“Should I be concerned about your mental stability?” Alice Douglas held her phone to her ear and paced back and forth in the laboratory where she worked on the most groundbreaking stem cell research in the world. “I realize, Dad, that you’ve probably been exposed to some horrendous things in your service to our country, but you’ve shown no signs of PTSD in the past.”

  “Watch your tone, girl. You might be twenty-eight, but you’re still my child.”

  She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. “Good luck trying to ground me.”

  “I can get your funding pulled,” Colonel Douglas snapped.

  She froze. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me.” He sighed. She could hear the exhaustion in his voice. “You’re constantly going on about wanting to make a major discovery. Well, guess what? I’m handing you the opportunity on a silver platter.”

  Alice frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re talking crazy, Colonel Douglas. Vampires? Werewolves? If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were taking some sort of hallucinogens. I wish you were here so I could check your pupils.”

  “If you don’t believe me, then go. See for yourself.”

  “And just put all my work on hold?”

  “If you go, I’ll get you the funding you need for the next decade.”

  Alice fisted her hand in the air and mouthed several profanities that her toe-the-line father would not appreciate. Luckily, he couldn’t read her lips through the phone. Douglas knew her weakness—every researcher’s weakness: funding. They were always in need of it. She growled. “Fine. But if this winds up being a waste of my time, I’m going to stick your ass in the worst nursing home I can find. I’ll never come visit, and I’ll only send you fruitcake for Christmas every year.”

  “I hate fruitcake,” he scoffed. She found it funny that he didn’t care about the damn nursing home.

  “In that case, I’ll send you one every week.”

  “There’s already a plane waiting for you at the base. Be there at 1900 hours.”

  She glanced at her watch and frowned. “That’s in forty-five minutes.”

  “Good to see that your ivy league education actually taught you something practical instead of just how to look through a microscope. Better get a move on, Alice.”

  The call ended before she could snap back at him. “Dammit.” Alice pulled up the contact for her assistant, Bailey, and punched the call button. Bailey answered on the first ring.

  “Boss?” the younger woman said.

  “I have to go out of town immediately. It’s a family emergency.” Alice didn’t mention anything about working on a top-secret project involving vampires and werewolves. Some things are better left unsaid. Her father might have lost his marbles, but Alice didn’t want anyone to think she had inherited the crazy gene. “I need you to meet me at the base airport ASAP with my overnight bag.” Thankfully Bailey lived in the same condo complex, saving Alice the time of going home and being late to the plane—something her father would find unacceptable. Alice wasn’t about to risk the funding he’d offered by not showing up on time.

  “Is everything okay?” Alice heard rustling and knew her assistant was already on the move.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Alice sighed. “I’ll keep you posted.” She paused. “And Bailey…”

  “Yeah?”

  “If I call you later and start babbling some nonsense that makes me sound crazy”—Alice blew out a breath, puffing out her cheeks.—”just go with it, okay? No matter what I say.”

  “You got it. See you in a few.”

  Alice slipped the phone into her back pocket, grabbed her purse, and jogged to her car. The entire drive to the airbase, she mentally debated whether she was going to regret humoring her father.

  Growing up with the colonel, Alice was used to the presence of black SUVs. So when one picked her up, its driver informing her she would be driven to a top-secret research facility and that she was to keep everything she saw or heard completely confidential, it didn’t dawn on Alice to be nervous. But after driving almost an hour through the desert, the stalwart scientist began to experience a twinge of anxiety. And when the SUV slowed to a stop at a gated facility, and Alice saw the large white sign on the fence of the facility bearing the words “Area 51” in giant red letters, her palms began to sweat, and she couldn’t keep a slight tremble from her hands.

  “No effing way,” she whispered. A soldier wielding an assault rifle stepped out of the gatehouse. Alice’s driver rolled down his window and presented the man his identification.

  “You should have one passenger. A missus Alice Douglas, is that correct?”

  Alice bristled a little at the moniker missus. What business was her marital status to this meathead?

  Her driver nodded. “Correct.”

  The guard nodded in return, gave the man back his identification, and stepped back into his guard shack. A second later, the gate opened, and they drove through. Alice’s head swiveled around, and she watched the gate close with stomach-dropping finality. Her mind, of course, jumped to every movie, documentary, or article she’d ever seen concerning the famous military base, and Alice couldn’t help but wonder if she would ever be allowed to leave the super-secret government facility. Surely her dad wouldn’t put her into a situation where her safety might be compromised. But, after their last conversation, she was pretty sure the colonel had sniffed one too many cans of tear gas.

  She picked at the nail polish on her fingers, a habit she loathed and could usually control, except in very stressful situations. The position in which she now found herself was definitely worthy of some serious nail polish picking. The SUV drove down a slight hill, and Alice saw rows and rows of enormous gray warehouses. She didn’t see any markers to distinguish one from another, but the driver seemed to know where he was headed. After passing several buildings, the SUV approached one, driving up to a large roll-up bay door. It began raising even as they approached. Alice noticed the door was gigantic, and she thought it was probably large enough to admit a skyscraper laid on its side. The door, however, raised only high enough to admit their vehicle and began closing again as soon as they passed through. Lights ran along the walls on either side of the warehouse’s interior, giving the vast space an eerie glow.

