Claire

by Lynda Behling

  "Then maybe," Dr. Keller hesitated. "You can save the both of them. If it's you, maybe it can be done. I have too much blood and evil on my hands from this, too much I have done, tainted. I cannot think of how they can be saved. But maybe you can."

  Slowly, Claire unfolded her body. She stood up straight. A gust of wind caught her red hair, blowing it to the side. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't heed them. She took a step forward. "What will you do?" Dr. Keller asked, still sitting on the ground.

  "Whatever I must." Claire answered softly, staring at Beast and Julius. She began walking. She had no idea what she was going to do, and she was terrified beyond belief. But if there was something that she could do, to make them stop fighting, to save the both of them, then she was going to try.

  Beast dodged a swipe to the side, but Julius was crafty. It was only a feint. Finally he landed a blow with his claws. The front of Beast's shirt was slashed open. The skin and flesh underneath tore. He reeled back, his ruined chest heaving. White ribs showed through his dark skin. There was no blood, only a viscous black liquid. There was only a little of it and it dripped down over his flat stomach. As Julius watched, the skin began to knit closed. The black fluid was absorbed into his unmarred skin.

  Beast's chest moved as he began to draw in breaths. He was keeping his lungs moving so that his chest could heal in the correct shape. Julius saw his lungs inhaling and exhaling through the gashes he created. There was also an awful black void behind his left lung. But before Julius could see more than just a glimpse, Beast's skin stretched tighter, covering his wound. Finally it was closed, and Beast was whole again. But, his face looked gaunt, his waist was terribly thin.

  Julius' eyes were wide, fear dilating them. His muscles ached and his breathing was heavy and ragged. Weariness was starting to sink into his bones. After all of this, he finally wounds him... and he just heals it? But then, adrenaline washed over him again, erasing the nub of fear that had been building in his chest. He was worn out and hurting, but his arms were free of all that. They burned. He felt it in his chest, the desire to rip and shred and decimate. The desire to destroy something completely and utterly.

  They were ten feet apart. They faced each other, each sizing up their opponent. Beast's eyes were cold and calculating, while Julius' were fevered and delirious. Beast set himself, waiting. Then Julius charged.

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, then Claire was standing in front of Beast, facing him. Her blue eyes were determined, the tears on her cheeks not yet dry.

  The fire inside of him roared. He couldn't stop himself. The fear and hate drove him insane. He couldn't stop. His body would not let him. He couldn't.

  He had to.

  He stopped bare inches from Claire, nearly falling to the ground. His body jerked back. His hands wanted blood, her blood. Wanted it splattered all over the ground. Wanted her flesh torn to ribbons, her body cold and lifeless. Those clear blue eyes dead and dull...

  No!

  "Claire. Move." It was Beast, talking behind her. She stood where she was. She lifted her chin in defiance, her jaw was clenched.

  Julius' arms twitched. He clenched his clawed hands over his upper arms, holding them to his body. But he was losing touch with them. They did not want to listen to his commands. They wanted to disembowel, to maim and hurt. "Listen to him, Claire." He growled at her through clenched teeth. His whole body jerked. His chest burned, his knees bent under the strain. He focused his dark, heated eyes on hers. "Move!" He roared at her.

  Still she stood there. Beast had no hands to move her away gently with. Nor to pick her up and carry her to somewhere safe. This time, she was refusing to be saved. He hesitated at kicking her out of the way, he wasn't sure if he could hurt her, even to save her. "Claire, he cannot control himself. You will get hurt."

  Julius still fought his internal battle. Sweat poured off of him. "Please, Claire. Move." He gasped, his eyes were begging. "My whole body wants to hurt you."

  Claire looked at him right in the eyes. Her gaze was a bottomless well of pity. "You can't hurt me Julius." She said sadly. "You no longer have the strength to."

  And he saw that she was right. His body had slowly become numb while he was standing there. Starting from his legs and moving up. She lifted her hands and placed them on his arm. The skin jumped and twitched at the contact, he felt his control break. But he was getting weaker. His body was sinking. His legs folded and he fell. Claire half caught him, one arm behind his back. She sank to the ground with him, cradling him.

