A Shade of Vampire 31: A Twist of Fates (5 page)

I
had
Ibrahim transport me back to the IBSI’s Chicago base to make the journey faster. He took me to the lab in Bloodless territory on the shore of Lake Michigan, where he remained outside the crematorium.

As I drifted down through the lab’s ceiling, I quickly realized that the search would be a short one. During the brief period since I had last been here, the place had been completely evacuated—all the drawers and equipment emptied, the Bloodless, the convicts, all of them gone. Only the cages were left. Cages, bare tables and hollow cupboards. Not a single tube had been left to roll on the floor.

I cursed beneath my breath, though I couldn’t have expected anything different. It was as Dr. Finnegan had predicted. Since they’d realized that the lab was no longer a secret, they’d moved elsewhere.

But where? I couldn’t bring myself to believe that they would just shift into IBSI’s main Chicago base, on the other side of the river. We had already trespassed there too many times before.

I finished searching the entire lab, and then Chicago’s main base anyway, just so that I could return with confidence. As I passed through room after room, passageway after passageway, I was on the lookout for Lawrence. And his father.
I should have killed that man back in Aviary while I had the chance. I had him right in my clutches.

After hours of searching, I found nothing. Frustrated beyond expression, I vowed that this would be the last time I would ever search this stupid place. It seemed to be a rule of thumb that when I needed to search for something, I should assume that it was already gone. Like I said, the IBSI had a way of making things vanish…

I hurried back to Ibrahim, who I felt ever so grateful for in this moment. Although I wasn’t exactly slow, I wouldn’t have been able to hack any journey that was not instantaneous. The Shade would have seemed like an eternity away.

The warlock gripped my shoulder, and a few seconds later we had returned within The Shade’s border and were back on the ground floor of the hospital where we had left Dr. Finnegan, her son and my father.

Dr. Finnegan still sat with her son, though others had entered since. My mother and sister now stood tensely behind my father, their eyes trained on the doctor. They had been in the middle of a conversation, but stopped short as they caught sight of us.

I didn’t like the darkness in my father’s expression. It was as though he had been given some bad news. Some exceedingly bad news. And he hadn’t even spoken to me yet.

“Did you find it?” my mother asked hopefully.

My eyes trained on Dr. Finnegan as I replied, “No. It was as you said, Doctor. They are very quick at moving stuff.”

Dr. Finnegan’s face took on the same dark look as my father’s. I took a seat opposite her and leaned forward, clasping my hands together tensely.

“So what now?” I asked her. “You’re going to have to tell us exactly what the missing ingredient is so we can find it ourselves.”

My father cleared his throat. “Actually, I pressed Dr. Finnegan for that answer while you were away with Ibrahim…” He ran a hand over his face, grimacing, as though it were painful to just spit out the answer.

“What?” I urged. “Tell me!”

Dr. Finnegan sighed. “You will need to solve a mystery…”

W
hen the scientist
revealed the fifth ingredient, I could hardly believe my ears… and yet, deep down, it made sense. It made perfect sense. All the other ingredients were apparently derived from Aviary. It was only logical that the last one would be too.

The thought had occurred to me before how the Hawks were natural-born enemies of the Elders—whom the Bloodless were merely a walking mutation of. And how fatefully in line it would be that, if a cure truly existed to combat the Elder-originated infection, it would be found in the Hawks’ realm.

“For every evil born, another is born to counter it…”

Those were words once spoken by Kiev many years ago, and recounted to me by my mother. They were true. The universe provided us with a natural balance for everything. Fire and water. Earth and sky… Lilith and Kiev.

The fifth ingredient was Hawk blood. But not just any Hawk’s blood…

The scientist’s explanation took us through some history of the IBSI’s scientific advancements, their methods proving even more shocking than I had thought.

Her story began with Frans Sanderson—the same scientist whose home we had visited in Bermuda before stumbling across the gate to Aviary, and who had been assassinated by Atticus.

Frans had been one of the IBSI’s most trusted, leading scientists. He’d been an expert in many fields of science, though he specialized in botany. For years he’d been commissioned by the IBSI to spend time in Aviary examining its natural resources—which were abundant—to see if we on Earth could derive any benefit from them.

Well, he’d ended up discovering more than the IBSI—or specifically Atticus—had bargained for.

With the epidemic of Bloodless plaguing the human world, he’d somehow latched on to the same train of thought that I recently had: that if there was any cure for the Bloodless, it was to be found in Aviary. Thus, although he was supposed to be doing other research work for the IBSI in Aviary, he’d focused his attention on searching for a possible cure. He’d never told his authorities about this, but rather planned to present the results of his findings to them if he was successful in developing the cure.

