The Meridian Gamble

  She takes me up to the bar, where there’s a modest selection, though everything looks tasty. There are a few pre-made salads and some pastas that the chef heats up on demand, with whatever meat or tofu you desire. Next to the pastas are heated trays with little medallions of steak and chunks of breaded chicken, and further right are a few vats of soup.

  “There’s a vegan cafeteria down the hall, if you prefer.”

  Though vegan sounds like exactly what my body needs, the thought of leaving the food here is torture to me. I’m famished by this point.

  “No, this looks great,” I say.

  The man behind the counter is middle-aged, with dark hair and a mustache, but his demeanor seems friendly enough. He smiles widely, ready to take my order.

  “I’ll try the Alfredo pasta with some chicken,” I say.

  “Try the spaghetti and meatballs,” he says, with a wink. “You’ll love it.”

  “Okay,” I say with a laugh.

  And as he heats up my pasta, I grab a plate, and put some Cesar salad on it. For good measure, I take small pieces of the chicken and steak. The chef quickly passes me my spaghetti on another plate, and hands me a small bowl of fresh fruit, which looks delicious.

  I’m weak and famished, but something makes me look to the cook and consider him once more. And when I focus on him in that special way, I can see it, the glow. He’s one of the Luminos.

  And he gives me another smile.

  No images of the man’s past lives flash before my eyes, which tells me we haven’t crossed paths. And as Evelyn rolls me to one of the tables, I look around the room. No one else seems to have the aura of my so-called people.

  I wonder if the cook has heard tales of Saga and her sins. I’ll know soon enough, I suppose, if the food is poisoned.

  Evelyn and I go to the center tables, which is fine. I’m not ready to watch the news of the world, to see how much time has passed, and I hardly need soap operas. My life has drama enough. She doesn’t say anything at first, and allows me to begin shoveling food into my mouth. And the strange thing is, even though the cuisine seems modest, it’s absolutely delicious, perhaps the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

  The Cesar salad is divine. The dressing is light and has a peppery flavor, and the chicken is torn into moist shreds that have a bit of seasoning, and are cooked to perfection. They’re not the cold, hardened blocks most salads would have. The steak is filet mignon, broiled to a degree of tenderness that I’ve only dreamt of creating at home, and the chunk of chicken is cooked Cordon Bleu style. It’s crunchy and delectable. I can’t imagine what magic he worked to make the food taste this way. I shouldn’t have any more, but I take a few bites of spaghetti, and it tastes like no pasta I’ve ever had. It must be some alchemical miracle he’s created with the mix of fresh herbs in the sauce, or something he’s added to the meatballs, perhaps bacon or some of the filet mignon.

  Even though I’m starving, it can’t be just the hunger that’s swaying my opinion. I’m convinced the food is even better than the delicacies served in the vampire tower. And Evelyn notices my appreciation.

  “Are you enjoying our cuisine?” she says, with a smile.

  “It’s amazing. I can’t believe how good it is.”

  And I look to the cook, who nods his head, and gives me another big smile. And I wave to him weakly in return.

  “The cook … he’s Luminos,” I say.

  “Antonio is a genius. He’s spent lifetimes studying the culinary arts. That’s probably why this is the most popular of the cafeterias, even though he oversees the menus in the other areas.”

  “And that’s it? He cooks for them?”

  “Mainly. It’s how he chooses to participate in the war. Not all of the Luminos venture forth into battle. For some, it becomes too stressful over time.”

  “That’s fascinating. He certainly has skill,” I say, savoring another small bite. “And you say there are more of them here?”

  “Yes, scattered throughout the facility. Mostly on the lower floors.”

  “And what kind of facility is it, exactly?”

  “Research. That’s one of the ways they keep it’s nature a secret. The vampires think it’s a government center, and the Luminos who work here are on floors hidden below, for the most part. And there are very few of them present, just in case it gets attacked.”

