“Years old?”
Lona nodded.
“And you’re not a vampire?”
“No.” Lona shook her head and grimaced bitterly. “I’m one of their experiments. Apparently, a successful one.”
Lucy frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“I was kidnapped from a school field trip in Houma when I was thirteen. If you do an internet search for the name Meghan Walters, you’ll find that I became the victim of a cold case that was never solved. Well, it’s complicated, really. Meghan, the real me, is still missing, but Bellona, the me that you know, surfaced fifteen years ago as the sixteen year old daughter Abe never knew he had.”
“Wait, I’m confused.” Lucy hadn’t ever been great at math, but even she could see the numbers didn’t add up. “So Abe’s not really your dad then?”
“No.” Lona shook her head. “He’s more of a distant cousin, but I’ll get to that in a minute. What the ES actually did, well, Abe can give you all the scientific details about how they stunted my growth with drugs and surgeries and how they inserted all kinds of plant and animal cells into my DNA. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really want to know when he told me. But to put it simply, I became what the ES wanted to be. Immortal, in a sense. By the time I was sixteen I stopped aging entirely.”
Lucy stared at Lona, finding her story hard to believe, yet unwilling to think she had any reason to lie. Though she never told Lucy her age, she knew that Lona had to be around thirty, but the petite shopkeeper, with sparkling emerald eyes and an elfin beauty looked more like a fresh faced twenty year old. Lucy did some quick math. “For twenty-two years. Good god, Lona, what happened?”
“I’m sorry,” Lona shuddered. “This is really hard for me to talk about.”
“You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’t want to,” Lucy said quietly. “You’re still the same Lona to me. Well no, that’s not true either. You’re more than the same Lona. I mean, you seem so, I don’t know, normal isn’t the right word. Adjusted maybe? I guess what I’m saying is, ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been the nicest and happiest person I’ve ever met.”
“Thanks,” Lona smiled, but her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “I owe so much to everyone here. I’m not yet whole, I admit. The Lona you know is more a façade than anything. I still have issues, but I’m slowly working through them. Miles, god Lucy, I don’t know what I’d be without him. He knows everything, and he still loves me.” Lona wiped her eyes with a napkin and steeled her resolve.
“But Lucy, you need to know what we’re up against. There are others, like me, who weren’t lucky enough to be rescued. Most of them don’t live. For twenty-two years, I considered them the lucky ones. We were tortured, kept in filthy cages, and treated like animals. Hell, there were animals and I think they were treated better. They cut me open, performed surgeries with as little anesthesia as they could. I don’t know how many times I went into shock, or fell into a coma. Seriously, I don’t know how I’m not brain dead from all the times they stopped my heart.”
“That’s… my god, that’s just awful,” Lucy gasped.
“That’s not the worst,” Lona went on with a grimace. “At some point, god only knows when, years later, I suppose, they finally stopped experimenting on me. I was locked up in a small room. I found out later that their lab had once been a prison and they kept me in one of the solitary confinement cells. I spent a lot of time in complete darkness, with no clothes and wounds that hadn’t yet healed, without any concept of time. I was kept alive, but barely. They fed me the foulest food. I’m not going to lie, I ate whatever they gave me, and Lucy, I can’t be sure some of it wasn’t human flesh.”
Lucy shuddered involuntarily. Evan had been right, the lengths that the ES would go to in the name of immortality and power made them sound like Nazi vampires.
“After a while,” Lona continued, “they stopped feeding me solid food and started giving me cups of blood. At first, I thought they had given me a bowl of tomato soup, but after gagging on the first sip, I knew what it was. I refused, but they held me down and forced me.
