by SM Reine
“Yeah.” Cass’s voice slurred. “Stop it.”
Revik said, “It’s okay. We’re fine, Jon...Cass.”
“Don’t give me that shit!” Jon said. “You can’t go suicidal on us, man! You can’t! We need you...”
“We’re okay,” Revik repeated. “We’re okay, Jon...”
He lay there, willing his mind blank, wishing more than anything he could go back to where Allie slept. She didn’t always find him. There were gaps that went for days. Eventually she’d stop looking. At the thought, pain blinded him briefly. He rolled over onto his stomach.
His eyes closed when Jon’s voice jerked them open again.
“God.” Jon stared at him, eyes hollow. He licked his lips, staring still, as if examining the damage. “Thanks...okay?” He clutched a bar with his mutilated hand, twisting on the metal. “Thanks. I mean it. Just take it easy. Don’t provoke him any more. Don’t let him kill you. We need you, man. We need you...”
“We’re okay...”
“Are you listening to me?”
Revik acknowledged the human’s words with a nod, then let his head slump to the tile. He promptly fell unconscious.
Revik! Wake up! Come back...come back to me!
He reached for her with his light. Fire shot into his neck, gritting his teeth.
“Dehgoies.”
A different voice.
“Dehgoies Revik?”
He tried to lift his head. His tongue had dried into his mouth. He couldn’t swallow. His temples pounded. He tried to clear his eyes, watching as a man placed a chair more than a body length from where he lay on the tile. Middle-aged with dark skin. Likely a seer from his physical appearance and the expression in his eyes.
His human-based ethnicity was closer to Indian than Eastern European or Chinese. He wore his wood-brown hair wound into a clip, and clothing reminiscent of Terian in the 1940s.
Revik focused on his own hands, feeling his pulse rise.
“What shall I call you?” the new body said.
Revik glanced at the far wall, saw that the cages that normally housed Cass and Jon were empty. Feeling his breath shorten, Revik tried not to let his panic show on his face. The new body regained its feet, walking closer to where Revik lay. Revik recoiled, but the seer only set something on the floor, within reach of his hands.
It was a glass of water.
The body returned to its chair, sat.
Revik stared at the water...but only for an instant.
Throwing his upper body forward, he reached for the glass, pulling the container closer with his fingers. He sniffed it...and ducked his head before he could come to anything conclusive, tilting the glass to his mouth as he sucked the liquid down greedily. When it was empty, he licked condensation off the sides.
He was still pressing the cold glass to his face when the body regained its feet and strolled closer to Revik once more, plucking the empty glass out of his hands. Revik watched in disbelief as the body carried the glass to the spigot on the wall, using the thin, high-pressure hose to fill it again. When the seer walked back, he placed the new glass on the same section of floor.
He stood there, watching Revik drink.
“You never answered me about the name,” the seer said. “Is it Revik now? Rolf? What does your new wife call you?”
“Dehgoies.” Revik tilted the glass for the last swallow, then pushed it carefully toward the other’s feet. “Where are Jon and Cass?” His voice was thick, but he could speak again.
The seer smiled. “Would you like another?”
“Yes,” Revik said. “Where’s Jon? Cass?”
The body bent for the glass. Walking back to the spigot, he replied,
“Cassandra required medical treatment.” He refilled the glass and walked back, setting it on the floor. “And I wanted to talk to you alone, Dehgoies.”
“You’re Terian?” Revik brought the glass closer, lowering his mouth to the cool liquid. He’d never tasted anything so good.
He drank with eyes closed, slower this time.
The body smiled. “Terian. Well, that’s an interesting question, Dehgoies. Yes, I am Terian.” He paused, watching Revik drink. He said, quieter, “Jon is right. You are pushing the drone too far, old friend. I can only control him so much...”
Revik laughed. He didn’t lose a drop of water.
Watching him, Terian clicked mildly.
“Must I put you on suicide watch again?” He watched Revik gulp down more water. “Relax, my friend. Slow...I will not take it.”
