As the day went on, my treatment of the beautiful Vampire girl continued to bother me. That was quite the oxymoron. Beautiful. Vampire. The two terms shouldn’t go together. And yet, they did. Brynna was gorgeous and for most of the last who-knew-how-many years had been a bloodsucker. How were both possible?
I already knew I was stupid, but I couldn’t seem to reconcile the two together. I sighed. She’d struck at my ego, and I’d hit back. At some point, I had to stop being such an asshat and quit responding before I had the chance to think about what I was going to say. Not every attack by me—verbal or physical—had to be fatal.
I rounded the corner and stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something was wrong. I grabbed the stake out of my hoodie pocket and was ready to fight if need be. We’d been taught to trust our gut in fights. My body felt cold. That was a Vampire sign. Werewolves were pain.
When I’d been messed with during cryogenic sleep, those warnings were implanted inside of me so I could always tell when a Vampire was near. Funny, I’d not felt anything like the signal when Brynna was near. Just memories of Mom and Dad discussing what a bitter disappointment I’d been. Not a Vampire signal the entire time.
I stepped forward, and a hand reached out from the darkness to cover my mouth.
“Don’t bite me,” Brynna spoke in a low whisper. “And don’t make a frickin’ sound.”
I nodded. Biting the Vampire would be quite a role reversal. I didn’t intend to give it a go. I remained still, and she eventually released my mouth.
I listened to the sounds around me and tried to ignore the fact that Brynna smelled good and was pressed against me. I wasn’t a sex addict, at least I didn’t think I was, and this was clearly not the moment to be thinking about anything other than what was happening. I’d gone through years of training, and it was like I’d lost all of it in the hours I’d been down here.
I blamed Brynna.
Voices traveled toward us, and she tugged on my arm, drawing me farther into the dark. The little woman put her body in front of mine in the shadows. What in the hell was she doing? I grabbed her. I didn’t need her to stand in front of me, but she kicked my shin and as I digested that she could actually wield a lot of pain with her small foot, a noise nearby forced me into silence. The cold Vampire feeling shot through my body.
Out of the doorway I’d been about to enter, two scientists strode forward. They spoke to each other and didn’t look up to see us. One was a tall, older woman with salt and pepper hair, and the other was a man about the same age. He was totally bald.
“I mean look at the amino acids. What we really need is Icahn. I think it’s time to bring him back.”
I jolted, and Brynna’s fingers dug into my arm. Okay, I’d stay silent. Behind the scientists, two Vampires seemed to float, rather than walk, after them. The Vampires didn’t attack the scientists. They were addicted to a substance the scientists kept in their human food supply. I guessed it didn’t make sense to bite the hand feeding them…
Then again, maybe they had stronger cognition than that. The woman in front of me was perfectly able to speak. Had she gotten the ability back or had she never lost it?
The taller of the two Vampires turned slightly in our direction. I gripped the stake in my hand. Okay, if it was go time, then it was go time. I’d…
His gaze fell to Brynna and, for a second time, seemed to slow down. Images blew through my consciousness. Scenes from my life I never thought about. The time my father had taken Chad and me to see the Yankees play. We’d had nosebleed tickets. They’d lost, but it had been fun. Chad and I had thrown popcorn at each other, and my Dad had actually laughed for a change.
The memory faded fast, the Vampires looking away from us as they continued following the scientists. Brynna let out the breath she must have been holding. The room finally cleared.
“What the fuck?” I still kept my voice low.
Brynna turned to look at me. “Two scientists and the Vampires they keep in tow.”
“No, that I got.” I rolled my eyes. “The memory. Why does it keep happening around you?”
She sucked in a breath. “You felt that? A memory? When Ivan looked at us.”
“I…” I swallowed through the dryness in my throat. “The Vampire has a name?”
Brynna left me and headed toward the now vacant room. “Of course he had a name. We all have names. I believe we’ve already done introductions, you and I.”
I sighed and hastened to follow. Our second meeting was not going better than our first. “Yes, I know you have a name. Did you have one when you were…”
“A monster?” she interrupted.
The room we entered was large. I’d seen ones like it before. It seemed every time I came down into these hellholes, I found more and more spots I’d missed. Was it ever going to be possible to map all of it? I couldn’t waste time doing this. I’d just been given an incredible piece of information. They were going to re-clone Isaac Icahn. His return would be a nightmare I couldn’t allow.
Yet still, I followed Brynna further into the testing room. That’s how I thought of these places anyway. Like the others I’d explored, the place was thrown around as though it had been vacated quickly. Beakers, vials, and pieces of microscopes were all over the floor. I bent over and picked one up.
