He whispers, “I guess you know about my feelings for your mother.”
I nod.
“Actually, Maverick, you’re not that far off.” Dr. B gets back to his feet and begins to pace the cave floor. “To answer your question, I’m going to have to get to the place where science and mythology meet, which isn’t that often.” He turns to me. “Anna was very special.”
I say, “Yes, she was. I feel her death is what changed Kren. It made him hate humans even more.”
Dr. B exhales deeply. “I understand. As my feelings for Anna continued to grow, it forced me to reevaluate everything I had done. Although she didn’t feel the same way about me, she knew how important to me she was. Without her, I imagine I’d still be working on Project Hero.”
Maverick shrugged his good shoulder. “Project Hero?”
“The work I had been doing was simply an evolution of several Deep Black Projects we’ve been working on since the 1940s. One project led to another one, and many projects spun off others as well. Project Hero’s objective was to figure out how to mutate DNA in such a way to mimic what had been occurring naturally for thousands of years.”
Before I could ask him what all this had to do with Mother, Marcus says, “Secret government projects? Like Roswell and Area 51? So, are aliens real?”
Dr. B considers ignoring his questions, but he knows Marcus will just bother him all night. “Roswell, New Mexico…no, it wasn’t a weather balloon. Yes, aliens did crash on Mac Brazel’s farm. Area 51 is very real, but it’s just one of many secret military installations. Area 51 just happens to be where many top secret aircrafts are stored, but alas, no alien ships are kept there. Not anymore.”
Marcus slaps his knee. “I knew it!”
I’m irritated by Marcus’s interruption. “What about Mother?”
Dr. B reaches out as if he wants to hold my hand, but he withdraws. “Since ancient times, there have been stories of beings who prey on human souls. They seduce and enchant mankind, only to steal their life force.”
“Sounds like you’re talking about vampires,” Marcus remarks as he plops down next to Maverick. “Are vampires real?”
“Vampires. Jinns. Demons. Fallen angels. They all derive from the same mythology.” Dr. B clears his throat. “In Jewish mysticism, Adam had another wife before Eve. Her name with Lilith. She left the Garden of Eden and procreated with either Satan or an angel, whichever story you decide to go with, and her children were known as Lilim. Lilith is a succubus, as are her children.”
“But that’s just a myth,” Maverick says. “Right? Where’s the science part?”
“We don’t know the origin of these beings,” Dr. B answers. “What we do know is they did, in fact, exist. Maybe not in the fashion the ancient texts describe it. Under Project Hero, we just referred to the ancient beings as Dark Angels. Even today, there are just a handful of special people on this earth who possess the DNA of the Dark Angels.”
My hands become numb, and my breath is caught in my chest.
Dr. B finally reaches out to touch my hand. “Anna, your mother, was one of them.”
11
MAVERICK
ALL THREE OF us are silent for a long moment, and Beck is afraid of going any further. I can feel Astid’s pain radiating from every inch of her being, but I need to hear more. “Wait, are you telling us what I think you’re telling us?”
Beck hesitates again before replying directly to Astid, “Your mother was special. She comes from a long line of amazing beings who had such power. We don’t know exactly how they came to be. If you read the ancient texts, you might be led to believe the Dark Angels are demons or fallen angels. Many scientists theorize they are not of this world, and came here to Earth a long time ago.”
“Huh?” Marcus gets down on his knees. “Are you saying that Astid’s mom is an alien?”
“No.” Beck exhales deeply. “It doesn’t matter.”
Astid’s mouth tightens. What he’s saying is, my mother isn’t human. That makes me only half human. I always did refer to normal people as humans, as though me and the other test subjects were not truly human. She turns to Marcus with tears coming from her big, black eyes. After what happened with you, I thought maybe there was a chance I was originally human, too. I clung to the hope maybe the scientists did something to Mother or me and Kren before we were born.
Marcus slides over to Astid and puts an arm around her.