  “And what are they researching?”

  “We’ll get to that in a bit,” Evelyn says, offering nothing more. But my imagination begins to go wild. I picture mad scientists tinkering away, developing a super-weapon designed to kill vampires instantly, perhaps a laser in space keyed to their unique physiology. Or maybe they’re working on some kind of body armor, to match their foes’ superhuman strength and speed. If there is one thing I know about the Luminos from my brief glimpses into past lives, it’s that they’ll never stop. They will never give up on their war.

  “Aren’t you worried that the vampires might infiltrate your base somehow? That they might plant one of their human agents in here to spy on you?”

  Evelyn just smiles back at me, as if I’m a foolish child who has no idea what she’s saying.

  “We screen our people quite thoroughly. But even if they did get in here, that’s why you’ll only find a few of the Luminos at the facility. Their numbers are spread across the world, to protect them. If this center was breached, the rest would change their locations, instantly. Plus, we have one of their scanners on site.”

  “A scanner?”

  “One of the Luminos who has particularly strong telepathic abilities. They all have the talent to block out the mental attacks of the vampires, to varying degrees, but this person has the gift to read people’s minds. We’re not sure how it works, but some of these mental powers come back with them over lifetimes.”

  “Interesting,” I say. But they can’t be that good, whoever this scanner is, because they didn’t detect Arie and Lenore’s presence. I have a feeling that no matter how many times the Luminos scanners return, their skill will never match the level of the vampires.

  I finish my food, and Evelyn looks to me.

  “Why don’t we continue on with our tour? Do you think you’re up for it?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  But my confidence is a false one. I’ve never had a good experience with the Luminos in any of my lives. Each of them ended up with me being slaughtered by them. I wonder if I’m still notorious in their circles for being Saga, the grand betrayer? I wonder why they even bothered to pull me from the tanks, or if it was a mistake, just some bit of irony that I was the only one of their people who survived.

  We leave the cafeteria, and Evelyn takes us back down the hallway, to the main walkway of the center, where an electrical cart is waiting for us. She loads me in, and puts the wheelchair in the back, and we take off.

  We drive to the end of the low structures, offices or dorm rooms, whatever they are. The cart parks by a set of large doors, and when they open, I see an elevator car that’s even bigger than the freight elevator at the Quorum. For a moment, I think we’re going to drive inside, but she gets out the chair and rolls me in. And as the doors shut on us, I feel a sense of impending doom.

  We’re going down, and I can see that there are four subterranean levels to the compound, unless the elevator buttons are lying. And like the vampire tower, I’m unnerved by the idea of what they’re doing down here, which unfortunately, I’m going to discover soon enough.

  We get out on the lowest level, and there is a man at the security desk who’s middle-aged and stocky. He checks Evelyn’s badge, but when he sees I don’t have one, he shakes his head and stares her down.

  “I’m sorry. She can’t pass.”

  “She’s Luminos,” Evelyn says, forcefully.

  And the man stares me over. He picks up a phone on the desk and dials.

  In a moment, a steel door nearby swings open. A man comes out, younger, with brown hair and a fresh face. He’s dressed in a lab coat, and he immediate
ly looks my way. I notice his Luminos glow, but for a moment, I get a flickering glimpse of someone dressed in long robes, and I wonder where I knew him from. He’s not my uncle, but perhaps I met him in the arena in Egypt. After looking me over, the man nods his head and the guard waves his hand for us to pass.

  The young Luminos man seems uncomfortable as I walk by, and I’m hopeful he wasn’t someone I slaughtered on the battlefield in my vampire days.

  We enter a corridor with a series of windowed rooms, with more people in lab coats walking about. But before we can go too far, we turn right, and she takes me into a windowless space that looks like an interrogation chamber, or maybe some kind of classroom. There is only a table with some chairs, a desk and a plain white board on the wall, the kind you write on with erasable markers.

