“I guess,” she said at last. Her involuntary wince told me she was expecting a lecture. God knows I wanted to give her one, but honestly, it wasn’t my place, and I had to remind myself why.
After ordering two coffees, we grabbed a table in the far corner of the courtyard. I was right, the only other patrons were a couple of college kids with laptops and both were wearing headphones. Cynda hadn’t said a single word other than to thank me when I handed her the coffee. It was up to me to start the conversation, which wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I opened my mouth several times only to shut it again, realizing that what I was about to say was going to come out as accusatory or taken the wrong way.
“I was a year younger than you when I bought my first pregnancy test,” I said at last, realizing that honesty was the best way to diffuse the situation.
“Fifteen? That’s…”
“Very young,” I finished, “and very stupid. I knew better than to have unprotected sex because I was fortunate enough to have gone to a school that provided a thorough sex ed curriculum. But I was fifteen, insecure, and dating an upperclassmen who took every opportunity to remind me that there were plenty of girls who were willing to ‘put out’ for him if I didn’t. What I should have done was dump him the first time he said anything, but like I said, I was insecure, so I caved. It was only once, it was really kind of awful, and it psyched me out enough that I missed my next period. I bought a test, took it back to my room, and spent the longest five minutes of my life waiting for the results. It was negative, thankfully, but you know what?”
Cynda shook her head. “It was the last test I ever had to buy. I dumped the jerk, and didn’t give in to anyone’s pressure again. The next time I had sex wasn’t until several years later, when I was in a stable relationship with someone I trusted, who was more than willing to share the responsibility of contraception. Now,” I leveled Cynda with a serious look, “I’m only admitting my own mistakes here. I’m not implying that your situation is anything like mine. But you’re my family and obviously, I care about you, so I’m concerned.”
“Thanks,” she said shyly. “I… I just want to let you know that Anil didn’t pressure me into anything, honest. We’ve both been careful not to take anything too far. But this one night…” she trailed off uncomfortably. “We were alone. I mean, like really alone. Everyone was out working, but he had the night off. We knew we could spend the whole night together without worrying about anyone checking in on us and we kind of…” she trailed off again.
“Got it,” I said with a nod. “Was that the only time?”
She nodded and I was relieved. Cynda was a chimera, artificially created by Bluebeard using my DNA and that of a predatory cat. Because she was ninety-five percent identical to me, it was highly unlikely that she was pregnant, but I didn’t tell her that. Not only because I didn’t want her to think I was giving her permission to have unprotected sex, but also because there was still the nagging issue of my own sudden illness that I had yet to look into. Unlikely wasn’t the same as definitely.
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“About six weeks ago,” Cynda replied.
“Did you miss your period?”
“Well, yeah, but that’s not unusual. The blocker thing that stops me from turning into a rage beast kind of made me irregular. But about two weeks ago I started getting sick, like in the morning, and I threw up a few times.”
“Wait,” I said, realizing this conversation had suddenly taken an odd turn. “Are you getting headaches as well?”
Cynda looked at me in horror. “Yeah, really bad ones. Oh god, does that mean I’m definitely pregnant?”
“No, no!” I reassured her quickly. “No, it’s just that I’ve been getting really bad headaches and nausea too. You do realize that this is incredibly unusual, right? We don’t get sick, but we’re both suffering from the same symptoms. What we really need to do is talk to Abe.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she replied, somewhat relieved. “But I kind of want to take the test first, you know, just in case. If I am pregnant, I’m probably going to want to deal with it on my own before I have to face anyone.”
“That’s completely understandable,” I said with a sigh. “Look, no one’s at the house for a few more hours. Let’s stop and pick up another test and we’ll do them together. But after that, pregnant or not, we’re both going to see Abe, because this could be serious.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were back at my place, sitting on the bed, and trying not to think about the two tests that were sitting on the back of the toilet in the next room.
“Oh god, you weren’t kidding, how long has it been?”
“Not even a full minute,” I said with a sympathetic smile. “So is this the reason you’ve been avoiding Anil?”
She squirmed uncomfortably. "I wasn't trying to avoid him, but I didn't know what to say. I was scared. I am scared."
"Being scared is understandable,” I assured her. “Especially given the way you were introduced to the concept of pregnancy." When we first found Cynda, her reaction to Lona’s pregnancy had been one of fear. Bluebeard had populated his compound by kidnapping and artificially impregnating women with the chimeric embryos he created. They were then forced to raise their children, only to have them taken away to be hunted. "But avoiding Anil is not the way to deal with it,” I cautioned gently. “It may seem kind of over simplified, but it is true that trust and communication are important in a healthy relationship."
"I know," she said quietly. "I just..." She trailed off, frowning. "I've been going a little crazy. Not like, you know," she added with a silly impression of herself transformed. One of the scariest things about Cynda’s condition was that the hormonal shifts caused by her menstrual cycle triggered a chemical imbalance that transformed her into a deadly human-cat hybrid with inhuman strength. A neural interceptor had been implanted in her brain to block the imbalance, but as a failsafe, she had to wear a monitor that would administer a sedative and alert the medical staff if it ever malfunctioned.
