by Lund, S. E.
I kiss him back deeply, my tears starting, a darkness welling up inside of me – fear that Julien will die to capture Blackstone. He said he didn’t want to live without me, but now I have to face the prospect that he’ll die in battle and I won’t want to live without him.
You get everything you want, Eve. Just do what I ask. That’s all.
I want Julien, I think to myself.
He’s yours, if you comply. It’s that simple.
I kiss Julien again and again, not caring if Michel sees us. He has to understand that I must say goodbye. Michel knows I love Julien and that Julien loves me. I know he’ll be jealous, but I can’t stop myself, and tears run down my cheeks.
“I don’t want you to go…” I say, wiping my eyes. I get out of bed when he stands up, and I quickly pull on my robe.
“I’ll be back soon,” he says and smiles softly. “Just a day or two.” We stand beside the bed and he runs his fingers over my cheek, slipping through my tears. “Capturing and then killing Blackstone is what I’ve been waiting for all these years. To finally get revenge against Blackstone for what he did to me and my men. For using us and then trying to kill us. And to stop him from retaliating and releasing more of the plague.”
“I know,” I say, for it’s true. Julien has wanted revenge against Blackstone for what he did to Julien and his unit. It was what motivated him when we first met and became lovers. Julien has been a fearless warrior, for so long and if anyone has the ability to capture Blackstone and bring him back to Soren’s compound, it would be him. There were few who would have that knowledge of tactics and experience with special ops. Just a few older ascended vampires and the Twelve.
I’m glad that Procel is going along with Julien. Of course, I’m sad that Julien is going at all but I know I have to let him go. Julien kisses me once more and then leaves me beside the bed. He goes over to the sitting room and sits in a chair next to Michel. The two speak in soft voices and I try to get control over myself but my heart feels incredibly heavy and I fear I won’t see him again.
Calm down, Eve. You get everything your heart desires. Just cooperate.
I’d like to believe Soren, but I can’t. I can’t trust him, but there’s nothing else to do, so I do nothing. Instead, I go to the bathroom and splash water over my face, then dry my eyes off with a clean towel.
I’m staring in the mirror at my swollen eyes and red nose when the door opens and Michel pops his head in the room.
“I’m sorry, Eve,” he says, and I can see that he means it. “I don’t want Julien to go either.”
I nod. As much as he’s jealous of Julien, there can be no doubt that Michel loves his brother and doesn’t want him to die. Still, I’m overly emotional and cover my eyes, trying to hold back a sob, but I fail.
He comes closer and wraps his arms around me and despite everything, despite how I’ve promised that I won’t be with him, how I decided to never be with Michel again, at that moment, I can’t resist him. He rocks me gently in his arms, whispering in my ear, “It’s okay, Eve, it’s okay…” and when I finally get my sobs under control, we stand like that, our arms around each other, our bodies touching. “He’ll be back in a few days. This is just a routine mission to scout out positions. He won’t be in very much danger.”
I know I shouldn’t do it, but I think of getting all my wishes, of having what I want to come true. I think of what Soren promised and all I have to do is offer myself, and I will get it.
Do I trust Soren?
Will he deliver on the goods?
I know I have to wait until I see his plague antidote work so although I could very easily right now kiss Michel and see if he takes it further, I don’t.
I extract myself from Michel’s warm, very human and very tantalizing embrace and wipe my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I say and turn to the basin so I can wash my face once more to get rid of the tears. “I’m just so overwrought because of everything that’s happened.”
“I know,” Michel says and his voice is so soft, so warm and sympathetic. “You’ve been through so much. Finding out about your mother, becoming a vampire, meeting Dylan, your death and resurrection. It’s a lot to take in during a lifetime, let alone in a year.”
I straighten my nightgown and then we leave the bathroom and go to the sitting room. I take a seat and Michel sits across from me.
“What’s going to happen now?” I ask him, and then I shake my head. “I mean, with Soren. What’s his agenda? He promised to release the antidote this week in return for Julien joining Procel to capture Blackstone.”
