The Progeny

by Shelley Crowley

  Alexander took his hand with a firm grip. His skin was smooth. Vampire smooth. Because vampires healed so fast, if you were Turned without calloused hands, they’d stay baby soft forever. A sinking feeling hit Alexander hard.

  How long did he have until his body was filled with scars from little cuts and scrapes?

  “I’m Alexander,” he said, yanking himself out of his depressing thought bubble. “And call me Alexander.”

  Chapter 23

  Alexander’s conversation with Seb hadn’t lasted very long. He was a hard guy to talk to. Alexander knew that he could talk the ears off a donkey. He hadn’t stopped attempting to get some sort of response out of Seb besides one-word answers and grunts of agreement right up until his new friend had excused himself. Seb had gotten to his feet and had explained that he wanted to get his bearings and walk around alone for a while. When he was leaving through the patio doors, Alexander couldn’t seem to take his eyes off him. He wasn’t really sure why. He guessed it was because he seemed to be reacting the same sort of way to all of this change as he was, but instead of acting up and voicing his annoyance like Alexander did to cover up his genuine fear, Seb had kept his head down and wallowed in his pain in silence. Alexander had never had the courage to do that. To let his vulnerability be so stark and visible. To him, it was like running into battle in your underwear. He needed to act tough to get by, that was what he had learned very early on after becoming a vampire. But he wasn’t a vampire anymore and he feared it would get a whole lot harder to hide his true self.

  Needing to busy himself, he left the patio and began to follow a path alongside the lawn which led to one of the back buildings. Alexander had never liked being alone ever since that night he lay dying in No Man’s land with nothing for company except for the bodies of his fallen comrades, some of whom happened to have been dear friends.

  He had been right when he had thought that the white building at the far end of the lawn was a pool house. He wandered in through the slatted wooden door and found himself inside a small gym that was separated from the pool by a glass wall. Two heads bobbed up from the stack of dumbbells. Alexander had noticed them both briefly when he had first made his way into the dining room but hadn’t paid that much attention to either of the men. One was a guy maybe in his early thirties, with biceps the size of Alexander’s torso. They were being choked by the short sleeves of his assigned black t-shirt. The other guy looked like the typical stylish surfer type with his long flowing sandy brown hair and a tattooed tribal sleeve.

  They both stared at Alexander as he stood by the door, their eyes wide and expectant. For once, Alexander had nothing to say. Usually he could just toss a joke into the air with ease, but being in this place just seemed to make his forced arrogant act harder and harder to stick to. To be perfectly honest, he felt like he was on the verge of tears as he stared at the two fellow victims of Nico’s horrid game. He wanted to ask how they were taking it. Being human again. But at the same time, he wanted to run and hide and cry and scream and hope he would wake up and this would all be some sick nightmare.

  After a moment of stiff silence, Mr. Muscle and Sleeve gave each other a sideways glance before they casually turned their backs on Alexander and continued studying the weights. He wanted to see Seb again. Even though he was a man of little words, Alexander felt like he could relax in his company. There were very few people in the world that Alexander was drawn to due to something besides their obvious good looks, and Seb was one of them. Not that he wasn’t attractive. In fact, he was extremely attractive in the sort of broody, mysterious kind of way. But that hadn’t been what had sped up Alexander’s new heartbeat. It had been his eyes. He had eyes like Varsee’s. Eyes that spoke of suffering and heartache to such a magnitude that it was next to impossible to fully comprehend. Alexander had been by his sister’s side for almost the entirety of his vampire life yet he still didn’t know all what she had been through in her time before him. She rarely spoke of her life which gave him the impression that it was extremely dark and grisly. She had lived through so many wars and revolutions that Alexander couldn’t believe that she had never taken a stake and shoved it through her own heart and just end it all. It wasn’t a stretch to say that he was in awe of his sister. Of how level headed she was even after such a long life. But maybe it was a façade just like his own. If it was, it had never faltered in the time they had spent together so that alone would be an achievement. It wasn’t unknown to his sister that every few years Alexander would have an emotional breakdown after seeing something or hearing something that had reminded him of his old human life. The one he had left behind.