“The night I was rescued was the first I had seen of the outside world since I was kidnapped. There were two of us. I never knew until that night, but there was a boy, maybe seventeen at most, who was just like me. Jacob, that was his name. That’s all he told me, but he didn’t need to tell me anymore. I knew he’d lived the same nightmare as I had just by looking at him. We were dragged out of our cells and put into harnesses, like dogs. We were thrown into the back of a van and taken into the city. God, I don’t even know where we were. They separated us immediately. I was dragged into a warehouse and chained to a post. A few hours later, the vampire who brought me there brought back his victim, half drained of blood from the bite on his neck. He brought him to where he’d left me chained, and tried to force me to drink from the open wound. I refused. That’s when Saba showed up. She’s one of Evan’s employees, one of the first he hired after he knew what he was up against.”
“Jesus!” Lucy let out the breath she was holding through most of Lona’s recollection. “That’s pretty messed up. What happened to Jacob?”
Lona looked down at the napkin she was clutching in her lap. “I never saw him again. I gather from Evan, he went through the same treatment I did. Evan had spotted a vampire dragging a girl, who had been bitten, into a storage shed. When he went in, he saw a second vampire with his mouth on the girl’s neck. He killed them both before he noticed that Jacob had been chained. The girl didn’t make it either.”
Lucy sat horrified. Evan Conroy had killed an innocent victim of the ES.
“Lucy,” Lona reached out to touch her arm. “Evan had no way of knowing that Jacob wasn’t truly a vampire. Unlike me, Jacob did as he was told. They were able to rescue Michael, the victim intended for me, and he’s now head of security for our organization. It was a tragic accident, what happened to Jacob, but you can’t blame Evan, given the circumstances.”
Lucy was quite sure she could.
“Look, Lucy,” Lona gave her a pleading look. “I’m telling you this for two reasons. One, I meant it when I told you that you are like family to Miles and me. I know that all families have their secrets, but you deserve to know the truth, especially after last night. I know what you’re going through. It sucks to be a medical enigma. You were right, of course. People are either going to be completely fascinated by you or completely mistrusting of you. I just want you to know I won’t think any different of you.”
“Thanks, I think,” Lucy said and gave Lona a wary look. “What’s the other reason?”
“I suspect, no, I know that Evan is going to try to recruit you.”
“Recruit me?” Lucy gasped. “To kill people?”
Lona gave her a stern look. “To stop the senseless killing of innocent people.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Lucy blustered. “I’m one of the bad guys remember? Isn’t my father supposed to be one of those monsters? Just because you won’t see me as something different, doesn’t mean no one else will. I doubt Evan will trust me.”
Lona shook her head. “You don’t know Evan, you are exactly the kind of challenge he lives for.”
“Great,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “If it’s a challenge he wants…Anyways, I already have a job, unless you’ve fired me for not showing up today.”
“Just because your father might be a vampire doesn’t mean you’re a bad guy,” Lona pressed. “And Lucy, don’t worry about the shop, I didn’t open today. I’m already tying up some loose ends because we may need to close down anyway.”
Lucy was taken aback. “Close down? But what about the movie? I thought that was your big chance!”
“I’ll still finish the contract, but the actual storefront has to go. Look,” Lona pleaded, “things are a lot more unstable out there right now than they have been in a while. When I first opened, it was only because Evan made sure it was safe, and yes, that means what you think it does. Every member of ES who we
re aware of my existence is dead. And no,” Lona stopped Lucy from asking the question that she knew would come, “there were no other innocent victims when they stormed the lab. In fact, there were no others at all. Like I told you, most died. I suspect that Jacob and I had been the only two to survive the experimentation. But getting back to the present, there has been a lot of activity lately. The Paris division might have been infiltrated.”
“Paris division?” Lucy asked, wondering exactly how widespread the vampire problem was.
“EJC has offices around the globe, but only Paris and New Orleans have vampire hunting teams. Though everyone doubts these are the only two places the ES have a hold, they are the only two cities where we’ve seen widespread activity. Believe me, Evan’s got his eye on the world news, especially the news that doesn’t get reported. He has agents in all of his operations who are trained to take on vampires if the need arises.”
Lucy felt overwhelmed. It was bad enough to wake up one day and find out that monsters did indeed exist. But finding out that her father might be one, she was being recruited to kill them, and they might be a worldwide epidemic, was a bit much. No, Lucy reminded herself, not just monsters, but intelligent monsters, who were light years ahead of modern science.
