Blood Instinct (29 page)

S
irius marched
along the white corridor, his polished shoes in competition with the highly reflective floor, subtle squeaks marking his every step. He pressed his thumb to the door’s access point, it opening a split second later. He did the same with the next two in succession as he took a left and then a right.

He keyed his way into the observation room, making his way over to the glass.

‘Dr Throme.’ The young doctor looked up from her clipboard. ‘I wasn’t expecting you.’

‘I wasn’t expecting to be here myself, Dr Hanone.’

He looked down into the quadrant, into the four subdivisions that composed square pens. Three of them paced, their morphing complete. A fourth lay on its stomach. Its jolting, not to mention the pitiful sounds it was making, was as much an irritant as it was an inconvenience.

The DNA had been easy to obtain from the lycans they had detained for the murder of Arana Malloy. Successfully cloning them had been more of a challenge. For the first six years they had failed, complication after complication ensuing. Until finally they’d had working models to experiment with.

The ones contained were now technically nine years old, but they had successfully mutated them into fully grown adults – the adequate killing machines they had once planned them to be.

The original research, some decades before, had soon been disbanded on ethical grounds. But as with most things, private research or, more correctly, privately funded research, allowed for a little more flexibility – and a hell of a lot less accountability.

‘I need a few for more fieldwork. How many do we have ready?’

Dr Hanone checked her clipboard. ‘We’ve currently got five.’

He moved past Hanone to take a closer look at the one trembling on the floor. It looked as unhuman as it was, but its eyes
could
be mistaken for almost human as they stared up at him.

But it had never seen blue skies. Had never smelt fresh air. It had known only a lab; had seen only white walls; had smelt only anaesthetic. All of the above led to one simple conclusion: they were research property, pure and simple.

‘What happened to that one?’

‘A bad reaction, I’m afraid. It is a blue moon, Dr Throme. It simply isn’t responding to anything.’

Sirius folded his arms as he looked down at it. He lifted his thumb to his lips and rubbed them pensively for a moment.

‘The other three? Can they join the five?’

‘They’re not quite ready yet. I still can’t guarantee they’ll differentiate Kane from the others should they come across him.’

‘That’s not an issue. We have a change of plan.’

The change had come when Rob Doyle had been suspicious that not all of Jask’s pack had left the compound. Sirius had sent his team back in. They’d thought they would need to blow the door off the cellars of the outbuilding, but Corbin Saylen had made a timely arrival, getting them into exactly where they needed to be once they’d heard the code to the door.

Working out how Corbin had snuck into the compound unseen from the outside had been even more of a bonus.

And then there had been the icing on the cake: Jask agreeing to play ball at last.

The text message reply from the lycan leader had been succinct:
Compound. Dusk. Exchange ready.
Corbin or Zeena die, Kane dies.

Sirius knew as well as the others that Jask wasn’t going to surrender Kane anymore than Kane was going to surrender himself. But he knew Kane would at least have to be present before Jask’s beta was handed over.

Kane would be there; Jask’s finest would be there. All drawn together in the same hovel.

It was all falling into place too perfectly. The aftermath, once filmed, would cement the lycans as the monsters they were. The aftermath would be justification enough for why they’d needed to move in which such force; why they’d needed to take so many of the remaining pack down.

Why they’d needed to take every last one of them down.

‘What kind of change of plan?’ Hanone asked, stepping up alongside him.

‘A controlled release,’ Sirius said. ‘A confined space. The lives taken will be irrelevant. No differentiation will be needed.’ He looked across at her. ‘Tell me they’re ready for that.’

Hanone glanced down into the pens before looking back at him. ‘How soon are we talking?’

‘I’ll need them prepped within the hour.’

Her green eyes flared. ‘I’m not sure…’

‘Within the hour, Dr Hanone.’

She nodded. ‘And subject four?’

‘Does it serve a further purpose?’

‘We can continue to check the modifying drugs.’

‘Beyond that?’