  But Varsee had never seemed to have that problem. Whenever he had asked her about it, about how she managed to keep going, keep looking forward and never looking back, he was always met with the same answer. I’m a survivor, Alex. I always have been.

  Varsee was a hard nut to crack to say the least, and so was Seb. And if Alexander wanted to survive in this place and not drive himself crazy, he needed a hobby. And he was determined to crack Seb’s nut. Metaphorically speaking.

  Alexander padded his way through the gym and into the pool area. He hadn’t noticed the lifeguard relaxing back on his tall chair playing with his phone. As soon as the door had opened, he slid his phone into the pocket of his red shorts and quirked a dark eyebrow up at Alexander.

  “Hello there,” said Alexander as he walked across the ridged tiles, instantly feeling a lot more comfortable around a complete stranger.

  The lifeguard nodded and watched him as he crossed the edge of the pool. He tugged off his socks and rolled his sweatpants to his knees before sitting at the edge and dangling his legs in the blissfully cool water. He could smell the chlorine in the air as he waded his legs in slow circles. Relaxing back on his palms, Alexander studied the man in the chair. “Can you speak?” he asked. The lifeguard lowered his brows at him. “Or has Nico cut out your tongue?” He let out a mock gasp. “Are you an Avox?”

  The lifeguard looked confused. “What’s an Avox?”

  “Never seen or read The Hunger Games?” asked Alexander, and was met with a blank stare. “Well, I guess it was… what, twenty years ago? Ah, that’s not that long. How old are you? About early thirties? Still a baby, really.”

  “You’re younger.”

  “Actually, no I’m not. I’m a hundred and forty. I look good for my age, I know.” His gut twisted. “I hope the years don’t catch up to me.” Shaking away the terrifying thought, he brought his attention back to the lifeguard who now had his chin propped on his fist. “So are you here to stop us from drowning or to stop us from killing ourselves?” Alexander looked down at the clear water below him and thought about how easy it would be to dunk himself under and never resurface. But he knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t an option.

  “I’m here to keep you safe,” replied the lifeguard, his rumbling voice echoing around the empty room.

  “Safe?” scoffed Alexander. “Like we’re safe here with Doctor dipshit.”

  The lifeguard scrutinized him. “Are you here contemplating killing yourself?”

  Alexander laughed without humour. “If I were to do it- to just fall in right now, would you dive in and rescue me?” He flashed him his signature grin.

  The lifeguard shuffled in his seat awkwardly. “I’m here to keep you safe. It’s my duty.”

  “Ah well, as lovely as the thought of being held bridal style and you with your little outfit all wet and clingy, I’m afraid I just came in here for some solitude.” He sat up straight and looked down at his feet in the water. “Besides, I made a promise to my sister.”

  “Promised her what?”

  Alexander sighed. “That I wouldn’t die.”

  Suddenly, the silence was filled by static crackling. Both Alexander and the lifeguard looked up to where the sound was originating from. Right in the corner behind Alexander’s head was a speaker set into the wall.

  “Hello to all of the Cured,” Nico’s tinny v
oice broke through the static. The Cured? That makes us sound like some lame pop group. He didn’t like that it seemed to be what he was known as now. “Meet me in my office on the ground floor between the lounge and the library as soon as possible. I know you all have many questions that you would like to be answered. This is your time to ask them.”

  Alexander looked back around. The lifeguard was watching him, his lips in a thin line. “How did you end up in a place like this?”

  The lifeguard seemed unfazed by the question. “The money’s good.”

  “But do you agree with what he’s doing? What he’s doing to us?”

  “My opinion is not important.”

  “But I want to hear it,” pressed Alexander.

  The lifeguard glowered at him. “Vampires are looked down upon in this world. I’m not saying they don’t deserve it. I’m just stating the facts. Being cured- becoming human again- I don’t see how that is such a bad thing.”

