Synthetic: Dark Beginning (11 page)

Chapter 12

Kora opened her eyes the next morning to see Vaughn’s sketch staring back at her. The notes Gus had lent her were strewn all over the bed.  The writing was interesting only because it gave her a glimpse into her former life, but not very useful. The techniques outlined were much more complicated than anything she'd ever written down before, and she kept checking to make sure that this was indeed her handwriting. How could she have grown stupider over the years? If what was expressed in these notebooks was true, Kora was a super genius before she got conked on the head, or whatever happened to cause her amnesia. Unfortunately, the few concepts in the notes that she
understood
referenced other notebooks for more detail, and she didn’t think Gus had more of her writings squirreled away in his cell. She gathered up the pages and looked for a good hiding place.  She thought of stuffing them under her mattress, but that'd probably be the first place Ruby would look if she ever snooped around Kora's room. 
She noticed a loose brick and reached out to jiggle it.  To her surprise, it came loose and she slid it out revealing a shallow hole.  She was about to shove the brick back in when she noticed some white writing in the back that said,
Mud saw
.

In the lab, Gus was spinning around in an antique office chair staring up through the glass dome. “You should try this,” he said, putting both feet down to make himself stop. “You get really high, especially after ten cups of coffee.”

“Don’t most people do that when they’re five?”

“Drink too much coffee? Probably, but it’s always fun to rediscover the wonders of childhood. Where’s Ruby?”

“I don’t know. She never showed up at my door this morning.”

“Of course—Ivan always gives her a shiatsu massage on Sunday mornings.”  Gus pointed at the pile of machines Ishmael had heaped into the center of the lab floor. “I can’t figure you out. First you drag all that crap out into the hall and then you drag it all back in. You really should make up your mind.”

“That was Ishmael, not me.”

“Opposites?”

“Totally.  Have you seen him?  He went out into the ocean last night and I thought he'd be back by now.”

Gus shook his head, a spark in his brown eyes.  “Did you make it up to the ritual grounds?”

Kora fought the blush that threatened to bloom onto her face. “I saw Vaughn, if that’s what you're hinting at.”

“And you agree that he’s yours?”

“He isn’t mine, but I did make him.”

Gus propped his head on his hands and a hazy smile spread over his face. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“I didn’t notice,” said Kora. “I was too busy watching him beat the crap out of some poor kid. He’s brutal.”

“Vaughn? No—he’s a good guy. Really. I bet you saw him thrashing Joshua. Trust me, that kid is an indestructible zombie. You can strangle him all day long and the moment you turn your back, he’ll just rise up and try to eat your brain.”

“I almost forgot. I found something this morning. Come down to my room and take a look.”

“It better be good. I already slogged through the tunnels up to the kitchen to get fresh beans so I’m exhausted.”

Kora dragged Gus down the hall and swung open her door. He wrinkled his nose when he saw the old cage in the corner. “Those monkeys have been dust for almost a hundred years but their smell lives on.”

“I removed a brick this morning and there was writing in the back of the hole.”

“Who the hell are you, Nancy Drew? And how come the lock on your door is broken? Are you one of those super-strength babes?”

Kora let out a sigh. She should have known better than to try and fool the crafty hunchback. “Caleb came for a visit last night and broke it.”

For one miraculous moment, Gus was speechless. “Alone?”

“No Ivan.”

“Wonders never cease with you. Did he come to borrow a cup of sugar?”

“He just wanted to talk.”

“Caleb doesn’t talk.”

Kora bit her lip as she sifted through the encounter, trying to pick out the parts she could reveal.  For some reason, she didn't want to tell Gus about his apology.  “He just sat there and we stared at each other.”

“He doesn’t do that either.”

Gus clumsily crouched down to study the words
Mud saw
scrawled in the cement indentation. “This is nothing. The same thing is written in all the cells. Hell, it’s behind a brick in my cell.” Gus held onto a chair to pull himself back up.

“What do you mean it’s nothing?”

“I’m sure that weasel Joshua did it. He must have slipped into the castle at some point and written that everywhere just to be all mysterious.”

