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WE APPEARED NEXT TO the building where Charles worked and hurried over to the door. Freya’s grip on our hands was almost tight enough to crush our bones. Uncle Mark surreptitiously shook the feeling back into his fingers after we were safely inside and she let go of him.
Freya took her borrowed hood off and gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”
“It’s nothing,” he said with a smile. “I’ve had far worse injuries than that.”
She picked up on my thoughts about how he’d found out he was immortal and shook her head. “You’ve all been through so much,” she murmured as Uncle Mark led us over to the elevator.
“They’re pretty tough, for a bunch of oldies,” I joked.
Uncle Mark heaved a small sigh, but he was used to our impertinent remarks. He waited for the elevator to stop, then led the way to Dr. O’Brien’s lab. The door was unlocked and we entered the foyer. Two white plastic chairs sat to one side and a water cooler was on the other. He knocked on the door to the lab and footsteps hurried over.
Charles looked through the window, then grinned when he saw us. He unlocked the door to let us in and exchanged a handshake with Uncle Mark. “You must be Freya,” he said to my mate after shaking my hand next.
“You must be Charles,” she replied.
“If Mark hadn’t told me you’d been a vampire for fifteen hundred years, I wouldn’t have been able to guess it,” the doc said in fascination.
Freya glanced around at the various medical equipment, desks, computers and lab equipment. “Maybe this will make it more believable,” she said, then her fangs elongated.
“Fascinating,” Charles said and leaned in to get a closer look. In his thirties, he had a slightly pudgy build and light brown hair. He’d never pass for a field agent, but he was an expert when it came to lab stuff.
“We’ve just determined that Freya is no longer allergic to sunlight,” Uncle Mark said. “Her eyes are still very sensitive to light, though.”
“Her pupils are far more dilated than normal,” Charles said, then gestured at the examination bed. “Hop up on there and I’ll run a few tests.”
We followed him over to the bed and Freya sat on the edge of it. She didn’t protest when he shone a light into her eyes, checked her teeth and throat, then took a sample of her blood and saliva. “Your blood isn’t black,” he said in surprise. “I should have figured it would return to normal after your heart started beating again.”
“It was horrible, doc,” I said with a shudder. “Her shifter purged the dead blood and a lot of her vampirism from her system. She would have died if Alex hadn’t shoved her soul back into her body.”
Charles’ eyes were bright with excitement that he could study someone as unique as Freya. If he’d been allowed to, he probably would have published papers about us all. “Mark sent me the file on what happened to you both,” he said. “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.” He was talking about vampirism being mostly reversed and Freya surviving it. Alex had already gone through the same thing I had by having our vampires strengthened by toxin.
After examining Freya’s blood and saliva, he determined that she no longer had much vampire toxin in her system. He tested her reflexes and they were far sharper than mine. She was stronger as well, but not as strong as she had been. I could feel she didn’t care that her strength and speed had been diminished. Now that we’d found each other, we both felt whole for the first time in our lives.
“You’re next, Nick,” Charles said when he was done with my mate.
I went through the same tests, but I hadn’t changed much. My blood now resembled Liam’s and Alex’s. Freya’s blood was also apparently very similar to ours. “We’re all almost the same now,” I figured. “Except Alex is a necromancer and Liam, Freya and I aren’t.”
Charles nodded in agreement. “There’s one more test I’d like to perform, but I’ll need a colleague to assist us.”
Uncle Mark looked doubtful at bringing anyone else in to help. “What test do you want to perform?”
“I’d like to see if Nick can enthrall people.”
“I’d like to see if I can still use my charm as well,” Freya said.
“I can always ask Yasmine to come here and scrub their memories if it fails,” Uncle Mark figured, then nodded his permission.
The doc called someone and asked them to come to his lab. A pretty young woman arrived a few minutes later. She blushed furiously when Charles let her in and smiled at her.
“She’s got a crush on him,” I whispered to Freya. She nodded in amused agreement. Charles seemed oblivious that his colleague liked him as he introduced us to her.
