by Isobel Hart
“Then what? They’ll kill the rest of us? Exterminate us?”
“It could happen. To anyone who gets in the way.”
“Why? Why can’t we co-exist?” I thought about the baby in my belly.
“I don’t honestly know.”
I sat up, finding the beauty of the scenery insufficient to forget what was happening beyond the walls. “Hey.” Edward pulled me into a hug, my back pressed into his chest. “I didn’t mean to upset you. None of it may happen. Your people may blend with mine without any bother.”
I couldn’t imagine it. I didn’t want to be ‘blended’, and I was pretty sure others wouldn’t either. “Regardless, I’ll make sure you’re okay.” He turned me so I faced him. “Believe me?” He looked at me intently until I nodded. I believed he meant it, I just wasn’t so sure he’d be able to keep his promise. “You’re special, Sam. To me, anyway.” He bent forward to kiss me. I considered letting him, knowing his touch would feel familiar, perhaps comforting in its own way. It might help me forget everything happening around us. But I didn’t want to forget Elliott. His mobile rang and saved me from the dilemma.
He broke away with a curse, fumbling in his pocket to retrieve the device, while I tugged at my clothes, berating myself for even considering letting him kiss me.
“Richard.” He sounded annoyed and a little breathless. “What? Really?” He pushed himself upright. “Yeah, we can be back in fifteen,” he agreed, resigned as he glanced down at his watch. “Yeah, okay.” He cast a look in my direction. “I said okay.” He disconnected the call, staring at the screen until he was certain it had cut off, and then looked up at me. “Aiden’s here earlier than expected. He wants to meet you.”
“What if I don’t want to meet him?”
“He’s not a man you get to say no to. I’ve only met him the once, but he’s important. He’s been directing the operations.”
“Am I supposed to act as if I’m honoured? They’ll be waiting until hell freezes over if so.” I sighed. “Well then, let’s get this over with,” I said, standing to brush myself off as Edward bundled the contents of our picnic back into the basket. We walked slowly back to the house, Edward seeming inclined take his time.
Inside the house, men milled around the ground floor. I didn’t see a single woman. Eyes swung towards us as Edward escorted me across the wide entrance hall. His grip on my hand tightened at the level of interest I attracted. My summer dress that had earlier seemed picnic appropriate, now felt revealing given all the eyes upon me.
We stopped at a door to a room I hadn’t visited before, it opened to reveal a library. Shelves of books filled every wall, ceiling to floor, the space between furnished with green leather armchairs. Despite the warm day, someone had lit a fire in the fireplace, the room now stifling.
Richard, and a man I recognised instantly from the TV as Aiden, turned to us as we walked in. “Ah, Samantha, you’re looking extraordinarily lovely,” Richard said with a smile. I forced my cheeks upwards, into what may have been more of a grimace, my hand still clutched tightly in Edward’s, before turning my attention to Aiden.
He’d been watching us silently. His gaze dropped to my belly, passed up over my breasts to my face, and then fell again to the hand that was still clasped within Edward’s. “Aiden, this is Samantha, the girl I was telling you about. And Edward, our man who sired the child.”
“Jesus, sired? Seriously?” It burst from me before I thought through the repercussions. Edward squeezed my hand sharply.
“She’s unbroken?” Aiden said, with some surprise, his head tilted to one side as he looked at me again with even greater interest than before.
“We haven’t had time. She won’t cause us any trouble,” Richard said, with a confidence I wasn’t convinced he actually felt. I wanted to laugh again, but a second sharp squeeze from Edward warned me against any further outbursts. Richard must have caught the movement. “Edward, you’re expected over at the compound. Go and see to your duties, please. We’ll look after Samantha.”
Edward hesitated, reluctant to leave me. This time it was me who squeezed his hand in reassurance. It would serve no purpose, I figured, to draw attention to ourselves unnecessarily at this point.
“Of course,” Edward said briskly. “I’ll see you later. Will there be a dinner?” he asked Richard.
