Blood and Fire

by Dana Lyons

  “Won’t know until the shift change is complete.” She eyed them, waiting for more details.

  “We’ll wait,” Dreya said. They walked out of hearing range. While they waited, she asked, “Did you see anything while you were out?”

  Rhys shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Quinn said, “He’s adapting.”

  She remembered Givens’ voice when he spoke. In spite of his scary appearance, his voice was pleading. Not threatening. Not demanding. “He wants help.”

  The supervisor waved and gave a thumbs-up. “Okay, so the blood on him isn’t human. Living in the wild is triggering basic survival; he’s eating what he can catch, probably chickens from the feed lots. I hope he doesn’t break down and start flying out here.” She shaded her eyes against the artificial light, searching, dreading to see his flying form.

  Nate Givens. No longer human, banned from Earth, manipulated into committing murder, hunted, and on the run. She shook her head sadly. “Who’s the victim here?”

  * * *

  Leonard returned to his residence with everything he needed. He blushed at some of the items he purchased, never realizing what some people got into in the name of sex.

  “A straight-jacket,” he said and set it out. “A muzzle to muffle screams, but with a straw hole for intake.” Next, he pulled out, “An air mattress to fit in the bathtub.” And the piece de resistance, a shock dog-collar with a remote control.

  This’ll teach her not to fuck me out of my ride.

  He smiled. It was a good plan.

  * * *

  Lazar collected a satchel full of medicine and food for Nate and took a service elevator down to Level 4. The medicine was keeping Givens from flying … barely. He had taken to living in the wild, quickly acclimating.

  Givens’ situation was a test of Lazar’s ability to craft a viable new species capable of evolving and adapting. As an example, Nate was certainly doing both.

  “Too bad I won’t be around to see what happens with you, Nate.” For now, all he had to do was keep Givens from extending his murdering spree long enough to get off station.

  The service elevator left him on the backside of Level 4, deep in the water and waste treatment plant. Back hallways led to an exit door; he slipped out, but left a rock wedged in the door. Checking to make sure he was not observed, he darted into the brush.

  Soon he reached a clearing and checked his GPS coordinates. Determining he was in the right spot, he placed the satchel in the center of the clearing. Not in the mood to stick around and chat, he darted back to the exit door.

  He returned to Level 3 in the service elevator. There were a couple more important matters to attend to, and he would be free to leave Draco behind.

  * * *

  The Next Morning

  Simon sat at his desk in the medical lab preparing to view last night’s security video from the outback. “Too many mysteries going around on station,” he mused.

  Top of the mystery pile was FBI Special Agent Love. “She’s special in more ways than I can count. But her and her team are one hell of a mystery. I don’t know what their story is, but something mighty peculiar is going on with those three.”

  He tapped on his keyboard and pulled up the surveillance footage from last night’s newly activated cameras. Having hours of video to watch from a dozen cameras, he propped his feet on an open drawer and sipped his coffee. Although the footage amounted to a pittance compared to what was out there, it was better than nothing.

  “All right, Nate, show yourself and make my life easier.” Movement on one screen caught his eye, so he keyed it back up and watched again. Not believing his eyes, his mouth fell open. “What the hell?”

  9

  Simon found Lazar in the genetics lab in the process of sending a young man down the road to Pantheon servitude as a Draco Demon. The boy was in state of euphoria from the pre-op drugs. “Make me one of the best, okay Doc?” the boy asked.

  “You’re making a good choice, son,” Lazar said. Never losing a beat, he added, “You’re already one of the best.” The boy was injected and wheeled away to an isolation room to suffer his transformation in private.

  Lazar saw Simon. “Dr. Sinclair? Or are you Sheriff Sinclair today? Whichever, I’m glad you came by. I have something to discuss with you.”

  “And I need to talk to you,” Simon said. “What the hell are you working on now?”

  Lazar stripped off his gloves. “From your aggressive tone, I must protest. I don’t know what you’re referring to. Can you be more specific?”