  “Do you guys purposely make this place creepy just to keep up the mystique?” she asked her driver.

  He chuckled. “It’s just an old facility. As far as I know, the exterior has never been upgraded. The inside, though, is a different story.”

  They parked, exited the vehicle, and she followed the agent across a large concrete tarmac. Eventually they came to a solid wall with a single metal door. He opened the door and made a sweeping gesture for her to enter. When she did, Alice almost gasped. She walked into a state-of-the-art laboratory that made the one she had back at her university look like a child’s first chemistry set. It was a scientific researcher’s wet dream.

  They walked through the lab, and Alice had to force her mouth to stay closed. The equipment was cutting edge; some of it she couldn’t even identify. They eventually came to another door. “This will be your home for the next,”—he paused and shrugged—“I guess however long they need your expertise.”

  Alice gave him a tentative smile. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s your lab.”

  “Oh, okay. Thanks … I guess.”

  He gave her a nod and then strode off back the way they’d come.

  Alice opened the door without bothering to knock. If this was going to be her lab, then there was no reason to. As she stepped inside, Alice heard someone humming. She turned to see a man on the other side of the room. He was staring down into a microscope. Several tables covered in test tubes, microscopes, rubber tubing, burners, conical flasks, and other equipment stood in between them.

  Alice cleared her throat, but the man didn’t acknowledge her. He turned slightly, and she saw he wore earbuds. He was young, probably in his early twenties, which meant he couldn’t be the lead scientist on this … whatever the hell this was. Despite her father’s assurances, and the fact that someone had put a ton of money into the endeavor, Alice was far from ready to admit this was actually a legitimate project.

  As she walked toward the young man, she looked around the room. She saw several petri dishes labeled dormant one, dormant two, and even one that read vamp virus. She stopped to stare at the words as her heart sped up. A knot formed in Alice’s throat. Her father was convinced this nonsense was true, but there was just no way. Things like vampires did not exist.

  There was a yelp, and Alice jumped. She looked back at the man, who was now staring at her.

  “Dude, don’t sneak up on a guy like that. Especially when we’ve got wolves and vamps traipsing around this place.”

  Alice didn’t know how to respond. She felt like an idiot staring at the man, but his words made no sense. As she stared, she took in the man’s appearance. He had brown, wavy hair that looked as if he didn’t bother to brush it, and not in an artful or stylish way. His light blue eyes had a playful sparkle, and he had a crooked smile that appeared natural and unpracticed. He wore a T-shirt with the name of a band Alice didn’t recognize, khaki shorts, and—her eyes moved down—flip flops. She found the man cute in a golden retriever puppy sort of way.

  “You must be the new scientist.” He held out his hand. “I’m Willis, and, dude, I am so glad to have some help. I mean”—he shrugged his shoulders—“at first, I wanted to do it all on my own. You know, because it’s like the discovery of a lifetime, but I’ve hit a wall, and I could seriously use another brilliant mind. I hope you can be that for me.”

  Alice lifted her arm slowly and clasped his hand. He shook it vigorously and continued to speak. “I mean, it’s not every day that you learn about the existence of vampires, werewolves, fae, and elves, is it? And I think there are even more creatures out there that he hasn’t told me about. The boss isn’t exactly one for small talk. But getting to study their DNA is amazing. You won’t believe how different it is from ours. I mean, it’s freaking awesome!”

  Alice knew she must look ridiculous with wide eyes and her mouth slowly opening and closing like a fish on land. Each time it opened, she planned to say her name, but then it just snapped closed. Instead of her name, Alice was pretty sure she was going to say something like, “What the hell have you been smoking, and can I have some?” When she didn’t respond, he chuckled and finally released her hand.

  “Based on your facial expression,” Willis said, “I’m going to guess you had no idea what you were walking into.”

  Alice cleared her throat and pulled her shoulders back. She wanted to tell this guy that as a scientist—if that was in fact what he was—he shouldn’t entertain such foolishness. But it was clear that tactic would get her nowhere. This fool had obviously taken the same crazy pills as her father. She grasped for any amount of professionalism she might have left in her. “I’m Alice, and I was told this was the opportunity of a lifetime.” Her father had repeatedly stressed that she wasn’t to advertise that she was the daughter of a high-ranking military officer, so she left that part out. “And yes, vampires and werewolves were mentioned, but—”

  “You thought it was malarkey?” Willis laughed.

  Her eyebrows rose. “Uh, yeah, obviously. Didn’t you?”

  Willis crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “Not at all. I asked where to sign up. I mean, stories of mythical creatures have been around for thousands of years. Don’t you think some of that has to have a basis in fact?”

  She ignored his question. “You just believed it all without question? I thought you were a scientist.”

  “Absolutely. And as a scientist, I cannot disregard any hypothesis without verifiable proof refuting it.”

  Alice’s confidence grew as she realized she had sanity on her side, and this guy’s lab kit was clearly missing a few test tubes. She raised a brow. “And have you seen these so-called vampires and werewolves?”

