He lifted the flap and inside laid a second smaller white box with a piece of paper wrapping it with more writing, “Yes, Reginald, this means you. The contents are only delivered to you. Another box is inside this one but for addressed to two different people. It will be dangerous for you to open that one. Leave it out for them on your lab bench. Maybe make a nice big sign for them. And don’t call security or your family will be in danger.”
Reginald’s fingers curled away from the phone receiver on his desk.
He knew too well, how big things could arrive in small packages. How many million viruses can fit in a milliliter size dribble? He knew because he produced such weapons in this lab. Nasty things only visible under a microscope.
Reginald carefully pushed equipment away from an unused lab bench by the door.
If anything is contaminated inside those boxes, he already touched it. So he opened the inner box and saw two names on it that he didn’t recognize.
“To: Garin or Branoc,” the box proclaimed in bold black script. Underneath it said, “Proof of life.”
Reginald went to his scrub station and washed up. He dumped the contents of his lab coat pockets into a bin and threw his coat into another bin. He scrubbed again under the water with the fume hood vacuuming the air. He took a fresh lab coat from the bio-laundry company sealed bag and put it on. Then he walked to the far corner of his lab, moved a chair over, sat down, and waited in the solitude watching the box and lab door. The big industrial clock mounted in the wall over the door pointed to half past midnight before he heard anything.
-:- -:- -:-
“What’s that?”
“What?”
Garin pointed to a little white box.
Branoc said, “It’s propped up waiting for us.”
A voice came from across the room, “Are you Garin or Branoc?”
Garin whirled around. Branoc already fixed the man with his eyes. Reginald froze as if startled by fear more deeply than any military force he might ever had contact with, “Are you Garin or Branoc? That box came for you tonight.”
“Yes we are.”
“Don’t open it casually.”
“What do you mean?”
“There could be nasty things in there.”
“Why didn’t you burn it or have the site bomb squad take care of it?”
Reginald stood up slowly, non-threatening, his hands out, “They threatened my family. I work on military projects. And the box stinks of a bio-weapon delivery – that’s addressed to you, in my lab.”
Branoc asked, “You have a safe way to open it?”
“In my back labs. But it would be helpful to understand other things about the package before we try that or even try moving it. It said something about short shelf-life blood products and proof-of-life. I put the wrappers in the incinerator bin if you want to look but make sure you wash up after in the sink.”
“Any other details?”
“Only that they put my family in danger if I did not comply with their instructions to leave it out for you, not open it myself, and –”
“– not tell anyone about it?”
“Yes.”
“We’re under the same set of orders. Nice.”
Reginald walked across the lab toward the entrance to his deeper labs.
Garin reached for the box.
“– Don’t!” protested Reginald.
“How do we move it?”
Reginald pulled some beaker tongs from a yellow bin on a shelf, “Use these and then don’t touch the working end after we move it.” Reginald pushed the revolving door through an airlock, “follow me through one at a time and don’t drop the box.”
They made it through into the next lab. Boxes with ports on the side lined the room like incubators in a hospital ward – all empty. Reginald lifted the catch on the end of one of the boxes and opened its access door, “Put it in here.”
Garin pushed the tongs with the little white box into the incubator.
“Now drop the tongs in that red ‘autoclave’ bin over there.” Reginald snapped the box closed and opened a valve on an overhead vacuum line. “This line draws any air out of there up into a furnace that burns the air and any pathogens before releasing it to the atmosphere.” He stood back and took a perch on a high stainless steel stool in a far corner of the lab.
“Why are you over there?”
“You should see how often I make my kids wash their hands before meals.” He settled into his perch, “That box is addressed to you, I don’t know you, and don’t know the box’s owners. They sent it to this lab not a regular office or a person’s house. I’m staying over here until we learn more.”
Branoc asked, “So what’s next?”
“Whoever is the bravest need to put your hands through those side ports and slip those gloves on and then try opening the box.” “Oh, turn that box light on.”
Garin said, “I’ll do it. Not sure about bravery.” He put his hands inside the box and the silicone rubber gloves stretched to fit his hands. The material was much thicker than doctor office latex gloves. The silicone helped with pealing the edges of the tape sealing the box. He opened the lid slowly revealing a vial nestled between foam inserts and a red liquid splashed inside the vial.
“Looks like blood.”
Reginald said, “That’s what the label told me. But that’s still a potential weapon. Especially since I run a weapon lab here.”
“What do you think Branoc?”
Branoc looked through the glass at the small vial.
“Could it be a new version of the poisoned Massai?”
“That crazy drink at the bar?” Reginald looked at them quizzically. “I tested that once. It’s cow’s blood. Tastes horrendous. Not sure about these kids these days. Started with caffeine and then went to those energy drinks. And now drinking cow’s blood. But I guess some people drank it for centuries in Africa and in Europe it’s made into blood sausages.”
“Looks like pure blood.”
“Only one way to find out.” Branoc looked at Garin. He reached for the latch on the box.
