Chapter 38: Did someone force it down your throat?

"Welcome."

Miles grinned. Lucian looked at him and then he pointed at the box.

"Something is growling inside that box."

"You can hear that?"

Miles sounded surprised, Lucian however, was even more surprised.

"You know about it?"

"I am not the new guy here."

That made sense. Lucian thought about it and couldn’t help but question.

"Why is no one reacting?"

"Because it is inside the box."

"..."

Lucian didn’t know what to say, Miles just chuckled.

"It is a good box."

Lucian remained silent.

Miles then began walking, Lucian followed, every few steps, Lucian saw something that made his mind pause.

A woman with pale skin and red eyes sat behind a desk, a man with glowing bandages around his arm, a young woman in a lab coat carried a tray of small black stones that kept... whispering?

Yes, talking stones.

Literal stones that could talk!

What the hell...?

"Better than the castle you were imagining, isn’t it?"

Miles chuckled, reading Lucian’s face.

"I have no words."

Lucian replied and that only made Miles’s grin wider.

"Aww, don’t be like that, this is just the beginning."

"That is not very reassuring."

"Heh."

Miles just laughed, then, he stepped in front of a glass door. Lucian looked up and read what was written above it.

Evaluation Wing.

"That sounds unpleasant."

Lucian passed a comment.

"It usually is."

Miles nodded.

Lucian stared at this man and—

"Again, very reassuring."

"I try."

Lucian’s mouth twitched. Miles, on the other hand, tapped his card against the panel, the door opened and they walked in.

The place was filled with doctors, technicians and... security.

There were still things that made Lucian question everything, but he had stopped trying at this point, Miles wasn’t exactly a great help.

Miles led Lucian to a counter, where a woman in a grey suit looked up at him with tired eyes.

"Name?"

"Lucian Cross."

Lucian answered.

"Age?"

"Twenty."

"Source of alteration?"

"What?"

Lucian paused.

The woman looked at him.

"Source of alteration."

She repeated.

Miles leaned slightly closer.

"Blood ingestion."

"Voluntary?"

"That is complicated."

Lucian answered.

The woman looked at him again with her same, dead eyes and—

"Did someone force it down your throat?"

"No."

"Then voluntary."

Lucian paused for a moment, then he looked at Miles, who just nodded at him and he—

"I drank it because the man who killed my parents wanted it."

He revealed the truth, his purple eyes glowed. His words made the woman pause, her eyes softened and she corrected herself.

"Voluntary under extreme duress."

Lucian didn’t say anything, he just watched the woman type something into her computer until she asked another question.

"Known blood source?"

"High Incubus."

"A what?"

The woman froze.

"High Incubus."

Miles repeated and knowing that he wouldn’t be believed—

"Confirmed by Miss Voss."

He used Claire’s name, instantly changing the woman’s attitude. She looked at Lucian for three whole seconds.

"High Incubus...?"

She still asked.

"That’s what I was told."

He nodded.

"How are you..."

"Alive? I was wondering the same thing."

Miles laughed, as if there was a bond forming between him and the woman. The woman just looked at him with deadpan eyes, then she looked at Lucian and—

"Wonderful."

She typed again.

Her reaction made Lucian frown.

"That did not sound wonderful."

"It was administrative sarcasm.

It keeps morale alive."

The woman answered, Miles jumped in and nodded, agreeing with her with a ’charming’ smile.

"She is right."

The woman completely ignored the poor man, she then printed a thin band and placed it on the counter.

"Wear this."

Lucian asked as he looked at the band.

"What is it?"

"Temporary evaluation tag."

"It is not going to shock me, is it?"

"Huh? Of course not."

The woman blinked.

"Why would you even ask that?"

Miles questioned.

"You should ask that to yourself and try to make this place somewhat better."

Lucian shook his head as he put the band on his wrist, the moment it tightened, small black letters appeared on it.

[Lucian Cross — Pending Classification]

"Dr. Sable is waiting."

The woman at the counter stood up.

Lucian looked at Miles.

"You are not coming?"

Miles shook his head.

"This is where I leave you."

"Already? Don’t you feel a little responsible?"

"Hey, I was only tasked to bring you here, I only guided you till now out of the goodness of my heart."

"Rightttt."

Lucian nodded.

Miles shrugged, then he patted his shoulder and—

"Good luck."

"Thank you."

Lucian nodded, Miles turned and walked away. Lucian then glanced at the woman and she gestured towards the hallway.

"This way."

Lucian followed.

The two entered a medical room. The room was clean and cold, there was an examination bed in the middle, several machines around it, and shelves filled with tools Lucian did not recognize.

A woman stood near one of the monitors.

She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, with dark hair tied neatly behind her head and sharp, beautiful brown eyes. She looked at Lucian with a professional smile and if it weren’t for Lucian’s mind being clear after spending time with Naomi, he didn’t know if he would have been able to control himself.

*Picture*

"Lucian Cross?"

"Yes."

"I am Dr. Maya Sable."

"Doctor."

Lucian nodded.

"Lie down, let’s sleep together."

Dr. Sable gestured toward the examination bed.

Lucian blinked at those words, his purple eyes glowed as the thought came into his mind and the moment she saw it—

"Incubus indeed."

Dr. Sable muttered as she wrote something in her notebook.

"That was a test?"

Lucian tilted his head in confusion and the doctor stared at him with an obvious look on her face.

"What else would it be? Did you really think I was going to sleep with you?"

"I thought this was God’s way of compensating me for turning my life the way it has."

"Is that so...?"

The doctor smiled at those words.

"You are good with your words."

Then, she nodded to herself and—

"Your humor response is intact as well, that is good." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"..."

Lucian just stared at this woman with a hollow look on his face.