Emily (20 page)

‘
Where did you send her
?’ Applejacks thought.

‘
To the void
,’ Emily replied, realising with horror that she had just killed her.

Focusing on Vondra, Emily teleported her chains away and within seconds of freedom Vondra had transformed into a white tiger. She leapt into the fight crashing into two wolves, slashing them deeply with her claws.

Roy yelled for his men to shoot. ‘Target all of them,’ and Emily knew she only had seconds to teleport her group away. But everyone was moving so fast, she had never teleported moving objects before. As she was trying to focus, one of Varrick’s wolves leapt at Applejacks pushing him out of Emily’s reach. Realising that she had run out of time Emily knelt down and took a deep breath in. There was a loud pop as Rumour, Applejacks, Vondra, Ross, Vince and his three men teleported away.

Vladimir and Eric had been behind her and knowing this, Emily had chosen to stay with them. Before she fell into unconsciousness, she saw that both Eric and Vladimir had been shot with a tranquiliser gun. As darkness enveloped her, she sent out a thought to them.
‘
My loves
.’

Vladimir came to and realised he was shackled to a wall. Next to him Eric was moaning, also coming to. The chains were thick and as Vladimir tested them he knew he couldn
’t break them.

‘
Môn vieux, are you alright?’ but Eric moaned again. Vladimir was nauseous, his head hurt and he was dehydrated. The cell was dark with no windows and he could smell a dirty dampness that smelt of terror and blood. It could be any time of the day or night as a bright light was on in the cell. The cell was modern in design.

‘
Vlad,’ Eric moaned again, ‘Vlad.’ There was something wrong. Eric wasn’t coming around and Vladimir could see blood in his ears.
Oh God, what have they done?
he thought.

He called softy;
‘Eric…focus. Come on, Môn vieux, wake up!’ He threw all his strength against his chains and for a moment he thought they gave a little. Concentrating he tried to change into a wolf but he couldn’t; he needed to be running to make the change. Then he heard a key turn in the heavy metal door and Roy and Ivan stepped into the room.

‘
Where’s Sarah?’ Ivan barked, there was madness in his eyes.

‘
I don’t know,’ Vladimir replied, although he guessed that Sarah was dead. The look on Emily’s face when she had teleported Sarah away told him that.

‘
I can’t feel her,’ Ivan raged. Turning to Roy he screamed, ‘Where’s the witch? I want her dead!’

He
’s out of control
, Roy thought and then said in a soothing voice, ‘Ivan, get it together. Come on, we’ll form a search party. Remember, the girl transported the others away, they may be with Sarah,’ he didn’t care if Sarah was dead even though he had slept with her a couple of times, but then, so did half the guards.

Ivan turned and left the small cell, his face was white with rage and he wanted to hurt something.

‘Something is wrong with Eric.’ Vladimir loathed speaking to Roy but he was worried about his mate.

‘
So, what do I care?’ Roy replied, but he walked over to Eric and lifted his head. Looking at Eric’s eyes he saw they were completely bloodshot.

‘
Your kind heals fast, he will recover soon,’ Roy declared coldly, ‘Varrick doesn’t want you dead just yet.’

‘
Where is Emily?’ Vladimir demanded, his deep voice carried death in it.

‘
Oh yes, your witch. Varrick has special plans for her. As we speak she is undergoing the gene program, it will be interesting to see what happens to her,’ and then he paused and said, ‘That is, if she survives.’

Vladimir
’s answer was to throw himself against the chains, but Roy just looked at him without fear.

‘
Your father will soon realise that you’re only helpful to him by being dead. Rabid dogs get put down,’ and Roy left the cell laughing.

Vladimir
’s body pulsed with uncontrollable rage.
I can’t believe that I was so brainless
, he thought. All his years of planning were for nothing. He had doomed them all.

Eric slowly lifted his head and said,
‘Vlad, are you alright?’

Eric
’s voice brought Vladimir back into control. He would remain focused. There was always a way out and he let that thought repeat over and over in his head while he spoke to Eric. ‘Môn vieux, I am so worried about you. Are you alright?’

‘
My head hurts. God I’m thirsty, how long have we been here?’

‘
I’m not sure, I would say a day,’ Vladimir replied.

