Echoes of Blood and Glory

by Ripley Proserpina

  Up and down she stroked, waiting for the moment when he’d be able to go on.

  “The other took too long to die. It healed and burned. And healed and burned.”

  Two crawlers able to walk in daylight who only began to burn after Ra questioned them. “Like he flicked a kill switch,” Rose whispered.

  Seti jolted and lifted his head. “What did you say?”

  “A kill switch,” she repeated.

  He pushed up on his arms to hover over her. “Before they began to burn, one of the crawlers said it was a test.”

  Rose studied his face. It hit her like lightning. “Hold on!” She slid out from under him and off the bed. “So Dr. Stone gave these things my blood and they can walk in daylight.”

  She grabbed her hair and pulled it over her shoulder, twirling the strands around her finger over and over. Her thoughts were flying around like kite strings, and she tried to hold onto them before they blew away. “Okay. A test. Like an experiment. He wanted to see if something worked. Right?” She glanced back at him, but he didn’t answer. “The obvious test would be to see if you, or I, or all of us, would come when he sent the crawlers to hurt people. But then there’s the not-so-obvious test.”

  Dr. Stone thought she was an idiot. He had nothing but contempt for her, and always thought his time was more valuable than hers. He’d go for the not-so-obvious and never expect that she would think of anything else.

  “My blood…” she said quietly. Gah! The strings were slipping. “My blood. An experiment. A kill switch.”

  Why had she gone to art school? Why? If this was art, something visual, it would make more sense.

  She stopped in her tracks. If her brain worked in visual ways, then she could make this visual, like she had by writing out questions.

  Rushing from the room, she barreled down the hall and into the study. Her notebook was where she left it, and she picked it up.

  “Okay.” She spoke to herself as she drew a box at the top of the paper. “The obvious and the not-so-obvious.” Arrows and lines connected boxes that she filled in with ideas and questions. “The crawlers are an experiment. One burns, the other doesn’t. What does he want to learn?”

  This was where she was stuck. Something happened after Ra asked a question—the crawlers suddenly burned to a crisp. It took one longer than the other, but it still happened.

  “What was different about these two?” she asked quietly. She stared at the circle representing one crawler and the triangle that represented the other.

  “One was old, and one was newly made,” Seti said quietly.

  Rose jumped into the air, dropping her pen, and grabbed her boobs. “Holy shit, I forgot all about you guys!”

  The three brothers stood around the study, all of them watching her with guarded expressions. They’d been totally silent the entire time she’d been drawing and talking.

  Seti glanced down at her hands and her face heated. She dropped them in what she hoped was a casual manner, and tried to remember what she’d said.

  He got her right back on track. “You asked what was the difference between the two crawlers. The one who burned immediately was old. The one who started to heal was young.”

  Rose spun and grabbed her notebook, writing what he said in each of the shapes. “Okay.”

  “What did you learn?” Horus asked.

  She stared at the mess of lines, shapes, and scribbled questions. What had she learned? “I have more questions,” she said. Disappointment filled her. What was the point of all of this? Writing down questions and not being able to answer them… that wasn’t helpful.

  “May I see?” Ra asked, holding out a hand.

  Reluctantly, she handed him her notebook and began to walk away. As she passed by Seti, however, he stopped her. He turned her so her back was to his chest and then pulled her against him. “Read it aloud, Ra,” he said.

  Ra skimmed the page, and as he did, he began to smile. Not the tight, forced, scary smile from this morning. An actual smile. A panty-melting, southern-belle-swoon-inducing smile. “She begins by writing two possible beliefs Stone had by sending crawlers to the Arboretum.”

  His gaze traveled along those shapes. He glanced up at her. “Your mind is so sharp, Rose. I wouldn’t have thought of this.”

  The obvious pride in his tone changed the reason for the heat under her skin.

  “She follows a path where she considers Dr. Stone’s perception of her. Along that trail, she states reasons such as mayhem, displays of power, and leading us into a trap. The other line of thought brings her to more specific questions related to an experiment Dr. Stone may have tried. The overall question she’s asked, at the end of all of this is—did Stone create a set of conditions in which the bodies of the crawlers-slash-vampires could be controlled?”

  “Control their bodies?” Horus asked. “I don’t understand.”

  Ra looked over the notebook and raised his eyebrows, waiting.

  “Go on,” Seti prompted her. His breath tickled her ear. “Explain it to us.”

  “It was just something you said, about Ra asking a question and the crawlers suddenly burning. I wondered, did Dr. Stone do that? The crawlers told you they were at the Arboretum because of a test, right? What if that was the test? Did Stone do something to them that made it so they would sort of… well… self-destruct?” When she said it out loud, it sounded ridiculous. She held her hand out for the notebook. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”

  “No, it’s not!” Seti said. “They were given medicine, that’s what the crawler said, before they went to the Arboretum.”

  “And by sending them there,” Horus went on, “to a place that we all know is important to you, he could be sure to get our attention. Inserting us into his experiment.”

  “I wonder…” Ra stared at the notebook and then reached for the pen. He jotted something down. “I wonder if my questions prompted it? The self-destruct mode,” he said.

