Taboo (A Tale of the Talhari Book 1)

by Heather Elizabeth King

  “No way,” Sydney said.

  “That’s not all.” Rhonda head further down the aisle. “We have something from your David who you know so much about.”

  “King David?”

  She followed them to a small stringed instrument. It was made of wood, cracked and pitted. Like the painting, it rested in a display case, so she couldn’t touch it, but just looking at it she could see its age.

  “Know what that is?”

  “A lyre,” she said, in awe. “I’ve never seen one so well preserved.”

  “Nobody is allowed to touch it,” Trina said.

  Sydney stepped closer to the case. “You’re not trying to tell me this is the harp of David, are you? If you are, I don’t believe you.”

  Trina and Rhonda looked at each other, grinning. “You may not want to believe us, but that’s what this is,” said Rhonda.

  “But how could you even get your hands on such a thing? And how can you know it belonged to David.”

  “It was touched by God. The magic remains, embedded in the very wood.”

  Sydney reached toward the case. She knew she couldn’t touch it, but if they were correct, if what she were looking at was the harp of David…she couldn’t even get her mind around such a thing.

  “If that is what you say it is,” she started, then trailed off.

  “We know,” Rhonda said.

  “David used this to dispel the evil spirit in Saul.” She turned on them. “Maybe if we took it out of the case, used it now——against Saul—”

  “The SG would never allow such a thing. And the elders…” Trina shook her head. “We’re not allowed to touch it. It was touched by God.”

  “To use for good.”

  They didn’t say anything, which Sydney took to mean that the harp was going to remain enclosed in its case indefinitely.

  They led her down the aisle of cases and she marveled at the treasures that had been housed in her town all this time.

  After a few minutes, Trina spoke. “Maybe this is none of my business, but I’ve seen something happening between you and Alaric.”

  “Here we go,” Rhonda said.

  “I’m sorry, but what he’s doing isn’t right.”

  “I know it’s not right, but it’s none of our business.”

  “Be that as it may, I have to say my piece.”

  Sydney watched this exchange in silence.

  “Look Sydney,” Trina said to her, “this isn’t something Alaric talks about, but seeing how Saul came back into the picture and is looking to do a redo on the past, this I something you need to know.”

  “Is this to do with the woman Alaric loved?”

  “Yeah. He told you about her?”

  “He told me Saul killed her and he’s been hunting him ever since.”

  Rhonda and Trina looked at each other.

  “What?” Sydney asked.

  “Well,” said Trina, “that’s not entirely true. What actually happened was Saul bit her, turned her, and she lost her soul, became a monster.”

  Sydney’s mouth fell open. “She lost her soul?”

  “She lost her soul,” Rhonda agreed. “She was one of only three vampires that Saul made who survived the transformation. His blood is so pure, so strong that most died. But she lived. And once she killed she became a true disciple of Saul.”

  “And by disciple,” Trina said, “Rhonda means she became truly evil. She murdered without remorse. She reveled in death, she was above killing no one.”

  “Wait a minute,” Sydney said. “Alaric told me she’s dead. That a monster killed her. That the monster was Saul.”

  “Saul did kill her, just as he killed you.”

  “So she’s still alive somewhere?”

  “No.” Trina shook her head. “She’s had the final death.”

  When Trina said no more, Sydney motioned for her to continue.

  “Alaric,” Trina said. “Alaric killed her. But he didn’t have a choice,” she added quickly. “She’d become a monster. With Saul’s blood she was nearly unstoppable. She was a danger to everyone, including the Talhari.”

  Sydney leaned against the wall and exhaled. “He thinks I’m going to turn out like her.”

  “Lavinia,” Rhonda supplied. “Her name was Lavinia.”

  “The end came when she destroyed over fifty-seven of the Talhari living in the London motherhouse. Only Paul was with Alaric at that time. He says their motherhouse received the distress call, but Umberto—Alaric served under another at that time——and the team arrived nearly too late.”

