“Do we have any reason to suspect they’re lying?” Evan asked.
“No. Ida recognized a few of the bodies we had previously brought in and I already told you about Josh. Tonight she confirmed that all of the dead were definitely among the missing members of their party.”
“Nick said that seven are missing. How many have Ida identified as dead?” I asked, worried about the implications of the government, or worse, our organization being infiltrated with imposters.
“Including Josh, all but one,” my father replied. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there who might be wearing the face of someone we know. Dr. Mielieu certainly wasn’t part of their gang and I’m willing to bet the man we saw in the surveillance footage from the parking garage wasn’t Agent Carr either. We need to be on high alert.”
“Which is why I’ve got Mike and Andre putting together a new system that will automatically check identification on everyone who comes into the building,” Evan said. “So far, manual scans haven’t turned up any imposters.”
“Does that mean Andre is at headquarters?” I asked, keeping my voice as even as possible. Despite Evan’s attempt to assure me that Andre was safe, I still hadn’t seen evidence of this for myself. If he was indeed safe, then I felt justified in being more than a little mad at him for avoiding me.
“He should be,” Evan said with the same feigned neutrality. “But like I said, he’s implementing the new system with Mike, so he’s likely working on that.”
I dropped it. Even my own father was remaining painfully silent on the subject of my absent fiancé and I had a sinking feeling that pushing the issue was just going to get me the answers that I didn’t want. Instead, I switched to a topic that would make them uncomfortable instead. “So are we planning on checking out the address Nick gave us? It seems awfully suspicious that they would have been brought to a nondescript storefront that happens to be next to the LaLaurie house.”
“If I’m thinking of the right empty storefront, then it’s rather small,” my father noted.
“It is quite suspicious,” Evan added. “The mansion is a highly visible piece of real estate that is currently undergoing renovations to restore it to the original state. It would be one thing for a contractor to report hearing ghostly noises in the old house. It would be quite another to hide a parade of people and what I imagine would be a sophisticated laboratory without drawing a lot of unwanted attention.”
He had a point. “Maybe he meant a different storefront,” I suggested. “Or maybe a different house.”
“How many other unused properties are there on Royal?” my father remarked.
“We’ll look into it,” Evan assured me. “We still have people missing and I’m not ready to give up on them for dead yet.” At least he acknowledged that. “But I don’t want any arguments out of you on this, Lucy. I’m not sending you on any exploratory missions until Abe assures me that you are healthy again.”
“I expected as much,” I said with a sigh as we got into the elevator. I made a mental note to go check with Abe and see how the lab set up was coming along, but first, I was going to look for Andre and demand some answers.
As it turned out, I didn’t have to look very far. When the elevator opened, we were greeted to a line of hunters and security agents, all of whom had their guns trained on us. Right in the middle, with his gun pointed at my head, was Andre.
“Who is it?” Evan asked calmly.
“Lucy,” Andre replied. There was a hint of emotion in his voice, but his hand held steady.
“What’s Lucy?” I asked in a small, cracked voice.
“Now wait a minute,” my father said. “We left together and she hasn’t been out of my sight all night.”
“Check for yourself, she has no reading,” Mike said, turning his tablet so that we could all see the hemograph on the screen. Right between Evan and my father, where my hemograph signature should have been displayed, was an empty space.
“How? What’s happening to me?” I asked no one in particular, suddenly very aware that none of them were lowering their weapons or coming to my defense.
“We’ll figure this out,” my father said quietly.
“We can’t take any chances,” Andre told him in a cold, mechanical voice.
“Fine,” I said, keeping most of the tremble out of my voice as I slowly put my hands in the air. As scared as I was, I refused to have a breakdown right there in front of everyone, especially not with Andre staring ice-cold daggers at me. “Question me, lock me up, or do whatever it is you need to let me prove who I am, but for fuck sake,” I glared through the threatening tears at everyone, reserving my worst for Andre. “Someone had better go wake Abe up because I’d feel a whole lot better being examined by a doctor instead of a lynch mob.”
Chapter 21
I have to give Evan credit for having the most comfortable holding cell I have had the pleasure of being imprisoned in. Of course, my only comparison was to the cage I was kept in at the ES compound in Paris, which was little more than a dog kennel. Here at least I had a bed, a comfortable chair, and a table. But without the internet, television, or any other distractions, my mental health was rapidly deteriorating. I couldn’t even escape into sleep for fear of what horrors my anxiety ridden subconscious would concoct.
One wall had a large, thick glass window. I knew from my last visit that there was a room on the other side where I could be observed. I wondered if someone was in there now, watching me for signs that I wasn’t myself. I also wondered if they would have flooded the room with sedating gas if I had decided to act upon my anger and throw a fit.
I put up no fight when Evan informed me that for everyone’s safety, my own included, he was having me locked up. I hadn’t protested or tried to prove who I was, but still, I was left alone for several hours while everyone else determined the best way to handle the situation. Both he and my father apologized profusely, but it didn’t make up for the obvious distrust everyone else projected against me, nor did it make me feel any better about Andre’s cold and cruel treatment. As far as I was concerned, even if I had been an imposter, he had no right to be angry with me when he was the one who was sneaking around and avoiding me for over a week.