Revik tilted his head, finishing off the last of the water. He used his lips to take the condensation, cooling his face.
“You don’t look very well yourself,” Terian observed. “And yet, you still haven’t met the worst of my personas, Dehgoies. Trust me when I tell you, the Terian I’ve been using to interrogate you is a petulant child compared to the ones I have for less...delicate exercises. I call him Terian-6. I am Terian-2.” He spread his hands. “It simplifies things.”
Revik made his face expressionless.
“Are you willing to talk to me?” Terian said.
“Sure.” Revik set down the glass. “Can I have more?”
The body made a line in the air with one finger, a seer’s “no.” He added, “You obviously don’t trust me to not kick it over or make you piss in it...so I will pace your consumption for you. You don’t seem to believe me that you’ll get sick if I don’t.”
He folded his hands, tilting his head as he continued to examine Revik. His handsome face appeared greenish in the overhead light.
“You present us with an interesting puzzle, Dehgoies,” he said finally. “You see, I do not wish for anyone to know you continue to exist on this plane. So I am unable to utilize the Barrier the way I would normally. Inducement wires would be tricky, at best...”
The seer ticked off the list with his fingers.
“...Drugs must be avoided for the same reason. I do not want to kill you...and I would prefer you with limbs and organs intact. If I scan you outright, you will fight me, whether you mean to or not. If I scan deeply enough, there is a very good chance the telepathic restraint will kill you. Or destroy your mind, and I do not wish for that either. I obviously cannot deactivate the restraint.” Terian-2 spread his hands wider apart, smiling. “Truly? I wish I had my friend Dehgoies to ask. He was always so very good at puzzles of this kind.”
Revik kept the irritation off his face.
Terian-2 added, “You always had a bit of a dark twist in your methods, Revi’. I wonder now, was that from the wars, also? Did your creativity blossom questioning French prisoners? Or was it the Nazis themselves who sparked this in you?”
Revik stared at his thin hands clasped on the floor.
He could feel something trying to get at him, a pale, silvery thread, hovering over his light. Paranoia bit at the edges of his mind, a vague memory of being lost, of being broken. Worse than that, he felt the buttons the seer was trying to push, a flicker of pleasure that tried to insinuate itself, to flex into parts of him that lay dormant but unlocked. Memories tried to coalesce, to remind him of other things he’d been good at, once.
It occurred to him that his sight reflex ought to have kicked in. The collar should have ignited when he flexed his light.
But his mind felt relaxed.
Too relaxed.
He stared at the empty glass.
“Yes. Well. I did say drugs should be avoided, Revi’,” Terian-2 said apologetically. “...Not eliminated altogether. They must be handled with care, of course. You always did have that odd tolerance.” Terian-2 studied him as though he were an insect climbing wet tile. “It may help you to remember, you know. That would be good for you, yes? Less confusing?”
Revik’s fingers tightened on the glass.
“You see, I have a theory,” Terian-2 said. “I think that you have been remembering for some time, Revi’. I am curious to see how much of you is awake ahead of your conscious mind.” He watched Revi
k’s eyes. “I also truly do believe you have the succession order, my friend. Or perhaps you did something with it, yes? Something you forgot?”
When Revik continued to stare at the glass, Terian sighed, clicking.
“I confess, I still find it very difficult to read you. Even now, when you are ostensibly under my power, I feel I know you less, not more.” His dark lips thinned as he studied Revik’s face. “Some of this is act, yes. But not all. You hide behind a veneer of obedience. Obedience to Galaith, to me, to the Seven...your Ancestors. It does make me wonder what lies beneath.”
Internally, Revik rolled his eyes.
Smiling, Terian lit an expensive-smelling hiri stick, exhaling a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke. Revik’s hunger worsened.
“I suppose I understand,” Terian said. “...In part, at least. The way you were raised, you would have had plenty of practice in both lying and submission.” He bit gently on the end of the hiri, sucking resin. “And yet, in all of these months, I find it astonishing that I have yet to see a response from you that did not feel amazingly well-scripted. I believe all of this actually bores you on some level, am I right?”