  I sit there nervously for a few moments. And then my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach, as he walks into the room, and leans up against the edge of the table that’s in front of me.

  The General is taller this time around. He has very broad shoulders and a muscular frame. He's almost what you would call a mountain of a man. He resembles his name, and has an air of the military about him, with hair cut in a flat top and an outfit of Army fatigues. His face is a bit pockmarked, with tiny scars from having acne as a child, but he has freaky blue eyes that are very light, almost the color of the sky. They’re the kind of startling feature you would see in one of the vampires.

  But what truly fascinates me is the glow about the man. It’s more vibrant than any of the auras I’ve seen before, so radiant it’s almost beautiful. I wonder if it’s because he’s come back so many times, or because I know him the best of all of them. And as intimidating as the General is in his military garb, the bright aura casts him in a more gentle light, and almost makes him look like an angel.

  He greets me with a broad smile, which is another change in this lifetime. The General doesn’t seem so grim as he did in the past.

  “Meridian Gutierrez? I’m Colonel Anderson,” he says. “But I suspect you realize by now that we already know each other.”

  “Yeah, you’re my dad,” I say.

  And he smiles, though it’s almost a wince.

  “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  “Colonel? Is that a promotion?”

  He laughs.

  “No, I’m still knows as ‘the General,‘ which is actually the higher rank. But I’m a Colonel in the U.S. military this time around. I’ve been working to integrate some of our operations with the Army. It’s a tricky thing, however, since so many of the vampire agents have infiltrated the government,” he says. “This is actually a military base, which we’ve used to mask some of our efforts.”

  “So I hear.”

  And I wonder for a moment if I should have said that, if he’ll be mad with Evelyn for revealing secrets to me. I have no idea what their relationship is, but luckily, he doesn’t seem to be upset with her.

  And as he stands before me, the images quickly begin to flicker through my mind. He becomes my father in Egypt, the man in London who shot me. Even worse, it’s not just a visual thing, but the emotions come rushing back, too. And I don’t just vaguely remember them, I feel them intensely, the love I held for him as a child, mixed with resentment over being trained as a weapon. I experience again the terror that overcame me in London as he raised a gun my way. My stomach clenches up, as the bullet seems to enter it once more.

  I shake my head, forcing the visions away.

  “You’re experiencing the past again, aren’t you?”

  “It’s all come back to me, just recently,” I say, unsteadily. “At least a good chunk of it. But it can be hard to control. Weird images shuffle through my mind at odd times.”

  “That’s right, you haven’t spent very much time with us. No one’s taught you how to properly use your gifts,” he says. “I find that candy helps. Or a nice piece of chocolate cake, when the memories become too much. Heavy foods that ground you, like biscuits and chicken potpie. Ice cream works too.”

  “Great, now you tell me,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I could have been pigging out this whole time.”

  And he gives a small chuckle, as Evelyn smiles.

  “I always carry a little something with me, just in case.”

  The General pulls a small Snickers bar out of his shirt pocket, the kind they hand out at Halloween, and offers it to me. But I hesitate. Even though I’ve eaten their food and they’re being nice to me, I can’t shake the feeling that it might be poisoned, or a trick. This man has caused me so much pain in the past that I can’t help but to expect that he’ll do it again.

  “I think maybe I’ll pass,” I say.

  “Well, you let me know if you change your mind. Or we’ll get you something else that might help.”

  He takes the chocolate back, but my refusal hangs heavily in the air, and he seems just a bit wounded. The moment of silence is deafening, and even Evelyn Lewis looks between us with interest.

  I don’t know what it is, my exhaustion from my ordeal in the tanks or my anger at feeling like their prisoner, but I begin to get defensive. I don’t want to play games with this man, not after all we’ve been through. And I start to snap.

  “So, can we get to the point? You know, the part where you shoot me in the head? Or are you going to torture me first, to get information about the vampires out of me?"

