I looked up and saw him smiling. I returned the grin.
“She’s another project?”
“Yes. Just as I said the bloodline has something to do with the success of the Machine of Neutralization, the bloodline for this project has an effect on its success.”
“I see…” Veronica responded. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the glance between us that she knew we were blood related, and that this was a project to make me just like Dana. “You certainly have your hands full down here…”
“I’m never bored.”
Veronica sighed.
“Well, Mr. Christenson, Miss Sandover, I will leave you now,” Veronica said, standing straight and tucking her hair behind her ear. “I will have my secretary call you and let you know how often I want updates on Eyna and Rehan.”
“We value your interest in the project.” Dana bowed his head to her. “My head of security, Sean, will lead you out.”
“No need,” she assured, grabbing her jacket from the back of a chair, her statement stopping Dana as he reached back to call Sean. “I will see myself out.”
She swept from the room gracefully, moving on air, her curls bouncing as she walked with a long, confident stride.
Both of us watched her leave silently.
I turned to Dana when the door closed behind her.
“Who is she?”
Dana released me and moved around his desk to his phone, pressing a few buttons.
“Yes?” Sean’s voice sounded over the speaker.
“I want you to look up everything you can on Veronica T. Harris,” he growled. “Find out where she was born, any family she has, and any connections she has to the international community. Use all the tricks we have. I want to know absolutely everything.”
“Very well,” Sean agreed. “Lily is missing from the lab. We’re searching for her. We know that she did not leave the Commission.”
“Call off the search, she’s with me,” Dana said, annoyed, picking up the phone and placing it back in its cradle to hang up. He slumped back in his seat, letting out a sigh and staring distantly at the papers on his desk. I remained where I was, unsure if I should move forward. He was somewhere else, listening to confused thoughts, intent on figuring out everything about the woman that had managed to shake him up.
Carefully, I moved around the desk and placed a hand on his shoulder. He sighed and turned to me, patting his leg. I sat across his lap, my hands going to his neck as I pressed myself close. One of his arms draped over my middle, the other hand going to my hair and gently pulling, his fingers nimbly breaking apart the tangles.
“I’m impressed that you managed to make it here…” he whispered, looking at me with a gentle smile. “You’re making beautiful progress.”
“…I’m becoming like you?”
Dana reached to his desk, holding me securely as he opened the top drawer, pulling out a small square that opened up to be a mirror.
“Take a look…” he murmured. One hand still around his neck, I took the mirror and turned it to my face.
I had not seen my own reflection in months. For so long, I had been sure that my entire body was covered in open sores and weeping red holes. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I was shocked to see that it was me, a face I recognized. But there was so much more to me. Even with the tangled hair and the eyebrows that had been left to their own devices, I felt exceptionally beautiful. My skin was smoother. The pores that I had started complaining about when I was thirteen were smaller, making my face look flawless. The color differences that were around my cheeks and forehead had cleared completely and my complexion was smooth and even, like I was wearing porcelain foundation. My lips were a darker tint and seemed fuller than I remembered. After my eyes had traveled over the planes and slopes of my face, my gaze settled on my eyes.
No longer were my eyes a dark hazel. They were brighter, like copper with a golden tint around the edge. They were larger, surrounded by thick, dark eyelashes, captivating and strong.
“You see?” Dana smiled. “You’re coming along beautifully.”
“I’m…”
“Nothing has changed,” Dana said, plucking the mirror out of my hand. “When I saw you for the first time, this is how I saw you. This is what was inside of you, scratching and clawing, trying to get out.” He took my hand and played with the digits.
“But…I’m beautiful now…”
“You were beautiful before,” he corrected. “But you were taught not to see it. Society put up a barrier for you that separated you from who society wanted you to be. I just tore it down, and you are finally reaching your potential.”
He turned his eyes on me, pride and tenderness in his expression.
“You’re emerging from your cocoon…”
“I’m still afraid…” I whispered, wanting some comfort.
“That will disappear,” he assured, pushing my head back to his chest, cradling it to his neck as I breathed in his metallic scent. “Just like for me. Suddenly, everything will fall into place. I promise…”
* *** *
I wanted to believe that everything would fall into place like Dana said, but I wanted to know when. Impatiently, I paced around my cell. Dana ordered my testing to be pushed to the next day, which allowed me ample time to wander and contemplate what he said, as well as the reflection I had seen in the mirror.
I was changing, and I was terrified. But it was not the same fear I had felt before. The fear I remembered from before was strong, fighting against the inevitable as I tried to push back against Dana. Now, I was terrified not because I was worried about the erratic behavior and frightening power Dana displayed, but because I was worried I would not be the same as him. If I didn’t have him as an example, as a teacher…what would I become?
Dana was already the leader of the Commission of the People…he was the one everyone turned to, worshipped, even. Who would I be when I was at his side? Surely I would never measure up…
Would he even let me out in public? Would he ever let me see the outside world again? Would he let me control anything in the same way he did?