‘Options are limited, I’m afraid,’ she said.

He was sure he almost detected a glint of sympathy in her eyes. A glint of regret. Neither were attributes he could tolerate.

‘Then make use of him now,’ Sirius said. ‘Feed him to the others.’

The lab doctor’s gaze snapped from subject four to Sirius. ‘
Excuse me
?’

Sirius stared back down into its eyes. ‘There’s no point wasting research funding.’

‘Dr Throme, we’ve never tried to feed them with their own species.’

‘Then this is the perfect opportunity to try. How will we know how they truly operate if we don’t test them?’

Dr Hanone glanced back down at subject four squirming on the floor, evidence of distress in her eyes as she looked back at him. ‘I am compelled to stress that this is highly unethical practice, sir.
Highly
unethical.’

‘Ethical is a matter of perception, as variable as justice. It’s an animal being fed to animals, Dr Hanone. It’s nature.’ He followed her gaze down to subject four. ‘In fact, ensure that it’s alive for the experiment. On this occasion, I believe that will be particularly pertinent.’ He turned on his heels before momentarily facing her again. ‘Oh and record it will you?’ He stepped back over to the door. ‘I’d like to watch it back.’

H
e should have known
Eden was involved.

As soon as Jask stepped up to the threshold and saw Kane inside, he should have known Eden would have played a part in getting Kane there.

The vampire stood with his back to them as he surveyed the soldier’s remains. Caitlin stood to Jask’s left, while Eden leaned against the table to his right.

Kane breathed out a cloud of smoke as he dropped his hand to his side. ‘Well he isn’t exactly much use anymore, is he?’ he said, turning to face Jask. ‘Unless Sweeney Todd’s short of a few fillings for his shortcrust pastry.’

‘I’ve shown him the footage too,’ Eden said, lifting the phone from the table where Jask had left it. ‘And I’ve told him the full situation with Phia – including what’s happened to Jake.’

‘You had no right,’ Jask said, his glare resting on Eden.

‘I’m getting the job done,’ Eden replied, his eyes not wavering from Jask’s. ‘And this,’ he added, indicating them both, ‘isn’t helping anything. Let’s try and remember we’re on the same side, hey, playmates? The last thing any of us need is you two at each other’s throats – literally. You need to talk this out. Beat the shit out of each other for an hour or two if that’s what your egos are telling you to do, but then get over it and get back on task.’

Kane and Jask both glowered at him at the same time, but Eden’s gaze remained unflinchingly defiant.

‘A week ago, back at the compound, you told me we’d take the fuckers down – together,’ Jask said, looking back at Kane. ‘I want to know if that still applies.’

Kane closed the gap between them, his navy eyes searching Jask’s. ‘And if it doesn’t?’

‘Kane…’ Caitlin warned.

But Jask didn’t take his attention off the vampire for a second. ‘With or without you, I’m doing this, Kane. At the very least, I’m bringing Corbin and Zeena home.’

Kane exhaled a terser stream of smoke. ‘I take it you have a plan?’

‘I do. The question is – how much do you trust me?’

S
ophia stepped
into the doorway of her sisters’ bedroom. Both were sitting side by side on the mattress, their backs against the wall. Alisha was nestled into Leila’s shoulder, the latter’s arm wrapped around her.

The sickness in Sophia’s stomach hadn’t subsided since she’d made the suggestion to Jask to let Leila go. But she’d had no choice – no choice but to trust her sister. If not, it was over: Jask and Caleb going head to head. And then they’d all lose.

It could still happen – she knew that – but she had to try. They all had to try whatever options they had. When he got back, they needed a solution.

Both her sisters looked up at the same time, but Alisha’s dismissive glance before she looked back at the floor, her eyes still reddened from her tears, tore Sophia open.

She wrapped her arms around herself, her gut churning amidst Alisha’s continuing rejection. She nearly pulled away again, but Leila held out her free arm – an open invitation for Sophia to join them.