I still had yet to answer Brynna. She’d used the M word in an obvious reference to the fact that earlier I’d used it to describe her. I could continue this fight—maybe die on this hill, as the expression went—or actually not be a jackass.
“I’m sorry I called you a monster.” I couldn’t help the smirk on my mouth as I continued. “You’re a reformed monster. Big difference. A recovering monster.”
She groaned. “I keep saving your life, and you keep being…” She motioned toward me with her hand. “This person.”
“Why do you keep doing it then?” I squatted down, rummaging through the broken glass to see if there was anything there worth saving. Or maybe it was simply to find something to do with my hands.
“Hasn’t there been enough death?” She looked away from me. “To answer your earlier question, Ivan recognized me as I did him. The memories… they’re a result of whatever they did to cure me of my Vampire disease. Vampires live in each other’s memories all the time. It’s what we do. You’re being pulled into it with me for the brief seconds you’re in my presence.”
I got to my feet. All of this was different from anything I understood about the bloodsuckers. “What?”
“Which part didn’t you understand?” She kicked a table. “It’s not here. I was sure it would be since they kept it hidden so long. I bet it’s on Dr. Marco. I don’t want to kill her. Go home, Micah. I think you heard some information you’re going to want to get to your father. Stay out of my Vampire maze. Today’s the last time I’ll ever be saving your life.”
I didn’t know what I would have said to her. Between the understandable jab and her ordering me out of the Vampire lairs, I stood there with my mouth open while she ran away, disappearing too fast for me to follow her. Again.
I sighed. Today was not going how it was supposed to. Not even a little bit. What made it worse was she was correct. I did have to go back and tell them about Icahn. My need to keep exploring was going to have to wait another day. Again. Maybe I was fooling myself. Maybe I would never get out of Genesis. Maybe I should quit trying.
Only, giving up had never been in my nature. I wasn’t done yet. And if the fascinating woman—monster—whatever—thought she could order me around, she had another think coming.
Finding my father wasn’t a problem. Patrick Lyons ran Genesis with a sometimes soft, sometimes iron, fist. Sometimes he was gentle, and sometimes he was so hard he could smash through rock. I always got the iron part of him. Dad spent most of his time these days sitting behind a table, giving orders to anyone foolish enough to be in his vicinity when he felt like dishing them out. Or worked for him. Whatever the case happened to be.
I rushed into the room to see a line of people waiting to speak to him. Family relations aside, I would normally stand patiently for an audience with the old man. It wasn’t like we enjoyed speaking to each other.
But this had to take precedence.
“Hey,” I shouted, waving my hands in the air. “Dad, I need your attention. Now.”
He raised his eyes to meet my gaze and then nodded. It was probably the now that got his attention. He had to know how little I wanted his immediate attention on anything I did. Or didn’t do.
When the room cleared, my father got to his feet. “What’s going on? I thought you had gone again. Didn’t even stop by to see your mother.”
Guilt pressed against my temple like the nasty bitch that emotion always proved to be, and I shoved it away. I didn’t have time for emotional battering. “I was gone. I came back because I learned something, and you need to hear it, too.”
“Go on.” My dad put both his hands on the table in front of him, leaning forward. “It’s bad.”
Maybe it was my tone that tipped him off. “Two scientists running around down there talked about re-cloning Icahn. They need him for something. They’re going to bring him back.”
I expected dad to burst into action. Immediate response was his way. He’d charge to the door and start barking orders. Only, he didn’t. Instead, my father sank in his chair. He was forty-seven years old. Fit, healthy, and larger than life was how I’d always thought of him. Suddenly, worry for his health had me charge to the table.
“Are you okay?”
He waved his hand at me. “I’m not having a heart attack.”
Okay, well that was that. My father rubbed his eyes. “This is what we feared. How to get all the cloning machines. It’s impossible. Tiffani and I talked about this many times. The idea he could be back.”
I hadn’t known. I supposed I should have considered it. But once Icahn was dead, thrown over the edge of a balcony by the now deceased Werewolf, Andon Kenwood, I’d been relieved. We’d destroyed his cloning machines. Rachel had gone missing, and her absence had caught all of our attention. Chad had melted down, not publicly crying but losing all emotion altogether. He’d faded right in front of our eyes.
Those moments were when I’d finally understood how deeply my brother loved his woman. And I hadn’t the slightest idea what to do for him.
Icahn was dead. I’d never looked further into it. I’d had to take care of Chad.
But then Rachel was returned to us, thanks to Deacon—a fact no one in my family was ever going to forget—and I should have thought about it then.
