Shattered Skies: Beginning's End (8 page)

I made a mental note to myself, that if the Doc didn’t kill me for my stupid mistake, I was going to talk to him about this. I wanted a new toy, why not one to make my job easier? Besides, I would just use the argument that it would keep me safe and things like the past eight days wouldn’t happen anymore. I knew it wasn’t really fair, but hell, why not use a bad situation to my advantage?

An hour later, I was sitting in his small office with all fifteen of the others. I was almost positive that I was about to be disowned for endangering all of them and disappointing Dr. Walker. It had to be something big because this was the only meeting that we had all ever been involved in together. It was safer that way. Any time that all of us were together in one area it was too easy to be followed. If it wasn’t something life changing, it would have been done in private. He would have never put all of his children at risk if it wasn’t. I knew that he didn’t have time to brief them all about what was going on, but I could tell by the way that everyone was avoiding eye contact with me that they knew it was me that was causing all the problems like usual, and they also knew what was coming. 

Dr. Walker walked into the room a few minutes later with a brown locked box in his hands, and that same ghostly look on his face. “Hello, everybody; I am sorry for the urgency of this meeting. I hope that I didn’t pull any of you gentlemen away from something important, but if I am right, and I think I am, all of our lives are about to get way more hectic.”  It was driving me nuts that the Doc wasn’t even making eye contact with me. I was beginning to feel like I had the plague.

I had no clue what the big deal was. I had no intention of talking to Akia again; well maybe one more time to get my wallet, but that was the end of it. He was the King for crying out loud. He had better things to do then sit and pine away over me. Even as I sat and thought that, I felt like my heart was breaking. It was a feeling that I wasn’t used to and I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t know what this Dominus had over me, but I sure as hell had no desire of doing anything that would hurt my family. Besides, I had been careful all day and I was sure that I wasn’t followed. 

I was just as positive that Darien hadn’t lead anyone back here because if he had, I would be dead right now and so would all the others. He was way to too smart and paranoid for that. He was the kind of person that always paid attention to his surroundings. When he was working he was working and nothing else mattered. I am sure that was one of the reasons I cared so much about him. I wanted to meet his eyes so badly, I needed him to see me and I needed to show him that I really was OK and that I didn’t blame him for anything that had happened. Darien’s eyes never left Dr. Walker’s; I was really hoping that he wasn’t mad.

“Before the invasion occurred, there was a man named John Styron. Dr. Styron was a psychologist that claimed he had psychic powers. Not many people took this guy seriously, even though he helped the police on a few cases and his insights were always right. People thought that he was doing it for attention. I thought he was an honest man who gained nothing from his gift, so why would he make it up?  The trouble and the grief placed upon him because he wanted to use his gift to help people would have been more than enough reason for a fake to drop the act and find a new scheme. This man however, pushed on despite the criticism. I read a lot of his work while I was in med school. I was fascinated with him and all the people that he helped. My obsession with him is the only reason that we are all here today. He wrote that a superior race would someday take this planet by force. He went into great detail about the 25 years of pain and suffering that the humans would endure. He said that the human race had never been face to face with such monsters and that contact with them would have devastating effects on the race in general. “

“
The last prediction that he made before his death, which was exactly one week before the Vampires invaded, was somewhat vague compared to the other ones before it. It was about a child that would be born around the same time of the invasion. A child that would be human and blessed with a gift a thousand times more valuable than anyone has ever conceived of. He said the child would be able to walk among the intruders with great ease. This child would start a war between the monsters, but this war would be the child’s burden to bear and the child would eventually be faced with a decision that would change the world either for good or the bad.” 

Dr. Walker stopped just as suddenly as he had begun. No one ever knew what the monsters Dr. Styron was talking about could possibly be. Some just assumed it was a play on words, attempting to predict another world war. Others ignored him completely and very few people took him seriously. We were arrogant as a race, born to think that we were untouchable, taught that we were the top of the food chain and nothing would ever change that, and anyone that spoke of a stronger being was written off as crazy and ignored completely. 

“That is all there is. He never got to finish his prediction, or maybe the outcome wasn’t clear enough for him to see. No one knows; it is a secret that he took to the grave with him.” 

When I was finally able to look away from Dr. Walker’s pale face I was shocked to see everyone’s eyes in the room glued on me. “What are you all looking at me like that for?” No one even blinked. It was like they were frozen in time. “Oh, come on; you can’t all be serious. That thing is not about me. It was just some crazy guy having nightmares about things that he knew no more about than any of the other humans.”

“You know, you really didn’t have to alter your appearance at all Cat. You have always looked like one of them, not to mention the fact that you never even had to learn mannerisms. You just do what they do; it is like second nature.” As the words flew out of Darien’s mouth he pointed to all my brothers and sisters. This little rant about me walking easily among the monsters upset me even more, because Darien was always on my side no matter what, and now he too was going to betray me because some loon had a dream about the end of the world.  Maybe we weren’t as connected and as solid as I thought.

“Dr. Walker, you know this is ridiculous. That little pre
diction is no more about me than it is you, or anyone in this room for that matter. You are way too smart to believe in that kind of stuff anyway. Visions are not at all scientifically sound. Why do you waste your time on this? I messed up, I get it. I think figuring out if we are in danger because of  my little mix up is more important than something some dead freak wrote, don’t you?” 

“Well Catalina, I never said that I was a hundred percent convinced, nor did I say that I was positive that the Styron was real, but he saw something and he was right before. Not to mention the obvious fact that something happened to you. Something that was so powerful that it knocked you out cold and left the most revered Dominus scarred
with a wound that resembled a cat’s claw slash.” 

