Rex shook his head. “The prophet said only after she is declared Valor and carries out her first deed as Valor will she have knowledge of the book’s location. It is why we are giving the Vindica no choice to declare her Valor.”
Lucilius frowned, his face terrible in its intensity. Rex felt the disgust Lucilius felt toward the situation and knew Lucilius wanted him to feel it and that was why he’d broadcasted it. “I will give your way a short time longer, but then we will do things my way.”
Rex allowed him to walk away without disagreement, but he had not gone through all this trouble to lose in the end. This plan’s conception had come ten years ago, and it had grown with time. The players may not be cooperating, but Rex had worked out contingency plans. A certain Vindica council member would need to come through for him now.
Forty-One
The doorbell of the shop they were in jingled again, and Angelica studied the large, ebony woman entering. She looked normal in her red skirt suit. Angelica winced as she caught sight again of the wooden masks with red, white, and black faces hanging from the ceiling. She’d been trying to avoid glancing at them because it gave the store an even more chilling vibe than the other merchandise cluttering the shelves. The glass entombed zombie in the back was creeping her out to the point that her skin wanted to walk out without her, but she would never admit this to Denise or Trevor.
Denise smiled, but did not meet her eyes. “You can wait outside if it makes you uncomfortable.”
Trevor held up a shrunken head. “This is a cool place.”
Angelica checked that she wasn’t unknowingly touching anything with her body parts or bag. “What are we doing again?”
Denise picked up a burnt red vial from the shelf. “Luke from film class is doing a voodoo documentary. He wants amateurs to perform some ritual to compare to the real deal.”
Angelica scooted away from the shelf that promised to curse someone. “For the record, I’m not participating.”
“No one asked. Besides it’s not as if it’s real.”
Trevor laughed. “I’m in. Sounds fun Angelica, and besides you were always interested in the weird.”
“Really?” Denise asked. “She used to declare loudly that none of it was real.” Trevor studied Angelica, and she held still under his scrutiny. “Are you one of those people who had an accident and came out of it a different person?”
Angelica frowned, regretting her decision to spend time with them today. She could be researching her thousands of questions right now and making better use of her time. “Trevor, I told you people change.”
Denise said, “Not that much.”
Frustration welled. “Did you two want to spend the day with me to gang up on me?”
“We’re just concerned,” Denise said, laying her items on the counter. “You’re barely around, and Trevor and I have gotten close, and we’re both worried about you.”
“I’m enjoying my time here,” Angelica said. “I’ve made new friends, found people who knew my mother. Nothing to worry about.”
Denise grabbed her brown bag and headed toward the door. “You’re just different.”
“I grew up. Isn’t that what you always said I needed to do?”
“That and have sex.” Denise smiled.
Angelica owed Denise for that nasty nickname ice princess she’d been graced with in high school. To Denise’s credit, it had begun as a joke that had picked up steam as the guys in their school believed it to be a challenge.
Angelica needed to steer this conversation in a different direction or she’d be walking through all the horrible school memories all day.
“I had tea yesterday with someone we knew in Georgia, a Ms. Cammie Dubois.”
Angelica watched Denise as they walked down the sidewalk. Angelia’s curiosity about the connection had plagued her sleep last night. Denise didn’t glance her way. “I haven’t seen her in years. How’s she doing?”
“She didn’t recognize me. She seems fine, although a decade hasn’t changed her make-up or her drawl.”
Denise spoke nonchalantly. “She was always a bit eccentric.”
Trevor chuckled. “If you put one of those southern belle dresses on her, you’d think she’d had stepped from plantation days.”
They stopped to check for cars at the corner. Angelica’s quick sweep took in way too many people on the street today to keep a firm assessment in place. “How did your mother know Ms. Cammie?”
Denise checked both ways as they crossed, avoiding Angelica’s question. Angelica’s suspicions grew. Did Denise know something about the Vindica? Gabney had said that others did know, but they were sworn to secrecy. Denise’s intense attention on a tourist shop window was unlike her.
A hard tapping reverberated through Angelica’s ears. She searched the faces of pedestrians as the volume increased. Kline’s chest had given off a warm vibration. This was the sound of the chest of whatever had attacked Gabney: the man killing all those twenty-one year old women. Panic squeezed her chest. Each passing face was quiet, no drum. The sunlight would not provide cover, nor would Denise and Trevor understand if they were attacked. This couldn’t be happening in the middle of the day.
“Angelica, are you okay?” Trevor asked, putting his hand on her elbow.
The pounding jarred her insides, and the fear caused her legs to shake.
A couple strolled by with silence playing in their chests. She trembled under the overpowering pounding in her head. He was near, close to them, within a few yards. A man with a black camera bag hurried by in silence.
She needed to get Denise and Trevor to safety or at least she needed to get safely away from them.
“I’m not feeling well,” Angelica said. “I think I need to get home.”
Denise and Trevor steered her toward Royal Street. Angelica was aware of glances exchanged between the two, but she concerned herself with keeping an eye out for the individual responsible. Her skin moistened and her eardrums felt as though they would shatter, but still her search came up empty.
