“What do you mean?” I replied, frowning.
Amal shook her head. “Just looking through Cassiel’s notes. According to him, Douma’s memory chip was extracted, and she’s got a serium blocker implanted in her spine, instead.”
“So she doesn’t remember anything. They reset her by force,” Ta’Zan muttered, his gaze settled on me. I could almost hear the wheels in his head turning. “Whatever shall I do with you, then, my child? After all, you’re one of my brightest.”
“You could always just let me go,” I said.
“Then again, you did get yourself captured by inferior outsiders. I’m not sure how bright you might be, after all,” he said.
“Is that how you plan on bringing me back to your side?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He inhaled deeply, putting his hands behind his back. A muscle kept ticking in his jaw. “What are her options?” he asked Amal.
“I can implant her old memories again and see how she deals with them. Or I can just cut her head off, download the backup onto a new chip, and simply reset her. Have her pick up where she left off,” Amal explained.
“You will not touch me!” I snarled. “I like myself the way I am. I don’t want you in my head. I don’t want any of you telling me what I can or cannot do!”
“Hm,” Ta’Zan murmured. “I think the latter may be necessary, though I frankly dislike it when we’re violent against our own people.”
I let out a mocking chortle. “You’re kidding, right? Everything you do is violent against your people. The way you control us. The way you mess with our heads and lie to us. All the crap you shove down our throats serves you and you alone. The rest of us are left to wallow in your delusion, to lead miserable existences while you make us kill innocent people. I don’t want anything to do with you. Hell, right now, you’re better off killing me. I don’t want you to turn me against my friends.”
He looked stunned, his eyes wide as he stared at me. Then, disappointment and anger settled on his face. Amal didn’t seem comfortable at all, discreetly taking a step to the side and putting a little more distance between them as she pretended to fiddle with her glass tablet.
“Amal,” he said.
“Yes, Father.”
“Do a complete wipe and reset. Remove that ridiculous serium blocker and get a copy of her original memories back inside. Use one of the new chips you designed,” he replied. “I do appreciate your sister’s handiwork,” he added, pointing at me, “but I don’t like it when it hinders my enterprise.”
I shook my head vehemently as he smiled once more.
“You’re not going to erase me!” I shouted.
“You’ll be restored to your former glory, that’s all,” he replied.
“No, I’ll be reset back to brainwashed-obedient-animal mode!”
“Enough, Douma,” he said sharply. “It’s for your own good. I will see you soon.”
Ta’Zan turned around and headed for the doors. The farther he got from me, the more terrified I felt, the prospect of getting my memories erased again clutching my throat. Amal prepared a series of sharp instruments on a table, which she wheeled closer to my bedside.
Once we were left alone, I had no choice but to try and plead with her not to destroy my life. I’d barely gotten the hang of it.
“Amal, please. Don’t do this,” I said, my voice trembling. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I’m not comfortable with it, but if Father ordered it, it must be done,” she replied, then drew a red liquid through a slim syringe. That needle was going to pierce my skin soon, and I could feel my heartrate spiking. I wasn’t fond of needles, apparently.
I broke into a cold sweat, and desperation quickly turned to anger. “Dammit, Amal, you’re supposed to be smarter than this. Amane can’t be so horribly wrong about you!”
Upon hearing her sister’s name, Amal stilled, her expression firm and impossible to read.
“I take it Amane talks about me,” she mumbled, then flicked the syringe and pushed out the air bubbles before injecting the red liquid into my vein.
“She does, and she never stops praising your intelligence. Which is why I can’t, for the life of me, understand why you’re doing this to me, to your siblings, to the rest of the world.”
As soon as the needle went in, I held my breath. Fluid heat spread through my arm, then quickly seemed to swallow me whole, as if I’d just been dumped in a volcanic lake.
“She doesn’t know me as well as she thinks, then.” Amal replied.
“She’s your twin. Of course she knows you!” I said.
“Amane betrayed me and ran away! I don’t care about the opinions of cowards!” Amal snapped.
