by Tiffany Foxe
“Your mother.”
Em was still on the floor. She got up and skeptically walked over to inspect the miniature photo in the locket. She slowly leaned in. The dim light made it hard to view, but the photo did resemble her mother. The same blonde hair, same eyes. Em slanted back away from the bars and looked over her captor. Em resolved that this man was forging some sort of elaborate lie. The only problem she hadn’t worked out was why. What was his angle? She knew who her father was. Tavor Zadok, an abusive drunk, and a nobody. This was not the man that stood before her. She also knew that he was the only man her mother had ever been with.
“You don’t believe me,” he nodded.
He carefully closed the locket and placed it back under his sweater. He looked up at Em. They were now eye to eye. He searched her eyes and then looked over her face.
“You look so like her.” He smiled, reached out his hand and tried to touch her face. Em jerked away.
“When did you know my mother? If I’m your daughter, then why are you treating me like this?” she asked with disdain.
He turned away from Em and looked out into the lair.
“She did what she thought was best, I presume...what she thought would keep you safe. A life in obscurity, away from your own,” he stated as he shook his head.
He turned back around toward Emiline. She could see the hurt in his eyes.
“My own?” asked Emiline.
His demeanor changed as he rolled his eyes.
“Yes, your family. You have a whole buttload of relatives to meet.”
Em’s eyebrows raised. Her mother was her only family and she was dead.
“I don’t know what she was thinking,” he admitted. “Maybe, she thought if she kept you from us that you wouldn’t…” he shook his head. “...be like us.”
“I’m nothing like you,” she said.
“Oh my dear, you are very much like me,” he insisted. “You bear the mark. We all do,” he said with arms wide open.
“The mark?”
“Cain and Abel. Both brothers made offerings to their god. The best of their yield. One accepted. The other rejected. This bias bred hatred and jealousy. Cain murdered his brother. As punishment, he was marked so that everyone would recognize his...uncivilized nature, and he was cast out of Eden. He went on to have a family and his descendents are many, but we all bear the mark.”
“You lost me,” Em lied as she shook her head.
She wasn’t lost. His story was eerily familiar. It matched what Sophie’s. This concerned her even more, because she was beginning to believe this story may actually be credible. She had seen too many things to just shrug it off. The incident in the Chinese garden, the unusual bite marks on the victims, the wolves at the river and her apartment, people with wings. Could there really be such a thing? She felt a heavy weight fall on her shoulders with this one realization: if they were correct, she was screwed, if they weren’t she was losing her mind.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he concluded. “You’re around the age where you’ll start shifting, and I believe you already have,” he added.
“Shifting? Okay...so, you’re my father, I’m “marked”, whatever that means, because God punished us for a distant ancestor’s murder,,” Em mockingly summarized. “Yeah...perfectly believable,” she said sarcastically.
This was becoming way too much. Emiline wasn’t religious at all. She didn’t see the point in it. The world was full unthinkable crimes, hatred, and sickness. All of which went unpunished and unchecked unless humankind proactively took it into their own hands and did something about it. There was no God. It there was one, he was cruel and uncaring to let such sickness and brutality reign. She couldn’t stand when people said there was a reason for it, that it was “God’s plan.” What was the reason for a child being raped or getting cancer? Was a young child really deserving of such an experience? It was utterly absurd and disgusting to think something like that was somehow a part of a “benevolent” God’s plan. Who could think such a thing?
“Not “God”. Gods. And, they’re not really gods, not in the sense that religions portray them” explained Ralph.
“Then, what are they?” she placated.
“Just...travelers. Travelers that were more advanced than us.”
“Travelers?”
“Not human, not gods. Foreigners, that to us, seemed godlike.”
“So...aliens?” she said with disdain.
Ralph rolled his eyes. He hated that term. It held such a negative connotation that always allured to grey creatures with big black eyes.
“They weren’t the original inhabitants of Earth.”
Em leaned away from the bars and rolled her eyes. Religion and aliens. Could this guy get any nuttier? Is this exactly what Sophie believed, too? Was there this massive underground cult that believed this nonsense?
“You’ll learn soon enough,” he said and threw his hands up as if conceding that his argument was currently unwinnable. “I’ll get you some food. You must be starving.”
He walked off into the vast openness of the cave and disappeared into the darkness. Em felt around in her pockets for anything useful. She noticed that her gun was missing from its holster. She sighed and continued searching her pant and jacket pockets. She immediately recognized the feel of the cold, hard rectangular object: her phone. Her eyes grew wide with delight. How could they miss that? She pulled it out and began texting Jack for help. She hit “send” and waited. An error came back. There was no service.
“Of course.”
They didn’t take her phone because they didn’t need to. There was no way she would get service down there. She pictured the guy from the Verizon commercials saying his tagline, “Can you hear me, now?”
Nope.
It probably didn’t matter, anyway. It wasn’t like she had a location to give.
