he made an evil sound reminiscent of a chuckle. "that, logan ellis, was your first lesson in mental manipulation. when faced with a vampire or servio older than yourself, it's better to willingly do what is asked of you than be subject to manipulation." he continued examining her while he talked, poking and prodding at her like an experiment. "as an ancient, when i make a request of a fledgling, i am far more pleased when they perform without question. if they force me to cavort through their mind, sometimes i get distracted by other things going on in their brain, and then i end up leaving them with more tasks to perform than the one i originally asked for. i blame them for their stupidity. had they simply done what i asked in the first place, i wouldn't have a new pawn to play with. understood?"

she started to nod but squealed and drew her knees up when he pressed and wiggled the skin under her hip bones. "don't do that!"

he smiled. "you're ticklish. i shall inform my brother." his amusement faded as he pressed harder. "you also have an abnormality in your left ovary. when was the last time you saw a doctor?"

"i think i was fifteen. you can just look at someone and make them do whatever you say?"

"yes. however, i don't have to speak at all. i can plant suggestions in your mind just by looking at you. and once i've met you, i no longer need to see you. i can sit here in my lab while you're in new york and fill your head with all kinds of interesting things. are you not interested in what may be wrong with your body?"

holy crap! "well, yeah. but learning about getting mind fucked makes for far more interesting conversation. i'm not using my ovaries, and unless you do something crazy to them, i don't think they'll be saving my life anytime soon."

"you have a truly interesting view of things, logan. i also find your recovery time from the stress you endured in my father's chamber rather remarkable."

she sighed. "i don't like to talk about jessica. it's not as though i don't know on some level drugs helped me forget. but i wasn't really trying to forget...i was just trying to make it through the day. forgetting was just a side effect."

"forgetting is not an effective coping mechanism. you have to find a way to move past the trauma, an avenue in which to truly deal with it."

"i have dealt with it, vouclade. but that doesn't mean when it's brought up i'm not going to react to it. isn't there something in your life you don't like reliving? something you wish you hadn't done?"

he stilled for a moment. "there are many things."

"then why should it be any different for me?"

"i concede your point." he pulled a pair of latex gloves from under the table and moved to stand between the stirrups. "i need you to relax." snap! "this is the last stage of the physical." snap! "when i'm finished, i'll draw blood and we can discuss the state of your body."

she closed her eyes. the last thing she thought she'd have to go through after being kidnapped by vampires...was a pelvic exam. but something told her she wasn't getting out of it. "just don't do anything funky, alright?"

"what? like this?" he brushed a gloved finger over her clit.

she screamed and grabbed the table as an orgasm ripped through her. no warning. no foreplay. it just slammed through her body with the force of a passion fueled freight train. she squeezed her thighs together and tried to catch her breath.

that was the last thing she'd expected, especially with a single touch.

once she regained her bearings, she lifted her head and stared at vouclade. "how the hell did you do that?"

"magic." when she arched a brow, he smiled. "i'm a master of the human body. now you're relaxed and i don't have to apply ice cold lubrication to perform the exam. however, if you'd prefer i use it, please let me know."

she released the edge of the table and raised a hand. "no, no. that's fine. carry on." she grumbled and scrunched up her face as he carried out the exam.

"when was the last time you engaged in sexual activity?"

she grinned wide, like she'd just eaten his favorite canary. "about fifteen minutes before kerestyan brought me here."

"and before that?"

"at least ten years."

"the next time you engage with kerestyan, you need to do so in a more genteel fashion."

she scrunched up her face. aside from pick pocketing, she didn't really pride herself on doing anything gentle. she raised her head again. "i'm not really a 'make love' kind of girl."

now his face mirrored that of a concerned physician. "that may very well be, but you've sustained quite a vaginal laceration, logan. one that had you not been here, would have caused an infection that could have killed you."

she chuckled. "it's not my fault your brother's a beast. besides, i'd like to point out that had he not kidnapped me, i would have never slept with him and there would be no laceration or potential infection. i'd have kept abstaining like a good girl."

it was obvious by the way he stood up and spiked his gloves in a silver trash can that he didn't find the comment nearly as amusing as she did. "your body is not in good condition, logan. the only part of you that isn't suffering from some kind of deficiency is your mouth. and from what kerestyan told me, it's only because you have some sort of neurotic obsession with your teeth."

she gasped and sat up straight. "it's not an obsession."

he didn't look convinced. "during the withdrawal process, you asked kerestyan to brush your teeth no less than twelve times."

"really? i don't remember that." she accepted vouclade's hand and stepped down off the table. "did he do it?"

he nodded. "every time."

she wasn't sure how to feel about hearing that bit of info, let alone what to say. she'd never considered brushing her teeth an intimate activity, but it definitely felt that way upon learning someone else had done it for her.

"you disapprove of him fulfilling your requests?" vouclade asked.

she shrugged as he led her to a metal chair situated next to a desk with a computer. "i don't know what i think." when he motioned for her to sit down, she hesitated. "how cold is this chair?"

he gave a knowing smile. "it's been warmed for you."

she rested her hand on it first, smiling when it warmed her fingers. sitting down, she wiggled and watched him assume his place behind the desk, his fingers flying over the keyboard. "what's next, doc?"

he stopped typing and retrieved a syringe from the top desk drawer. "although i can smell the vitamin deficiencies in your blood, father has requested a complete report. therefore, we'll do things the old fashioned way."

she flipped her arm over and held it out for him. "some are easier to draw from than others." he didn't say anything as his eyes scanned her forearm, but she felt his disgust charge the air between them. "it just pisses you off, doesn't it?"

"yes." he pushed the needle under her skin. "i surmise, more than anything, it disappoints me. as i said before, you strike me as an extremely intelligent woman. why you would do this to yourself is beyond me. and at my advanced age and intellect, not understanding the why is difficult to accept."

"sometimes there really isn't a why." she stared down at the dark scars on her arm. "sometimes you just do things that make you feel good."

when the syringe was full, he carefully pulled the needle from her arm and brushed a finger over the small puncture wound, which tingled then closed right before her eyes. he licked the small red smudge from his finger and made a nasty face. "disgusting."

her mouth dropped open for a second. "thanks, vouclade. that's gotta be the vampire equivalent of, 'yes honey, you do look fat in that dress.'"

he laughed that evil sound again. "it's an apt comparison. you taste absolutely horrible. however," he paused to empty the contents of the syringe into a weird machine, which in turn made an odd whirring sound, "it's now my responsibility to fix your ailing human body. you have a few choices."

"choices are good."

"at this moment, under no circumstances are you physically well enough to become a servio. i can either administer antibiotics and vitamins, in conjunction with a strict dietary plan that will bring you back to a healthy state within a few weeks, or i can purge and repair your system in a matter of minutes. which would you prefer?"

it seemed like an easy choice, but she figured she'd better ask. "if i take the fast route, what are the drawbacks?"

"there are no drawbacks, aside from leaving you little time to prepare before your life dramatically changes."

she took a moment to look around the room. "i'm sitting with a vampire in a laboratory that's underneath a black castle, hidden from human eyes by some sort of blood magic. and i got here by a crazy means of teleportation, that just thinking about makes me want to vomit, with the guy who kidnapped me because i know vampires exist. how much more dramatic does it get?"