Revik stared at his hands.
When the silence stretched, he gave a sort of barking laugh.
Terian smiled, settling his weight back in his chair. “If you do not wish to speak of the succession order, perhaps we can speak of other things. Tell me about Elise, Rolf.” He ashed the hiri. “How did you come to marry a human? How did you come to be in Germany at all?”
Revik’s mind remained lax. Images seeped through cracks. Her dead eyes grew into her living ones, smiling at him, laughing as she waded through blue-green grass, trailing dark hair. He caught her fingers, then the rest of her, and it was familiar, so familiar...but deadened somehow, far away. She was taking off his clothes before he’d caught his breath, asking him, and he lay on her, could barely hold it once he was inside.
Time rushed forward. He was older, bigger. She looked small to him now.
She blindfolded him, taking him into her studio. A wall of their house, painted with the sword and sun...
Everything went dark.
When he opened his eyes, he lay on the cold tile, naked, shaking with pain.
Tears poured down his face. He didn’t know where he was. He felt Terian with him briefly, his friend, laying an arm on his shoulder, laughing as he told another story about that hooker he’d loved in Paris...
Terian-2 clapped his hands. “Wake up, Revi’! Wake!”
He opened his eyes. He heard her voice, but too far away this time; he couldn’t make out her words. Walls dripped like liquid mercury around him. He was afraid he’d get some in his mouth, but he was so thirsty still, he almost didn’t care.
Terian set down a new glass of water. He stood, watching Revik drink. Revik calculated the length of his arms, the range of motion provided by the chain.
He mapped out every centimeter, every millimeter...
“...like Alyson?”
Revik opened his eyes. He blinked. “What?”
“Elise, Revi’. Do you remember?”
“She slept with him,” Revik managed. “Had his child.”
The light evaporated. He dug frantically in the dark, his fingers broken and bleeding. He was starving to death slowly, so thirsty he can’t swallow. Laughter came from outside the iron door, a shock of light after the lock screeched from the wall. Merenje opened the door, drunk, stumbling at the top of the stairs. He had a woman with him, her eyes were green—
“Want to play with an ice-blood, girl? A real one?”
Revik yanked on the chain, yanked, and his wrists bled...
Terian slapped him, hard. “Who did you report to, Revi’? In those years?”
Revik saw a black swastika on a white circle, blood red behind. Bodies piled in pits, like bleached white dolls. Out of bullets. He was out of bullets. They wanted him to beat them to death now, hit them with gun stocks in the back of the head, rocks, run them over with panzers. Memories slithered forward. She ran through the field, trailing dark hair. Brown eyes laughing, teasing him to follow, to chase her.
Leaning down, Revik sank his teeth into his own wrist, holding the vein right where his canines would pop it.
He rolled his eyes up, fixed his stare on Terian.
The Sark chuckled. “You would not.”
Revik bit down, hard.
Blood squirted into his mouth. He was hungry, so fucking hungry. He drank his own blood, feeling sick, strangely relieved. It would be over now. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the seer rise, saw his mouth move just before everything started to gray.
His eyes opened. Time passed, or not.
He couldn’t move his head. He tried to lift it, then his arms. Terian squatted beside him, his yellow eyes calm.
“You will remember more now, Revi’,” he said. “I can’t say I envy you, when you do...but perhaps you will feel free again, yes?”
Revik saw a tube running down, dripping liquid, mingling with his blood.
Something squirmed on his neck and throat. Something alive.
He remembered Allie feeding him light, curled up in his arms when he first woke up in that bed in Seattle. Pain hit him, worsening as he wondered why he hadn’t kept her there, why he let himself fall back asleep, why he hadn’t followed her when she left the room. He remembered her fingers as she sketched, her jade green eyes concentrated...telling him she wanted to go after Galaith, the light in her eyes dying when he said he wouldn’t help her.
Terian was right. Gods, Terry was right.
Why hadn’t he asked her? Why hadn’t he asked her, in all of that time?
