22. Isidoro
Isidoro
Everything is a blur. How we get out of the labs, how we reach my mansion.
My body is slowly dying, the poison spreading as I race against time to get both Julian and me to a doctor before it’s too late.
It’s a small blessing the dose was minimal, that Cerberus didn’t pump me full of the deadly substance when his claws ripped a hole through my stomach.
A team is already waiting at the gate, and they take Julian from me, not letting me follow.
“You need immediate medical attention,” Clara says, her hands cold against my cheeks. “We need to treat you now, or you will die, Isidoro, do you understand?”
“Julian… How is Julian?” I protest, trying to break free from Samuel’s hold. But I’m too weak, in so much pain too, and yet that all pales in comparison to the way my heart breaks into thousands of pieces as they carry Julian away from me.
“We are doing everything we can, but you need to let us treat you. Your people need you, Isidoro, they need their king.”
Something pokes my arm, a needle I didn’t see coming. I snarl, baring my teeth, but it’s too late, blackness growing out from the corners of my eyes as I slip away into the realm of dark silence.
I wake with my heart in my throat.
“Isidoro?” Niko shoots up from his chair, tossing away the book he was reading. “Shit. Finally. I was starting to worry,” he says, forcing a laugh that couldn’t be more fake.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, sitting up slowly as I fight off vertigo.
“Ria called. She told us what happened. We flew here as quickly as we could. You’ve been out for a week.”
Ice pierces me. A week? “Julian? Where’s Julian?”
Niko’s silence tears me apart. I stand, ripping the tubes with fluids and meds, and push open the door.
“Wait, you shouldn’t be up yet!”
My friend’s warning is white noise. Inconsequential. I must find Julian.
“At least have some blood,” he insists, catching up to me by the time I reach the stairs.
Blood. My stomach churns. “Fine.” I accept the pack he hands me and drink it in one go, some of it spilling. “Where is he?”
“Basement. They repurposed the second media room,” Niko says, his voice faltering. “He’s not awake yet, Isi. They keep feeding him blood, but it’s not helping. They don’t know—”
I press on. I must see him. He’s mine and he needs my blood, not someone else’s.
As my systems wake up one by one from the nutritious boost, the dull aches of my body slowly dissipate.
I toss on a silk robe somebody hands me, stalking down the stairs into the sublevels of my residence as my senses regain their sharpness.
The red-tinted trail of Julian’s presence manifests before my eyes, faint and shaky. I follow it in a trance, not stopping even as people try to talk to me, and it leads me to him, just like I knew it would. I order everyone to leave the room, the door closing with a dull thud.
He lies in a wrought-iron bed adorned in red silk, his eyes closed and his hands laced atop his chest. An angel, or a devil, depending on his mood for the day, but nevertheless, right now he’s as ethereal as the sunrise on a clear summer day, painting the crystal surface of a lake in hues of gold.
I sit next to him, inhaling his scent. It wanes, just like his presence, but it clings to him, vicious in its refusal to succumb to the end.
Gently, I lean in, stroking one cheek, kissing the other. He simply continues to sleep.
A pang of anguish crowds the heaviness in my chest, bringing a lump to my throat. I swallow around it and make a cut along my wrist, deep enough so it won’t heal for a while. I bring my hand to Julian’s lips, the first drop of blood painting them crimson red.
Then I wait, watching the journey of each drop.
“Wake up, Julian.”
But he doesn’t. Not even as I plead for hours. Or days.
I step out only to feed, to replenish my strength so I can watch over him and give him his.
“Sire, we’ve tried everything, but it seems Bruce cannot be turned into a thrall. We’ve… used a different approach, as instructed. He still refuses to speak.” Samuel walks in a week later with a folder in his hand, bowing his head.
“And this other thing I asked for?”
He nods, fingers still wrapped around the doorhandle. “It’s arrived.”
I place a kiss on Julian’s forehead, moving the leather band over the wound on my wrist. I don’t want to leave him, but I must see to this.
We uncovered another cell in Atlanta, this one smaller and more disjointed, with no enhanced ghouls in their possession.
But we can’t be sure there aren’t more of them out there.
I accompany my assistant to the dungeon. Ria is already there, ass perched on the edge of one of the tables with tools. Bruce has been restrained by chains, his delirious expression a result of the drugs he’s been pumped with so that the shock of losing various parts of his body doesn’t kill him.