“You’re wrong. She is anything but a coward. All she did was pick the right reason to fight. She’s out there, putting her life at risk, trying to find a way to stop Ta’Zan from hurting more people, from dragging us down with him. From dragging you down with him, in particular,” I said. “If there’s anything in this world that truly terrifies Amane, it’s the thought of losing you.”
Amal shook her head slowly. “She lost me the day she walked out of here.”
I wanted to respond, but my brain went into overdrive, reacting to the red liquid. It had a strange effect on me, like billions of hot little strings tied up around my body and pulling me down. Dragging me out of the conscious universe.
“Please. Don’t do this. Don’t take away my memories. They’re all I have,” I managed, my tongue feeling heavy and swollen.
I was seconds away from passing out, and despite my strength, my abilities, and my resolve, I was destined to become a thread of dust in the wind, at the mercy of my circumstances. Unfortunately, my body was too numb for me to feel any form of outrage. I could no longer move at all.
“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, Douma.” She sighed. “But you will thank me later. I promise you.”
“Screw… you…” I whispered.
That was everything I could muster before my eyes rolled into my head and darkness enveloped me like a blanket.
Derek
I felt like a lion in a cage, stalking about and growling under my breath as I thought about Sofia. Isda had assured me that she’d be okay, that Ta’Zan wouldn’t hurt her, that he’d only separated us to hurt me.
Well, he’d certainly succeeded. But I couldn’t show him that.
I had to do my best to focus on what lay ahead. I occasionally handed the earpiece around to the others in my crew, giving them, including Jax and Jovi, a chance to catch up with their brothers and their families. It felt nice to be able to talk to them, at least. It made being stuck in this dome slightly more palatable.
I’d listened in on both teams’ conversations—Ben and Rose’s, here on Strava, and Caleb and River’s, back on Calliope. One thing was clear to me now: the pulverizer pellets that Rose and Ben’s crew used to destroy the Perfects were pretty much the same chemical makeup as what Ta’Zan had unleashed upon Monos and his fellow rebels. There was a slight difference in consistency and release, but the effect was immediate and permanent—destruction. We’d all agreed that Ta’Zan had clearly stolen a lot more than just infrastructure and technology from the Draenir. We’d also understood that it was this pulverizer toxin that kept the Perfects in check. Whenever Ta’Zan had threatened to take one of them back to the drawing board, that’s what he’d meant. Wiping them out completely.
Even so, things were looking pretty good for us, provided we all did our part. Our Stravian troops had done a stellar job so far, and I trusted them to do the same going forward. As far as GASP’s alliance with the four Perfects they’d brought back was concerned, I was genuinely curious.
With the right amount of knowledge and information, they could certainly pull off a proper infiltration. Four Perfect agents on our side could inflict tremendous amounts of damage. We might’ve bought some time here, but it still flowed, and not in our favor. We had to play all the cards we had, and I definitely thought of Na
thaniel, Uriel, Angelica, and Deena as aces up our sleeves.
“How are you doing?” Lucas asked, stopping me in my tracks.
“Sore,” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my neck an inch above the collar’s entry point. Those shocks could disable an elephant, not to mention me. My whole body ached. “You?”
He shrugged. “Same. But I couldn’t stand by and just watch him take Sofia away,” he replied. Lucas was one of many who’d gotten themselves electrocuted when Ta’Zan grabbed my wife. We’d all reacted on pure instinct at the time. Now, Lucas, Yuri, Claudia, Vivienne, Xavier, Cameron, Corrine, and I were heavy in our steps, our muscles hurting and our egos bruised.
But our resolve was stronger than ever.
Ta’Zan’s empire was coming down, one way or another. The upside to our condition was that we’d trained our minds to work with the collars, carefully thinking and speaking, constantly testing its limits and computerized intelligence. They were pretty basic devices, and we’d developed an impressive tolerance to their temperature spikes—the warnings before the electric shocks.
It allowed us to discuss certain things before we had to stop.
It wasn’t enough to make us active participants in the planning process of GASP regarding our situation, but we were able to agree or disagree on different proposals, and to even make suggestions of our own, where possible.