I felt the color drain out of my face; when he listed all the facts like that, it did seem more likely than I was comfortable with, but I would rather die than admit that to any of them.

“This is absurd and you all know it. The person that is supposed to turn the Vampire/Dominus reign upside down is not me. I am no different than the rest of you! All of you guys walk among them with ease. I mean, come on, are we so arrogant we think we are the only rogue humans running around? There were billions of people on the planet when they took over. It is highly unlikely that we are the only hope for mankind. I know you are all mad at me, but this is so not a fair punishment. Disown me, ignore me, tell me to get out, anything, just stop looking at me like I am some sort of savior.” There, that sounded convincing to me.

“Catalina, I promise you that there will be no jumping to conclusions. We will test this hypothesis before further actions are taken, and even if it turns out that you are the child that was dreamt about, I promise you we will all figure this out together and you will not have to do any of this alone. We have always been and we will always be a team.” 

Dr. Walker sounded so nonchalant about this that I wanted to throw something at him. He could be the sweetest most caring man, the great father that use to star in the sitcoms of the past other times; but it was like he didn’t have a clue as far as people were concerned. 

“No offense Doc, but I am not a science experiment or a lab rat. No one is testing anything on me.” 

“Come now, Catalina. It will be nothing harsh. All I need is permission to hypnotize you.”  Like he was really going to ask for permission! The man could drive me up the wall sometimes.

I hated when he called me Catalina. It meant that he was serious and had no intention of changing his mind and I was so tired that I really didn’t have the strength to fight with him. How painful could hypnotism possibly be? It would at least give me an excuse to close my eyes for a minute. Maybe if I got lucky he would think it was working and just let me sleep till morning.

“OK Doc. I’ll let you perform your little test as long as you promise that if nothing magical or out of this world happens, you will all drop this whole thing and forget about it.” I knew I was giving in and normally that was so not me, but I had to get them to stop looking at me like I was some kind of saint. The looks on their faces were ten times scarier than anything Akia could have done to me, and that was saying a lot, all things considered. 

“OK, we have a deal. Just let me get the lab set up and we will run the tests tonight while everybody is here, so if nothing happens, they can see that with their own eyes.”

I really didn’t see the point of displaying me as a freak show in front of the others. Most of them hated and resented me already; what was the point of giving them more fodder? As much as I didn’t want them there, I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to give the Doc to prevent them from being there, so Dr. Walker won the second battle of the night. I must really be slipping. I had to get back on my toes or people were going to think I was becoming a pushover.

Less than an hour later, I was sitting in the middle of Dr. Walker’s office and lab. I wasn’t really sure what method he was going to use to try to prove his theory, but I was a hundred percent sure that I wasn’t going to like it. When Dr. Walker entered the room with a box in one hand and a large cup full of some funny looking liquid in the other, my pulse quickened.

“What’s in the cup Doc?” Normally, the box would have been more of an eye catcher, but I was almost certain that whatever fluid he was carrying, he was going to expect me to drink it all like a good little science experiment. 

“It is a minor sedative; my plan is to relax you into a state of deep hypnosis. I want to make you relive everything just the way that it happened that night. But I want you to relive it frame by frame in slow motion, and we will see what really happened.”  I really think that he expected me to protest his plan, and I probably should have. Hell, maybe I
was
becoming a pushover, but I think I needed to know the truth more than anyone else. I needed to prove to myself that I was not the freak that some dead guy foresaw so many years before I was even conceived. I knew who I was; I was Cat, stubborn, hard headed Cat. I needed to be reminded of that now more so than ever, and if whatever was in that cup could give me back my sense of self, I would drink it all plus whatever other concoctions he came up with.

I reached out my hand, expecting him to place the cup in it. I was sure that as much as I wanted to get this over with, Dr. Walker was equally anxious to get started. He was, after all, the man who had lived and breathed science most of his life. I wasn’t paying much attention, but the weight wasn’t right and when I looked down I saw that it wasn’t the cup that my fingers had closed around, instead it was the heavy little box. 

“What is this?” It wasn’t a holiday and the Doc was a good man. He always made sure we all got something when it was gift giving time, but I was almost certain that this wasn’t a Hey
I screwed up royally, give me a present
holiday. When he didn’t answer, I opened the box, half expecting something to jump out at me. Instead, I was greeted with one of the most beautiful rings I had ever seen. It was a black band, as dark as the midnight sky. In the center of the black band were silver waves I just couldn’t stop staring at. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing or if the ring was supposed to mean something to me. 

“That is a ring that I picked up when I was just starting medical school.” He stopped talking, I guess he thought that it was all the explanation that I needed. 

“It is nice. I am not sure what it has to do with me though.” I still wasn’t sure if this was a reward, or if it was some sort of punishment trick, I was hoping it was the former because I didn’t think my body could handle much more punishment. 

“Take it out and look at the word on the inside.” He almost sounded excited to be sharing with me. I
was quick to do what I was told not wanting to upset him again.  The ring was heavier than it looked. The weight of the cold steel band felt wonderful in my hand, almost cool and calming. The inside of the band simply said NYX. Nyx was the Greek Goddess of the night. Many people believed that it was her job to keep the night from stealing your secrets. Nyx was often called upon by people that knew something bad and couldn’t tell anyone under penalty of death. Some believed that they could confess their sins to her and she would take the burden of knowing the truth away from them. 

“Cat, I want you to put this ring on and never take it off. You said that you felt like Akia was in your mind. I truly believe that this ring will build a wall around your psyche and he won’t be able to get to your thoughts.”