Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  Have you ever been sick? she continued. Faith has not. Her immune system is beyond compare. She understands this in the back of her mind, and yet she does not completely comprehend what she is or what she can accomplish. She knows that she can monitor the smallest detail of the workings of her body, if she so chooses, and yet she suppresses much of that knowledge because it cannot be explained in a way she is willing to accept. Her tongue flickered over his neck again. You taste good, she said in a lowered voice. And you smell good. You smell as a man shouldmusky and sharp, like sex.

  Faith, stop. Luke did his best to pull himself together. Youre changing the subject.

  Yes, I am, she said with a wicked smile.

  I dont understand any of this.

  You only need to understand that tonight I am fertile. So fertile my body sings and shouts and cries for you. No one but you, Luke. My body has made this choice, as well as my heart. She sighed. I do wish I could leave my heart out of this, but it seems determined to become involved. Such a messy complication, the workings of the heart.

  Whether she was still asleep or in some kind of trance, Luke knew without a doubt that the woman trying to seduce him was not the Faith he, and everyone else, knew. What she had been telling him was mostly nonsense, the aftereffects of one of her bad dreams, perhaps. No matter how much his body wanted to respond to hers, already had responded, he knew he had to back away.

  In the morning, will you remember any of this? he asked.

  No, she said quickly. The mind denies what it cannot accept.

  What is it that you cant accept, Faith?

  She closed her eyes, smiled and took another deep breath. Unleashed, I have unlimited power. Unleashed I am capable of anything. Everything. She took his earlobe into her mouth, sucked lightly, then drew away and whispered, Unleashed I can create a child and destroy the world, all in one night.

  Thirteen

  F aith woke not on the couch where shed fallen asleep, but in a strange place. A strange, soft, warm place. One deep breath, and she knew this was not such a strange place, after allit was Lukes bed. She was safe here, comfortable and content.

  She opened her eyes to full light breaking through the wide window, to Luke sitting stiffly in a chair at the side of the bed.

  What happened? Faith asked, sitting up straight. It was clear by the expression on his face that something was very wrong.

  Dont you remember? he asked gently. There were circles under his eyes that told of lack of sleep, and those were the same clothes hed been wearing at the clinic yesterday.

  Something had happened while she slept. Oh no, she whispered as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Abby.

  Abbys fine, Luke said quickly. Nelda got in about seven this morning, right before the baby woke up. Theyre okay. This has nothing to do with Abby.

  She had slept in Lukes flannel shirt, out of necessity, but suddenly she was very aware that her legs were bare. After everything that had happened, that shouldnt bother herbut it did. She pulled the heavy quilt over her legs and sat there on the side of the bed, facing him. How did I get in here? I was sleeping on the couch.

  Luke stared at her, hard. Clothes rumpled, a day-old beard on his face, eyes red rimmed, he looked rough. Faith wanted to drag him onto the bed, cradle his head and whisper nonsense into his ear, as she had done with Abby last night. She had an undeniable urge to make everything right for him.

  You dont remember? he asked.

  She shook her head.

  Luke raked the fingers of one hand through his hair. Instinctively Faith reached out and laid a comforting hand on his knee. Tell me, she said. You can tell me anything.

  He looked her in the eye again and laid his hand over hers. There was something very comforting about those two hands that quickly locked themselves together, fingers threading through fingers. His hand was larger than hers, darker and rougher, warmer and stronger.

  The two nights I stayed with you in your motel room, what do you remember about when I left?

  Nothing, she said. I was asleep. I meant to say something to you about that yesterday, but I never got the chance. You really shouldnt

  Faith, Luke interrupted sharply. Just He released her hand and reached out to snag a piece of paper from the bedside table. What is this?

  She took the paper from him. The notations, numbers and chemical symbols that were scribbled on the page looked like her handwriting, but that couldnt be. As she deciphered the formulaa portion of a more complicated formula, she realized as she scanned the page a second timea deep chill settled in her bones.

  Where did you get this? she whispered.

  I took it from the desk drawer, where you stashed it somewhere around three-thirty this morning.

  She shook her head in denial but studied the neat handwriting. Yes, it definitely looked like something she had written.

  What is it? Luke asked. Do I even want to know?

  I didnt do this, she insisted.

  I saw you.

  Faith shook her head, then glanced at the formula again. Luke, this appears to be a fragment of the chemical makeup of an extremely deadly inorganic virus.

  Like the one that was released here?

