A Shade of Vampire 63: A Jungle of Rogues

by Bella Forrest

  “Okay. You made a mistake. Now what? How do you fix it? How do you stop that monster from killing my… people?” I asked, then bit my lower lip, thankful to have stopped myself from mentioning my kids. The last thing I wanted was for Ta’Zan to learn about Ben and Rose.

  “Abaddon is volatile. If he fails again, I will order the others to bring him back. Chances are he’ll become unhinged. He’s like a raging animal now. If he’s allowed to continue, he will destroy everything in his path. If he’s contained, however, and, if necessary, neutralized, then your people will live to fight another day. That would also be a problem, so I’ve decided to kill two birds with one stone,” Ta’Zan replied, then pursed his lips. “Well, maybe kill one bird and capture the others alive, with one stone.”

  I began to fear the worst. My instincts were already telling me to brace myself.

  One look at Amal, and I knew I had every reason to feel dread seeping through my veins and freezing my blood. Ta’Zan opened the double doors and went in. Amal and I followed quietly.

  It was definitely a lab, and I’d correctly identified some of the objects inside, including the tables and the equipment. Computerized panels covered one of the walls, and dozens of glowing blue cables connected them to the equipment and the large, semi-transparent pouch hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

  I held my breath, as I recognized a humanoid figure inside the pouch, which was filled with liquid—amniotic fluid, or something similar. The glowing cables fed the creature inside and monitored its vitals on the screens. It was a Perfect!

  Four other Faulties were present, two of them analyzing data on slim, handheld glass tablet displays, while the other two took notes as they observed the developed Perfect inside the artificial womb. The creature moved slowly, turning around. Its eyes were closed.

  Ta’Zan smiled, noticing my astonishment. “That’s right, you’ve never seen one right before birth,” he said, then pointed at the artificial womb. “See the umbilical cord?”

  I did. It was slim and glowing blue, linking the cables to the creature’s abdomen. That was how Ta’Zan fed the creature all the fluids and nutrients it needed for optimal development. Shivers ran down my spine. This was so strange. So unnatural.

  “Knowing what the creatures in your group are, I was able to devise a new, experimental Perfect model,” Ta’Zan continued.

  Amal stayed by my side but kept quiet. She didn’t seem too happy about this development, but she wasn’t surprised. After all, she’d been the one to collect samples from the prisoners earlier.

  “You used genes collected today to create… that?” I managed, staring at the Perfect.

  Ta’Zan nodded, a glimmer of pride present in his blue-and-green eyes. “Eight hours. I’m getting better at this, I admit,” he replied. “This is a new prototype. It has Dhaxanian, fae, witch, werewolf, and sentry genes, on top of the base makeup of a Perfect. I’ve also had Amal tweak any genes that may induce behavioral problems. Of course, that’s always a possible hit and miss, given that Amal isn’t operating at full capacity without her sister. We’ll have to wait and see.”

  Horror crippled me, making it impossible for me to move. I knew that I was looking at a new apex predator, a killing machine specifically designed to capture Ben, Rose, and their crew. This Perfect had at least some of the abilities linked to the genes which Ta’Zan had used to create him. And that scared the life out of me, because it diminished Ben and Rose’s chances.

  Ta’Zan didn’t seem to dwell on ways of defeating his enemy. Instead, he copied his foe and used the creatures’ skills against them. That was devious, to say the least.

  Ta’Zan nodded at one of the Faulties, who reached up and pressed a button at the top of the stem connecting the womb to the ceiling. A device clicked, then hummed as it lowered the artificial womb onto the floor.

  The other Faulty pressed another button on the other side of the stem. It generated a series of flashing blue lights inside the womb. The Perfect began to squirm and kick, until he tore through the translucent membrane and came out. Amniotic fluid spread over the floor, in a space delineated by a line of raised diamond bricks meant to stop it from spilling all over. There was a drain in the middle, and in a matter of seconds, the liquid was gone.

  The Perfect took his first breath, wheezing as his lungs filled with air for the very first time. The Faulties covered him in silk sheets, wiping him down and checking his vital signs. The creature coughed and struggled to breathe evenly, adjusting to his new environment.