  Alexander gritted his teeth, annoyed by his ignorance. “You just don’t get it,” he said testily and got to his feet. “None of you do.” He rolled down his sweatpants, grabbed his socks and headed out the door. “Anyway, duty calls. The doctor desires my presence.”

  As he made his way through the mansion, it was made clear to him very quickly that Alexander hadn’t the faintest idea where he was going. Corridors and hidden doors seemed to spring out of nowhere and he found himself spinning in circles, wondering if he had taken the same route twice. He was thankful when he spotted another one of the ‘Cured’ who seemed to know where he was going. He was a tall fella who had a good five inches on Alexander, with straight black hair that fell in a lifeless mop down his pale face. He looked sort of like Slender Man, Alexander mused. How he hadn’t spotted him at breakfast was beyond him. The guy was physically imposing.

  Falling into a few steps behind Slender Man, he managed to get to Nico’s office. The mahogany door was propped open by a fancy doorstop in the shape of a horse’s head. Inside were three low, burnt red sofas that looked extremely uncomfortable, with the leather pulled tight and studded. They had all been placed around a Persian rug. At the head of the box-like arrangement of furniture was a huge mahogany desk. Behind it sat Nico, lit up by the green glow from his desk lamp.

  The sofas were almost full. Slender Man quickly dropped into the gap at the end of the closest sofa, beside Snowflake. Alexander searched for Seb and spotted him looking awkward in the centre of the sofa facing him. His elbows were on his knees and his eyes were fixed on the rug. Daisy was sitting on his left and gave Alexander a sneer when he crossed the room and sat on his right. Two girls sat opposite him. They were the two girls he hadn’t paid much attention to because they had been on his side of the table at breakfast. One was ghostly pale with straw-like blonde hair that tumbled down to her lap. Deep black circles hung under her eyes and gave her the look of someone who enjoyed a night of tripping out on magic mushrooms. The girl beside her looked in her early forties and seemed a lot more concerned about her itchy wrists than anything else.

  Nico glanced down at his watch. “One more to come.”

  Alexander scanned over the sofas. He had thought everyone was here. Then a shadow crossed through the room and in came the last of the Cured. Alexander shuddered inwardly at the sight of the man in the doorway. Unlike most of the Cured, this man had not been Turned in his prime. His body was wiry, the sleeves of his black t-shirt hung over his scrawny, wrinkled arms. His tanned face was long and drawn out, so thick with creases that he looked like a leather purse. The remaining hair on his head was thin and grey but was still long enough to reach his shoulders.

  “Sorry,” he said in a hoarse, broken voice as his mole-like eyes -that were mostly hidden under the folds of his skin- flittered over the sofas. “Got lost. Damn things aren’t as good as they used to be,” he croaked, smacking his thighs.

  Suddenly feeling lightheaded and queasy, Alexander watched as several of the Cured scooted down the sofa so that the old man – Rusty, Alexander quickly named him - could take the weight off his bandy legs. He let out a drawn-out exhale of relief and momentarily closed his eyes in bliss as he successfully lowered himself down. Alexander felt even sicker. He didn’t want to end up like that. He thought he had gotten away with it. But now he could feel old age and all the free stuff that came with it, like arthritis and saggy balls, looming over him like a dark cloud ready to rain down on him.

  “So now that we’re all here, I’ll begin.” Nico clapped his hands together enthusiastically. The girl that Alexander had watched ripping up her bacon nearly jumped off the sofa at the sudden sound and snapped irritably at her side, her eyes focused on something that wasn’t there. Nico started messing with the drawers in his desk and pulled out a stack of stapled booklets.

  “I might as well start at the beginning.” He stepped around his oversized desk and began handing out the booklets. “When I was seventeen, I was recruited by a big name in science. Doctor Weilms. I don’t expect you to have heard of him,” Nico added after receiving a room full of blank stares. He handed Alexander a booklet. “I hadn’t when his associates had come into my college back in 2021 and picked me up right out of my classroom. Apparently, they had seen my academic achievements and were impressed. So impressed that they wanted to take me on. They gave me a job in cell structure just like that. It wasn’t until later that I found out the project was focusing on vampire cell structure and how it differed to human DNA.”

