“I was playing detective.”
“Right,” she mocked, “Well, we’re doing good. I was able to work a bit of my mojo and Erika is in much better shape now. The worst is behind her. In a couple more days she should be back on her feet.”
“Awesome. Now, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, a bit tired is all. Now that’s she’s stabilized, it’s much easier to work grander healing spells. They take a lot out of me. But it’s nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t fix,” she smiled.
“Okay, well I don’t want to keep you from your rest. Heard anything from the rest of the gang?”
“Of course. Everybody was up here checking in. I even managed to give Vector’s wounds a onceover shortly before you arrived. I think he said he was turning in for the night.”
“Sounds like we could all use a good night’s sleep. Hopefully everything will look brighter in the morning. Can I get you anything before I go?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks,” she said.
I started to step towards Erika and I stopped myself. Kara gave me a look that made it clear she already knew, so there was nothing to hide. But, I didn’t think it was a good idea. I walked over towards Kara, took her hand in mine, and kissed it.
“Take care of yourself, beautiful. And if she wakes…”
“I’ll tell her you stopped by,” Kara smiled.
I walked out of Sickbay and decided I should take my own advice and head home. If the team had discovered anything, I would have gotten a call. Since I didn’t, there was nothing to talk about and no reason to bother them. Jumping back in Vlad we made our way home. Pulling into the garage, I slung my dog tag over the mirror and patted Vlad on the hood after I got out.
“Good sleep, pal.”
“You too, boss,” he replied.
The usual sounds of creaking and settling filled the garage as he got comfy. I reset the security system, which reassured me that everything was fine. But, after Erika had slipped by the system, I wasn’t planning on trusting it anymore anyway. So, when I stepped into my living room and found an elf sitting cross-legged on my couch, I wasn’t really surprised.
CHAPTER 21
“Miss me already?”
“Illuminate,” Vector said.
The lights turned on, and I was very happy to report that he was dressed, although he’d gotten a bit more comfortable. He’d draped his coat and pistols over the couch next to him. The top button of his shirt was undone and he’d loosened his tie a bit. He wore the same pants from earlier, but his boots were off to the side, leaving his feet bare underneath of him. I almost thanked him for keeping his shoes off of my couch.
“Clearly you’ve figured out my fancy alarm system.”
“No biggy. While I assume that your friend with the nanites did the impressive reprogramming, I was able to sidestep it because your hardware is total crap. I can fix it up if you like?”
“Sure. Right after you tell me why you’re in my home?”
“I lied earlier when I said Dutton asked me to help the team.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I was the one who asked to join your team on this mission. In fact, that’s why I volunteered to deliver your tags in the first place.”
“And why would you do that?”
“To meet you.”
“While I’m flattered, you’re not my type.”
He couldn’t suppress the laughter, “Don’t worry, I think everyone is well aware of your type. Hell, during our sparring session you checked out that blond girl eight different times.”
“What? No I didn’t.”
“I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact that you’re denying it, or that it’s such a part of your psyche that it doesn’t even distract you from the fight.”
“Fine. Whatever. Is that what this is about?”
“Not exactly,” he smiled.
“Then what do you want?”
“Just to talk a bit.”
“I thought I was pretty clear earlier, I’m not much into sharing.”
“That’s fair. How about I go first?” he asked.
“How about you get out so I can go to sleep?”
“Tell you what. You let me tell you where I was born and if you don’t want to hear anymore, I’ll leave?”
“Freddy’s tried this same trick a few times. Next thing you know, his simple ‘let me tell you a little bit about pixies’ turns into a four hour conversation.”
“No trick. One sentence and I’m done,” Vector stated.
“Fine.”
“I was born in a US Government facility under a program that they oh so creatively called Project Four,” he said.
My body went deathly still. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke.”
“You’ve read my file, obviously you could…” he cut me off.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is too important…you’re basically family,” he said.
“I doubt that.”
“Well, maybe not in the traditional sense. But, if you’ll hear me out?”
I searched his eyes and face, looking for some hint of deception. His gaze met mine and he looked sincere. I wasn’t sure what was going on yet, but something told me that it was a long story and I was going to want to hear it. This felt like the kind of story one wants to be sitting down for. So, I headed into the kitchen, waving him after me.
“I’m gonna make some tea. It’s probably best if you start from the beginning.”
“Will do.”
He sat down at the breakfast bar and waited while I made a couple cups of jasmine. I was hoping this wasn’t turning into some kind of trend where people come over, I make tea, and we share things. Vector took his mug and waited as I hopped up onto the kitchen counter. After a nice, soothing sip of jasmine happiness, I nodded for him to start.
“Like I said, I was born at Project Four. Judging from your reaction earlier, you’re already aware that it was the predecessor to the program that made you. Four, like Five, was trying to give soldiers the ability to regenerate rapidly from serious wounds. Obviously, as the elves naturally possess this ability, we were easy subjects to study. After years of failures, a brilliant geneticist named Donald Chang was brought in to start Project Five. He was given access to all of the research from Four, in addition to the last surviving subject: me.”