Michel leans forward, his arms resting on his knees, his hands clasped.
“When the antidote’s ready, we’re going to go to Soren’s research facility and inspect the premises so you can see what he’s been doing – what Dylan and Soren have been doing. Then, he’ll release the antidote in a specific area to show the world what he can do. It will be timed to get the most audience for him and the Twelve so people will know it was them who stepped in and saved humanity, of course.”
“Of course,” I say. “He wants to get maximum results. Where will he release it? How will people know? Haven’t all the telecommunications systems fallen?”
“Not all,” Michel says. “The military has some communications via satellite and there are old Ham Radio operators and telegraph operators out there who keep communications up. But you’re right,” he says and shakes his head sadly. “The world has fallen, due to the disruption along the Eastern Seaboard and Western Europe where the plague was released.”
I sit there and consider what he’s said. I expected that very quickly the world would fall due to the destruction of so much of the fossil fuels and petroleum products in the fallout zones, not to mention the utter disruption in services. How many people have died?
It’s impossible to tell. It makes me hate Blackstone more and more. It also makes me hate Soren for not stopping it sooner.
Patience, Eve… Even I have limitations. I didn’t see everything coming. I didn’t have the ability to stop it. That’s why I resurrected the Twelve in the first place. Then you had to come along and put us all in stasis or this whole process would have been much farther along…
Don’t put the blame on me, I think. No one cared to tell me the truth or I would have been fighting Blackstone sooner.
I turn to look at Michel. He must wonder what happens when I zone out.
Fair enough.
I don’t respond to Soren. Instead, I smile at Michel and reach out to take his hand.
“Thanks for being here for me.”
Michel smiles. “Of course,” he says softly. “Always. You can count on me.” He lets go of my hand, as if he’s reluctant to touch me. “Now, you must be hungry. Let me get you a tray with something to eat.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
Michel goes to the door, and speaks with a guard outside. He returns to the room and I decide to get dressed. I go to my wardrobe and pick something warm – a nice sweater and a pair of jeans plus some warm socks and an undershirt. I won’t look very fashionable but its cold in the compound and since my ‘resurrection’, I can’t seem to get warm.
Michel leaves me alone for a while and I wait for the servant to bring me my meal tray, reading over the print papers that come in the morning. There’s one that summarizes all the news for the affected zone and whatever information can be obtained at the barricades, shouted over the tops of the barricades lined with barbed wire.
It’s pretty grim, with little foreign trade taking place due to fears of contaminating any fossil fuel supplies or products made with petroleum. As a result, many of the countries that used to trade have become more insular, keeping their resources to themselves and making do. It’s been only a very short time since the plague was released but already people are starting to cope. Those with the most basic skills have become the new power brokers in society – carpenters, plumbers, and anyone with any experience in medicine or farming are now the l
eaders, while those who were educated in the modern technology have become redundant. They’ve had to start learning the old skills that previously were replaced by machines run on fossil fuels.
Countries lacking an internal system of farming and food production have suffered, from all accounts, as trade between agricultural producers and consumers have all but stopped. Hundreds of thousands are starving in some of the wealthiest nations on earth.
We’re lucky here, only because Soren knew what was coming – or had an idea. But it will be a long lean winter.
Chapter 122
Soren pretty much leaves me alone for a couple of days, and I spend my day doing much the same thing – reading news papers, and spending time in Soren’s huge library, reading old books, and being impatient for something to happen. I try to keep my mind occupied because Julien’s gone and in danger, but I find myself thinking of him almost constantly. Each time I push Michel for information, he shrugs and tells me we have to wait until everything’s in place before we can go to Soren’s laboratories where the plague antidote is being manufactured.
I wish I could be there now, but there’s nothing I can do without Soren’s leave.
Instead, I wonder if Soren isn’t hoping that Michel and I will somehow fall into each others arms just because we’re spending time together day in and day out.
