“Welcome back, Eden.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m saddened to see that Mitch didn’t come in with you.”
Eden’s lips were tight. “Well, after what happened at his house, you can imagine he might be hesitant to accept your invitation. I thought I was allowed to go whenever I wanted to, and that you weren’t going to hurt me.”
Glancing at Fields, Alex flicked her head and then walked away.
“So much for my freedom, huh?” Eden held her hands out to him as they walked. “But now that I’m back, can you take the cuffs off?”
“Alex?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said without turning. “She’s safe now.”
“What is it with you two?” Eden asked them. “Are you screwing or something? I can’t figure it out—it’s like you take turns being in charge.” Neither one of them replied, but Fields seemed unusually slow with unlocking the cuffs. She should’ve waited to start harassing them. Too late now. “Oh, are you not allowed to talk about it here?” she asked him. “I’m shocked—The Clinic seems so open to new things.”
“No, we’re not sleeping together. Now, if you don’t mind, shut the hell up.”
She rubbed her wrists as each was freed. “I wasn’t sure you were going to let me out of those.”
“You aren’t a prisoner.”
“Really? You could’ve fooled me.” Not that they had—their big promise of freedom involved a closed space with nothing but locked doors.
“The men were sent to check on you,” Alex said. “We didn’t know if Mitch was holding you against your will or what he was planning to do with you. We wanted to bring you in for your own safety. Until he’s under control. If you tell us where he is, we can go get him and make sure he receives the care he needs.”
“I don’t know where he is,” she lied. Mostly. Maybe he and Landon had gone out for breakfast—who knew?
Alex stopped in front of her office, her hand on the doorknob. “Strangely, I have a hard time believing that. The guards sent to retrieve you told me that you two seemed to be partnered-up pretty well.”
“We were. And then we weren’t.”
Alex sighed and went into the office, stopping to fill a coffee cup. “Want some?”
Eden shook her head. “It makes me jittery.”
Alex chuckled. “We don’t want that, do we?” She took her cup and sat down, indicating that Eden should take the other seat. Fields waited just outside the door.
“I love that we keep having these discussions, Alex. I really do. I come into your wonderful office like I’m a second-grader who stepped out of line on the playground, you tell me how disappointed in me you are, and then I fake a frown. But the things is…all it really gets us is more wrinkles. And Lord knows, that’s something you don’t need more of.”
Alex’s angry glare showed off exactly the lines Eden had been referring to. Right between her eyes. “Look, I’ve had a long day. So just tell me if you came back to help us or only to bicker with me?”
“A bit of both, I guess.”
“What about Turner?”
Here goes. She faked a frown. “He didn’t want me.” She wasn’t sure if Alex’s matching expression was faked or not.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Eden. I know how much you care for him.”
Oh, please. As if the woman had any idea how much Eden cared for him. As if she even gave a shit. Eden was a product to them. Livestock to be tested upon. And livestock should be seen, not heard. And certainly not treated with any respect.
“Yeah, well,” Eden said. “He couldn’t accept that I’ve changed. And he still doesn’t think he needs help. He’s been coping in other ways.” She didn’t want them to think he was close to combustion, or they might decide he needed to be ‘put down’. “But he’s not transforming very often, and he actually seemed okay.”
Alex’s lips disappeared, and she tilted her head like she was talking to a child.
I swear to God, if she calls me ‘honey’, I’m going to lose it.
“It’s only a matter of time, Eden. If he doesn’t get help…”
“He’s fine,” she snapped.
“For now. If he won’t take the serum, there’s really only one way left to help him.”
Anger filled her, stroking her skin and leaving goosebumps behind. “If you go after him, I’m not going to help. It’s his choice, not mine and not yours. His. Unless he…is out of control, he still gets to choose. That’s the deal—take it or leave it.”
“Of course he does. Geez, I don’t understand why you still think we’re evil. Of course he gets to choose. He can be whomever he wants to be, with whomever he wants to.”
Was that a stab? A jab to remind Eden that he hadn’t chosen her? Was that the game they were playing?
“Until he’s unable to make logical choices, that is.” The pitch of Alex’s voice lowered a few notches, leaving Eden with the impression that playtime had just ended. And now the real fun begins. “Once he’s transformed permanently, we can’t allow him to be free. I think you know that, don’t you?”
Eden swallowed. “Yes.” She knew. She knew that she had a very limited amount of time to find out where they kept the serum, grab it, and get out of here. Before they realized the real reason she’d come back.
Alex nodded solemnly. “But when I said he could be whomever he wants to be, I was talking about the cure.” She leaned forward in her chair, intense and business-like.
Here it comes. Maybe she’ll even sprinkle a little truth on top. Accidentally, of course.
“We’re close, Eden. We think…” She stared at Eden so long it went way beyond uncomfortable. Like she was reading something written in code on Eden’s face.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
Alex blinked. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was.”
Whatever. “I’m back. I’m here. What do you want me to do?”
“The first step is to do tests, at different times and with different kinds of stressors. Test your reflexes and senses, which I believe have heightened.”
