Genesis (The Legend of Glory Book 3)

by Devin O'Branagan

  He laughed again. “Why?”

  “Because I say so.”

  He studied her for a moment. “You are so different from Glory. It’s hard to believe you’re sisters.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just what I said.”

  “We were raised in different environments.”

  “I believe in nature over nurture. People are who they are from the get-go.”

  “Oh, and you know this because of your superior education?”

  “I know this from being immortal and observing countless humans over the years.”

  “So, you think you know it all, do you?”

  “I know enough.”

  A cold smile crossed her face. “I’d guess you don’t know Glory’s Dominic isn’t an angel anymore. He became human months ago.”

  That bit of news knocked Zane right off his horse. And then that horse kicked him in the gut.

  Erica’s smile widened. “Oh, so you didn’t know? Sorry I had to be the one to tell you.” She didn’t sound in the least bit sorry.

  Dominic was human? Zane’s mind struggled with the implications.

  Erica looked inordinately pleased with herself. “My sources tell me that he became human so he could try to win Glory’s heart. Sound familiar? Oh, and he bought the farm next door to hers. They sure are cozy.”

  Zane pushed back the pain, and his mind cleared. “Who are your sources?”

  She leaned across the table toward him. “We have informants.”

  They were spying on Glory? To what end? “Why?”

  “She is the only person to have successfully gone back that far in time. We want to keep an eye on her to make sure there isn’t any fallout from the experience.”

  “Has she been debriefed here like I have?”

  Erica’s smug look disappeared, and his senses registered her sudden fear. “Not officially.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  His gut told him that she was hiding something big and that it didn’t bode well for Glory. “I remember Glory telling me that when you were kids you were her hero. She worshiped you. She loved you best. I can’t imagine why anyone would love you.”

  The shock on Erica’s face was what he had been going for. The slap across his face was a surprise, but it did give him an exit. He grinned. “Interview’s over, princess.”

  He stood and walked out.

  † † †

  Zane rang the bell at Kate’s, and she buzzed him in. The door popped open, and he stepped inside a small, efficiency apartment. There was a daybed in one corner, a desk in another, and a kitchenette in the third. The fourth corner held a door that led to a bathroom. Although stark in design, the walls displayed a dazzling array of landscape and nature paintings. Kate sat at a round bistro table in the middle of the room plopping small objects into a large jar of water. She raised a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet, dropped in the last one, and greeted him with a smile.

  Zane joined her at the table.

  Kate held the jar up. “Listening devices. One of my geek friends clued me in to their existence here. I’ve never had reason to disable them until now.”

  He shrugged out of his leather jacket and draped it over the back of his chair. “Won’t the matrix figure out something’s wrong?”

  “Eventually. I’ll deal with it then. So—” She looked at his grim expression and did a double take. “What’s wrong?”

  His jaw clenched. “Erica told me that they’re spying on Glory.”

  “Why?”

  “That’s what I wanted to know. Didn’t get a good answer.”

  She leaned back in her chair. “Erica told you this?”

  “That and more.”

  Kate raised an eyebrow.

  “Dominic’s not an angel anymore. He went human. To be with Glory because he’s in love with her, too.”

  Kate sucked in her breath. After a moment, she said, “That doesn’t mean Glory’s chosen him over you.”

  “Doesn’t mean she hasn’t.”

  Kate studied him for a moment. “Let’s get drunk.”

  Her unexpected words and deadpan delivery made him laugh. “It takes bucketfuls of liquor to get me drunk, ma’am. My liver processes it real fast.”

  “I have bucketfuls.” She stood and opened a pantry door. The shelves were stocked full of liquor bottles.

  That didn’t bode well. He gave her a look of concern.

  She smiled. “I’m not an alcoholic. Around here, it’s black market currency.”

  He thought about it for a whole two seconds. “Hell, I’m game.”

  She hauled out a half dozen bottles and put them on the table. Opening a fifth of whiskey, she handed it to him, then opened another one and filled a shot glass for herself. Raising it, she said, “To those we love.”