  His carefully toned body was thin and bony now, the black arms had returned to normal, shedding those awful claws. She placed a small hand on his damp, flat chest, feeling a weak, fluttery pulse. He lay with his head in her lap, looking up at her. Fatigue clouded his dark eyes. They shifted to Beast. "We are still enemies." He said, his voice heavy.

  "I know." Beast answered. He stood over them, looking down.

  Julius looked back at Claire. "I will still fight." He said slowly, mindlessly. He seemed to be pleading with her. "I must fight." His eyes closed for a second.

  Claire looked down at him, her heart aching in her chest. "I know. But for now, rest."

  Julius was too far past exhausted, his mind was shutting down. His eyes closed and his body slowly went limp.

  Claire sat there, smoothing his hair back from his now gaunt face. The shadows under his eyes were dark and heavy. She wiped the sweat from his face with her sleeve.

  She looked up at Beast. "We can't leave him here." She said.

  "No." Beast agreed.

  “We should bring him inside, call for an ambulance.” She said.

  "If I could offer my car, it would be much quicker." Dr. Keller said from behind them. They both turned their heads to look at him. He limped slowly over to them. He held Julius' vest and gloves under one arm.

  Claire nodded. She managed to lift him up, and, with Dr. Keller's help, tied him to Beast's back. There were no hovercar tracks here, so they had to walk about 500 yards to Dr. Keller's car in front of the garage.

  She laid Julius down in the back seat. It was difficult, even as thin as he now was, he was still heavy. But she was the only one capable of doing it. She hovered over him, propping herself up with her knees against the seat and her hand on the headrest, making sure that his neck was positioned comfortably. She pushed a lock of hair from his face. She paused then, with her hand still raised, just looking at his face.

  His sleeping face was so different from his waking one. There were no charming smiles, or evil grins. The rage and the obsession was gone from it. His brow was straight and smooth. His face was relaxed, his mouth slack.

  She felt her cheeks redden. Her heart skipped a beat and kept on going, faster. She bent down, pressing her lips to his forehead softly. When she pulled away Julius inhaled deeply and sighed in his sleep. She removed the coat Dr. Keller had put around her shoulders and laid it over Julius' bare chest. She hesitated, then placed the black gloves over his soot-black hands. Beast's hands. She shivered and backed out of the car slowly.

  The cool night air was a shock against her burning cheeks. Dr. Keller smiled kindly at her. Beast planted one boot on the backseat door and kicked it closed. Then, he walked away without a word. Claire watched his back, a worried expression on her face.

  "He'll be fine, child. It seems that he and Julius are rivals as well as enemies." Dr. Keller said, amused.

  Claire looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" She asked.

  But Dr. Keller only smiled at her kindly. "It's getting late, my dear. You had better go catch up. I will take care of Julius." He pressed a button on his keyring and the driver's door opened for him.

  Claire nodded. "I'll see you again, Doctor." She turned and walked swiftly after Beast.

  Dr. Keller watched her run off. He stepped into his car carefully, placing his cane on the passenger's seat. He pressed a button on the dash and the rear view mirror adjusted, showing Julius' sleeping form. "What am
I going to do with you, Julius?" He asked soberly. Then he started the car, setting a course for the Diamond District.

  *** Beast stood about a hundred feet ahead. He was facing away from her. She ran the last few feet and stepped in front of him, looking up into his face. "Are you all right?" She asked him, her brows knit together.

  He stared down at her. "I'm fine." He said in his usual dull voice.

  She smiled up at him in relief. "Where should we go next?"

  "Anywhere is fine." He said.

  "It will be a while before we see Julius again." She said to him.

  "That is also fine with me." He answered.

  Claire held back a small laugh. "But his men will still be after us. Should we head for the Silver District?"

  "If we see Mary Kennie, she will only be put into danger." He reminded her. "And Delilah has not returned."

