Redlisted (20 page)

I can only think
of one thing to do. I try to command him with my mind, like I
commanded the deer:
Get
the fuck off of me.

He pauses for a
moment; then, without letting go of my wrists or my face, he climbs
off my waist, hauls me off the bed and pins me against the wall. The
back of my head slams hard. I see stars.

An entire set of
razor-sharp teeth sink into my neck. The pain of the bite is
excruciating. I frantically try to command him away:
Let
go of me—Get away from me—

The door opens.
The room floods with light. Someone grabs him from behind and pulls
him off of me. At that moment his face loses shape, melting like
butter. Then it re-forms.

Gabriel.

He lets go of my
face and hands. I fall along the wall to the floor as he whirls
around to face his assailant.

It’s Haruko.
She strikes his nose with the palm of her hand, stunning him for a
moment. He stumbles backward, clutching his face, and almost falls on
top of me before regaining his balance. Haruko wavers slightly as
well. Is she drunk?

I drag myself
towards the bed, slithering along the floor with one hand clamped
over my gushing neck. The two grapple with each other for what seems
like an hour. I crawl under the bed and watch anxiously, breathing
hard and praying for Haruko to get the upper hand. I can see a knife
protruding from Gabriel’s back—she must have stabbed him
earlier—but he fights on like a machine.

The next thing I
see, he’s grabbed on to Haruko’s hair. As she struggles
to free herself, he begins smashing the front of her skull into the
edge of the porcelain tub over and over. She screams wordlessly,
sickeningly, but it’s useless; after one final impact against
the tub, her body goes limp and her screams abruptly truncate. My
entire body wrenches involuntarily with revulsion.

The door to the
outer hallway opens. Aya stands in the doorway.

Gabriel hurls
Haruko’s body to the ground and pulls himself up to standing.
He walks slowly towards Aya, watering over her. She just stands
there, expressionless, like a deer caught in headlights.

I can’t hold
on any longer. As he moves to strike her, my vision fades to black.

I pass out.

{Adam}

I sat on the floor
outside the seraglio for what seemed like an hour. Once I managed to
subsume the feeding impulse, I started to fall asleep. I forced
myself to keep my eyes open, not wanting to submit to another memory
vision.

I was upset with
myself. How was I ever going to leave the estate? I couldn’t
force myself to feed on one of the people in the seraglio, even
though Julian had contracted them just for that purpose. I shut down
as soon as I felt my canines sharpen. How could I possibly sustain
myself out in the wider world, feeding from normal people on the
street? People who’d try to resist?

A century from
now, I’d still be drinking from the amphora.

The double doors
to the seraglio opened. Haruko stepped out into the hallway,
positively glowing. I stood up, wobbling a little, and smiled at her.

“You okay?”
she asked.

“Yeah, I’m
fine,” I said, shaking my head no.

“Okay.”
She blinked, frowned. “I guess we should be getting back to the
others...”

I took a few steps
towards the staircase to the ballroom, then stopped.

“What’s
wrong?”

“Do you mind
if I ask you something?”

“It depends.
I mean, you can ask, but I might not answer.”

“Right.
Well, either way.” I scratched the back of my head. “So
the Wardens brought Aya here?”

“My own
mother did, actually,” Haruko said.

“Why did
they think that was such a good idea?”

She gave me a
sideways look.

“What?”

“You’ve
got a problem with Julian.”

“No. That’s
not it,” I lied. “It’s just... I don’t know.
She doesn’t seem happy to me. And, he, well, he treats her like
an indentured servant. Makes her call him Master. It’s
bizarre.”

“Does he
make her do it, or does she do it because she wants to?”

I shrugged.

“You think
Aya is unhappy now? You should have seen her before. I bet all her
groveling, all that deferential behavior of hers, is just an
aftereffect of all the bullshit her father put her through.”

I had no idea how
to respond.

“We made the
right choice, placing her with him. I mean, even if he can’t
figure out how to help her recover, it’s not like he’s
going to take advantage of her. Not like most men would.”

“How do you
figure?”

“You doubt
his character? After all he’s done for you?”

“Well, it—I
don’t know—it’s just that—“

She laughed.
“Relax. I’m just fucking with you.”

I sighed and
started off down the hallway.

She followed
beside me. “Look, Adam, I know everything is weird for you
right now.” Her voice was suddenly tinged with sympathy; I
couldn’t decide whether or not I found it grating. “This
might be hard for you to believe but... well, you might never learn
to like Julian, but more likely than not you’ll grow to
appreciate what he’s done for you.”

I looked away.

“I can tell
you this,” she continued. “I appreciate what he’s
done for Aya. Whatever that’s worth.”

We arrived at the
ballroom to find it lit to spectacular brilliance. High tables full
of candles and vases full of sunflowers lined the perimeter of the
room. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall threw back the
glittering lights like mirrors. In the center of the room, right in
the place where I’d first awakened, stood Julian, Aya, and a
tall, thin woman dressed in green.