  He was fully grown into an adult form, with a splendid, muscular physiognomy, long legs, and black hair. His eyes, one blue and one green, found Ta’Zan first, who crouched before him and gave him a warm smile.

  “Welcome to the world, my son,” Ta’Zan said. The creature blinked rapidly, confused but also fascinated. “You’re the first of your kind. And if you perform well, you certainly won’t be the last.”

  The new Perfect didn’t understand him. His brow furrowed, and he stared at Ta’Zan for a while. A minute later, he smiled. I figured it was the initial sense of familiarity that tied the Perfects to their maker.

  “Father is the first thing they see when they’re born,” Amal said. “If he cannot be present himself, holograms and videos of him are played, to create an instant emotional connection.”

  So if Ta’Zan was the first thing they saw when they became conscious, from there on, they were putty in his hands, his to mold and shape as he wished.

  The Faulties helped the Perfect get up, while I gave Amal a questioning sideways glance. She responded with a shrug. She looked so sad, it nearly broke my heart.

  “Did you know?” I whispered, taking advantage of Ta’Zan’s temporary fascination with his new creature.

  Amal nodded once. “He’s determined to catch your people. He’s fascinated by their abilities. He’s convinced he can cross them and create something even better than the Perfects,” she breathed.

  I knew I couldn’t continue such a conversation with her now, but I gave her a weak, thankful smile nonetheless. She definitely wasn’t on board with all this, and she had every reason to be worried. Ta’Zan was highly ambitious, but he was playing God. That never ended well for anyone.

  “So, what, you’re going to send him out to capture my people?” I asked Ta’Zan.

  My voice trembled slightly, loaded with dread and anger. Ta’Zan got up and turned to face me.

  “He has a set of new skills that will come in handy out there,” Ta’Zan replied. “Cassiel will serve me well, and I believe he’ll play well with others.”

  “What about Abaddon? Won’t he be a problem?” I asked.

  “I doubt it. Cassiel was designed as a superior specimen. Technically speaking, he is well above all the existing Perfects, Abaddon included,” Ta’Zan explained. “In fact, Abaddon might meet his end with Cassiel… I’m not happy about that, but I cannot continue nursing and sheltering a liability. Cassiel will go out, keep an eye on Abaddon for now. If there’s a risk that he may kill my specimens, Cassiel will intervene. Otherwise, he will stand back. I will instruct him to hold off and observe. He will get me what I want, eventually, and sooner, rather than later. That is, your people, Derek. They, too, will be my prisoners, like you. I hope you’re at least trying to get used to the idea.”

  Deep down, I would’ve loved nothing more than to punch his lights out and tear him apart. But I couldn’t. In fact, I drove the thought away, as my collar got hot once more.

  I looked at Cassiel instead. He seemed so young and confused. His brain was a sponge, ready to absorb everything that Ta’Zan was about to teach him. How could we get to him before that happened? How could we shape a Perfect’s mind, protecting him from Ta’Zan’s toxic worldview? How could we stop their maker from poisoning them against the entire universe?

  I had no concrete answer, but I knew I would try to get Amal to clarify some things, as far as how the Perfects were controlled. She’d come to me once before. Su
rely, I could get her to do it again. I had to.

  Now, more than ever, getting Varga out of here mattered. Lenny, Ben, Rose, and the others needed someone like him on their crew. Not only had he seen the inside of the colosseum and the dome, but he was also going to be able to pass on all this new information to them.

  Before all this, however, I had to sway Amal. Judging by the look on her face, it didn’t seem like an impossible mission anymore. There was no other way. Ta’Zan was sending an upgraded monster to capture my children.

  I couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t let him win.

  Harper

  We gathered in the observation room on Mount Zur once more, the backup crew geared up and ready to go to Strava. Serena, Draven, Avril, Heron, Bijarki, Taeral, Lumi, Bogdana and Heron’s nine wards were present and fully equipped with soul-eater blades, special shields, and a variety of swamp witch spells, including the upgraded invisibility paste.