  Simon bit his tongue to keep from going ballistic verbally. He hissed under his breath. “I saw one of your creations on security camera running through the outback last night. Would you like to explain yourself? You’re supposed to notify me when you let something out of the lab, especially a new animal I don’t know about.”

  At the mention of a new animal, Lazar lifted an eyebrow quickly before frowning with irritation. “As I said, Sheriff, I don’t know what you’re speaking about. Can you show me?”

  Lazar’s defensive posture was irritating. Simon wanted to cuff him right now. “I have it on camera.”

  “Let’s go to my office in the lab. You can show me this … animal you complain about.”

  Simon followed, curious, for Lazar’s response was surprising. Gloating and preening over his incomparable genius was to be expected, but this I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about speech was not Lazar’s usual behavior.

  Instead of the carpeted haven with the big wooden desk, they went to a private lab and workspace behind frosted glass. Simon went straight to the computer keyboard and pulled up the security footage.

  Deny this.

  A large black and silver wolf trotted by the camera and disappeared into the brush. “Care to explain?” He stepped back and crossed his arms.

  “Let me see that again,” Lazar said.

  Simon stepped to the keyboard and re-cued the video. He opened his mouth to say, “Here it is,” when the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. He spun just as Lazar smothered his face with a cloth.

  When he came to, he was strapped solidly to an examination chair. He moaned and smelled chloroform. A gag filled his mouth, and an IV line ran into his arm. Lazar hovered over him.

  “Don’t bother trying to talk.”

  Even though he was still groggy, the clear and imminent threat shot terror into his heart. His adrenaline-fired muscles jerked at the arm restraints with no effect. He strained to push himself out of the chair, but his legs and waist were strapped tight. Realizing there was no getting free, he went still.

  My best friend screws me over. Now a madman ties me up. What did I do to deserve this?

  The need to fight or flee reached up from his gut. A roar filled his ears and he shook his head. When Lazar picked up a vial, he screamed into the gag.

  No no no this can’t be happening! I’m not a lab rat!

  Lazar pierced the vial and drew up the solution.

  Whatever Lazar had in the syringe desperately frightened Simon. Screaming terror filled him. He stiffened with rage and snarled into the gag while jerking side to side, trying to wrench the chair from its floor mounts.

  Lazar ignored his protest. “Did you wonder why I chose you, a disgraced medical doctor, for this station? Did you think your handsome face got you on this ultra-secret installation?” Lazar shook his head. “No, you’re here on Pantheon property because your genetics are perfect.”

  The words stopped Simon’s thrashing. He wanted to shout, “My genetics are perfect, all right, exactly the way they are. Don’t make me one of your freaks.” But all he could do was fill his face with defiance.

  “Of the thousands of genetic samples tested in my lab over the years, yours is the most perfectly compatible with Nobility,” Lazar said. “Draco is about to blow sky high, so my time here is coming to a close. I have certain agenda points yet to accomplish, and you, Dr. Sinclair, are one of them.”

  He stuck the
tip of the syringe into the rubber end of the IV tube. “Nobility is what you saw in the video footage. The wolf is one of my creations, exceptional in ways you are about to discover.” He slowly delivered the solution. “Wave good-bye to plain old human, Simon. Say hello to Nobility.”

  Tears gathered in Simon’s eyes as he watched the solution enter his arm.

  “Humanity requires a little house cleaning,” Lazar continued. “We have de-evolved into a self-centered herd of imbeciles, intent on destroying everything we touch. It’s time all that came to a stop.” He looked at his watch.

  Simon closed his eyes. Something was happening. Inside.

  What the hell has this man done to me?

  More tears poured down his face.

  “Being perfectly compatible means your genetic transformation will be much smoother than what we see in dragons. You won’t require isolation, but I’m keeping you strapped in for your own safety.”

