Jer considered this as his eyes darted back and forth. What the fuck was this so-called leader of monsters going on about? “Look,” Jer said, “I don’t pretend to understand all that you’ve suffered. God knows, that’s not even possible. But I want to do what I can. And the world needs us. The world needs people like us to show them that humans and monsters don’t have to be at odds with each other.”
“Does it?” Matthias asked. “Do you really believe that drivel?”
Jer shrugged with a sneer and let his eyes roam around the inner lair. He’d been hoping for more from the famed revolutionary. He’d been hoping for someone who immediately gave off the vibe that his intent was to help others. Instead, he’d found a war-monger.
“Maybe,” Jer said. “I don’t know. It seemed like the right thing to say.”
Matthias laughed. “You truly have no idea, do you?” Matthias asked.
“Apparently not,” Jer admitted. “Enlighten me, oh wise one.”
“I’m older than you think.”
“So I’ve heard,” Jer said. “The myth is that you steal the bodies of other monsters, extending your life and memories and mind beyond what’s natural.”
“What’s natural?” Matthias asked.
“You know what I mean.”
“That myth is partially true,” Matthias admitted. “Except for the stealing part.”
“Care to elaborate?” Jer asked.
“I doubt you’d understand,” Matthias sniffed.
“Try me.”
Matthias puffed on his cigar, blew two smoke rings, and met Jer’s eyes with a deep and piercing penetration that went beyond the simple understanding of one person. He stared daggers into him as if he knew his whole life’s arc.
“Do you really wanna know?” Matthias asked. “Because there’s no going back once you’ve swallowed this ‘red pill.’”
“Hit me,” Jer dared.
Matthias grinned. “My world was a peaceful one. Was it fair? No,” he confessed. “But there was little death and almost no suffering. Humankind and monsters lived among each other in harmony. We had peace built on roles in society. Monsters governed. Monsters ruled. Humans labored. They were considered too weak for leadership. A single human in charge could be overthrown by a rival. Monsters, on the other hand, we can defend ourselves individually at a much greater level when at our full strength. It wasn’t perfect, I admit. Humans have an inclination to want more, to punch above their weight. That was the spark which was waiting to be lit. Monsters reigned when I came into this life. Humans tricked us into the false society that exists now. It’s all a lie, and I mean to fix it.”
“Fairy tales,” Jer said. “No one could erase that much history.”
“In no way, shape, or form is what I’m saying a fairy tale,” Matthias replied. “I was born well. My father was a noble. One of the strong. He groomed me to be a royal guard. You wouldn’t have any idea how important that was or how honorable. In doing so, he was relinquishing our family’s claim to the throne. Imagine how much respect and admiration that garnered. I was too young to know the difference. All I could see was how much attention I received because of it. I became more popular than you could imagine. Everyone wanted to win my favor.”
“Sounds peachy,” Jer said. “But I think you’re just making up a fantasy you wish were true.”
“It was…peachy,” Matthias said with a smirk. “Anything I wanted, I didn’t even have to ask. It was like the whole world could read my mind and my desires. It wasn’t that unlike humankind’s surveillance technology that keeps us in place now. The programming that pours through every bit of your life decisions, purchases, and online activity. And then pumps out holographic ads and services based on what you’re most likely to purchase. They run the world by allowing you to think that your desires are your own and everything you do is a choice. But it’s bullshit. You don’t choose anything. It’s all fed to you. Just like it was to me. But I was too naïve and inexperienced to know better. I loved the attention.” ‘
“Apparently, you still do,” Jer said.
Matthias chortled. “I won’t deny it,” he admitted. “I do. But at least I’m channeling my desires into something meaningful this time.”
“And what did you channel it into when you were a so-called and self-proclaimed noble?” Jer asked.