Instead, we tend to keep our distance. Michel is polite and helpful, but he doesn’t push me and spends a great deal of time away from our rooms. I don’t know what he does, but as the priest for the parish, I imagine he has priestly duties to fulfill.
So it’s with pleasure that on the third day since my resurrection, Soren calls for Michel and me to pack a bag for our trip to the facilities south of Boston.
As I’m finishing packing, Michel returns to the room and hands me the morning paper. In it, I see mention of a meeting of rebels, held outside Boston at the Cathedral, who are promising to find a way to stop the plague’s spread. Some have said that it’s Soren who is leading the group of rebels. I find it surprising that Soren is trying to drum up support for himself by publicizing his impending works of wonder. It’s as if he’s deliberately inviting Blackstone to retaliate.
“Why is Soren letting it slip out that he’s planning on stopping the plague?” I ask Michel as we sit at a table together and have our breakfast.
“It’s a rumor,” Michel says and points to the headline. “He’s making sure to keep it stated that way. He and Blackstone have agreed that Soren will do some kind of miraculous event that will get Soren the power in the churches. Soren probably will deny it and point to his plans to protect church goers from roving bands of vampires…” Michel rolls his eyes as if he can barely stand the subterfuge.
“Blackstone plans to let the plague go completely around the world, right?” I ask. “He doesn’t want it to stop.”
Michel shakes his head. “No. He wants it to be total. Soren has provisionally agreed, but will stop it before that happens. Blackstone knows this, or should know it, but he also has his endgame. However, it’s in Soren’s interest to make people think he’s planning on stopping it. When he’s ready, he’ll do the public event and own up to it. Then, it will be the final battle between them – Soren and Blackstone. Blackstone thinks he’ll beat Soren. He won’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s underestimated who and what Soren is.”
I don’t say anything for a moment. “You want Soren to win,” I say, watching Michel’s face. “But you don’t want Soren to be as powerful as he wants to be.”
“I want a lot of things, Eve,” Michel says. “Let’s hope I get them.”
I nod, understanding that he can’t tell me what he really wants. I know now that Soren can’t read Michel, as much as Soren wishes I didn’t know it.
When we’re finished eating, one of the servants takes away our trays and then a guard pops his head in the room.
“Lord Soren says to tell you that we’re ready to depart.”
Michel stands. “I guess its time to go and see what wonders Soren has in store for us.”
I grab my bag and follow Michel and the guard out the door, wondering if what Soren promised will really happen. I have a hard time believing that Soren will really stop the plague but I want it to be true.
We enter the large vehicle, and Michel sits beside me while Soren and Kael sit across from us. I don’t like being in the same vehicle as Kael, but I have no choice. He seems to be Soren’s best friend among the Twelve so I take in a deep breath and try not to let my distaste for him come through in my behavior.
We drive west from Cambridge to a facility in Worcester that looks like an old telecommunications warehouse. There’s a huge fence surrounding it with barbed wire and numerous guards pacing back and forth with weapons slung over their shoulders.
A guard at a gate waves us through after glancing at the driver’s credentials and peeking into the rear of the vehicle. We drive up a long driveway to the side entrance, where several guards stand at attention. In a field beside the facility, hundreds of solar panels are tilted to face the sun. On the roof, hundreds of other panels, their metal faces glinting in the dim winter light. One guard meets the vehicle and opens the door for Soren, who nods at the man and then gets out, waiting for us at the entrance.
A man with round horn rimmed glasses and a lab coat greets us. Soren introduces him to us as Dr. Mark Wu, a professor of bioengineering who once worked for one of the largest genetic technology companies in the world.
Dr. Wu takes us through the facility and I’m curious about how they are able to run a biotech lab, given the challenges they face due to the plague.
He stops and turns to us. “Everything has been re-engineered to require no plastics or fossil fuel-based technology.”