“Yes. Be here for seven thirty. You can always go back to finish off any other women you want to service afterwards if that doesn’t give you long enough now. You’ll need to keep your strength up given the number of women we need to see to.” Richard laughed. I tried to keep how sick the conversation made me feel from my face, but it was hard, and I felt certain I’d failed.
“Later, then.” Edward nodded to the two men, before turning and leaving the room. He didn’t look at me once. Just as well, as it turned out, because when I turned back Aiden’s gaze was fixed upon me once more. I shivered despite the heat in the room.
Aiden stepped closer. I resisted the urge to step away, my hand dropping protectively to my abdomen. His eyes followed the movement. “How sweet,” he said, smiling at me. “I must say, this is an unexpected pleasure, Samantha.” He turned to Richard. “You never told me she was stunning as well as fertile.”
Richard laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first to mention it. There’s quite a clamour to mate with her once she’s had this one.” Sickened, I scowled at him.
“Do we know why she’s been successful where the others have failed?”
“Not yet. Our scientists are running tests. They think there may be something in her genes that makes her more compatible. She may be the key to unlocking the other women if we can establish what it is. In the meantime, we’re trying to work up a plan to harvest her eggs after she has this child, so we can implant other women with her pre-fertilised embryos to see if that might work. And, of course, we’ll be breeding more children from her directly. We’re very hopeful. It’s just frustrating how long they take to gestate. Such a waste of time.”
“No hurry. We’ll get there in the end.” Aiden moved closer, so his breath feathered over my cheek. I turned my face very slightly away from him. He inhaled deeply. “I think I’ll have her,” he said. “We’ll still need to harvest her eggs and complete the tests, but she’ll stay with me, under my protection, until I decide otherwise.”
“Don’t I get a say?” The comment burst from me, unbidden. “I want to stay here.” I wanted to stay near Edward if I had to be near any of them. It was funny how quickly your perspective could change.
Aiden laughed, eyes flaring. “She’s got some fire. I like that. She’s quite a treat.”
“She is that.” Richard smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He seemed irritated I was being stolen out from under him, it was clear Aiden held all the power. “You might want to see some of our other girls too. We have one other pregnancy in the house on bedrest – we lost one this morning, sadly – with two more confirmed today at the prison after their initial medical. They’re expected back here at any time. It may be that one of them strikes your fancy more.”
“It may be,” Aiden concurred, before turning a dead stare straight at Richard and adding; “but I doubt it.” He stepped towards the door, effectively finishing the meeting. “See she’s moved to my room this evening. I want her dressed for dinner and seated beside me for the interview later. It’ll be good for people to see a woman sitting beside me – being supportive.” He left the room, and I dropped like a stone into an armchair.
“Well, Samantha, aren’t you the lucky one? Our high commander wants you. As far as I’m aware you’re the first woman he’s chosen. You should be honoured. It pisses me off, of course. I was looking forward to thoroughly defiling you after you’d had that baby. Still, he’ll tire of you before long, and then we’ll all get a turn. I wonder what Edward will say.” He chuckled. “I’ll arrange for your things to be moved later. In the meantime, can I suggest you start to get yourself cleaned up? The interview is in an hour, at least th
at’s when they want everyone downstairs. You’ll need to be ready by then at the latest. I’ll have a dress sent up for you. Peter!” he called, loudly.
A man stuck his head around the door. “Yes?”
“Can you take Samantha back to her room?” The man nodded.
I stood obediently and followed him out, my head filled with what had just happened. I couldn’t quite decide what was more horrifying: appearing in an interview with the man responsible for the enforced evolution of the human race, or the fact he’d apparently taken me as his concubine. My hand moved protectively to the baby. The man called Peter glanced down and smiled. “I heard there was a pregnant girl at last. How far along are you?”
“Fourteen weeks.”
He smiled again. “That’s wonderful. Are you over the sickness yet? My wife was sick as a dog when she had our two.”
“You have children?” I said, surprised.
“From before, but they still feel like mine. I still love them.”
“How’s your wife?”