I had no choice but to learn some things on my own.
During my next test, I tried something on Corbett.
I looked him in the eye and studied his gaze as he locked eyes with me. He flinched away, unsure what to do in response. I continued to stare, trying to figure out if I could make him do what I wanted.
He was watching my vitals as another injection made its way into my system. I did not feel any pain, just a strange pressure moving through my veins as my blood was displaced by the serum.
Corbett swallowed hard. I watched the knot in his throat bob.
He reached out and pressed a hand to my arm.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
I nodded, turning away.
He had obeyed.
Next time I was with the B-Group, I tried to pull at the restraints, but Randy saw what I was doing and ordered me to stop. I did.
When I was in my cell for the next long period of time, watching the food come and go, I decided to be daring.
When the food cart came in my direction, I turned my head slightly and looked at the three young men out of the corner of my eye. I watched them look around the cells, being sure they had given food to all of us. One of them saw me and stopped.
Capturing his attention, I moved forward, extending my body as I crawled to the glass, blinking slowly and parting my lips. I pressed a hand to the glass, pulling myself to a kneeling position. I now had the attention of all of them. They were watching me very closely, interested and slightly frightened, like curious puppies.
I reached up to my collar with the other hand and pulled at it, exposing my collarbone and straining the top button of the red uniform.
The cart moved and I found all three of them standing above me on the other side of the glass, intrigued.
I bit my lower lip and pulled more, feeling the button give way and exposing the top
of my breast. Their pupils dilated. Two of them had their mouths open. Those two must have never been with a woman—maybe once or twice as awkward teenagers feeling around foreign territory nervously. The third one had been with a partner before, which was obvious from his steady stare. I wasn’t teasing him. It was a prelude to something he had already experienced.
I pulled the shirt closed and turned, sitting with my back to the glass, telling them they could go.
These simple, unsatisfying tasks were the only tests I could do in my prison.
I was feeling my spirit die. The spirit I had from learning my new body and testing new limits was fading. Everything was familiar again.
None of my tests hurt anymore, and after learning everything there was to know about the scientists in charge of me, there was nothing I could do to test them further. I had managed to break Randy into having sex with me, which had been a meaningless test because he did not have much to work with, but it proved that I was becoming as seductive as Dana.
But there was no fun in it.
I went about my testing with a crying spirit. I was longing to break free, to move within my full capacity, to be around people I did not know, to test my abilities, to learn from the man who had already mastered the techniques…
I was saddened, depressed…
I needed something to do.
Before I knew it, the T-Team had returned and were taking me back for the fifteenth boring test since I had come so close to death.
I was back on the table again…
I didn’t even bother to pull my restraints. What would it matter if I was free anyway? I was stuck, once again, waiting for the needles, waiting for the general routine…wondering why the hell the T-Team had walked out of the room and left me there.
“Here we are again, Little Lily,” that cold voice whispered. I shivered, my eyes rolling back in my head as I felt myself go limp on the table from the feeling the voice brought. It was an automatic defense. I gave in. This voice was so perfect…so smooth it was clear that he was not human.
“Why aren’t you fighting anymore?” Dana whispered. I could not answer. Doesn’t he already know? I’m bored and tired of playing these boring games. I want something that will actually test me. Besides, the restraints had been changed four tests ago when it was discovered that I could break them. “Little Lily…why don’t you struggle?”
I couldn’t.
It wouldn’t yield any results. It was always the same. I struggle…the needle slips under my skin…that annoying, peppy music plays…There was a time when the table used to bring fear. But since it had been so long since I felt pain from tests, I knew the only thing to be afraid of was another minute passed without fully flexing what I was capable of.
“Why can’t you fight?” Dana’s voice is suddenly against my left ear, hearing my thoughts. The shiver runs through my body and I know it’s not from the cold air against my naked skin. My body is revving, trying to rise to the challenge, though there is still some part of me that’s afraid of what I’m capable of…what I still have to learn about being who I had become…
“I…I…can’t…” There were so many meanings behind the two words. Dana understood all of them.
“Try…” he breathed so low that it was almost inaudible. I shiver, but this time, it’s from the power in his voice. A command…he’s given me a command to fight…to struggle…he likes it when I struggle…
Come to think of it…I kind of like it, too…
“Try…” he commanded again. There is something still stopping me. Something that tells me this is a command to fight him as well…
There could only be one of us…
“Little Lily…don’t you see?” he asked, backing away. “I already have you trained.” I heard his feet walk around me. “Make sure that a child who has very little strength cannot get away, and when they get stronger, they don’t realize that the same thing that held them when they were children would give way if they put forth the slightest effort…”
I was not in the mood to hear one of his obscure lectures about the lessons of life and how humans were. I was no longer human, not after being on this table. Everything that had been human about me had been systematically sliced away…
…but he was right…I had become stronger.
