Free Enduring Retribution e-book by Kathi S. Barton Page B

breath before continuing.

    “All that I’m going to share with you is how this may affect you, and it will. I was created in the lab, in a test tube actually. I’m the combination of several donors, all of them immortal races mixed together to try and create an elite super-race of beings that would be used for war. One of the donors was a vampire. That’s why I could bite you. I also have the ability to do other things too. Whether it’s magically, mentally, or physically, thanks to the DNA cocktail I was given, I’m pretty much a fuck up of all races.”
    “May I ask you a question?”
    She wanted to tell him he just had, but thought he’d not appreciate her attempt at humor. She nodded.
    “Do you know anything about the lab prior to it being destroyed? Who funded it? And who yet still lives?”
    “No. We didn’t care past getting out and surviving. There are others like me, marked like us, but…I have a mark, a tattooed bar code that was burned into my skin. They put it there when I was small. We all had one. But no, I don’t know anything about the scientist.”
    “What things can you do? I’ve seen your fangs, but you said mixture. Of what?”
    She was hurt by his dismissive tone that sounded like he didn’t believe her. “I can shift into anything I need to so long as it has a heartbeat. I think that came from weres, a cougar and a wolf.” Now, for the hard part. “We were considered a failure, and were set for termination a few days before we escaped. When you took my blood, you subjected yourself to all that I am, including everything I can do. You will be able to shift, if you couldn’t already, your mental abilities will be exponentially stronger, also your strength. I can’t heal myself, nor am I an immortal, but those will not affect you, as they are things that you had prior to drinking my blood.”
    “Did you have anything to do with Tyler’s and Charlie’s death?”
    She turned away from him and looked out the window. Hurt ripped through her chest. “That would be the first thing you’d ask me, wouldn’t it, Lord St. James?” She got up from the chair and paced around the room. “Indirectly, yes, I did. They were the only friends I had besides Griff and I convinced them we could make it on the outside world. The only people I ever trusted were these three and now two of them are dead. I will ever trust again except for Griff.”
    If he expected more, he would be sorely disappointed. Bailey felt him touch her mind, but she tossed him off. If he didn’t want her then he had no right to trod on her painful memories.
    “Bailey, love, I’m…”
    She cut him off. “You will have your information about me soon. Yes, I’m well aware that you are having me investigated, Lord St. James. I have just as good of help as you do when I need information. I’ve had it slowed down a bit until we could…but your computer whiz will break through soon enough. I’ve seen his work before. He’s quite good.”
    “Bailey, you have to understand—”
    “I don’t think so. Your information, it will be incomplete and most of it will be glossed over.
    But with what I’ve told you, you’ll be able to guess the rest.” She opened the window, leaned into it, and took a deep breath. “I want you to stay away from me, Lord St. James. If you come near me, or you send someone for me, I will kill them and then you. And have no doubt that I can and will. I’m a heartless bitch and can do what I want. There’s a woman, the queen of magic.
    If you go to her, she’ll help you get this…relationship you’ve found yourself in fixed. She doesn’t care for me all that much anyway.”
    Bailey continued to look out the window. She wouldn’t, no, she couldn’t look at him. She had felt him touch her mind again, harder this time, trying to breach her hold, but she didn’t allow him entrance. She didn’t want him to see what he had done to her with his comment about Tyler. She needed to leave right now.