Essence (Nectar 3)

Sasha filled a third mug with blood from a large glass decanter “Try this,” she urged.

Tristan leaned over and sniffed blood in the mug, “What is it?”

Whatever it was, it didn’t smell right.

Sam gave him a foul look of warning.

Sasha answered, “It’s a cocktail of several small animals’ blood with a vitamin infusion.”

“’Tis foul, is what it is!” Sam declared, putting his mug down hard on the tabletop, shooting his sister a look of disdain.

“We’ve had good feedback with this, particularly from turned vamps,” she informed him, “It’s very nutritionally balanced.”

“Blech!” Sam replied, “Vampires need human blood. We’re vampires, not vampire bats.”

“Try it?” she asked Tristan, throwing a glare at her brother.

“I’ll take a human and chase it with a Flintstone vitamin,” Sam declared.

Tristan shook his head, “I’m good. Can I get some water or juice for Kyla? Grape juice if you have it.”

Sasha smiled at him, “Why don’t you sit down with me, Kyla?” She patted on the empty chair beside herself. Kyla stared at the chair and blinked a few times and then looked to Tristan and opened her mouth but no words came out.

“Don’t you want to sit with me, Kyla?” Sasha asked, “I’m Dr. Jasper. I’m Sam’s sister. I’m a friend.”

Kyla’s eyes slowly swung back to Sasha’s direction.

“Tristan says...” She started but closed her eyes and her teeth chattered and she had a full shiver. She swayed. Tristan put her in the chair.

“Sit down, princess; it’s okay.” He steered her, though, to the chair opposite him, putting him between Sasha and Kyla.

He’d told her to follow no one’s directions other than his. It was good to see that at least that had gotten through.

Sasha rose, poured Kyla some orange juice, apologizing that she had no grape, and then left the room and headed to stairs to the basement at the back of the kitchen.

Sam picked up an apple from a big silver bowl of fruit on the centre of the table and took a bite.

Sasha was back with a medical bag.

“Can I take her vitals?”

Tristan nodded.

She leaned over, about to wrap her blood pressure monitor around Kyla’s arm but Kyla’s palms came up and she gave Sasha a shove, sending her flying back into the refrigerator with a considerable amount of strength.

Tristan jumped to his feet, mentally pinning Sasha to the fridge.

“Why did you do that, baby?”

“No one touches me but you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll allow it, Kyla. Let her take your vitals. Right now, with me here. Okay?” He caressed her cheek and gave Sasha a nod.

Sasha got to her feet, looking a little bit shocked. While she took vitals Tristan explained the strange strength Kyla had started experiencing, talked about how she’d hit Celia and threw Liam out a window. It was odd that she still had it, despite being so weak.

Sasha took Kyla’s blood pressure, listened to her heart, put the stethoscope to her back, put a thermometer in Kyla’s ear, and then asked if she could examine inside her mouth. Tristan told Kyla to open her mouth. She did, Sasha checked Kyla’s gums, while peering into her throat.

Sasha took the stethoscope off and dropped it into the bag,

“I need to do blood analysis to figure out if Kyle might be able to help.”

Tristan cocked a brow, “Show me her brother first and your medical facilities and then we’ll talk.”

Kyla reached for the mug in front of Tristan and lifted it toward her lips.

“You don’t wanna drink that love…” Sam said and that caught Tristan’s attention just in time so Tristan swiped it.

“Not that one, baby.” He put it down and handed her the orange juice that was sitting beside it.~~~The ground level basement was bright with windows facing the waterfront along a long corridor but the rooms were all against the hill face. They all had blinds on glass doors, offering light or privacy. There were several rooms and it had the feel of a floor in a small hospital. They walked past a standard-looking exam room and a lab that, unlike Adrian’s lab, didn’t have a glass room attached for observation.

There were two rooms that Sasha had explained were for surgeries as well. There was also a door that led to inside the hill that the house was built into. Sasha explained there was an entrance to caves in that hill from behind a storage room in the hallway because the hill had a weapons and supplies cache, temporary lodgings for everyone on the island, and access into a dense forest.

They were not a violent group, she’d said, but they were equipped for if they ran into problems.

At the end of a long hallway was a set of white wooden double doors with a plaque marking the area private. She led them inside. Her office.

She walked around her desk to open a set of doors on a closet. She shoved a rack of hanging white coats aside, revealing a hidden door. She unlocked it with a key and used a fingerprint scanner at the same time. When the door opened Tristan was expecting something clinical-looking but it was decorated like a bedroom. A double hospital bed was in the centre of the room and it was done with masculine denim coloured striped bedding. The room had light gray walls, a number of large houseplants, leather furniture in a seating area with a big wall-mounted television. Music played from the TV, which displayed nature photographs and a scroll on the bottom of the screen that read,