“Try, Little Lily…” Dana whispered, standing at my feet.
I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at him. He was standing in his suit, staring down at me with his powerful eyes, not blinking, expecting me to fight. While his eyes were locked on mine I could not look away, but when he turned his head, my eyes followed his gaze and I saw a knife on the table next to my bed.
I quickly turned to look at him again, not sure what the knife was for. He smiled when he saw my confused expression.
“Try to fight, Little Lily.”
I looked at the knife once again. If I could grab it…if I could break the fabric restraints…if I could move fast enough…
I moved my hands, testing the familiar feeling of chaffing against my already-raw skin. I cringed and my hands went limp again.
“Come on, Little Lily,” he chuckled. “I know you can do better than that.” I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to temper the intense feeling of excitement that ruptured my stomach. He moved away from my feet and walked to the table with the knife. My eyes opened when I heard him move.
Good, he’s getting closer…
“Are you going to forget?” he whispered. “Have you already forgotten the game we played? The way we danced so perfectly together before you came here? You were alive then, Little Lily. I know you felt the thrill…the power…the pleasure being so secretly powerful…You enjoyed the game just as much as I did, I can assure you.”
I tried to lock out the words, but they penetrated my barriers, hummed through my skull, sparked my already whirring system…
“You want to feel alive again, don’t you?” he hissed, a dangerous and pleasured smile creeping over his face. “You want to regain the control I took from you. That’s what this is all about…”
I pulled harder on the restraints I had been putting pressure on since he walked to my side. My muscles trembled, but not from strain, it was from only using part of my strength. He was right. He could see into my deepest desire, seeing that I was suffocating in this cage he had me in.
“I know exactly how you operate,” Dana whispered, getting closer, his eyes locked with mine as I tried to pull the restraints. “You and I are exactly the same. We live for the fight, live for the struggle, and we feel most alive when we are hunting…when we’re both predators with our goal in sight…” He leaned even closer. “And because we’re so similar…I knew exactly what to do to you to make you stronger…to remove those barriers that limit your ability to enjoy the hunt. All you have to do is keep fighting.”
I pulled harder…something was about to give way…
“Try, Little Lily.”
The metal rings snapped on my restraints and as soon as the pressure was released, I let out a shriek, launching off the table and grabbing the large knife, clumsily swiping at his throat as he backed away.
Missed your neck…
I swiped again, screaming, blinded by the intense adrenaline. I felt flesh give way under the blade and the imbalance of the feeling caused me to halt and stare at where the knife had made contact.
I saw the red begin to bleed into the pristine white fabric of the shirt, which had been sliced at Dana’s chest. The gash in his chest was long, but not deep, and his shirt and vest had been sliced, showing the blood dripping from the long wound. The leader of the Commission of the People did not stop to study the injury. He grabbed the knife from my hand and flung it away, grabbing my wrists and pushing me harshly to the ground, settling over my hips as I continued to fight, even getting one of my arms free to hit the cut at his chest, struggling out of instinct and habit.
He caught my wrist again, pinning them above my head, breathing hard, his eyes
alight with playful fire, a crooked smile on his face.
“Very good, Little Lily…”
I stared into his eyes, feeling the adrenaline coursing. I was breathing as hard as he was. My skin was tingling, my hair standing on end.
It felt amazing.
Dana released my hands. I remained where I was, staring at him, feeling my blood running through my veins, caught in an alternate state of mind. It felt good. I did have power.
Dana pressed his hand to the shallow wound in his chest, looking at the blood on his palm. He shuddered and lowered his hand to my face, turning it over and pressing the bloodied fingers to my lips.
The touch was electric.
My eyes slid shut and I sucked in a quick breath, feeling the spark run through my entire body as the fire spread to my fingers and toes before spiraling back like a hurricane to hit my core, where the fire pooled and slowly worked its way through me once again, empowering me.
The blood was warm on my mouth, and while I never thought of blood as being soft, it felt like the softest silk on my skin.
His fingers smeared the warm blood over my mouth as I drank in the intense feeling inside me, moaning.
I could take it no longer.
I moved my hand to his chest, touching the damp cloth of his blood-soaked shirt. He drew in a sharp breath and ground his hips against mine at the touch. The feeling of the blood trickling through my fingers, running down my arm, leaving a trail of stained skin behind, teasing me, tantalizing every inch of skin as it rolled closer, was too intense.
My breath was heavy, but now for completely different reasons.
Dana’s eyes locked with mine as I moved my hand away from his chest and brought my fingers to my neck, carefully painting my skin with the red ink, wanting to feel that soft warmth over my entire being.
His eyes locked on my hand as my fingers moved down my neck, over my collarbone…trailing down my sternum and finally coming to rest over my breast. I groaned at the contact and I saw his eyes get darker.
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