“I was not self-proclaimed,” Matthias said with pride as he arched his broad shoulders. “As I’ve made clear, my family gave up nobility so that I could become a royal guard. It was no small matter. The most beautiful beasts in all the world threw themselves at my feet. They sought my favor. I fell for the adoration. It distracted me from what I should have been doing.”
“And what was that?”
“Guarding,” Matthias answered.
“Royalty?” Jer asked.
“The crown,” he answered. “The Monster Crown. One thing that humans and monsters hold in common is that we share the same myths. The truth, however, is that they’re about monsters. Osiris didn’t wear a mask with a beak, feathers, and wings. He was a beast of prey. The real Isis didn’t resemble a desert cat with wings. She was one. Kali wasn’t the creation of an artist’s imagination. She actually did have blue skin and eight arms. Poseidon wasn’t a man who controlled the seas. He was a merman. Shall I go on?”
“I get the idea,” Jer said. “Doesn’t mean I believe you.”
“I can’t blame the humans for being afraid, for wanting their turn, but all was well,” Matthias said. “We were at peace, and monsters did not subjugate humanity. We reigned.”
“That’s a beautiful image, but what if it isn’t true?” Jer asked. “What if it’s just what you want to believe was the case? Rose-colored glasses. Perhaps, it wasn’t so utopic. Perhaps time has altered your memory of it, if it is true at all.”
Matthias puffed his cigar and offered it to Jer, who accepted and took a puff before handing it back.
“You’re right. It wasn’t all roses. Infighting led to our downfall,” Matthias said. “The humans are clever. I’ll give them that. They used our own honor against us. They turned us on one another. How else could they have defeated us and taken over? And they used their own inventions to do it. But not in the way you’d expect.”
“Forgive me, but I skipped ancient conspiracies in school,” Jer joked. “You’re going to have to break it down.”
“It was impressive, actually,” Matthias continued. “A faction of humans, who believed they were meant to rule, put their efforts into developing black powder.”
“Gun powder? That doesn’t make sense. We have proven historical records of when it was developed in China,” Jer argued. “There’s irrefutable proof that it wasn’t invented until humans had full dominion over the world.”
“And that, my young friend, is true,” Matthias said. “The rebellious humans failed in their first attempt to overcome us, and they knew it. The black powder was useless without the weaponry to match. They weren’t advanced enough yet to make use of it. Yet, they knew they’d be punished for trying to create technology that would allow them to upset the balance. So, they employed the most dangerous human weapon of all—trickery and deceit.”
“What happened?” Jer asked, curious now how deep this fairy tale went.
“A rival family believed that my father was using my ascent as a royal guard as a way to gain favor with the crown itself, strengthening an alliance,” Matthias said. “It was. My father believed that it was better to be in charge of what you’re best at rather than have everyone fighting for the same top spot. The rival family, just below the royal house, didn’t see it that way, though.”
Matthias’s head drooped. He took a liking to the ground as he recalled the tragic part of his story.
“The rebels snuck through my father’s defenses at night, using their plants to smuggle the faux black powder into my family’s treasury,” he went on. “The crown was tipped off. It was a lie, but a believable one. Our rivals seized the opportunity and mad
e the scandal public. They wanted our heads, but they’d underestimated our strength. We fought for years. The strongest among us fell by the thousands. We were destroying each other, all while the human rebels reveled in their machinations. Eventually, they were able to forge weapons, and their numbers grew while ours dwindled. When the humans finally struck, we were helpless to stop them.”
Matthias raised his head and met Jer’s eyes. “It was a slaughter,” he continued. “They had been planning our destruction the whole time. While we fought one another, they had been devising a system of control to keep us from retaking our position. It was a stroke of foresight on their part, I have to admit, but tragic and horrific. They knew exactly which of us could be allowed to continue on as servants and laborers. They knew exactly which of us were a threat. They separated us. Then they slaughtered the dangerous among us wholesale. That’s why you don’t see dragons anymore. That’s why you don’t see werewolves. Where are the minotaurs? Where are the shapeshifters? They’re hidden deep inside, suppressed, and I intend to use Jasper’s discovery to bring them all back to life…to bring out the true and full power of Transhumana Monstrare.”