"I just mean things like school and stuff are overwhelming,” she explained. “Anil’s only a year older than me and he’s in college. I’m practically failing tenth grade. It’s hard not to feel like an idiot. And don’t give me that whole, ‘things will get easier,’ crap like everyone else does because they won’t. I may be dumb, but I’m not blind. Even I know something big is going on, even if no one will tell me."
The last bit was slightly accusatory, but I couldn't blame her. It wasn't as if we were intentionally keeping Cynda out of the loop, but I knew that she was struggling to catch up to her grade level and I didn't want to add to her worries.
"I don't think anyone is deliberately withholding information," I told her with a sympathetic smile. "It's just that we aren't any closer to knowing what we're dealing with and it's frustrating the hell out of us. But Cynda, you are not dumb. For someone who has never had a formal education, you’re doing amazing. You know you can ask me for help any time, right? Just don’t give up, that’s all I ask." The timer on my phone alerted us that our five-minute wait was up. “Well, are you ready for this?”
“No. Are you?” she asked sarcastically.
“Come on,” I said, pulling her off of the bed by the hand. “We’re probably both over reacting. Let’s just get this over with.”
One of us, at least, was over reacting.
Two tests, one negative and one positive, sat on the back of the toilet. The trouble was, I couldn’t remember which one was which.
“Um,” Cynda said hoarsely. “Were you the left or the right?”
“I don’t remember.” My mouth was just as dry as Cynda’s. “We’ve got to bite the bullet and go see Abe.”
Neither of us spoke on the ride back to headquarters. Cynda’s already alabaster complexion was drained to almost white, as I’m sure mine was. As we pulled into the parking lot, I remembered that Abe would be busy with the hair I had given him ea
rlier, so I sent Dara a text, asking her to meet us in one of the exam rooms. I should have thought to contact her first anyway. Abe may be the best genetic scientist on the planet, but as a doctor, he had zero bedside manners.
The smile Dara greeted us with vanished quickly when she saw us.
“Good heavens! You both look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s wrong?”
“This,” I said and showed her the plastic sandwich bag containing the tests. “Cynda and I have both started getting sick, which you know never happens. The symptoms have been similar to morning sickness, so we decided to rule out the obvious. Unfortunately, we didn’t pay enough attention to who peed on which stick.”
“I see,” Dara said with a frown. “Well, I can save you the trouble of a blood test, Lucy, because the positive test would be Cynda’s.”
A strangled croak escaped from Cynda’s throat and her eyes widened at the news.
“No, no, I should clarify,” Dara said hastily. “The neural implant that suppresses your transformations mimics the hormonal patterns of pregnancy, so the test could be a false positive. That’s why your period has been irregular. But the two of you experiencing illness is intriguing, and a bit worrisome. How long has this been going on?”
Cynda had noticed headaches and nausea for a week longer than I had. As we answered Dara’s questions, her frown deepened. “Blood tests for the both of you then,” she said apologetically. “Vampires, even natural ones like me, have never been known to suffer illness in the way you’ve both described. But you are both unusual cases and I’m not fully qualified to make a diagnostic. I’ll take some samples and then let’s get Abe in here to check you out.”
Fifteen minutes and two vials of blood later, we were sitting in Abe’s lab while he inspected the results of our tests. After a few minutes, he looked up, adjusted his glasses, and gave us each a reassuring smile.
“According to your blood work, you both have a clean bill of health. No viruses, no bacterial infections, and no, neither of you are pregnant at the moment.”
I felt a massive weight I hadn’t even known I was carrying lift from my shoulders. Cynda seemed to relax upon hearing this news as well. But that still left us with the mystery as to why we were experiencing symptoms of illness if we weren’t actually sick, so I asked.
“I suspect that it may be stress related,” Abe replied.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I asked with an incredulous snort. Admittedly, I had been stressed out a lot lately, but not enough to make myself sick over it.
“It’s not as unusual as you might think,” Abe replied. “Stress plays havoc with our immune systems and can sometimes cause our bodies to attack themselves. You’ve had stress related headaches before. This is no different. We’re all experiencing a higher than normal level of tension over the situation we’ve been thrust into and the addition of the threats made against you have likely escalated what was already there.” He then turned to Cynda. “The academic and social pressures that you’ve been dealing with are all new to you and no doubt, incredibly overwhelming. Adding a pregnancy scare on top of that probably sent your stress levels through the roof. While neither of you are infected with an outside aggravator, understand that your normal ability to heal is weakened by anxiety. In fact, it appears that your enzyme levels have also been affected.”
“What? What do you mean affected?” I asked. This was the type of thing Abe did that drove me nuts. Casually telling me that not only was my ability to heal faulty, but that my one natural weapon against aggressive vampires was weak, was kind of infuriating.
“You both still have a significantly higher enzyme level than normal hunters, but yes, when you are stressed out, it dips,” he explained. “Cynda’s is slightly lower than yours at the moment, but you are both perfectly fine. The only recommendation I can make is to try and work on relaxing. I know, that’s not easy to do right now, but just being mindful of it helps.”
“And I’m always here for you if you need someone to talk to,” Dara added. “Both of you.”
