by Amy Richie
I had climbed on top of the low roof of the cells. David found me there, alone.
“Hey, what are you doing up here?” He smiled and sat beside me.
“Nothing really,” I shrugged, “just thinking.”
“About what?” He didn’t stare me down the way Neleh would have. He was actually holding a small metal object and most of his attention was already on that. David was a man of science, created in the name of science. Human emotions and trials meant very little to David.
“What’s that?” I asked instead of answering.
“This?” Obviously. “It’s a thermo aquatic device used to measure electronic impulses.” I blinked twice. He smiled. “So what are you thinking about?”
“You come here to think too?”
“Sometimes. I just can’t get this thing to work right.” He waved the object in the air and gave a frustrated sigh.
“I like listening to the sounds outside of Lexon,” I admitted.
He looked surprised and then amused. “So your auditory perception has increased.”
“Yeah, I can hear so much clearer now.”
“What do you hear?”
We were both silent while I stretched my new senses. “Mostly I hear the screaming and the guns.” His amused expression changed to a grimace. “People killing each other night after night.” I turned my face away from David. “I hate the nights,” I whispered.
David didn’t say anything. “I don’t understand it,” I said after a while.
“Understand what? Why they kill each other?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t understand why she cares to save them.”
“Ah,” David said with understanding.
“You won’t tell her I said anything?”
“No.” His eyes narrowed. “They weren’t always like this Eva. You have to understand, after Jewell hit —humanity changed.”
“So you remember what it was like when they were good?”
“Yes, of course.”
“So is that why you joined Neleh? To help humans become good again?”
“No.” Irritation flickered across his face for a fraction of a second.
“Then why did you join her?”
He turned his face slowly towards me, his expression guarded. “It is hard to explain really. I didn’t see eye to eye with the one who created me so I left him.”
“The guard didn’t create you?”
“No.” He kept his eyes on me. “I wandered alone for a while but I am a man of science. When Neleh offered me the lab, I took it.”
“Do you regret it?”
“No.” He seemed to weigh each bit of information he gave me. “Neleh has never asked anything of me. All these years, until you. I suppose she always had it planned for me to create something to kill Dominick.”
“Why can’t the guard kill him?”
“They have tried,” he admitted, “but it is difficult.”
“Is he very strong then?”
“The guard is much more powerful,” he said without hesitation, “but Dominick always travels with his brother Damien.”
“Who is protected by Kiera.”
“Exactly. Damien protects Dominick. The guard won’t go near Damien. It would go against Kiera’s orders. And, as you know, they are bound by Kiera more powerfully than anything on earth. They can’t disobey her. They aren’t able to.”
“So she needed an outsider to get through Damien?”
“Yes.” He looked like he was going to say more, but changed his mind.
“Have you ever—” I hesitated to finish my question. I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Have I ever what?”
“Have you ever seen the Letrell’s? Or talked to them?”
His lips snapped shut. “Hmmm.”
“I am just curious. The Letrell brothers. How many are there? They must keep hidden.”
“The Letrell brothers—” he began but then stopped. “You’ll learn all of this later, in your lessons.” I didn’t dare say a word, I was afraid he wouldn’t say anything more. He sighed and began again. “The Letrell brothers are a group of six men and one woman. None of them are actually related except Elizabeth and Dominick.”
“And have you ever seen them?”
“Damien Letrell created me.” The silence cocooned itself around us. I heard a dog bark and a gun fired in the distance. “So yes, I have met the Letrell brothers.”
“All of them?” He must have known who I was really interested in.
“All of them,” he confirmed.
“What are they like?”
“I haven’t seen them in many, many years.”
“And you didn’t like them, so you left?”
“That’s not exactly how it went.” He was being extremely elusive. Just when I was sure he wouldn’t say anything more, he began talking again. “Damien created me to save me from death.”
“Why would he care if you died?”
“I think he must have realized I had great potential in the scientific world. He always told me I was born before my time.”
“So he wanted to use you,” I concluded.
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“I don’t think that part is important for you to know,” he said with a small frown.
“What do you think is important for me to know?” I sensed there was a reason for his talking about them.
“Dominick Letrell wasn’t always bad.” He said it without a smile so I knew he wasn’t joking. “The Letrell’s were created by Silango — one of Vladimir’s guards — during a time of warriors in human history. The warriors — the human warriors — did not have respect for human life. If someone got in the way, they killed them without a second thought. And if one of their brothers died, they recruited someone else. Now, I believe that when we change, our human natures come with us, only intensified. Their distaste for anything weaker than they are was just part of the deal for them.”
“So you’re saying that it’s their nature to be cruel, so it’s ok?” I couldn’t process what I was hearing.
“Damien is the worst of all the brothers,” he continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “His arrogance is maddening.”
“And Dominick?”