The mention of shapeshifters caused Jer to think of Evangeline and Damiana. What if Jasper’s discovery woke something up inside them?
“Great beasts roamed the land in my day,” Matthias continued. “The humans weren’t satisfied with their conquest of monsters, as you well know. They went on to subjugate each other. They saw in themselves what we did not—their inclination to conquer. They even oppressed their own kind within their stratified society to keep themselves in power and focused their endeavors on technological advancements in case monsters were ever to rise again. Beasts of war were replaced with weapons of war. And now, as you’ve seen firsthand, they’ve finally developed collars to control our minds and force to fight on their behalf. Soon it could be too late, which is why we have to fight back now. Beasts will roam again, but they’ll be servants under the complete control of your corporations if we don’t go to war.”
“They’re not my corporations,” Jer protested.
“I see that. You’ve made it your life’s work to help the oppressed,” Matthias said. “Why do you think you’re even in this room now?”
“What does this all have to do with what Jasper discovered?” Jer asked. “And how is that you’re still alive after so many centuries?”
“If our history hadn’t been suppressed so that monsters would eventually come to believe that they were never meant for more than subjugation, you would know the answer to your questions,” Matthias said. “When your father discovered the fissure in Transhumana Monstrare, humans saw an opportunity to lower us further. They had to keep us contained. Hence, monster cities and confinement. What humans have never realized and refuse to accept is that we are all the same species. What you think of as monsters are truly humans with Transhumana Monstrare manifestations. There is no code to crack at all. This is why humans and monsters are forbidden from interbreeding. They fear that their kind will cease to exist, that they will all become like us. What Jasper discovered was that the dragon, werewolf, and minotaur genes weren’t truly wiped out. They were simply dormant, and now they’ve begun to manifest again. Surely, you’ve noticed.”
“The dragon-monster who killed Jasper…”
“Under GenAdvance’s control,” Matthias said, completing the thought.
“The dragon-monster isn’t some amped-up experiment by GenAdvance,” Jer asked. “It’s the result of Transhumana Monstrare unrestrained, isn’t it?”
Matthias nodded. “A powerful one who will serve as a symbol, either of continued subjugation or a revolution,” he said. “Now you know why the humans are so obsessed with stopping Jasper’s discovery from getting out.”
“This will only end in more bloodshed,” Jer said. “Hasn’t there been enough?”
“On that point we disagree,” Matthias said. “One of your kind once said, ‘The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.’”
“Thomas Jefferson,” Jer said.
“Jasper discovered that Transhumana Monstrare has been suppressed in the same way our kind has been held down,” Matthias said. “Within the drugs that my kind are fed, there lies the greatest deceit the humans have perpetrated. It’s not an infertility strain, but it’s similar. It weakens our development and prevents our strongest forms from manifesting. With Jasper’s formula, we can unlock our strength once again. We can unleash our true nature.”
“That would explain why you’ve been hiding and sheltering monsters underground,” Jer said.
“It’s not enough to simply hide monsters underground,” Matthias explained. “Our numbers will never grow strong enough in such a way. We need to free all of us. We need to free the subjugated monsters above ground and allow their true natures to emerge.”
“I want freedom for monsters, I do,” Jer said. “But the kind of chaos and death that you want and that will ensue is horrific to imagine.”
“A price I’m willing to pay.”
“I’m not,” Jer said.
“It isn’t your decision to make,” Matthias replied.
“Why have you even brought me down here?” Jer asked. “Why allow me to see you? Why tell me all this?”
“You have the other half of Jasper’s formula,” Matthias answered. “Locked inside your head.”
“But I don’t agree with your plan,” Jer said. “And your half won’t be enough.”
“You brought the vial, a finished sample,” Matthias said.
