Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and tried to regulate her breathing. Being underground was bad enough without knowing that they were surrounded by human remains. Morbidly, she wondered if the bones in this tunnel were actually relics, lovingly moved by monks centuries before, or more recent additions, courtesy of the ES. She opened her eyes again when she heard muffled voices echoing through the tunnel.
“Halt and identify yourself!”
Oscar dropped Lucy’s hand and stepped in front of her. “Oscar Pierre Blanc,” he called out to the vampire that was fast approaching them. “What is the meaning of this, Jean?”
Neither vampire acknowledged his question. “Who else is there?”
“Alphonse,” Oscar answered.
“Can he not speak for himself?”
“You demand humility of your Elder?” Oscar asked indignantly. “Again, I ask you, what is the meaning of this?”
The vampire stepped closer, grabbing Oscar by the arm. “I’ve been given orders to bring you and your companion to the Elders. I would suggest you come without protest.”
Before Oscar could react, Lucy stepped around him and stabbed the vampire, who dropped instantly. She looked up at Oscar, not liking the unguarded fear he wore. “I’ve got maybe nine or ten of these left, and a very bad feeling that someone has found what we left in the lab. Get us out of here.”
“If you trust me, I can carry you, we can move faster that way.”
“I don’t trust you, but at least I’m armed.”
Oscar lifted Lucy with slightly more care than he had previously and took off running through the dark corridor at a speed she imagined would outpace most predatory cats.
At last, Oscar slowed and finally came to a halt at an apparent dead end. Carefully setting Lucy down, he reached out and put his hand against the wall, which slid away. Oscar found the switch and turned on the lights, revealing what appeared, anomalously, to be a perfectly normal living room that just happened to be hidden deep beneath Paris.
“Where are we?” Lucy asked, hesitant to follow Oscar into the room.
“My home. I assure you, we’re safe here.”
Lucy stopped short of entering and glared. “I thought you were getting me out of this hive? Get me out of here, Oscar, or I swear, I’ll kill you and take my chances.”
“Lucy, we are now miles from the compound and no one, Eyes, human or otherwise, has access to my home. But if you stand there in the doorway, you are inviting trouble,” Oscar reasoned. “Forgetting the fact that we are on the run, and it may not yet be safe, you may at the very least, want to clean up a bit?” He pointed to a mirror that spanned the room behind him. Lucy stepped into the light and flinched at the sight of the wild, blood covered urchin in an anachronistically clean white lab coat that stared back. With a sigh, she stepped into the room.
“You may have a point.”
Chapter 31
“There’s a guest room with a bathroom and some clothing that should fit you,” Oscar informed Lucy, pointing to a hallway leading off the living room. Lucy eyed him warily. “Don’t worry, both the guest room and bathroom have locking doors.”
Locking the door behind her, Lucy studied the room. Aside from the lack of windows, there was nothing to indicate that she was in an underground cave. The floors were plushly carpeted and the walls and ceiling were normal plasterboard. The furnishings, while a bit more opulent, were not very different from her quarters at EJC. Still not trusting Oscar’s motives, she scoped the room, checking the ventilation grills, mirrors and every surface for anything unusual. When she was satisfied that both her safety and modesty were not in danger, she moved to the bathroom and repeated her check. What she did find was towels, a plush bathrobe and, somewhat disturbingly, the complete line of bath and hair products that she regularly used at home.
After three days of being held in the lab, the shower felt heavenly. Although she could have spent a great deal of time just letting the warm water sooth her abused muscles, Lucy showered quickly, impatient to get back to headquarters, and to inform the team of what she had learned. She slipped into the bathrobe and opened the armoire hoping to find something to wear.
Again, she was quite disturbed. The closet was filled entirely with clothing in her size. She pushed aside hanger after hanger of dresses, silk blouses, and other items she deemed impractical and wildly inappropriate, finally settling on a pair of designer jeans and a cashmere turtleneck sweater. Among the rows of impractical and strappy shoes, she found a single pair of suede boots that had a somewhat low heel.
Checking herself out in the mirror, Lucy grimaced. She looked ready for a lunch date at a posh bistro, not an assault on the inner sanctum of the ES. Returning to the main room, she frowned. Oscar, also freshly showered and dressed in clean clothing, was setting plates on the dining table.
Lunch date it is, she thought with annoyance. Oscar noticed her hovering by the hallway and smiled, eyeing her with appraisal that wasn’t welcome.
“What are you doing?” Lucy asked.
“I thought you might be hungry.” Oscar moved into the small kitchenette that Lucy hadn’t noticed previously, and picked up a tray full of cheeses, meats, and fruit. A loaf of bread and an open bottle of wine were already on the table.
“I apologize, this was all I had. Please.” Oscar set the tray on the table and pulled out a chair, but Lucy remained standing.
“This is a waste of time,” she all but shouted, but as soon as she spoke, her stomach turned traitor and rumbled audibly. Oscar patted the chair with a chastising look.
“You haven’t eaten in several days,” he admonished. “I know that you want to inform your fellow hunters, but we need to have patience, it may not be safe for us to move out in the open just yet.”