“How long ago?”

“I don’t know. It’s at least five years old because it was here before I arrived.”

“He looks about twenty now so you’re saying he broke into the castle at fifteen and wrote
Mud saw
all over the prison cells?”

“Boys that age thrive on graffiti.”

“By prying bricks out of walls and writing nonsensical messages? Wouldn’t he have written something more obscene?”

“True. He’s not a very cryptic guy and it would have included at least a few
fuckings
or
shitheads
.”

“Do you think Mud’s name is written in all the cells? How many are in the castle?”

Gus yawned and stretched before lying back on Kora's bed. “Twenty or so. But then I’ve also heard rumors that Ruby has a secret dungeon somewhere on a deeper level. God knows who she’s tossed in there over the years.”

“I thought this was the deepest level?”

“The garage is below us but on the other side of the castle. Humphrey said that he built all sorts of weird stuff down there but no one believes him. He’s getting a bit old and kooky.”

Kora shivered at the idea of anything deeper and darker than her room. “What does he say is down there?”

Gus propped his head up on his hand and laughed. “I’m not sure if he was just really stoned, but one night Humphrey told us about how years ago, Ruby got really into roller skating and ordered him to blast a half-mile loop through the bedrock. He said he polished the floors so smooth you could roll a marble in one direction, wait around and it would whiz back to you from the other. Then he installed disco lights and a badass sound system. I just love the image of Ruby dressed in lacy black skates, careening through underground tunnels listening to Christian Death.”

Kora lay back on the bed next to Gus.  For some reason, the moldy smell didn't bother her as much anymore.  “You think I’m just trying to make something out of nothing, don’t you?”

Gus leaned over and poked her in the side. “No—I think you’re right. It’s weird. I’m surprised I never thought about it more. It makes no sense why
Mud saw
is written in the cells. It does feel like a message, doesn’t it? Maybe he was writing it to someone that he knew would eventually be imprisoned down here, but he had no idea which cell they might be in.”

“Why are you saying he?”

“Because this castle is a dude ranch. Unless you or Ruby wrote it, I’m sure it was a guy.”

“True.”

Gus frowned as he stared at the wall across from the bed. “I'm not sure why I never made the connection between the Mud written on the cell walls and the one in Caleb's tea party.”

“Caleb has a tea party?”

“Yeah, for as long as I've been here, probably longer. It's always the same characters: Caleb the elephant, Ruby the crow, Randall the monkey, and Mud who's like this shapeless blob.”

“Randall?” Kora looked at Gus in surprise. “Do you mean my Randall?”

“The one and only. I guess he used to come here all the time, years ago.”

Kora sat up. Something about this news bothered her. “But how do you know the names of the toys?”

“Ivan said that Caleb used to talk and that's what he called them.” Gus slid off the bed and pulled Kora to her feet.
“Maybe just for fun, we should head up to the kitchen, bust up that tea party and do some cavity searches.”

Kora felt her energy return.  “I’d love to see it.”

“Not until Caleb goes to bed tonight. He’s a notorious nut-ball about his toys. You can get in enough trouble by just touching them; I hate to think what he’d do if he caught us gutting the rascals.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do it,” said Kora, picturing the giant lunging at her.

“Oh come on.  Caleb doesn’t come down in the night alone to visit people, and every time I see that creepy-ass tea party, I feel a shiver down my spine. Let’s wait until the big guy’s asleep, then go up there and disembowel that Mud toy.  It’s time the little bastard started coughing up some secrets.”

Chapter 13

“You look like hell and it’s such a special occasion,” said Ruby.

Vaughn looked up from playing his guitar to see her in a red gown. She was so tightly corseted that her neck had almost disappeared under layers of displaced fat, making her look like a Victorian madam.

“I guess you haven’t seen me in this color for some time?” Ruby leaned into his stare and swiveled her broad hips as she danced in place. “Ivan is down getting the car ready. You should go take a shower and clean up. I’ll lay out that striking suit I bought last year in—”

“Where are we going?”

“To the ritual grounds, of course.”

Vaughn spoke through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t planning to go out tonight.”

