Chapter 2 #4
So, they were treating her carefully, and Lucien was monitoring her around the clock—barely sleeping, eating only when the damned incubus or Auren pressed convenience store packages of half-cut egg sandwiches or greasy chips into his hands. Lucien would kill for a salad.
More than that, he’d kill for Vesperin to be awake. Healthy.
The neural tissue damage was minor. Her seizures were violent but brief, slowly lessening with careful treatment.
It wouldn’t be long before they could move her.
Rhyden assured him he had ample equipment in Lunar City to help see her well. But Lucien didn’t fully trust the vampire. He was Rhyden Valkar, after all. Lucien still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Vesperin’s Soulbond was the leader of Noctis.
They hadn’t had time to truly talk about it—just him and her. He would give anything to have just a second alone with her.
God, he missed her eyes.
Her voice.
"Rhyden has been in contact with one of his associates.
Noctis has learned of a new weapon, acquired by Blackfall Industries, under the persona of Celestis," Auren said quietly, breaking Lucien from his thoughts. The Soul Searcher stared at Vesperin’s peaceful, sleeping face as he spoke.
"This group is unwilling to come forward as Blackfall Industries, but it is clear that they are the same to those who know how to look for the signs.
Rhyden revealed the intel has come from the same coordinates, and the same hands have passed over the intelligence as it has spread underground. "
"What is it?" Lucien asked, but he already knew.
Auren met his eyes. "Project Phoenix. Celestis is making it widely known now in the underground that they have a weaponized super soldier, programmed to hunt on their behalf."
They both knew exactly who this super soldier was.
It hung in the room like smoke.
They lulled into silence. Some things were beyond words.
The incubus returned, Rhyden in tow. Lucien noted the two seemed closer. Perhaps because they were both not human, they’d found some sort of camaraderie. Lucien wondered if Cyrus was so stupid as to think Rhyden had friendship in mind—he seemed only out for himself.
Rhyden relayed the information Auren had just shared, running a hand through his messy white hair. His red eyes cut to Vesperin, and Lucien didn’t miss the way his words stalled momentarily before the vampire continued:
"It’s fucking clear Celestis is Blackfall Industries to anyone who looks closely, especially those in the underground.
My informants heard of it in Lunar City before I even—came across Vesperin.
" Rhyden drew out the words. "I brushed it off.
Solar City bullshit had nothing to do with me. But now it does."
Where Cyrus sat on the edge of the bed, fingers tapping agitatedly against Vesperin’s blanket-covered foot, he said, "Why Celestis, though?" The incubus looked ragged, with shadows under his eyes and red hair wild.
"Because Blackfall Industries has the public’s support, of course.
They cannot tout an illegally modified human as a pharmaceutical and research company," Lucien said.
"They made the alias of Celestis to conduct their less-than-savory endeavors. It is smart, in a way. Though, I’m unsure what it means for us—for this. "
"The emergence of Celestis is neither good nor bad.
" Auren had placed his scythe on the wall by his side. He leaned against it, arms crossed. He seemed unwilling to sit still, always standing, poised to jump into action at a moment’s notice.
"It just is. It is up to us to define what it is and use it to our advantage in any way we can, with whatever means necessary to keep Vesperin safe from those who wish to do her harm. I will give my life for her."
Lucien agreed with a nod.
Rhyden scoffed. "Fucking altruists." But he didn’t disagree.
Never one to be outdone, Cyrus shot up a hand, nearly falling off the bed as he did so.
He grabbed Vesperin’s ankle, and Lucien gritted his teeth as she was jostled.
Cyrus gave an impish smile, leaning down to kiss her knee over the covers in apology.
"I’ve killed for her. Of course I’d die for her, too.
It’s only fair. I’d do anything for her. "
The words were as selfless as could be expected from an incubus prince.
A small part of Lucien was endeared to the incubus. He seemed to care for Vesperin—this, at least, Lucien could count on.
She would be protected. By any means necessary.
Discussion soon turned to the possibility of moving to Lunar City.
Lucien checked Vesperin’s vitals once more as he shared it could be within the next two weeks.
That would be right after Christmas. The holiday had approached quickly while they’d hidden here.
So, the plan was made: before the year was over, whether Vesperin was awake or not, they would be going to Lunar City.
Lucien turned to his medical bag, tucked halfway under the bed.