As fate would have it, around the same time that Frans was conducting his research and experimentations, a different division of the IBSI’s scientists—those of the organization’s lab in Canada, the same lab that my wife had been taken to when the IBSI kidnapped her—had been experimenting deeply with genetics. They were in full swing seeking ways to enhance the human body. Although Dr. Finnegan was not aware of River’s specific kidnapping case, she confirmed that the eggs of half-bloods had been collected, and these played a big part in the experiments that went on during that period. Why? Because half-bloods, at the time, were the closest one could get to being supernatural while still being partially human. That was the reason the IBSI had found them so interesting—the way human genes could co-exist with supernaturals’—and why they had taken River in to study her.

When they cut her open, without a doubt, they’d removed some of her eggs… which left me wondering if that process had indeed damaged her, and was one of the reasons we’d had such a hard time conceiving a child.
Bastards.

“Independent of Frans’ research,” Dr. Finnegan went on, “this Canadian group were specifically honing in on mixing Hawk and vampire genes. They were curious as to how these two opposing species would meld. They had managed to capture a number of Hawks and, using the half-blood eggs they had harvested, they began trying to create the specimens… Only five of which were successful.”

“S-Successful,” I spluttered. “You mean, they grew into—”

“Babies,” Dr. Finnegan finished dryly. “Vampire-Hawk babies.”

My jaw dropped to the floor just trying to imagine what the heck they would even look like. How would they function?

I could hardly even draw a picture in my head.

“Frans,” the scientist ploughed on, “being one of the IBSI’s leading scientists, heard of this success, naturally, and it got him thinking.” She paused, frowning. “Now you’d better not ask me how that man’s mind worked—he was a bloody genius. Hasn’t been a scientist like him since, and there likely never will be… But anyway, he heard of the successful specimens. He traveled to Canada and managed to gain sole access to them for a long enough period to withdraw some blood without anybody knowing. He took the blood back to his lab in Bermuda, and he began to experiment even more vigorously. At the time he had full access to the Bermuda base’s lab—he was the head scientist of Bermuda. I believe he even had some Bloodless in cages. All the time that he was supposed to be working on other things, he poured into finally discovering a cure. It was he who discovered the antidote. The first four ingredients—plant-based, as you deduced—contain chemicals to help to speed up the effect of the Hawk blood… Likewise, the plant combination can work in the other direction too, as you witnessed with your daughter—speeding up the influence of Bloodless venom.”

We stared at the doctor in stunned silence.

Then I remembered something that didn’t make a lot of sense. I recounted Orlando’s short-lived “experiment” back in Aviary to the scientist, where he’d ingested a chunk of poisonous leaf. We all could have sworn that he’d looked better afterward; his complexion brighter, less pale… although admittedly the cosmetic difference seemed to have faded from him by now. Still, the leaf alone had made some positive improvement, and there had been no Hawk blood involved there. “How do you explain that?” I concluded. “If the plant ingredients only serve to assist the Hawk blood in penetrating a Bloodless’ system, why should one of the plants have a powerful impact in its own right?”

The scientist paused, then shrugged. “I’m not sure. Perhaps the plants themselves
do
have some capability to ward off the virus.”

As if nature makes Aviary toxic to Elders in all aspects—from its plant life to its residents
. I supposed it would be fitting. It was just a shame Aviary hadn’t come out stronger from the war. Though at least they’d managed to reduce the Elders to shadows of their former selves, no longer requiring much concern. That was an inestimable boon to all supernaturals and mankind.

“But all I know,” Dr. Finnegan went on, “is that the combination of the five ingredients I mentioned is what has been
proven
to work and have the Bloodless—or rather, human—survive the cure… Maybe someone with a brilliant mind like Frans’ could work out another concoction based on Aviary-derived substances. God knows.”

I sighed. “Okay. Please continue.”

She nodded, obliging. “So… according to notes that were retrieved from Frans’ lab after his death,” she said, “the idea of Hawk blood had occurred to him before he got hold of the mutated specimens’ blood. Blood is, after all, the life force of every being. But pure Hawk blood failed him. It was only the diluted half-blood specimens that eventually did it—as the blood was partly vampire, the Bloodless’ system was tricked into accepting and absorbing it. Kind of like a Trojan horse.”

“You know all this, and yet you’re still alive?” my mother couldn’t help but ask.

Dr. Finnegan nodded. “There are a few scientists like me who were let in on the secret… But as you’ve seen,” she added shakily as she looked at Ben, “my life is on a very short leash.”

“Go on,” I urged.

“So when Frans announced his find to Atticus, he thought he would receive applause. Eternal gratitude for finally solving the Bloodless epidemic that was destroying the world. Instead, he found himself, well, dead. But he managed to spread the word to other scientists before he was taken out—other scientists who also attempted to spread the knowledge and were also killed…”

“And Georgina,” I murmured.
She somehow found out about the antidote, which caused her also to be targeted for assassination by her husband.

Again I found myself extremely grateful for my daughter’s inquisitive mind, which had caused her to unwittingly take up Georgina’s cause. Even if it had led Grace into her current predicament, I could never stop being proud of her for that.

“So these vampire-Hawk…
things
,” my father said, his forehead wrinkled with the same confusion I myself was riddled with. “What are they exactly? Can you describe them?”

