“So I guess there’s no hope for either of us.” My head drooped and grief for John, for myself, and for David fell over me, an avalanche of shadows.
“Probably not.”
19
It was hard to tell how much time was passing. I didn’t wear a watch. Like most people of my generation I just used my phone to check the time, my email, Instagram, and Twitter. And even if I had worn a watch I would have had to take it off for the MRI. I paced, I tried to sleep. The lights were never turned off, which made it hard, but eventually exhaustion won out and I slept despite the glare. David and I talked, but talking exhausted him as his body fought its losing battle against burns and starvation. Meals arrived and trays were taken away. Based on the number of meals it seemed like three days, but I couldn’t be sure.
I looked for things in our prison that could be used to help us escape. I had read a book once about a girl who had used the underwire in her bra to pick a lock, but I didn’t have my bra on and even if I had, I had no idea how to pick a lock. I upturned the cot and inspected the springs that laced across the bottom. I tried to remove one. Perhaps I could use it like a metal whip or something, but my hands weren’t strong enough to break it loose from the frame. The frame was welded together too, and couldn’t be broken apart to become a baton.
When the tray arrived I studied the two guards who accompanied it and wondered if I could shove one of them into David’s arms so he could feed. They were both over six feet tall and probably weighed in at two hundred pounds, which made it pretty damn unlikely.
Ken turned up with his ultrasound and checked the progress of the parasite’s tentacles. They were getting perilously close to my jugular vein. I had stopped fighting the exam because I was going to lose, and that made it more humiliating somehow.
David was starting to look more and more like a scrawny corpse, and he was muttering to himself. I stopped approaching the circle of light. I knew this was David and my friend, but he was turning into something inhuman and really scary.
I thought about Hettie and Parlan and Lucius. They must be looking for me. They knew the identity of at least some of the Black Masons. Couldn’t this guy Fusashi have followed my dad and figured out where we were being held? Unless of course Fushashi was dead too. This crowd had shown itself more than willing to commit murder. Which made me think of John and that laid me out on the cot crying until I was too exhausted to cry or think any longer.
After the second exam on the fourth day Ken gave a grunt of satisfaction. I could see why. The tips of the tendrils were resting against my jugular vein.
“So, it’s time?” one of the guards asked.
“It’s time.”
They all exchanged significant looks and left.
“David!” I called loudly. He slowly raised his head. “I think they’re going to try something. Something to get you to drink.”
“Don’t worry,” he croaked, and dropped his chin back onto his chest.
Time crawled past. I paced and ran my fingers through my limp and dirty hair. The door opened and six men entered. Three of them were my guards and Ken. The other three were older. One of them seemed familiar. Had I met him at the country club or one of my father’s business gatherings? All of them seemed to be deferring to the oldest guy. I made the guess that he was the master.
The oldest man looked at Ken. “You’re certain?”
“As certain as I can be since we have no relevant data,” the scientist replied.
“Will it kill her?” The emotionless tone of the question shook me and also angered me.
“I don’t know. It’s clear the parasite is going to puncture the wall of her jugular. I can’t predict the effect it will have on her.”
The oldest man gave an annoyed grunt. “It’s taken so much effort to get to this point. If she dies the predator dies, and it will take years to bring another one to maturity and try again.”
Ken hunched one shoulder. “I’m sorry, but I can’t be more precise. If one of your group had ever succeeded before we wouldn’t be guessing now.”
“If one of my group had succeeded we wouldn’t be here today,” came the dry response. “And the Powers would be gone.”
I was sick of being ignored and talked about like a thing. I thrust myself into the conversation. “The Powers, wow, I’m surprised. I would have thought a hate group like yourselves would call them Spooks. You know, go for the pejorative.”
The master approached me. I tensed and fought down fear. In an effort not to flinch, I focused on silly details—that he wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch and his cuff links were platinum and gold with the Masonic symbol on them, his Italian tie of fine silk. He took my chin in his hand and looked down at me.
“Your father said you had—”
“Spirit, right? You were going to say spirit, which would make you even more like a cliché movie villain.” I didn’t have to force the contempt. It just flowed out of me.
He released me and stepped back. “I was, but I’ll amend that now to cunt.”
It hit me harder than I expected. Only once before in my life had that particular slur been thrown at me, and it had been used by a low-life criminal who had helped kidnap me, and it had come in a particularly fraught moment. Coming now from an elegantly attired older man with a clipped Boston accent, a man who was a friend and colleague of my father’s, it had weight and power beyond being just a word. I had once again been reduced from person to thing.
“We’ve watched you interact with that thing.” He indicated David. “You’re a traitor to your own kind.” He gave me a smile. “But now you’re going to be the instrument to rid the world of them and the Hounds. Future generations will remember you as a heroine.”
“Funny, I don’t remember people who caused genocides being called heroes.”
“Take her,” the master ordered.
The guards grabbed me. This time I fought because I knew something bad was about to happen. Since I hadn’t been resisting the ultrasound exams they were a bit lax, and I actually broke free from one of them and managed to scratch his face before he grabbed me again. He was cussing and dabbing at his bleeding cheek with the back of his free hand.