Lucy walked around the table, deliberately ignoring the chair that Oscar held for her, and chose one on the opposite side. With a shrug, Oscar took the empty seat and began filling his plate. Lucy remained motionless with her arms folded on the table in front of her.
“Lucy, please, eat something,” Oscar begged. “Those jeans are loose. You’ve lost quite a bit of weight.”
Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “You sound as if these were my things and not some random clothing that I found in your spare room. This is creepy. Like, stalker creepy and quite frankly, I have no intention of staying down here and playing dress up. What the hell is going on?”
“Eat,” Oscar demanded, “and I’ll explain, though I must admit my plan is of little consequence to us now.”
Scowling, Lucy snatched a chunk of bread and began picking at it slowly. “Well?”
“As I mentioned to you before,” Oscar began, “the High Born are dissatisfied with the way the Elders rule our society, but by our very make up, we are unable to act beyond voicing our dissatisfaction. I will not sugar coat it. I, and others like me, were designed and created with one purpose in mind. We keep the population living in fear and obedience to The Eyes of The Sun. I’m a murderer without conscience. I kill for nourishment, I kill to enforce conformity, and often I kill for the sheer sport of it.”
“That certainly isn’t sugar coating it,” Lucy remarked snidely. None of what Oscar had said came as a shock to her. “But if you were going to kill me, you had plenty of opportunity. Or is this the sporting bit?”
“I never planned to kill you, Lucy. From the moment I first saw you, walking around New Orleans with that small animal in your pocket, I felt something unfamiliar. I watched as you willingly walked into a trap that Tim had set and I almost intervened, but I didn’t need to. You surprised me, for sure, and when I saw the hunters take you away, I didn’t think I’d see you again. But I did, and to my surprise, you became one of them. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you why this was shocking.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to hear the creepy details of how you have been stalking me. I just want to know why, and why I should even be listening to you right now? I’m a little creeped out, creeped out and ar
med, you get me?”
“I understand, but you have no need to fear me, Lucy. Yes, I have been watching you. You fascinate me and I believed, still believe actually, that you are the one who is going to take down the Elders once and for all. I admit that my approach may not have been the best, but I’ll remind you again of my genetic tampering. When my interest in you made its way to the Elders, I had little recourse but to tell them what I knew of you. Naturally, I was then ordered to kill you as soon as possible and bring your body back to be studied.”
“Naturally,” Lucy mimicked sarcastically.
“It wasn’t an unusual request, but I couldn’t do it. At that moment, I realized that you had unwittingly broken another barrier that had been placed upon me. Of course, if I objected or failed to do what was asked in a timely manner, my own life was forfeit. So instead, I expressed a desire that my superiors understood, you do not need to know the details, but let’s just say that had I been sincere, it would not have been pleasant. I made a trade, a vial of your blood in exchange for your life. What happened next, you already know. My malfunction was obvious, and Alphonse meant to kill us both in the end.”
“I’m really not following you,” Lucy said and shook her head. “You were ordered to kill me because you found me interesting, but you couldn’t?”
“Lucy, don’t you understand?” Oscar pushed aside his plate and reached across the table, taking her hand into his own. “My limited emotional range was never meant to allow me to feel the way I do for you. I care for you, Lucy. I want us to be together, and not under the thumb of the Elders.”
Lucy pulled her hand away and stood up, knocking her chair over as she did. “Hold on!” She threw her hands up in front of her. “Did it ever occur to you that I might have some say in who I am or am not attracted to?”
“Of course,” Oscar nodded, “which is why I wished to express myself under better circumstances. Understand, Lucy, I may be quite old, but this…courtship…” Oscar sighed, shaking his head. “Let’s just say that I’ve as much experience with such emotions as a child.”
“And so because of that I'm supposed to excuse the fact that you are a murderous monster who kidnapped me?” She began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but her laughter held no humor. “This is like some even creepier version of Phantom of the Opera, but with more death!”
“This is not encouraging,” Oscar said with defeat.
“No, Oscar, it isn’t. I’m sorry…well, no. Actually, I’m not.” Lucy’s voice began to rise in anger. “You may not have experience with feelings that aren’t 'kill everyone,' but you should have known at the very least that if you want to impress a girl, killing someone she cares about is not the way to do it!”
“I didn’t kill Andre, Lucy. Please,” Oscar pleaded. “I knew nothing of Mira’s plans. She came to me earlier in the day, asking for a key to the suite. I assumed she was working with you, not against you. I’m sorry about Andre. I know he was your partner.”
“He wasn’t just my partner!”
“I’m sorry. I was under the impression that your engagement was just a cover.”
“It was,” Lucy admitted with a defeated sigh, “but we were…well, it doesn’t matter what we did or didn’t have because regardless of who is to blame, I don’t have anything!”
“You were in love?” Oscar’s voice was soft, yet slightly pained.
“I was falling in love with him,” Lucy said, startling herself. Saying it out loud caused her heart to physically ache. “I don’t know how Andre felt. And now I’ll never have the chance to find out.”
“I’m sorry,” Oscar whispered hoarsely. “I didn’t know.”
