The Fabled (31 page)

“Are you finished, Ms. Dubois?”

“Not by a long shot but I’ll be happy to give
you an opportunity to respond.”

“My reasons are my own. You think I would
want to be a Fabled? You think your kind is better than ours?”

“See that’s the problem. Me? I don’t have a
kind. Like you said, I’m an anomaly. Different than everyone. But I
don’t like people picking on those who are weaker than them. Those
Vamps you stole couldn’t defend themselves. They didn’t deserve
what you did to them.”

“Didn’t deserve it?! They are monsters all of
them!”

“Whoa someone has Fabled issues. What, you
don’t like the Fabled so you spend your free time experimenting on
them? Is that why you own the Witch asylum.”

“Oh, this is much bigger than just me. I am
just one of many. The headmistress was easy enough to manipulate.
She was weak and wanted to hold onto as much power as possible. She
would provide us with patients and we used them for experiments
until we learned all we could from them.”

“The Caduceus? Or did you think up a cooler
name. I think the justice league had been taken.”

His eyes narrowed. Okay, his two easiest
buttons. The Fabled and trash talking his little group.

“Did you know the Caduceus formed before
Christ walked this earth?”

“You don’t say? It’s funny, I looked up the
symbol of Caduceus and all I found was info about the US Med Corps
and Hermes. Wasn’t he the one with wings on his shoes? Doesn’t
really strike fear in the hearts of his enemies.”

“You stupid woman. You know nothing. It is
not surprising you found nothing about us. Ever hear the words
‘secret society’?”

“Ah. So you’re that kind of group. You know,
it’s the twenty-first century. Don’t you think it’s time to come
out of the closet?”

“I know what you’re doing. You hope to
infuriate me until I lose control and tell you information I would
otherwise not reveal. You can save your tactics because they will
not work on me. I will tell you that the Caduceus are in every form
of government in every country in the world and the majority of
their members are well connected. We have but one purpose. To
eliminate the threat to the Humans of this planet.”

“And I’m assuming the Fabled are this threat
you speak of?”

He just smiled.

“Okay, then on a more personal note. What the
hell am I doing here? I’ve never killed a Human before. I was a
Human before I was made Fabled. How do you justify capturing me and
holding me prisoner?”

“You are not here because I see you as a
threat. You are here because you quite possibly might be the answer
we have been searching for.”

“I’m not following. If you think I’m going to
help you kill innocent people you have the wrong woman.”

“I don’t believe you will help voluntarily
but lucky for me your assistance isn’t really needed. Once we
figure out how you were created we could possibly find the answer
to destroying the Fabled for good.”

“Yeah, I’m not really seeing that happening.
Here’s the way this is going to go. I’m going to get free. Then I’m
going to rally a group of the baddest mofos you have ever seen and
we are going to rain hell down on your little facility here. And
me? I’m going to be coming for you. You have killed your last
innocent.”

He laughed. “I don’t see how you are going to
do that when you have no magic. You’re powerless and there are a
great many guards between you and freedom.”

I smiled back at him. “You forget that I was
Human too. I know how to survive without magic.” I shrugged. “You
can heed my warning but I know an egomaniac like you won’t so we
will see how this plays out.”

“I think it’s time for your first session
with the doctor.”

He pushed a button on his phone and a few
moments later the door opened. The same guard from earlier entered
the room and I stood up.

“This has been a great chat Neil. We’ll have
to do it again soon.”

“Absolutely. Take care until then.”

I winked at him before turning to follow the
guard.

I was led to another room down the same hall
I was kept in earlier. Only this room was setup like an operating
room. There was a table in the middle of the room with several
large, adjustable lights overhead. Cabinets and countertops lined
the walls with various medical supplies laid out on top. The tray
beside the table was what caught my attention the most. There were
several scalpels, tweezers, a pair of pliers and a drill of some
kind laid out. As well as a couple of syringes.

