Darkling

by Sabolic, Mima

  “I’ll take this one,” I said, indicating the latter. After a minute of studying it, it started to look like some kind of an organized chaos.

  Before he put it down, he stared at it for a while. And then at me.

  “It’s called ‘The Defeat.’ ”

  “To me, it looks very thrilling. Like when you are speechless in the face of something.”

  “Exactly! It’s a show of defeat before something completely unexpected,” he said.

  “Oh, right.”

  “Interesting choice.” His face was quizzical. “I’ll get someone to move it to your room later.”

  Before we left for the gym, he told me to change my clothes unless I wanted even less privacy this time. Ha, ha. He stayed in his street clothes.

  Lee was already there, waiting for us, and Belun explained that after he and Lee demonstrated something, Lee and I would train and Belun would correct my mistakes. And it worked fine. I was able to see what he asked of me, and I could easily repeat it. However, Belun kept repeating certain phrases—unlock your knees, think of your stance, think before you do something, loosen your wrists, and so on. But it all passed well, no one was kicked in the head or bitten. I didn’t know if that was thanks to the meds I was taking, but I hadn’t had anymore unexpectedly aggressive behavior.

  “Why do you think Tertius told me not to take my meds?” I asked Belun, while leaving the gym.

  “Why, are you thinking about taking his advice?”

  “No. . . I don’t know. I was only thinking that there were no incidents during our training today, and I was wondering if it was because of Lee or my meds.”

  He laughed with such a joyful tone that it threatened to become my favorite sound. There— then I would have a favorite something.

  “So how do you feel now?”

  “Well, I haven’t had any rage issues, if that’s what you mean. Nor have I bitten or hit anyone since then.” I smiled.

  “Then you’d better stick to what the doc says,” he teased, grinning. “Wanna go for a drink?”

  Um, what? Did I hear him right? His face was calm and relaxed.

  “Can’t, I already have plans,” I said, and his grin faded a little. He shifted his gaze and looked straight ahead.

  Chapter 15

  Theories

  I have something planned?! Yeah, right.

  The painting was waiting for me in my room, leaned up against the couch. Awesome! I got a hammer and nails from the kitchenette and started measuring the best height for it above my bed. When I was finally done, I was overwhelmed. The painting was amazing and it looked perfect on my wall! Defeat before something indescribable, as he had said. Interesting. I couldn’t have found anything better, even with all the money I’d received.

  So, what was this grand plan of mine that I’d blown Belun off for, except my sudden shock and fear when he had asked the question? How big was a lie when said in unexpected dread? Did it really count as a lie or was it just a semi-lie? To calm my nerves, I decided to spend the rest of the night reading a book until I fainted from exhaustion.

  For a change, I didn’t dream of anything that night. Or at least I didn’t remember anything; it seemed that the painting served well as a dream catcher.

  The next morning it was much colder; I would have to find an alternative to running soon, unless I wanted to get pneumonia.

  Back at work, I put a tea bag in a big red cup. Before I entered the cell, Jacob told me to place it out of the Vocati’s reach. I nodded, closing the door.

  “You look happier,” Tertius observed.

  “I had a good night’s sleep. Plus, I got a new painting.”

  “What kind of painting?”

  “Oil on canvas. It’s unusual and perfect.” For a second I was lost in the memory of its colors and shapes.

  “I see that you haven’t stopped your meds.”

  “And you see that based on what?”

  “Based on something that shouldn’t be present in you.” Another strange answer.

  “Like what?”

  “That careless glee you carry around,” Tertius said, watching me with a little annoyance.

  “You’d rather have me sullen with uncontrolled outbursts?”

  He shrugged. “It’s better for you.”

  Well, not all creatures were as miserable as he was! But I didn’t want to stretch that story any further.

  “You seem more joyful today as well,” I said, wondering if Belun and Jacob had also noticed.

  “What can I say; I’m catching it from you.” He made me laugh; although, by his face I wasn’t sure that he had intended to make a joke.

  “They’ve found another Vocati team,” I said, trying not to think about it and hoping to sound sincere enough for him not to see through my bluff. This had to work.

  A spark of confusion crossed his eyes, but besides that, he didn’t show any other sign of disturbance.

  “I don’t know the whole story; I just heard it before coming in here,” I pushed a bit.

  “You’re bluffing,” he said, peacefully. He appeared calm, as if he was trying harder than usual. Interesting. I’d gotten something out of him.

  “Why do you think that?”

  His sly grin spread across his mouth. “You want to know what they were looking for.”

  “Yes, I do,” I said, showing my cards. Honesty had been the key to our shared conversation until this moment, and I hoped that he would appreciate it now. And give me something in return.

  “You confirmed to me that you know what or who they were after. And that maybe you knew about the whole thing, which was apparently planned before you were taken. And that’s news.”

  “Baby steps?” Tertius asked sarcastically, but I nodded, smiling.

  I had made him think, because this time there was more silence than usual. Much more. He was probably wondering what clues he could have given that I could possibly have connected. It showed that I was onto something. Baby steps. Would he ever make a mistake again? Was he too relaxed or inattentive?

