Reining In (The Network) (14 page)

A tear slid down my face. I wanted so badly to tell him everything. Why couldn’t I just tell him? I looked up at Mack. He looked so angry, still. I looked back down and closed my eyes. Mack grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.

“For once in your damn life, Khalida, just tell me the truth. Why do you care about that freak?” His voice shook the room, getting louder with each word. I cringed at every word, wishing I could just say the words.

“What is it about him Khalida? Really, what is it that would make you risk the lives of the people who love you? Jesus, just tell me.” He stopped shaking me, and when I didn’t say anything, he dropped his hands from my shoulders and turned away from me. I just stood there as he grabbed his bag and started throwing his things in it.

“Where are you going Mack?”

“I’m leaving, Khallie. You don’t need me anymore.” His voice was low and bitter.

“I do need you Mack. More than ever. Please, just listen to me.”

Mack spun around and before I could even blink, he was in front of me, pinning me against the wall.

“I’ve been listening Khallie. You know what I hear? Nothing. You don’t tell me anything. You just stand there crying, wanting me to feel sorry for you, but you don’t say anything. So I’m listening, tell me! Why?”

“Mack…”

“Why?” His voice rumbled throughout the house. When I didn’t answer, he hit the wall behind me, leaving a deep impression in the sheetrock with his hand.

“Why?”

“Because…” I was shaking now, barely able to spit the word out.

“Because why?” He stood there waiting. I didn’t know what to say, or where to begin.

“Mack, I… I can’t…” Mack slammed his fist through the wall behind me, and I shuddered.

“You tell me now,” he growled. I was sobbing now. I reached up, trying to grasp his jacket, but he brushed my hand away. Looking at the floor, I whispered, “I love him.”

It was just a whisper, barely audible. But he heard it. Mack stopped and glared at me.

“You what?” A sickened expression appeared on his face. He stood up straight and shook his head, pursing his lips.

“Mack, you don’t understand...”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just don’t talk anymore.” He turned to walk away from me. I reached for his arm, trying to pull him back. He suddenly spun around, pinning me against the wall.

“How could you love him?” he asked, his voice a low growl. I looked up at him, and barely recognized him. I just couldn’t lie to him anymore. I hung my head down and finally told him the secret I had kept for most of my life.

“He’s my son, Mack.” Silence. Mack let go of me and stepped back. His face had gone from angry to confused to pained. We stood there looking at each other in silence. A gasp from the doorway broke the silence. Both Mack and I looked towards the door to see Marlene standing there. She rushed over to me, pushing Mack out of the way. I just stood there as she wiped the tears from my face, mumbling something under her breath, trying to comfort me. Mack turned around and walked across the room, shaking his head.

I finally reached up and grabbed her hands, telling her to stop. I turned and walked out of the room, and headed back towards the living room. I heard Marlene and Mack arguing. I should’ve stopped them. It wasn’t Mack’s fault. He had every right to be mad at me. But I didn’t have the energy.

I didn’t even stay to pack my things. I ran down the stairs, grabbed my keys and walked out the front door, calling Darrin as I hurried towards the car. I pulled out of the drive, and headed towards the airstrip. Within minutes I was climbing aboard the network’s private jet, alone. I needed Mack’s help more than ever, but I couldn’t ask him. I had hurt him; betrayed him. How could I ask him to put his life on the line yet again, when I didn’t even deserve his forgiveness.

Darrin buzzed around me, barking off orders through his phone. I sat down and closed my eyes and let him take care of the details. I was relieved when he finally hung up the phone. The silence was comforting. I heard him head back towards the door.

“Don’t leave yet,” I said, quietly. Darrin stopped and turned back.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, sounding confused.

“I think you should come with me. I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay here, anymore.” He started to argue with me, explaining how he could take care of himself. I didn’t hear most of it, and I wasn’t in the mood to argue.

“Please just sit down, Darrin.”

“Kal, you know I can take care of myself. You need me here.”

“Shut up and do what she said.”

My eyes snapped open. Marlene squeezed past Mack and settled herself in beside me, buckling her seatbelt. Darrin looked as though he would argue, but decided Mack was not in the mood and slinked over to his own seat. Mack met my eyes with his.