She flopped lazily onto the lone bench in her cell and sighed. She looked around at the contents of her cell. A bench, two walls of natural cave stone, two walls of iron bars, and some dirt and straw on the floor. The act of sitting made her realize that she was exhausted. She wondered what time it was. She looked at her phone. 11:57pm. She determined she must have been out close to two hours or so. She felt surprised to be so tired at this hour. She was normally up at this time. She looked at her phone, again. The battery was three quarters full and still no service. She decided to turn off the phone to conserve the battery, and stuffed it deep inside a hidden inner jacket pocket. Now, all she could do was wait.
***
Sophie and Luce stood in Sophie’s office, one floor below the lounge. Sophie hurriedly thumbed through various books on shelves.
“I knew they were tracking her. I just couldn’t figure out why,” said Sophie as she pulled out a raggedy looking book and plopped it on the desk.
“I don’t get it. She’s just a cop from a crappy, no-name family,” said Luce.
Sophie flipped through the yellowed pages. They were barely intact from centuries of wear. She stopped and pointed excitedly at a picture on the page.
“Unless she’s not from a no-name family.”
Luce looked at the picture. From where she was on the other side of the desk the picture was upside down. She cocked her head, then turned the book around.The picture was of a young man with soft eyes and flowing dark blonde hair.
“Ralph,” Luce half stated, half asked.
“I knew there was something about her.”
Luce looked confused.
“Look at it. You don’t see any semblance?”
Her eyes grew wide in disbelief.
“You don’t mean?” Luce inquired.
“What if he had a daughter?”
“But there’s no record of any offspring from Hemming.”
“No…,” Sophie said. “Maybe that’s the point. What if Ralph had a daughter that he didn’t know about?”
Luce scoffed at the thought.
“The Sons stick together. Ralph would never have allowed them to leave,�
�� Luce affirmed.
“Maybe they weren’t allowed. Maybe, they were hiding from him,” Sophie suggested.
Luce shook her head in disbelief.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He would be pretty hard to hide from.”
Sophie inspected a picture in the book on her desk. She rubbed her bottom lip with her finger as she pondered.
“Yes, but it explains why they keep going after her. They’re not attacking her. They’re capturing her. To bring her home.”
***
Ralph came back to the cell with a plate and glass in hand. He handed her the glass through the iron bars. She accepted it, but looked dubious. Ralph pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and pushed one of them into the keyhole. Em studied the shape of the key he used.
“No worries. It’s just water,” Ralph explained with a grin.
He opened the door and handed her the plate. It was full of food: steak, potatoes, and asparagus. She looked at it hesitantly. She thought this might be her only opportunity to escape, but she also knew she was weak and dehydrated. She had no idea what it would take to get out of this place and had some serious doubts about her ability to get very far in her current state.
“It won’t bite,” he said.
She grabbed the plate from him.
“You know, if I’m your daughter, you sure aren’t treating me like one.”
He sighed.
“I’m sorry, sweet pea. It’s only for a short while. Promise.”
He grinned. Emiline grimaced as he turned and headed back toward the darkness.
“Eat up. You’ll need your strength,” he said as he walked away.
Em looked at the plate and glass in her hands. She leaned in to sniff. It smelled fine. It smelled really good, actually. She sat down on the bench and began drinking the water which rapidly turned to gulping. She didn’t realize just how thirsty she was. She acquiesced to eat. She was starving and figured she really would need her strength, soon. Hopefully, it was safe to eat. She scarfed it down in no time and swiftly fell asleep.
***
Sophie, Luce, and Sam all made their way toward the mansion of the Sons the next night. They spent the night before preparing and by the time they were ready, there wasn’t enough time left to get there and back before dawn. So, they decided to rest and perfect the details of their plan. They flew high toward the mansion to avoid being spotted from below. Other Watchers were waiting in various areas around the mansion so they could be quickly called upon, if needed. The three flew down onto the property where Sam split up to enter through the back entrance to the lair. Sophie and Luce advanced to the front door and knocked. They both exchanged a glance while they waited.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Luce. “This is not how I would have handled it.”
The door opened, revealing a tall buff man in a skin-tight shirt and blue jeans. He speedily pulled out a gun and pointed at Sophie’s heart. She didn’t flinch. She just stared blankly at him.
“We just want a word,” said Luce.
The man exchanged a glance between both women. He tilted forward and looked out past them into the yard. Satisfied, he put his gun away and opened the door wider to allow them in.
***
Ralph and the rest of the clan were gathered in the hall located below the mansion. Ralph wore an air of royalty and arrogance as he sat in a medieval style chair dressed with ornate detailing and plush red fabric. Clansmen gathered on either side of a long walkway leading up to him. Emiline watched the theatrics from afar, still confined in her iron prison against one wall of the hall.
“These are good times my friends. The Watchers’ population has declined while ours has flourished. With each passing day, they lose their grip on our freedom. Soon, they will no longer be able to enforce their absurd rules and guidelines on us. We are one step closer to governing ourselves, one step closer to being free.”
The clansmen cheered. Ralph glanced over toward where Emiline stood, looking on with curiosity through the rusty, cold bars.