“I take it this is the torture, I mean, exam
room?”

The man I attacked earlier walked into the
room from a door off the side. His nose was swollen and his eyes
were beginning to form bags underneath.

“Hey, no hard feelings about earlier. ‘Kay?
It was the drug wearing off. Kinda made me testy.”

He looked at me with hatred in his eyes
before he smiled evilly. “No worries pet. I like when they fight
back.” He looked at the guard. “Strap her to the table.”

“Straps? Nah, straps won’t be necessary. I’ve
been going to the doctor for years. I know how to hold still.”

He smiled again. “I don’t think you’ll hold
still for what I have in store.”

Douche bag number two was just added to the
list.

The guard made sure the straps were nice and
tight. By the time we would finish here I’ll be lucky if I can
still feel my fingers and toes.

“They call me the doc. It is my job to
extract samples for testing and to obtain any information needed
from the patients.”

“Hi doc. My name is Sunny, I’m a Sagittarius
who likes her freedom and punching men in the face. Is there any
other information you need today?”

“Oh, our session today won’t be about
gathering information. After all, the Vamps who sent you here gave
us more than enough. No, today I’m going to be gathering samples
and paying you back for your little outburst earlier.”

I smiled at him. “Well, let’s get on with it
then.”

He smiled in return. “My pleasure.”

He started it easy by taking blood samples
none too lightly. Once he had that out of the way he grabbed one of
the scalpels off the tray, lifted my shirt and proceeded to cut a
small section of skin off my stomach. It was just the top layer so
there should be no lasting damage other than a scar. Once he had
that in a tube with the necessary information written on it he
returned to the table and looked me over. My shirt was still raised
so he placed his hand over the bandage where he had just taken part
of my skin. He dug his thumb into the cut before rubbing his hand
over my stomach.

“You are a very pretty woman.”

“Aw. You say the nicest things.”

“I’m going to love making you ugly. When I am
finished no one will want you. Not that you will ever leave this
place anyway.”

“Are you just going to talk or are we going
to get this over with?”

He smiled before he reached back and slapped
me hard. I just looked at him. I could feel the blood run across my
face from where he had split my lip but I would be damned if I
would give him the satisfaction of knowing he hurt me. He bent over
and licked the blood off the side of my face. Now that was just
gross.

“Mm. You taste good. Let’s see if I can’t get
some more out of you.” He reached for one of the scalpels on the
tray.

“
Takin’ out the man”

“Oh my Goddess. Sunny, are you alright?”

The guard pushed me into the room and I fell
straight to the floor. “Just fine. Give me a few minutes and I’ll
be right as rain.”

I tried to pick myself up but the drugs he
had given me left me unable to move my limbs still. Unfortunately
they didn’t deaden the feeling in them just the motor function.

Phaedra helped me up onto a cot then stood
back uncertain. “I don’t know what to do. You have so many bruises
and cuts. What can I do to help you?”

“There is nothing to do. I’ll be fine
eventually. He made sure not to do any lasting damage. I’m sure
he’s had years of practice at it.”

“Why did you anger him? He doesn’t hurt you
when he’s not mad.”

I looked at her. This poor woman. What has
that monster done to her during her time here? I reached for her
slowly and took her hand.

“I’ll be alright. Don’t worry.”

There was a tear in her eye but she
nodded.

That started a regular routine for me and the
doc. He would try to hurt me as much as possible then he would give
me a day or two to heal before trying something new. He explained
to me that they wanted to test me to see what my tolerance was and
what worked on me and what didn’t. They already knew electricity
and their drugs worked like they were supposed to so they moved on
to the tolerance part of the experiment. On the third day several
probes were placed on me in strategic places to measure my heart
rate and brain function before I was submerged in a tub of water by
the good doctor for a period of ten minutes. He told me afterward
that I wasn’t breathing and my heart stopped for almost five
minutes but miraculously it started back and I gasped for breath. A
series of tests were performed afterward to measure my brain waves.
Doc said with much chagrin that they read normal. I was dressed in
scrubs and given the next day to recuperate.