“I’m still mad at you, Khallie,” he said matter of factly, pulling the door closed behind him, then walking over to his seat.

Marlene leaned over and whispered “He’s just trying to look tough. Ignore him.” Mack cleared his throat, and raised his eyes at her as he took his seat. She grinned at him and sat back in her chair.

I looked over at Mack, catching his eyes with mine.

“That’s ok. You owe me a new wall.” The corner of his mouth twitched, but he maintained his frown. That’s ok. He called me Khallie. He was going to forgive me afterall. Darrin pounded on the door to the cockpit and yelled up to the pilot.

“We’re clear for take-off.”

The jet slowly headed toward the runway, as we all sat there, looking at each other in silence.

Chapter Seventeen

“Ok, so I’m confused. I thought you couldn’t have children?” Marlene spoke lowly, barely audible. She had waited for Mack to go up front to talk to the pilot before breaking the long silence in the cabin.

“He can hear you.” I said, just as quietly. I stared out the window, forgetting that she had even asked me a question. He had been right. Everything was my fault. All those people were now in danger. And Jake. My Jake. I was so stupid to believe that leaving him behind would keep him safe. Of course he wouldn’t be safe.

I couldn’t put it out of my mind, and one horrible thought kept coming to the surface. The others had been found, mutilated. Jake had not. I knew why. If Vyktor had him, he was saving him for something worse. I had received one other call since boarding the plane. Several other bodies had been found; people who had left already. People Vyktor shouldn’t have been able to find. Yet he did. He was singling them out, one by one, letting me know that he would kill them all if he could But Jake; he wanted me to come to Jake. Vyktor wanted me to see what he was going to do to Jake. This, more than anything, made me sick to my stomach.

Marlene cleared her throat, snapping me back to reality. I looked over at her, trying to decide the best way to avoid this conversation, and decided against it. Maybe it would help the time pass. It certainly didn’t do me any good to keep the whole thing to myself. It didn’t protect anyone, like I had thought it would. Perhaps arming her with the truth would possible save her life. I looked back out the window and sighed.

“I can’t. Not now, anyway.” I paused, trying to figure out where to begin. It was a long story, which spanned several millennia. From the corner of my eye, I could see Marlene’s forehead wrinkle in thought. I knew she was trying to decipher what I had just said. Rather than torture her, I continued.

“Vyktor was born before I became a vampire. He is as old as I am. Well, almost as old. I mean, he is a few years younger than me.” More brow wrinkling. Obviously I was going to have to tell her everything. “His father, Set, was the vampire who turned me. Vyktor was born a vampire.”

“I see.” She was trying not to ask more questions, but I could see it was killing her not to ask, so I decided I better tell it from the beginning.

“It’s a little complicated. I’ll start from the beginning. Um, my beginning, first. You see, I was the illegitimate daughter of an important man” I hesitated, wondering if I should tell her everything, and finally continued. “A … well, he was a pharaoh.”

Marlene gasped, and sat forward in her seat. I guess she thought it was going to be a good story; and perhaps, sitting on the other side of the glass, it was.

“My mother died in childbirth. But before she died, she made my father promise to take me with him and raise me. He truly loved my mother, and so he promised. That was the only part of his promise he kept. He never showed me any affection nor was it ever made known to anyone that I was his child. But his wife knew, and she hated me for it. She treated me like one of her servants and abused me horribly. I was a constant reminder of his infidelity, and the mere sight of me sent her into fits of rage. I endured her treatment, because I had no other choice. I had nowhere else to go.”

“When I was seventeen, my father brought in an advisor. He was a handsome, charming and mysterious man. I was fascinated with him. I would risk running into my step-mother and setting off her fury, just to get a glimpse of him whenever he would visit with my father. I was not so fortunate to avoid her at all times and one day, after a very brutal beating from her, I had been running, trying to just get away and hide from her. I ran right into him.”

“It was like he could see right into my soul. He told me everything I wanted to hear; how I was so very beautiful and innocent, how I deserved to be treated like a queen. He swept me into his arms and I never in my life knew such bliss as the times I spent with him. He promised to take me away from there forever, and I believed him.”

