by Eve Langlais
“What did I do to get stuck with you?” The shake of her head spoke of her disappointment. “It should have been you that died in that car crash and not Xavier.” The favored elder son whose car went off a cliff and was never found.
“Your love warms the heart, Mother.” He’d long ago given up expecting anything from her. “Where have you taken Emma and the others?”
“The same place as we’re keeping Cerberus. Think Chimera will take the bait and attempt a rescue?”
Probably, because no way would Jett allow the kidnapping of his wife and daughters to pass. “You shouldn’t have taken them.” Oliver shook his head and began pacing again. “Chimera will come. And he won’t be alone. You have to evacuate the lab.”
“Why would I do that?” She smirked.
“Because people will die.”
“Such pessimism. I’m ready for whatever they might bring. Looking forward to it actually. Let them show the watching cameras what they’re capable of. Then we’ll know what aspects we want to harness and sell.”
“I’m going to stop you.”
“No, you won’t.” His mother shook her head. “You are about to become the son I need.”
“Never.”
“Did you know,” she said, as if he’d never spoken, “that we’ve already begun trials on the new serum?”
“What?”
“Discreetly of course. Some bums we gathered from the streets that no one will miss. A good thing since they’ve failed so far.” She scowled, more disturbed by the serum not working than the fact she’d killed people.
“You need to stop.”
“Why would we stop? We are on the cusp of the biggest discovery in the world. We will stop all the pain and suffering.”
“And rake in billions with no care to the consequences or side effects.” Oliver shook his head. “The Chimera treatment isn’t ready. It may never be ready.”
“You better hope that’s not the case, or I won’t have any use for your friends.”
As she moved to leave, he blurted out, “What are you going to do with me?”
“That depends on you. Either you’re with me or—”
He lunged at her. With his size, it should have been easy to knock her down and escape his room.
But mother always was one step ahead.
The Taser she hit him with sent him to the floor jiggling, but he still heard her say, “Take him to the lab. I hear they’ve just mixed up a new batch for us to try.”
Chapter Seventeen
Emma wasn’t too surprised to wake in a cage. Once again, she’d put her faith in someone and they’d screwed her over. Thing was this time really hurt.
She’d trusted Oliver. Believed him when he claimed he’d changed his mind about her. She’d shared not only her body with him but her fragile heart.
And he’d stomped all over it.
He’d played her all along. Played them all. Now they paid the price.
Rising from her cot, she took stock of her location. The word bleak came to mind, but it was clean. Everything appeared shiny and new, from the freshly painted concrete wall at the back of her cell to the soldered metal bars that were sunk into the concrete floor and ceiling. The drain in the middle of her floor had a shiny cap and wasn’t large enough to squeeze through. Hers wasn’t the only cage. A line of them spanned the room, two rows facing each other with each cell possessing a gap between them wide enough that she’d wager if she stretched out her hand, she wouldn’t even be able to touch the fingertips of the person in the cell next to hers.
“Luke?” She noticed him in the cage beside hers, sitting lotus style on the floor, glaring across and to his left at his wife, who lay prone on a cot. Without her son.
“Oh shit,” she muttered. She didn’t dare ask aloud if Margaret was dead. Luke surely wouldn’t be so calm if that were the case. As she watched, Margaret’s chest rose and fell. She lived.
“Don’t touch the bars,” he advised.
She almost asked why, and then she heard it, that steady humming buzz that indicated current. Whoever took them prisoner didn’t want them escaping.
What do you mean whoever? Ollie and his mom conspired against us.
Straight across from Luke was another cage, big enough to hold a clear vat filled with liquid. She could see Becky floating in it. Her baby daughters huddled close.
On Emma’s other side there was Jacob, who paced and mumbled, “Fucking lied to me.”
She could understand his anger. Oliver had lied to them all.
“Fucking bitch. She promised me a fresh start. Not a fucking cage.”
Jacob’s words caught her attention. “What did you say?”
His sulking gaze turned her way. “I said I’m not supposed to be in here. She said if I turned you in, I could go free.”
Luke sprang to his feet and approached the bars but didn’t grip them. “You’re the one that fucked us over and gave them our location?”
“I didn’t have a choice. It was the only way they’d let me go.”
“Who? Who captured you?” Emma asked.
“The bitch running Leyghas Labs. Maudette Leyghas. She had her lawyers spring me from the police station after they arrested me for stealing food but only so she could imprison me and use me as a guinea pig.”
“You told them all about us,” said Luke with a sneer.
“Not me. They already knew everything. Even knew who else crashed on the helicopter with me. When I told them Emma was alive…” He shrugged. “They made me a deal. Said I could go free if I helped them find Emma or any of the other mutants.”
“We’re not mutants.”
Jacob sneered. “Yeah, we are. Especially you.” Said pointedly at Emma. “For some reason they were real interested in you. They dangled me as bait, hoping someone from the clinic would come after me.”
“And we went for it,” Luke growled, disgusted by the trap.
Emma frowned. “But nothing happened for a week. Why did they wait so long?”