“Forget that,” the master ordered, gesturing at the scratch mark.
“Bitch drew blood.”
“She’ll soon have hers drawn. Hold her now, and stay out of his reach.”
The two men just lifted me off the ground and carried me over to David. Then, using me as a shield, they thrust me into the circle of light. One man put a hand on the back of my head and forced my head and neck to within inches of David’s fangs. Groaning with pain he scooted away, retreating as far as his chains would allow. They once again pushed me in close. There was a wild fluttering in my chest and it wasn’t my heart. A sense of excitement washed through me, and it wasn’t my emotion. I was terrified, horrified, and crying. My little friend was ecstatic. Seconds ticking past measured by my thundering heart. Seconds into minutes. David was trembling, but his jaw was clamped shut, his lips an invisible line so tightly were they pressed together. There was also an unholy light burning in his eyes. We stayed like that for an agonizingly long time. The guards’ grip on my upper arms hurt like hell as their fingers dug into my muscles.
Then, whimpering and groaning, David rose as far as his chains would allow. He stared over my head at the watching men.
“I won’t touch her. Nothing you do will change that. My training is too strong.” He paused then added, “So go fuck yourselves.”
* * *
They tried four more times. Each time prolonging the exposure. Far from eroding David’s control the repeated attempts seemed to be stiffening his resolve not to touch me, much less feed on me.
Finally the master uttered a curse and ordered them all out of the room. I raced to David, ready to hug him, but a sharp command froze me in my tracks.
“Don’t! Do not touch me. Don’t come near me.”
I retreated to my cot. “But … but,
you did so well.”
“I was damned if I was going to give them any satisfaction,” David grated. “But, Lynnie, I don’t know … how much longer I can hold on…” He collapsed and wiped the seeping moisture from bursting blisters out of his eyes. “I’m so hungry, and it hurts so much. It’s getting harder and harder to think. I’m becoming an animal, the monster they think I am.” He rolled onto his side and tried to shield his face with an arm. “I wish … I wish I could just die. Really die.”
“No, don’t talk that way. We’re going to get out of this. There has to be some way out of this. People are looking for us.” I laid a hand over the place where the parasite resided. “This thing is also pushing me. It’s excited and frustrated and it’s pushing me to approach you.”
“Then we’re fucked.”
“I won’t give in either,” I said.
“This thing has unnatural abilities. It might do something.”
“It’s not going to turn me into a meat puppet. If it could have it would have done it already.” I frowned. “Why didn’t it act like this before? When I was living in Meredith’s house or working at the firm?”
“Because none of us were hungry?” David suggested, and he perked up a bit and seemed more interested.
“That makes a certain amount of sense. All I can say is thank God they grabbed you instead of Ryan. He was playing those dangerous sex games with human women. Once he got a bit peckish he would have had no control. Oh shit,” I muttered. “They’re probably listening. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” David said grimly.
Panic seized me. The thought of being in Ryan’s power, knowing that he hated me for outing him and causing him to be demoted, knowing he wouldn’t hesitate to drink and kill me sent me flying to the door. It was crazy, useless, and illogical, but I yanked frenziedly at the door, beat on it with my fists until my hands were bruised, the knuckles grazed and bloody. I sucked at them and noticed David forcing air and sniffing. There was a wild light in his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m doing everything wrong,” I cried. I returned to the cot, rolled myself up in the blanket, and turned my back on David. I could feel his stare as I tried to sleep. It was my only refuge.
The rattling of the lock pulled me awake. I sat up expecting Ken and the goons, but it was my father. I stared at him and felt joy and hope bubbling up, but two seconds of consideration had it crashing into despair and anger.
“I know you’re not here to help me … us. So why are you here?” I demanded.
“I wanted to see you … before. And to beg you to stop fighting. I wanted to make you understand that we’re not monsters. We’re humanists, patriots. These things have been running us, controlling us for centuries. We had to be free and that takes sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? I didn’t agree to this. You’re acting like this is some noble act, but I’m just the goat or the lamb waiting to get its throat cut.”
“This is hard for me too!” he cried. I guess my expression conveyed my utter scorn because he rushed on. “Look, the longer you wait the more chance there is he’ll kill you.” My father’s eyes slid toward David, and I saw the hate and fear.
“You should have thought of that when I was a baby, before you put this thing inside me,” I spat back. “And how could you have done that? How can you do this now? Did you feel anything for me?”
The answer surprised and hurt me. “I couldn’t let myself. When I lost the throw, I knew I’d lost you. I couldn’t allow myself to care for you.”
“So you came up with the fostering idea. Not only to hide me in plain sight, but to get me out of your sight?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Even if we hadn’t fostered you, you would have been taken away from us and hidden. But that hadn’t worked the previous three times we tried. The Spooks always found our hosts and killed them.”
“And you were always a gambler so you bet it all,” I said.
