by Bo Luellen
Shoshanna scoffed, “Whim?”
IGOR gave a flippant, “Dr. Zorka felt it reflected your personality.”
Her dark right eyebrow went up as she replied dryly, “Did he? How adorable.”
Shoshannah got inside the car, and felt the black leather interior, “I can’t damn him for his craftsmanship. IGOR, start her up.”
The air exploded with the roar of the engine that shook the nearby tin walls. Dust drifted down from the neglected storage unit ceilings and covered the new paint job. Like a dragon waking in its lair, the advanced engine bellowed a warning to the gods that it was hungry. With a gentle press on the gas pedal, she pulled out of the unit and onto the graveled road. She turned onto the empty street and opened Whim up.
She spent a few hours shopping the more exquisite districts for what to wear for the evening. After some deliberation, she went with a full length black long-sleeve evening gown. The dress was lowcut down her midsection and finished at her navel. It was accented with silver trim around the edges and an open back. She stopped by Harry Winston’s and bought a diamond necklace to draw the gaze to her cleavage. Shoshannah had plenty of reasons to celebrate with such a lucrative job, and she intended to enjoy her date before she had to work.
During the drive to Manhattan, IGOR remarked, “Getting out of town will help keep Adam off balance until Dr. Zorka can come up with a weapon to subdue him. The big problem is the Brotherhood. Master Enfield has already gained a reputation in the occult circles as being a ruthless leader who earned his position through assassination. He won’t likely let you just walk away if he decides you can be of further use.”
She let go of the steering wheel and fixed her makeup, “I’ve known dozens of such people in my life, and I’ve learned one hard fact: Crazy takes care of itself. If we give him what he wants, he will put it to use. That will draw out his enemies and pitch him into conflict. Then I can slip away, and with any luck, Enfield will forget me or get assassinated.”
IGOR drove the car between two buses and accelerated, “Mistress, you underestimate yourself. Everything about you is unforgettable.”
She blew a kiss in the air, “Thank you, Love.”
She pulled up to Daniels, a French restaurant she enjoyed frequenting. Shoshannah found her date standing outside in a black tux. The man was panning his head around, looking for her. She poured out of Whim, and he beamed at her radiant beauty. Shoshannah’s intoxicating smile distracted him from seeing her car driving away with no one behind the wheel.
The Italian man caught her eye because of the strength of his soul light. It was the spark of true wholesomeness that was so rarely found today. He had dark hair that was combed perfectly to one side and a thick build that pressed against his purple dress shirt.
The man’s slight Italian accent was still present, “I’m so glad you called me for dinner. After you stopped texting me, I thought you weren’t interested.”
She touched his chest with a single finger, “You shouldn’t give up so easily.”
There was a playful nature to his conversation, and the young man spent the evening trying to make her laugh. As they ordered some Dark Cocoa Moelleux, he noticed one of her scars. A mark ran down and poked out from under her elegant sleeve.
Silvio brushed his hand across the raised flesh, “That looks deep. How did that happen?”
She leaned back in her seat, “You know, usually when I get asked questions about my scars, I lie. I make up some simple misdirection. When I find someone as special as you, Silvio, it’s an opportunity to tell the truth.”
Shoshannah brushed his black hair, bringing a blush to his cheeks, “I know that you’ll never tell my secrets.”
The hapless Italian inhaled the pheromones drifting off her skin. She watched his eyes, which suddenly dilated. She smiled faintly at the indication that the enhanced airborne hormones she produced had done their job.
He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, “I would never betray you!”
Shoshannah allowed him to hold her hand as she continued, “I got these scars before I was born. A brilliant man named Victor Frankenstein was about to barter my life away. When I was capable, I was to be used as a broodmare by a monstrous man named Adam. At the last moment, Victor had a change of heart and believed that I wasn’t meant for this world. While a storm raged in the middle of the night, Victor took an ax from the servant’s quarters. Like a cruel god that was unhappy with his creation, he carved my body up like a cow at slaughter.”