In a way, I couldn’t blame the others though. We were up against an unknown enemy with the power to shape shift into apparently anyone they chose and I hadn’t technically been myself for nearly a month. But the fact remained that my not showing up on the hemograph was probably a side effect of whatever had destroyed my immune system. Without a medical exam, there was no way of knowing if my newest symptom was a sign of something much worse, which shot my anxiety levels through the roof. My ignored request aside, I found it strange that Abe hadn’t already come down to check on me out of pure scientific curiosity.
The light above the thick glass window flashed, signaling that I was about to have company. The lights came on in the adjacent room, revealing the last person I expected to see, and quite frankly, the last person I wanted to see at that moment. Andre stood, silently watching me as I got up from the bed and walked over to sit at the table that faced the glass. For several minutes, he just stared at me, his face an emotionless blank slate, and said nothing. I wanted to scream. I wanted to bang my fists on the glass and tell him what a horrible person he was and how much he had hurt me, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, I stared back, willing my face into the same expressionless mask, determined not to break first.
“Tell me something,” he said at last, his voice betraying his emotional stoicism. “Tell me something that only you and I would know.”
My hands immediately went to the silver necklace with a fleur de lis locket that I never removed. “I guess anyone with some basic tech know-how could have figured out that there is a tracking device in this,” I said quietly. “But I’m guessing they wouldn’t know that the tracking device came out of a pair of earrings that saved my life in Paris. Or that the other one is in a twin necklace that
you keep hidden beneath your shirt as well.”
“If someone found the necklace and realized it was a transmitter, it’s just as likely that they could have gotten the additional information out of you with a dose of Neurephenhol,” he countered. The emotion that I detected in his voice a few minutes ago was gone.
“You’re right. I suck at this game,” I said with a sigh. He was right though. I needed something that was our secret, but that no one would think of questioning me about. I had run into the same problem when Bluebeard was impersonating my father. After nearly giving myself a migraine from thinking too hard, I thought of something. “Your apartment in Paris,” I said at last. “You won’t remodel it because it holds your strongest memories of your parents. You…” I cleared my throat, which had suddenly become blocked when a vice-like grip seemed to squeeze my heart up into it. “You told me about one of the pictures. It was your birthday and you wanted a puppy, but your mother was allergic. It was sweet. I kind of played it off, joking that you were human, but really, it touched me.”
There was a slight flicker of emotion as I relayed the memory, but the guarded expression remained.
“Thank you,” he said and turned to leave.
“Wait, what? That’s it? You asked me one question and you’re leaving?”
“You’re the only person who has seen that picture and heard that story from me. It’s possible my parents told Evan, but that would have been years ago and I doubt he remembers. I believe you, Lucy. But I’m not the only one who needs to question you.”
“Hang on!” I yelled, getting angrier by the moment. “You get to question me, but you are the one who has been acting suspicious. What the hell is going on in your head, Andre?”
“Care to be a little more specific, Lucy?” he asked with a flat voice, but I could tell I had gotten to him.
“Do you still love me?” My angry tone clashed with the nature of my question.
“Of course,” he said with some confusion, but the emotionless mask remained. “You know I do.”
“Do I? You’ve been avoiding me for well over a week and even before that, you haven’t exactly been hiding the fact that you’re uncomfortable with my appearance. Is that all it is? Are you that shallow?”
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy following a lead,” he explained, clearly getting irritated with me now.
“Right,” I said, not bothering to keep the anger out of my voice. “And I’m supposed to simply ignore the fact that you stopped acting like you loved me right after that bimbo threw herself at you. You realize she’s the enemy, don’t you? I got proof of that last night and would have gladly told you if you hadn’t had a gun to my head.”
“Isaac and Evan already updated me on the information you received last night,” he said, adding in a low, dangerous tone, “As for your accusations against my character, I’m just going to assume that you are understandably upset about the situation you are in right now and not thinking clearly.”
I felt like I had been slapped. “But you aren’t denying them,” I said with a hysterical laugh. “Clever word play won’t put me at ease, Andre. But do go on about how I’m the one who’s not thinking clearly. You were the one who went chasing after that half-dressed whore and then had the audacity to turn into a raging macho man when Damien showed up. For god’s sake, Andre, you fucking flinched when I tried to kiss you and then disappeared for a week. You are making it really hard for me to trust you right now and that hurts. Don’t you think you owe me a little more explanation than ‘I’m just following a lead’?”
“No, I don’t,” he said snappishly and walked out the door without another look back.
I was so shocked by his brutal honesty that I didn’t even notice several minutes later when the cell door opened, allowing Abe and Evan to enter. I was still at the table, staring at the empty and now dark interrogation room.
“Lucy?” Abe put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped.
“Sorry,” I managed to squeak out before my throat closed up around the lump that had been forming. “Do whatever you need to. I’m fine.”
“I need you to come up to medical so we can try and determine why your signature is suppressed,” he said gently.
“Don’t you need to question me?” I asked. “Andre said he wasn’t the only one who had to interrogate me.”