  “He has.” A seductive voice came from behind her. “And not just any vampires, but the vampire.”

  Alice turned slowly and gulped when she took in the handsome man standing in the open doorway. “And you are?” She fought to keep her voice steady but wasn’t sure she succeeded.

  His lips turned up in a slow smile, and Alice saw fangs. “My name is Cain. King of the vampires.”

  She let out a hysterical laugh. “Of course you are.” Then Alice’s ire rose. Someone was taking her for a fool. She marched toward the so-called vamp king and lifted her hand, pushing at his lush lips. “You expect me to believe these are real?” To her surprise, the man didn’t jerk back. Instead, he only smirked while she performed an impromptu dental examination. This was clearly a set of fake teeth that those weird vampire fanatics liked to have surgically implanted. “I’ve seen these implants before. I know they aren’t real.”

  “Probably don’t want to poke the vampire’s fangs,” Willis said. “Just throwing that out there.”

  Cain took a step back and straightened his suit jacket. “Are you quite done?”

  She shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Frankly, Alice,” he said her name as if tasting it like a fine wine, “I don’t give a damn if you believe in us or not. I could certainly prove it to you, but I don’t have time to waste on parlor tricks. For now, I simply want you to do the job we have hired you to do.”

  “And what is that exactly? All I was told was that I’d be researching certain supernatural creatures.” She didn’t mention that she’d also been told to report back to her father everything she saw and heard.

  “That is correct.” Cain motioned to Willis. “I will let him fill you in on exactly what we are doing. If you find the job is not to your liking, then you will be free to leave.”

  With that, he turned and left, pulling the door quietly behind him.

  “Why do I have a feeling that ‘free to leave’ doesn’t have the same meaning to me as it does to him?”

  “Because he’s a scary-as-hell vampire.”

  She sighed and threw up her arms. “All right then”—she turned to face Willis—“I suppose I should treat this like any other hypothesis. Until it’s proven wrong, I will operate on the assumption that vampires and werewolves do, in fact, exist.”

  Willis smiled. “It’s not a hypothesis, Alice. This shiz is real.” He motioned her over to a microscope and switched out some slides. “Look in there and tell me what you see.”

  She set her purse down on a chair. They had taken the bag that held all of her clothes and toiletries, and the driver had reassured her it would be placed in her quarters. After meeting the nut job with the fangs, she was considering asking for a hotel room—one far away from the facility.

  Willis stepped aside so Alice could lean down and press her eye to the scope. She watched as the cells shifted about. The larger ones looked like animal cells, while the smaller looked like those of a human. There were also more white blood cells than would typically be seen in a healthy person. “You’ve mixed human and animal blood?” She turned the knob on the microscope to enlarge the image.

  “Nope. That blood comes from one … person.”

  “I’m looking at blood that has both the DNA of human and animal? That’s what you’re telling me?” She pulled her face away and stared at the other scientist with narrowed eyes.

  “You’re looking at the blood of a dormant werewolf. A human with lupine blood.” He shifted on his feet, and Alice thought he might be seconds away from jumping up and down. He stepped to the right and pointed at another microscope. “Now look at this one.”

  Alice bit her bottom lip before moving to the scope and pressing her eye to it. This blood sample was different. There wasn’t just an elevated number of white blood cells; there was a massive amount in the sample. “This person clearly had an infection?” The statement came out as a question.

  “Negative.”

  Alice forced herself not to roll her eyes. “Fine. What the hell am I looking at?”

  “That’s a full-blooded werewolf sample. Not a dormant. They heal ridiculously fast. Hence all the white blood cells. Okay”—he rubbed his hands together—“last one.” Willis pointed to the third microscope on the table.

  Alice placed her eye on it and stared at the blood under the slide. The cells didn’t act like blood cells at all. Instead of simply moving around one another, the cells looked as if they were attacking each other. “What the…” she muttered.

  “Right!” Willis exclaimed. “It’s like they’re killing each other. That’s the virus. It’s why the vampires have to continually take in more blood. Their own virus kills off the blood cells they ingest, and their body doesn’t make more.”

  “Why?” She looked over at him. “I mean, is it like the movies and they don’t have a heartbeat?”

  “Oh,”—he shook his head—“no, they have a heartbeat, but the vampiric virus prevents their body from producing red blood cells. At least, that’s my theory. I’ve only been studying this for a couple of months.”

  She stared at him and then glanced back at the three microscopes. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  He sighed and then walked over to a window that was covered with closed blinds. “Come here, Alice. And please, don’t scream.”

  She joined him, and he pulled the blinds. Her eyes widened when she saw the room full of bodies that lay upon rows of gurneys. “What in the world?” She breathed out. Then her eyes froze on Cain. He sat on one of the beds next to the body of a woman. She watched as he gently lifted the body with one hand. With his other hand, he pushed the woman’s head to the side, baring her neck. Then his lips pulled back, and Alice saw the fangs once again. She pressed closer to the glass and watched. Alice gasped when Cain’s head darted forward with inhuman speed, and he sank his teeth into the woman’s flesh.