  “Self-destruct mode?” Seti repeated.

  “Isn’t that what it’s called?” he asked. He was serious for a moment and then smiled. “You’ve seen more spy movies than me.” Handing Rose her book, his gaze softened. “I think we’re on the right track. Keep asking your questions. And use your new computer to find your answers.”

  She studied each of the guys. They didn’t think she was stupid for drawing things out and writing down questions and scribbling whatever nonsense came into her head.

  They were impressed.

  “May I read it as well?” Horus asked.

  She handed it to him. He studied it before placing it on the desk and bracing his hands on either side of it. “This here,” he said, pointing a long, tan finger at the page. “You ask, ‘is my blood being used to make vampires?’ You wrote it under ‘young crawler.’ Why?”

  Seti answered before she could. “Because of the newly made crawler. I could tell from his scent that his human body was decaying as he became a crawler.” He wrinkled his nose like he could still smell it. “He burned and then healed. Burned and healed.”

  “If Seti had not killed him, he would have remained in that cycle endlessly,” Ra said. “It was a mercy to kill him.”

  “Rose heals quickly. If her blood made this crawler, did he heal because of her?” Horus asked.

  “That’s sort of my question,” Rose replied. “I don’t know how to put it, because I know there are all these other…” she searched for the word, “…things that go along with being a vampire. Or crawler. I’m sorry. I’m as clear as mud.”

  “No no no,” Horus said. “I see what you mean.” He smiled, a dimple appearing in his cheek as he looked over his shoulder at her. “This must be what it’s like at Briar’s house. Great minds coming up with astounding theories.”

  Behind her, Seti boomed a laugh. “Did you make another joke?”

  “You undo my jokes by pointing out that they’re jokes,” the big man muttered.

  “Stop stealing his thunder, Seti,” Ra chided. “I agree
with Horus, though. We are onto something. You, Rose, are onto something. Dr. Stone seems to be making, and then unmaking, crawlers. All at will.”

  Making and unmaking vampires.

  It was a terrifying thought. If Dr. Stone could make an immortal crawler mortal hours after dosing them with her blood, or this unknown medicine, did that mean he could do the same thing to a human?

  Did it mean anything at all? Or were they—she— seeing connections where there weren’t any?

  8

  Ra

  Ra sidled up closer to Horus, who was still reading Rose’s notes. He used his finger to follow the diagrams she’d drawn.

  “This is amazing,” he said. “Do you see this?”

  He did. And like his brother, he too was impressed by the way Rose had linked one theory to another.

  “Wait until you see what’s on her computer,” he told Horus.

  He’d had a chance to browse her history. It was like having a direct line to her brain. She typed her questions right into the search bar. What genes control healing? Can genes turn on and off? What makes genes turn on and off? Can blood turn on a gene?

  Ra thought back to that brief meeting they’d had with Briar and her husbands. He hadn’t followed half of the conversation they had that day, but not only had Rose followed, she’d remembered details. Genes? Ra had forgotten all about genes and DNA.

  Rose—the girl he was quickly coming to need in order to breathe—stood with Seti. She watched them, head resting against his brother’s arm, worrying her lip. When she saw him watching, her face heated and she dropped his gaze.

  She was so worried about what they thought of her.

  If she really knew what he thought, she’d never doubt herself again.

  “Tell her,” Horus said. The message he sent was only for Ra to hear.

  Moving away from his brother, he fixed his gaze on the window. The gardens outside were covered in snow, and the sun reflected off the flakes like twinkle lights. Ra imagined a door between him and his brothers, and he closed it, not wanting them to hear anything he thought right now.

  They had entered into a relationship with Rose in the throes of a battle, and none of them had worked out what it meant.

  Of course, right now, it meant they could protect her. Be near her. She needed them, and Ra loved being needed by her.

  But what did it mean when the battle was over?

  What would she feel for them when she didn’t need their protection? She hardly knew them. If Ra showed her his true self, revealing how ruthless and cruel he could be, would she still want him around?

  He was afraid to show her who he truly was.

  And he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hide it.

  9

  Rose

  Rose got why Briar, Hudson, and Marcus had a lab.

  There was only so much the internet could answer. Granted, her generation was lucky. Her mom had told stories about having to cart around encyclopedias when she’d moved as a kid. But the internet could only offer cursory explanations for the questions she had. If she typed “do genes turn on and off,” she could find an answer, but if she asked deeper questions, she was led to medical journals or slides from medical conferences. And that wasn’t helpful.

  Rose stared at the tiny blue bands of DNA and wondered what the hell she was looking at.

  She guessed, even if she had a lab, she wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.

  Clicking out of her latest research, Rose sighed. It was so frustrating to get into something and have her own lack of understanding be the thing that stood in the way.

  However—she leaned forward again and opened up the cloud—she did love this computer.

  When her computer and camera were destroyed, she expected all of her work to be gone. But nope. She’d uploaded much of it, and she had access to it now. Thank you, Seti.

  All of her photographs were right at her fingertips.