Sophia blinked back her own tears as she instantly accepted.

Leila looped an arm around each sister, pulling them close, and Sophia nestled into Leila’s shoulder, just like she used to when they were little.

‘Come on, you two,’ Leila said. ‘Before I go, I want to see you make up. For me.’

Sophia glanced past her to see the tension in Alisha’s jaw, her gaze remaining fixed on the floor. She too glanced away, her pride, despite her lingering guilt, telling her she’d done enough apologising to her little sister.

But she couldn’t leave it like that: not when Leila could be leaving any minute. Not amidst their collective unspoken awareness that this could be their last time together.

‘I’m sorry, Alisha,’ Sophia said eventually, the silence having lasted a couple of minutes. ‘I’m sorry for what happened to Jake.’

Leila stroked her hair in gratitude, but Alisha retained her silence.

‘For what it’s worth,’ Sophia added, ‘he asked after you.’

Feeling her little sister’s gaze, Sophia built up enough courage to look her in the eyes. ‘I told him you loved him.’

A brief gasp of grief escaped from Alisha’s lips as she slammed her hand over her mouth to try and contain her tears.

‘And I do believe he loved you too,’ Sophia concluded.

‘Thank you,’ Alisha said after a few seconds, finally meeting her sister’s gaze fully.

‘And I’m sorry for the day I tried to force-feed you garlic,’ Sophia tagged on.

Alisha laughed through her tears. It was brief but genuine. ‘Of all the other things you could apologise for…’

‘There’s so many. I wasn’t sure where to start.’ Many of which she didn’t even want to think about.

Silence descended again.

‘Yeah, well, I hope you’re not sorry that you came to Blackthorn, Soph. I’m not sorry that you brought us all together. Without you, I would never have met Jake.’

‘Nor me Caleb,’ Leila added, capturing her gaze too.

And nor her Jask.

And things could have already been different in Blackthorn. Very,
very
different.

Leila rested her head back against the wall. ‘I’m not entirely sure it would sell as a dating concept though: this whole defeating-the-apocalypse thing. I guess most people would rather just break in gently with a drink and a meal.’

Alisha was the first to laugh as she wiped away another stray tear.

But the moment passed quickly enough, the sombreness weighing heavy in the room again.

Because if Leila didn’t succeed in her mission, they all knew the decision that lay ahead of Sophia was going to be horrific.

And it slipped out without Sophia having a chance to think better of it. ‘I’m petrified.’

Leila squeezed her a little tighter. ‘I know. Me too,’ she said, kissing the top of Sophia’s head before resting her temple against Sophia’s.

‘Are you
sure
you want to do this?’ Sophia asked, easing into a seated position again. ‘Caleb’s going to be doing his nut, isn’t he? That bitch Feinith is already getting exactly what she wants.’

‘But she won’t,’ Leila said. ‘I’ll see to that.’

‘You have to give Caleb a message,’ Sophia said. ‘A message from Jake. It might help. He said you have to tell Caleb to spit out Feinith’s poison like he did with the viper. Apparently he saved Jake the same way once. He said it would mean something to him.’

Leila nodded. ‘I’ll do that.’

Sophia held her sister’s gaze. ‘Thank you, Lei. Thank you for doing this. I know it should be me.’

‘No,’ Leila said, shaking her head slightly. ‘This is my responsibility. You were just moved into position, that’s all.’

Catching movement in the doorway, Sophia looked to see Tuly hovering at the threshold, her hand clutching her toy giraffe’s ear.

‘The bad people have got Corbin,’ Tuly said, her large eyes wide and troubled, ‘haven’t they? He’s been gone a long time now, and he hasn’t come back.’

Sophia knew she couldn’t lie to her. She knew the young lycan was too vigilant, too tuned in for her to get away with it.

‘Are they going to hurt him?’ Tuly asked. ‘Like they hurt Rone?’

But as the tears welled up in the little lycan’s eyes, it was too hard not to offer her some comfort. ‘Jask is going to help him, Tuly.’