The idea that she would be asked to join an elite team of mercenaries was preposterous. Aside from some basic self-defense classes that her grandmother had insisted on, she had no training in handling weapons or defending herself against an attacker. Her actions the night before should have proved to everyone that she wasn’t cut out to fight. How easy had it been for Tim to lead her into the situation? And when he had her where he wanted her, she froze. Lucy understood that the only reason she had survived was sheer luck.
“I don’t know,” Lucy bit her lip. “Let’s say Mr. Conroy does ask. What then? You know I don’t have any military background. I’ve never even seen a gun, let alone shot one.”
“You would be trained, extensively. Evan isn’t going to just hand you a weapon and send you out into the street. Even knowing that you’d likely survive an attack, the idea is to avoid being attacked in the first place. Your blood is really just insurance. Talk to Miles, he’s been in the business for fifteen years.”
Lucy looked embarrassed. “I’m not sure I want to see Miles right now. He tried to warn me and I went and got myself into this mess. If anything, he’ll tell Evan the truth; that I’m not cut out to go hunting for vampires.”
“Nonsense, Miles gave you some vague advice. You had no way of knowing what was going to happen. If anything, he’ll probably be the one training you.”
“I’m going to need time to let this sink in.” Lucy yawned and reached for the coffee pot, which was empty. “And if I’m going to think about anything I’m gonna need some more coffee.”
“Sure,” Lona said and glanced at the clock. “Actually, it’s about dinner time. We should probably get down to the dining room or Evan will send someone up here looking for us.”
Lucy couldn't care less if she kept Evan waiting, considering how long he had kept her waiting the night before. “Let him look, I want to hear the rest of this. What did you mean earlier when you said that you came back as Abe’s daughter?”
Lona stopped packing up the empty coffee cups. “Well, as you know, the whole operation is secret. The police wanted nothing to do with it and I imagine Evan wanted to keep the public from panicking as well. So obviously, when I turned up after twenty-two years looking only a year or so older, not to mention covered head to toe in scars, I couldn’t just act like everything was normal. Hell, I wasn’t normal. I was hysterical for a long time. It probably took a month or longer for me to accept that I wasn’t in danger anymore. “
“Were your parents still around?” Lucy asked with some hesitation.
“My mother,” Lona nodded. “My father had died a few years before. After I was whole, or at least as whole as I am now, I went to see her. It was hard for both of us. Dara went with me. I don’t think she’s mentioned what she does yet, but Dara’s actually a psychiatrist. She’s helped me a lot, and she helped my mother accept what happened to me. We didn’t get a lot of time, though. She died two years after I came back.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said quietly.
“I’m okay,” Lona said with a smile that didn’t quite reach all the way to her eyes. “Mom was a strong woman and I’m glad I had the years that I did with her, but she never told me she was sick. I was still coming back here for regular treatments. I didn’t know it at the time, but the changes to my DNA were actually killing me. My cells regenerated in a way that humans don’t, but plants and some animals do. I don’t know if I would have grown another finger if one was cut off, but according to Abe that was the result the ES were looking for. Apparently, this ability caused my cells to degenerate faster than normal and I was dying.
“Abe and his wife, Claire, took me in after my mother died. They weren’t able to have children of their own and it was easy to forget that in reality, I was nearly as old as them. Claire’s a schoolteacher, so she took it upon herself to finish the education that I missed out on as well as fill in the blanks of world history for the last two decades. All the while, Abe was working with Evan and the team here to find a cure for my condition. Finally he did. It was risky, I could have died, but I didn’t. I’m still not technically normal, but I’m aging at a semi-normal rate and I’m not in danger of dying from it. So they adopted me.”
“How though?” Lucy wondered. “I mean, wouldn’t you still arouse suspicions?”
