Rebel Obsession by Donya Lynne

hiking up his pants, which aggravated the latest scorpion stings to make him itch even more.
    He had already adopted the human form Bishop had chosen for him, but not even his changeling powers could overcome being so weak and emaciated. He would have to do some serious eating before he resembled the man in the photograph.
    Apostle followed Bishop from the room where he had been kept since arriving, through the main hall toward the back of the sprawling ranch-style home, through an elegantly arched doorway that led into the living room. Large picture windows and a pair of glass double doors overlooked a rocky decline down into a valley. Finally they made their way through the kitchen to a locked, metal door past the laundry room.
    “I’ve made some changes since the last time you were here,” Bishop said, unlocking the door and pulling it open.
    It had been years since Apostle had seen the laboratory and production facility built beneath Bishop’s home.
    “Such as…?” Apostle wanted to know what he was in for, especially if he was expected to take Deacon’s place at the helm of the operation.
    Bishop casually descended the stairs, puffing away on that goddamn cigarette of his like it was his lover.
    “The experiments we’re conducting now required the construction of holding cells.”
    “Holding cells?” Apostle’s brow wrinkled into an inquisitive frown.
    “Yes.” Bishop kept a steady pace, his eyes straight ahead.
    “Why do you need holding cells?” But Apostle was beginning to get the gist of what types of experiments Bishop and Deacon had been running here.
    Based on the two pictures—a before and after?—of the man whose form Apostle had now adopted, and on what Bishop had said about using the vampires’ own kind against them, Apostle suspected his twin and Bishop had been working on some kind of biological experiment.
    “Who do you keep in the holding cells?” Apostle stopped behind Bishop on the landing in front of another metal door.
    “See for yourself.” Bishop pulled the door open and stepped aside.
    Apostle walked into a giant beehive of activity. Drecks in both shifted and unshifted form worked at lab tables, wearing white coats, plastic gloves, and goggles. Some even wore masks.
    Along both side walls were ten-by-ten rooms with steel-reinforced Plexiglas fronts, and inside each small cell was a vampire. Some paced, some slept, and still others screamed at the top of their lungs over and over again, their faces a display of agony.
    “What are you doing to them?” Apostle walked toward the cells on the left.
    “Some we are training. Others we are using for analysis and study.” Bishop stopped in front of one cell with a particularly large vampire inside. The tag on the door read Maddox. Maddox was a big fucker, with long, dark hair and dull, lifeless eyes. “And still others we are using for gene splicing.” Bishop’s lips quirked into a lusty grin as he stared at Maddox, who sat in the corner of his small cell, staring at nothing and everything, unmoving and unmoved.
    “Who is he?” Apostle noticed how Bishop gazed at the naked male who seemed not to care—or even know—where he was.
    “Our future.”
    Apostle frowned, not understanding. Clearly, Bishop had special plans for this one.
    “Where did he come from?”
    Bishop took a deep, wistful breath and finally began walking down the row of cells again. “I bought him.”
    Fucking hell, getting information out of Bishop was like trying to milk a bull. “From whom?”
    “A pair of business associates.” Bishop hesitated to watch as a one of the lab assistants approached a cell with a syringe of cobalt.
    The vampire inside, who had been one of the shriekers, quieted and perked up, shooting forward and staring at the syringe of blue liquid. The vampire licked his lips and pushed his arm through a small opening in the thick Plexiglas after the lab assistant unlocked and opened it.
    “We usually pick up those who are buying