  Deadlier. Much deadlier. She balled the sheet of paper in her hand. We have to burn this. Had the pestilent specifications truly come from her head? Her hand? Dear God, how could she concoct something so vicious and not remember? I dont understand.

  Luke began to tell her a story she didnt want to believe. He held nothing back as he told her how on two separate occasions shed awakened him in her motel bed, seduced him and then ordered him to leave. Suddenly the missing condoms made sense, and she knew that Luke had not sneaked out of her room in the early morning hours. Shed kicked him out so that she could create a virus that could be used as a lethal weapon.

  She wouldnt believe it, not a word, if Jake hadnt warned her that the Coalition would use her in this way, if they got the opportunity.

  Somehow the Coalition had gotten to her; theyd turned her into a twenty-first-century Jekyll and Hyde.

  How could this happen? Luke asked. How could you become a different person when youre supposed to be sleeping? Faith, do you know what could happen if the wrong people got their hands on that viral weapon youve been devising? What the hell did you mean last night when you told me you were Faith unleashed?

  She shouldnt tell him, but not only did she want him to understand, she needed his help. She could not be allowed to finish this formula, and without intervention she would.

  Faith had to gather all her strength in order to continue. I asked you once before if youd heard about the genetically engineered children that were supposedly born in the late sixties and early seventies.

  Sure, he said, shaking his head as if he wondered why shed changed the subject. I remember.

  You said it was unlikely that such an experiment could have been successful at that time.

  Yeah, he said softly. She could almost see the mind behind those tired eyes working.

  As it turns out, its not such an unlike
ly scenario. There was an experiment, and it was successful. There were children born of this experiment. Her heart climbed into her throat. Im one of them.

  She told Luke everything, spewing the story out quickly before she could lose the courage it took to tell all. The experiments, the programming, the sister and the brothers she had forgotten and was now re-discovering in bits and pieces of damaged memory.

  After the first few minutes, Faith turned her eyes to the window and the view beyond. She couldnt bear to look at Luke as she told him her bizarre story. He would despise her when she was finished, she knew that. He would hate her for lying to him, and he would be appalled to discover that she was the result of a twisted scientific experiment.

  Faiths hands fisted on her lap, and she fought to make the words she had to say work their way past her tongue. All the while her mind spun in a hundred different directions. Her life would never be normal. She would never be normal. Most of all, it hurt beyond words to know Luke would never again look at her as he had in those early days. As he had just yesterday.

  Apparently the Coalition did get to me, before I came here or after I arrived, I dont know. She pointed to the crumpled paper. This is the result. Somehow, I set aside the inhibitions that would normally prevent me from concocting such a formula and did this work in my sleep. She glanced into her lap. According to Luke, working wasnt the only thing shed done in her sleep.

  Luke said nothing, when she was finished. Nothing at all. What could he say? He either believed her story or he didnt. Hed either help her or turn his back on her. It was his decision.

  You didnt know it wasnt me? she asked, her heart fluttering slightly. When Iwhen weyou couldnt tell. She shouldnt be hurt by that revelation, but she was. A little.

  Last night I could, he said. I looked into your eyes and I knew something was wrong.

  But before that, Faith said quickly, on those other nights, you

  I could tell you were a little different, yeah, Luke interrupted, and I was confused. But you woke me out of a sound sleep and I was swept away.

  Faith lifted her head slowly. She couldnt live the rest of her life staring into her lap or out the window. A little different?

  Luke cocked his head to one side. Dont look at me that way, Faith. It was still you.

  Not really, she whispered. She wished she could remember those encounters, even though she had not been herself. There wouldnt be any more nights with Luke. He wouldnt be asking her to stay, not ever again. She scooted back on the bed. So, are you going to help me or not?

  Of course Ill help you, Luke said, as if not helping had never been an option. But we do have a few things to get out of the way, before we go any further.

  Faith went cold. Of course. Luke was a good man. He would help her; he would do the right thing. But their affair was over.

  Last night you asked about Karen. My wife, he added quickly. My late wife.

  Oh God, Im so sorry, Faith said, bringing a hand to her chest in absolute horror. I had no right. I never shouldve

  Im not still in love with her, Luke interrupted, his voice soft but strong. I will always have a special place in my heart for Karen because shes Abbys mother, butI dont pine for her. I havent been making love to you and thinking of her. Shes in the past, Faith. Completely in the past.

  She had not expected to feel such a rush of relief at that news. I never shouldve asked, she said, her voice not as frantic as it had been the first time shed apologized. I am sorry.

