Dekker leered at Reese. “Is there any other?”
“Did Dr. Markus tell you that?”
“What? He didn’t tell you?” Dekker made a sound that was part growl, part laugh. The blue of his eyes vanished under a sea of gold and green.
Reese had always wondered what Dr. Markus saw in those writings and why what he saw had changed him. What else had Dr. Markus not told them?
Against Reese’s better judgment, he leaned close enough for the cold radiating from the glass to reach his skin. “If you’re stable, then why do you want the ichor?”
Dekker ran his gaze over Reese’s face, stopping on his mouth. “You ever suck a man’s cock before, Dr. Dante?”
“Or maybe you’re not as stable as you think.”
“I bet you’d be a natural.”
“With Dr. Echols and Dr. Markus dead, then who’s going to fix you a new batch of serum?”
“I could just fuck you.” Dekker lifted his eyes. “Then let the others have a piece. How long do you think you’d survive? A day, two, three? Tell me, Dr. Dante, or I’ll find out.”
Shivers racked Reese’s frame. “Even if I could get you the ichor, it only has an affinity for the dead, not the living.”
Dekker’s eyes crinkled up. “Wrong, Dr. Dante. It has an affinity fordeath.”
“And that means?”
“All those books and degrees and you don’t know the difference.” A pseudo-purr rumbled in the man’s chest. “Not that I think all the book smarts in the world could make you understand. Here, let me show you.”
Dekker jerked aside the last bolt and pulled open the door. Reese barely had time to register the hand tangling in the front of his sweater before he was yanked out and tossed onto the floor.
His knees hit the concrete, and the jarring pain rode up through his hips.
“Dr. Dante.” Luca was on his feet again, and so was Nox. Luca rushed the door, but Dekker shut it again and slid the bar across the front.
Nox punched the glass. “Leave him alone.”
Dekker stalked closer to Reese while turning his head one way, then the next. A predator examining the best way to kill its prey.
Reese kicked himself back, his boots scuffing against the floor. He rolled to his side with the intentions of making a run for it.
A hand closed over his ankle, and he was dragged back. Dekker pulled Reese off the floor. “No skipping class, Dr. Dante. That’s rude.”
The man wrapped his thick arm around Reese’s neck, applying just enough pressure that every breath whistled.
“Let’s begin. Death and dead.”
Luca continued to yell, but it was nothing but background noise. Reese clawed at the man’s arm. The scratches he gouged closed as fast as he drew them.
Dekker huffed against Reese’s neck. “You do smell wonderful, Dr. Dante.” He gripped the collar of Reese’s sweater and yanked, ripping it open, gouging the fabric into the opposite side of Reese’s neck. He yelped. Wet warmth lapped at the fabric burns on Reese’s throat.
“Don’t.” Fear cracked his voice. “Please, don’t do this.” Tears burned the corners of his eyes.
Dekker pushed his free hand under Reese’s sweater. The dull tips of fingers sharpened.
Reese bit back a scream.
“You keep making those noises, Dr. Dante, and I might just have to fuck you first.”
Reese twisted in the man’s grip. Heat trickled down his hip and red bloomed at the edge of his khakis. Why wasn’t there any pain?