Beck knows we are telepathically having a conversation, and he waits for me to let him know we’re done. I nod my head. “Go on.”
“Astid, your mother was truly unique. The world’s governments have searched for more like her, but Anna was probably one of the last. We speculated she might even be the sole descendent of the true Dark Angels left in all the world. She lived an extraordinary life, and as far as we knew, she was at least eight hundred years old. Anna was probably older.”
My head feels as if it was going to explode. “Whoa. Astid’s mom was like a goddess or something?”
“Just about,” Beck says with a slight grin. “As long as she kept absorbing human life forces, she could have lived forever.”
We all fall silent again, lost in our thoughts. Astid is not only in shock, but a new kind of anger begins to swell inside of her. Marcus is actually focused on Astid’s pain, and he wishes he could do something to make her feel better.
I’m afraid to ask the wrong question that’ll set Astid off, but I need to know more. “What can you tell us about these Dark Angels? The ones from ancient times.”
Beck is likewise careful to choose the correct words. “There were both men and women, although the women far outnumbered the men. They were known to enchant humans, who all very easily gave permission for the Dark Angels to enter their dwellings. Of their own freewill, they gave themselves up, and that’s how the Dark Angels survived. However, they were not invincible.”
Astid’s blood begins to boil. Obviously.
Although Beck isn’t a telepath, he can feel Astid’s building anger.
“What happened to my mother?” she asks out loud.
Beck’s eyes well up, and he nervously keeps pushing his hands through his dark hair. “You probably already knew this, but I have been trained to block many types of psychic attacks. If I wanted, I could put up my wall and not let you all read my thoughts. Of course, you all know I’ve been very honest with you, and I’ve remained an open book so you would know the truth. This is why I was put in charge of just one sector of Project Hero. There were many other initiatives under Hero’s umbrella, but the Dark Angel initiative’s aim was to somehow utilize your mother’s abilities to create a new kind of soldier. Despite my skill at psychic self-defense, your mother was still able to make me fall in love with her. One day, despite my best efforts, she had me under her power long enough to let her go. She nearly got away with the hope of returning for you both, but the agents didn’t let her get far. That’s when I knew my time with the project was over.”
Astid’s fists ball up. “Level 6 agents killed her.”
Beck wipes his eyes. “They tried to subdue her, contain her. But she was too powerful. She killed at least a dozen agents before they finally—”
Flashes of violence pass through Astid’s mind, so I need to figure out a way to keep her rage in check. I ask Beck, “When Level 6 killed her, that’s when you let Astid and Kren go?”
“Even though she was gone, my love for Anna remained. Before she died, her mind sent me one final clear message: Free my children. So I fulfilled her last wish.” Beck’s hands tremble. He looks to Astid for sympathy, but he gets none. “After you and Kren escaped, I was reassigned to a new sector. I was put in charge of one of our super soldiers who was completely out of control. My job was to make him compliant.”
I point to my jacked-up shoulder. “You did a pretty shitty job, Doc.”
Beck ignores my jab. “We had the technology to mutate the DNA material injected into test subjects. Previous scientists found the
process worked better on children, and they were successful with it going back to the 90s. The oldest subjects were 16 or 17 years old. Any older, the mutations were less predictable. Their compliance was nearly non-existent. Balor was a model soldier before they put him through the process.”
“The dude is a monster,” Marcus says as he shakes his head.
“I failed in getting Balor to be completely under my control,” Beck continues. “So I was terminated. I knew Level 6 had me marked for death, and that’s when I left and went into hiding. Of course, they put a damn agent in charge of that monster. He’s too valuable to the program for them to waste. But, from the moment they killed Anna, I vowed to halt Level 6’s work by exposing all of their atrocities to the whole world.”
I try not to feel sorry for this guy, but I can’t help it. “Even if the world found out about your part in all of this? I know you’re telling us the truth, and I know you’re being completely honest with us. At the same time, you committed a bunch of those atrocities, too.”