“Not so good,” he admitted, a worried frown replacing his earlier smile. “She’s not too happy I have to be here all the time. She doesn’t like what I have to do with the other women. I tried to explain it’s not the same as with her, but she doesn’t understand it.”
“Most of us prefer to be monogamous. At least we set out to be. If you married her, then in all likelihood you promised to be faithful to her – or the man you used to be did. I can see why she might be struggling.”
“But you’re not? Struggling, I mean.”
“Oh, I am,” I admitted, “but for a different reason. Edward slept around before he had his accident. It’s not so hard to imagine him doing it here too, I suppose. Doesn’t mean I like it, although we’d already broken up.” We reached my door, and he stood beside it while I turned the handle. “Be kind to her, Peter. She sounds like a good woman. You must have loved her once.”
“I did. I do,” he admitted.
I nodded, noting the sincerity behind his words. He was one of the ‘others’ Edward had described – one of the ones unhappy at having to walk away from the women they remembered that they had loved – just to further their cause. I squeezed his hand with affection before walking into the room. When someone grabbed me from behind, I gasped a quick breath as I prepared to scream.
Chapter 28
A hand clasped my mouth and stifled the sound before I had the chance to release it. Edward, I realised a second later, recognising the smell of his aftershave.
“Are you okay, Samantha? I thought I heard something,” Peter’s concerned voice called, as he started to open the door. Edward ducked to the other side, hidden by the panelling, keeping out of his colleague’s sight. From the corner of my eye I saw him shake his head.
“I’m fine,” I reassured Peter, my voice shaky from the fright. “I just stubbed my toe on the edge of the bed. It made me gasp.”
“Okay,” he said, looking down at my shoe-clad foot with some confusion. “Well, just ask someone to find me if you need anything. Anything at all.” He smiled and I nodded, working hard to maintain my focus and not to look towards Edward’s hiding place. Peter closed the door again, and I collapsed onto the bed as my legs buckled beneath me.
“Jesus!” I hissed at Edward. “What the fuck were you trying to do? Frighten the life out of me?”
Edward immediately looked concerned, rushing over to where I sat to place a hand on my belly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think. Is the baby okay? Are you okay?”
“We’re fine,” I grumbled, praying it was true, surprised by the strength of my concern for the unborn child. “What the hell are you doing hiding in here? I thought you were supposed to be out servicing the herd like a good little stud.”
“I already told you, you’re the only woman I want to sleep with. I don’t want any of those others, casually or otherwise.”
“Won’t Richard be mad with you when he finds out?”
“Probably. Hopefully he won’t. That’s why I was hiding in here.” He rolled his eyes at me as if he thought I was being stupid. “Anyway, I needed to know what happened with Aiden.”
“Not good,” I told him, flopping back onto the bed with a sigh, knowing he wasn’t going to like what I was about to say. “He has, and I’m quoting here, so don’t shoot the messenger, ‘taken me as his’, whatever the hell that means.”
Edward became very still. His stillness was almost more frightening than his anger had been when he’d tried to throttle me. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked at him. He remained like a statue. His voice was worryingly quiet when he did speak finally. “Tell me exactly what was said.”
“He told Richard to move my things to his room. I’m expected to attend the interview he’s giving, as some sort of companion, in . . .” I glanced down at my watch, “. . . forty-five minutes. Someone is going to deliver a dress for me any minute now, so I’m supposed to be getting myself ready.” Edward looked ready to explode. “Jesus, Edward, I mean what the hell am I meant to do here? This is a freaking nightmare. It has to be. I’m being held in a virtual prison, for all the pleasant soft furnishings, surrounded by men who want to either fuck me or kill me. I’m pregnant with the first mutant DNA infected offspring, so I can’t move anywhere without being escorted, and now they want to put me on TV as the supposed girlfriend of the King of the Mutant Zombies. I mean, seriously. What the fuck?”
“You can’t go to him. You’re mine.”