  My heart was constricted and clogged with fear, but I knew we had no choice at this point. We had to do this. Ben, Rose, and their crew needed our support, now more than ever.

  Arwen, Shayla, and the Daughters continued studying the Perfects, after they’d successfully removed all their memory chips. One of them had woken up, and they were actively monitoring him. I had hope that this was a new beginning for him. That he wasn’t born hostile, and that we could talk to him. I wondered if we had a chance to bring him and his fellow Perfects to our side, once we told them the whole story.

  Phoenix was busy analyzing the memory chips, looking for some way to connect those slim wires to any of our computers, in the hope that we could extract the data and convert it into video files. That was another challenge, but extremely necessary, as it could give us crucial inside knowledge.

  In the meantime, however, we kept an eye on Ben and Rose’s crew and continued scanning Strava for new diamond colosseums. The Perfects were constantly growing in numbers and expanding, as expected.

  “Rose’s crew had another encounter with Perfects a couple of hours ago,” Field said, handing out computer tablets to all the crew members. “These will have all the video files and maps, along with all the data we’ve gathered so far. They’re also linked to Bowie, so as soon as you get to Strava, they may pinpoint Rose’s location.”

  “If not, I’ve got some personal items of Rose’s with me,” Lumi replied. “I can do a tracking spell, if needed.”

  “How did they do?” Draven asked Field. “With the Perfects, I mean.”

  Field let out a weary sigh. “It was tough, but they made it. They had a vicious one on their hands, this time around. Far worse than their previous encounters.”

  “Okay, but did you spot any new patterns?” Bastien interjected.

  None of us besides Field and Aida had been here. We still had GASP and Shade operations to oversee. We were, in fact, slightly overwhelmed—which was normal, since our founders were still missing and two of our deputy leaders, Ben and Rose, were also on Strava, fighting for their lives. We were stretched a little thin, especially after the fleet we’d lost. We were only starting to see the effects now.

  “Not really. The vicious one was quite erratic. We couldn’t see much through the tree crowns. But they all made it out in one piece,” Field replied. “They’re headed north now, though I don’t know why.”

  “That’s actually good,” Bogdana said. “Merinos is to the east of the last diamond colosseum built, which means we’ll be able to head north without bumping into Perfects as we look for Ben and Rose’s team.”

  “Once we find them, we’ll figure out the next steps,” Lumi added, then looked at Bogdana. “How are you feeling?”

  “Great, actually. Like I’m twenty again,” Bogdana replied with a confident smirk. “I’m good to go, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Oh, no, I’m not worried about that,” Lumi retorted, mirroring Bogdana’s expression. “I was just hoping that maybe you’d changed your mind and decided to be a little bit more forthcoming with us. You know, regarding why you’re so keen to visit Strava again.”

  Lumi didn’t mince words. It was one of my favorite things about her. She seemed to like Bogdana, and they got along well, but Lumi didn’t shy away from pointing out that Bogdana wasn’t telling us everything. I was aware of Bogdana’s secrecy, too, and I worried about Serena and their crew because of it, but, at the same time, I also understood that the information she had could be a gamechanger.

  Besides, with Lumi watching her every move, I doubted Bogdana could so much as sneeze without the swamp witch knowing about it.

  “I told you,” Bogdana replied, “I’ll tell you everything I know once we get there. I promised. I keep my promises.”

  “You seem like a nice gal, Bogdana, but I’m an old hag, and I’ve met a lot of people who have told me to trust them. The last one I actually did trust put me in a four-by-four room for thousands of years, darling. So, when you say you keep your promises, I reserve the right to doubt that,” Lumi said.

  She’d certainly been burned before. The Exiled Maras had given her a false sense of security, prior to gagging her, blindfolding her, and tying her up. Lumi had reasonable trust issues, and they actually came in handy this time.

  Bogdana exhaled. “You can always leave me behind, but you won’t make it ten feet off Merinos before they catch you.”