“You knew my father?”
“I did. He was a great man, and frankly, the only person there who ever treated me decently. Okay, one of two people,” he smiled.
“My mother?”
“Yeah.”
“You really expect me to believe that you knew my parents?”
“I knew them well. If you’ll allow me to continue, I think it will all start to make sense?” he asked.
“Okay. Start making sense.”
“As I was saying, I knew your parents. Although, at the time, no one knew they were an item. But, they both showed me kindness and compassion. More than anyone else had. Chang’s research was taking a new angle on the regeneration problem. Instead of trying to replicate the rapid healing of the elves, he was tapping into human potential. Giving the body the ability to constantly reproduce the stem cells that are so plentiful in the womb. The government, realizing that he wouldn’t need Project Four or its used guinea pig, tried to eliminate me.
“I was only three at the time, but as I’ve said, I’m smarter than the average bear. Even at such a young age, I understood a lot of what was happening. When Chang convinced the government that he needed me, I knew he was lying. I knew he was just trying to save my life. The government bought it for a while, but once he was successful in creating a regenerating soldier, there’d be no justification for me. So, shortly after you were born, your parents made their move.”
“You mean the breakout?”
“Exactly. Only the version you heard was incomplete. It wasn’t just you they saved, it was both of us,” Vector said.
/> “Why wouldn’t they tell me that?”
“That I don’t know. But what I do know is that your mother helped us to escape and your father destroyed all of his research so that no more children would be experimented on in the future. Well, no more using his work anyway. As you’ve been told, we traveled in China mostly, staying off of the grid as much as possible. For three years we were a family. Then, when your father feared that his presence was endangering us, he decided to drop us off at the temple. That was when I was taken away.”
“What do you mean, taken away?”
“My grandmother,” he sighed. “She has plans for me, and the temple didn’t fit within her schemes. She’d been happy enough letting your folks look after me, but once they were dropping us off, she decided to take me back. So I was raised in Britain by lots of hired help, and you were left to stay with the monks,” he finished.
I tried to think back, grasping for my earliest memories. We all have those brief flashes of our childhood. Moments that you’re never sure are real or something imagined. But, thinking back, remembering bits and pieces of those last moments before the temple, something hit me.
“Has your hair always been white?”
“Yeah,” he smiled.
“I don’t know, maybe that’s familiar. But, if you knew all this time, why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I wanted to get to know you first. Understand who this person was that I used to call ‘brother’.”
“You’ve had the better part of three decades, why didn’t you find me before this?”
“I didn’t even know you were still alive until recently. As I’m sure you’re aware, you were a bit off grid for a few years there,” he said.
“Fair point. Are your parents still around?”
“No. Neither of them lived long enough to see me born. My grandmother is the one who tried to fill that role. But she’s a bit standoffish. Perhaps that’s why I have always thought of your folks as my parents.”
This was a lot to process, and I wanted time to roll it around in my head. Plus, if what he said was true, I suddenly found myself very interested in the rest of his tale.
“What happened after we were separated?”
“As I mentioned earlier, I was taken back to Britain. I grew up in the Castle Ljós. Grandma wasn’t around very often, and even when she was, she didn’t spend much of her time with me. Her only concern was that I understood the intricate workings of elf politics and my place in the family. So, to that effect, countless tutors and teachers and professors were put in charge of my education, while an army of cooks, maids, and butlers met my other needs. They were all very cold and distant. It was clear that they were deathly afraid of my grandmother. As time passed, I learned that they were also afraid of me,” he frowned.
“Why?”
“My kin give new meaning to the idea of a family feud. To fully explain it to you, we would have to delve into thousands of years of elven history and the complex workings of the royal families. How complete a back-story are you looking for here?”
“Perhaps you could just give me the short and skinny.”
“Well played,” he smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Okay, let’s see how simple I can make this. You know, to bring it down to your level.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I’d appreciate that.”
“I figured you would. So, my grandmother’s name is Mere, and obviously she is the head of our family. She’s an ancient elf, born of a union between the most powerful Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar families. Always working to extend her influence, she had relations with both a light and a dark elf in order to create two separate and distinct branches of our family tree. Her children were forced into unions with mates of her choosing and thus we are literally a family with a light and dark side,” he smiled.
“Wait. So, your cousins are basically like those two dark elves I fought in the Veil?”
“Yup. The very same cruel, vicious, and untrustworthy creatures that you met.”
“Family reunions must suck.”
“That’s an understatement. To make matters worse, I am the last of my side of the family,” he said.
“When you say last?”
“I mean I am the last of the light elf line. To put it mildly, the dark is winning this family feud. Which is why I am stuck dealing with elven politics. Someone has to represent the light side of my family at royal councils.”