“But you need to eat and they’ll be so disappointed if you don’t appear. You are their god, after all.”

“I’m not their god.” Vaughn returned to tuning his guitar.

Ruby’s face paled with anger as she strutted toward him. “You are the vampire and they are your food—slaves who exist on this property to feed you.”

“They have their own lives.”

“They’re bags of blood. I’ve already ordered a hundred more replacements.”

Vaughn froze as he stared down at his fingers poised stiffly on the strings. He and Ruby stood at the boundary of another game and though he was in no mood for it, he’d learned long ago that it was best to rise on these occasions. “I’ll kill you if anything happens to them.”

“How exciting. I had no idea I inspired such violence in you. Tell me, my dark prince, why did you leave the property yesterday without my permission?”

They’d finally arrived at the reason she was here. Vaughn considered denying the charge, but could tell from her playful manner that she had some solid evidence that she was eager to spring on him; she’d probably rehearsed the moment down in her office in front of the mirror.

“How did you find out?”

“Joshua paid me an odd little visit. I’m not sure how the scraggily beast got into the house, but he was soaked to the skin so I’m sure it wasn’t easy.  Also, you demolished another car.”

“What did Joshua want for this information?”

“Nothing original, his father dead—not a very imaginative young man. Frankly, I don’t care who you kill tonight just so long as someone bleeds a lot. It would be nice if you slashed nine or ten, but I know how you get overwhelmed so we can just start with one.”

“I’m not killing anyone.” Vaughn strummed his guitar until Ruby’s shadow crossed the polished wood.

“After spending so much time getting ready, I expect to be entertained. Maybe while I’m up there, I can inspect the women. It’s time I sold a few of them, especially this Berta you’re so fond of…or her pretty little sister. What’s her name? She’s about ten now, isn’t she? My how they do grow up quickly. Seems like only yesterday she was a baby.”

Vaughn tossed the guitar aside and stood up. It occurred to him how easy it would be to reach out and snap Ruby’s neck. He imagined the joy that would fill him as he watched her lifeless body crumble to the floor.

“That’s better,” said Ruby, sliding her hands over his shoulders. “So tell me, my prince, were you disappointed to learn from Dr. Kimura that I didn’t make you?”

Surprise colored his cheeks before he managed to regain control of his face. “I don’t think it matters who brought me into this mess.”

“I’ve been watching Kora for years, now, and the time is ripe for my rebirth. Only she can remove the crippling age barrier between us.” Ruby ran her fingers over Vaughn’s jaw and he resisted the urge to swat them away like flies.

“When she’s finished with me, I’ll be immortal. We’ll leave this miserable place and travel the world together, taking what we desire. You and I will be gods, Vaughn, and every living creature will worship at our feet.”

“This all sounds familiar. Which movie is it from?”

“I’ll be Venus with the strength of Hercules. A living siren.”

He tried to back away, but she followed him until he felt the door at his back. Ruby writhed against him and for one succulent moment, Vaughn wrapped his hands around her neck. The skin was loose and papery soft beneath his fingers. She closed her eyes at his touch and her lips trembled. Vaughn felt nausea swell in his stomach and though he told his hands to squeeze, they wouldn’t obey. All he could do was stare at the pale, sagging face of the closest thing he’d ever had to a mother.

He pushed her roughly away and she stumbled, her eyes popping open.  “When this is over, Vaughn, you’ll never leave my side.”

“I’m not that easily whipped.” Vaughn slammed the door behind him. When he reached the garage, Ivan was standing next to the Rolls dressed in his immaculate chauffeur’s outfit with gold embellishments. He shot Vaughn a deadly glare and waved him over.

“Where did you ever find driving gloves that small?” said Vaughn, grateful to have a distraction from his murderous thoughts. “It’s not like you could raid Baby Gap for something like that.”

“I made them,” said Ivan. “And don’t think you can avoid the subject.”

“What subject?”

“You completely destroyed another car!  Ruby is going to shove her hand up my ass and sink her nails into my brain.”