She was almost too
severe-looking to be beautiful, her hair too tightly coiffed, too
smooth, too red, but behind her green eyes was a magnetic field of
sheer presence. I started walking towards her without even
considering it; a reflex I could control no more than a jerk of my
knee or the sharpening of my teeth.

Julian glared at
me, silently lecturing me to heed his previous advice. “Adam.
There you are. This is my daughter Mirabel,” he said. “Mira,
this is Dr. Adam Fletcher.”

Mirabel turned,
looked me up and down.
Isn’t
that funny,
she thought to herself, smiling.
He’s
the spitting image of Lucien.

“It’s
a pleasure,” she said, extending her right hand.

I took it. Her
skin was very cold, very smooth. “Likewise.”

She kept smiling,
her teeth like razors, her gaze like a spear. I could feel the
metallic tang of adrenaline hit the back of my throat.

“Just
think,” she said. “In one hundred and twenty years, minus
one month, maybe we’ll all be here celebrating the anniversary
of your initiation.”

I pulled my hand
away.

“Is that how
long it’s been?” Julian said, laughing with forced
enthusiasm.

“Doesn’t
it seem like longer?” She gazed off into space, took a deep
breath. “I feel like I’ve been alive forever.”

“Well. The
food is ready,” Julian said. “Why don’t we sit
down?”

The four of them
moved to take places at the long wooden table. I hung back for a
moment, overwhelmed and confused. Food? I prayed it was actual food,
not blood or something more perverse.

Actual food it
was, I discovered as I sat down at one end of the table, as far away
from Mirabel as I could manage. At each of the settings was a salad
with some kind of deep purple garnish on it and a glass of something
dark and red. I picked it up and smelled it—wine. I put it back
down without drinking.

The four others
picked up utensils and started to eat. I looked down at the plate and
felt a mild sense of revulsion.

“Not a salad
eater?” Haruko asked.

“No,”
I said. “I mean, yes, I eat salad...”

Mirabel took a sip
of her wine. “So, Adam, tell me about yourself,” she
said, once again fixing her gaze on me. “Julian tells me you’re
terribly distinguished.”

I felt my mouth
move on its own, forming silent syllables as I tried to think of
something to say. “I’m a neurologist,” I finally
managed to stammer. “I mean, I was a neurologist...”

Her eyelashes
fluttered.
It’s
as if Julian had made an android version of Lucien,
she remarked silently.
Without
a personality chip.

“I’m
also a telepath,” I said, speaking through my teeth.

“I see,”
she said, laughing. “My apologies.”

Julian pinched the
bridge of his nose.

Strange,
Mirabel thought.
He’s
been trying to produce one for years. I wonder what he did
differently this time?

I looked down at
my plate and poked idly at a piece of lettuce with a fork. It might
have been the wrong one; there were three by my plate. I had no
intention of eating in any case. I was just trying to avoid Mirabel’s
eyes.

“I’ve
never told you much about my real father, have I, Adam?” Aya
asked.

I frowned,
surprised she’d bring it up in front of everyone. “No...”

“His name
was Zenas Markham. Before she went missing, Haruko’s mother
saved me from him,” she said. “Her name was Jennifer. She
was very kind to me.”

Haruko shifted in
her chair, looking uncomfortable.

“But I’m
getting ahead of myself,” Aya said. “The Wardens told me
I first arrived at my father’s estate sometime in the
eighteen-twenties, but I don’t remember that. Nor do I remember
how he made me his daughter.

“Like
everyone in the Line of Thalia, my father was an illusionist, capable
of affecting the way others perceived him. He used this ability to
create an elaborate mythology for us to inhabit, and placed himself
at the center of its pantheon.”

Three human
servants entered the room, pushing serving carts. I closed my eyes
and gritted my teeth, trying to ignore them.

Adam.
Mirabel’s voice, echoing in the back of my head.
I
have something important to tell you, something precious little Aya
is trying to prevent me from saying.

I could hear the
heartbeat of one of the humans right next to me. I heard them take my
plate and replace it with another. I swallowed hard and opened my
eyes. A rare steak. The sight of it made me nauseated.

“I’m a
vegetarian,” I blurted out.

The servant, a
young woman with chin-length black hair, blanched. “I’m
sorry. I’ll take it away. May I get you something else?”

“Thank you.
No.”

“Our two
families come from shared stock, you see,” Aya continued.
“While Mnemonics like you may be able to sense the thoughts of
others, or to control their thoughts or impulses, those in my Line
can adapt the experiences others have of reality. We can control
their perception of the world.”

Your
life is in danger,
Mirabel’s voice said.
You
need to get out of here.

“That is
what Markham did to me. He made me believe he was someone dear to me,
someone important,” Aya said. “First, he appeared to be
my biological father; when I discovered that to be nothing but an
elaborate disguise, he tried to make me believe he was my twin
brother.”

Save for
myself, he’s killed every one of his sons and daughters before
you. He’ll kill you too, once he gets what he needs from you.