  “So you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into?” asked Snowflake, taking the booklet Nico passed to him.

  “Not right away, no. And bear in mind that this all happened only months after the Rage died down so vampires were still very new to us, and extremely terrifying,” replied Nico. “But the more I got involved with the project, the more it fascinated me. And working with the other budding scientists was extremely gratifying.”

  “There are others working on this cure? I thought this was all down to you,” said Snowflake with thinly veiled contempt.

  “There were others,” replied Nico, not reacting to the stark hate in Snowflake’s tone. “Not anymore. This is a solo operation now. Look in the booklet, all of their profiles are in there.” He sank back down into the chair behind his desk. The scraping, rustling sound of turning pages filled the room. “When the other recruits began to leave the project, Dr Weilms threatened to pull the plug on the whole thing but I was keen to finish what I had started and make his dream a reality. I promised that if he kept funding the project, I would give him promising results.” He made a sweeping gesture around the room with a proud smile. “And look at you all now. My hard work and dedication have finally paid off.”

  “Yeah, after months of being nearly tortured to death,” Snowflake mumbled into his chest and was met with a frosty glare from Daisy.

  Alexander focused on the booklet set on his lap, tucking back the strands of his hair that obstructed his view. The first page read Dr. Weilms: Project Revive in the top right-hand corner. Inside were two pages full of information. As Alexander scan-read it through he realised it was pretty much everything Nico had already said. He turned the page. There were eight black and white photographs with boxes of writing beside each one. Alexander instantly recognised Nico’s portrait. The photo had been taken when he had first been recruited but besides his slightly chubbier cheeks and youthful twinkle in his eyes, he pretty much looked the same even though it was dated thirteen years ago. Maybe I’ll age gracefully like Nico. He casted a furtive glance to Rusty who was squinting at his booklet, reading with obvious effort.

  Beside four of the photographs, the word DECEASED was written in block letters and beside another two was the word DISCONTINUED. What was written by the side of the portrait of the man underneath Nico’s caught Alexander’s curiosity.

  “Compromised?” he read aloud.

  Nico picked his head up. “Excuse me?”

  Alexander pointed down at the picture of the man. “It says here next
to Joseph Turner’s name. What do you mean by compromised?”

  “Ah, let’s just say there was a spot of bother with him,” said Nico with a dismissive wave but Alexander could tell he was hiding something.

  “What sort of bother?”

  Nico let out a wearisome sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose as if conversing with Alexander was giving him a headache. “Look, Alex I-”

  “It’s Alexander,” Alexander snapped, “we’re not friends.”

  By his side, Seb shrank back into the sofa.

  Nico sighed again. “Alexander, Joseph had… erh… personal issues that collided with our aim.”

  “So is he still on the project?” Alexander scan read Joseph’s little box of information which said very little that was of any importance -just the name of his college, his academic scores and his age. “It doesn’t say.”

  “Joseph was demoted due to the problems that arose but he is still on the premises. He is a smart man and he is valuable to have around.”

  Alexander still felt like he wasn’t getting the full picture but he remembered that he needed to keep his head down and blend in to avoid any trouble, so he fell silent. Looking satisfied, Nico leaned back on his chair and folded his arms behind his head, watching as everyone read with their noses in their booklets. Alexander watched Seb reading. Seb’s eyes flicked up and caught Alexander’s. He gulped and quickly got back to reading. When Seb dropped his head again, Daisy came into view, staring at him sharply.

  Making enemies already, Alexander? And it’s only your first day.

  “Why are so many dead?” piped up Dreadlocks.

  To this, Nico frowned and scratched his head with a wince as if in pain. “Capturing vampires for the trials was a dangerous job. It took a few years to perfect a technique.”

  Alexander thought back to what Evie had mentioned about this place. About being kidnapped and locked up in one of those cells he had woken up inside. About him injecting her and other vampires with special serums that only caused them pain, up until she was magically cured.