Shed some Light

by Amber Naralim

  “You okay?” Ellie asked.

  Reese licked his lips, his eyes still a little wide. He nodded his head. Reese looked over his shoulders at Vincent coming out of the hallway. He was clean. A pair of worn jeans rode his narrow hips. A black button-down linen shirt hung open from his shoulders. The sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Vincent had one of his new sketchbooks under one arm, a few pencils in hand.

  He stopped a moment, looking back at the hallway. A look of confusion graced his face. When he met Reese's eye, he rose one eyebrow in question. Reese shook his head, shrugging. Vincent sat down on the bench next to his brother, laying out his book. “Shower is free.” He shot Ellie a wink across the table. She returned it with a breathtaking smile.

  Vincent opened his book to a fresh page. His graceful line slithered over the paper. Ellie looked up with a smile. “Me again? There are other things to draw.” The corner of Vincent’s mouth pulled up on the right side. He raised an eyebrow along with it, without looking up from the page.

  “With a brush in my hands, painting you is just like running my fingertips over your body,” Vincent said.

  Ellie’s eyes danced with his words. “I think I'm ready for that kiss.” She leaned over the table. Vincent met her laying his lips against hers chastely. She sat back down unable to banish her smile. Reese watched Vincent sketch the lines for a few moments before he rolled his eyes. He got up, heading up the stairs without looking at them. Slowly Reese let his shields drop.

  He could hear pieces of conversations all over the house. He could hear Anna and Edward. Reese could feel the slight fear that washed over Anna. He was betting she didn't think Edward would be that rough. Reese sighed. It was starting to dawn on him that Edward was nothing like him and Vincent. Edward was something else entirely.

  He thought about going to Charlie, asking if he could take a look at Bennet's notes. Reese was relatively sure he wouldn't understand them even if he did. What he was more worried about was whether Charlie understood them. Reese tromped down the hall. He could hear Ellie laughing at some pathetic joke Vince told her. Reese tried to concentrate on that as he closed the door behind him, turning on the water.

  He climbed into the bathtub. Let the warm water cascade over him. He scrubbed at the blood that dried on his skin. He was sure Edward was losing it. Reese recognized the steps to that particular dance. Vince was right. That serum needed to be destroyed. What happened to him and Vince, he accepted. Some rampaging beast in the heart of Germany was different from a science lab.

  Reese scrubbed down. He washed his hair twice. The entire time his imagination threw up different fears. He wondered whether Edward could infect others. Could he infect Ellie? That thought made Reese’s blood run cold. He and Vince died when that beast attacked. He was sure in order to infect Ellie they would have to kill her. Edward might be different.

  Maybe he should take a look at the notes. Ellie spent a few hours over the past several days showing him around the computers. She had to wipe it first. He still wanted to throw it out the window. But he was getting the swing of it, albeit slowly. He wondered if Vince could feel it. He wondered if he should bring it up to Vince.

  His brother had been lost in his paints and exceedingly happy to be there. It was good to see Vince happy again. When Vincent told him about his Monster loving Ellie, Reese was astonished. It gave him hope that maybe Vince really was getting the hang of controlling it. Reese let the water drain and stepped out. He toweled off, heading to his room.

  He strode across the floor. Picking up his dog tags from the nightstand, Reese looked down at them, ran his fingers over them. He closed his eyes. Memories of that night were right there. He could hear Vince screaming in agony. The others scattered, dead. The fire burning cast its shadows over him. His blood bubbling up into his throat, he could taste it on his tongue.

  Reese remembered the pain that shot through him. He opened his eyes and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His hair had gotten so long. It brushed the tops of his shoulders. It hung over his eyes. Reese touched the stubble on his chin. It never grew any longer than what it was. It never went away either. He sighed. Reese pulled out a pair of jeans, slipping into them. He slid a long sleeved black shirt over his head. He pushed the sleeves up to his elbows and made sure to tuck the tags inside his collar.

  Reese smoothed his hair back one last time. He was probably worried about nothing. Reese’s reflection stared back at him with a thoughtful expression, his face set into worried lines. He was ready to get the hell out of here. He wanted Ellie far away from Edward.