  “You talk as though you know what the Perfects are like,” I said, crossing my arms. “I thought you were last on Strava before Ta’Zan was even created.”

  “I know that world. I know the islands. And I know what kind of creatures the Draenir were. Even though they’re gone now, they left quite a heritage behind, and, based on what I’ve seen so far from your telescope feeds, Ta’Zan and his creatures haven’t discovered any of it yet,” Bogdana replied.

  Draven frowned. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

  Bogdana chuckled softly, resting her hands behind her back. I was still wrapping my head around how beautiful she was, completely different from the old lady who had first walked through our doors. Taeral rolled his eyes, unafraid to display his disdain for her mild theatricals.

  “Ugh, she’s not going to tell us anything until we get to Strava, anyway,” Taeral groaned. “Let’s just finish this briefing and head out. I don’t plan on groveling before the old fae, anyway.”

  “Manners, Taeral!” Serena reprimanded him, stifling a chuckle.

  “What? She is old. Don’t let her looks fool you,” Taeral said.

  “The prince has a point,” Bogdana muttered. “But I will say it again, if I have to. I’ll tell you what you need to know once we set foot on Strava. Yes, I have personal reasons to be there, reasons that do not involve the Perfects and your people, but the mission does come first. Besides, if I’m there, I may be able to establish contact with the Hermessi.”

  “The Stravian Hermessi, you mean?” I asked. Bogdana nodded in response. “How would you do that?”

  “Well, how did you contact Ramin?” she replied.

  My stomach churned as I remembered my experiences on Neraka. “I never contacted the fire Hermessi of Neraka myself. He was disguised as an Ekar bird. I didn’t even know what he was until I almost died. Do you plan to almost die, as well?”

  Bogdana gave me a disappointed look. “Dear, you didn’t almost die to reach out to him. You simply opened yourself up to the possibility that the Hermessi existed in the first place, long before you even realized it. When Ramin reached out to you, you believed. I know the stories you told, Harper. I read every word. I have a better understanding of the Hermessi than you might think. They’re there, on Strava.”

  “And you think you can get them involved,” Taeral said, his tone flat.

  “Well, yes. Don’t you think it’s at least worth a shot?” Bogdana replied.

  Taeral didn’t say anything, but his expression didn’t contradict the old fae. We were all hoping the Hermessi would be able to intervene, anyway. That’s what desperate peopl
e do. They hope. It was all we had left at this point.

  The hope that the Hermessi would answer and help us. The hope that removing the memory chips would help us reshape the minds of the four Perfects we’d captured. The hope that all was not lost, just yet.

  Draven

  My nerves were stretched to impressive limits.

  I’d last faced a deadly foe in Azazel. That had been personal and years in the making. In hindsight, the Destroyer seemed like child’s play, compared to Ta’Zan and his Perfects. Those creatures weren’t driven by fear or dark curses. They believed him. They were trained to perpetuate this ludicrous idea that the universe was theirs for the taking, and that only strong individuals such as themselves were entitled to live.

  It was so wrong, so evil… it pained me.

  I’d lost plenty of my Druids on that fleet—granted, most could still be alive, but I didn’t know which of them. The grief made me choke up, sometimes. I’d been so grateful, so happy to pluck them out of the dark holes they’d hidden in during Azazel’s reign of terror. I’d given them hope, only to send them to their deaths on Strava.

  This was personal to me. I had to do everything I could to stop Ta’Zan.

  “You all need to be aware of something,” Lumi said. “Once we leave Calliope, we will have to become different creatures altogether.”

  I was slightly confused, and, after glancing at the rest of our crew, I knew I wasn’t the only one.

  “What do you mean?” Taeral asked.

  “I know that GASP’s main mission is always to achieve peace. I’m completely behind that. But this isn’t about peace anymore. It stopped being about peace when they shot our ships down,” Lumi replied. “This is war, now. A highly tactical and secretive war, but a war nonetheless. Do not expect mercy from the Perfects. Do not expect to convince them to join us. Do not think we’ll have time to capture them, one by one, and take their memory chips out. Time isn’t on our side. And neither is Strava.”