Tuly dropped her giraffe in the doorway and threw herself into Sophia’s arms, burying her face in her chest, her little arms wrapped around her neck tight enough to strangle her.

Sophia held her as close as she could, gently stroking her fair hair, not knowing if there was anything she could say to make her feel better without making false promises. Because the truth was she didn’t know if Jask would be able to save Corbin. She wasn’t even sure if Jask knew.

‘Hey,’ Sophia said, prising her away far enough so she could look her in the eyes. ‘If anyone can do this, Jask can.’

And she surprised even herself with how resolutely she said it, as if needing to hear it for herself.

As Tuly snuggled into Sophia’s chest again, Sophia looked across her shoulder to see Leila watching. A small smile marked Leila’s lips as she observed her sister comforting the little girl, but it was a smile equally clouded with the sadness of stolen possibilities.

As she felt the little lycan’s hand go to her stomach, she’d almost forgotten Tuly would be able to hear the heartbeat too.

‘Jask gave you his magic,’ Tuly said, her voice partially muffled until she pulled herself into a seated position on Sophia’s lap. ‘I can hear it,’ she said, pointing at Sophia’s stomach. ‘In your tummy.’

Sophia stifled her smile as she glanced back at Leila before giving Tuly her full attention. ‘Yeah, I guess he did.’

‘Corbin and Solstice told me how it works. They told me I grew from magic because they love each other. So that means Jask must love you and you must love him.’

The innocence of her remark was too warming for Sophia not to smile again. ‘I guess it must.’

Tuly’s big grey eyes searched Sophia’s. ‘What will it have?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You have a soul and Jask has a shadow.’ She pointed at Sophia’s stomach. ‘So what will the baby have? Will they have both?’

Heart pounding, Sophia caught back a breath. Her attention snapped to Leila as a tumult of thoughts crashed through her mind. Thoughts that had to have crossed Leila’s mind at the same time they crossed hers.

Sophia stared back at Tuly, stared deep into the young lycan’s eyes as the latter patiently waited for a response. She clutched her little face and plastered a kiss on her forehead. ‘You’re a genius, Tuly Saylen,’ she declared, lifting her off her.

Sophia clambered off the mattress and ploughed out of the room. Her heart pounding, the corridors were a blur as she ran down to the room Jessie and Eden shared.

She couldn’t see the end solution, but she knew it had to mean something.

Sophia shoved open the door and burst into the empty space, her heart sinking for a moment. But she spun on her heels and marched further down the vacant passageways.

‘Sophie, where are you going?’ Leila called after her, hot on her heels.

‘It’s the prophecy, right?’ Sophia said. ‘The chosen one has to have a shadow
and
a soul. This means something. I know it does.’ She turned corner after corner. ‘I’ve got to find Jessie.’

‘Soph, I know what you’re thinking, but the chosen one is a vampire. The prophecy is clear about that.’

‘But things change, right? The prophecy is latent – that’s what you told me. Isn’t that how all these fourth species erupted into here? Because you and Caleb changed things? What if me and Jask have too? What if we’ve somehow made the prophecy change direction?’

‘Soph, I know this prophecy inside out…’

Sophia finally burst into the communal area. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Jessie sitting at the table with Caitlin and Amanda, Honey by her mother’s side.

The envoi’s eyes sparked with concern as Sophia slammed her palms onto the tabletop in front of her.

‘Have you had any more visions?’ Sophia asked, bracing herself, struggling to catch her breath.

‘
More
?’

‘Yes. Like last time. When things changed course you had fresh visions.’

Trying to make sense of the question, Jessie looked to Leila as she joined them, to Alisha and Tuly bringing up the rear.

‘No. No, I haven’t,’ Jessie said, her attention switching back to Sophia. ‘Why?’

‘Because it hasn’t happened yet,’ Sophia muttered to herself as she pulled away. She smacked a hand to her forehead, her other to her hip as she struggled to make sense of it whilst she paced. ‘Too much is still hanging in the balance. I have to be guaranteed to survive.’