  It wasn't so much that he worried about being able to fight him off. It was more the fear of her getting between them. She was smarter than that. He was sure. Ellie had a survivor’s instinct. The thought of the three of them back on the road together made Reese smile. He wasn’t sure what she was waiting for.

  The thought of Ellie being like him and Vince was one that intrigued him. She was so fragile. He did not like the idea of her becoming like Edward, though. Reese took in a deep breath and decided to head down to talk to Charlie. He walked into Ellie's room with the intention of grabbing the spare laptop. Reese stopped in front of one of the paintings Vince had done.

  Bright watercolors painted Ellie in a rainbow across the canvas. Her eyes closed. Her hair was a golden glow around her head. Vince had such a talent. Reese’s eyes were drawn to the paper hanging next to it. An ink sketch of her, sheets tangled in her lap. Her hair cascaded over her shapely shoulders, one breast bare. Her knees drawn up and falling open, her toes curled.

  Reese plucked it from the wall and ran his fingertips over it. There were a thousand different sketches of her on these walls. He didn't think they would miss just one. Reese folded it up, slipping it into his back pocket. He loved the look on her face in that one. Tilted on one side, a wicked smile pulled at her lips that promised so many things. One hand in her long hair, the other rested in her lap with the bundle of sheets. Reese grabbed the extra computer from the top shelf of her closet. Turning on his heel, he headed down to the basement.

  Ellie gave him an odd look when he came tromping through the kitchen with the laptop under his arm. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Visiting Charlie,” he said. “Have ya wiped this?” Reese held it up for her to see.

  “Yeah. Over a week ago, you know, when you first asked me too.” Vincent hadn't even looked up. Reese wondered if Vince even knew he was there. Vince lost himself in his drawings.

  “Did ya put the gem game on it?”

  “Bejeweled?” Ellie asked with a smile, putting the pieces of her gun back together.

  “Whatever it's called, did ya put it on there?” he drilled. Reese saw her playing it one night. Ellie showed him how and he had been a man obsessed ever since. It was the one reason he'd had her teach him how to use the computer.

  “Yes, I made sure to put it on there. Because you're my best friend,” she joked. “Only because you're my besty. If you weren't you would get no gems.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, waving his hand at her. Reese took the stairs two at a time.

  Ellie shook her head. Smiling, she fitted the pieces of metal together like they were a jigsaw. “Let me see?” she demanded.

  Vincent finished the line, then held it up for her. His pictures and paintings made Ellie feel so beautiful. The one he was working on was a portrait of him holding onto her, his lips pressed to her forehead. She smiled at him. “It's beautiful.”

  “It isn't finished,” Vincent told her.

  “Then finish it.”

  Charlie typed her notes, fingers moving furiously. Reese tapped her shoulder. She jumped. Her hand flew to her chest and she heaved a heavy breath. The Hale brother’s silence took some getting used to. Charlie recovered quickly, flashing him a smile. “Need something, sugar?” She pulled her reading glasses from her face.

  “Can ya make it so Bennet’s notes are on this thing?” Reese held out the laptop to her.

  “
Sure.” Taking the laptop from him, she booted it up. “I thought you read them?” Charlie observed while she worked at it.

  “I read what they did to Vince. I want to know what they did to Edward,” he told her.

  Charlie stopped cold for a second. He felt a tendril of worry come from her. Charlie didn't lie often. Like Ellie, she respected the truth. She knew the damage secrets caused. If she had her way she would spill all the acidic contents of this to the floor. But it wasn’t her secret to tell. “Why would you want to know about Edward?” she asked. Reese smirked. If he couldn’t feel disgust flowing off her he never would have picked up on it. She knew something. Reese shot a glance toward the steps to be sure no one was coming.

  Reese looked at her. “Something’s wrong with him,” he told her, point blank.

  Charlie looked up at him. “Why would you think that?”