“Thank you,” I said to Lucas. “Sofia and I are fortunate to have you all with us.”
“Meh. Brotherly love and all that mushy stuff,” he replied with a half-smile. “Back to business, though. What do we do next?”
I motioned for Vivienne and Xavier, Cameron and Liana, Corrine and Ibrahim, Aiden and Kailyn, Claudia and Yuri, Jax and Hansa, and Jovi and Anjani to come closer. Marion and Heath were quick to join them, and we huddled together in a tight circle.
“We can’t just sit on our hinds here,” I said. “I certainly don’t intend to give Ta’Zan any kind of satisfaction. He may have taken Sofia, but he hasn’t won anything. On the contrary, we’re finally moving on the offensive. We have some momentum here.”
“It would be a shame to miss our opportunity to strike,” Xavier muttered, pursing his lips.
“Since when have we ever missed out on an opportunity to screw our enemies, huh?” Corrine replied, chuckling softly.
“We have prime intel on Ta’Zan now. We know, for a fact, that he created and released the plague that killed the Draenir,” I said. “The Faulties and the Perfects think it was the work of nature. We should let them know otherwise.”
My collar was warming up already.
“It wouldn’t be us working against Ta’Zan,” Lucas replied, grinning like the devil himself. “It would simply be dissemination of truth. His people deserve to know what kind of leader they have.”
Claudia scoffed. “They must understand that if he did it to the Draenir, he could do it to them, too,” she said. “Isda will surely put the word out among the Faulties.”
“They just need to be more careful, if they plan to rebel again,” Cameron replied.
“Amal betrayed them the last time,” I said. “I doubt they’ll inform her of anything the second time around.”
The double doors opened. The Perfect guards stationed outside allowed a group of Faulties to come in, led by Isda. They pushed the food carts, loaded with pitchers of fresh blood and servings of cooked food, fresh fruits, and water bottles. We did our usual routine, mingling with the rest of the prisoners and grouping ourselves in large clusters as we allowed the Faulties to move between with the carts.
Perfects were watching from the door, supposedly making sure the Faulties didn’t fraternize with the prisoners. That never worked for them, but they didn’t need to know that. Isda snuck through to our group, dispensing blood and food as needed.
“Sofia is fine,” she said, looking at me. “She’s kept in a glass box in Ta’Zan’s private quarters.”
“Oh, that is so creepy,” Claudia breathed, looking as if she’d smelled a putrid pair of socks.
I took the blood I was offered and gulped it down. I needed my strength—it was the one constant in my life here. At any moment’s notice, things could change dramatically, and none of us were to be caught unprepared. We’d trained for situations like this, and we knew that it was only a matter of time before we had to put it into practice.
“She’s well taken care of,” Isda added. “I was put in charge of looking after her.”
I found myself frowning, surprised by such a decision. “How so?” I asked.
“Amal insisted, apparently,” Isda replied. “I don’t understand why, but at least I get to keep an eye on her. So, if there’s anything you’d like me to tell her, please let me know, and I will make sure she hears it.”
Aiden shook his head slowly. “Something’s off here. Is this some ploy of Amal’s to screw you over?” he asked Isda.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “She already knows enough about my recent actions to get me destroyed. She could’ve done it by now, too. But she hasn’t. I’m not sure what to think, to be honest.”
“Well, she doesn’t strike me as a sadist interested in simply prolonging your agony,” Kailyn replied, then looked at me. “What do you think, Derek?”
“I’m as baffled as anyone else. I don’t know what game Amal is playing. If I’m to follow the simplest rationale, I’d say that, despite her loyalty to Ta’Zan, Amal has some kind of soft spot for Isda. Maybe she doesn’t want to see her get hurt.” I sighed.
“She could be playing a long con,” Claudia offered.
“How? By getting Faulties killed and turned to ashes?” Vivienne asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Speaking of things that don’t make sense, I had the dream again,” Kailyn interjected. “The one where the world pretty much ends.”