  “How could one vampire kill fifty-seven vampires?” Sydney asked.

  Trina laughed humorlessly. “I’m three generations removed from Saul. Even at that it took me decades to build up to the kind of speed you were born with. I looked at you as you changed, watched your body. Your nails are like steel and sharp as knives when you’re bloodlust is up. I have Intel-S imbedded in my body.”

  “Smart steel.”

  “Yes. But you have no need of human technology. Your bones are probably unbreakable. You will heal even as you’re wounded. You will be nearly unstoppable once you understand how to use everything you are now. Alaric is second generation and centuries old. He’s the only one of us who could even hope to put you down if you go rogue. And I say hope, because you could kill him just as easily as he could kill you. Saul would not have made you if he thought for a second he couldn’t persuade you to come to his side.”

  “But I’m not feeding. I’m not losing my soul.”

  “You say that, but so did Lavinia. It nearly cost Alaric his life to destroy her. She knew he didn’t have the heart to kill her, knew he had hope that somehow she still loved him. And she used his hope against him. He didn’t want to kill her, but on Saul’s orders, she tried to kill Alaric. He was nearly drained of blood from all the wounds she’d given him. His back, his legs, his arms, his face, his throat.”

  “How did he finally do it?”

  Neither Trina nor Rhonda said anything at first. Finally, Rhonda sighed. “It was fire. She’d set the motherhouse to burning, never seeing that she’d created her own means of death. Alaric took her into the fire. He meant to hold her there until she was dead.”

  “But how…” Sydney trailed off. “…He wanted to die with her.”

  Rhonda nodded.

  “And he would have,” said Trina, “if Paul and Umberto hadn’t pulled him out. They risked their own lives to save him. And Alaric fought them.”

  “By then,” Rhonda added, “she couldn’t have saved herself. She’d lost a lot of blood. That combined with the fire had weakened her, made her vulnerable. She couldn’t heal.”

  “And so she died,” Trina finished. “But that wasn’t the end of it. It took months before Alaric had healed enough emotionally to be of use to the Talhari again. He lay in his chambers at the motherhouse like a coma patient. He didn’t feed, he barely moved, he didn’t take care of himself. He’d lost the will to live. But Umberto put his faith in the hope that he’d want revenge. So one day he loaded Alaric up and took him to a tiny French village where Saul had been spotted. It took three days of waiting, but finally, Saul appeared in the town. When he did, Umberto says he saw the life return to Alaric. He’d been reanimated with the thirst for revenge.”

  “And here we are today,” said Trina. “Alaric has begun to fall for someone, Saul appears on the scene and bites the woman Alaric cares for. It’s déjà vu all over again.”

  “Like hell it is. I’m not weak like Lavinia. I can resist Saul. I am not losing my soul.”

  Sydney pushed off of the wall. “Let’s finish the tour. I need to go up and give Alaric a slap of reality.”

  “You’re going to tell him we told you?” Rhonda asked.

  “I’m not going to pay for the actions of someone else,” Sydney said. “I’ve been attacked, my best friend was murdered, and some near pre-historic bloodsucker with a vendetta against Alaric decided to take a bite out of me. I’m tired of being
a pawn. I’m taking control of my life once and for all. Now, let’s finish the tour. I have stuff to do.”

  They led her off the main corridor and down a short hallway to a single door.

  “Beyond this door are the cells we told you about,” Trina said. “There’s also a lab and Dr. Giles’ office.”

  “Who is Dr. Giles?” Sydney asked. “And why is his office down with the prison cells?”

  “He does a lot of work with the prisoners. Rehabilitation type stuff.”

  Rehabilitation type stuff? Sydney wasn’t buying. But she’d never met the man and couldn’t truthfully say either way.

  “I’m not sure we should do this,” Rhonda said just outside the door that led to the cells. “Does Alaric know we’re doing this?”

  Trina shrugged. “No, but how can he complain? He’s petitioning the SG to have Sydney join the Talhari.”