  “Charlie, there ain’t no point lying to me. I can feel it,” he told her. It was a sensation that ran through him. At first, it was like a jolt of electricity. He could taste them on the air. Now Emotions rang out. To know the emotion was to feel it. Its shadow rode him impossible to ignore. Reese pulled over one of the chairs and folded himself into it. “I watched him kill a deer today.”

  “Why would that make you think something is wrong?”

  “We don't just kill, darlin’. We can. But we don't. He ain’t had his beast long. There ain’t no way he could kill something and not eat it. The hunger should be riding him. Should be driving him into the dirt. He didn't eat it. He killed it and did not eat it.” Reese shook his head. “That ain’t right.” He let his head fall forward. Swallowed. “He ain't like us, is he?”

  “Reese, he doesn't want Ellie to know,” she said.

  “Don't want her to know what?” he asked. Leaning closer to her, Reese gave her dazzling blue eyes.

  Charlie took in a deep breath. “I can't keep this damn secret. No, he isn't like you, Reese. It is a stripped down version of what you guys have. But there is something different. Vincent had me look at his blood years ago. That Bennet lady’s serum is based on Vincent’s blood.”

  Charlie pulled up a file and scrolled down the page. “This here,” she said pointing. Charlie pulled up another two files. “You see these numbers here. How they pretty much match all of these. Now look at these ones.”

  Reese looked at the numbers with a cocked brow. Each document she pulled up had different ID numbers. Each had seven lists of numbers with abbreviations next to them. Whatever the numbers were they were less than ten digits off across the board. The last one Charlie pulled up had the same lists of abbreviations but the numbers were hundreds higher. Reese had no clue what this was supposed to mean.

  “This one,” she said pointing, “is Edward the first month he was at that hospital. He had the same numbers as the other rats Vincent calls them. This last one is Edward three weeks before they rescued him.”

  “So what’s it mean?” Reese asked.

  “They gave him something other than Bennet’s serum. All they have for information on it though is a string of numbers that I can’t make heads or tails of.”

  Reese frowned. “Can he infect Ellie?”

  “No. I mean, I don't think so,” Charlie said. The tone of her voice didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

  He laughed at her and it was an unpleasant sound. Reese shook his head in exasperation. “Ya don’t know what any of this is, do ya?” he asked. “Ya can't make a cure.”

  Charlie frowned. “I told Ellie. I’m not a geneticist. I’m doing the best I can, Reese. The doses, I'm basically guessing. All I can do is make the serum we have last as long as possible.” She sighed. “They were trying to make enhanced soldiers. He is made to kill. Every part of the virus that is left, gave him your abilities to kill.”

  “And ya’ll are all so afraid of us, Vince and me. Edward is sitting there a ticking bomb.” Reese closed his eyes, swallowing his anger.

  “It isn't that simple. And I am not afraid of you,” she told him.

  “Charlie,” he began, ready to lecture her.

  “Reese, I'm not afraid of you. We love you. This is a family. The only thing we are ever going to get. I'm doing my best.”

  “It’s going to fall to me, to Vince. When he flips that switch, one of us will have to kill him,” Reese grumbled. “Ya know that don't ya?”

  Chapter 24

  Anna’s chest moved up and down in peaceful sleep. Her red hair spilled out across the bed. Grey light cut crucifixes across her back. Edward stared at the bruises on her arms, dark blue, almost black prints of his fingers. He hadn't meant to be that rough. Edward sat back against the headboard with a sigh. His long hair tickled his bare shoulders.

  Being with her wasn't enough to cool that dark desire anymore. Those bruises came from his need to hear the fear in her voice. He wanted that fear more than he wanted the brush of her skin. It sickened him. It was wrong. And he couldn't get enough. Edward’s only consolation was that he only had a few months left. Then she would be rid of him.

  Edward took in a deep breath. Let it fill his lungs. Let it swell his chest, just to blow it all back out again. His eyes followed the line of her back. Edward rolled over. Laying his hand gently on her head, he let his fingers glide through her hair. Edward loved her. He swore he would never let himself be that rough with her again.