The door to the cell opened again and a man with light brown hair that reached his shoulders and a trimmed beard, walked in. He was pushing a trolley that had food on it.

‘My name is Janak, I’m here to feed you.’ Looking at the men he added, ‘I’m sorry but I can’t let you down.’

‘
How do we know it is not poisoned?’ Vladimir asked him.

Janak grabbed the drink bottle, put it to his lips and took a swig. Then he pushed it towards Vladimir, holding it while he took a drink and then did the same for Eric. Both men felt better with some fluids inside them. Janak got the food, took a large spoon from the trolley and fed both men. The stew was thick but it was very bland in taste. There was a guard watching them and he told Janak to hurry, it was obvious that the guard didn
’t think much of him. Turning back to the guard, Janak accidentally tripped and smashed the bowl, splattering stew on the guard’s boots and trousers.

The guard turned the gun around and punched it into Janak
’s stomach commanding, ‘You fool. Clean this up.’ Then he went to the hallway and barked for another abnormal to bring a cloth for his boots.

A blonde woman appeared, smiling at the guard. Her dress was cut low and the guard
’s eyes moved to her chest as she got down on her knees and began to clean the boots. Janak was picking up the pieces of the bowl and when the guard was distracted whispered to the men, ‘We’re only few but we’ll get you out. Plans are in place.’

Vladimir whispered back,
‘What about Emily? Do you know where she is?’

‘
She’s in the lower dungeons. We can’t get to her right now.’

‘
Can you get us out?’ Vladimir whispered.

‘
We’ll try in two days time. I’ve heard that they’re going to torture you both tomorrow. If you live through it, we’ll get you out,’ Janak said, keeping his voice low as he wiped the floor.

‘
Are my men still alive?’ Vladimir almost didn’t want to ask the question, he was afraid that Vince and his men had been captured again.

‘
I don’t know but Varrick has not been able to find them yet.’ Janak stood up, he was finished cleaning.

The guard returned to the cell and barked,
‘Move it. You’ve caused me to be late for my replacement.’ Janak lowered his eyes as he walked past the guard and said nothing.

After they were gone, Vladimir looked at Eric.
‘Maybe we will get another chance.’

‘
Only if we live past tomorrow,’ Eric responded.

‘
If we don’t, Môn vieux, then Emily is dead,’ Vladimir countered.

‘
Or worse,’ Eric replied, locking eyes with Vladimir.

* * *

The next morning, Varrick walked into the jail cell with Ivan and Roy.

‘
Where is Emily?’ Vladimir demanded.

‘
My new pet is safe,’ Varrick replied. ‘Perhaps you should be more concerned for yourselves and the plans I have for you today.’

‘
We’ve been looking forward to it,’ Eric quipped, he wouldn’t show Varrick any fear.

Vladimir remained silent as Varrick
’s men unchained him. It was surprising how much pain flooded through his body as the blood rushed back into his limbs. Eric grunted but neither man showed that it hurt.

Varrick smiled. He would enjoy torturing these men as he could see that neither would give in easily. Two men had guns and Vladimir had realised that this was not the moment to try and escape. As they were led down a narrow hallway past more cells, Vladimir noticed that they were full of both men and women. They looked out at them as they walked past, but there was no hope in their eyes and Vladimir didn
’t have to be Emily to feel their suffering.

God
, Vladimir thought,
why is Varrick doing this?
He couldn’t comprehend how someone could be so cruel to another.

They entered a lift that carried them down a floor then opened up to a large white room. It had modern medical equipment that looked sinister against the chains hanging from the ceiling and a trolley with instruments that didn
’t look like they were made to heal but rather to inflict pain. One section looked like an operating theatre with large lamps above it. There were large grates to catch the fluids from dismembered bodies.

The men were strapped onto metal tables and Varrick put a record on an old turntable. The music was operatic and at any other time Vladimir would have thought the music beautiful.

‘I prefer something a bit more modern,’ Eric volunteered sounding friendly.

Varrick turned his attention to Eric. Then he pulled out a metal stool and sat down just a metre away from him.

‘I looked up who your father was last night, his name was Thomas. I believe your mother was fond of him.’