  When the fourth hour had passed, I said goodbye, rushing toward the office. Belun was waiting me.

  “Amazing!” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “There’s no way he’s gonna let me pull something like that again.”

  “Probably. But that was completely unexpected! Bravo!” Belun approached me.

  “It suddenly crossed my mind, and I knew I had to follow the feeling. Okay, I have to write my report now to crystallize all the thoughts.” I sat at my desk.

  I typed every thought and detail that came to my mind. Tertius definitely knew something, if not everything.

  “That action near Oslo was planned ahead. I noticed that he was confused when I mentioned a second team. Why?”

  “He wasn’t expecting them, maybe.” Belun put his elbows on the desk, supporting his chin.

  “Right, he wasn’t. And that means there won’t be any other bloodsucking wanderers in these parts,” I said, feeling the excitement growing.

  “And that it was not a rescue mission,” he said, and I nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, this is probably stupid, but hear me out. Is it possible that there’s some kind of telepathic relation between him and the Vocati he made?”

  Belun shook his head. “I’ve never heard of anything like that. Not even the Elders have that connection with their descendants.”

  “I don’t mean with the offspring. With the Rogues.” My mind was strangely stuck on this idea.

  “No. As far as I know, they’ve never had it. I’ll ask Baldur about that.” He paused. “You know what; Tertius never asked where they had been caught, or where we had been attacked.”

  “You’re right, he didn’t. He must have already known. Aaah!” I thought my mind would explode from these friggin’ puzzles. So many questions, leaving only “what-ifs” behind.

  “Hey, what you did today was the best thing any Inquirer could ever do! Gustavo has never succeeded in pulling out i
nfo about any currently relevant events. And his experience is enormous.”

  The best or not, this session with Tertius had been a success, but it had also been equally frustrating. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even say goodbye to Belun when I left the office for lunch.

  “You free after your meal?” Blake asked, choosing his food.

  “Mmm hmm.” My answer was absentminded.

  “I’ve found something interesting, but I don’t know if it’s of any use.” He looked anxious and exited at the same time. I picked out a bloody steak again, and he had to comment. “You know, you might be lacking protein or iron.”

  “Could be. Since my training has gotten harder I’m way hungrier than before.” I watched him choose the chicken with veggies. I couldn’t eat that boiled stuff now, and I wasn’t a fan of vegetables, anyway. But fruit or chocolate for dessert was a completely different story.

  “So, what was the feeling like?” His tone and eyes told me that he was asking about my fight encounter with the Vocati.

  “Honestly, the whole event is a bit blurry. Like it was me, but not me. It was weird, as if it was someone else instead of me . . . well, more like together with me and not excluding me.” I knew how confusing I was being, but it was the only way I could think to describe my feelings.

  “Adrenalin-attack victims often describe their feelings like that. Blurry experience, sudden strength, and so on. Luckily, everything turned out well. When I heard about it, I was really worried—so were the others.”

  “Safe and sound,” I said, with a smile.

  Later in his room, he told me all the jokes I had missed. Then he started to tell me about what he had found.

  “Remember how you mentioned your blood type? That gave me the idea to ask the others, and it turns out that we are all Rh-negative blood types. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but something made me do some further research. Did you know that only fifteen percent of the world’s population is Rh negative? And that percentage is compiled mostly of Europeans. That sucked me in further; however, the search results became a bit obscure.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, he had my full attention.

  “Well, there’s not really an exact science when it comes to Rh-negative, so it’s a fruitful ground for various sci-fi and conspiracy theories. I mean it is science, but there are too many unknowns. Therefore, conspiracy and supremacy are blooming around the subject. What is a fact is that Rh stands for Rhesus monkey gene, which means Rh positive. The Rh-negative blood type doesn’t have that rhesus protein in erythrocytes, which means that Rh positive and Rh negative don’t share the same predecessor? Completely bizarre.”

  “A monkey gene?”

  “Sure. It was first found in a Rhesus monkey, hence the name.”

  “Wait, that means that eighty-five percent of the world’s population comes from primates and the rest don’t?!”

  “Told you, it’s a hotbed for Aryan-like theories.” Blake gave a little laugh. “It’s probably a matter of some unknown mutation. The most accepted theory is that the negative factor developed in Europe between 25,000 to 35,000 years ago.”

  “When was that, the Stone Age?”

  “It was the Paleolithic Age, a period of Cro-Magnon migration toward Australia and Europe. And it was also the era of Neanderthal extinction.” He seemed to be hiding something.

  “Spit it out!”

  He laughed, uncomfortably. “Well, I have a theory. It is completely unscientific, but considering our environment, it’s interesting.” Blake looked at me as if expecting me to connect the dots, but it was futile. I had no idea where he was going with it all.

  “Since when do you think vamps have existed?” he asked, excitedly.

  “Since forever?” I offered.

  “Nothing has existed, or exists, forever.”

  His comment made me think that all young vamps had AB Rh-negative blood type before their preservation gene kicked in. Suddenly things began to make sense.

  “You think that the negative factor was created as a result of their mixture with humans?”