“‘You’re mine’?” I laughed, the shocked sound exploding from me. “I tell you all that, I spill my guts about how fucked up my life is at the moment, and that’s what you think the appropriate response is? ‘You’re mine.’ Jesus, way to sound like a complete arse. Why am I even bothering with you?” I didn’t know who I was asking – him or myself rhetorically. “Anyway, what’s Aiden going to do realistically? I’m up the duff, for God’s sake.” I laughed again, sounding a little mad now.
“Do you think that would stop him? People have sex when they’re pregnant all the time. He wants you. He’ll use you and then pass you on once he’s bored. It’s what our kind do. There’s a male pecking order. When we tire of a woman, we give her to another man lower down the food chain. It’s what I did with Serena,” he said, looking ashamed.
“Jesus, every time I think you lot can’t make me feel any sicker, you manage to reach a new low. What about my baby? Would they hurt it?”
“It’s our baby . . . but no, I don’t think so. It’s too important to their plans.”
I sighed, feeling too weary to think about the potential implications any longer. “Look, I need to shower. If I’m going to be forced to appear on TV I’m damned if I want to do it with greasy hair. I’ll think about everything whilst I’m in there. If someone knocks at the door, hide.”
An hour wouldn’t have been long enough to remove the build-up of stress-related cortisol in my system – I only had ten minutes at my disposal. Edward slipped into the bathroom five minutes into my ablutions, further diminishing the shower’s relaxing qualities. I assumed from his silence he was avoiding being seen by whoever had brought me a dress to wear. But, long after the delivery person would have left, his dark, possessive eyes watched me, making me squirm.
By the time we emerged from the foggy bathroom, me cautiously leading the way, a beautiful red dress had been laid out on the bed, accompanied by some matching underwear. It had a ’50s feel to it. I worried that my waistline would not be able to cope with the restrictive structure but found myself pleasantly surprised by how well it fitted. There was no evidence of any emerging baby bump. Ten more minutes spent plaiting my hair and applying some mascara and lip-gloss meant my time was practically up. I still had no idea how I planned to manage the situation with Aiden.
Edward watched me in silence. “Take off your knickers,” he said suddenly, as I stood and contemplated the heels that had been provided. They’d clearly been designed and chosen by a man who would never have to cram his
feet into the torturous four-inch-heel contraptions.
“Really, Edward. Not funny, not now,” I snapped, sitting to force the first shoe on.
“I’m not joking,” he said. He pulled out his keyring and snapped open one of the sharp blades on the Swiss army knife he always carried attached to it. “Take off your knickers. Hurry,” he said, when I gawped at him. “Someone will be here for you any minute.”
“What are you going to do?” I said, even as I acquiesced, slipping the lace boy shorts down over my hips. With one swift motion Edward sliced his palm open with the edge of the blade, blood spilling immediately from the wound. “Fucking hell, Edward!”
He ignored me, grabbing the lace briefs and smearing his blood over the crotch area. “If he touches you, you tell him you’re bleeding. Okay?” he said, looking at me. “Okay?” he said more urgently, when I didn’t respond. I was still transfixed by the blood pooling on his hand. As I watched, the wound started to heal itself. “Samantha, focus. You need to put these back on.” He thrust the knickers back into my hands.
A knock at the door had me scurrying into the newly soiled item and forcing the second shoe onto my foot. “Just a second,” I called, as I tugged everything into place, turning when I was done for a final check in the mirror. I waved at Edward to hide in the bathroom before opening the door. Richard waited on the other side.
“Samantha, you look a picture. Come along, we have an interview to prepare for.”
“I don’t want to do it.”
“Unfortunately you don’t get a say. You just sit there prettily and let Aiden do the talking.”
“I don’t want to do it,” I said again. “Actually, let me be clearer . . . I refuse to do it.”
“I had a feeling you might say that. I’ve brought a little incentive along for you.” He smiled, looking unconcerned.
My stomach lurched, sickeningly. “What do you mean ‘an incentive’?”
“Well, come along with me and you’ll see. We’re all set up in the library.” He pulled me with him, and I stumbled along in my too-high heels as he walked at a surprisingly fast pace given his short stature. “Do you have any idea where Edward is?” he asked, his voice deceptively casual. Anger simmered beneath the pleasant veneer.