New Girl (Anti-Heroes Book I)

  ***

  Her first week in Sky City was getting off to a great start, Serena thought, sighing as she took a seat between Isaac and Nikki in the police station's waiting area.

  "Listen…" Nikki said, gazing at her combat boots as she spoke to Serena. "I'm sorry about what happened in the cafeteria." She looked up briefly, her eyes shining with anxiety. "You know, when I went all fangs and glowing red eyes? I try to keep that part of me under wraps, but…"

  "It's okay." Serena reached out and patted the girl's hand. Nikki's thoughts came through, telling her the little blonde wanted to talk about it, but was afraid to. So she asked, "What happened to you back there, exactly? If you want to talk, I'm a good listener."

  Nikki gave a grateful smile. "It's kind of hard to explain—"

  "Nikki, do you think you should talk about it?" Isaac said, leaning forward and offering his sister a nervous look.

  "No worries," she told him, waving a dainty hand at the giant. "Nix is completely under control now, bro. She's not coming out." Then she focused on Serena again. "Our dad is the Diabolical Dr. Blackthorne. Maybe you’ve heard of him? Mad scientist extraordinaire. He knew your mom from back when they were both with the League of Extreme Evil."

  "Oh, yeah." Serena nodded. "Mom told me about him. How he was once your average chemist, and then he started doing some pretty unethical experiments."

  Nikki looked down at her shoes again, then back up at Serena. "I was one of those experiments."

  "Oh, wow." Serena felt the wave of pain the girl's memories brought. "I'm sorry."

  "Hey, no." Nikki shook her head, reached out and touched Serena's arm. "I wanted to talk." Her crystal blue eyes narrowed curiously. "But you knew that, didn't you?"

  Serena felt herself blush a bit. "Yeah, I could see your thoughts. I wasn't peeking. Your shield was down and it just kind of seeped through."

  "No problem. Thanks for letting me babble." Then the little blonde went back to her story. "So, yeah, basically I'm a vampire created in a lab. How's that for an ice breaker?" She forced a laugh. "This, here?" The girl motioned with a hand up and down her torso. "This is Nikki. The being you saw in the cafeteria is Nix. Nix and I don't get along, and we're completely separate personalities. I exist on blood capsules dear old Dad gives me. Nix…" She shuddered. "Nix isn't so easy to satisfy."

  Then Nikki's thought shield went up completely and her story stopped.