“Stop saying that!” Lucy shouted, clenching her fists in frustration. “Saying you are sorry does not exonerate you from anything, so quit trying to play the role of misunderstood love interest. That only works in books and movies, and quite frankly, only the crappy ones that I don't like! Just take me back to EJC so we can end this for everyone!”
“I wish it were that easy,” Oscar said regretfully.
“Oh for God's sake, why? What now?” She began pacing, trying to clear her mind. She still had her weapons. She could kill Oscar and try to find her way out on her own. It was no less than he deserved, but in her current state, Lucy realized that killing Oscar would only serve to obliterate the last shred of her humanity. She might just as well have given up and joined The Eyes.
“Aside from the fact that there are now probably thousands of High Born, as well as their human lackeys, looking for us, you should probably know that your organization here in Paris is corrupt. Joseph is not the only hunter who has cooperated with The Eyes.”
Lucy stopped pacing. “What do you mean?”
“Joseph was blackmailed. I admit that was my doing,” Oscar stated bluntly. “But all of your hunters have been, shall we say, rewarded for looking the other way when certain High Born are in their vicinity. In fact, the majority, if not all of their kills have been orchestrated by warring factions within the ranks of The Eyes. Charging into the office and demanding a raid on the compound will likely get you nothing more than blank stares.”
Lucy’s already black mood spiraled lower. “How do I know you aren’t lying?”
“I have no reason to lie,” Oscar replied with a shrug. “Paris is a corrupt city, Lucy, the Elders saw to that centuries ago. Evan Conroy is waging a losing battle.”
“Then I need to contact Evan. He can bring a team here from New Orleans.”
“Yes, but we would have to risk our lives to get in contact with him. I have no phone here, no computer, or communications of any kind. However, what I do have is a plan for the destruction of the compound.”
“Do you?” Lucy asked sarcastically, not daring to get her hopes up.
“Yes, there’s a security system in place, in the event that one of the laboratories becomes dangerous. For example, if there is a fire or a hazardous compound disaster. There is a switch that will seal the lab in question and destroy it. That override has been tampered with. If the switch is activated, for any one of the labs, the entire compound will be sealed and destroyed.”
Lucy eyed Oscar skeptically. “How do you know it’s been tampered with?”
Oscar smiled wryly. “Because I was the one who tampered with it, of course.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Lucy shrieked. “Then why didn’t you destroy the compound before we left?”
“Well that is the difficult part. The switch is in the environmental control center, which is in the center of the compound. There would be no way to escape before destruction.”
Lucy stared at Oscar in disbelief. “Well that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Why the hell would you do that and how does that help us?”
“Programming,” Oscar held up his hands in a defeated gesture. “I was capable of creating a way to destroy the Elders only because I too would be destroyed in the process.”
Lucy threw herself down onto the sofa with a huff. “So what can we do?”
“Create a disaster in one of the labs and get out before someone pulls the switch.” Oscar answered nonchalantly.
Lucy laughed maniacally. “The last time I agreed to a plan that was this horribly put together, I was kidnapped by a flying vampire.”
“It’s our only hope, Lucy,” Oscar said gravely.
“Of course it is, Oscar,” Lucy sighed. “Of course it is.”
Chapter 32
Lucy checked the lock on the guest room door one more time for good measure. After spending several hours studying maps of the underground compound, her eyes became unfocused and she couldn’t keep from nodding off. As much as she disliked the idea of staying with Oscar any longer than she had to, after sleeping in a cage for several days, the thought of sleeping in a bed seemed very inviting.
She crawled into bed and stretched out under the comforter with a heavy sigh. She thought about the plan or rather the lack of one. Lucy hadn’t realized just how much s
he had come to rely on technology until it was unavailable. She would give anything for her phone’s GPS and the application that Andre had created that allowed her to see where the vampires were.
Oscar had explained the purpose behind the odd black and white skin of the ES vampires. Oscar, and those like him, had the ability to hide in shadows. The matte black coloring of their skin ensured that no light would reflect and give away their positions. Lucy had seen evidence of this in New Orleans on the night after Halloween.
The odd, white skinned vampires were actually more dangerous because they could take on the coloring of their surroundings, like a chameleon. Doubtlessly, this was due to genetic tampering that was based on actual chameleons. Though she hadn’t seen as many of this type, Oscar informed her that they far outnumbered his kind, but had greater invisibility in both darkness and light.
Lucy had expressed worry that this type of vampire could have easily followed them and may even be in the room with them, but Oscar assured her that this was not possible. The chameleons were of a lower caste and were mainly used as guards within the compound, though some were responsible for abducting humans for the Elders to feed on. As a High Born, Oscar was able to sense their presence no matter what form they took. Knowing this did nothing to boost Lucy’s confidence in the success of their plan.
At last, the troubling thoughts subsided and sleep was blissfully dreamless. When she finally awoke, Lucy felt refreshed and ready to start preparations for their attack. She sat up, stretched, and started to get out of bed, until she noticed Oscar, with his head bowed in sleep, sitting in a chair next to the bed.
“How did you get in here?” Lucy shrieked, yanking the covers to her chin. Oscar awoke with a start.
“Good morning to you too,” he yawned.
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 29