The Italian beauty sat across from her, with his mouth agape, “What? How did you survive?”
Shoshannah took a sip of her wine, “It depends on what definition you have of life. Is a baby in the womb a life, or can you abort it without being considered a murderer? I suppose I couldn’t say I survived it or it killed me. I wasn’t yet a thing in some people’s eyes. As for my mother, I’ve often wondered that myself, but never knew who she was.”
He leaned forward with anguish in his eyes, “I’m so sorry.”
It was a heartfelt expression that transcended the chemical charm her body had produced. Part of her longed for the pure seduction without her abilities. Enthralling men and women through her genetically enhanced pheromone glands made social engagements too easy. The soul light burned with compassion in his eyes, and she knew for a fact that Silvio was the one she had been searching for.
He reached over and grabbed her hand, and continued, “How? How did you survive such a brutal attack at such a young age?”
She caressed his palm, “A kind man named Asher Clerval collected my broken and discarded body, then hurried it back to his laboratory. Between intellectual curiosity and his enormous sense of compassion, he patched my broken pieces back together and gave me life.”
Silvio shook his head and replied, “Wait. Why didn’t he take you to a hospital? Was he a doctor?”
The waiter sat down the dessert as Shoshannah answered, “Asher was a medical doctor, and had learned some of the sciences from his deceased brother, Henry. Dr. Clerval used catgut, sewed me back together, and in a moment of irony, used a process developed by Victor. Luckily, Henry had a keen mind and kept me away from death’s door.”
As she slid a spoon into the chocolate, he asked, “You were just an infant. Did Asher adopt you?”
She swallowed the bite, and the flavors exploded in her mouth. Shoshannah’s taste buds responded on a higher frequency, which made each bad meal agonizing and a delicious one a wonderland of sensations. She nearly lost herself in the moment before realizing she was making a spectacle of herself.
She put the fork down, face flush with the sensation, and replied, “I became a member of his family, and he raised me as his own. Because of my disfigurement, he had me tutored at his estate. After a time, I cast off my given name and adopted the name of my Jewish tutor. Asher’s two sons became my brothers, and when I was old enough, I became Clerval’s laboratory assistant. When he passed away, my brothers took over the business, and I traveled the world. When Oxford started admitting girls, I was in the first group to apply. I graduated with honors and returned home to apply my craft. Two years later, I surpassed my elderly brother’s abilities and took over ownership of the family lab. Since then, I’ve always protected and kept close to the Clerval’s. Asher Clerval might not have been my biological family, but he was every bit my father.”
Silvio tilted his head, “Wait, what year did you graduate from Oxford?”
Shoshannah looked at him sheepishly, spooned a bit of the creamy dessert, and replied, “1926.”
After a pause, he burst out into laughter and clapped his hands. It caused people around to stare, but she relished in his reaction. Silvio praised her for the jest and remarked how easily she had led him down a rabbit hole. She had told him almost everything, and still, her pheromones made him only want to love her.
He pulled his chair around to her, “Let’s get out of here. Come back to my chateau and dance with me.”
She picked u
p her phone and checked the time, “You’re gorgeous, and I do like you. I just can’t. I have to be somewhere by midnight, and I think what you have in mind is going to take much longer than that.”
The young man smiled as her foot ran along the inside of his calf. His face had a look of hunger, and his eyes melted into hers. She pulled out some money from her wallet and put it on the table.
The Italian looked down, “No, let me. I asked you out.”
She winked at him, “I’ll see to the check, and you can see me to my car.”
A sly smile stretched across his face, as he nodded with anticipation of getting to spend more time with her.
New York City, New York – Saturday, November 6th, 2018 – 11:54 p.m. CST
She made good time on the I-78, but she hated long drives. IGOR had piloted Whim, while Enter Sandman by Metallica piped in from the speakers. She recalled the sweeter moments of her night’s date, as her rear view mirror vibrated each time Lars hit the drums. Shoshannah was glad she had taken time to enjoy herself and remembered days when all she did was adventure.
