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the walls of his home. I eyed the mass of vampires surrounding us and notice d that there were no humans. Great. I hoped none of them were hungry. We probably smelled appetizing to them.
    “Where do you pen up the leashed Zompires?” Elijah’s snarky tone was not lost on Mercer, who faced him with a sly smirk pasted on his lips. Maybe he wasn’t so statuesque after all.
    “We keep them near the armory. They are considered weapons.” He turned and continued forward until he reached a set of meta l steps leading up to a single doorway. “I believe Rick would like to meet you, too. Shall we surprise him?” He turned, punched a code into a keypad on the side of the door and flung it open. Shuffling in, I muttered my own little obscenities at the mention of Rick.
    Oh , I bet he just can’t wait to meet me.
     

Chapter Four
    Circus of Less er Things
     
     
     
    “Where is he taking us?” Sarah whispered. I shrugged, but Christian had obviously heard us and immediately offered the answer.
    “The Freaks Lab.”
    “Say what?” My mouth hung open at the pet name they had for the lab. It didn’t sound very promising. In fact, the name did wonders to freak me out, and I fought to not turn and run away. Even so, another part of me was jumping up and down like an amused two-year-old, ready to play with the toys.
    Christian frowned but didn ’t repeat what he’d said. I guess it was a sensitive subject. This only made my adrenaline surge, ready to trash the place for even existing. Any place with a name like that could only mean horrible things happened there, like what had happened to my mother. The darn two-year-old stopped clapping in my head and started whining protests. Yep, good times.
    Mercer approached another coded door , and the locks clicked opened before he shoved at it to help it along. Inside, we all filed in and stared down at a room that really should have been a museum of Ripley’s believe it or nots. I almost choked on the rancid bile tumbling up my throat as I took in the atrocities before me. Blinking hard and deepening my breaths kept me from losing my cool as the room narrowed in my vision and my disgust multiplied.
    Row upon row of acrylic tanks filled to the brim with yellow-tinged fluid were occupied by bodies, mutilated beyond recognition. A collective gasp shifted through the group as we were silenced, our words stripped from our mouths at the horrid sight. Nothing I’d ever seen would have prepared me for this. My legs felt weak, but I stepped forward, hoping they wouldn’t give up on me as I moved along.
    The first tank held a large man, or what would ’ve been a man in a past life. He now had large fangs jutting out of his upper jaw and wild, reddened irises that were enlarged so much, he looked bug-eyed and disproportioned. His skin was a tough, wrinkled and abused leather littered with scars and missing chunks, leaving his body gaping open, displaying sinew with tendons dangling from bones. The bulk of muscles underneath the remains of shredded cloth bulged abnormally and appeared to almost split the skin from their massive size. Thankfully, the thing was dead. I wasn’t sure I could stomach seeing something like that alive.
    Fortunately, everything else in the tanks was also dead . The corpses were all in differently morphed states and hung suspended in the fluid, like puppets left abandoned by their owners, awaiting their last dance. Mercer led us deeper into the lab, giving us little time to ponder the creepiness of the creatures whose eyes seemed to follow us as we made our way forward. It sent shivers down my spine, but at least I wasn’t turning colors like Sarah was. Her pallor had intensified, matching her skin to the yellow fluid surrounding us and reflecting the dim lights overhead.
    “Hey, you al l right?” I slipped my hand onto her shoulder, and she gave me a weak nod but didn’t dare to look me in the eye. I made sure to keep one step behind her in case she decided to