A rusted metal building loomed over him, standing alone in the middle of a field. He looked up, and saw windows smashing outwards, glass shattering, pulverized to the consistency of sand. He heard his own voice, laughing into the sky, laughing, imagining that fucker Stami’s face if he saw him now. If he saw...
Cass sat near him, chained to the wall. Giant insects crawled by her feet, touching her skin with softly probing antennae.
“Cass,” Revik managed. “Don’t move. Be careful...”
She grinned. Hey, big guy. You want one?
Raising her foot, she smashed the hard brown shell of a fist-sized beetle with her bare heel. She picked it up, stuffed the whole thing in her mouth, crunching noisily.
He watched her, feeling sick, faintly envious. Hunger tugged at the edges of his light, making his head sink lower, making it feel as heavy as metal.
“They gave me too much,” Revik told her.
It’s the wire, brother, she told him. The wire on your neck...
Cass laughed, her mouth full of jointed legs. She flattened another insect, popped that one in her mouth, too. Jon stood over her, making chopping motions in the air with his hands. He wore a robe like the monks wore back home. Revik got dizzy, watching his flailing arms.
Stop screwing around, Jon told him. Clock’s ticking, man...
“...Do not misunderstand me,” Terian-2 was saying. “Over the years, I have found it patently not useful to judge the contradictory natures that arise within myself. Where they occur, I simply create a new vessel in which to house them.” He leaned closer, clasping lizard-like hands. His tongue darted out, wetting his lips, and Revik recoiled. “...You can see the symmetry behind this, can you not, my friend?” Terian’s teeth lengthened. “All parts culminating in their most authentic expression? There is no need for repression, Nenzi. No need to hold back any desires housed in the darker corners of your attic...”
Revik swallowed, staring up at him. “I’m really fucking hungry,” he said. “Can I have some food?”
Terian laughed. “Now that...that sounded like my friend! Is it possible I am reaching him at last? No, no...do not sleep. You have slept enough, Revi’...”
Revik glanced at Jon. “Do you believe this guy?”
Jon laughed. Him? What about you, man? He’s right, you know. You can’t just spend th
e rest of your life asleep...
“What choice do I have, Jon?”
You need to get laid, man. I mean bad. I hope Allie’s been exercising.
“Gods.” Pain clenched in his chest “Don’t talk about her like that. She’s my wife, Jon.” Blood darkened the water by his hands.
Someone slapped his face, disorienting him.
“Why were you in Germany, Rolf?”
Revik fought to see, couldn’t. His eyes were light, just light...he couldn’t see past it. Terian flicked his fingers impatiently. “Yes?” He tilted his head, as if listening. “You killed some humans? Really? Well, I ask you...so what? How many millions of seers have died at human hands, Revi’?” He leaned closer. “Tell me. Do you really care, even now? Or is this an act, too?”
Revik looked at Cass. “I care, Cass. I do care...”
I know you do, big guy. That’s why you’re talking to me. She grinned, making the crazy symbol by her head. Better than remembering that shit...right? Maybe you were right to wait with Allie. She’s going to rip it open, you know. She can’t help herself...
Revik pressed his face to the floor. The cold tile felt good.
He was ravenous, so hungry he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t make himself want to. When he glanced up, Jon was throwing pieces of meat in the air, catching them in his teeth. He worried each one before he swallowed them, flecking the green walls with blood and Revik felt himself getting hard, watching him. He stared at his fingers, broken and bleeding, digging in mud.
He was almost there. He could see daylight...
Terian’s eyes were dead, burnt glass. “You see,” he said. “I am becoming increasingly certain it wasn’t by accident that Galaith and I stumbled upon you in Germany like we did, Rolf. Nor a coincidence that you exactly fit our most desired recruitment profile. Estranged from family, few friends, no strong political beliefs, willing to kill humans...willing to follow questionable means for morally justifying ends. You could have guessed we’d concentrate our initial efforts in the Reich...”
Terian smiled, waggling a finger at him.
“You always were the clever one, Rolf. Were you Vash’s man, all along? Were you, Nenz?”