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MCBRID COULDN’T WATCH THIS. All he could see was Fersia and Jocko not Aranea19 and Aranea54. He headed toward the door, the Guards right behind him. He tripped over the hose. The one that hadn’t worked. The one that had almost gotten them all killed.
“You all right, sir?” Louis’ voice was still shaking with fear.
“I will be.” He stormed out of the lab and down the hallway, the Guards following him. They couldn’t be near him right now. “Go. Go back to the dorms. You’re done for the day.”
“It’s early, sir,” said Louis.
“Shit. You’re right.” That’d draw attention. “Go to the Brush-Man lab and-and rest. Lock the door and just rest.”
“Sir?” Louis’ eyes darted to his brother.
McBrid lowered his voice. “You can’t be involved in this. Charlie was the reason Aranea18 died. If Conguise...If anyone knew what happened in there....”
Louis’ Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat and Charlie’s entire body shook.
“Go and hide in the Brush-Man room. Don’t talk to anyone. If it comes up, you don’t know anything about the Aranea19 incident.” The scent of fear coming from the Guards was almost overpowering. He needed them to hide before others smelled it.
“I...Laddie and Jorge know I was going there to look for Charlie,” said Louis.
“Okay. We’ll change the story. Charlie was helping me in the Aranea lab. The Araneas had just mated and the female killed the male. It’s happened before. It’ll also explain why you’re shaken-up. Watching two of those...” He wanted to say things but they weren’t things. They were Fersia and Jocko, hidden in a monstrous costume of his creation. “Seeing that scares everyone.” He patted the Guard’s shoulder. “Go. Rest. I’ll be there shortly and everything will be okay.” His hand trembled as he moved it away from Louis. “Trust me.”
Louis nodded and grabbed Charlie’s arm, leading him down the hallway.
McBrid headed toward Conguise’s office. They needed to stop these experiments, at least the ones that had no purpose. Most of the projects tried to enhance the hosts—make them stronger, faster or give them additional abilities like camouflage techniques, or swimming like a fish—but the Aranea experiments and a few others were only to mutate and transform. They were cruel. They should’ve stopped these experiments as soon as they realized that the Araneas couldn’t create silk, but Conguise had a fascination with them and the experiments had continued. Before it’d been a job, but now, with her...It was wrong to do this just because they could. He burst into Conguise’s office.
The professor looked up from the papers on his desk. There was a hint of fear until Conguise recognized who—or more accurately what—had invaded his office.
“You shut off the water.” It wasn’t a question.
“From your appearance it was a wise decision,” said Conguise.
“You almost got...” He paused. The professor wouldn’t care that any of them had almost been eaten. “Aranea54 is dead because of you.”
“What?” Conguise was paying attention now.
He moved farther into the room, wiping at the venom on his shirt. “This is his. His insides from when Aranea19”—he hated calling her that but he had to in front of Conguise—“attacked and killed him after mating. I attempted to separate them several times.” He shook at the memory. “But she killed him.” He hesitated a moment. “And fed.” The sounds echoed through his head but it wasn’t the Aranea slurping up the juices of Jocko but Fersia.
“At least she’s eating again.” The tension around Conguise’s mouth eased. “She’s the important one in this experiment.”
“She and her mate. Her mate. They’d both been important.” They’d been kids probably only around sixteen. Neither of them had deserved this.
“Create another mate for her.” Conguise looked back at his papers.
He stormed across the room and slammed his hand on the desk. “I wouldn’t have to do that, if you hadn’t turned off the damn water.”
Conguise’s blue eyes were like ice, cooling McBrid’s fury.
“The water is what killed Aranea18.”
“I wouldn’t have used full force.” He also wouldn’t have used it on her. “I would’ve sprayed hi...her until I could get the glass down.” That was a lie but it was a good one.
Conguise pursed his lips for a moment. “Doesn’t matter. She would’ve killed him later.”
“We don’t know that.” He truly didn’t. She’d only killed Jocko to help Charlie.
“Of course we do. You’re upset. The violence of these creatures when they attack is both beautiful and frightening.” Conguise’s lips tipped upward. “It’s good that she’s fed. A full belly should make her hungry again soon.”
“I doubt it.” He didn’t think Fersia would eat any more Servants and he didn’t want to offer them to her.
“Then you need to get the males created and give her something to increase fertility. She should mate before eating them. If we’re lucky, she’ll conceive.” Conguise’s eyes lowered to McBrid’s hand, still on the desk.
McBrid took the hint and straightened. “I think this program should be stopped. It’s unsuccessful.”
“Nonsense.”
“She won’t mate and if she does, she won’t conceive. Aranea18 didn’t, no matter how many times we tried.” The faces of the countless Servants they’d used to create monsters that were quickly dispatched marched through his head, their eyes sad and accusing. “And the females do not obey.” She was too angry to follow his commands. He’d taken everything from her—her trust, her love, her mother—and made her into a monster.
“It’s your job to make them breed and obey.” Conguise’s words were soft and deadly. “Are you quitting?”
“No, sir.” He struggled not to shake at the implied threat.
“Perhaps you should get back to work.”
“I-I don’t think the Aranea program is for me. I’m requesting a transfer.” He couldn’t face her again, not now that he knew Fersia, his friend, lurked inside that monstrosity.
“Transfer?”
“Scottsmoor was reassigned. I’d like to be reassigned too.”
“Scottsmoor was reassigned because I needed him somewhere else, not because he couldn’t do the job.” Conguise’s fingers played on the desk, reminding McBrid of an Aranea’s claws as they tapped along the tile. “Are you saying you can’t do the job?”