  “Exactly!” Blake exclaimed joyfully, but I could hear undertone of shyness. The idea was totally unscientific, and he was aware of that, but the existence of vampires wasn’t scientific either!

  “How old is Sango, anyway?”

  “No one has ever answered that question for me,” he said, brushing his hair away from his forehead.

  Hmm. The whole idea didn’t sound bad, but the question was how much fiction vs. reality was there? However, most great proved theories have their roots in fiction. Plus, they didn’t even know about the existence of a race parallel to humanity.

  “There’s more?” I read his face well.

  “It’s also another fat assumption,” he said. “A while ago, I talked with a vamp, who’s a microbiologist, about their blood type. He told me that theirs is not among the known groups, even though it belonged to the ABO blood group system before conservation. He also mentioned that their blood has a very high level of protein, unlike ours.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. And that Rh-negative blood types lack protein.”

  I remembered Tertius’s statement that human blood could not satisfy a Vocati’s hunger, but only slightly lessen it—which made sense since vamps blood was full of protein. Actually, it made a lot sense!

  “That places us on the bottom of their feeding chain!” The thought hit me.

  “Exactly. The order of the feeding chain would go: vamps, humans with Rh-positive blood type . . . and then those of us with Rh negative. Therefore, I think they can manage normal communication with us.”

  “Which means that anyone in that fifteen percentage of the world’s population could do our job!” I said, not very satisfied with the discovery.

  “Basically, yes. However, predisposition is never a defining factor. The conditions of our meetings with our Vocati gave us the starting point with them. Would they have had those conditions just with anyone? Mine probably could ‘cause he likes attention, but Lyndon’s, Tybor’s, yours? I doubt it. I think circumstances are what have connected us all together. And also, our frequencies, which vamps believe they are so well tuned with, are not only due to our lack of protein but because of our character as well. So, I think our jobs are safe,” he said, winking at me.

  This could be a great discovery for the vampire community. If nothing, they would only need to shuffle through that fifteen percent to seek compatibility. Wow.

  “This is big!”

  “Yes, that last idea seems reasonable enough,” Blake agreed.

  “Write an essay on it and show it to Baldur,” I suggested.

  “I’ve already started and I was wondering if you might want to join me.”

  “Hey, I can help, but all the props go to you!”

  “But you gave me an idea in the first place.”

  “Then call me your muse,” I insisted cheekily, and his face radiated with satisfaction. In the light of my recent events, he had probably been dying to tell me this.

  “Oh, and I’ve found info that shows that people with Rh-negative blood types cannot be cloned.” He sounded a little disappointed.

  “Bummer. There goes my plan to live in the future!” I joked.

  “Yes, it’s very disappointing. I was even putting money aside for the liquid nitrogen and my place amongst the cryonauts.” He was smiling, but I wasn’t too sure that he was joking.

  “How much does that cost?”

  “Around $150,000 for the whole body.”

  So, he wasn’t joking after all.

  “My condolences,” I teased.

  “Hey guys!” Tibor burst into the room.

  “Hey T,” I called.

  “Lamb! Safe and jolly.”

  “Successful survivor of the slaughter,” I said, smiling at my dark humor.

  “Good to find you here, otherwise I’d have had to look for you,” Tibor said, pushing his hand through his messy hair an
d leaving it in a state worse than before.

  “Why?”

  “Well, we’ve all been very worried about you, so we want to share something with you now. We’ve decided on a movie night with Bela Lugosi to finally introduce you!”

  Right, I’d forgotten that homework.

  “I hope you’re free,” Blake added.

  “After all your effort? I’m definitely free.” It was really nice that they wanted to do something for me. I stood up, hugging them both.

  “Thanks, guys. I’ll come after my training.”

  I had lost track of time so I had to run. Belun and Lee were already there, arranging the mats.

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  “No problem,” Belun answered, calmly. Wow, only a month ago I would have been digging myself a grave for being tardy. It was a nice change, and it now seemed funny that he had ended up babysitting an Inquirer instead of training real Warriors. Like they say: Karma’s a bitch.

  “This move is called katame vaza in Judo, and it’s very useful for taking down a bigger and stronger opponent.” Belun gave Lee a sign to attack him; he then immediately entered his space and used his arm to throw him over his hip. Then he showed a variation with a throw over the shoulder.

  “Again. Now I’ll be the attacker,” he said to Lee, giving me another opportunity to see the move.

  It was bliss to watch his perfectly-trained moves cutting silently through the air. The fall over the hip was not a big deal because you brought down your opponent by only slightly taking him off the ground. However, the one over the shoulder was another story. And when Lee pulled Belun’s arm, throwing him down, a painful gasp left his mouth.

  “Belun?” Lee looked at him in confusion, and I sprang right next to him.

  “Some injuries are not yet healed.”

  “Still?” Lee’s face remained bewildered, and Belun nodded with a frown.

  I didn’t know which part of him hurt; whether it was his shoulder, upper arm, or even his ribs. What had happened to that fast regenerative ability that we had recently spoken about? Lee seemed surprised as well.