  She slammed back her shot, and he chugged his bottle.

  “That’s one fine, smooth whiskey,” Zane said, and then chugged some more. It only took half the bottle before he could feel the warmth begin to spread. Slowly, the giant knot in his stomach relaxed. “So, what’s this about a black market?”

  “Here in Wonderland there are four classes of people: the nerds, who are the scientists; the geeks—they’re the techies; the grunts are the laborers. The mercenaries hired to enforce the rules here are called mercs. Although I’m a nerd, I can’t stand them—bunch of superior sons of bitches. Of course, the mercs are to be avoided at all costs. The geeks can be fun. But the real delights are the grunts. They’re the ones with passion who know how to make the most out of a sterile environment.” Her arm gestured toward the walls. “They’re the artists. The fairs they hold in the parks feature live music, dance, street theater, games. Since money isn’t used here, they have a barter system. Booze will buy a lot.”

  Zane studied the artwork she had purchased. Vivid paintings of earth, sea, sky. “Your husband was an artist.”

  She nodded. “I love the artist soul.”

  He gestured toward the jar of drowned listening devices. “You have geek friends willing to defy the system?”

  “There are some renegades around. I’m lucky to have connected with them.”

  Zane thought those relationships might come in handy as they struggled to make sense of what was really going on here. “What worries you about this place?”

  Kate grew pensive. “So many little things all add up to the same bad feeling I had at Scorpio Pharmaceuticals before I found out they had engineered the pan-plague. There’s that same undercurrent of something dark here.”

  Zane knew that Kate had been an unwitting pawn in Scorpio’s gambit to use the pandemic as a mass depopulation strategy. He considered her work now. “But what kind of hidden agenda could they have with the vampire cure?”

  She shook her head. “They’ve been really interested in finding ways to adapt the genetic research I’m doing, ostensibly for things like a cure for AIDS. On the surface, everything seems copasetic. Like I said, it’s just a feeling.” Kate refilled her shot glass. “I’m no fool, Zane. I don’t buy the story of how Erica came to be here. It’s too far-fetched. Too much of a coincidence that she ended up here, of all places.”

  “I don’t believe it either.”

  “What do you think of Erica?”

  He chugged some more from his bottle. “I think deep down she’s a scared little girl. But the part that’s an ice queen is in charge, and I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

  Kate first nodded and then shook her head. “She doesn’t have much use for me. I don’t imagine that’s going to change.”

  “Well, Glory’s crazy about you. She’d die for you. She almost did. One out of two ain’t bad.”

  Kate smiled, raised her glass to him, then downed its contents. “What do you think of Dominic?”

  Zane looked at the bottle in his hand. “Well, he wouldn’t get drunk with you. He wouldn’t get drunk ... ever. After he got over his whol
e ‘humans aren’t worthy to live’ phase, he turned out to be a nice guy. A better person than I am. Correction, a better man than I am.” He took another slug from the bottle and thought about Dominic. “He wouldn’t rip the throats out of animals and drink their blood. I’m sure he doesn’t have to beat back crazy blood lust or constantly wrestle his passions. I doubt he finds thrill in a fight.”

  “Nice is in his genes,” Kate said. “Even as a human, I’m certain the essence of angel remains. But don’t sell yourself short. I read about the hospitalization that brought the anomaly in your blood to the CDC’s attention. Only a good person would do what you did.”

  It had been a nursery school fire, and he had rescued a lot of children. “Right place. Right time. Right thing to do.”

  “Your physical pain is just as bad as anyone else’s. You didn’t have to keep going back into the fire until you couldn’t walk anymore. Don’t minimize what you did.”

  Zane didn’t want to talk about it. “What do you think of Dominic?”

  “He’s good to Glory.”

  “In the end, that’s what matters most,” Zane said.

  Kate smiled. “I would be incredibly proud to have you as a son-in-law.”