Samuel places an upholstered chair in front of him and I sit, crossing my legs. “Speak. I want to know about the operation you were running. We found another cell—how many more are there? Where are they? How many ghouls did you engineer?”
He curses me, saliva dripping from his mouth. “Just kill me already, you monsters. I’m not going to talk no matter how much you torture me.”
I interlace my fingers, leaning forward. He’s lasted this long, so perhaps he’s a stronger nut to crack than he seems.
“Torture is a punishment more effective than death,” I say, accepting the file Samuel hands me. “Perhaps you’d like a companion? Let’s say that poor estranged daughter of yours, who doesn’t even seem to be aware of what her papa has been up to, hmm?”
His eyes bulge, nearly popping out of their sockets. “She has nothing to do with this. She doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
“That makes little difference to me,” I snarl. “Tell me what I want to know, or I will bring her here and turn her into one of us right in front of your eyes. Then I will let her feed on you every night until there’s nothing left.”
He whimpers and cries, snot dripping onto the stone floor. “You are a monster! You’ll pay for this. I won’t tell you shit!”
I stand. “Fine, since you won’t cooperate. I will make sure everyone you ever cared for becomes one of these monsters you hate so much.”
My words seem to have no effect on him. Maybe he believes in his cause, or maybe he’s the heartless monster. It matters little.
With a snap of my fingers, I get Samuel’s attention anew. “Bring it.”
He dips his head, whooshing out of the room only to return a few seconds later with a glass vial in hand. He gives it to me.
I lift the vial to eye level and study the purple substance inside, swooshing it a little. Then I wave it in front of Bruce. “This is an experimental serum I’ve been working on. Something to combat the resistance some individuals have to cooperating.”
“Fuck you,” he spits on the floor.
We won’t get anywhere, not if I continue being civil. My incisors extend, a pang of fury turning inside me as my mind drifts for a second to Julian, still asleep among the silk and blankets.
“Administer it,” I order, leaning back in my chair.
Then I wait.
Bruce struggles and shouts as he’s held down and injected with the experimental drug. The effect is almost immediate, his eyes glassing over and blood dripping from his nose. I was warned that there will be side effects, so I need to act quickly.
“Tell me about your operation,” I demand. “How many outposts do you have, how many ghouls?”
Bruce’s eyes come together toward the middle of his face.
“F-five more bases,” he slurs, head lolling.
“In Washington, Houston, Denver, San Diego and Chicago.” A laugh breaks out of him.
“Chicago safekeeps the serum we used on Cerberus. Our prototype! All the others were a failure”—he clicks his tongue, staring at the ceiling cross-eyed—"too savage, too uncontrollable.”
“How did you kill Andras?” I demand, wishing to clear up that once and for all.
He tilts his head, more blood gushing out of his nose.
“William Vance helped us. He didn’t know.
He took us right to your king.” His words come out even more delirious, voice cracking a bit.
“We recruited him years ago, he helped us set up the operation, injected cash. We promised him a personal army…” A cackle splits the air.
“That fool didn’t even know what we were really doing.
He recruited people for us. Sponsors. We convinced him to set up a meeting with Andras, so we could test Cerberus.
” He grins like a madman. “Oh, he was perfect! An assassin like no other. If only… We were so close,” he wails.
“I told Virginia to speed things up, but she wouldn’t listen!
No matter. The others will finish this. You won’t be able to stop them all.
We are like cockroaches, we spread and we breed and we will come out on top, one way or another. ”
I leave him spewing threats and vomiting blood, knowing enough so I can take care of this issue once and for all.
He doesn’t have long left, he’ll be dead within the hour.
I clench my hands into fists. I will never let the Americas fall under the reign of lunatics like him.
Our species will prevail and we will retain the balance we’ve been maintaining for millennia, no matter how many of his delusional followers I might have to crush.
“What should we do with his daughter?” Samuel asks, halting me at the top of the stairs.
I follow the intricate designs of the metal railing with my gaze, the way they intermingle together. “If she doesn’t know anything, leave her be.”
“Understood.” He’s gone in a puff of mist.
“You can head home now. My condolences for your loss. You will be informed if we find his body,” I say as Ria’s scratchy breathing supersedes her.
She steps out of the shadows by the corner. “Will you let me know when Julian wakes up?” she asks, her voice small but determined.
I tilt my head to the side and look over at her from the corner of my eye. “I’ll give you a call.”