Inferno

by Erica Stevens

  Cassie nodded, knowing that the red mark on her cheek could easily be explained by the attack below. She had no doubt that Devon would kill her father if he learned that the man had just slapped her. “Are they locked in?” she asked softly.

  “Yes, but I don’t know for how long. We need to get out of here.” He strode toward her, shoving her father and Joey out of the way. His eyes latched onto her reddened cheek. “What the hell happened?” he demanded.

  Cassie shook her head as Julian, Dani, and Chris reached the landing, their arms laden with boxes of supplies. “That thing down there,” she muttered, not able to look at him as she uttered the lie. “Let’s help them.”

  Devon tried to stop her, but she dodged his grasp as she hurried forward to take two boxes from Dani. She could feel Devon’s gaze burrowing into her back, but she didn’t turn to look at him again. “Cowards,” Dani hissed at Joey and Derek.

  “Most definitely,” Cassie agreed.

  CHAPTER 8

  Cassie sat by the window, her legs drawn up against her chest, her chin resting upon her knees as she stared at the silent street. The sun had come up a few hours ago, but she had yet to speak since they had arrived back here. There was too much to ask, too much to know, and she didn’t want to know any of it. She was tired of being surprised, tired of being blindsided by fate, and she was very tired of being betrayed by those that were supposed to protect her.

  She turned her head, resting her cheek on her knees as she stared across the room at the man that claimed to be her father. She had never known him, but she had once loved the idea of him, the image of what she had wanted him to be. This man was none of those things, and she greatly wished that she had never had the displeasure of meeting him. She greatly wished that he had died in The Slaughter like he was supposed to have.

  He stared back at her, his eyes narrowed, but ringed with bags from lack of sleep. His arms and legs had been tied to the chair, there would be no escaping for him, and she would make sure of that. She turned away from him, tightening her grip on her legs. In the far back she could hear murmured words, and from down below she could hear the whispers of Devon and Julian’s conversation. Joey had been tied up and placed downstairs, it had been decided that it was best to keep the two of them separated.

  No one was out here with her, having moved slowly away after the first few hours of her not speaking. That was something that was mirrored within her father, as he had not said a word either, despite Luther’s incessant, demanding, and furious questions. He had remained as silent as she had through it all. Cassie had the odd feeling that he would speak to her, if she asked, but she was not willing to ask. Not right now anyway.

  Shadows played off of the street, skeletal branches danced across the pavement. It looked so lonely and eerie out there, so cold and desolate. There was no sign of life, not even a bird chirped in the distance. “My grandmother used to talk about you and my mother once in awhile,” she said softly, finally. “Apparently she didn’t know you very well.”

  He remained silent for a moment, his head tilted to the side as he studied her. “Where is Lily?” he inquired.

  A pain tugged at her heart, guilt and loss swamped her for a brief moment. “Dead.”

  He grunted softly. “And I’m sure that it was one of these monsters.”

  Cassie turned slowly toward him, despising the sight of him. They stared hard at each other for a long moment. “No, it was another monster.”

  “And where is that one?”

  Cassie swallowed heavily, her hands fisted against her legs. “She’s dead. I killed her. A fact that I am sure Dani has already informed you of.”

  He stared hard at her for a moment, his eyebrow quirked in what appeared to be amusement. “You have your mother’s spirit. Though I’m sure she is better off dead than seeing what you have become.”

  Cassie recoiled, not wanting him to see her distress she turned her attention back to the deserted street, feeling almost as empty and desolate as it looked outside. “My grandmother was very proud of me, for everything that I did. She accepted Devon, she welcomed him into her home, and she welcomed him into our lives. She loved me, and she was proud of me, and she was the best person I have ever known. She would not be proud of you however. She had loved you like you were her own son, and she would despise everything that you are now. I am not ashamed of myself, of what I am, or who I love, but you should be.”

  He remained silent for a long while, Cassie continued to stare out the window, knowing that she should leave, but unable to bring herself to move. “How did you survive The Slaughter?” she asked softly.

  He sighed, his feet shuffled slightly on the floor. “We were all taught to fight. We were all taught to survive and use our abilities to the best of our abilities.”

  “And you’re a survivor?”

  “Yes.”

  “And my mother?”

  “Was not.”

  Cassie winced, unable to stop herself from shooting him a fierce look. “Did you even love her, or me?”

  His dark blue eyes were fierce in the small amount of light penetrating the room. “Yes, it is why I have made it my quest to make sure that these monsters are eradicated forever.”

  “By creating even worse monsters?”

  He was silent as he stared back at her, his mouth quirked in that disgusted manner. “We were trying to help.”

  “And you created things that are far worse than anything we could have ever imagined. You made these things and you destroyed this town. You destroyed hundreds of people only to have your own creations turn against you. Good job Dr. Frankenstein.”

  He stared unblinkingly back at her, his hands tight on the arms of the chair. “And you’ve crawled into bed with a monster. I made a mistake, you made a choice.”