“That’s rough. Sorry to hear that.”
“Not your fault. Just the hand I’ve been dealt. We don’t get to pick our family. So, in order to escape the crazy of mine, I left as soon as I could. In a story that almost mirrors your own, by the time I was thirteen there was nothing more that my gaggle of instructors could teach me. I was basically running amok all over the castle, until I convinced grandma to let me attend a university. That was when I found a place that truly felt like home, the Queens’ College of Cambridge,” he smiled.
“You went to college at thirteen? Holy crap.”
“Could have been there sooner if not for several millennia of elf baggage. But, don’t get too excited for me. Cambridge is far from a normal university. Let’s just say that the two Queens, who are credited with its creation, aren’t the only ones that had a hand in things. A fact that should be blatantly obvious to anyone familiar with the school. The old and new sections of the campus are referred to as the light and dark side, respectively.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. So, I still had plenty of elf crap to deal with but I was also free to take classes of my own choosing. I’m sure it goes without saying that being around so many scholars and free thinkers was a breath of fresh air. Engineering was my first love, but I pursued all manner of degrees. I spent every moment I could in classes and lectures. Unfortunately, family politics occasionally called me away, but except for those forced holidays, I lived at the university,” he said.
“How long did you stay?”
“Well, technically I never left. I still have a room and whenever I find some free time, I visit. I’m very good friends with many of the professors. I’ve even been known to give the occasional lecture now and again. But, obviously, my young statue and slowly changing appearance makes public appearances something I can’t go crazy on.”
“That’s a long time to be in college. I’m afraid to even ask how many degrees you got in that place?”
“Technically nineteen, although, only seventeen of those are officially recognized degrees. I sort of invented the other two fields,” he shrugged.
“What the hell? Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, that’s ridiculous,” I laughed. “So, clearly you like school.”
“I’m a bit of a fan, although there is so much more to it than just learning. It’s being around those people and a constant influx of fresh ideas and opinions. And, of course, the college itself is just magical. I mean that in the real and philosophical sense. Old buildings have a way of taking on a personality and over time the entire place almost feels alive,” he smiled.
“Sounds like a neat place to visit.”
“It is. I’d be happy to show you around some time. Check out all my old haunts. Heck, we can even stand on the mathematical bridge, watch the river Cam flow by, and let our minds wander. I can’t tell you how often I ended up there.”
“Why? Is that some huge spectacle of a bridge or something?”
“No, it’s actually small and simple. But it is the bridge that connects the light and dark sides of the school. While that could be significant in and of itself, there is more to it. When you stand there you can almost feel the forces at play. Like the light and dark are tugging at each other. Similar to my family, I guess,” he said.
“The struggle of the light and the dark, huh? Yeah, I think I can understand that. Our lives feel very different, but oddly similar. So, after a while you left school and joined up with the GHOSTs?”
�
�Yeah, as I mentioned back in the gym, I joined the GHOSTs about seven years ago. They were forming a new team and I knew enough about their organization to make sure my name made it on the list of candidates. When I got accepted, my grandmother was so pissed. It wasn’t at all how she wanted me to spend my time. But, the GHOSTs are a powerful enough organization that she has trouble manipulating things. So, in a lot of ways it’s an escape from my family.”
“Good to know that some things are beyond her power.”
“Not much. She is frighteningly powerful. Back in the day she even studied with Merlin. I have heard it said that she was his most promising student. Having seen her former teacher in action, I’m sure you can appreciate the level of scary we are talking about,” he stated.
“Okay. That’s much worse than I was thinking.”
“If only you knew. Luckily, her vast network of manipulation keeps her fairly busy. She spends far more time in the Veil than she does on this side.”
“You’re starting to make me enjoy my orphan status. Thanks.”
“Anytime,” he laughed, “So, I’ve been with the GHOSTs for the last seven years and here we are. Reunited with old…acquaintances.”
“Acquaintances, huh? I thought you said we were basically family?”
He shrugged uncomfortably, “Look, obviously I’m an elf, and I get that we’re not really related. But you know, brothers of the program and stuff.”
“Oh yes, brothers of the program. I get that. Heck, all of the monks in the temple were referred to as brothers, so I get it.”
“Yeah, sort of like that,” he tried.
“It’s nothing like that!”
He almost looked a bit disappointed. “I know I hardly know you, and this has to be a lot to process. More than anything, I just thought it was important that you know about me.”
“And that’s why you came out here, right? To learn about me?”
“Exactly,” he smiled.
“Well, you clearly missed something rather important in my file. I’m a white guy who was adopted by a Chinese man and his Japanese wife.”
“Nope, I caught that part,” he replied.
“I guess the subtext wasn’t clear. Especially when it concerns my family. I would have thought you’d understand my thoughts on this matter.”
G.H.O.S.T. Teams (Book 2) Shifters Page 19