“Enough to free maybe three or four monsters but not an entire world full of them,” Jer said.
“I have scientists who will reverse engineer it,” Matthias countered.
“That’ll take years,” Jer said. “Jakoff and his minions are planning on destroying you in the here and now.”
“You’re right,” Matthias admitted. “I can’t wait. I’ll need your half of the formula immediately.”
Jer shrugged and stepped back.
“Not. Going. To. Happen,” he said.
“Don’t be so sure,” Matthias warned.
Jer began to grow uneasy. His hands clenched into fists.
“What have you done?” Jer asked.
“Not what I’ve done,” Matthias replied. “It’s what you’ve done. You’ve made it possible. You’ve brought me the key I need to crack the code and free my kind. I’ve learned from humankind. As much as it goes against my nature and desire, I’ve learned how to deceive to achieve our ends.”
Jer’s mind spiraled into full-on panic mode. His palms grew clammy. Sweat beaded down his forehead. He’d made a terrible mistake coming to Sheol.
19
The Choice
Matthias rose and snubbed out his cigar. Smoke billowed out and filled Jer’s nostrils.
“Don’t do this,” Jer said. “There has to be another way.”
Matthias ignored his pleas and strode to the door. He rapped three times. A second later, one of his monster-guards cracked the door.
“Bring them in,” Matthias ordered.
On edge, Jer looked around the lair, searching for a weapon, anything he could use to fight back, to stop this. There was nothing but books and old analog computers, nothing he could use in hand-to-hand combat. He and his friends were helpless to Matthias’s will.
“The less you fight, the easier this will be on you,” Matthias said. “I do not wish to harm you or your friends. This I swear, but I will if I must.”
“You think you’re doing the right thing, but you’re not,” Jer said. “If you lose this war, they’ll do more than subjugate you. They’ll wipe you out.”
“You underestimate our true strength,” Matthias said. “We will prevail.”
“Not this way.”
The monster-guards escorted Evangeline, Damiana, and Max into the lair. Shackles connected their wrists and ankles, clanging as they were led inside. On Matthias’s command, the monster-guards for
ced the three of them to their knees.
“What’s happening?” Evangeline asks.
“A mistake,” Jer answered. “I’m begging you, Matthias. Stop this madness.”
“Madness is when you allow your kind to continue under subjugation,” Matthias spat. “Madness is failing to act. Madness is believing that the humans will ever allow us to be free. What I’m doing is ‘refreshing the tree of liberty.’”
“But we’re not your enemy,” Jer argued.
“You are if you don’t hand over your half of the formula that can free us,” Matthias countered.
“The interrogations weren’t to see if it was safe to meet with us, was it?” Jer asked.
“No,” Matthias answered. “It was to see which of them you truly care about.”
Horror flashed across Jer’s face.
“Where’s Dakota? Is she safe?” he asked.
“She’s fine,” Matthias said. “But not needed for what’s next.”
Jer shook his head. What was he on about? She had already become as important to him as the others. Even though they’d just met, Matthias was a fool if he thought Dakota wasn’t someone who made Jer vulnerable.
Matthias noted the look of surprise in Jer’s eyes. “Oh,” Matthias said. “You didn’t know?”
“Know what?” Jer asked.
“Her true nature,” Matthias said.
Jer looked to Damiana. “What’s he talking about?” he asked.
Damiana shook her head and averted his gaze. “She’s not like us,” Damiana said.
“S-she’s…” Jer’s voice trailed off as he realized he’d missed something so obvious.
“Yes, Doctor Bennington,” Matthias said. “She’s a Synth.”
Jer’s face turned pale. He continued looking at Damiana. “You knew?” he asked.
“’Course I did, doc,” she answered. “All that fighting and running around, and you didn’t notice that she wasn’t winded or sweating, not even once. But you took a liking to her. Didn’t want to ruin it for you.”
“Change of plans,” Matthias said. “Bring her in.”
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 16