  That was nice to hear. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Call me Kate.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The liquor finally reached his brain, and Zane felt the slow rise of euphoria. The lights in the room seemed less harsh. His heart didn’t hurt quite so badly.

  Kate stared at one of the paintings. “I miss the sky. You want to break out of here and go howl at the moon? Your species likes to howl at the moon, right?”

  “That’d be werewolves.”

  “Werewolves are real?”

  He shrugged. “Hell if I know. Never met one myself.”

  They both drank a while in silence.

  “So, how’s your life, Zane?”

  “I’ve got woman problems. Lots of woman problems.”

  Her eyes regarded him with a mischievous twinkle. “Do tell.”

  He groaned. “Well, there’s Glory of course. And Jinx—you met Jinx—she’s the only woman I’ve been with since Hope.”

  “The only one, in all those many years?”

  “Never fancied the idea of one-night rodeos. If I couldn’t have Hope, I never wanted a relationship with anyone but Jinx. I love Jinx a lot, but she always knew that Hope owned my heart. Then when I told her I wanted to go back to Hope ... Glory ... she got jealous. Jealous? Never would have figured it. You think you know someone. Jinx and I have been together since the eighteen eighties.”

  “That’s a long time.”

  “I never lied to her and don’t get why she’s so upset.” After a moment, he added, “I don’t understand women at all.”

  Kate chuckled. “Clearly.”

  He took another belt of whiskey. “Oh, and no one’s more of a green-eyed monster than my brother-in-law’s cousin, Leah—also a vamp. She once said if she couldn’t have me, nobody could. And she meant it. I try not to think about that too much.”

  “It’s something you probably should think about.”

  He nodded. “Then there’s sweet little Rory. She’s got a big—” he threw his arms out wide, lost his balance, and almost fell out of the chair “—big like the Grand Canyon big—crush on me, and she’s going to tumble right over the edge. Makes me feel real bad.” Dizzy, Zane struggled to organize his thoughts. “And Erica slapped me. Did you know Erica slapped me?”

  Kate burst out laughing. “What?”

  “Well, I poked the rattlesnake and it struck back.”

  Kate laughed so hard tears streamed down her face. “You do have woman problems, don’t you?”

  “They either love or hate me. It’s like being bucked by a bronc. You never know if you’re going to hold on or get thrown to the ground. Speaking of throwing? Leah saw me kissing Glory once and attacked us with raspberry-filled super-thick triple-glazed donut missiles. Hallelujah cleaned up the mess. But the thing is ... thing is ... ” He pointed an unsteady finger at Kate. “Hallelujah hates me too.”

  Kate slapped the tabletop. “That bitch!”

  “Right? Then it all comes back to Glory. What if the cure works and she doesn’t want me after all?” Zane paused to consider, and the possibility leveled him. “How will I survive that?” he whispered.

  Kate cracked open a new fifth of whiskey and handed it to him. “Here, have another drink.”

  He accepted the bottle and saluted her with it. “You are the best mother ever.”

  The doorbell buzzed, and Kate looked at the visitor’s image on the wall monitor. “It’s Erica.”

  “Great. Just ... great.” Zane tipped the bottle up and guzzled.

  Kate grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

  He gave her a thumbs-up.

  Kate took Zane’s hat off his head, used it to cover the jar containing the drowned bugs, and opened the door with a handheld remote.

  “Join us. We’re having a party,” Kate said. “Well, at the moment a pity party, but the whiskey’s smooth.”

  Erica’s eyes scanned the liquor bottles on the table. “Are you two drunk?”

  “No,” Kate and Zane said in unison, then they laughed and clinked shot glass and bottle together.

  “You are drunk,” Erica said.

  “Get that stick out of your ass and join us.” Kate turned to Zane. “She really does have a stick up her ass, you know.”

  “I already figured that out.”

  “I do not.” Erica tossed her head.

  “Really?” Kate threw back the contents of her shot glass, refilled it, and held it out to Erica. “Prove it.”

  Erica sat down at the table, stuck her chin out defiantly, and drank the shot in one gulp. She choked. She gasped. Her eyes watered. When finally able to talk, she whispered, “Awful.”