“Well,” Lona drew the word out with a slightly embarrassed grin. “That’s slightly complicated, but only because Abe would be mortified if I told you he did something slightly shady. I mean, he is a genetics expert working for a research facility, and the federal ethics committees come down pretty hard on researchers, especially genetic researchers.”
“Well now I’m intrigued,” Lucy urged.
“He faked a DNA test,” Lona said quickly, “and made it look like I was his daughter. We made up a story about how my mother died and I was homeless, looking for my father. Abe faked remembering a brief relationship in college with the woman, but said she dropped out and he never knew she was pregnant.”
“And the courts believed that?” Lucy was astonished.
“It was all too easy, really,” Lona admitted. “As it turns out Abe’s my third cousin once removed on my dad’s side, so a lot of the genetic markers were already there. All he did was tweak it a little. Also, the judge who heard our case happened to be the brother of the police chief at the time, and Evan had happened to let it slip to him who I really was and what had happened to me.”
“And no one remembers you?”
“I’m from a little town outside St. Charles, most the folks who would have remembered the case don’t come to New Orleans. And if they did, well, it wouldn’t be possible that I’m Meghan Walters, would it?” Lona flashed a sardonic smile. “She disappeared before I was born.”
“So where did Bellona Knight come from?”
“I found Bellona in a book of baby names and…uh.” Lona blushed sheepishly. “Keep in mind that I’m from a different time than you.”
“Come on,” Lucy chided, “spill it.”
“I always wanted to sing like Gladys Knight.”
“Can you?” Lucy laughed.
“The only request Miles has ever made is that if I’m going to sing in the shower, I need to turn the radio up louder, or come down with laryngitis.”
Chapter 6
Lance Fields scanned the crowded dining room while waiting patiently for his turn at the coffee machine, just as his boss, Evan Conroy, walked in with Bellona Knight and a familiar looking young woman with curly brown hair and pale skin. He watched with mild curiosity as Evan led the two women to a dining table where Abe and Dara stood to greet them. After pouring a large mug of coffee, Lance spotted Hugh Dixon, slouched over a plate of eggs and a cup of coffee, and headed towards him.
&n
bsp; “Good morning, sunshine!” Lance drawled with an exaggerated lisp.
Hugh grunted noncommittally and continued shoveling eggs into his mouth. Only after Lance sat down and started eating his bowl of granola cereal, did Hugh look up, sighing heavily. “Okay, what did I do to deserve your company this soon after getting up?”
“You’re always so pleasant in the morning,” Lance teased. Hugh leveled him with a menacing stare that would have had most people running for the nearest exit. Lance Fields was not most people. “I want to see if you’re interested in a little wager.”
“Oh?” Hugh’s expression changed from unveiled malice to mild interest. “Got some good gossip from your sewing circle?”
“It’s a knitting community and it’s for a good cause. And just so you know, there are straight guys in the group. Apparently, it’s a good way to meet women.” Lance wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Anyway, stop trying to side track me and take a look at the pretty young thing sitting with Lona and the Holy Trinity over there.”
He jerked his head in the general direction of Evan’s table. “Isn’t that the girl from last night? I told you she killed that vamp. Fifty bucks says Evan’s trying to recruit her right now.”
Hugh swung his head slowly and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s Lucy. She works for Lona and you obviously didn’t get a very good look at her last night. She’s a vampire.”
“No way! Vampires don’t kill other vampires.”
Hugh shrugged. “Maybe they do if they try to eat their own. Her eyes were glowing. I’ll take the bet and bet you another fifty she’s a mod.”
“Alright, I’ll play. But what makes you think she’s a mod?”
“Her eyes were glowing. Ever meet anyone with glowing eyes that wasn’t a mod?”
“No,” Lance admitted, “but it could have been a trick of the light.”
“True,” Hugh conceded, “but your keen observational skills are on the fritz. By the way, as your partner, whose life may be in your hands, that’s a little disconcerting. You’re forgetting how bad off she was last night. Miles called in a Code One when he brought her in. See any bandages?”
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 6