“Yeah.” His shoulders slumped. “I trusted to luck. Just like I did when you were a baby. I didn’t think I’d lose the throw. There were five of us with baby girls. The odds favored me and I’d always been lucky. But…” His voice trailed away and he shook his head. “And fostering you meant I got to see you occasionally. If they’d taken you away to hide you I would never have seen you again.”
“Why bother when you didn’t care about me? Or maybe that’s not completely true.” I left the cot and crossed to him. Laid a hand on his arm. “If you have any affection for me at all … help me. Please, Daddy.” That choking lump was back in my throat, and I blinked hard.
For the briefest moment I thought I had won. I saw the struggle, the love when he looked down at me, then he shook his head. “They’ve told me they’ll kill Charlie if I do anything to help you. I can’t lose you both. It’s a fucking Sophie’s Choice. One child for another.”
Bitterness engulfed me. I was done with pleading. I stepped back, contempt rather than tears were now choking me. “Yeah, and lucky for you it’s the boy you get to save. I’m sure that makes it easier.”
“That’s unfair!”
“Really? And by the way, you may lose him anyway. The other group says this thing might jump species. Move to humans. Kill us too.”
“Ken doesn’t think that’s likely.”
“And of course you’ll take that bet too, because the other one worked out so well. Get out of here.”
“You hate me.”
“Yeah. I really do.”
* * *
There were more attempts to place me in close proximity with David and they also failed. David was no longer hurling proud taunts at our captors. We had passed the point where he could form words. Instead he had gone to animal-like growls, but the training was holding. I could hear his teeth gnashing together, but he never touched my throat.
The frustration was reaching the boiling point among the cabal and my little companion was a physical flutter in my chest that was both uncomfortable and terrifying. The ultrasounds were over. The next time Ken came he drew blood. He was looking worried and harried and nervous.
“Your new friends losing patience with you?” I asked sweetly.
“I don’t think anyone expected the conditioning to be this strong,” he said.
“It isn’t just that. David is my friend. You don’t hurt your friends.” He got my point and a dull flush rose up in his cheeks. It was also a conversation killer, and he and the guards left immediately after.
A few hours later I awoke from a doze. A lot of people came into the room. Ken, the guards, the honchos, and this time my father was with them. They all gathered around the cot and stared down at me. I sat up. My body felt strange, all the muscles were aching, and even my bones felt sore.
“So?” the master demanded of Ken.
“The parasite has released a pathogen into her bloodstream, there is also evidence of minute forms of the parasite itself. Without a subject to test I’m not sure precisely how it kills vampires and werewolves or the purpose of the cellular duplicates. Watching the effects on an infected subject would tell us a great deal about whether it’s acting on the genetic—”
“Yes, yes, if anyone’s interested they can read your paper when this is all over,” one of the men said.
“But we can’t tell anything if we can’t get the vampire to ingest her blood,” another complained.
“Could we take a pint or two from her and force it down his throat?” a third asked.
“You want to get close enough to hold that thing?” my father asked, and nodded toward David, who was lying on his side, plucking at the blisters on his face and growling and moaning. “If he grabs one of us and manages to feed … well.” He shrugged. “It won’t be pretty.”
“Look at him,” one of the men scoffed. “He’s a mess.”
“They can recuperate pretty damn fast,” my father warned.
The master gave the sharp nod of a man who’s reached a decision. “Then we take that other
vampire. The one she mentioned. This Ryan.”
“So, we don’t need this one anymore?” one of my guards asked.
“No. You can kill it.”
“No!” I shouted. At the same time my father said, “Hold on. First rule of wing walking: Don’t let go of one wing until you have a grip on another. Let’s not dump this one until we have our hands on the other. And I’m not too comfortable with kidnapping another vampire out of Ishmael, McGillary and Gold. Shade’s no fool, and if two of his junior partners disappear he and the Convocation may start asking questions.”
The tension leached out of my shoulders, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
“If this Ryan has fewer scruples than that one,” the guard said, with another dismissive gesture toward David, “he won’t be missing for long, and by the time the Convocation convenes, much less moves, it will be too late for any of them.”
The thought of being at the mercy of a hungry, angry Ryan Winchester had me gulping with fear. On the other hand, my companions knew about David’s disappearance. If another vampire were kidnapped that might alert them, and they would follow and find us. Or was I grasping at straws blowing past in a hurricane? The safer and more likely bet was that they’d grab Ryan, starve him for a few days, and he would kill me, but maybe I could bluff.
“My friends knew about David. They’ll be watching. You take Ryan and they’ll know, and they’ll find you. And then you’ll have not only this other Masonic group coming down on you, you’ll have the NYPD too!”
The master of the order gave me that look men get when observing a woman, particularly a younger woman, the isn’t she adorable look. “We’re rich and respectable men. Men like us own the levers of power. No one is going to be allowed to search this house.”
So I now knew this was a private residence, but the rest of the statement had me shaking my head. “God, you people are so illogical. If you’re so wealthy and successful and control the levers of power, why in the hell are you so upset about the Powers? Or is it that you can’t bear to share?”
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