The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (24 page)

Anya widened her eyes. “You’re obsessed.”
She thought for a bit, flabbergasted that this person who qualified
as pure evil, had actually been to the place she and Leticia called
home, multiple times. “Why did I never see this coming, all the
times that I saw you?”

“
That’s why Xenith is
friends with everyone,” Julius said with a razor-thin smile, and a
troubling candidness in his manner. “Including the meticulous
people at the XDA, formerly known as the FDA, who are responsible
for approving new drugs. We’ve gained everyone’s trust.”

“
And you used our
friendship”—Anya gestured towards Leticia, as she spoke to
Julius—“to extract Elven blood. Nice. Maybe you’ve been drugging
Leticia all along to get her to be so enamored with you in the
first place. Do you have a secret pill for that?”

“
I didn’t make her fall in
love with me,” Julius said, turning modestly to his side. “That was
her choice entirely.”

“
He’ll make a good husband.
What else could a girl ask for?” Leticia sidled up to Julius, and
gave him a kiss, which made Anya feel like retching. Then Leticia
seemed to shoot a look at Anya—SHUT UP, I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING—Anya
almost heard Leticia say.

Anya noticed a certain amount of tension, in
Leticia’s facial muscles. She was going to do something Julius
might not approve of. She was going to go against his control-freak
authoritarianism.

“
The elixir of life isn’t
for you, then?” Nin resumed the conversation with
Julius.

“
It’s for Xenith’s
customers—we pride ourselves on being the most customer-centric
company in the world.” Julius looked up for a moment. “And it is
still a business, at the end of the day, which means we’re focused
on profit margins—mega huge profit margins.” Julius emphasized each
word carefully, his eyes wild with the expectancy of the
accumulated wealth. “Which is why I cannot allow you and
your…titanium-nanotechnology, to become mainstream. People have to
be kept on their drugs. And to be kept on their drugs, they have to
be kept
sick
. Your
titanium-nano would get in the way.”

Both Leticia and Anya made eye contact with
each other. The pale, fluorescent light seemed to reveal a horror
in Leticia’s face. Was Julius going to wipe the Elven race out,
just so he could keep people diseased, with the human version of
nanotechnology?

“
It’s nothing personal,”
Julius said casually to Nin. “Just business.”

Nin bowed his head for a moment. Julius
seemed to only be familiar with one side of life—the side where
greed was good.

Chapter 16:

“
I’m already starting to
feel old and tired,” Julius joked. “See this line here?”

He pointed to some fine lines across his
forehead, and below his eyes.

“
You work too hard, that’s
why,” Leticia said softly, with a light kiss.

Julius looked into her
eyes, then at her face. “You have nice skin.” He looked at Nin,
then at Anya. “You have a little bit of acne…but you wouldn’t
need
timeless.
Yet.”

Anya rolled her eyes. “Take me as I am,” she
wanted to snap at Julius, but held her tongue, and showed him the
finger instead, behind her back.

Anya kept her eyes fixed on Julius, as he
dragged a chair to sit in front of them, because she thought it was
the safer thing to do. Leticia was quietly switching the blood
vials—replacing the tray with the vials of Elven blood. She lifted
the trays quietly and steadily.

“
What do you know of the
poem?” Nin asked Julius. “What’s your interpretation?”

“
It’s pretty
straight-forward, isn’t it?” Julius took out a piece of paper from
his pocket. “The first is of the tree with magical properties, the
second part tells of an elixir that grants immortality, the third
refers to…elves and humans.”

“
We call it Bloodstar—the
Tree of Life,” Nin said. “The tree sustains all forms of life. If
you destroy it, everything on earth will be annihilated,
also.”

Anya forced herself to keep her gaze on
Julius, though she noticed Leticia turning around from the corner
of her eye.

“
That can’t be true. You
and I are still alive,” Julius said, keeping his steely gaze on
Nin.

Nin shifted a little in his seat.

“
My dad and a team are at
the tree, right now,” Julius continued. He reached for his wallet
in his jeans’ pocket. He showed Nin a photo of the fig tree. “We’re
more than halfway with excavating practically half of the roots.
Our products are in high demand, you do understand.”