“Dominick,” he chuckled lightly, “Dominick wanted to be a hero.” I narrowed my eyes in disbelief. “It’s true. He wanted to use his newfound strength to help humans.”
“Well. I think he failed in that,” I pointed out.
“So it would seem.” Did I detect sadness in David’s voice?
Chapter Three
Almost as soon as the memory faded, another came to mind. A more recent memory. I had forbid myself to remember it while in the lab because I didn’t want David to know I knew and more importantly I didn’t want Neleh to know anything about Damien’s visit. If she had known, she might have called the whole mission off.
It didn’t matter that Damien had come to see David. It didn’t matter that David was having sympathetic thoughts. None of that mattered now. I was the only thing that mattered. My actions. And I knew what I had to do. What I would do.
But now in the solitude of the decam room I allowed myself to pull out the memory of that day and examine it. Why had Damien come to Lexon?
That day hadn’t started out well. I had to spend four hours in the depo cave. It was part of a month long training session meant to teach me how to shut my brain activity down. A defense mechanism for pain or mind reading vampires. The depo cave was basically a coffin shaped chamber half filled with lukewarm water. It was a subtle form of torture. Worse than whips or blades.
After the four hours were up the door clicked open. The hatch didn’t make a sound when it swung open. I sat up, disoriented because it was still dark. The musty smell was strong. I realized with a small sigh that I had been forgotten again. The depo cave had been dropped below floor level with me still inside. Now I would have to wait for David to come back to the lab and let me out.
By the time the platform was raised back up, I had curled up beside the cave and fallen asleep. A strange voice brought me fully awake. “Impressive,” said the stranger.
“Amazing what money will buy.” that was David’s voice. Who was he talking to?
“Ah, same old David.” I heard the clap of his hand against David’s back.
I eased up slowly to my knees so I could peer over the depo cave. Our eyes met instantly. I kept my eyes locked with his until David caught his attention again. I ducked back down.
“So Damien, why did you really come here?”
Damien? Damien Letrell? Ever so slightly he nodded his head, as a way to answer my unasked question.
My mouth fell open.
“I came,” Damien said in a lazy voice, “to see what my dear friend was up too.” He put his hand on David’s shoulder. “It’s been too long, has it not?”
To my utter surprise, I saw David’s face crumple and then soften. “Indeed it has.” Both men stared at each other as if they’d found a lost treasure.
“You’re not happy here are you David?” He didn’t remove his hand from David’s shoulder.
“Most of the time I am,” David said sadly. “Most of the time she doesn’t bother me. She stays away.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed and he dropped his hand. The emotional moment was over. “What is the latest project?” He walked slowly around, tracing his fingers along the gadgets there.
David’s eyes lit up. “A time machine,” he announced excitedly. In my hiding place, I frowned deeply. Neleh would not like for him to be telling Damien. As if on cue, Damien’s dark eyes turned to glare at me. I crouched down lower.
“A time machine?” I heard him ask.
“Yes I’ve always believed that time travel was possible, but I couldn’t find a powerful enough energy source. Well, Jewell changed all of that.”
“Jewell?” He sounded surprised. “How so?”
“You already know that Jewell is in actuality a piece of rock from Saturn?”
“I did know that.” Damien’s face remained curious and amused.
“I got to the crash site before anyone else.” David’s excitement grew.
“What?”
“Yeah, the whole site was blocked off. They didn’t know if the air was toxic or not, so they didn’t let anyone down there.”
“How far was it down?”
“A couple hundred feet.” David shrugged but I was pretty sure he knew exactly how far down it went.
“And how did you get to it?”
“I just climbed down. I figured nothing down there could hurt me.”
“And did it hurt you?” Damien’s smile was back.
David returned the smile. “A little,” he admitted. “It was hot.” Both men chuckled.
“But you found something of value to you?”
David nodded. “You want to see?”
“Yeah.” He grinned.
They turned away from me to another part of the lab. I raised up further so I could see better. David pressed his thumb against a small keypad and a door opened on the wall. After a series of numbers provided by David the door opened to reveal a small safe inside. Another set of numbers later and the safe hissed open. A bright purple light filled the room.
My gasp was audible but luckily so was Damien’s “Oh my.”
“Pretty isn’t it?”
“What is it?”
“This,” David reached into the safe and brought out a tiny vile of purple substance, “is a semi-solid matter I have called indigo.”
“Why indigo?” Damien’s voice was still awed.
“When we first collected the matter it was a lot duller in color. We believe this must be the color when it freezes.” The glow from the indigo made David’s expression eerie.
“And this...indigo provides enough power for time travel?”
“Well, the energy molecules of NH2...” Damien stopped him with an upraised hand and a laugh.
“Please, plain English.”
“Ok,” David said good-naturedly. “We do actually believe the indigo holds enough power to propel our machine back in time.”
“To what time?”
“We haven’t...”
“Why are you going back?” His voice took on an icy edge.