“I’m saying this project should be shut down.” He took a deep breath. He had no choice but to run along the knife’s edge but he had to be careful or he’d be sliced to ribbons. “I’m saying that I’ve tried everything. I’ve spent months going over and over the reports, both here and at home.” He paused to let Conguise understand exactly what he was threatening. “And there isn’t going to be a way to salvage this experiment.”
“You’re not supposed to take reports out of the lab.”
“I know but we all do. You expect results and there aren’t enough hours during the day to get the outcome you expect.”
“You should’ve spoken with me. I could’ve hired more scientists to ease the burden.”
“Perhaps we should’ve but...”
“The reports are property of this lab.” Conguise’s voice was hard but there was fear oozing from his pores.
“We all understand that and none of us—none of us—ever leave any unattended at home.” He emphasized the last word slightly. Let the professor dwell on that.
“Hmm. All of you do this?’
“Yes.” He didn’t know about everyone but most of them took work home and most of them made backups for personal safety reasons. “You didn’t think Ableson actually sent me to his house to inform his Servants of his accident, did you?” He gave himself a moment to look down his nose at the professor. “He had reports there. He wanted to make sure they were safe.” Safe from Conguise.
Conguise’s breath hitched a fraction. “I see.”
Good. The professor believed him.
“I’ve heard you’ve pretty much...adopted those two Guards, the young ones.” Conguise’s blue eyes shimmered with victory.
Someone had tattled on him. It could’ve been Scottsmoor or Parson, or any number of scientists. They were all clawing to get on Conguise’s good side because being on his bad meant disappearing. “They’re good workers and—”
“Aren’t they the ones who were involved in Aranea18’s death?”
“No.” At the professor’s narrowed eyes he added, “Only one of them. The other was working for Parson at the time.”
“Hmm.” Conguise leaned back in his seat. “You seem to have a fondness for these Guards.”
When he fled the lab, Charlie and Louis were coming with him. “Not really. I can trust them. That’s all.” He could smell the professor’s nervousness. He stepped forward. “That’s important in this environment.”
“Yes, trust is key.” Conguise studied him for a long moment but McBrid knew better than to flinch. Never show a predator weakness. “How is your father these days?”
His breath froze. Conguise never asked personal questions. This was a warning for the Guards and his family. “Good.”
“Your uncle.” There was a hint of a sneer in the other man’s voice.
“He’s also doing well.”
“You mother, Araldo rest her, was very fond of Guards too.” Conguise leaned forward. “Especially in her younger years.” He shook his head. “Teenagers can be so unruly. Thinking they know what’s right. Letting their emotions guide them.”
His heart thudded against his rib cage. The professor suspected. It wouldn’t be hard to prove. All it’d take was a blood test. His grandfather had used money to buy his other results. His father and uncle would do it again but only if they had a chance.
“You don’t look much like your father.” Conguise’s eyes trailed over McBrid.
He didn’t look at all like the Almighty who was supposedly his father and the professor wasn’t the first to notice this. He had to brave it out. Stick with the story that’d worked for years. “No. I look a lot like his great grandfather though.” He paused for a second. “I guess, I’m a throwback.”
“I suppose.” Conguise leaned back in his seat again.
The professor didn’t believe that story for a moment. He waited. This wasn’t over. There was too much gleam in the other man’s eyes – like a snake waiting to attack.
“Your father and your uncle...It’s no secret what they are.”
So that was where the professor was heading. The tension slipped from his shoulders. Conguise wouldn’t be the first to travel this path.
“I don’t care about that.” The professor’s long fingers tapped along his desk. “Actually, I prefer it.”
He couldn’t help it, he blinked.
“Don’t look so surprised. They won’t poison the gene pool when they stay with their kind.” He looked McBrid up and down. “However, when they fight their true nature and marry, they can create more of their kind.”
“I’ve heard the rumors that you whisper and they’re untrue. My father and uncle are only friends.” There were still laws, unenforced but on the books, that outlawed homosexuality. “But even if they were...more, I like females. If you doubted it, why did you invite me to the husband-hunting party you held for your daughter?”
Congusie laughed. “Oh, you weren’t a candidate.” He leaned forward. “You were a warning of what she should avoid.” His lips turned up in a sneer. “I’d never let the likes of you soil my gene pool.”
“My genes are as good as yours. Better even.” His fists clenched at his sides. “My family can be traced back to before the Great Death.” On his mother’s side and stepfather’s but not his real father.
“Hmm.” The professor’s eyes gleamed. The man knew something.
Sweat pooled under his arms. He’d thought Conguise had condemned him because of his father’s homosexuality, but what if the professor suspected he was a mephi? They’d worked closely together for years.
“Shame that both those ancient lines”—Conguise stressed the word both—“shall die with you.”
“Not if I sire children. I’m young yet. My parents were unfortunate to not have more children.” Time to bring this back home. Remind Conguise that he also had a family. “Like you. Your line dies with Viola. She needs to marry well and have many children.” Things that wouldn’t happen if a scandal surrounded the Conguise name. The upper echelon of society protected their own, until it was time to protect themselves. When that happened the ostracization was brutal and all encompassing.
“And she will.” Conguise’s lips thinned. “Just as I’m sure your father and uncle will enjoy their lives as they’ve done for years.”
They were at an impasse. If he released any reports about the lab, his uncle and father would pay the price along with Charlie and Louis.
“You say that you take work home because you’re too busy.”
He nodded, waiting.
“You can have those two Guards you’re so fond of assigned directly to you to help with your work.”
That was a joke. Charlie and Louis couldn’t help him with any work except cleaning and that wasn’t what he took home. However, it was a peace offering of sorts and he’d take it. “Thank you, sir.”
“Now, go and create more male Araneas.” The professor’s eyes were ice blue and cold, just like McBrid felt to his bones.