Nin kept a steady gaze on Julius, on his
light gray eyes. “What you’re doing, essentially, is removing the
life force of the planet.”

“
We don’t intend to destroy
the tree completely…” Julius said, almost benevolently. “We’ll make
transplants, figure out something. After all, we’d need a steady
supply of the roots.”

“
Those roots hold the
center of the earth,” Nin said, in earnest.

“
You don’t actually believe
that, do you?” Julius sounded dubious. “Maybe you’re not as smart
as I thought, after all.”

Nin didn’t answer.

Julius rested the side of his head on an
outstretched arm. “What about the other two?” Julius looked at the
piece of paper. He had scribbled down some of what Nin had said, on
the tape recording.

“
Eternal life. Not
necessarily only for humans…and the third…” Nin reflected on it, on
not neglecting the other side of life. “It could mean several
things, I think.”

“
Elven and human!” Julius
said, with a clap of his hands. “We both bleed the same color of
blood, by the way. Interesting, no?”

Nin nodded. “Or life and death,
perhaps.”

Julius shrugged. “Then it makes good sense.
Whether you’re human, or Elven—if you don’t want to die, here’s
the, ‘Tree of Life,’ as you call it, and the ingredients to make an
elixir of everlasting life.”

Nin leaned back, with a knowing smile.

“
Something you don’t
approve of?” Julius inquired.

“
There’s no convincing
you,” said Nin. “Your single-minded world view is based
on…”

“
Money, yes, it’s true,”
Julius finished for him, though Nin had been intending to use the
word ‘greed.’ “Money is the root of all evil. Money makes the world
go round. Money lasts forever. I’ve heard it all. What I know is
that money buys power. And more power buys more money.”

Anya thought she saw a wave of compassion
flow out from Nin, to Julius. She did a double take. She couldn’t
believe that anyone could be empathetic towards someone who clearly
was apathetic, and a full-fledged sociopath. That lack of empathy,
coupled with corporate greed, made for a first-rate madman. Anya
was willing to lay down her life to stop Julius, Xenith, and greed
(if she could), if it came to such a situation.

“
You. What do you care
about?” Julius asked Nin.

Nin had nothing to hide, which he thought
was peculiar. Perhaps he was more comfortable with his
philosophical nature, when death seemed to be a real possibility.
“You, me, and everybody else,” he answered simply. “I think it was
a mistake for the Elven and human worlds to lose touch with each
other…we do exist, as much as you do. I think both sides have
things to learn from each other.”

When Julius laughed, Anya thought her blood
had turned to ice. “Oh…you’re so idealistic.” He shook his head
slowly at Nin, disapprovingly. “Don’t you realize that humans are
never going to change? I don’t know about elves, but mankind hasn’t
changed much, over the centuries. People have only become busier,
not wiser. Technology advances. This”—Julius pointed to his
brain—“this doesn’t.”

Nin and Julius were in the same zone, Anya
realized. Intellect was the common ground amidst their extremely
opposite natures. One was optimistic, the other was negative. One
believed, while the other doubted. One was devilishly charming,
while the other was the devil himself.

Nin gave a nod. “I know that to be a fact,”
he said. “It’s in the Elven code to keep things in balance. I think
humans forgot that, when the Elven and human races decided not to
live side-by-side, anymore.”

Julius shook his head again, then stood up.
“You’re wasting your time, caring.”

“
The love you take is equal
to the love you make.” Nin just lifted an eyebrow slightly. He
didn’t want Julius to mistake a smile as cockiness.

Julius gave a half-laugh, and shrugged. He
looked upon Nin, with a touch of pity. In his view, Nin was
fighting a lost cause.

“
We have to go,” Leticia
said to Julius, handing him a set of keys.

“
Where to?” Anya asked. She
looked at Leticia, and almost saw right through her. For a moment,
Anya wasn’t sure of anything or anyone.