“We need your help to test Nick’s and Freya’s capabilities, Lisa,” Charles explained.
“What sort of abilities do they have?” she asked. Short and thin, she had shoulder-length brown hair and wore a white lab coat over her blouse and pants. Charles always wore a lab coat as well. I guessed it was a requirement of their professions. Lisa darted glances at us all and fidgeted constantly. She seemed to be uncomfortable being the focus of attention, reminding me strongly of Alex.
“It’s nothing dangerous,” Uncle Mark said soothingly, then nodded slightly at Freya.
My mate took a deep breath, then delved deep inside herself. I felt her relief when her vampire charisma welled up. She pushed it into Lisa and the human instantly fell beneath her spell. “It worked!” Freya said in delight, then frowned slightly. “I don’t think my charm is as powerful as it once was, but at least I can still enthrall humans.”
“I’m happy for you, babe,” I said and planted a kiss on her temple. She withdrew her power and Lisa blinked a few times before coming out of it.
“What do you need me to do?” Lisa asked nervously. She had no idea she’d already helped us.
Uncle Mark nodded at me and it was my turn to take a deep breath. I gasped in shock when I felt vampiric charm swirl to life at my call.
“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked.
“Nothing,” Charles said, but he was almost as excited as I was. “Nick just discovered he has a new talent,” he added.
I sent my mojo into Lisa and she turned to me expectantly. Her expression went blank as she became my puppet. “Hold up your hands,” I ordered her and she complied. “Touch your nose with your left pointer finger and click the fingers of your right hand,” I said next.
She obeyed my commands and I laughed in delight. Uncle Mark was smiling indulgently, but I didn’t care that I was acting like a kid at Christmas. I’d always been invisible next to Liam, but now I had an ability that he didn’t have.
“I’d say you can definitely enthrall humans, my love,” Freya said proudly.
We’d both gone through hell, but it had been worth it. I hadn’t been searching for my true mate, yet she’d come into my life just when I’d needed her the most. The others had already accepted her into our team because this was where she belonged.
Freya blinked away the tears that welled up when she read my mind. “I love you, too, Nickolas,” she murmured.
“You’d better tell Lisa to stop clicking her fingers before she gets a muscle cramp,” Charles suggested with a grin.
I realized she was still obeying my orders. “You can stop doing that and put your hands down now,” I said to her. Once again, she did as I’d ordered.
“Lisa works in an office with several people, so I’d better give her a reason for coming up here,” Charles said. He crossed to a desk and picked up some paperwork. “Tell her to read these notes and to call me later with her thoughts about them.”
“You do know that she’s got a crush on you, don’t you?” I asked.
His surprise was almost comical. “Does she?”
“Even a blind man could see it,” Freya joked.
“It’s obvious she likes you, Charles,” Uncle Mark agreed.
“You should ask her out for coffee,” I told him.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, flustered by this news.
I turned to Lisa to give her a new order. “Take these notes back to your office,” I said and handed them to her. “Read through them and call Charles later to give him your opinion of them. Go back to work now and forget you met Mark, Freya and me.”
Uncle Mark nodded his approval as I withdrew my charisma. Lisa turned jerkily and crossed to the door to let herself out. “Thanks for slotting us in this morning,” Uncle Mark said to the doc.
“It was my pleasure,” Charles said, beaming widely. He shook our hands again, then we saw ourselves out and returned to our base. Freya had put the hood on again and stripped it off once we were safely inside.
Uncle Mark came inside long enough to say goodbye, then opened the door and called Zeus from his game of hide and seek with the herd. The Rottweiler materialized with Emma riding on his back. Emma leaped onto Alex’s shoulder when she realized playtime was over. “You’ve still got one week left of your vacation,” Uncle Mark said. “Try not to do anything dangerous,” he added with an admonishing look at me.
“I’ll keep them in line, Agent Steel,” Ike joked. Everyone laughed and Old Bony looked pleased by our reactions.
Uncle Mark and Zeus headed back to Europe and Syd crooked her finger at Freya. “It’s time to see how good your skills are,” she said in anticipation.