  “I know, but maybe this isn’t something she’s supposed to see until she’s approved.”

  Sydney wasn’t so sure she even wanted to see the holding cells. In fact, at the moment she couldn’t drum up enough interest to give a damn. She was too angry. She understood why Alaric was gun shy, but she wasn’t this Lavinia chick and she shouldn’t be condemned just because Saul had chosen to turn her.

  She refocused on the conversation at the mention of zombies.

  Why keep a zombie? They couldn’t tell you anything. Unless… “Do you guys experiment on the creatures?”

  Trina and Rhonda exchanged an uneasy glance. Rhonda was the first to break the connection. “Know what,” she said, “I’m gonna check with Dr. Giles. He sort of oversees the…” she trailed off, searching for the right word.

  “Basement activities,” Trina supplied.

  “Yeah,” Rhonda agreed, “the basement activities. Let us check in with him to see what the protocol is for an initiate in the motherhouse. Okay?”

  They went through the door, leaving Sydney standing outside to wait.

  Sydney nodded. “Okay.”

  But their unease made her uneasy. What were they so nervous about?

  Sydney decided that one thing was sure, they did do testing on inmates. She was willing to wager that was the reason why they were captured in the first place, otherwise, why not just kill them?

  Sydney turned and walked back the way they’d come, but instead of going toward the elevators, when she got to the main hall, she continued exploring in the other direction. She wanted to talk to Alaric, but she was also curious despite herself. If she was going to be sleeping there tonight, she wanted to know what she’d be sleeping on top of.

  She was suddenly thankful to be on the fourth floor instead of the second. She couldn’t imagine getting a minute of sleep so close to things better suited to nightmares.

  Most of the doors along the hall were closed. She stopped in front of one of the doors and stepped closer, listening for sounds. All was quiet.

  Slowly, she moved closer until her ear was pressed against cool metal. Again, she listened. When she didn’t hear anything she clasped the doorknob and twisted, inch by inch, until the door disengaged. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open about an inch, and peeked inside.

  She saw the edge of a metal gurney, some monitors and a glass partition, but the room was empty.

  She pushed the door open a bit more, until she could ease her head inside.

  The room reminded her of her dentist’s office; the room where he’d given her a root canal and drilled her cavities. What did they do here, she wondered?

  Perhaps this was where the experimenting came in.

  She pulled the door closed then walked to the next door and repeated the process with the same results. Metal gurney, monitors, glass partition, small drill type instruments.

  She shut this door then walked to the next. This time she pressed her ear to the door for a few seconds, clasped the doorknob and pushed it open far enough to get her head in.

  She froze.

  Something was on the metal gurney. It was large, pale, its features twisted and grotesque. She saw the familiar cocktail of snout and human lips, the extended arms, the fangs.

  She stumbled back a step, a scream caught somewhere in her throat. She expected the thing to leap up, to be on her at any second, but that didn’t happened. It was unconscious. And even had it been awake, it was strapped to the gurney.

  This, she thought, this was so similar to the monster that had murdered Cora. Similar, but not exact.

  Had they caught one last night and Alaric had forgotten to tell her because all that had happened with Saul?

  “Sydney!”

  Sydney stepped back from the door, unable to take her eyes off the thing inside the room.

  “What are you doing?” Trina asked.

  Trina and Rhonda came up behind her. Trina started to say something about the cells, then trailed off when she saw Sydney was pointing into the room. She looked into the room and her breath caught. “Hey Rhonda, are you seeing this?” she finally said.

  Rhonda looked inside, then stepped back. “What the fuck?” Rhonda said, succinctly.

  “Exactly,” said Trina. “This thing looks a lot like—”

  “Those bastards in the city. What the fuck? Where’d it come from?”

  “You mean you two don’t know?” Sydney asked.

  “Hell no we didn’t know about this,” Rhonda said. She looked at Trina. “You think Alaric knows?”

  “One way to find out,” Trina said.