“
The...tree of life,”
Julius said tentatively, like the words didn’t sit well in his
mouth. They tasted too simple for his mind. “I’m out of tree roots.
I’m heading there to get a bunch, then I’ll get back here to make a
range of samples to test out.” He stood up, and stretched his arms
out in front of him. “If you want something done right, you’ve got
to do it yourself.”

“
Why does she have to go
with you?” Anya gestured towards Leticia. They’d heard from some of
Julius’s exes that he had a possessive streak. Anya was sure none
of them knew he’d go this far, in his pursuit of what he called
success.

“
Because I wouldn’t trust
leaving her here! I’d have a bodacious babe for company too.” He
gave Leticia a hug, as he picked up the square blue box of vials
which he presumed contained the vials of Elven blood. “Traveling
alone is boring.” He faced Nin. “How do you travel? By
magic?”

Nin cocked his head. “I guess so.” He hoped
Julius didn’t know about The Velvet Underground.

“
Magic buses and castles in
the sky…” Julius recited what sounded like a nursery rhyme, before
throwing a hand up in the air, like he was scattering a handful of
pixie dust.

“
How’re you getting there?”
asked Nin. “Jet plane?”

Julius nodded. “Halo Intersceptor.”

The Halo Intersceptor was an interchangeable
vehicle—a super car, personal jet, and a great sea boat. It was a
stunning icon of extreme sports, fun leisure, and business
travel.

Julius twirled the set of keys Leticia had
handed to him. “Jet plane and a jeep, all in one. I’ll be there
before sunrise.”

“
Why am I still here?” Anya
asked.

“
I need to keep you alive,”
Julius answered unperturbedly. “To test a PTSD-drug—you know what
that stands for, don’t you?”

“
Post traumatic stress
order,” Anya mouthed the words out clearly, defiantly. “I’m not
brainless.”

“
Ah, but not resistant to
drugs…” Julius said, almost lost in his own thoughts. He looked at
Anya, then gestured with his eyes to the Elven trio. “You’ll be
watching them die, slowly. After that traumatic event, I’d like to
see how you take to one of our new products.”

Anya felt a lump in her throat. She didn’t
know if the pure iron in the ropes were enough to kill them, or if
Julius was planning something more sinister.

“
I have a happy pill in the
works too,” Julius went on. “It induces good and long-lasting
feelings, with few harmful side effects—I intend to sell it as a
love pill for single people.”

A jolt of a shock ran
through her body when she thought of the look Julius had given her
in her room, when Leticia had seen the slip of paper on which Anya
had written about a certain “Mr. Perfect.”
Good Lord,
Anya thought,
that’s why Julius was looking at me that way—I
was just another experiment!

Julius turned back slightly, as he and
Leticia walked out arm in arm. “I forgot the diamond dust.”

“
I’ll get it,” she replied.
He continued up some stairs, while Leticia re-entered the
lab.

Leticia grabbed a packet on a counter, which
held three crystal pendants. She turned back, making sure Julius
was nowhere near, before hurrying over to Anya. Leticia produced a
small wire cutter from her back pocket, and cut through the ropes
holding Anya’s hands. She gave Anya the packet, and held up her own
icicle pendant, which she had hidden in her pocket. She also handed
Anya a small thumbdrive.

“
He didn’t know I had one,”
Leticia said in a hushed voice, even though Julius was out of
earshot. “He cracked one open and poured it into one of the vials.”
Leticia pointed to the blue box, before pointing at the thumbdrive.
“Has Julius’s password—I set the video in a loop for just a short
while—pass this to Dresan—he’ll know what to do.”

Anya looked around the room, and Julius’s
laptop in the corner, and understood. Julius would surely have
cameras spying on their every move while he was away from his home
and underground lab.

Anya gave her best friend a tight hug, then
stared at her with an open mouth. She managed to verbalize what she
meant to ask. “How did all this happen?”

“
I’m so sorry,” Leticia
whispered to Anya and Nin. She clasped her hands, begging their
forgiveness. “I had to make him think I was on his side, then he
said Tavia was here, and he said he could use that to lure all of
you here, and he was right! There was no other way!”