Beck wipes one final tear from his cheek. “I understand the consequences, and I don’t care. When I left Level 6, I had nothing but revenge on my mind. I wanted to strike back and hurt them. Staying in hiding was easy, as they never deviate from standard operating procedures. Of course, I was constantly looking over my shoulder and covering my tracks. I’ve been trying to do whatever I can to make a difference.”
Astid’s black eyes stay fixed on Beck. “Does that help you deal with all the guilt?”
“I am doing my best to try to make amends,” Beck replies. “Looking back, I was also angry at myself. Hitting back at Level 6 has been my way of dealing with my grief, and my guilt. I am very aware my day of reckoning is coming soon.”
“I’m confused.” I start to pace inside the cave, trying to put all the pieces back. “When we did research on the BEKs, sightings have been going on since the 90s. Have they been escaping from Level 6 all this time?”
Marcus gives a sarcastic chuckle. “Yeah, Level 6 security sucks.”
“Black Projects are divided and subdivided many times over. There’s at least twenty sectors performing similar, if not the exact same, experiments all over the country in secret installations just like the one out here. We are isolated from each other, which makes it easy to keep secrets. Level 6 is just one branch of a tree, which is only just one part of a huge ass forest.”
My stomach quivers. “Holy crap. The reason why we’re here is to take down Level 6. And if by some miracle we should be able to do that, in the end, it won’t mean a damn thing. Not if there’s a bunch of other secret projects going on, creating Black-Eyed Kids and stuff.”
“In the beginning, I believed exposing Level 6 to the world would not only bring their downfall, but perhaps begin a domino effect where all the Deep Black Projects were to be revealed to everyone. All of these projects rely on secrecy, and once they are no longer secret, they cannot operate in the dark anymore.” Beck stands up and begins to pace, too. “Ronald was part of a large network of truth-seekers, and they worked tirelessly to spread the word. When I got involved, I thought maybe I was the missing key, and that my intimate knowledge of Level 6 would lead to getting the truth to the people. But I was wrong.”
I am still devastated with the realization we were wasting our time. Destroying Level 6 wasn’t going to amount to much. “I don’t get it. If a dog saying I love you can go viral, why can’t all of this?”
Beck’s face hardens, and his brows come together. “Logically, you’d think the government would go full-on militant about keeping people like me for talking about their secrets. Instead, they discredited me. Stripped me of all my professional achievements and titles. I technically don’t even have a college degree. Instead of them working to keep us quiet, they allow crackpots and crazy-asses to speak the truth. The truth coming from unreliable sources tends to get ignored by the masses.”
Marcus’s mouth draws open. “Shiitake! I totally get it. What’s the point of telling everybody what Level 6 is doing when people think you’re a nutcase? Level 6 totally screwed you.”
“In my anger, and in my desperation, I took action. After I realized no one was going to take me seriously, I thought maybe if the public were to witness a major event firsthand, the media would have to cover it. The deaths following the BEKs were easily covered up by Level 6. Those incidents were isolated, and people go missing all the time. Unexplained deaths are so prevalent, we hardly make a fuss about it these days. What I needed was something big.”
I don’t like where this is going, and Beck’s regret is heavy.
Beck continues, “This is the only other Level 6 facility I’ve worked at. When I was here, I made sure I had an escape plan in case of failure, hence the tunnels. So, I used my knowledge of Level 6’s infrastructure and security systems to release Balor.”
“Holy Shiitake!” Marcus jumps up and moves towards Beck as if he is going to rip him in half. “That monster is on the loose because of you?”
Astid remains seated, but she is on the verge of losing control.
“My original plan was to track and find BEKs. Show them to the world. Let them know the so-called urban legends weren’t legends after all. I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be enough. If a raging creature like Balor were to cause a very public scene, Level 6 couldn’t possibly contain such an event. It would be out of their control.”
It takes all of my power to not punch Beck in the face. “You didn’t think it through all the way, huh?”