  Cassie sighed softly, unraveling her legs. She wasn’t going to bother to deny his accusation, or defend herself. Not to him. She was beginning to realize that he was not entirely sane, or rational. There would be no changing his mind, and she didn’t particularly care to try. Whatever had happened to him over the years had completely changed him from the man that her grandmother had loved and admired greatly.

  “What is your ability?’

  He grinned at her, shaking his head at her. “That’s my secret.”

  Cassie glared hard at him, but decided to let it go for now. They would find it out one way or another. Cassie folded her hands before her as she rested her elbows on her legs. “The ones down there aren’t the same as the other one that I encountered. They’re stronger, faster, and they seem even more blood thirsty. How and why did you make them?”

  He was silent for a long time, his eyes on the window behind her. “We just wanted to do some different experimentation, to see what would go right, and give us the best results. Give us the best fighters. There were some failures along the way.”

  Cassie winced at the word failures. They had been humans, people with families and loved ones. People that had lived and loved and laughed, until these lunatics had gotten a hold of them. And now they were monsters, with no rational thought, looking only to kill and mangle and destroy. “Why would you keep them alive?”

  He finally turned his attention back to her. “To study them of course, to see if they could be controlled, and to see how they thought and reacted to things.”

  Cassie swallowed back her disgust, fighting the urge to get up and flee the room, and this monster. Her father. She shuddered, her hands tightened painfully. “I thought they didn’t think.”

  “Yes they do. They react to stimulation, to blood, to movement. And they think about death and violence, and blood. They do think and they do react.”

  Cassie stared hard at him for a moment before nodding slowly. “Where are the children? Did you do this to them also?” His silence made her heart pump louder, her blood ran cold and her skin chilled as if an icy hand had grabbed hold of the back of her neck. “Did you?” she breathed, though she knew the answer.

 
; “Some of them.”

  It took all that Cassie had not to throw up, or not to fly across the room and attack him in a violent rage. She remained immobile, for to move would only instigate one of those two reactions. She shuddered, taking a deep breath as she tried hard to keep herself under control. She could not stand the thought of coming across children that were like the other monsters in this town. She could not stand the thought of having to kill one of those innocent beings.

  “The children were even more unstable than the adults. We don’t know the reason why but they were not viable as further candidates in our experiments.”

  Cassie gagged, bile rushed up her throat, but she was able to shove it back down. Her legs quivered as she climbed to her feet, her knees shook, but she could not sit any longer. She moved slowly away from him, using the wall to guide her and keep her trembling legs steady. She couldn’t look at him anymore; she knew she would kill him if she did. And she could not be the person that killed her own father, no matter how much she thought he deserved it.

  “How many children are out there, running free now?” she choked out.

  “The children were all destroyed, as I said they were even more volatile and uncontrollable than the adults. They could not be allowed to survive. The havoc they would have wreaked would have been unstoppable.”

  Cassie shuddered again, disgusted with herself for the relief that filled her. She couldn’t have destroyed a child; no matter what kind of monster it was, she couldn’t have killed it. And she could not have allowed the others to kill it either. She hated herself for feeling grateful that none of them would have to do so. And she hated her father even more for putting her in this horrendous situation.

  Tears shimmered in her eyes; she wiped them quickly away, bracing herself to face her father again. “And the other children?” she asked softly. “The ones that you didn’t put down there?”

  He remained silent, and she knew that he was waiting for her to look at him again. Straightening her shoulders, Cassie turned slowly toward him, keeping her face as impassive as possible. Trying hard not to let him see how badly his words had shaken her. She instinctively knew that he would not approve of weakness, and would shut her out because of it.

  “They were shipped off.”

  “Where?”

  His mouth quirked into a sneer as he studied her impassively. “Like I would tell you. I don’t want you anywhere near those children.”

  Cassie snorted in disgust as she shook her head. “You don’t have to tell me anything,” she retorted. “I can just have Julian drag the memories forcefully from your mind. I am sure that you know very well what he is capable of. I’m also certain the experience can be very uncomfortable if he wants it to be.”

  Her father paled slightly, and then nodded slowly. “Yes, I am well aware of what Julian is capable of, but I will not tell you.”

  Cassie nodded. That was fine; she didn’t particularly care how they got the information, only that they got it. She was not going to leave those children lost and adrift in the world, possibly being tortured like their unlucky friends had been. She would find them, and she would make sure that they were safe afterwards. She would make sure that they didn’t suffer anymore than they already had.

  She would find them if it was the last thing she did.

  “How did you make these creatures so strong?” she inquired, wanting to hear what he had to say for himself, before Julian got his hands upon him.

  His glance once more returned to the window. “You know if they break in here, I’m vulnerable to an attack while tied to this chair.”

  Cassie’s eyes narrowed as she glared fiercely at him. She knew what he wanted. If she released him, he would tell her, but there was no way she was releasing him. She didn’t trust him enough to release him. She didn’t trust him enough to even give him a damn leg back. “I’ll just have to make sure they don’t get near you, if I’m motivated enough,” she added coldly, hoping that he got her point as well.