“Damien, it’s not...”
He shook his head in disbelief and turned away from David. His gaze returned to me briefly. I was confused as to why he didn’t say anything about me being there.
“Listen Damien,” David said, “it’s not about you or even me.”
“Is it all about Neleh now?”
David flinched back as if he’d been slapped. “Maybe it’s time for you to be on your way,” he said very quietly.
“Maybe so.” He walked towards the door but then turned around. “You know David, you think you have it all figured out. You lay awake and justify her reasons but we both know the truth. She hates the Letrell’s and everything we’ve created. Don’t think you’re exempt from that my friend.”
“Dominick has been...”
“You don’t know anything about my brother,” Damien said through clenched teeth. Suddenly he cocked his head to one side. “And what do you think will happen to the girl? Does it even matter anymore? Does anything matter to you now that Neleh is smiling your way?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself.”
“You have no room to talk.”
“The things I’ve done,” he said slowly, “were done for the best interest of my family.” He turned and reached his hand out to grasp the door handle. “And David,” he half turned, “I still consider you part of my family. No matter what you do.”
I opened my eyes to the darkness of the decam room. Everything was completely quiet. I could just barely hear the breathing of the two men nearby.
I didn’t buy that Damien had just stopped in to say hello to an old friend. That had been just over a year ago. Entirely too convenient. But why had he come? He didn’t ask David to call off the mission. He didn’t even really try very hard to get information from him.
Maybe it was just to intimidate David. Or me. He saw me there but said nothing. I saw him there but said nothing to Neleh. Maybe that was it. Maybe Damien expected me to tell Neleh of his visit and then she would call off the mission.
If that was the case, Damien had underestimated me. I didn’t smile smugly in the pod though. My senses were very much on alert. I couldn’t deny the fact that something was off. Sols and Max were planning something, I was sure of it. I was equally sure that David had something to do with that plan.
I sat up straighter in the pod, wondering how much time had already passed.
“You have to learn patience,” I heard Neleh snap from somewhere in my memory. I flinched back.
“She’s just a child,” Reva tried to defend me.
I didn’t see Neleh’s hand reach out and strike Reva’s; I only saw the deep purple stain across her face. “How dare you,” she spat. Reva cowered away from her anger. “She is not just a child. How I decide to raise her is not for you to question. Is that understood?” The malice was unmistakable. Reva nodded. Neleh breathed heavily through clenched teeth. “I can’t hear you.”
“Yes Neleh, I understand.”
I saw Reva differently after that day. It wasn’t her fault really.
I turned my neck uncomfortably in my pod. I willed myself to relax. First my fingers, then up my arms — I began to feel the warmth of relaxation.
Soon I was back in my cell, lying in bed. The door opened suddenly and Reva walked in. Her face was flushed and her hands trembled.
“What’s...” My questions were cut off when David came in behind her.
“Today is a big day for you Eva,” He said kindly.
My eyes widened in fear and I swallowed hard over the lump in my throat. I was four. “Ok.”
He reached for my wrist and placed two fingers along the inside of
my arm. He never fully looked at me in the face as he checked my temperature and pressed his head to my chest so he could hear my heart better. “Neleh is here today,” he said on his way out the door. He bit his bottom lip. “Have her up in the lab in thirty minutes. Don’t be late.”
As soon as the door was closed I began peppering Reva with questions. “Why is Neleh here?”
“It’s a big day.”
“What are they going to do to me?”
“Remember what David told you, about becoming strong?”
“Strong enough to kill the bad vampire.”
“Do you remember his name?”
I nodded. “Dominick Letrell.”
“Yes. Dominick Letrell. He is the reason for all of this.” She put her hands on my shoulders and looked directly at me. “All of the pain you have to go through, it’s because of Dominick Letrell. You remember that. Will you remember Eva?”
“Yes.”
“And you must try really hard not to cry today. Neleh hates when you cry.” She got up and tied my shoe. She pulled my hair tie out and re-braided my hair. She kissed my head lightly and pulled me up beside her.
“Reva, will it hurt?”
“Yes Eva, but you mustn’t cry.”
She pulled me close for a moment and then led me down the narrow hallway. Lights flickered on as we passed.
I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes to stop myself from remembering anymore. That was the day they had given me my first injection of vampire blood. David had analyzed and processed it for four years before he was ready to put it into my blood. He had isolated and broken down the mutation gene. In theory it wouldn’t change me. It would only give me the traits they wanted me to have.
Strength, speed, agility, super-senses, like hearing and sight, anti-aging. I did age, but after I hit puberty it slowed down considerably.
David had mimicked most of the injection from a human experiment known as the Geneva project.
From the time I was four until I was fourteen I had the injections every six months. Reva was proud of me for waiting until we returned to the cell to cry. It was like liquid fire flowing through my veins, burning everything it touched.