The others talked amongst themselves as he knelt and tugged out his phone, pulling up the hastily taken photo of the file folder from the underground lab in Nova Zone 21.
He’d barely allowed himself to look at it, but he knew the words by heart.
Lucien stood, fingers drifting over Vesperin’s. This would destroy her if she knew what Lucien was going to say.
Auren met his eyes and nodded.
"Project Phoenix is a weapon." Lucien showed his phone to the others. "A biomechanically modified human, with a Stella of Airborn, level three. There’s only one Airborn level three I know, and he died on a mission to another planet, and his parents didn’t even shed a tear at his funeral, all while I had to put together the pieces of his Soulbond while she grieved him.
"You don’t fucking mean—" Rhyden started.
Lucien swallowed. "Yes. Kiton Blackfall is Project Phoenix."
"Kit? The same Kit who was Ves’s best friend?" Cyrus’s tone was muted compared to his usual sultry flamboyance. "The same one she crushed on for years but didn’t let herself have because they were siblings—that Kit?"
Lucien narrowed his eyes. "How do you know all of that?"
Cyrus shrugged a shoulder. "My doll loves to tell me things, especially after she’s been pleasured."
Lucien just sighed. He knew why Rhyden knew—the vampire was obsessive when it came to her.
Something Lucien only realized after being stuck in one place with him for so many days.
But Cyrus had none of the Earthen connections that the vampire had; that meant he was telling the truth, and Vesperin really had shared her sweet crush and gentle musings with him.
Lucien tried not to feel jealous as he said, "Kiton is alive, and I fear what has been done to him at the hands of his parents."
Rin was thrust into dream after dream. Her head throbbed. She thrashed. Then a rush of something cool in her veins, calming her. That brief moment of calm, right before she fell back into dreams, was the one moment she could grasp the lingering vestiges of whatever visions plagued her.
It was a litany of history. Her history. Rin was always at the center of it.
Thousands of names and lives. Lips against hers, words spoken in her ear, hands passing over her flesh. Pleas and praise. Sobs and laughs.
Now that I’ve paid your price, pay mine. A dance.
A veil over her eyes, pulled away to reveal a face she knew as well as her own—red eyes and white hair. Unison vows. I do.
The dream drifted away, then morphed.
I am Lucien Quenlan, and I swear to you, I will never do anything to hurt you, nor will I ever use you or your body for evil purposes.
She wanted to sob, but if she did, a diamond would fall in place of liquid.
She thrashed from the force of holding her tears back. Words spilled out. "Find me in the—find m-me in—the next." Her jaw locked up.
The cool rush in her veins gentled her again, and she was forced back into memories.
Awareness came slowly.
Rin’s body ached. It hurt to breathe.
Her brain throbbed in time with her heart, each sickening beat dragging her closer toward wakefulness.
She didn’t want it—wanted to go back to the dreams, the memories, the hands, the eyes…
Eyes in shifting colors swam in her mind like fish in a bowl, trapped in her skull.
Red, purple, green, brown, blue—
Black.
She tried to focus on the black. She remembered that shade, from more than just far-reaching, flickering memories. She remembered black eyes from a time close—too close to be from a life beyond this one.
She couldn’t move, not even wiggle her toes. She was caged in her own flesh.
Her bruised mind drifted to those black eyes, whispers against the tear tracks on her cheeks.
I know, Star of mine. This had to happen. I will atone for eternity for allowing this to come to pass.
But when she focused on that memory, she remembered more—
The pain.
Her thoughts shifted to brown eyes, freckles scattered across a face she knew well. But no fondness on the face she could sketch from memory alone—only severe apathy and single-minded determination.
Kit was alive.
Rin’s fingers twitched. She felt something soft beneath her palms. A blanket?
Touch faded beneath the terror of her memories. Eventually, sound returned. The faint drip of liquid, the clicking of keys on a laptop, murmured voices, and rustling pages.
Each time Rin fought to surface, horror dragged her down again. So she let herself stay consumed by the darkness.
It was easier than facing what had happened to her.
Rin couldn’t fight it any longer.
With a gasp, she jolted upright, skin tingling as remnants of the electricity Kit had used still coursed through her.
Something was stuck in her hand, itchy tape over her wrist. She twisted, blankets tangled around her hips.
Too bright.
Too loud.
The voices grew concerned, closer.