“It’s a mess,” Beck replies. “Innocent people, including children, have died. It’s all my fault. I didn’t realize they had successfully programed him to go after BEKs. Now, I’ve let loose a monster that’s hunting Dark Angels.”
“Yes, it is a huge mess. And you will have to pay for your crimes and your screw ups.” I shove a finger at his chest. “And Level 6 is still able to contain Balor and his killing spree. Did you think he’d take an Uber into downtown Atlanta and start killing all the street musicians?”
Beck kicks the cave wall. “I wasn’t thinking straight. I made a terrible mistake, and I’m here to correct it.”
Astid finally gets to her feet, and she pushes me away with enough force to nearly knock me over. “It is time to answer for your evil deeds.”
The air in the cave becomes thick, and my head begins to fill with static. My vision clouds, and the familiar dread is so heavy, it takes my breath away and makes my stomach turn. Beck retreats, slamming his back up against the cold wall. He knows what’s about to happen, and he decides to face death with some courage.
“Do it, Astid. I deserve it.”
Beck stands at attention and closes his eyes. His thoughts turn to Anna, and he hopes to see her in the afterlife.
12
ASTID
DR. B REFUSES to struggle against the power flowing from me. From his own free will, he has invited me into his being. I’ve seized his body, and his mental defenses completely fade away. His eyes lock onto my own, and I begin to draw his life force into my chest.
“Astid, stop!” Maverick reaches out to grab my arm, but he knows my energy will repel him. “This is wrong.”
He is responsible for all of this. I stop taking Dr. B’s energy just for a moment. “This is justice.”
Marcus rushes towards Dr. B, but he hesitates to get too close. “He owned up to all his mistakes. With all the top secret stuff he knows, he might be able to get us out of this alive.”
I focus my attention back to Dr. B’s brown eyes, and I continue pulling his energy. Dr. B’s thoughts focus on Mother. He hopes to see her in the spiritual realm. His love for her is so profound, it breaks my focus.
“I need his energy,” I tell them.
Maverick puts a shaky hand on my shoulder. “He can help us. Please don’t do this.”
“Yeah, the guy has been truthful so far,” Marcus adds. “He screwed up big time with letting Frankenmonster out, that’s for sure. But hey, nobody’s perfect.
”
It takes all of my concentration to break my hold over Dr. B, and when I release him, I collapse onto the cave floor from the sudden withdrawal of energy flow. My body craves human essence, and now I’m left weak and starving.
“You OK?” Maverick asks me.
I lift my head up. I am fine.
Dr. B staggers away from me, towards the darkness of the cave. “Thank you for sparing me, Astid.”
“You need to thank them,” I say as I point to the others. “If you betray us, I will kill you. I will not hesitate next time.”
“I will keep that in mind.” Dr. B wipes his forehead and exhales. “It would be poetic justice.”
Marcus moves past Dr. B, going further into the cave. “I didn’t realize how big this thing is. How far down does it go?”
“There are several chambers down this main passageway I’ve used to store equipment and supplies,” Dr. B replies. He looks down at me with tears in his eyes. “I know you are very weak. I’ve stashed away special nutrition drinks that will help give you some strength back.” He glances at Marcus. “You, too. I know it’s not the same as taking my life force, but it’s better than any other food I’ve got down here.”
It takes real effort to reach into his mind and confirm that he’s speaking the truth.
“You wouldn’t also happen to have a bathroom down there, huh?” Maverick asks.
Dr. B chuckles weakly. “Actually, I sort of do.”
Maverick is about to ask more questions about Dr. B’s makeshift toilet, but he decides maybe not knowing is better. “Beck, why don’t you show me where your cave bathroom is, and you can get the BEK Gatorade for Marcus and Astid.”
“Wait, I don’t get to explore the Batcave?” Marcus lets out a grunt. “Do you have any flavored drinks, Beck? I prefer young, spicy women.”
Dr. B’s eyes widen.
“He’s kidding,” Maverick says. “Just stay here with Astid.”
Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series Page 33
