her chair, crying a silent prayer as she held firm to Nick’s hand.

Sarah’s eyes searched the room, overwhelmed at the gravity of the situation. She’d known when she first agreed to do it what the implications were, how important it was to all of them. But confronted with this reaction from these people in particular, she was at a loss.

“Please, don’t get too excited yet,” her voice was quiet. “We don’t even know if it is going to work in a real test. The initial experiments are encouraging but—”

A large, steady hand came to rest on her shoulder, and all speaking stopped. She turned to see Taris, staring down at her. Since they met, she’d seen many different emotions in his eyes. Anger, fear, confusion, concern, passion. What she saw now caused her breath to catch and her heart to skip a beat.

“I don’t have the words to thank you the way I want to, so I’ll start with this.” His arms corded around her, pulling her tight to him. Gently, he caressed the back of his hand against her face and leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. The warmth of his body and the feel of his lips made her go liquid, and she held onto him as tightly as she could. A light flick of his tongue caused her to open her mouth, and she could feel the soft warmth of it stroking her own, slowly. He gradually pulled back, placing two more soft kisses on her lips before clutching her tighter to him and resting his head on top of hers. The silent prayer he whispered as he held her rumbled through his chest and in her ear.

“I really hate to interrupt this moment,” Rhiannon said, smiling at the two of them with tears in her eyes, “but I have to bring attention to the elephant still in the room. How are we going to know if it works?”

Silence hung heavy for several moments before Sarah felt her heart drop.

“I’ll do it,” Nick whispered from his seat next to Kalin. With his eyes fixed on her face, he said, “We will test it on me.”

Argument was futile.

Regardless of his stalwart position, Nick was getting an earful on both sides. There was the tearful Sarah, pleading with her vast knowledge of medical science to refute their findings just long enough to make him doubt his decision. She threw every guilt trip in the book at him. First, it was the years they’d been friends that he would be wasting if it failed. Then it was the important medical breakthroughs yet to come that, if he were dead, she would never be able to share with him. The one moment she almost had him was when she claimed he was the only family she had. But looking around at the admiring eyes of the people they’d just delivered from complete and total extinction, he knew better. Were he to die that very instant, Sarah would never be alone again. Of that, he was one hundred percent certain.

What threatened to unravel him to the very last thread of his resolve was Kalin’s tearful pleading.

“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered, clutching her arms around his midsection for dear life. “You’ve already done so much.”

Her wracking sobs were so painful, so heartbreaking, that he almost wanted to rescind his offer. But really, if he died, what would he be losing? A life filled with medications and constant worry? A life knowing that he was slowly rotting from the inside out? None of that mattered nearly as much anymore.

What tormented him the most was knowing that if he didn’t do this, and if it wasn’t successful, he would spend the rest of his life watching his love mourn as he slowly aged and passed away. He couldn’t do that to her. In the past twelve hours, Kalin had become his everything, and he would rather die trying to spend eternity with her than live the rest of his life knowing he would die without her.

“Yes, I do,” he whispered, cradling her head in his hands and lifting her face to meet his. “You and I both know I’m dying anyway. If everything we’ve all worked for has ever come down to a moment of truth, it’s this one.”

“I can’t lose you.” She mouthed the words, unable to speak them.

Nick lowered his lips to hers in a soft kiss. “You won’t,” he said. Gently letting his hands fall, he turned to Taris.

“How do we do this?”

Sarah immediately inserted herself in front of Nick. Her chest was heaving, the tears in her eyes now more from anger than the initial terror. “You are being an ass, and you know it. Why can’t we just test this on someone else?”

Nick cocked an eyebrow and bowed back. “Do you hear yourself? Since when did you lose your heart and replace it with whatever poisonous piece of shit made you say that? ‘Can’t we test it on someone else’? That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard you say. I’ve already punched my ticket, Sarah, and you know it.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Just give me one moment of redemption, okay? I’ve lived like hell for years, riding on this face and my bank account. For once, I need to put myself out there for a good reason. Besides,” he smiled and softened, pulling her in for a hug, “I trust your work.”

Sarah took in a deep breath and nodded, allowing Taris’ steady hands to pull her gently back toward him.

“So, again, how do we do this?” Nick asked.

Reluctantly, Taris began to explain the process. First, Nick had to be fed from to diminish his own blood supply. Afterward, he would feed from someone himself, and then they would just sit back and wait.

“I can’t watch this,” Sarah blurted out. She ran for the door and disappeared into the hallway.

“Let her go,” Taris said quietly, more to himself than to anyone else. His every instinct was to run after her and comfort her. He wanted so badly to promise her everything would be okay, but deep down in his gut, he knew he had no right to do so. If things didn’t go well, the freshness of their relationship would sour instantly. It was better for him to stay put and make sure he had great news to bring her instead of scarring himself again and preparing yet another tomb.

“She has to handle this in her own way. I’ll go to her when this is finished,” he said. “We can do it here.” Looking around, he motioned to Achan and Judah. “You two, move those tables back as far as you can against that wall. Zillah, go upstairs and get as many blankets and towels as you can find. Rhiannon, water, if you please, and lots of it.”