“We have more good news. We have discovered that I have a daughter and she has been safely returned to us.”
Ralph held out his hand toward Emiline. He looked over and smiled. The group cheered and clapped.
“And just in time for her Awakening.”
They cheered and clapped even more. Em wondered what he meant, and why on earth they clapping for it.
“If you will,” said Ralph.
He glanced over at a man standing on the far side from her. He nodded at Ralph and flipped a switch on the wall. A loud, low rumble permeated from above. Em looked up to find the ceiling of the hall opening directly above where Ralph and the others were located. The opening let in a great amount of moonlight revealing the layout of its floors. She could now make out that the man who flipped the switch was near a doorway and two large, brown wolves stood on either side of it. She also noted that there was a dark area to her left that could be a tunnel, but it was still too dark to make out clearly.
Two of the men in the group walked over to her cell and unlocked the door. Em backed away from the door. Whatever was about to happen out there she felt confidant her cell was safer.
“Aw, come on cuz’,” said one of the men. “We won’t bite.”
Em stayed back, so that the men had to come in to get her. She slowly moved back toward the far corner of the cell. The men closed in. She ducked and juked to her right as they were about to grab her. She darted for the door, got out and slammed it shut right as the two men reached it. They were locked in. She could hear Ralph laughing in the background.
“You buffoons,” he chuckled.
She turned away from the cell door toward Ralph and the others. The group, comprised of about 50 or so people, who just stood there watching. The two men in the cell banged on the bars, demanding their release at once. Then, one remembered he had the key and began fumbling with the lock.
Em had no idea what she was going to do next. One exit was guarded with two wolves and there were a lot of people in between her and that location. The other route was the tunnel which she wasn’t even sure was a tunnel. She could hear the cell door opening behind her. She made a mad dash to her left, toward the darkness. She tried to stay out of the moonlight so she would be harder to track, but the light penetrated most of her path, regardless. She ran as hard and as fast as she could. She heard the two men chasing behind her, but didn’t look. Her chest was hurting. It felt hard to breathe. Her legs panged with pain, her head pounded. She kept running. The footsteps behind her stopped. Her whole body ached, but she kept running. She looked down and froze. She turned to look back at the two men. They didn’t move. They just stared. She looked at Ralph. He bore the smile of a proud parent as he stood up from his chair.
“My sweet, Emiline. Now, you are one of us,” Ralph announced.
She looked back down at her arms. They were covered in white fur. And her hands, they weren’t hands but paws. She was standing on all fours. She turned her head back to look at her body. She had a tail, and her skin was covered in white fur with tan tips!
Her breath grew shallow and swift. She wondered if it was another hallucination, perhaps there was something in the meal Ralph had given. The onset seemed too prolonged for any drug she was aware of. She stood in shock.
“It’s okay,” Ralph cooed calmly. “I know it seems like a bit of a shock, but it’s okay. You’re okay.”
He walked down the steps from his chair toward Emiline. She arched her back and slowly stepped away. The hair on the nape of her neck stood on ends. He continued to slowly advance.
“You see. We are more alike than you thought,” he smirked.
“We need a word,” a woman’s voice said from afar.
Ralph and the Sons turned towards the entryway where the intruder’s voice came from. Sophie and Luce had walked into the cave, but stopped short at the sight of the white wolf on the far side of the room. Ralph gave a nod to the man by the switch.
He gave it a flip and the ceiling doors began to close. Both women stared at the skittish wolf across the room. It looked about 200 pounds and had an elegant white coat. There was only one Son they knew of with such a coat color.
“Cain?” Luce said.
The ceiling doors had fully shut, blocking out the moonlight. The cave became much darker and everyone had to adjust their eyes. The Sons and Ralph kept their sight on their unwelcome intruders. Sophie and Luce strained to keep their eyes on the white wolf which had become much harder to discern in mere firelight. Its shape morphed on the floor, turning and twisting in the flicker of orange light. Sophie spotted the glow of gold. A woman’s blonde hair reflected orange firelight as she huddled on the ground.
“Emiline,” whispered Sophie.
The woman swiftly looked up at Sophie. The white wolf had transformed back into her original form. Sophie stepped forward, but was instantly met with a wall of men and women blocking her path. Their behavior reminded Sophie of a royal court. Ralph, the king, and the Sons, his subjects, blindly obeying and protecting their king. The theatrics of it annoyed Sophie who thought the whole act preposterous. Luce, on the other hand, knew that playing their game was the only way to win.
“We request an audience,” said Luce.
“Your timing is impeccable. You come in unannounced and uninvited. Get out,” demanded Ralph.
“You have taken two of our own without warrant or reason. That, at least, deserves an audience, ” Luce countered.
This got Ralph’s blood boiling. He hated be accused of anything, even if it were true.
“I didn’t murder anyone!”
“Maybe, not you. But, someone here,” grumbled Luce.
Ralph snickered as he walked back to his chair. He took his seat and leaned forward, looking directly at Luce.
“Prove it.”
“We already did. We brought you the DNA of the killer.”
Ralph shrugged, smugly.