Eden didn’t nod or say a word. They’d find out soon enough. She’d help them by standing still or jumping when they said jump, but she’d be damned if she was going to tell them anything they couldn’t witness firsthand. And if Alex had any idea how easy it would be for Eden to kill her...well, negotiations might be harder locked in a cage.
Alex was still talking. “Then we’d like to give you a pharmaceutical that seems to encourage an Abnormal’s Jekyll or Hyde to emerge. And then…” Her face suddenly changed, grew tight, nervous, her body pulling back into itself.
“Damn it! Just tell me. What could possibly be left that would scare me?”
Alex looked at her nails. Picked at a chip. “We would like you to…” She shook her head. “It would be a great assistance if you would…”
“Say it already! You want more blood, more DNA, what?”
“When you were with Turner, did you…um…did you have sex?”
Eden couldn’t stop her flinch. “Excuse me?” What the hell? She’d prepared answers for a whole bunch of potential questions, but not that one. Why did she want to know that?
“Did you have sex? While you were with him?”
Her chest was tight, her breathing shallow, so when she spoke, it was soft. “I told you he didn’t want anything to do with me.”
“Stress does funny things to people. And a common effect is the desire to copulate. Especially when two people are reunited after a long absence. So I’d hoped—”
“You hoped we found the time to screw?” she spat. “Why the hell would you hope that?”
She leaned back. “We need stem cells, Eden. Stem cells carry DNA but can transform into any organ. They’re like blueprints.”
“I know what they are, but adults don’t— Oh shit.” Eden fell back in the chair, not taking her eyes off the woman in front of her. She could tell Alex was trying to hide her anxiety and maybe excitement. Good
God, why? This is what they wanted from her? The big miracle that would save them all? Stem cells. Collected from the umbilical cord after a baby is born.
“You want me to…” Have a baby? She couldn’t say the words. Could barely even think the words. Not now. Not now that she knew what she was. How could she even consider bringing a child into this madness?
They set it up. As it hit her, she put a lock-down on her facial expression, so it wouldn’t give her away. The manipulating bastards set the whole thing up. Telling her that Mitch was going to die, introducing her to a few people they supposedly help, and then letting her go. So she’d think they wanted to help Mitch as much as she did. All so that the first person she ran to would be him. Knowing there was a good chance she and Mitch would…what did she call it? A good chance they’d ‘copulate’.
This was insanity. She’d give them nothing. Ever. She would only take what they should’ve offered freely—a way to keep someone alive. Even that could be part of the set-up. Maybe Mitch permanent switch into Hyde was a lie too. Shit.
“No,” she said finally.
Alex blinked and pressed her lips together, as if she was surprised by Eden’s answer. But what the hell would Alex have said if their roles were reversed? “We would never do anything to a child, Eden. That’s not what we do. But the umbilical cord, filled with the embryonic stem cells we desperately need, is usually disposed of anyway. We can take the cells without harming you or the child.”
“Why me?” She didn’t care anymore. The question would be expected and so she asked it, feigning uncertainty on her face while feeling absolutely nothing inside. “Why will only my DNA help?”
“Your paranormal abilities are unparalleled. That’s always been the case, but now it’s even more apparent. You’ve somehow been able to do what we’ve never been able to do—combine your paranormal qualities with your human ones. With the indeterminate cells of your offspring—provided it also has the DNA of a Hyde—we can develop a better control serum for all of you. And, at some point, we may be able to find a way to completely reverse the condition.”
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. “And all I have to do is get knocked up and, what? Hang around here for nine months? Sounds delightful.”
“We’d want to do regular testing, but not continuously for the entire gestation period. You’d be free to come and go as you please. Once the baby is born, it will be yours.”
It.
“You could keep it, and if we’re right, you could have a normal life. With Mitch and the baby.” The pitch of her voice raised with every word and turned into some sort of terrible sing-song that no one would ever want to hear. “Don’t you want a normal life? To not worry about yourself?”
Eden’s head kept shaking, tiny little movements in response to the nonsense she was hearing pour out of the woman’s mouth. She was insane if she thought Eden would agree.
“To not worry about Mitch?” Alex paused, giving his name time to resonate in her mind.
She knows. She knows I’d do anything for him. How? Was it written that clearly on her face when she thought of him? No, they don’t know me. None of them.
“Don’t talk to me about Mitch,” she hissed. “It’s the worst argument you could make. Mitch would never, ever bring another life into this hell. Never.”
“But I’m not asking him. I’m asking you. Mitch will die, Eden. With our drugs, he won’t transform as often. But without a cure, his time will come to an end. A lot sooner than it has to be. Your child could save his life. Isn’t that worth talking about, at least?”
No, I’m done talking. She’d come here for something, and she was going to leave here with something. As soon as possible. And it sure as hell wasn’t a baby. They could all go screw themselves for all she cared. “I’ll do your tests. Give you blood, DNA, and pee in as many cups as you want. But don’t ask me for anything else.” Because if I hear the idea come out of your mouth one more time, I may have to hurt you.
“Just…would you think about it? Please.”