“Andre believes you. That’s good enough for me,” Evan said with a strained smile that made me wonder exactly how much Andre told him. “Besides, if the information Abe just discovered proves to be accurate, a DNA test should prove who you are.”
“But if you need a moment, take your time. We can wait outside,” Abe added.
“I’m fine,” I said, swallowing hard and wiping my eyes. As I did, the light caught the gold in the stone on my engagement ring and I lost all of my resolve. “Okay, maybe I need a moment alone.”
“We’ll be right outside the door,” Evan said and the two of them left. As soon as I was alone, I threw myself onto the bed and muffled my frustrations with the pillows. After a minute of screaming, crying, and pounding my fists into the bed like a toddler having an epic tantrum, I had to admit, I felt better. At least, I was physically drained enough that the emotional anguish was dulled somewhat. I splashed some cold water on my face and slipped out the door.
“Thanks,” I said quietly and followed them out of the secured wing. “Did anyone check on Cynda?”
“She’s still registering on the hemograph,” Abe answered. “Her enzymes are still dangerously low, but she hasn’t had any changes in a while. I’m still working out the answers, but so far all signs are pointing to her chimeric cells as being the only thing stopping her from progressing into this as far as you have.”
“That’s good, right?” I asked, grateful for at least one silver lining in this whole mess.
“That is very good,” Abe replied cautiously.
“Whuh…what?” I stopped. “What does that mean?”
“Only that we don’t know what’s happened or why just yet,” he replied a little too quickly. “But I intend to find that out now.” I had a sinking feeling that there was something else that Abe wasn’t telling me, but I let it go. More so because I really didn’t want any more bad news.
When we got to the lab, Evan stopped me in the hall. “Lucy, I’m sorry,” he said and pulled me into a hug. “I know why you’re upset and I can’t fault you, but understand that everyone now knows that you aren’t an imposter and they were just doing their jobs. Even Andre.”
“I know,” I said, not bothering to correct him on the reason I was upset. “It’s just not every day that your fiancé pulls a gun on you,” I added with a shaky laugh and tried to ignore the stabbing in my heart as I said the word fiancé aloud.
“I think your father had words with him about that,” he said with a grimace. “We’re all just worried about you and we don’t want to see anything happen to you.”
“I appreciate that,” I said with a small smile. “Even if it is frustrating.”
Evan did not accompany me into the lab, for which I was somewhat grateful. I was already feeling as if my humanity had been stripped away. I did not need to feel like a human lab rat on top of everything else.
“Lucy, I want to apologize for leaving you waiting in the cell. I didn’t have any way of knowing if a DNA test would prove who you were until I had a chance to thoroughly study Dr. Mielieu’s DNA. That’s what I was working on. I’m sorry if it made you think we were avoiding you,” Abe said as he drew yet another vial of my blood. I had to hand it to him for managing to hit the veins despite my completely opaque skin.
“That’s okay,” I said, managing a weak smile. “I admit that I was a little concerned when you didn’t immediately start poking me with needles.”
“Well don’t worry, this is the only needle today,” he said and capped off the vial. “I still don’t know how they did it, but it seems that Dr. Hayward’s DNA created a shell around the doctor’s own, but she’s
in there somewhere.”
“There’s another one,” I informed him. “One of the vampires that turned up at G2 looked exactly like Agent Timmons.”
“Evan told me,” Abe said with a grim look. “And the government has acknowledged that Timmons is missing.”
“Do you think there’s a possibility that they’re still alive?”
“I do,” he said, surprising me. “At least, if they were planning for a long term deception. Dr. Mielieu’s body is already rejecting Dr. Hayward’s DNA. I expect she’ll be back to herself completely in a couple of days.”
I didn’t let that get my hopes up. If Abe was right, whoever did this had to know that Dr. Mielieu was caught, considering that she failed to deliver me. They probably wouldn’t be dumb enough to try to turn someone else into a copy of my professor, but unfortunately that meant they had very little reason to keep her alive. I felt sick just thinking about it.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Abe said from behind his microscope. He switched on the screen and pointed to the squiggles, blobs, and lines that I’d come to recognize as my blood cells. “See this blue haze?” He pointed to what looked like a bunch of tiny halos floating around my blood cells. “It’s a protein residual that normally bonds with your enzymes. In most people, it metabolizes and wouldn’t register, but since yours is used to bonding with the enzyme, it has latched onto your red blood cells, which is obscuring them. It’s unusual, yes, but completely harmless.”
I was relieved to hear that at least. “Can you think of any reason a vampire would want to do that to themselves?” I asked, thinking about the old woman and Alex.
“I have a theory, but you aren’t going to like it,” Abe replied, getting up and going to the refrigerated cabinet that held his blood samples. “Vampires don’t actually have this protein in their blood, which is what makes them vulnerable to the toxicity of the enzyme.” He put another slide on the microscope. “This is Holly’s blood,” he explained. “If I introduce the sample of yours to hers, you’ll see that there is no reaction because you don’t have the enzyme at the moment. But notice what is happening. Her blood is attacking yours, thinking that it’s a pollutant.”
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 83