‘
Was?’ Eric responded. His heart had skipped a beat when Varrick had mentioned his father, he had spent a lot of time wondering who his father was.

‘
He was the son of one of my trusted guards. Unfortunately for him, he helped your mother escape; at the start I was so disappointed with him. But he lasted three days in this very room. I was proud of him for holding out but in the end he begged for his life.’

Vladimir could see how this was affecting Eric so he said,
‘It seems like a lot of your people betray you. If I was you, I would put some thought into that fact.’

Varrick laughed,
‘My son, if you join me maybe you can show me the error of my ways.’

‘
Never,’ Vladimir replied coldly.

‘
Many men have said never to me in this room,’ and then turning to Ivan he said, ‘I believe you were one of them.’

Ivan looked pale and washed out, his eyes were bloodshot and he seemed not to be able to focus on anything. The broken bond with Sarah had somehow weakened him.

‘I want to kill the witch,’ his voice was hoarse. He had spent the night as a wolf in the forest, howling for Sarah.

Varrick was gentle with his words.
‘Ivan, I need the girl for a little longer. Once I have harvested her eggs I will let you kill her.’

Looking at Vladimir he smiled and added,
‘Anyway you want to.’

Vladimir
’s rage was building in him, it was in his head and consuming him. He imagined ripping Varrick to pieces.

Varrick just laughed and turning to Roy said,
‘Now, where do we start?’

Roy picked up an electric coil and replied,
‘Let’s start with this, it’s a bit cold in here.’

* * *

Emily woke with a start; the men were in pain. Her whole body pulsated with it and she let out a scream that was primal. Her thoughts were confused. It was so hard to gather them…again a wave of pain ran through her body.

A voice.
She could hear a voice. It sounded close but it was not in the same room as her.

‘
You are safe.’ It was a woman’s voice with a heavy Czech accent.

‘
No,’ Emily cried. ‘The pain! Vladimir and Eric are in pain.’

‘
Vladimir and Eric?’ The woman’s voice asked sounding startled. ‘Tell me girl, who are you?’ But Emily screamed again. It was so hard for her to think. Then, as suddenly as it had started the pain stopped. She heard the door of the cell open but she couldn’t lift her head. Why couldn’t she move?

The woman
’s voice was harsh and demanded, ‘What are you doing to this girl?’

A man dressed in a white lab coat barked back,
‘Shut up, Valeskia, get back to your room. Why Varrick doesn’t put a bullet into your head I’ll never know.’ But he knew why, the woman meant something to Varrick.

She had the run of the level although she wore a collar that stopped her from leaving it. Her cell was large and comfortable, like a small apartment, and once a month Varrick would join her for dinner. Over the years a peace had come to Valeskia. Varrick had told her that Vladimir and Eric were dead. Everyone she had loved was dead and, in a way, it was freeing. She didn
’t need to protect anyone from Varrick and he had nothing to hold over her. Her faith had stopped her from killing herself over the many years of capture. The gene therapy meant her life was extended, so in the last thirty years Valeskia had hardly changed.

Varrick had expected to breed with Valeskia again
. But Valeskia had taken a knife from one of the guards and stabbed her belly, cutting her womb. Varrick had managed to harvest an egg from the wound, which had made Vondra, but he had been so angry with her that she thought he would kill her on the spot. But instead he’d her sewn up, and while he hadn’t touched her again he would visit her sometimes to talk, sometimes just to look at her. Over the years Valeskia realised he had feelings for her.

Maybe it was love, if a man like him could feel such a thing.

Why had this woman called out Vladimir and Eric’s names? Coming back from her thoughts, Valeskia asked the lab assistant who was injecting an anaesthetic into Emily’s arm, ‘The woman talks of Vladimir and Eric, who are they?’

The lab assistant, who was quite young and didn
’t know of Valeskia’s past with Varrick, responded, ‘Varrick’s son has returned. He brought this girl with him and another man called Eric. They are both on the floor below getting special treatment from Varrick.’ The lab assistant chuckled. The lower floor was a threat that kept the abnormals in line. No one returned from that floor. The hair on Valeskia’s neck prickled and her heart started thumping in her chest; her son was alive.
My son and Eric, they live
, she thought. And then Valeskia realised that they were on the white floor and, more than ever, they needed her protection.