  Claire scowled. "I know that." She said. "But the Silver District is big, and the most fun things are there."

  "If you want." He said, his expression looked bored.

  "Come on." He was without his cloak, so she pulled a strap on his pants. "We'll find something fun for you too."

  "That sounds doubtful to me." He said dryly, walking with her.

  "We'll just have to see." Claire told him.

  Epilogue - Nightmare Dr. Keller addressed the High Empress through a light screen. "How is he?" The High Empress asked, concern in her cold, frail voice.

  Dr. Keller looked grim. "It's been two weeks, and he has not awoken. He can breathe on his own now, but we still have to keep him on life support."

  "Will he recover?" The tiny voice sounded so forlorn. Her ice blue eyes stared at him worriedly.

  Dr. Keller hesitated. "I believe he will, but it will take some time. If I could make a suggestion..."

  "Go ahead." The High Empress granted imperiously.

  "We must remove the arms." Dr. Keller said gravely. "He was so close to dying. If we do nothing, then the next time, he will die."

  "No." The High Empress said, shaking her head. "You said he will recover. It does not matter how long it takes. I will speak with the Council. A substitute Regent must be found for the interim." And the light screen went out.

  Dr. Keller's face was grim. He turned back to the hospital bed behind him.

  Julius lay there. Machines were placed all around him, thin tubes snaked from them, their needles fed right into his chest. His arms could not take in the nutrients required to sustain his body.

  "I'm sorry Julius." Dr. Keller said sadly. "There is nothing I can do for you."

  *** Julius was walking down a dark, endless hallway. He had to be dreaming, because he was shirtless and his arms were normal. His body was healthy and whole, without the damage he had taken during the fight with the shadow man. Suddenly, large squares of light flared to life along both sides of the hallway.

  Each square was a window, floor to ceiling and at least a dozen feet wide. A different scene played in each one.

  He passed one. It was his father's study. When Julius had taken over the family businesses, he had closed off that first floor study. Instead, he had taken the one on the fourth floor, near his quarters.

  He saw his father and mother through the window. His father had his mother by the throat, pressed against the wall. His mother struggled helplessly. His father's mouth was moving, he was shouting, but no sound reached Julius through the window. Julius quickly turned away, walking on.

  Another window showed inside of the underground lab. The shadow man lay on a table, completely nude. Men and women in lab coats moved back and forth all around him. His body was not the thin one that Julius had fought against twice, nor was it the same as when he had fought against his father. This body was muscular and strong, healthy.

  Well, it was strong, but not healthy. The chest was shattered, a huge gaping hole where the heart once was. The ribcage was completely ruined. Broken bones stuck up through the skin, white and jagged. Thick black fluid had oozed from the wound, and was now pooled on the table.

  Julius stepped up to the window, staring intently at his enemy. He was surprised to see that the shadow man was awake. His black and orange eyes stared at the ceiling, unblinking. Every now and then they moved slightly, but only continued to stare. It was like he had no will to even move.

  Julius watched as Dr. Keller Senior walked in. He recognized him easily. His portrait hung in the main conference room in the lab. He looked so much like his son as well, with some noticeable differences. He was younger here than his son was now, perhaps in his early fifties. His shoulders were broader than his son's, and his face was more square, the jaw stronger. There was a grimly determined look behind his spectacles.

  He carried a high powered laser cutter, the kind that could cut down a full grown tree in three seconds. Julius watched as most of the team cleared out and Dr. Keller Senior was dressed in protective gear. Julius then watched as it took five full minutes to cut through just one of the shadow man's arms. The whole time, the shadow man just stared at the ceiling. Unfeeling, uncaring. That slow, viscous black blood drained out, splattering on the floor. Not nearly as much as a human would bleed, but enough to make Julius' stomach turn.

  He continued to watch, fascinated. This was how the shadow man had lost his arms. He wondered how long ago this was taking place. He also wondered what had happened to his heart, and how he could still live without it.