They turned down Royal Street, and the tapping in her ears mumbled instead of roared. Her body eased under the release. She didn’t understand why she heard it and the other girls in her dreams did not. Instinct told her that it didn’t have anything to do with Valor. It was something else that she needed to figure out and fast. These women were in danger, and she needed to find out what was behind that drumming.
Forty-Two
Gint’s bloodlust grew, and Kline struggled to keep him manageable under the confines of the city. Lucilius had ordered him to bring pig’s blood, but Gint had hurtled it across the room in a fit of aggravation upon the smell. He’d tasted the blood of these young girls and nothing but that would do. Others had been like Gint, but always destroyed, never allowed to grow stronger. Lucilius was quickly creating a monster.
After a hot shower to rid himself of their struggle, Kline bounded down the stairs to his control room, ready to plan his surveillance route for tonight. He was closing in on identification of the hybrids working both sides. Lucilius could use this as a weakness, and Kline could use it to strengthen Angelica’s fight. He needed something of substance for Lucilius right now for he felt the sinister anger growing under the calm surface, and an out of control Lucilius was more volatile than a calculating Lucilius.
Entering the surveillance room, Kline stopped short when he encountered Lucilius standing in front of his wall, peering intently at a group of photos. Those he’d snapped of Angelica.
Lucilius looked to him as he entered. Slowly, his hand rose and he tapped the pictures. “This young woman, what have you learned?”
Kline stepped inside, hoping he hadn’t noticed the hesitation. “She’s quick on her feet. New to the area, but she’s making waves.”
“That’s it? After all this time, that’s all you have for me?”
Kline motioned to the board. “I’ve gathered intel on every one on this board. I have detailed notes.”
“Ah,
Mr. Kline,” Lucilius said, glancing around the crowded work area. “This is why you will never be anything more than a guard. The sentries never see the importance of their charge.”
Kline remained silent, simmering with the insult, but dismissing it all the same.
Lucilius pointed at the board again. “You should have focused on her. She’s special, and I noticed it at first sight.”
“What do you want, Sir?”
Lucilius glanced sideways at him, a condescending expression on his face. “First, I want a blood sample. Fresh. Within the next twenty-four hours. A small amount will do for a DNA analysis.”
“What do you suspect?”
Kline kept his expression natural, although his fist had clinched tightly.
“Sentries don’t need to concern themselves with my suspicions,” Lucilius said, putting his hands behind him, causing his gray suit jacket to wrinkle around the collar. “But I see no harm in revealing that I’m concerned with her lineage. I performed somewhat of a simple test earlier today. She responds to the war call of the Custos.”
Lucilius knew the impact that statement should make. Kline held steady his thoughts as Lucilius stood staring at the board a moment longer.
“Get me that blood sample by tomorrow, Mr. Kline,” Lucilius said, stepping forward. “Otherwise, I’ll have to employ a detrimental method to obtain what I need.”
Kline waited until he’d exited before he allowed his thoughts to relax. The war call of the Custos was strictly used during battle and impossible to ignore. It worked as a summons. To hear it though, you must be pure Custos or that’s what was believed. None of the hybrids had ever heard it before.
Angelica faced trouble. Kline saw no way to avoid the blood sample as that would draw more suspicion onto her and him, but her training needed to be stepped up and the timing of his plan needed to be hurried.
Forty-Three
The Research Center was a nondescript three-story glass building. A simple sign lit up VAR with greenery planted around it. Cars bustled along the roads, and Angelica followed Gabney inside through the front lobby. A massive lobby opened up in front of them leading to a pair of glass elevators. Modern gray upholstered seating dotted the area, but no one was in sight.
“Most people left for today,” Gabney whispered as they crossed to the elevators. “Dad works late when he’s here in town just to catch up on paperwork.”
Angelica nodded, following her into the elevator. After spending an hour in her room, pretending to be ill to convince Denise and Trevor, when Gabney had called, Angelica had willingly ducked out with the excuse that she had a doctor’s appointment. Of course, Gabney’s father was the only kind of doctor that could help her with the problem she was having.
Stepping out onto the third floor, Gabney headed toward the right to a door with a small placard reading lab. Angelica watched as she pulled a card from her purse and slid it through.
She grimaced. “I worked here this summer. Technically, I was supposed to give my badge back, but I guess it’s one of the perks of my father being in charge.”
Inside, a receptionist area sat empty with only a heavy metal door to the left. Gabney reached over the desk and picked up a phone headset. After tapping in a few numbers, the door buzzed.
Angelica grabbed it and pushed down on the handle. It opened.
Gabney smiled. “They haven’t changed the code. I should probably talk to my dad about that since it’s supposed to be changed every sixty days.”
Gabney led the way through a large corridor. Several doorways lined the long hall, but all of them were closed with no sign of life. Finally, they reached a door labeled administrator’s offices.
Gabney opened the door and called out to the open hall. “Dad?”
A chair creaked from the only fully lit office and a moment later, Mr. White appeared. “My two favorite girls,” he exclaimed, coming forth and embracing Gabney in a hug.