  Chapter Twelve

  This time they didn’t wait for the elevator, they went for the stairs and took them by twos.

  It was odd. At the park, Trina and Rhonda had been so fast, but today, she was on their heels, eager to pass them. Was Saul’s blood truly that powerful?

  They got to the main floor and sprinted across the library, then to the interior stairs. On the second floor they took a left down the hallway and stopped at the last door to the left.

  Rhonda didn’t so much knock as she banged a dent into the door.

  “He’s not in there.”

  They all turned toward the voice.

  Paul stood in the hall, leaning casually against the wall. His dark hair fell over his shoulder, as though he’d positioned it there for perfect appeal.

  “Where is he?” Trina demanded.

  “Conference Room A,” he said, leisurely. “Why?”

  “Because we just saw this big son of a bitch down in the basement that looks remarkably similar to the things we’ve been fighting in this city. You know anything about it?”

  Paul’s eyes widened a bit at this. “No. Where in the basement?”

  “Not in the holding cells. In one of the rooms.”

  The emphasis she’d placed on the word, rooms, told Sydney that more than interrogation went on down there.

  Paul shook his head. “That’s impossible. If something like that were here in the motherhouse, we would know about it.”

  “Apparently not.” Trina said, pushing past him to get to the stairs.

  Sydney followed them down, and saw that Paul was following close on her heels.

  They went to the office wing they’d shown her earlier, and to the conference rooms.

  Conference Room A had glass panels beside the door, allowing a passersby to see inside the room. Alaric was inside, with Joshua, the SG, Trevor and two others.

  “You can’t go in there,” Paul said. “Sinclair and Bartley are here from New York. They’re in with Dr. Giles.”

  Trina stared into the window, almost willing Alaric to look up. “What’s the meeting about?”

  “Saul, what else.”

  At long last, Alaric looked up. Trina motioned him to the door.

  Alaric, looking annoyed, said something that made the others turn and look toward them. Then he rose, motioned Joshua to come with him, then they both came into the hall.

  “This better be good.”

  “What do you know about the undesirable being held in Interrogation Room 7?�
�� Trina asked.

  He stared at her? “Interrogation Room 7? I didn’t know we had anything down in 7.”

  “Are you being straight with us?”

  He looked at each of them. His eyes lingered on Sydney, questioning, before moving on to Paul. “Of course. When have I lied to you?”

  “Well, we just saw a creature down there that looks remarkably similar those things that have been trying to take over the city, except this one has wings.”

  “Where?”

  “In the basement.”

  “Show me.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Alaric stepped back into the hall and closed the door to Interrogation Room 7. For a few seconds he stared at the far wall. “I didn’t know anything about this.”

  “The similarities to the creatures in the city can’t be a coincidence,” Rhonda said.

  “But what does that mean?” Paul walked a few paces down the hall, then back again. “What are we saying?”

  “Either the Talhari captured one of these beasts and didn’t tell us, or…” Alaric trailed off.

  “Or your organization knows more than it’s letting on,” Sydney finished.

  “We need to speak with the SG,” said Joshua.

  Alaric held his hands up. “Not yet. Let’s look around. If this creature is in here someone knows why. There has to be some kind of paper trail. Let’s look around and see what we can find and meet back in the war room in an hour.”

  “What’s the war room?” Sydney asked.

  “That’s the room I brought you to that first day.”

  “So we have a look around the motherhouse?” said Rhonda. “That feels wrong. I can’t believe anyone here would do anything underhanded. There has to be a reasonable explanation.”

  “Yet,” began Trina, “we have one of those creatures right here in the basement.”

  Rhonda rested against the wall and dragged fingers through her hair. “Okay. I’m in.”

  “Be discreet,” said Alaric.

  “What about me?” Sydney asked. “What should I do?”

  “You can’t move around the way we can so you’ll have to wait for us somewhere. Your room or the library.”

  Frustrated to once again be sidelined, Sydney nodded.