Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(70)

He didn’t fight back as I backed him up against the door we’d entered through. He held up a hand to calm the agents ready to plug me full of crossbow bolts.

“We just want to take a little blood, O’Brien. That’s all.”

“Just a little blood, huh?” I sneered into his face, seething. “Does that exchange go both ways? Seems only fair.”

My gaze dropped to the pulse in his neck. I watched it beat beneath the surface of his smooth, dark skin. He had left this part out of our discussion two nights ago. How convenient for him.

“It can,” he said, surprising me. “You want blood, I’ll give it to you. Take your pick.” He gestured to the room full of men. Some of them were visibly shaken by this while others remained stoic and silent.

I shook my head, unimpressed. “No deal. If you want my blood, then I want yours. Fair trade or nothing.”

The idiot doctor made the mistake of thinking I was too focused on Briggs to notice him creeping up behind me. He might have gotten the drop on me once, but I’d changed since then. That wasn’t going to happen a second time.

I whirled to face him before he could plunge the syringe into me. Grabbing hold of his arm, I slammed it down so the needle stabbed into his thigh. Then I got both hands around his neck and squeezed.

It happened so fast. Bones broke beneath my hands. His breath choked off, and his face turned red. I flung him backward so hard he fell over a chair and hit the floor flat on his back. His dead eyes stared up at the ceiling. That was easy. Too easy. Not quite enough satisfaction in that one. Oh well. Briggs never should have left my hands in front of me.

“Hold your fire,” Briggs shouted. To me he held out a hand, like he was pleading with a rabid dog to calm down. “Alexa, if you want to see Juliet then you better learn fast how to f*cking cooperate.”

I wanted to hurt him so bad I vibrated with the strength it took to keep from rushing him. “I need to f*cking cooperate? I’m not the one treating you like a science experiment. Take me to my sister now, and I’ll do my best not to kill anyone else.”

He shook his head and gave me an imploring look. He wanted me to be on my best behavior so we could play out our little ruse, if indeed he still intended to hold to that, and my antics were making that hard for him. Too bad. Briggs never should’ve tried a stunt like this. No good would come of the FPA having a sample of my blood.

“Sir?” A young, twenty-something agent spoke up. “Should we just tranq her?”

I raised a brow and awaited Briggs’s response. He looked tired and somewhat defeated when he nodded and waved a dismissive hand.

“What the f*ck, Briggs?” I hissed, betrayed and livid that he would treat me like an animal. I wasn’t surprised though.

“There’s enough in that shot to take down an elephant,” Briggs said, nodding to the tranquilizer gun the agent held ready. “Or a vampire. You’ll sleep it off within an hour. We’ll talk then.”

Rage exploded out, but there was nothing I could do with it. “You pathetic little man, I am going to f*cking kill—”

I never got to finish that threat. A tranquilizer dart in the shoulder flooded me with a dose of sedatives that would have been lethal on anyone with a true heartbeat. My vision blurred, and my tongue grew heavy. Seconds later I was out.

Chapter Nineteen

My head felt cloudy when I came to. Gradually the haze began to clear. My anger, however, had not faded, and I sat up with a growl to find that I was no longer in the lab. Briggs had taken advantage of having me unconscious and put me in a room built for containing people like me.

I was alone, but a guard watched me through a small window in the door. He pulled out his phone, most likely reporting to Briggs that I was awake. My wrists were still cuffed, and I was splayed awkwardly on the bed in the corner of the small room, as if I’d been haphazardly tossed there.

“That motherf*cker,” I seethed as I took in my surroundings.

The room was not so different from the one Kale had been held in. A bed and a small desk with a lamp accounted for all of the furnishings. The walls were solid stone. Though I couldn’t hear anyone on the other side, I could feel them. Werewolf. But not Juliet. The opposite wall felt like nothing. Nobody was in there or perhaps there was no cell on that side. For, minus the bars, this room was a cell.

No marks marred my veins, but I knew they’d taken my blood. The knowledge of it left me with a sick sensation. Blood like mine could be more than dangerous in the hands of the government. It could be a weapon. I remembered that Arys had said Briggs wanted me for a weapon. If I could not be made into an FPA weapon, perhaps that was his next best option: creating one from my blood.

I sat down in the desk chair after turning it to face the door. Then I waited. Briggs came quicker than I’d anticipated. After exchanging words that I couldn’t hear with the guard outside, he let himself in. So they’d done some soundproofing as well.

The guard stood watch outside the door, ready to enter if I gave him a reason to. I sat there staring at Briggs who rested his hand on his gun.

“You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?” I greeted him with a snarl. “My sister is way too good for you.”

“You left me no choice,” he said, remaining near the door. We both knew how fast I could get out of the chair and snap his neck. He was taking a big risk here. Of course, we both also knew that he was supposed to be my way out, so he was safe, for now.