“Because there were more of you than expected. So they waited until the scariest and most dangerous of the group were gone. Only then did they swoop in.”
“I was still around,” growled Luke listening in.
“But the others weren’t and that provided an opening.”
“You let them know when we were at our weakest,” Emma stated.
“I had to. I made a deal.”
“Fucking moron. Did you seriously believe they’d keep their word?” Luke snorted.
Emma could understand the disdain. “Was Oliver part of it?”
That brought a shrug from Jacob. “Probably. I mean he is her son.”
Not exactly an answer. Was it possible he had nothing to do with it? She squashed that hope before it could fully bloom.
“What do they want with us?” she asked instead.
“What everyone wants. To know the secrets to our greatness.” The deep voice had them turning and noticing a cage at the far end of the room. A larger cell than theirs with many creature comforts to keep the devil within happy.
“Dr. Cerberus?” There was a lilt in Emma’s query, mostly because she barely recognized the man. Horns jutted from his forehead, and while his skin remained dark, it had a texture to it, kind of scaly. He was also much larger. Bulkier. Taller, too, given, when he stood, his head practically brushed the top of his cage. And were those wings at his back?
“Ah, if it isn’t our lucky little unicorn. I was delighted to hear they’d found you. You and all our other successes. Especially the babies.” The grin on his face had too many teeth and a subtle undercurrent of malice.
Luke snapped. “Motherfucker, I’m going to kill you.”
“Is that any way to greet the doctor who helped save you?” Cerberus chided.
“Luke, what’s happening?” Margaret chose that moment to rouse, and Luke hurried to speak to her, but Emma was more interested in Cerberus.
“How long have you been a prisoner?” Emma asked.
“Prisoner? I came here of my own free will,” Cerberus boasted.
“Says the demon in the locked cell,” Luke muttered.
“A minor misunderstanding. I’ve allowed it for the moment, because they are giving me what I want.”
“What do you want?” Emma asked.
“World domination.” He said it so seriously she almost believed him, but then Cerberus laughed. “The expression on your face is quite priceless.”
“Any idea what they are going to do to us?” she asked.
“I imagine Luke with his fighting skills will be copied for the military. Becky and her daughters shall help spawn a new species that will live in the oceans, easing the burden of life on Earth.”
“What of me?” Jacob blurted. “They promised me freedom.”
Cerberus turned a yellow-slitted gaze his way. “You? You already served your purpose bringing those with true worth to us. I imagine there is a dissection in your future.”
“What?” Jacob hollered before making the mistake of grabbing the electrified bars. He hit the floor twitching. It made her wonder if part of his hybrid mix included a worm.
Emma was almost afraid to find out what they had in store for her. It worried her so much that her horn—longer than it ever had been—began to ache.
As if he read her mind, Dr. Cerberus—who truly looked like the devil when he turned his freaky gaze in her direction—said, “They’ll try and make more of you, my lucky little unicorn. They will try and fail. Funny thing about some of our more mythical recreations. It’s not just genetics that decide the final shape. There is something in the aura. Something that is a part of you that can’t be replicated. A shame given the special properties of your horn.”
“What about my horn?” she asked as it ached even more fiercely.
It wasn’t Cerberus who answered. A door slid open and drew attention as a woman, dressed in a slim black pencil skirt and dark jacket, entered. Her hair was a strict silver bob that went well with the flat expression in her eyes while her blouse matched the blood-red lipstick. “Your horn is about to make my company billions.”
“I don’t understand.” Emma couldn’t help but recognize the woman, the same one Oliver called mother. The person who’d put them all in cages.
“Of course you don’t understand, because the lovely doctors at the clinic never told you.” The woman strutted toward her, the clack of her heels drawing a low, rumbling growl from Luke.
He looked quite feral as he glared through the bars. “What have you done with my son?”
“He’s currently running tests. Literally. Endurance. Agility. Although, it took us a bit of convincing before he obeyed. Savage little beast.”
“He’s a baby!” Margaret exclaimed.
“Hardly a baby. Despite his linear age, physically he’s more of a toddler and definitely in the terrible stage. We’ll have to ensure those who train him use a firm hand to keep him in line.”
Luke slammed into the bars and, despite the sizzle, managed to snarl. “You bitch! Give me back my son.”
“I don’t think so. Your boy is about to become our poster child for the future. With his projected rate of growth, he’ll reach adulthood in less than half the time of an unmodified person. Think of it. Only a decade to build an army of super soldiers. Less time if we treat full-grown adults. Although we’ll have to find a way to make you more malleable.” The woman sneered in Luke’s direction. “I hear shock collars are effective in controlling a dog’s bark.”
He grabbed the bars, ignoring the current running through them, his hair standing on end, his body vibrating with the electricity “You’ll pay for this.”
“No, she will if you don’t behave.” The woman pointed to Margaret, and Luke’s face turned ashen as he stepped back from the bars. A wolfman brought to heel by his love for his wife.
“Why are you doing this?” Emma asked.