  “Ah, honey, you just need to get used to it.” Kate poured another drink and set it down with a thud in front of her. “Show us what you’re made of.”

  Erica regarded it like it was a rabid dog. Her voice croaked as she asked, “Couldn’t I have it in some Coke or something? Isn’t that how ladies usually drink?”

  “The women in my family have always been tough,” Kate said. “No wimps allowed.”

  Erica gave Zane a plaintive look.

  “Cowboy up, princess.”

  With an air of resolution, she downed the shot, gagged, and refilled her glass. “So what inspired this bit of madness?”

  Both of them leveled her with reproachful stares.

  “Oh, the news about Glory and Dominic? Well, someone needed to tell you.”

  “You didn’t have to be so ...” Zane struggled for the right word “... cheerful about it.”

  Erica chuckled. “Yes, well.” She took a sip of whiskey and grimaced. “Why does everyone love Glory so damn much?”

  Zane didn’t have to struggle for those words. “Because she’s real. And gutsy. Doesn’t matter how scared she is, that filly jumps the fence every time. Cares more about others than herself. Never tries to impress people. Easy to be around. Beautiful and—”

  Erica held up her hand. “Can you just shut up?”

  He gazed into the amber depths of his bottle. “I can do that.”

  “You ever drink before?” Kate asked her.

  “Of course not.”

  Kate looked at Zane and mimicked Erica’s haughty tone. “Of course not.”

  “Don’t make fun of me,” Erica said.

  “Here—have another shot.” Kate topped off Erica’s glass. “And don’t sip it. They call them shots for a reason.”

  Erica took a deep breath and shot back the whiskey.

  “What do you usually do for fun?” Zane asked her.

  She wiped away her tears. “Read, computer games, we have some movies here, and our own TV station where they air mostly news and documentaries.”

  “Do you ever go to the fairs in the parks?” Zane asked.
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  Erica’s eyes widened. “Certainly not. Those are run by the grunts. Not acceptable company for a scientist.”

  An assistant to a scientist, Zane wanted to point out. Instead, he said, “So you’re a snob.”

  “I take offended ... offensiveness ... offense at that.” Erica’s hand flew to her head. “What the—?” She emitted a sudden giggle, said “Oh,” and the ice in her eyes thawed.

  “You okay?” Kate asked.

  “Wow. I’ve never felt like this before. I can understand the appeal. I....” She started to slide off her chair.

  Zane caught her. “Whoa there. Easy now.”

  As he set her on the floor, Erica grasped his biceps and squeezed. “You’re so strong.”

  He grinned. “It comes in handy when taming wild horses.”

  Kate gathered pillows and scattered them on the floor. They all sat in a circle, each with their own bottle of whiskey. While Kate was getting the move organized, Zane noticed that she surreptitiously hid the bug jar in the cupboard.

  Kate plopped his hat back onto his head. “It’s just so you,” she said with approval.

  He tugged on its brim. “Breaking in a new one. Last one died a sad death.”

  “This is fun. I like this.” Erica refilled her shot glass.

  “Everybody who gets drunk together has to sing together,” Kate said. “Those are the rules.”

  “Whose rules?” Erica asked.

  Kate looked at Zane, he looked at Erica, and he tried not to stumble. “The drinking rules go so far back in time no one knows where the tradition began.”

  “But I don’t want to sing.”

  “You like being part of the collective, Erica. Therefore, you must comply,” Kate said.

  Zane grinned. He really liked Kate.

  Erica shook her finger at him. “If you tell me to cowboy up again, I swear—”

  He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

  Erica said, “I don’t know many songs.”

  “What ones do you know?” Zane asked.

  “Really only those Dad sang to us when I was little. All patriotic ones: God Bless America because my name is America. Battle Hymn of the Republic, for Glory. And, well, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again because it welcomes heroes home.”

  Zane snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “That was a popular drinking song long before they changed the lyrics during the Civil War.”