“How long have you been preparing for this?” I ask. “You must have known for some time to re-engineer everything to have done all this.”
“We have been anticipating some kind of event that would knock out the grid for at least eighteen months. We did all the redesign a couple of years ago and so when the plague struck, we were ready.”
I glance at Soren. “That was great foresight.”
Dr. Wu shakes his head. “Scientists have long thought that the grid was far too vulnerable to cyber attack or to some kind of solar event. It was only good business to prepare.”
I nod but don’t say anything. I can’t really blame Soren for preparing, if he’s know all along that this or something like this was in the works, but still… I can’t help myself. As we walk down the long hallway behind Dr. Wu, I pull up beside Soren.
“Did you know all along that this was going to happen?” I say, glancing at him from the corner of my eye to see his response. If he’s surprised I ask, he doesn’t show it. “I mean, do you already know the outcome or was there always the possibility that something different from what you plan will happen?”
“That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question,” Soren says and turns to me as we walk down the hall. “I can see many ends and have to decide what one I want to see through. It’s a game of chess, Eve. A game of chess.”
I nod and fall back beside Michel. “When did you start seeing the future?” I ask, having a vague notion that his prescience came on when he ascended.
“I think I always had the ability to see various futures, but I thought I was conjuring them up in my own head. Once I became a vampire, the ability seemed to heighten, but I was never able to use it for any end. It was only my ascendance that seemed to solidify the power of seeing various threads of the future and how decisions might change it.”
We finally enter a large production facility where there is a large glassed-in lab with all kinds of technology that looks like it came out of a chem lab somewhere. Workers dressed in full hazmat suits mill around, moving from one table to another, looking at computer screens, and microscopes.
“This is our lab,” Dr. Wu says. “Here, we’ve been working on the viru
s, analyzing its structure and function, trying to replicate it, figure out its capabilities. We want to harness it and turn it on itself, cure the plague by reversing its ability to denature petroleum products. We’re using retroviruses to do so, and will insert a sequence of RNA into the plague’s genome to halt its ability to destroy hydrocarbons.”
I nod and it’s then that one of the hazmat suited workers comes over, stands in the anteroom where his suit is blown by some liquid to clean him off. He’s dried by powerful blowers and then he removes his suit.
It’s Dylan. He smiles when he sees me among the group of visitors.
“There you are,” he says and comes right over to me, giving me a hug. “Soren said he’d bring you for a visit and demonstration.”
Dylan turns to Soren and gives him a shake and pulls him closer for a hug and it surprises me. I would never think that Dylan is fond of Soren, but perhaps getting his sister back alive and cured is the price of Dylan’s love and loyalty.
“We’re doing more than a mere demonstration,” Soren says and pats Dylan on the back. “We’re pushing the schedule up and will be releasing the first batch of antivirus inside the red zone.”
Dylan looks surprised. “How come so soon?” he says, frowning. “I thought we were on schedule for next week.”
“I have some PR issues to deal with,” Soren says with a smirk and glances at me. “Gotta prove I can do it to some of my very tough customers.”
I don’t say anything. It surprises me that Soren is so determined to push Michel and me together. Why does he want it so badly? Purely to satisfy his desire for revenge?
Soren says nothing to me in reply, either mentally or out loud so we move on, with Dylan joining the group. Next, Dr. Wu escorts us outside the main building to a hanger that is hidden behind a grove of tall trees. Outside, tethered to the ground, is a dirigible. A zeppelin. As well, there are several weather balloons lying on the ground.
“This is how you’ll disperse the agent?” I ask.
“Precisely,” Dr. Wu responds. “We are going to use the same dispersal methods that Blackstone used – an aerosol, sent to the upper atmosphere and released so that it falls out over a wide expanse. There only needs to be a small amount spread per hectare of land, due to the self-replicating nature of the nanobot. Once it gets to a certain altitude, it starts to replicate, using energy from the surrounding environment. If it comes into contact with the plague virus, it will stop it from replicating.”