  After the second arm was cut off, they were both taken away on a gurney. Several men and women began working around the shadow man at once. One man was handed a wire with tiny silver capsules attached to it. This he placed in the shadow man's chest, through the hole in his ribcage. He worked quickly, because the ribcage had already started to knit back together.

  It was so slow at first that Julius hadn't even noticed it, but now he could see the flesh healing. The broken ribs began snapping back into place, pulled in as the surrounding muscle healed. The man kept his hand in the shadow man's chest until the last possible second, adjusting something inside that Julius could not see. He guessed it was the capsules. But he could not guess their purpose. A tracker of some kind maybe, but there were so many of them.

  Then two teams worked on the shadow man

  simultaneously, one at each shoulder. They placed metal strips over each stump of shoulder that was left after the arms and most of the joint had been removed. They fed another wire though the holes there, then they bolted the strips down. The skin quickly healed around the bolts and over the two wounds. Once he was fully healed they moved him to a stretcher and wheeled him away. And that was all there was to see here. Julius turned away from the window, continuing on.

  He continued to walk down the hallway. He paused at a window in which he and Delilah were both children. They chased after each other over the manor grounds. He watched as his younger self hid in a hollow tree. Delilah climbed up into the tree and hung upside down from the branches, startling him. He leaped out of the tree suddenly, surprising Delilah so much that she fell out of the tree and onto his back.

  He turned to go but stopped, just for a second, looking back at that window. Delilah had tackled his younger self and they rolled around on the ground, laughing. He turned away and continued on.

  He stopped at another window. In it he saw his brother Augustus. He was standing behind a large folding table. Canvas walls surrounded him. Monitors were set up, showing maps. Dots and symbols of various colors were laid over the maps.

  Across from his brother, the tent flap opened. A brown clad soldier dragged a bound man into the tent. Julius saw he wore no uniform. A citizen, then. The soldier threw the man at Augustus' feet. The man sat up on his knees, glaring at Augustus. Augustus paced back and forth across the tent slowly, speaking calmly the entire time. The bound man only shook his head, saying a few words. He continued to glare up at Augustus with intense dislike.

  Without hesitating, Augustus drew a firearm from his coat and shot the man in the head. The dead man fell on his sid
e. The soldier bent down to drag him away, but Augustus stopped him, holding up one hand. The soldier nodded and exited the tent. Another bound man was brought into the tent. He glanced at the dead man nervously, but was also uncooperative to Augustus. He was killed as well. His body tossed on top of the first one. Then, another man was brought in.

  Julius turned away from the window.

  In the next window, he saw the junk yard. Very few dared to make a living here, only those that had nothing left. A man and a woman hunted through scraps together.

  A little distance away a small child tottered up a pile. She wore a tattered gray dress. It hung loosely over her thin frame. her arms and legs were much too skinny and her face had a sickly look to it. She collected a bundle of short steel rods and straightened up, looking up at the weak sun.

  Her eyes were a shocking sapphire against the dirt and grime on her face, and her scraggly, filthy hair. She looked tired, and hungry.

  Julius reached a hand out to touch the glass, but hesitated. After a long moment, he turned away.

  He began to walk faster, ignoring some windows completely. He wanted to reach the end of this hallway. He wanted to see what awaited him.

  Another window with the shadow man made him pause. The shadow man was in another part of the lab. He was suspended in the cylindrical tank at the bottom level. Julius had seen it only once in his life, after it was broken.

  He was still nude, and suspended in a thick solution. The shadow man did not move at all in it. Not even his black hair drifted in this liquid. His eyes were closed.

  His face was expressionless, his body unmoving. But Julius felt a sadness from this monster. A depression that spiraled down into a complete and crushing blackness. He continued watching intently.

  One technician sat behind the computers, obviously bored. Every now and then he would glance at the monitors, and adjust something. Most of the time he just read an e-paper.

  Julius stared at the shadow man. He felt his pulse quicken in anticipation. Something was building in the room. Something that the technician could not feel, and thus didn't notice. But Julius could feel it.