“Didn’t Oliver spill the beans? I thought for sure that poor excuse for a son would have whined about my plan.” The red lips curled. “You know, if it weren’t for the DNA test proving he was mine, I’d wonder if he got switched at birth. Such a disappointment he turned out to be.”
“If he’s so disappointing, then why did you use him to capture us?” Jacob took credit, but to dispel any remaining doubt, Emma needed to know once and for all if Oliver was involved.
“You think Oliver helped? I wish he had the balls.” Maudette Leyghas laughed. “Oliver tried to talk me out of my plans. He thought I didn’t know he was sneaking around, gathering company secrets, intent on revealing them to the world. As if I would allow him to do that. My company is on the cusp of making billions, maybe even trillions, of dollars.”
“What you’re doing is illegal.”
“Only if someone finds out.” The top lip pulled back in a sneer. “And I’ve made sure that won’t happen.”
“Are you the one responsible for the attacks on us?” Luke asked.
“You mean the raid on the clinic and then Chimera’s house? Piss-poor operations.” She shook her head. “Not me, but we were watching and we learned from Romanov’s mistakes. His problem was he went in like a bull in a china shop, thinking he could just smash and take. We observed. Gathered intel. Retrieved the projects that surfaced. Imagine our delight when we found out the world’s only unicorn survived. Because of you, I’ll become the most powerful woman in the world.”
“You’re evil,” Emma stated.
“How funny. That’s exactly what Oliver said before I had him strapped to a table.”
Her blood ran cold. “What did you do to him?”
“Me?” An exaggerated innocence that turned into a sneer. “Nothing. Yet. But it won’t be long. I’d already started a mild course of treatments before he took off on his ill-advised expedition. And now that he’s returned, it’s time to finish them.”
“You’re experimenting on your son?” Emma couldn’t help but be appalled.
“A mother must do what she has to in order to gain the son she needs. And don’t act so shocked. After all, you’re the reason why it’s even possible. You and that lovely horn of yours.” Maudette snapped her fingers, and some of the guards who’d stood silent at her back moved forward. “Part of the problem with the Chimera treatments was the length of time needed to implement them. Not to mention the pain. Hard to sell a cure that hurts more than the disease or impairment or that requires placing subjects in extended comas. But it turns out the legends are true. A unicorn horn does have power. A secret even Chimera never knew. But Cerberus did. Becky was his first real success.”
“What are you talking about?” Luke appeared puzzled. “I thought she stole some of Chimera’s cure and took it.”
“She did, and would have died with that alone. The human body wasn’t supposed to be able to adapt that quickly.”
Cerberus interceded, rumbling, “Which is why Becky also got more than few thermoses of broth, thickened with the fine ground powder of a horn.”
Emma’s touched her horn, shaking as realization hit. “They cut it on purpose.”
“Don’t whine,” Maudette snapped. “It grew back. And it better keep growing back because we’re going to need lots of it. Starting now. Bring her to the operation room.”
“What? No.” Emma backed up in her cage and hit the wall because there was nowhere to go. Nowhere to run and hide.
The black spots danced. Her breathing huffed hotly through her nose, and a foot rubbed on the floor.
“She’s gonna charge.”
“Tranq her!” someone yelled.
They must have drugged her good, because despite rushing toward the bars, she didn’t recall hitting them. And when she woke, her horn was gone.
Chapter Eighteen
Oliver woke strapped to a bed, which wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time. Especially since he could see the light overhead, the big kind used in operating rooms.
It especially boded ill, given his last recollection involved his mother s
aying something to the effect of, “Since you love the monsters so much, you’ll be glad to know you’re already becoming one.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Except he had a funny feeling he knew. The flu shot the company made him get. The nights he slept deeper and longer than usual, waking in the afternoon rather than the ass crack of dawn.
How long had his mother been screwing with him? Experimenting on her own son?
The realization made his blood run cold and, at the same time, ignited a heated panic. He struggled against the restraints, only to quickly realize he wasn’t going anywhere. Was this how Emma and the others felt when they were being treated? Helpless. Terrified.
Excited.
What?
It surprised him to find a kernel of anticipation within. A part of him wondered what kind of super power he’d get. Strength or speed? Would he appear rugged and human like Marcus and Luke, or would his genes succumb to the beast and he’d be forever damned to live in shadows?
What if he didn’t want to be a monster?
Although, if he did become one, it would make convincing Emma he’d not betrayed her much easier. How could she ever forgive him? His own mother conspired against her. Captured her. Even now, probably hurt her.
Thinking of the devil conjured his mother. He heard her heels and smelled her perfume before she neared enough for him to perceive her.
“Bitch,” he hissed.
Mother didn’t actually look at him but rather at the doctor with his abnormally large syringe, the liquid within glinting with a silvery sheen. Sparkly almost like Emma’s horn.
A pit formed in his stomach the longer he stared. Surely not…
“He’s awake already,” his mother stated.
“That last dose we gave him before he set off on his trip must have amped up his changes. I’ll make a notation in his chart to increase the dosage in the sedative we give him.”
“You might want to triple whatever you’re planning since the serum we’re giving him today promises to be extra potent. We finally got our hands on more of that secret ingredient.”