“Shit!” Reginald flapped his arms as he scrambled for protective gear from the case next to him. He found a pair of filter masks that he pushed over his face. He muffled out, “Don’t open that containment box! We don’t know what it is!”
Branoc pulled the vial out of the foam holder and held it up to the light. Like Socrates must have contemplated his poison. He pulled the lid off the top and sniffed the contents. “Human blood.” he sniffed deeper, “familiar, not sure who.”
Garin held his hand out for the vial, he swirled it carefully, like peering at the legs of a fine wine in a goblet before smelling it cautiously, “No!”
Branoc said, “It’s only a sample. Proving life. Incentive to complete the task.”
“The scent of the dance.”
“Yes. But that would be on purpose, for you.”
Reginald gulped a hard swallow. “What are you talking about?”
Garin smelled again, and then put the tip of his finger against the meniscus layer of the blood. A drop leaped hungrily to his finger. He put the drop on his tongue. He let the flavor roll around his palette. “No!” His knees buckled slowly to the ground. His voice hoarse.
“It’s Anna’s.” Tears came uncontrolled. “And Claire’s venom driving Anna’s body to the brink of the sprint. She’ll kill her.”
“Garin, they sent that to keep you on path. They don’t dare push the dance.”
“I can’t control feeding during the dance. I don’t know how Claire can. It’s so easy to slip over the knife edge into murder.”
“It’s Claire’s age. She can control herself.”
“But it takes practice and training. You realize how many dances she ran to the brink if she has that kind of control?”
“Claire became a vampire five centuries ago. Morals and life expectations have changed since then.”
“W-what are you talking about?” Reginald’s foot sli
pped on the stool rung, almost falling off. “You care about her like I do my wife – if I got a package like that.”
“It’s beyond your science.”
“I’ve seen some wacky shit, but this, you got that detail from smelling and tasting blood?”
“His girlfriend’s blood.”
“– not girlfriend. She’s seeing someone else. I only care about her.”
“There’s more there than that, but yes.”
“Who are you? It takes this whole lab of equipment and days to figure out what you did, if I could.”
“It’d take too long to explain.”
“I have all night before I’m missed,” Reginald gulped, “I mean – I’m not getting any work done tonight and no one will know I don’t get anything accomplished until the first shift guys get in.”
Branoc said, “If you’re running this whole lab, who do you report to like that?”
“Everyone has to report to someone. Even with my PhD degrees from Michigan Technological University, the University of Michigan, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology I have to report to someone. I used to report to Sandro Gruber but since he’s disappeared I have to update others on the team.”
Garin stood, “You hopped universities because you couldn’t figure out what you wanted to do?”
“No I wanted to learn from the best about the best.” Reginald seemed to acquire more courage by explaining his training, “So who are you two anyway?”
Garin said to Branoc, “We could use his help tonight. He knows the equipment.”
“He has some levels of government security clearances. So he can keep secrets. And they have threatened him with silence already.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Reginald.
“Only this –” Garin and Branoc turned to face Reginald. Arms extended with clawed hands, full vampire fangs and snarling frightening faces. Reginald fell off his stool trying to back further into the corner grasping the stool and holding its legs out to protect him, yet knowing nothing could keep him safe here. When Reginald saw they didn’t fly across the room and consume him he set the stool down and regained his footing.
Shrugging his shoulders, he straightened his back. “Vampires? They’re … you’re real? With so many stories … the legends and the myths; it had to come out of some sort of truth.” He stepped carefully forward, “You’re not drinking me, yet, so where do we go from here? What’s going on?”
“You took less time than most to process our existence.”
“When you believe in science instead of religion you have a different perspective.”
Branoc said, “Many think vampires are cast from the devil.”
“That may be. But science says you’re only another creature on the planet. A carnivore like any other that feeds on specific animals in specific ways. Some humming birds have extra long beaks adapted to deeper flowers. Even though you’re the top of the food chain your bodies obey rules of science regardless of your apparent magical powers.”
“Now you’re studying us.”
“Naturally.” He pushed his glasses hard up the bridge of his nose, “But what brought you to my lab?”
Garin said, “We are here to remove your pilot plant.”
“But you can’t. I have work to do with it. For the government.”
“Have they taken your family?”
“What do you mean?” Reginald reached for his cell phone in his back pocket.
“No, don’t use your phone.” Branoc looked around. “You said they warned you in the package. This group took Garin’s friend, his friend’s sister and her kids, and killed many others. I can’t imagine they’d spare your family if it came to anything.”
Reginald walked to the rear of the lab and pushed open another door, “You better come this way if we’re going to do this.”
-:- Twenty-Five -:-
I awoke to fangs gashing my arm. Higher up than my wrists. Different. Sharp fangs sliced into my other arm.
“Ooh. What deliciousness.” said a voice in English but with a German accent.
“So young and pure.” said another.
“So alive!” agreed a third.
“Fresh and with a hint of the dance still. Claire you’ve done well.”