It had been three months since she had been back to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. Even though it was turning cold, in her headlights she could still see the insects swarming over the murky waters. Like many of the preserves, refuges, and forests protected by the Federal Government, it had a great deal of uninhabited land. The twelve square miles of bog made an ideal place for wildlife to thrive and co-exist. It also provided a quiet place for Shoshannah and Jagger to do their gruesome work.
She turned off Long Hill Road and stopped the car in front of a service entrance that led deeper into the uninhabited areas of the park. Shoshannah got out and unlocked the gate, pausing to look at the waning crescent moon overhead. After getting her car past the fence, she turned her headlights off and drove down the long dirt path. The sliver of moonlight was barely enough for the average person to make out basic shapes on the ground, but not for Shoshannah. Within minutes of being in the almost total darkness, her eyes produced new light sensitivity cones. This caused her pupils to expand and give her eyes an almost black appearance. The landscape went from pitch black to a low level of illumination.
After a few minutes of IGOR negotiating the back road, she arrived at the swamp house. The surrounding stagnant water was only twenty yards away from the building, which gave the area a strong odor of rotting vegetation, fungus, fish, and animal. As she parked and opened her car door, the pungent aroma hit her enhanced senses like a freight train. She nearly threw up the fine French cuisine she had enjoyed earlier in the night.
IGOR blurted out, “The swamps can be… overwhelming. Is there anything I can do?”
She choked down the urge to vomit, “No. Not unless you can find an off-switch to what Victor did.”
The AI beeped, “Everything about your biochemical makeup is geared towards survival by way of an alchemically altered adrenaline gland. Everything that could kill you is overcome in seconds by this genetic defense system. To deactivate it, the gland would need to be removed, and no one knows what that could do to you. I can task a large portion of my processing power towards finding a way to mute your body’s abilities, but, to date, Dr. Zorka hasn’t been able to…”
She held up a hand and straightened up, “Forget it, IGOR.”
The door to the wooden building popped open, and Jagger yelled, “Sho, is that you?”
She loved her family, but Jagger sometimes drove her crazy. Of all the generations of Clerval, he wasn’t the worst, but he was dynamically dumb to tactical situations. The saving grace was his eagerness to please, hard work ethic, and creative nature.
She unlocked her trunk, “If you have other women coming to our secret swamp hideout in the middle of the night, I’m going to give you a medal for finally cheating on Elisha. No man should go a year without sex.”
He blushed, “Oh, now, Sho. Stop that. You know I have eyes only for my Elisha.”
Shoshannah lifted one of the canvas duffel bags from the trunk, “Of course. If you have time, how about helping me with this.”
He awkwardly made his way in the dark and grabbed one of the bags from her. With some considerable effort, he grunted it onto his shoulder and followed her in. When she opened the door, she saw the lab was already prepared. The windows were covered with cardboard, the walls were filled with acoustic suppression insulation, and the tea was brewing on a camping stove. Overhead were rows of fluorescent lights, and gas-powered generators lined the walls. In the center of the room was a metal table with brown leather restraints attached.
She slammed her bag to the ground and opened it. Inside were refrigerated metal canisters, designed to keep their contents at a constant temperature. Jagger put his bag down with a grunt and opened it to reveal more metal cases. As she sat her cylinders up along the walls, he opened the metal satchels to reveal dozens of six-inch-long pins.
She turned and ordered, “Get everything ready, I’m going to bring it in.”
Jagger barely looked up from screwing long black wires to the blunt end of each pin. He gave her a slight nod as she walked out of the door. She counted herself lucky with Jagger. He wasn’t squeamish, and he took direction well. Not all of the Clerval line could say the same.
As Shoshanna reached her car, she looked down at an empty back trunk, “IGOR, open it.”