  The symptoms were getting worse. The headaches had finally begun to stop. Once Ellie came back with the serum all the side effects- as Charlie put it- started to go away. In their wake, they left something worse. He didn't feel the hunger anymore. Instead, his emotions, especially his anger, were on fire. His every need was on overdrive. He just had to have Anna. He wouldn’t have accepted no for an answer. Looking down at her, Edward wondered what would have happened had she refused him?

  He just couldn't stop himself. Anna obliged him. But this wasn't what Anna wanted. She wanted him to be gentle and slow. As it was, he tore her shirt, again. The last time he could pass it off as an accident, no such luck this time. Edward swallowed. He could still taste her on his lips. This wasn't him. Edward wanted to believe that. He really did.

  Instead of the need for flesh and blood, he felt a powerful need to feel her fear. He craved it. Edward fed off it. Those little whimpers she made, the way her body trembled. It spurred him on. Awoke a need he couldn’t deny. Edward wanted to believe that's what happened with the women he killed. He couldn't even remember the first one’s name. He hadn't bothered to learn the second's. He kept telling himself it was a momentary loss of control. Anna's fear turned him on just as much as the other ones had. More, because he wanted her so damn much.

  Edward thought he had a hold on whatever it was they infected him with. He was losing himself. He pulled the blanket up over her, running the back of his hand over her shoulder. He forced his touch gentle. Edward shook his head and climbed out of the bed. He didn't want to take his eyes off her for even a moment.

  Edward slid into his silk pajama bottoms and opened the door. The dog was lying outside. Birdie raised his head. A low trickling growl slipped from Birdie’s throat. Edward stared down at him, narrowing his eyes. He lashed out at the mutt in his mind. The dog clamored to its feet, slinking into the bedroom with a whine. Edward rolled his shoulders, wandering out into the kitchen.

  Charlie and Shane sat on the couch watching a movie. She looked up at him padding barefoot out of the hallway. “We should start your infusion,” Charlie reminded him. They should have done it this morning. She’d slept in late. By the time Charlie woke up, he was already out. Her conversation with Reese the other day had her a little worried. Made her wish she hadn't chosen to start weaning him with the last two doses. He did fine with the last one, a small voice in her head argued. She gave Shane a kiss and got up ready to go to the basement.

  Edward nodded, reaching in to pull the milk carton out of the refrigerator. Edward took a swig, drinking it down. He screwed the cap back on, staring at Ellie and Vincent. Vincent stood behin
d her. His hands in her hair, letting his fingers drag through her long tresses. He watched Ellie flip through Vincent’s sketchbook. They looked happy. She looked happy.

  Her laughter slithered through the room. It was a sound that walked a razor's edge between lovely and jangling. Edward didn't recognize it anymore. Edward didn't recognize her anymore. He couldn’t deal with the changes in his baby sister. He held onto the image of her from when she was his with a white-knuckled fist. Problem was she was slipping out of his grasp the tighter he closed it. Ellie was changing, transforming. A small voice in his head screamed that he was losing her. Not only was he losing her, Edward was losing her to Vincent.

  Vincent laid a kiss on the side of her cheek, his hand gliding over her neck. Ellie turned her head slightly and he fed at her mouth. Vincent's hand slipped back into her hair. He pulled away from her mouth, his kisses spilling down the side of her throat. Ellie closed her eyes letting her head fall to one side. Her eyes closed. Her face went slack with the pleasure of his touch. Her hand reached back and up to slide over Vincent’s shoulder.

  Fury shot through Edward. It threatened to burn him up from the inside out. He hated Vincent. Edward hated him for what he did to his little sister. He hated what Vincent had done to him. Edward hated that he could hear Ellie crying out in pleasure when Vincent fucked her! He hated everything in that moment. Rage incinerated him.

  Blood. Edward wanted blood. He wanted Vincent's blood smeared over his fists. Wrath blinded him. It took him over completely. Before Edward realized what he was doing. His hand flexed. He went running across the floor. Lowering his shoulder, he slammed into Vincent. Bull rushed him into the wall. Ellie fell backward onto the floor. She looked up with eyes hard as shiny green stones. Instinct took over.