“No. You can’t ask me to do that.” She shoved her hands under her thighs, so Alex wouldn’t see how white her knuckles were, how much she was fighting the inclination to throttle her.
“I know it’s hard, but it’s the only way. For everyone, all of you. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Mitch and Justin and all the others.”
“Isn’t there someone else? Two people who you’ve helped who already want to have a baby…together?” If so, she’d have to talk them out of it. Or at least make sure they had up-to-date information about what might happen to their child.
Alex shook her head. “We’ve tried with other Jekylls, but your kind has fairly low fertility rates. Especially when you’re young. In fact, we just lost a fetus we were very hopeful about.”
“Just imagine how its mother felt,” she said before she could stop herself.
“We’re not that callous, Eden. Of course we were concerned with how the mother felt. But she’s still very young and has a lot more time to reproduce.”
“Reproduce? Again with the cattle references. We are people, Alex. People. Not animals.”
“I misspoke, I’m sorry. I know you’re people. But I’m a scientist and we tend to…try not to get too involved with the people we are studying. To stay unbiased.”
“Oh well, that makes everything okay then,” she snapped. “So if this woman wants to have a kid, why doesn’t she try again?”
“She’s just too young to carry a fetus with the hormonal spikes that a Jekyll or Hyde produces. We almost lost her. But beyond that, any offspring— Sorry. Any child she would carry still won’t have the combined DNA that you do. You have no idea how unusual you are—having the…special DNA from both parents.”
“Wait, am I ‘unusual’ or ‘special’?” she asked bitterly.
“Eden, it has to be you. Genetically, it has to be you.”
She wanted to puke. But she didn’t. She did something worse—she cried. Tears dripped from her eyes, but they didn’t seem to be coming from her. She knew her answer—nothing would change it. There was no way in hell she would bring a child into this world on the off-chance it would be the miracle they needed. No way. And even if she wasn’t absolutely, three-hundred-percent sure she would say no, she knew Mitch would rather burn in hell than go along with it.
“Mitch would never—”
“It’s okay, Eden. We’ll figure something out. Maybe send someone else to talk to him.” Alex came around her desk, a worried look on her face. She probably thought Eden had just realized she was out of options. That she’d do it, even though she didn’t want to. To save Mitch.
“It’ll be okay, Eden. I promise. After this, you can have the life you want. The one you’ve always dreamed of. With Mitch.” Why the hell did she think she knew what Eden wanted?
But Eden played along, standing up shakily and resting her butt on the desk, allowing the tears to drip down her cheeks. Everything she couldn’t control, everyone she’d lost, uncertainty, fear, hate, were all freed from the confines of her soul.
Because, honestly, none of it was useful. None of it brought her any closer to her goal. And that was what she needed to focus on. Let go of all the pain, so it wouldn’t distract her.
And best of all, it made Eden appear weak.
Made Alex’s brows furrow in feigned empathy. Forced her to pretend to give a shit about the weeping, pathetic girl in front of her. Distracted her from the keycard Eden covered with her hand and curled up into her fist.
CHAPTER XXIV
Alex dialed slowly, dreading the call she had to make. But, all things considered, her conversation with Eden hadn’t gone as badly it could’ve. Sure, Eden had been upset, but that was to be expected. Alex finally felt like they were communicating, being honest with each other. Hopefully, Eden now understood the good that might be possible if she agreed, and the bad that was inevitable if she didn’t. Because whether Eden wanted the responsibility or not, she was the solution.
And, more than anything, Alex needed something good to come of all of this.
So until the moment her boss started speaking, Alex hadn’t felt all that bad.
“Cancel your trip for the company picnic—you’re being replaced.”
“But we got her!” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Eden’s back now.”
“Well, isn’t that good news,” he said dryly.
“Sir, she came in willingly. After spending a few days with Turner. I don’t think it ended well, but can you please wait until we find out exactly what happened?” It was a good thing they never teleconferenced because desperation was not an attractive look for her. But after everything she’d done, everything she avoided thinking about, she couldn’t give up now. It wasn’t about the money. It wasn’t even about the science anymore. It was because she was so deep in this pit that giving up before something positive came of all of it was more than she could handle.
“Fine. I’m going to assume Turner and Landon are not longer problems. If that assumption is incorrect, your replacement will handle it.” The pitch of his voice never raised, not even when he was angry. Or maybe he was always angry. “Until then, bring in some more guards and tell everyone else to go home. Call me as soon as you know if she got herself knocked-up. Otherwise, do it the other way.”
Not again. Thankfully, Alex’s whimper was silent. “You mean with another Hyde? She’ll never agree to that.” She started picking at the corner of the file on her desk, peeling the folder apart layer by layer. “Our only choice was Turner.”
“No. Her only choice was Turner. And that didn’t work out so well. So from now on, we make decisions for her because, evidently, she sucks at making them.”
“I think…if we just give her more time. Maybe approach Turner directly. We could use her safety to get him to agree. I think—”
“Don’t think. Just do what I tell you to do. That way everyone’s happy.”
Jekyll, an Urban Fantasy Page 24