  He quirked an eyebrow, his jaw clenched tightly before he nodded. “I suppose you will.” They stared hard at each other for a long while before he finally nodded. “Vampire blood alone wasn’t working, we couldn’t figure out the combination. So we decided to add a new blood, with the vampire blood.”

  Cassie stared silently at him, no longer having the capacity to be horrified or surprised. “So you added mine.”

  It was not a question, just a statement of fact that she already knew. “Yes.”

  She didn’t want to hear anymore, there was nothing left for her to hear. She turned away, needing to get some distance between them before she turned back. “Why did you give me Julian’s blood?”

  He shrugged to the best of his ability. “To see what it would do. To see if it would make you stronger, or if eventually you would become one of them. And either way it would have been interesting to see the effects on you.”

  Cassie closed her eyes, her hands fisted tightly. “You must feel like a real hero, running all of those experiments, testing them on your own daughter.”

  “You’re not my daughter.”

  She blinked in surprise, unable to understand why his words would still cause a stab of pain to her heart. This man should mean nothing to her, but unfortunately he didn’t. “You’re right, I’m not.” She turned away from him, meaning to leave, meaning to get as far away from this monster as possible. She wanted nothing to do with the man that claimed the same DNA as her. But call her a masochist there was one more thing that she had to ask. “Why didn’t you come for Chris and I when we were younger?”

  He studied her for a long while, a muscle in his cheek twitched slightly. “I was injured in the battle, by the time I recovered enough to come after you, your grandmother had already fled the state. I didn’t know where you were, or anything about you, until Luther started poking into the history of The Hunter’s, and Joey arrived here. I’m glad I didn’t find you.”

  Cassie couldn’t stop the tears that burned her eyes as she nodded slowly. If he had found her, he would have destroyed her the moment he realized she didn’t have any abilities. Or she would have been locked away and experimented on until she went insane, or her body finally gave out on her. “So am I,” she whispered.

  She moved swiftly away from him, unable to listen to anymore. She turned the corner to find Devon and Julian standing by the coolers. They were large, dark, and powerful. Their eyes were agleam in the light coming from the coolers, their postures rigid and hard. Cassie could feel the anger and hatred radiating from them in waves. Luther stood behind them, the lenses of his glasses gleaming. Anger had made the lines in his face harsher. Chris was leaning against one of the glass doors, his arms folded over his chest as he stared hard into the darkened room behind her.

  Melissa stood silently beside Chris, her onyx eyes glistened with unshed tears. Her black hair spilled across her shoulders, the blue highlights in it gleamed in the light of the cooler. Dani was immobile, her eyes wide in horror, her mouth parted slightly as she stared behind Cassie. Annabelle and Liam stood close together, their hands entwined tightly. Annabelle’s sea green eyes gleamed brightly while Liam’s oddly silver eyes were narrowed with anger. She hadn’t heard any of them enter the room.

  “You ok?” Devon asked softly.

  “Yes.”

  She moved into him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his chest, savoring in the hard strength he radiated. No matter what happened, no matter how awful things were, as long as he was here she didn’t care. As long as he was here she could get through anything. He enfolded her tightly, his hand wrapping around the back of her head as he cradled her tightly.

  “How much did you hear?” she asked softly.

  “Most of it,” Devon answered, his eyes dark and distant, his body tense with anger.

  “I’ll go watch him, you need to get some rest,” Julian said, turning to move away.

  “Julian.” He turned back to her an odd gleam in his
crystalline blue eyes. “We will need to learn what he knows.”

  Julian flashed a heart stopping grin at her, his white teeth flashed brightly in the dark night. “Oh, it will be my pleasure,” he purred.

  Cassie frowned, knowing that she should feel bad about what Julian might do to him, but unable to find the energy to do so. She was too tired now to feel sympathy and compassion for someone that had never shown her, or Julian, any. But she knew that she could not allow Julian to be cruel to him.

  “Not tonight Julian, and not cruelly. We can’t sink to his level, no matter how much we would both like to.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Luther said on a sigh. He pulled his glasses off, cleaning them as they all stared questioningly at him.

  “Of course it matters! The children!” Cassie retorted sharply when Luther did not continue.

  Luther shook his head as he slid his glasses back on. “Yes, yes, of course the children matter,” he said quickly. “That is not how I meant it to sound. We must find the children, but Julian will be unable to help us do so.”

  “Like hell I won’t,” Julian snarled, taking a step toward Luther. “If you have a problem with me hurting him…”

  “I don’t,” Luther said flatly.

  Cassie started in surprise; her eyes were wide as they darted to Chris and Melissa. Chris’s eyebrows were in his hairline; Melissa gaped at Luther in shock. None of them had ever heard Luther sound so uncaring. “Luther,” Cassie breathed.

  He glanced toward her, his grey eyes hard and unyielding. “My main mission in life is to see you all safe. That man out there is a danger to that safety, and to the safety of many others. We need to know what he knows, no matter how it has to be done. Even if he is your father.”

  Cassie didn’t know how to react to that. She burrowed closer to Devon, trying hard to keep control of her swaying emotions. This had been a very long, very tiring, awful day. “Then why don’t you want me to do my thing?” Julian growled.