  When Lazar said transformation, Simon cringed. Heat was coming, coursing through his body, like one of those dyes used in nuclear imaging. A metallic taste broke out across his tongue and his stomach pitched; he feared he would vomit into the gag. Sweat poured profusely and ran down his face and back.

  Lazar watched.

  A tremor began deep in Simon’s torso.

  I will kill you.

  The tremor spread to his limbs, rattling his body.

  “I’ve worked on the Nobility project all my life. I assure you, fixing the human race has been a tremendous endeavor,” Lazar bragged. “But I’ve perfected the formula, and Nobility is now a part of you.” He quickly did a pulse check on Simon and noted the time.

  “Nobility has already initiated rapid evolution within your DNA, an ongoing process that will continue throughout your natural life, a constant state of genetic refinement.

  “The latent animal DNA in your genetics, dominate for the cat family, by the way, will activate and begin expressing animal behavior. You’ll evolve into the most exceptional creature possible given the DNA you were born with. Welcome, Dr. Sinclair, to exceptional.”

  Simon kept his eyes closed, focusing on his internal body. He imagined Nobility swirling around his genetic strands, dissolving protective enzymes coating his latent DNA. The exposed material would unfurl and extend, connecting to the rest of the helix, going live.

  “Now here’s the trick, Simon. I’m counting on you not telling anyone about our experiment because it’s illegal for a genetically modified human to return to Earth. So, unless you want to stay out here in hell’s last outpost until the day you die, we’re going to keep this a secret between us.”

  Lazar’s voice was fading, as if it came through water and a tin can. Simon was suddenly hot, burning alive. He began to shiver, and darkness took his mind.

  * * *

  Dreya, Rhys, and Quinn made their regular stop in the cafeteria in spite of running through the outback most the night. She asked, “I wonder if Simon spotted anything from those new cameras last night.”

  “Where is he, anyhow?” Quinn said. “He’s usually up and about by now.”

  Dreya rubbed her temples. An alarming pressure seeped into her head. “Being up at night is messing with me,” she complained. Suddenly, a flare of anger washed through her mind and she covered her face with her hands.

  “Something’s happening.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples and bent forward, overwhelmed by the waves of anger and rage. “Simon needs our help.”

  She stood, needing to respond to the rising pressure, the intense anger, the compelling need to go to him. “We have to find Simon.”

  “You’re in touch with him?” Quinn asked. He and Rhys rose and hurried with her.

  “Seems so.”

  “That’s not a good sign,” Rhys said. “Come on. Let’s go to the med lab.”

  “He’s in great pain … burning. And he’s angry.”

  In the med lab, Simon’s half empty coffee cup sat cold on his desk. His monitor held a screen shot of security footage.

  “Oh, shit,” Quinn said.

  Rhys peered at the image of a great wolf nosing into the bushes. “You made the news.”

  “Where would he go after seeing this?” she asked.

  “Lazar,” Rhys said.

  She turned toward the genetics lab. Not finding Lazar in his chief of staff office, she stopped an intern. “Where could we find Dr. Lazar?”

  “Did you check his workstation? Go all the way back, bear to the left, his station is the door with the frosted glass.”

  The closer Dreya got to Lazar’s frosted glass workstation, the clearer she perceived Simon’s mind.

  Betrayal again, anger, rage.

  Quinn opened the office door. Simon was bound to a chair. They rushed over and released his straps; she caught him as he slid to the floor. “Why would Lazar give him Nobility?”

  Rhys examined him. “There’s no froth on his mouth. He didn’t have as difficult a transformation as we did. I don’t think he’s had a seizure; he’s just unconscious.”

  She held her fingers to his temples, sensing his mind stumble in the dark. “He hasn’t shifted yet. Get his clothes off.” She removed the jacket while Rhys and Quinn pulled off the pants.

  Once he was naked, she felt the transition energy building in his mind. She had never been in a mind during transition. The force was consuming, like seeing an explosion come at you in slow motion. She scooted back as the wave streaked though him. Before the wave he was Simon, after the wave, he was …

  That son of a bitch Lazar—

  I know, Simon. He gave you Nobility.