“Several months after we began our affair, he had to leave. He told me he couldn’t take me with him right then, but would send one of his colleagues back for me. He didn’t want to raise my father’s suspicions by leaving and having me disappear at the same time. My father’s connections were important to him. And so he left, and I was there, alone. Shortly after he left, I discovered I was pregnant. I tried so very hard to hide it. I knew it would not be well received, and feared a greater punishment than I had ever known.”

“The other servants did their best to keep me from the eyes of my father and his wife, and for several months, no one suspected anything. But it wouldn’t last. My stepmother caught me bathing one day and saw my swollen stomach. She drug me, naked, through the palace, screaming obscenities the whole way. She beat me to within an inch of my life, and left me locked up in nothing more than an animal stall."

"I fell in and out of consciousness for several days. She had beaten me so badly that when I woke, I couldn’t even remember what had happened. When I saw my father’s sash lying on the ground, I was in shock. I thought it was him that had beaten me so badly.”

“Finally, when I could actually get up on my own two feet, one of my father’s servants snuck in and helped me escape. For the first time in my life, my father had taken pity on me, and had paid the woman to get me out of the city and away from his wife. My father actually came to me, to say his last goodbye. He begged my forgiveness and gave me this.” I pulled the necklace from under my collar, exposing the golden trinket; the same one I had given to Raymond only months earlier.

“And did you?” Marlene asked, her eyes wide with anticipation. When I shot her a confused look, she continued.

“Forgive him. Did you forgive him?” I nodded slowly.

“I don’t know if it was the right thing, but he saved me and my baby. She surely would’ve killed us both if he hadn’t planned my escape. That was the last time I ever saw my father. I fled Egypt and only returned once, long after his death.” I paused again, looking out the window once more. It was weird, recalling my time with my father. Of course his life was recorded in history books. Mine? I never even existed. But my deeds were there. The mysterious disappearance of my father’s wife was probably going to remain a mystery for all eternity. Marlene, cleared her throat again, so I continued once more.

“By the grace of God, my baby had survived the brutal beating. I gave birth to Vyktor only days later. He was months early, but was strong and healthy. It was then that I realized what Set had been, and what my son now was. I should have been afraid, then. But nothing scared me more than the thought of my father’s wife coming after me."

"I prayed for Set to return for me. Months went by, and I heard nothing. I began to think he had lied to me. I focused my attentions to my son. He was a beautiful baby. He was not a monster at all. He was just my son, and I wanted to show him the love I had never been given.”

“When he was almost a year old, a man came to me. He said he had been sent by his master and that I was to go with him. I left Vyktor behind with the servant woman. I wanted to see Set alone, before introducing him to his son. Our reunion was glorious, and at once I forgot everything but being with him. I forgot about being angry with him. I forgot about how he had left me alone to be beaten mercilessly. I had even forgotten about my beautiful son. I just wanted to be with him; for him to hold me and love me. It was then, that he turned me into a vampire. He wanted me to spend eternity with him, and I had no objections.”

I turned my head back to the window and sighed. Marlene didn’t push me. She could tell that I was having much difficulty reliving my past. I stared out the window for a few moments more and then turned back to her.

“Marlene, you must understand, I am very good at reading people. I knew the instant I met you, I liked you. I knew we would be friends and that it would be a lasting relationship. It was the same with Mack and with everyone else in the network. I have never misjudged any of them. But that is now. Then, I was a naïve, stupid little girl.” I sighed again.

“I never even saw it coming. I could only see what I had dreamed my perfect little life could be. I never saw what he really was; a monster, capable of the most horrible things. He would’ve made my step-mother cringe in horror. When he learned of the child we had conceived together, he was furious. In all the beatings I had received over my lifetime, nothing ever hurt so much as when he struck me."

"Had he not turned me before that moment, he surely would’ve killed me. He nearly did anyway. He immediately left, swearing he would kill my child. I tried to stop him, but he only beat me more savagely. Leaving me there in a crumpled, weeping mess.”