  “No,” he says, patiently. “We’re not going to do any of those things.”

  “But I’m still Enemy Number One, aren’t I? Saga, the Great Betrayer. You’re biggest disappointment, maybe?”

  And my words hit him harshly, like a slap in the face. He sucks in his breath, softly.

  “In some circles of the Luminos, perhaps. You are certainly well known amongst us as having taken part in one of our greatest defeats. But I don’t want you to worry about any of that. The past is the past, what’s done is done. We have had meetings about you, Meridian. And it was decided long ago that we would try to bring you back into the fold if given the chance. You are welcome to rejoin us, and truly become one of the Luminos, if you like. And as far as disappointments go, the only one I’m disappointed in is myself.”

  The General smiles, softly, and his words sound sincere. But I can’t help but to be skeptical, somehow.

  “I don’t know. It all sounds too easy.”

  “Believe what I say. I’ve made many mistakes in the way I’ve treated you, Meridian. But sometimes, people can change over time, especially when you live as long as we do. I’ve had many lifetimes and many children in my various existences, but you are the greatest regret that I have. And I’m glad that you’re back now, that I have a chance to make amends.”

  And I want to believe him, even after all that’s happened between us, but it’s so hard.

  “Well, you certainly seem different.”

  “I hope so,” he says, with a smile. “And as far as rejoining us goes, it’s all a moot point. Because you effectively became one of us again the second we rescued you from the vampire tanks.”

  That shuts me up for a moment. The General takes out one of the chairs and turns it around, sitting down with his arms resting over the back. And, I’m just a bit unnerved that he’s closer to me.

  “Okay, so I’m back with the Luminos. But I’m wondering, what is it that you want from me now?”

  “Well, for one, we’re interested in understanding your perspective. Yours is a unique experience among us. You’re the only one of the Luminos who has returned so few times. And definitely one of the few who has become a vampire.”

  And I think to Adam, and look away. Because I’m sure he’s notorious among the Luminos, too.

  “Do you know why it is that you’ve only come back once or twice?”

  “No, I’m not sure. And everyone keeps asking me that. But I have a suspicion that it’s because of Adam. That I’m meant to try to save him, somehow.”

  “Ah, yes. Adam,” he says, nodding his head, knowingly. “The other one who was lost to us
.”

  “So I’m the only one? None of the other Luminos have come back only two or three times?”

  “We have new souls upon occasion who join our cause. But they tend to return one life after another. Not like you, where great time has passed between incarnations. But I have a theory about you, Saga …”

  He shakes his head, catching himself.

  “I’m sorry, Meridian. You’ll have to forgive me. I still see you as Saga in my mind,” he says. “But my theory is that I think that you’re going to be the key to our winning this battle.”

  “And why do you say that?”

  “Call it a gut instinct,” he says, with a smile.

  And his words give me a chill. Great, another one who thinks I’m the key to winning their war. Hearing it so many times almost makes me think that it’s true.

  “Come on, why don’t I show you some more of our facility and what we’re doing here? Are you interested, or do you feel like you need more of a rest?”

  The General speaks to me in a cheerful way, and again, I’m struck by the change in his demeanor.

  “I’m here. I might as well see it all," I say.

  “Wonderful.”

  I get into the wheelchair again with Evelyn’s help, and she pushes me out into the hallway, as the General leads us along.

  We walk through the floor of the underground facility, and it’s expansive. It reminds me of the vampire dungeon, to a degree, only brighter. There’s lots of windows, behind which men and women in white coats work with scientific gadgets, microscopes and computers, maybe centrifuges.

  We stop in front of one of the windows, and Evelyn helps me to stand up, so I can see inside. There are some scientists beyond the glass who wear biohazard suits covering every inch of their body, allowing them to breathe filtered air. Two of them are reaching inside a glass case, which affords them further protection as they handle a specimen through another set of protective gloves. It’s a test tube, filled with a crimson fluid.