“I’ll definitely take you up on that, but informally, and with lots of coffee,” I said with a smile.
“Me too. But right now I kinda have to go talk to someone,” Cynda added with a glance at the clock. The outreach team would be getting ready for their nightly meeting in less than an hour and I had a feeling she was planning on looking for Anil.
“Good luck,” I said and gave her a hug. When she left, I turned back to Abe. “Any progress with the hair sample I sent you?”
“It’s definitely a mod, more than likely an ES,” he replied. “I’m running a comparison against our database.”
“I doubt the hair belonged to a dead vamp.”
“No, I don’t suspect we’ll get an exact match, but I can learn a lot by comparing the DNA and modifications. Our best-case scenario would be that I would find enough markers to determine what clan developed the genetic data, which would give us a territory to start with. Being that we might be dealing with an ES, I’m running a full scan, including the Paris files. This could actually work in our favor because the ES has a much more rigid set of genetic rules depending on what class of vampire they create. We’ll likely be able to deduce where in the ranks they fall.”
I was about to ask Abe what that meant when Evan came into the office looking very grim.
“Evan, what’s the matter?” Dara asked.
“The car carrying the two vampire suspects from Fort Worth was involved in a head on collision near the border an hour ago. There were no survivors. The car that struck them was driving the wrong way on the highway.”
“Oh my god. You don’t think it was intentional, do you?” I wasn’t even sure what I thought, but suicidal vampires were few and far between.
“I think someone didn’t want the government to know whatever it was that they knew. The car that hit them was packed with explosives. Kurtz is having what’s left of the driver of the other car identified. I’ll bet anything it’s another mod.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” I said. “No vampires would willingly blow themselves up like a terrorist.”
“A mod on enough drugs or programmed with the right brainwashing may not even realize what they are doing. I don’t want to put all of our resources on one line of thinking yet, but I think we need to look at the Daughters of Darkness angle a little more closely. This definitely matches their MO.”
I had to agree with Evan. One of the first things I ever learned about the Daughters was that they had no objection to sacrificing vampires, especially male vampires, to get what they wanted.
“How’s the diagnostic going?” Evan asked Abe.
“It actually just finished. Oh,” he raised his eyebrows. “I’ve got a ninety nine percent match. It looks like… oh my…”
I didn’t even wait for Abe to finish marveling at his findings before I jumped up and looked at the computer monitor myself. Beneath the lines of incomprehensible techno-babble, the name of the matching vampire stood out in stark contrast.
Oscar Pierre Blanc.
Chapter 6
Oscar was dead. Though I didn’t see him die, his body had been recovered from the wreckage that had once been the stronghold of the ES in Paris. That his hair would show up on the painting was incredibly disturbing. It seemed unlikely that it was placed there by whoever was stalking us. There would have been indentations in the paint if someone tried to make it stick. From the resistance I felt when I removed it, I would have guessed that the hair had been there for a while. This led me to wonder whether Oscar had obtained the works after becoming obsessed with me or if perhaps the paintings themselves played a role in the obsession. Either way, it wasn’t something I wanted to think about while alone in the house with no one but a hyperactive puppy and lazy cat to protect me.
I was relieved when Andre and Ben finally came home. Ben was clearly exhausted and from Andre’s expression, I assumed the Saints must have lost.
“Tough game?” I asked
.
“Don’t even get me started,” he replied with a dirty look. “I can’t believe this is the same team that just won the Super Bowl.”
“Well it looks like someone had a good time,” I said with a glance at Ben, who was on the floor and trying to take off his shoes while Monster pranced around trying to get his attention.
“Someone is going to have a stomach ache after everything he ate. You can thank Miles for that.”
Watching Andre wrangle the dog and help Ben get ready for bed had an unexpected impact on me. The relief I had gotten from the negative results of the pregnancy test made me feel guilty and more than a little selfish. To say that I wasn’t exactly a maternal person was something of an understatement. Not that I didn’t absolutely love Ben, but being only fifteen years younger than me, he was more like a little brother than a son. I was terrified of the entire prospect of pregnancy, which was hard to communicate to Andre because he wanted so badly to be a father. He claimed the fact that it was highly unlikely we could even conceive didn’t bother him, but it was hard to miss the looks he gave me whenever Miles and Lona brought their baby around.
After Ben was tucked in bed with both dog and cat at his feet, Andre and I settled in on the sofa with a bottle of wine.
“So, how was Texas?” he asked.
“Hot,” I said with a groan. “And a bit troubling. We ran into our favorite government xenophobe and my old professor was totally hitting on my dad.”
“Kurtz was there?”
“Yep, apparently the government got an ‘anonymous tip’ about the painting and decided to withhold that information. Oddly enough, that kind of worked out in our favor. Well, it would have…” I trailed off when I noticed the way he was looking at me. The last thing I wanted to do was put an abrupt end to the evening by revealing that the paintings were linked to Oscar. It was cowardly, and I knew he’d be upset when he found out, but I was happy to deal with that later. “You know what? All of this is going to be in Evan’s morning report. If you don’t mind, I’d rather talk about something else at the moment.”
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 68