I hadn’t.
Not once.
“What now?” What else was there really to ask?
My father got to his feet. “We call in the Warriors. We make a plan.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Dad, there’s one thing more.”
Outside, a dong sounded, our nightly call to dinner. The mess halls would start to serve. Some of our people had families, and in their tent homes would sit down to eat together. Those without anyone would gather in the halls, acting like the community everyone wanted Genesis to be.
Even if it was sometimes the coldest, unfeeling group of humanity ever assembled in one spot.
“What is it?” He looked tired. How much longer could he do this? Chad had to take over soon, let Dad go back to fighting as a Warrior, teaching, or something else. “Micah? Get it out.”
There it was. Those last words. I wasn’t going to concern myself with what he did and didn’t do. I’d get to it. Fine. “I wasn’t alone down there. Brynna, the former Vampire, she was with me.”
“Is that so?” He shook his head. “Not telling me would have been a huge detail to leave out.”
“Well, that’s why I didn’t.” This was what we were like all the time. Back and forth. Push and pull. Poking at each other. It was never going to be different.
“Fine.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Great. Then she can help us.”
“Ah.” I backed away from the table, practically stumbling over a chair in back peddling away from my father. “I didn’t get the impression helping us was part of her plans. She saved my life a couple of times. I think mostly because she doesn’t like death. But… she doesn’t come across as the kind of person who’s simply going to take up a cause. I get the impression she has her own agenda.”
My dad was quiet for a second. “We know she knows about the scientists. Margot does, too.” My father’s mention of the scientist we'd recruited reminded me just how far down this rabbit hole went. We’d recruited her after she’d saved Brynna. Everyone knew someone. “We’ll, of course, speak with her. But that Vampire is on the ground, in the midst of this, and Margot has been with us for months.”
My father had misjudged this situation to the point of completely misunderstanding it. I sighed. “When you’re making your plans, I wouldn’t count on Brynna as being a sure thing. She’s more like…” What was the word from school? “A variable.”
Patrick Lyons led men. He’d always done so by any means necessary. He used people’s strengths and weaknesses to get what he wanted, even letting Rachel sacrifice herself to save us all. I shouldn’t have been surprised by what he said next, except I was. When it came to my family, I really was as dumb as my parents thought.
“I plan for many different contingencies. If I decide to make a plan involving that Vampire, then she will help us.”
I shook my head. “How exactly will you make her?”
“She will either want to help us, or there’s something she wants we can use to persuade her, or…” his voice trailed off, and I wondered why he’d stopped. What did he think was going to happen that he hadn’t wanted to say?
“Or?” I prompted him to continue. “Go on. Or. What?”
My father sighed. “Or you’re going to use your pretty face for good for once, and you’re going to seduce the girl into doing what you want. She’s already saved your life a bunch of times. And really? Weren’t you trained better than that? Fuck her into doing it then, if fucking her is what it takes. You’re good at that, right?”
I went cold. My father planned to order me to fuck Brynna for the sake of Genesis. “What?”
My dad threw his hand in the air. “Maybe it won’t come to you needing to take one for the cause. Maybe she’ll be feeling altruistic.”
“Patrick.” From the back of the room Tiffani Endover, fellow board member with my father and the wife of the late Keith Endover who had trained us all to be Warriors, spoke. “We had a meeting right?”
Of course she had heard. Of course she had.
I walked past her, heading out the door. “Tiffani.”
She grabbed my arm. “Micah…”
I pulled out of her hand. I didn’t want comfort right now or nice words. Because he couldn’t be done with me, not yet. Of course, my father called out to me, “We’ve all had to do things that make us uncomfortable. If it comes down to it, I know you’ll do the right thing.”
I had to leave before I punched my own father in the face.
Five minutes later, my temper still roared so loudly I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. They were about to call a Warrior meeting that I would be expected to attend since I was here. Too many people had seen me. I couldn’t hide, couldn’t take off in enough time to avoid the thing altogether. I had to cool off. Find my fake face, the one I pulled out to make me look easy going and happy. I had to be that version of myself if I was going to sit in a room with the entire Warrior population of Genesis and not lose my damned mind.
I jumped up and down. I couldn’t get drunk. There wasn’t enough time. And there wasn’t a girl around I could fuck fast enough to lose this edge. So that meant exercise. Good old fashioned work it out with sweat. I ran hard toward the woods. Top speed.
I was in great physical condition; probably the best of my life, and no mere jog was going to suffice this time. I tore forward like Werewolves chased me. I sprinted like the Vampires were gaining speed. I made my body so fast my high school gym teacher would have actually given me an A. I was fast. Always had been.