  If you needed to know, you shouldve asked me, he said. I dont want you to be afraid to ask me anything.

  Poor Luke! Just a few hours earlier she had grilled him about his late wife and apparently begged him to make love to her. This time he had resisted.

  Last night when I tried toto

  Seduce me, he supplied with a half smile.

  You didnt, Faith said quickly. You could have. What stopped you? Had he somehow recognized what she was? Had he been repulsed by her, even then?

  Luke stood slowly, like a man who was bone weary, and moved to the bed to sit beside her. She recoiled a little but didnt push him away when he put his arm around her. When we do make a baby, he said tiredly, I want you to remember every minute.

  What do you mean, when? she asked. He was teasing her. There would never be anything ordinary about her life. No husband, no babyno man to love her.

  Im tired, he said, falling back on the bed with her in his arms. Can we talk about it later?

  Yes, she whispered. Later.

  Dont go anywhere until I wake up, he said with a yawn.

  I wont.

  Promise?

  Promise.

  Luke held Faith as he finally fell asleep, and she cuddled against him. He hadnt pushed her away; he hadnt called her a freak.

  And he hadnt said if they made a baby together, hed said when.

  Faith drifted toward sleep with a contented warmth growing in her heart. Hed said when.

  They tried to behave outwardly as if nothing had changed, but one aspect of their lives was going to be different, starting today.

  Luke swore that he wasnt going to leave Faiths side, not for a moment. And he meant it. He couldnt stop what was happening to her, but he could watch over her. He could protect her.

  Hed never been as scared as at that moment when shed looked him in the eye and told him, in an insanely calm voice, that she had the power to create a child and destroy the world in a single night. The confession had frightened him because hed recognized that she was telling the truth. That truth had kept him awake long into the morning, had kept him at constant vigil at her bedside.

  A few hours of sleep finally behind him, Luke turned his mind to more practical matters. Someone here, someone who had come to town in the days following Faiths arrival, was with the Coalition she had told him about. Theyd seen her on the news or read about her in the paper, and theyd come here to use her to formulate their deadly virus.

  When Faiths nighttime work was complete and the quarantine was lifted, this person would try to escape with the formula for the new virus, and with Faith.

  Faith decided not to tell her brother Jake that her programming had been activated. She gave Luke several valid reasons for keeping the news between the two of them for the time being, but he didnt completely buy any particular one.

  Deep in her heart she didnt want anyone, least of all her newly discovered family, to know what she was capable of.

  Theyd spent the afternoon at the clinic. Things here were finally under control, even though it was a much busier place than usual. Between the National Guard, Faiths team, the nurses and the healing patients, the clinic was full. Then there were the reporters who had limited access to the first floor. Hed be so glad when this place got back to normal!

  Considering what Faith had told him this morning, he wondered what would happen when this was over. He hadnt been willing to leave Carson County for Karen. It wasnt that he hadnt cared about her wishes, hed just been so sure she would eventually come to love this place as much as he did. She hadnt. She had died here.

  He loved Faith. He wanted her to be a part of his life
.

  And she could not remain here. Not until the danger to her life was over. Would it ever be? Would she have to live her life on the run, hiding from the Coalition forever?

  At the end of the day, he drove her to the motel. He wanted to stay at his house, to take her there and watch over her through the night, but she had insisted that they come here, instead. She didnt want to take the chance that Abby and Nelda might be exposed to Faith in her most basic and uninhibited state.

  She didnt want anyone to see her that way, only him. Did she trust him that much? Or was he nothing more than a dreaded necessity to insure that the formula she composed would never leave the motel?

  Faith tugged at the drapes to make sure they were closed tightly, with no slit anyone might peek through. That done, she paced in a room that was much too small to accommodate pacing. She was nervous tonight, more nervous than shed been even on that first night when shed tried to explain away the awkwardness between them.

  Finally she sat in the single chair in the room. All day, she said softly. We were together all day, and you didnt say a word. No matter how kind and helpful you are, I know what you must be thinking.

  You do? He sat on the end of the bed.

  It mustbother you.

  A lot of things are bothering me today, he admitted. Which one are you talking about?

  She glanced away before answering. Me. You know what I am, and still

  Luke left the bed, stood before Faith and took her hand. With a gentle tug he pulled her to her feet. I know who you are.

  She rested her head against his chest, and he stroked her hair. Im Jekyll and Hyde, she whispered. And even after Im deprogrammed, I remaina Frankenstein. I will always be an oddity, Luke, the result of an experiment that never shouldve taken place. Im notIm not real.