The time it took the others to follow his orders went by in a flash, and before they knew it, the room was empty in the middle, only the cold tile floor remaining. Zillah positioned all the towels and blankets on a far table with the case of bottled water that Rhiannon had lugged downstairs.

“Now, who’s going to do this?” Taris asked.

“I will.” Zillah’s steady voice echoed through the room. “I want to—”

“No, let me,” Rhiannon cut her off before she could say anything else, stepping in front of a tight-as-wire Judah.

“I’m so happy right now I could kiss the guy. I’ll damn well do it.” Achan stepped in front of Zillah, who was muttering curses at him.

“Shut up, all of you!” They all turned to see Kalin, standing directly in front of Nick. “None of you are going to do it because I am. So get out. Now!” She turned to Taris and pointed her delicate finger toward the door. “That means you, too.”

* * *

The sun was beginning to set outside. Faint traces of pink and purple radiated into the studio and bounced off every reflective surface. It was deathly quiet, save for the subtle
thud
of pacing just outside of the door.

“I’m nervous,” Kalin whispered from her seated position on the floor across from Nick.

“It will be okay. No matter what happens, this will all be okay.” He rubbed the top of her hand, smiling at her, trying not to shake.

Kalin nodded and took in a deep, steadying breath. “Don’t you need to drink something or inject that stuff first?”

Nick shook his head. “Sarah and I both injected ourselves with it. It was the only way to get it to spread uniformly through the bloodstream for the initial testing. Everything is done on my end. We just need to…you know.”

“I know,” she whispered. Kalin cleared her throat and inched closer to him, doing everything she could to calm the storm pounding in her chest. Closing her eyes, she could feel the heat between them grow greater, the distance fading. With fumbling fingers, she gently drew back the thin T-shirt over his collarbone. Her lips shook as she came closer to his tanned skin. Just below the surface of his flesh, she could see the threading pulse of the vein that sat at the edge of his collarbone. The need in her grew more and more ferocious with every pounding pulse it took.

“Do it,” he groaned, pulling her down to his skin.

The moment her teeth touched his flesh, she sank them in. A hiss of pain came from him, but she couldn’t stop. His blood was warm and heady, like tannins twirling around on her taste buds. Every lap she took in, every savoring pull, made him draw her closer to him. His pulse was wild, and it filled her mouth with heat.

She was hesitant to stop, but she knew if they were going to take the next step, it had to be now, while she still had a moment of sanity about her. She slowly withdrew her teeth, licking the wound before placing a slightly bloody kiss where her mouth had just been.

“Do this now, please, before I forget what we’re here for.” His voice was heavy as he pushed her off him. His arms on either side of her torso, she watched him hungrily eying her as she drew her wrist to her mouth.

“No, not there,” he said. “Here,” he pointed to the swell of her breast. “I need it to come from as close to your heart as I can get it.”

Kalin closed her eyes, and with a sharp fingernail, she pressed in and split open the skin above her breast. Shaking fingers brought his head down as the blood began to pool. His mouth touched her, hesitantly at first, but then he latched onto her skin. The painful connection between the two of them was different and yet seemed to be the most perfect thing in the world. Tears welled in her eyes as she let her head rest on the cold tile.
Please let this work
, she thought, trying to keep it together.
Please do not let me lose him
.

A deep moan came up from his chest and vibrated through her bones. As he lapped, she could feel his skin growing hot beneath her fingers. He’d had enough. They needed to separate, fast.

“Nick, stop.”

“I can’t,” he muttered against her chest.

“You have to. It’s starting. Please.”

As soon as the last word fell from her lips, Nick’s body arched back of its own volition. Before she could get to her feet, his body smacked against the cold floor. A horrifying scream escaped his bloodstained lips. His fingers began to contort, his body shaking violently.

Dear God
,
I’m watching him die
.

The convulsions were so tremendous that they literally shuffled him across the floor like a rag doll. She could do nothing but sit there and watch. From behind her, she heard the doorknob jiggling, the people outside desperately trying to get in. She couldn’t let them see this, see him like this. As his body was still writhing around, she placed a chair under the door handle to prevent it from opening.

Suddenly, there was silence. The screaming stopped. The convulsions had dissipated. She didn’t want to turn around. Not when she knew that they had failed yet again. But she had to. She knew going into this that if he didn’t make it, then neither would she, and it was time to face it. Her feet slowly padded across the floor, closing the space between the door and where Nick’s body landed. Hayley’s death had taken an emotional toll on her, and she’d loved Hayley like a daughter. The way she loved Nick had no description.

His body was still hot. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, even standing above him. His eyes were closed, and aside from the trace amounts of blood on his lips, he looked calm and peaceful. She bent down, brushing a lock of hair from his brow.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. But as she leaned in to place a final kiss on his lips, a groan escaped his mouth and she jumped back.

Another groan echoed in the room and then another. Kalin watched, wide-eyed, as his chest began to slowly rise and fall. She sucked in a deep breath, nervously observing every noise and subtle movement he made.