  He went silent, suddenly realizing they communicated without speaking words. He looked down at his cougar feet.

  Easy now. Stay calm.

  His mind blanked out of contact for a moment and she thought he was going into a seizure. But he roared back into her thoughts with incredulous, angry disbelief.

  Oh, my God. The bastard made me an animal.

  Quinn said, “Simon, we’ve all been given Nobility.”

  At Quinn’s words, Simon backed up a step. His startled cougar face gazed with big eyes from her to Quinn and Rhys.

  She said, “You’ll be able to communicate with me, with all of us, while you are in animal form.”

  I understand your speech and thoughts?

  “Like Quinn said, exceptional.”

  How do I return to human?

  “Just think it.”

  She felt the transition pressure in her mind and grabbed the pieces of his station suit. He shifted and she held out his clothes. Red-faced, he struggled to dress. Once clothed, he staggered over to sit in the chair they just released him from. He ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck!”

  “What happened?” she asked. “Why did he do this to you? Why now?”

  “I found footage of a wolf in the outback and came to confront him. Bastard said the station was ready to blow and he had some things to do.”

  “But why you? Why give you Nobility?” Rhys asked.

  “Apparently, my genetics are perfect for, what do you call it, Nobility?”

  “I knew he was up to something,” Dreya said. Lazar’s words, ‘You’re going to need another’ finally made sense. He meant another pack member, one he had already chosen. She doubted Simon needed to hear this. “Do you know where he went?”

  “No, but he said this was our little secret. If I tell anyone, I won’t be allowed back on Earth because I’m a genetically modified human being.”

  His voice was rising and they didn’t need an audience. “Lower your voice,” she said. “We can’t attract any attention.”

  “Fuck,” he muttered and swung a right hook at the missing Lazar. Suddenly, he frowned. “Wait. You came from Earth and you’re messed up like this. How?”

  “We crossed paths with Gideon Smith,” she said.

  “What animal are you?”

  “I don’t shift. But my eyes are … Noble, I guess you’d say. I also have this telepathic l
ink to you, Rhys, and Quinn, and it seems, other shifters. The telepathy is what brought us here, I felt your pain. Once the mental connection appeared, I knew you’d been given Nobility.”

  “Telepathy? So that’s how you knew there was another murder.”

  She nodded. “I saw images in a dream. I think I was tethered to the mind of the dragon during the killing.”

  Rhys said, “I’m raven.”

  “I’m wolf,” Quinn added. “You saw me on the security camera.”

  Simon rubbed his face. “I thought Lazar created some new animal.” He snorted a blast of disbelief. “I guess I was right. What’s this crap about Nobility?”

  Dreya glanced down, uncertain how to answer. While she struggled with still wanting to kill Lazar, there was much suggesting Nobility was quite possibly … a noble success, at least for them. “It’s not what you think. Nobility is a constant work in progress, but evidence supports Lazar’s vision is … brilliant, if mad.”

  “It’s not what you think,” he said. “Your words from yesterday.”

  “There’s more to Nobility than meets the eye,” Rhys said. “But, we share the same secret now. You can’t tell anyone, Simon. Not ever.”

  Quinn stepped up. “Over the next few days you’ll develop a need to be with us—that’s Nobility expressing pack behavior. But in the meantime, we’d like your help catching Givens.”

  * * *

  Leonard discretely watched Hilde from his seat at the End of the Line. She had been sitting in the corner for hours crying. He was beginning to feel sorry for her. Still—

  You think your situation is bad; mine’s worse.

  Her public argument with David provided him the perfect opportunity. Everything in his residence was ready; he just had to wait until she got up and left.

  Finally, she rose, grabbed her bag and stepped out. Leonard paid. He gave her a moment to choose a direction. But by the time he came out, she was still standing outside the door looking like she had nowhere to go.