“They’re not dogs,” Ruxandra growled. “They’re people. How dare you—”
Anthony held up one hand to silence her tirade. He leaned in close to the guy and caught his glance. A second later, the guy blinked.
“It’s no good, Anthony,” Kurt said. “He can’t be mesmerized. Ruxandra tried.”
Surprised, Anthony straightened. “Why? Is he her beloved too?”
“Huh?”
Kurt must not know.
“I think they discovered some kind of immunity to compulsion.”
“Crap.” Anthony scratched his head. “Either that, or he’s some kind of paranormal too.”
“But why would he condone researching his own kind?” Kurt asked.
Anthony got in the researcher’s face and raised his voice, hoping to intimidate him the old-fashioned way. “What else have you learned about us?”
“I don’t know anything,” he said. “I’m just like a…like a night watchman. I’m here in case something goes wrong.”
Anthony remembered Sadie mentioning an old-fashioned night watchman’s spirit. This guy didn’t match the description. He wore a white lab coat.
“You’re lying,” Anthony said. “Your coat has your name on it. They don’t issue lab coats to night watchmen.”
“It—it was a joke,” the man said. He shook in fear, and a trickle of sweat rendered a path from his temple to his cheek.
Anthony looked closer at the coat’s signature. “Dr. Odd. Okay, let’s say it’s a joke. It still sounds more like you’re a researcher than a night watchman.”
“I’m not responsible for any of this. I swear.”
“I had heard there was some kind of spirit watching over the building. What do you know about that?”
The guy’s eyes widened and he glanced up at the ceiling. “I never heard about a spirit. You mean this place is haunted?”
Kurt shook his head. “We can’t get anything out of him. We might have better luck with the paras. Can you help Nick and Sly?”
Anthony surveyed the room. The large glass cage appeared to be sound- and shatterproof. Both Nick and Sly were charging it with various heavy objects like chairs, fish tanks, and empty cages. The people inside seemed to be shouting and pounding on the glass, with no luck. One of those people was his friend Tory.
Several cages held the conventional lab animals anyone would expect. Mice, dogs, and rabbits mostly. Then he spotted a large fish tank. Some kind of Lucite cover kept a merman from escaping. It looked as if only a small padlock held the cover in place.
“Maybe I can talk to him,” Anthony said.
As he stalked over to the tank, the researcher yelled out, “Not him. He bites.”
Anthony took great pleasure in letting his fangs descend. “So do I,” he said.
The researcher trembled and scooted farther back in his chair, until Ruxandra showed her fangs too. He turned enough to get a look at her and screamed. He yanked harder, trying to get away, but Ruxandra just laughed.
“We agreed not to terrorize anyone, Ruxandra. We’re better than that.”
She put away her fangs and looked as if she were about to argue, but to Anthony’s surprise, she sighed and said, “You’re right. Sorry.”
Anthony returned his attention to the giant tank. The guy inside was madly pointing to something. A nearby desk. The vampire didn’t know what was important about the desk, but if the guy could talk, perhaps he’d find out.
Anthony ripped off the padlock and opened the top about an inch. The merman swam over to him. When his nose and mouth breached the surface, he inhaled deeply. After a few more deep breaths, he said, “Are you here to rescue us or take credit for the others’ findings?”
“Huh? As you can see, we’re trying to free the paranormal captives. What’s your name?”
“I’m Jules. Jules Vernon. Thank the gods you’re here. I tried to escape, and they locked me up so tight I could barely get any air.”
“Can you help us? Have you seen where they keep the keys?”
“I’ll tell you everything,” Jules said.
“I’d like to let you out of here, but I have to admit I don’t know anything about your kind. Dr. Odd over there said you bite.”
Jules laughed. “Only when stupid researchers try to pull off pieces of me and study them under a microscope.”
Anthony took a closer look and Jules pointed to his side. It looked like a few scales were missing where they met his skin, and a chink in his flipper said he’d been cut there as well. Anthony’s heart went out to the poor merman. He threw off the lid and watched the merman pull himself up to sit on the edge of the tank. As the water sluiced off his tail, the tail formed into legs. Now completely naked, the man pointed to a shelf a few feet away and said, “Towel, please?”
Anthony spotted the shelf of towels. The man’s waist was slender, so one towel would probably do the trick, but he grabbed two just in case. Jules transferred his legs to the outside of the tank and jumped down.
Anthony handed him a towel which the guy wrapped around his private parts. Then he reached for the other towel and dried off his hair and torso, legs and feet. Anthony grabbed a couple more towels so the guy wouldn’t have to stand around in damp ones.
“Thanks,” he said when he was dry, covered, and comfortable.
“Where are the keys to the big cage?” Anthony asked.
“There aren’t any. It’s a code. The keypad is on the side next to the door.”
“Do you know the code?”
“No, and I’m not sure the guy you’re holding knows it, either. He has keys to the padlocks in the desk drawer. That’s what I was trying to point to. But I’ve never seen him open the big glass cage.”
“Listen to him,” the researcher said. “He’s right. I don’t know the code.”
“He’s also the only one who has never hurt me—or anyone else that I know of. He mostly sits and reads all night.”
Kurt took a nearby chair and faced the researcher. “So, it seems as if you might have a conscience.”
The guy nodded eagerly. “Oh, yes. I wouldn’t hurt any test subject. I needed the job to pay my rent, but if they’d asked me to experiment on anyone, I would have refused.”
“You’re not completely blameless, lab-rat boy.” Kurt said. “You could have reported the abuse.”
“To whom? They always documented their work carefully, saying they needed to justify their funding, so I assumed it must have come from a grant or something. But I never heard the name of the source.”
Nick, who had joined them, growled. “Who would fund research like this?”
Anthony shook his head. “What have we all been afraid of? That the government would discover our powers and want to dissect us. Or maybe they’ll try to brainwash us and then use us as ultimate soldiers or secret weapons, right?”
“Shit. You think the government is behind this?”
“I don’t know, but it’s clear we need to find out. Even if we can get our hands on each staff member and erase the memory of what they’ve been doing here, somebody somewhere knows about it. We’re still at risk until we find out who.”
Nick grabbed the guy by the hair and tipped his head back until he could see his face. “Why can’t you be mesmerized?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“He’s lying,” Nick said.
“And he knows a lot more than he’s telling us,” Kurt agreed.
Anthony remembered a secret weapon they had on their side. “Is there something you can do with magic, Kurt?”
He chewed his bottom lip. At last he said, “There’s a truth spell…”
“Do it!”
“I need certain things.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the place while you go get whatever you need,” Anthony said.
Kurt chewed his lip again. “Okay. But it’ll take me an hour to get to my apartment and back.”