The fangs settled into my arms. My body transforming into wine in a goblet being swirled until my legs drizzled along the inside curves of the glass while they discussed the subtleties of my life’s color and aroma. Taking a tentative sip to roll around their tongues and fill their palette. My wine ran from several wounds and they licked and sucked it from my veins in hungry waves. At least Claire wasn’t taking me on the adrenaline run but she stood back from the others letting them sample.
“That’s enough for now girls. We need to increase our strength from blood but we also need to focus on the task.”
Smacking their lips as if finishing off a bucket of fried chicken the vampires shuffled toward the door. They wanted to linger but discipline contained their animal urges. After the door closed Claire said, “I wanted to make sure they tasted your flesh. Anywhere you can run, they will seek you. They know you now as any bloodhound –” Claire chuckled at her own choice of words, “as any dog can track an escaped prisoner.” I did not move but the open edge of the bag quivered revealing my fear. I hoped she did not observe that slight movement. “Of course, it will be more difficult to keep them back from gorging themselves on you if I’m not around. They are younger, only a fifty to a hundred years and don’t have the training I have.”
I ventured, “Garin could hold back.”
“Of course he could. He knows what you will be like when you’ve crossed the threshold of the drinking age. A natural method. But when that connection is not there for a vampire, it becomes difficult to resist. And he knows you want him.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want anything to do with vampires.”
“That’s not what I saw when we danced together or at Garin’s house.”
That seemed so long ago already. Claire leaned over me and licked my wounds until clean and healing. Claire stood up and seemed to step away.
Fangs plunged into my neck!
Fire coursed through my veins in waves of pain and fire too intense. Too strong. Renewed adrenaline ran my body into chest pounding beats like great gulps in my throat and rattling skips in its squeeze. The long and hard sprint relentlessly up that black mountain bursting forth the cloying raw metallic taste of blood staining the back of my throat. Up the mountain toward the blackness. Exhaustion. Fear. Tears rolled down my face as I pulled in air with the bag pressing against my gritted teeth. Toward the darkness I knew lay across the summit in a red fog.
Claire pulled the hood from my face. The air wheezed into my lungs in cold ribbons. My second wind lifted me. I challenged the run. But that faded too soon. Despair.
I cried in sobs, “Stop!” … “Please stop!”
Claire pulled her fangs from me.
“Where –” Getting another breath, “– is my sister?”
“Another location as insurance. Your boys will try to deal to save you but if anything goes wrong, you’ll be the one to lose your sister and those little kids. You’ll stop Branoc and Garin from considering any foolishness. They will do oh so much to protect you.”
Her fangs ripped into a new location on my neck burrowing sharp points and razor edges into my flesh like scalpel edged screwdrivers digging at a soft couch.
-:- Twenty-Six -:-
The last container lifted onto the truck trailer. A rivulet of white paint slowly drooled down the side from the paint recently splashed on the top of the container but it dried quickly in the bright sun. They stood behind the mirrored window of the lab watching the loading crane.
“Thanks for your help Reginald,” Branoc said.
“Remember that if you hear I got fired.”
“Look me up if that happens,” Garin gave Reginald his business card. “Ignore the bank on there, I’ve been unemployed for a while �
� caught in this same spider web. That’s my personal email and cell phone.”
“ … Ramsburgh? As in The Ramsburgh family?”
“That’s the one.” Garin looked at Reginald.
“Sir, you should have mentioned it earlier.”
“Would it have changed your level of assistance?”
“Probably not.”
Branoc clarified, “And it won’t change the secrets you must maintain about our particular affliction?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But I might want to follow up on some research.”
“Not a good idea Reginald,” said Branoc.
“Ok.”
“You can make the call to requisition more lab supplies from Arnold Janitorial Service?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks again.”
Reginald reached for the phone handset, “Sure.”
Garin and Branoc shed their lab coats and found their way to the janitor closet. Garin’s acute hearing picked up Reginald’s voice and the correct words to get a special delivery from Brett. Then the two of them could get out of the plant.
-:- Twenty-Seven -:-
I think only an hour passed. Claire forgot about replacing the hood so I saw when she opened the door again. Claire walked across the floor in a tight business-like cold line toward me. No idle chit-chat. Claire opened her mouth and dug her fangs into my arm at the hinge of my elbow. Veins that the Red Cross nurses always twittered, “oh, nice veins” when I donated blood since they are close to the surface and larger than a dainty girl should have.
The pain became immediately intense and the blood flowed too fast. My body and mind prickled with points of heat and spikes of pain while my vision narrowed from the expanse of the moldy basement to a single bright door lock. I felt myself slipping way over the edge Claire had put me on before and I fell, fainting. My body didn’t even try to stretch and grip the rim. The brightness of the door lock faded from focus. My head fell forward heavy and uncontrolled. It could have rolled on the floor except for that annoying neck thing holding it aloft and my body roped to the chair.
The Vampires Of Livix Twin Pack (Volumes #1 & #2) Page 32