  She opened them now, scrolling through the photos she’d taken at the Arboretum. The bonsai collection was gone now. Trees that had been around through world wars and revolutions were ash.

  All that beauty and all those people. Dead.

  And for what? To make a point? To test a theory?

  Her brain buzzed, and she sighed as she clicked through her photos, pausing only when she came across a photograph of the marshes she’d taken the day she met Horus and Seti.

  Life had changed on that day.

  She remembered the crawler who’d jumped out of the water at her in broad daylight. Was that creature able to tolerate the sun because of her blood? She had no idea how far back Dr. Stone’s experiments went. For all she knew, he’d spent the last decade building an army with her blood.

  “…the tunnels…” Seti’s voice came into her head and then disappeared like a radio being tuned.

  Every so often, she’d catch bits and pieces of their conversations or their thoughts. Sometimes they meant to talk to her, but other times, like now, she suspected they were having such heavy and stressful conversations that the mental control they needed slipped.

  “What about the tunnels?” she asked. With each day that passed, her ability to talk to them came easier. It felt natural now to open that mental door and ask her question, instead of yelling down the hallway.

  Ra poked his head through the doorway. “There’s an accident in there. Seti was trying to figure out if it was human or not.”

  “Which tunnel?” she asked.

  “Ted Williams,” Seti told her.

  She typed it into her computer and read the article that came up on one of the local news station sites. “It looks human.” Glancing out the window, she noted that the snow that had been falling earlier had changed into an icy rain. “People in Massachusetts drive crazy.”

  Ra made a sound of agreement. “You don’t drive,” he said as he came inside.

  Rather than sit at the imposing walnut desk, Rose had made herself a little spot near one of the windows. She had a throw wrapped around her shoulders and propped her feet on the deep stone windowsill. For a while now, she’d been eyeing the cushions, but when she got too close, she could feel a cold draft snaking from under the window. From where she was, she could enjoy the view and not freeze her ass off.

  “No.” She leaned her head against the chair, watching as he seated himself next to the window.

  A second later, he frowned and stood. “Why not?” he asked, studying the room. He located another chair and set it across from her. Then he shocked her by leaning down to pick up her feet and drag them into his lap.

  The movement was so easy, and he looked so comfortable lounging across from her, that it took her breath away. Ra had made such an about-face when it came to her. At times, she had a hard time remembering that distant, almost god-like presence he’d had when they’d first met.

  “Why not?” he asked, and it took her a minute to remember what they were talking about.

  “Why don’t I drive?” she asked. He lifted his eyebrows, waiting.

  “Um, well, parking is a wicked nightmare. At my old apartment, there was only on-street parking and if it snows, there’s a parking ban. It’s just a pain. The T or the bus is easier.”

  “What if you wanted to leave Boston?” he asked.

  She hadn’t. She’d stayed firmly planted in a twenty-five mile radius of the place she was born. Leave Boston.

  Even Manchester-by-the-sea wasn’t that far, thirty miles from Boston proper.

  “The T goes to the places I need to be,” she answered, but it sounded a little pathetic, so she changed the subject. “Where is your favorite place in the world?” she asked.

  Ra’s eyes got dreamy, and he turned his head to stare out the window. “My favorite place in the whole world…” He smiled to himself. “Boston isn’t bad when it isn’t overrun with crawlers and evil masterminds.”

  Rose imagined going to the door between their minds and knocking gently. Ra startled and faced her.

  “But i
t’s not your favorite,” she said when their gazes met.

  “No,” he said quietly, the smile falling away from his face. “Do you want to see my favorite place?”

  That was what she hoped he’d say. He shut his eyes and whatever was between them dissolved. She was sucked from her chair in a drafty room to a bright, open, golden space.

  It felt like she was standing in the center of the room, seeing everything through Ra’s eyes. But it was more than that, because she felt the breeze on her skin and smelled something strong and heady.

  Pillars lined an open breezeway and were hung with sheer, billowing material that must have been meant to block the sun.

  And the sun! The heat burned her skin, seeping into her pores, like it was pouring its energy directly into her.

  The room was huge, and she got the sense that she was only seeing a small slice of this place.

  There was a lounge in one corner and a bed in another. The sheets looked soft and the mattress deep. It would cradle her when she went to sleep, and the breeze would cool her as it came off the Nile.

  “Can I see it?” she asked Ra. The room was beautiful, but she sensed there was more to his love than just this room.

  The curtains lifted in the wind and caressed her skin, tickling her as she pushed by them to stand on a balcony.

  Rose caught her breath. Deep green fields stretched between this spot and the wide expanse of water between one swath of land and the next. She studied the fields, noting how small tributaries ran between some of them, dividing one plot from another. Far away, she heard oxen lowing and someone calling out.

  It was peaceful. Idyllic. “Was this yours?” she asked.

  “All of it,” he answered. “After the river flooded, the soil would be black. We planted barley. Flax. Vegetables. You can’t see them from here, but we had fig trees. Melons. We had a hundred farm hands, but I still went to the fields during Shemu—the harvest time—to help my father.”