The following day I was again strapped with
monitors before being taken to a locked room in the bottom level of
the facility. There was a panel beside the door with a digital
display showing it was negative five degrees. Doc unlocked the door
and threw me inside. Though there was a light inside everything was
covered with a thin layer of frost. I knew what I would find here
though. I ran over to the first Vamp. It was Elena Carter. I wiped
the frost off of her eyes and she looked at me. Though she was
frozen solid she was still alive and I breathed a sigh of
relief.

“Elena, my name is Sunny Dubois. I’m going to
get us all out of here but I need you to hold on just a little
longer. You can do that. You mother is worried sick about you and
I’m going to return you to her. Just. Hold. On.”

She didn’t respond. I hadn’t expected her to
but there is a lot to be said about hope. It can change the world
or it can cause a scared Vampere to not let go even though she’s in
pain. I visited the other three victims to tell them the same
thing. Only the last victim was still alive but there was no way to
tell for how long. After a while it became hard to keep moving so I
took a seat in the corner to wait for them to release me.

Release didn’t come. My entire body began
shutting down from the cold and I was lucky that my brain was one
of the first organs to go into stasis. At least I wouldn’t have to
feel the cold burn if I was unconscious.

I was in a tent and there was a flame dancing
on the canvas roof. I watched the flame wishing I could touch it.
Cold. I was so cold. Just the thought of it made me shiver.

“There is no cold here child. We are in the
middle of the desert after all.”

I turned to see Aerystasia. She looked much
better than when I first met her.

“And you look much worse. Time has not been
nice to you.”

I tried to smile. I wanted to tell her
everything. She was my only hope but that wasn’t what first came
out.

“Did you find him?”

She smiled like I had not seen before. “I
did. I owe you much.”

“I’m glad you are able to be happy,
Aerystasia. You deserve it.”

She smiled again. “I know you are not just
here to check on my love life.”

“I’m imprisoned by Humans. They have
suppressed my magic and are…I don’t want to get into that.”

“You have went into such a deep unconscious
state that you have been able to contact me on this plane. I would
say they are trying to kill you. Freezing to death is such a nasty
way to go.”

“Could you get a message to someone for
me?”

“I will. You wish me to tell your
father?”

“Yes. I am somewhere in the middle of wheat
fields, maybe the mid-west. It’s a facility owned by Neil Niobe’s
company LabTech and there are a bunch of windmills surrounding it.
The windmills are powering the underground facility and, if I’m
correct, whatever it is that is blocking my magic. Tell them to
destroy the windmills first. That will give me a chance to protect
myself if they decide to kill us.”

“There are more than just yourself?”

“Yes, at least two Vamps and a Phoenix. There
may be more.”

“I will relay your message. You will protect
this Phoenix. She is indeed the last. Promise me you will protect
her.”

“I will do my best to protect them all.”

She smiled at me and there was a bright light
forming over her face. I tried to reach for her but the light grew
until it covered my entire sight. I blinked a couple of times and
realized I was lying on the doc’s table. My limbs were still
partially frozen and it burned intensely. I ignored it. My mind was
reeling with the knowledge I was able to talk to Aerystasia.
Hopefully I actually spoke with her and it wasn’t just a
hallucination brought on by hypothermia.

After I thawed out I was returned to the room
but I didn’t dare tell Phaedra about my encounter while frozen. I’m
sure they were watching us all the time and I couldn’t take the
chance of tipping them off. So I kept quiet and endured.

I was allowed to rest for the next two days.
On the third day I was brought into Neil’s office again. I took a
seat in the same chair and smiled at him.

“Enjoying your stay so far?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been on worse cruises.
At least you haven’t left me stranded on a deserted island
yet.”

“Hm. We’ll have to consider it.”

“Nah, I’d just escape and where’s the fun in
that?”