Angelica allowed him to hug her loosely, but this southern gesture made her uncomfortable.
“Dad,” Gabney said, grimacing. “You need to change the security code. It hasn’t been changed since I worked here three months ago.”
“Sure, sure,” Mr. White said, “but that’s not why Angelica came here today. I’m sure you want the grand tour?”
Angelica nodded. “No one’s in today?”
He motioned for them to follow. “We have three geneticists on staff full time. Each one has an individual lab.”
He opened a door to a sterile lab with high tech equipment and storage units along the wall. A computer station sat in the right corner on a cluttered desk.
“Each of the labs looks the same. Since the scientists aren’t allowed to publish any data from the Custos research, we allow them to work on their own projects and publish that work. This allows them to remain the top in their field.”
“And they are okay with keeping the secret?”
He nodded. “Confidentiality agreement. The money and the freedom to create their own research works as a powerful incentive however.”
“Is it always so… sterile?” Angelica asked, looking around at the metal and glass. It didn’t look like any work went on here at all.
Mr. White chuckled. “Afraid so. I believe the archive room will probably be much more impressive to see.”
He motioned once again for them to follow, and they exited the lab and headed down the room to the farthest door down the hall.
Angelica and Gabney entered first and Mr. White flicked the lights on. The back wall near the entrance held bookshelves of bound reports, but the impressive element was a massive screen to their left and a row of high tech computer equipment facing the large movie-type screen.
Gabney grinned. “I worked in this room this summer. Organizing all the data.”
“I’ll turn you into a scientist one day,” Mr. White said, moving toward one of the computer units. “Uncle John hasn’t won yet with all his history talk.”
Gabney smiled, but she looked pained. Angelica gathered that she didn’t believe that joke humorous.
“So in the archive room is where you keep the giant family tree?”
“Uh hmm,” Mr. White said. Inputting a few strokes of the keys, the big screen lit up. A moment later a massive web of names appeared as the screen.
“As you can see, the map is color coded. Any name in black means we actually have scientific proof that the person belongs where we’ve placed them. The individuals in red are based on circumstantial evidence such as birth certificates, etc.”
Angelica saw a few green markings in the text that were too fine to read. “What about the green?”
“Ahhh.” He nodded. “Those are hypothesis. I suppose what some might call rumors, but since this is our tracking method we place them here until we can prove their existence through circumstantial or scientific means.”
Angelica nodded. She noticed much of the top of the tree existed in green. She imagined it difficult to have DNA from three hundred years ago. A spot or two of red existed at the top. The middle, however, formed a smorgasbord of the colors. Many of the bottom names existed in black.
“Am I on there?”
“Well, that is an interesting, timely question in fact,” Mr. White said. “Just today we discussed adding you, but very little is known, so we delayed the decision a few days. We could put you up here in red, but the question remains where to put you?”
Gabney walked up to the screen and pointed to a small speck. “I’m here. Of course, I only contain 5 percent Custos DNA so it is unlikely that any offspring of mine will make it onto this chart.”
“You’ve had the tests done?” Angelica asked, looking toward the back bookcase of reports.
“Of course,” Gabney said. “Most of us have these days. Some refuse for various reasons. Lysander’s right here with 17 percent Custos DNA.” Gabney pointed to a different branch.
“Do you have any of the Dark Soldiers?”
Gabney and her father exchan
ged a glance.
Gabney frowned. “We don’t really know anymore who they are. Some families are on here.” She pointed to a large branch of red.
Mr. White did some fancy finger work with the computer and a section of the map zoomed in larger. “Reximortum’s here. So is his son.”
Angelica noticed their names printed in black. “How?”
“John Landon wouldn’t say how he obtained it, but he brought it to us right after we opened the facility. I know I should have asked, but sometimes scientists get too excited about the possibilities.”
Angelica stared at those names. She could know for sure. A simple blood test could settle it all. Lily had said her father was a good man. Did she mean someone else or did she have blinders on to Rex?
“If I gave my sample, who would get this report?” Angelica asked.
“Well,” Mr. White said, “the Vindica Council does receive updates twice a year. However, if you were to be named Valor, as the rumor goes, the reports would be submitted to you as you would then be in charge.”
“Lysander doesn’t believe the council will declare someone Valor. To be honest, the more I hear, the more I agree. It seems as though the council would completely give up control if they did.”
Gabney studied the names on the screen. Angelica didn’t know who these individuals were. She did notice that Lily rested on the tree beneath her father’s name, but they dangled as if unconnected to anyone before that time.
“Uncle John agrees,” Gabney said, tracing a line across as if she were working something out in her head. “He thinks something else is going on that we don’t know about.”
“And that’s why I like science,” Mr. White said. “The answers are so much easier to find than in politics. I’ve always said the actual prophecy could be solved with DNA.” He tapped on Rosemary’s name. “She had 70 percent Custos blood. Highest mixture of anyone on this chart. You know I believe the original five… oh, I suppose I shouldn’t say anything.”
Gabney smiled as if she’d heard this before.
Valor: The Custos Saga Page 18