“Hey,” someone shouted from behind, and I didn’t stop. I needed to get so tired I couldn’t think, couldn’t…
“Micah.” That voice again. It was Chad. I slowed down, my breath coming in and out in spurts. Okay, maybe I’d gotten close to how much I needed to run. I wasn’t there yet but close, for sure.
I bent over at the knees. “Chad?”
My older brother caught up with me, also out of breath. How long had he been chasing me, and for that matter, how long had I been running? I turned around. I was way up on top of the hill east of Genesis. I’d really been moving. This was no easy trek.
“Fuck. Micah.” My brother joined me in bending over at the knees. “What the hell?”
I lifted my head, forcing my breathing to slow. Chad so rarely cursed it was usually amusing when he did. I guessed I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. “Need something?”
“You looked like death was chasing you, so I decided to help with whatever it was you were hauling ass to get away from.”
Chad’s words were enunciated by the panting he did in between each of them. Maybe the boy needed to up his cardio.
My big brother died in a Vampire lair deep beneath the earth two days walk from here. I hadn’t made it that far yet in my exploration. He’d been made a bloodsucker. Brynna hadn’t lied when she’d said Warriors could be turned. They’d managed to do so with my brother. He stood before me now because his wife had all but sacrificed her soul to Isaac Icahn to bring him back as a clone.
That time had been the definition of hell. There had never been an existence for me that didn’t include Chad in some way. I should hate him. Living in his shadow hadn’t been any fun. He was a straight A student, the perfect, responsible son, had gotten scholarships out the wazoo to go to college, fell in love with exactly the right girl and married her. He was the perfect Warrior and the heir to the unofficial Lyons throne.
The golden child from birth to death and then even in his second version of life.
He was moral. Upstanding. Funny. Kind. Smart. He knew his north, and he pointed himself toward it.
But I didn’t hate him. Not even a little bit. I loved Chad. Fiercely. I’d follow him into hell and wouldn’t even ask why.
“Dad wants me to fuck the Vampire girl, Brynna, to get her to do what we want.” I paused. “If it comes to that. Guess he feels my own value in this situation is to drop my pants and fuck for the family.”
Chad winced. He stood straight, and then he laughed. What the hell was funny? Finally, I asked him. “What are you finding laugh worthy?”
“Our father has hit a new low. Once upon a time, they were talking to us about abstinence. No sex before marriage. Respecting our future wives. Now it’s go fuck a Vampire, Micah? Screw that. No one makes you sleep with anyone you don’t want to. He can find another way, or I’ll get Rachel and, together, we’ll find another way. You’re not some kind of prostitute he can send out on his behalf. You’re his son.”
I never questioned why I loved Chad so fiercely. But if I ever did, I’d just have to remember this moment. I didn’t cry. I’d been pretty much trained since birth that only the death of a loved one warranted tears. I wanted to cry. My big brother still gave a damn.
“I… I think everyone might be overestimating how much sex I have.”
Chad put out his hand in front of him. “Don’t. I mean, if you have to, then do. I guess. I’ve got no real interest, whatsoever, in knowing about your sex life.”
I smirked. This was comfortable ground. “So is that why you waited? For Rachel? Because you wanted to respect your future wife.”
“Yep.” Chad was unapologetically unashamed of his life choices. He was proud of the idea he’d only know the love of one woman.
My path had gone quite differently, and my own history didn’t bother me either. Love and I were not on the road to being best buds. I didn’t think there was one girl out there for me. Not only one, anyway. Why would anyone want to settle for me? In small doses, I was all right to be around. On the long haul, I was bound to disappoint. I was not husband material.
“So what you’re saying, fearless Warrior leader,” I patted Chad on the back before continuing, “is I am allowed to say no to this assignment?”
He elbowed me in the side. “Yes. No one makes you sleep with anyone. Especially not some awful Vampire.” He mock shuddered.
I opened and closed my mouth. Brynna wasn’t awful. Not even a little bit. She was tiny and beautiful. She was brave, self-sacrificing, and sharp witted. I wasn’t ready to tell Chad about her yet. She’d saved my life, many times it would seem. I didn’t even know if I’d ever see her again. I hoped I would, but I wasn’t going to analyze why.
It was possible we were about to miss our meeting because Chad and I sat on the top of the hill and watched the sun begin to dip on the horizon. I didn’t know what Chad dwelled on, but as for me, I kept picturing the dark-haired former Vampire who brought with her long dead memories. What was she doing right now?