Lucas groaned. “Me too. What about you, Viv? Any more visions about the earth opening wide and eating us, bones and all?”
Vivienne shook her head once. “Nothing. Just this constant feeling of dread, somewhere at the bottom of my consciousness. Like things are about to get crazy and deadly for everyone involved.”
“That’s sort of redundant at this point,” Corrine replied.
“The dreams are recurring, it seems,” I concluded. “I suppose the Hermessi are trying to tell you something.”
“They’ve certainly told Ben’s crew quite a lot lately, haven’t they?” Jax chimed in. “The waterworks, the ground splitting open and moving them to another island altogether… They’re definitely reaching out, in their own weird, ancient way.”
I nodded slowly, scratching my growing stubble. By my standards, I was in desperate need of a shave. Sofia liked it scratchy, but she wasn’t near me now, and it had once again become a nuisance. It was the least of my worries, obviously, but a good pause to make in my line of thought.
My right hand lingered in my pants’ pocket, where Amal’s medallion was still hidden. She’d asked me to give it to Amane when I saw her next—what a cruel joke that had been, since she’d sold us out minutes later… However, I didn’t toss it, though I should’ve. I had a feeling I might still give it to Amane. Whether it was optimism or not, it didn’t matter. The thought of seeing Amane, which was synonymous to freedom in my head, was enough to keep me going.
Once I got back to the issue at hand, I had a clearer picture.
“So, Amal worries me,” I said. “I’m not sure where her allegiance to Ta’Zan ends, and that’s a scary thought to have. Granted, she made sure Sofia is well taken care of, but still. I’m uneasy. On top of that, we have recurring fae visions, like some sort of subliminal message, from the Hermessi. And a scientist-emperor who’s been keeping secrets from his people. Of these three issues, I’d place my bets on the last as an avenue to work.”
Isda nodded. “Ta’Zan created the plague. I know. I overheard Amal and Ta’Zan talking earlier. She knew about it already.”
“Of course she did. She and her sister helped de
sign it,” Claudia said.
Isda seemed sad, lowering her head. “I didn’t know. And I feel terrible. My father is a monster. What does that make me?”
“Ta’Zan chose to be this way. It’s a question of character, not genetics,” I replied, feeling the need to comfort her. “You, Isda, can be whoever you want to be, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There are consequences for all our actions in life, but the key here is to aim for the positive ones. We cannot get those without doing good in return. The universe works like that, and Ta’Zan will soon learn that the hard way.”
Isda thought about it for a while, then raised her chin, her eyes glimmering with determination. “What do you need me to do, Derek?” she asked.
I smiled, amazed by how far she’d come in such a short time. From the meek and perpetually scared creature we’d first met, blindly devoted to Ta’Zan, to the quiet and cunning revolutionary, driven by her desire to live and love freely, more than anything in the world. I didn’t know when she’d fallen for Marku, exactly, but I did recognize the impact that he had on her. With him out of the colosseum, Isda seemed more determined than ever to overthrow Ta’Zan’s growing empire. And we were all right there with her on this one.
“Tell Sofia I love her, and that we’ll be back together soon enough,” I replied. “Since she’s in Ta’Zan’s most private space, I do urge her to analyze everything she sees, hears, and even smells. The more we know about him, including his personal habits, the better. We’ve got everything else covered here.”
My collar was hot enough to bother me, now, so I gave Lucas an elbow nudge. We’d been through these motions before. He knew when to pick up where I’d left off.
“And we need you to spread the word among the Faulties and even the Perfects about Ta’Zan’s role in the plague. Your people need to know and understand,” he added. “I doubt they’ll be okay with such a lie.”
“Shall we consider this their character test?” Ibrahim asked.
“I suppose so,” Isda said, smiling.
She then gave me a soft nod and moved deeper into the crowd to finish dispensing the food for the prisoners. We were ready to go into the next stage of this nightmare—the smart offensive. The deviousness, the lies and the sneaking around, the sabotage and the theft were not in our nature, but we were experts at employing such measures when the situation called for it.
A Shade of Vampire 66: An Edge of Malice Page 6