“They look quite human actually,” Dr. Finnegan explained, matter-of-fact. “They don’t have beaks, or even talons. They basically have the characteristics of humans, but with wings.”

“And my wife,” I murmured. “Her eggs were stolen by the IBSI. Is it possible that one of hers was used?”

“Oh, it is quite possible,” she replied, making my gut churn. “Hers were of course not the only eggs they had collected. But there’s always a chance that one of the surviving specimens could’ve been derived from her eggs. You’d have to run a DNA test, but this leads me to the main obstacle that you will face in recovering the ingredient… We’ve lost the specimens—or rather, the IBSI lost them.”

“What? Lost them?” I stared at her, disbelieving. “How could you just go and
lose
them?” The IBSI were tight in their security. I couldn’t even conceive how they could have let something so valuable slip away from them… unless it had been deliberate sabotage on Atticus’ part? “Could they have been ‘lost’ on purpose?” I prodded Dr. Finnegan.

Her mouth split in a wry smile. “I see what you’re thinking, but no. They were genuinely lost.”

“How do you know that for certain?” I pressed.

“Because they went missing even before Frans came out with his antidote discovery. They were being kept in Canada; much blood had been taken from the specimens, the construction of their blood and DNA studied and analyzed. And then, one night, they just disappeared. Neither Atticus nor anybody else would have had any reason to make them vanish. They genuinely just disappeared.”

“Things don’t just disappear!” I said through gritted teeth. They weren’t magical beings. There wasn’t an ounce of magic in them. I stood up and gazed down at her. “What do
you
think happened to them? You must have some speculations of your own?”

She shrugged, shaking her head wearily. “I honestly don’t know. It baffled everyone involved on the case. There was an investigation into their disappearance, but nobody solved the mystery.”

A more chilling thought distracted me. “You’re saying there were only five specimens who survived in the first place, and they vanished, what, decades ago? It’s a wonder you still have any samples of their blood left to create additional doses of the cure.”

“Well, as I said,” she replied dryly, “a lot of blood was drawn from them while they were in the IBSI’s lab. And only a very small extract is required per formula. I don’t know how much is left of the original stock, admittedly. But I’m sure it’s stored somewhere impossible to find within the IBSI. I’m also sure it’s not in Canada. And it won’t be in Chicago either. I don’t know where it is. I don’t think Atticus would have destroyed it because his own organization occasionally requires a person to utilize it—usually only if the person is of particular value to Atticus, and someone he believes can keep a secret. Though, after recent events, and you coming to the knowledge of the cure’s existence, it’s very possible he’ll simply go ahead and destroy whatever is left of the blood. Cut off his nose to spite his face, sort of thing.”

I was utterly sick of trying to locate things within the IBSI. As crazy as it sounded, I was actually more enthusiastic about uncovering a decade-old mystery than traipsing back into their twisted web of lies and deceit, even if there had been a chance Atticus had not yet destroyed the stock of blood. I had failed to discover things too many times while in their facilities. And I didn’t want anything more to do with the bastards… except Atticus…
He’s one person I wouldn’t mind bumping into sometime soon.

My father’s next request of the doctor refocused my mind. “So tell us everything you know about the disappearance of these ‘specimens’. Every single detail you remember.”

“Hm…” She furrowed her brows and leaned back in her chair, repositioning her grip around her son, who had dozed off against her chest.

“Did their disappearance suggest a kidnapping?” I asked. “And how old were they when they vanished?”
What are the chances they’d even still be alive after all this time?

The scientist rubbed her temples. “They were, I think, just over a year old.” Well, that ruled out escape. What one-year-olds could figure out how to escape the IBSI? They’d still be figuring out how to use their wings. It also meant they’d be in their teenage years now… That was assuming they aged. Hawks aged. But half-bloods didn’t. They remained frozen in time like vampires. Ugh, this was all so confusing. “As for your first question,” the scientist continued, “definitely a kidnapping. But let me tell you what I remember, and then you can draw your own conclusions.” Dr. Finnegan looked tired. It’d been a long, stressful night for her. Only a few hours ago she had been kneeling before death.

“It was one night in December,” she began. “A particularly cold night with heavy snow closing in around the mountain base. There was an electrical outage that night, too. Though the IBSI had their own backup generator to keep the most crucial functions running—like the lighting in the hallways and security mechanisms keeping the more dangerous specimens in their cells—other functions were stopped temporarily until the main power came back on. This included CCTV cameras… Anyhow, the scientist charged with caring for the specimens put them to bed at the normal time—into cots within a special lab reserved just for them. And when their caregiver returned in the morning to feed them breakfast, they were gone. Just gone. Without a single feather fluttered to the floor. Of course, nobody could say what happened due to the lack of footage.

“An investigation was then launched. Atticus put a witch he had dealings with in charge. Her name was Loira Sulvece. A witch of The Sanctuary, she assisted the IBSI on and off over the earlier years of its establishment… she hasn’t been around recently, to my knowledge.”

“Loira Sulvece,” Ibrahim muttered.