‘Sophie?’ Leila stepped in front of her, grabbing her upper arms. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘What if the same
principle
applies, of a shadow and a soul combined instigating the prophecy, but finding a different
method
leads to a different outcome, Lei? What if
stealing
a soul brings about destruction, but
giving
a shadow changes things for the better? What if
I’m
the loophole, not Caleb? Or what’s inside of me is?’ She clutched her stomach. ‘What if Mini J’s the solution we all need? What if you falling for Caleb and me then meeting and falling for Jask is changing things for the better, not making it worse?’

Leila took a step back. Her jaw fell slack.

‘We all act like this was the intended prophecy, but it’s not,’ Sophia added. ‘Jessie told us about the original prophecy, right? About how the leader wasn’t meant to be this tyrant but that he represented his kind politically to fight for equality. But the Higher Order fucked it all up by coming out too soon for their own ends. Then the Global Council setting up this insane stratified society fucked it all up even further by making a peaceful alternative impossible. Isn’t that why the prophecy then necessitated a loophole? By the powers that be not allowing anyone with a shadow onto the Global Council? Something we now all know the Higher Order only agreed to in order to incite the prophesied leader even more when the time came.’

She broke away from Leila to face the others.

‘We know that on
this
path, the outcome dictates that only the vampire carrying both a shadow and a soul can change things. That by having a soul, a soul stolen from the chosen serryn, they’d have a right to be on the Global Council. But we all know they would be turned down regardless. The third species would be in uproar. But what if it’s a
human
who’s carrying both a shadow and a soul? Could the Global Council turn
them
down?

‘Think of what this could mean: someone who understands the plight here – of
all
third species. Someone who also knows a hell of a lot more than Sirius would ever want disclosed. Fuck this whole eighty-year-reversal-spell shit – what if we’re
already
reversing the damage and steering things back on course? What if
I’m
the alternative? More importantly,’ she looked back at Leila again, ‘what if
Caleb
sees me as the alternative? The alternative that
you
promised?’

Met with silence, Sophia looked away from her sister to scan the rest of the speechless faces. ‘Please tell me I said all of that out loud, because even I’m struggling to get my head around it right now.’

Alisha finally broke the stunned silence. ‘
You
want to stand for the Global Council?’

Having heard it spoken made it sound even more ludicrous than it had in the tumult of thoughts in her head.

‘I’m not saying that but…’

‘Amilek’s running for election right this minute,’ Leila said. ‘I was protesting against it in one of the rallies back home. It’s got to be only a couple of days away now. It was all over the news when I was with Caleb. We had a discussion about it.’ She clutched the back of her neck, her attention dropping pensively to the floor.

‘Amilek is bound to get turned down though,’ Sophia said. ‘Which is why the Higher Order probably put him forward: to fuel the plight here even more, creating an even greater need for the vampire leader to rise. Or, now, to convince Caleb he has no other choice.’

‘Because Caleb already said to me at the time that politics was useless,’ Leila declared. ‘He said if the vampires wanted to bring the humans down, they would – and he didn’t mean peacefully.’

‘Which is why we have to convince him otherwise. Lei, it’s
me
who has to go to him, not you.’

Leila’s eyes flared in horror. ‘Having killed Jake? And you dared to call me insane?’

‘I can do this, Leila. You said that by going back to him when you didn’t have an alternative, you’d be proving that you trust him with your life. You said that would help get him on side. What would it mean if you sent
me
in then?
With
the alternative you promised? In everything you’ve said to me about him, everything Alisha has said, you’ve both remained adamant that if you stayed true to your word, he would stay true to his. By sending me in, you’re keeping up your side of the deal.’

‘But we have no idea what state he’s in now. No – it’s too high a risk. Besides, you know what happened with you and Kane. You might be defunct for Caleb’s purpose now but you’re still a serryn.’