The floor of the trunk popped up to reveal a secret compartment. As the hydraulics lifted the false bottom, Shoshannah grabbed the black body bag that lay underneath. With a slight strain, she hoisted the bag up and out of the car with her left hand. IGOR closed the trunk as she whipped the body bag on her shoulder. A few seconds later, she walked back into the shack and threw the heavy sealed container onto the table.
Jagger had connected the majority of the pins to wires and attached the other end to a voltage regulator. The regulator was, in turn, hooked into the six generators. Each individual pin had a dial that was capable of making minute adjustments to the current.
He looked at the body bag, “Is it messy?”
She unzipped it and pulled back the sides to reveal the blank expression of Silvio. His head was turned at an unhealthy angle, and his body was bent in an odd shape. The smell of feces hit her nose, and she backed up, waving her hand in front of her face. Jagger pulled out a Febreze bottle and frantically pumped the contents onto the corpse. He didn’t mind the odor, but he wanted to make her more comfortable.
After soaking the body with the lemon-scented contents, he looked up and asked, “Better?”
She nodded, I don’t have the heart to tell him that the overpowering fragrance is nearly as nauseating as the body. It’s cute how Jagger tries to be chivalrous, while joyfully helping me mutilate a murdered corpse. He’s old fashioned like that.
They pulled Silvio out of the bag and sprawled him out on the table. Jagger went to work, cutting the young Italian man’s clothes off as she fit restraints to the wrists and ankles. Once the preparation was complete, Shoshannah started an IV at the femoral artery, just inside the leg. She attached the hose to a pump and turned it on. Slowly, Silvio’s blood was pumped out of his body and into a large glass container.
While they waited, the two sat in a corner and discussed Jagger’s family and the challenges of the new house. It was a cold November night, and they enjoyed a cup of hot tea while the suction pump whirled. Just before 1 a.m., the deceased Silvio was drained of all his blood, and the pair went back to work.
They both inserted the pins into the body at specific points, careful not to trip over the attached wires. Shoshannah jammed hers into the seven chakra points found along the mid-line down the front. Jagger didn’t have the strength to do this task, as the crown chakra pin had to be forced through the cranium. With a sharp stabbing motion, the shack was filled with the sound of breaking bone as she plunged it into the skull. Her assistant quickly completed inserting the smaller pins into the over forty different acupuncture points.
She looked
up at Jagger, “Okay, time for the magic.”
He took an alcohol wipe and swiped her brachial vein, as she said, “You know that’s not necessary. I’m immune to infection, so sanitizing my arm before you stick me is pointless.”
He pulled out a syringe from his pocket, “I remember my father telling me about how my granddad was hard on you. He constantly reminded you that you weren’t human. That you were a creation of Victor’s. This is my way of saying I feel you are more human to me than most. So, I treat you with respect because you are my family.”
She gave a half smile as he stuck the needle in, I’ll be sad to see him grow old and pass.
Jagger pulled the needle from her arm and injected the contents into Silvio’s adrenal gland, “I know you’re against it, but I have an idea of how to replicate Victor’s original formula by using your blood.”
Shoshannah sighed, “Darling, we’ve been over this before. Victor’s original formula is lost, and that means we don’t have a base to look at. Without that, any manner of anomalies could manifest.”
He took her hand, “Sho, listen, your blood can resurrect others, but it doesn’t give them the same abilities you and Adam have. Sure they stop aging, have immunity to disease, but they don’t have your adaptive gland’s high level of mutagenic response time. I’ve got a few ideas about the process of mass re-animation. If I can get a sample and perform a few tests…”
She retorted bluntly, “No.”
He pleaded, “Just think, we could make billions raising a small army of soldiers. We could pull the greatest minds from death’s door or give the elites of the world what they always dreamed of, immortality. In one day we could never have to work again and go into hiding on some island where Adam could never find us.”
Shoshannah reached out and rubbed his scruffy cheek, If that had been said by anyone else other than a Clerval, I would have killed him. His heart is good, his mind was curious and his concern for their well-being is genuine. Jagger Clerval, you’re not the first in your family to ask this.