Vaughn held his hands up against Ivan as if measuring his height. “That’s not a very far distance, is it? They’re practically in the same spot.”

“If you ever touch one of my cars again, I’m going to tie you down in the night and saw off your goddamn arms and legs.” Ivan’s face turned bright red.

Vaughn shrugged. “Ruby has fifty other cars. I doubt she even cares. In fact, she barely mentioned it when I talked to her a few minutes ago.”

“The hell with Ruby. The cars don’t belong to her—they’re mine. Let’s get that straight once and for all.”

“Then I’m very sorry.” Vaughn gave Ivan a little pat on his feathered hat that only further infuriated him.

“I’m never lending you a car again, do you understand?  Never.”

They both fell silent as Ruby emerged from the stairwell completely out of breath.

Ivan opened the passenger door and she dumped herself into the seat. “Why can’t you ever wait and escort me properly?” she said to Vaughn. “And where is Gus?”

“He’s coming too?” said Ivan, grinding his teeth.

“I need a cameraman,” replied Ruby.

Ivan snarled as he slammed her door. “I know about costuming but Gus? What put it into your head to make that worthless hunchback your cameraman?”

Ruby rolled down her window. “Would everyone stop slamming doors!  I’m very upset. I was looking forward to this evening and you both seem determined to ruin it for me. Now shut up and go find out what’s keeping Gus.”

“I’m coming,” called a melodic voice from up the stairwell. Gus appeared dressed in his usual robe with dark sunglasses on.

“Where’s the camera?” asked Ruby.

“Right here,” said Gus, pulling it out of his robe pocket. “Do I get to sit on Vaughn’s lap during the ride?”

“No, you sit in the front seat with Ivan,” said Ruby.

Ivan steered the car out of the garage and up Dume Drive. Vaughn could feel Ruby staring at him, but never once gave her the satisfaction of a single glance. Ivan, always hungry for speed, was the only one enjoying the trip. He pressed his foot down on the custom-raised pedals with a greedy smile on his tan, leathery face.

“Your driving always makes me sick,” said Gus, reeling back against the headrest.

“Good,” replied Ivan, roaring the car up to ninety.

“The ceremony is about five miles back toward the castle,” snarled Ruby.

“Damn.” Ivan reluctantly let up on the gas. “It always comes up so quick.” He slowed down, pulled a U-turn, and shot back down the PCH, grumbling as he slowed the car to a stop in the middle of the road.

“You wait for us,” said Ruby.

“Aren’t you going to open my door?” asked Gus, who sat in the front seat looking ill.

“Open your own damn door,” grumbled Ivan.

Gus tumbled out onto unsteady feet. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.” He leaned over and puked on the hood.

Ivan screamed and darted around to the trunk where he hauled out a large container of windshield wiper fluid. He dumped it over the vomit and washed most of it away. “Get the hell away from my car. If that damaged the paint, I’m going hack off your hump, bake it in the oven and feed it to you.”

“Do you think that’s light or dark meat
?
” asked Gus, still weaving as he followed after the others.

Ruby studied the busy ritual grounds with narrowed eyes. “The Food has multiplied over the years. Ramon did a fine job building this part of the set. Just look at those tents. Humphrey’s crew obviously read my script because they’re just what I imagined—a colorful, decadent place to unleash a starved vampire. Too bad we no longer need them.”

“Why not?” asked Gus.

“I’ve abandoned my script. The movie will now be more of a documentary of Vaughn and I traveling the world.”

“You mean I’ll have to follow you two around, filming your journey of death and destruction?”

Ruby smiled at this description. “It will be a major, cinematic breakthrough. No one has ever done anything like it before.”

“For good reason,” said Gus. “No one will want to see it.”

“The Romans filled the great coliseum with death. We will fill theaters.”

Ruby tried to lean against Vaughn, but he moved away and she stumbled. “Consider tonight practice, my dark warrior.”

Without a word, Vaughn tromped down the hill and jumped up onto the platform. He shook his head sharply at those offering their wrists as he headed straight for Joshua who was sitting with his cronies drinking beer. “We need to talk.”

Joshua tipped the bottle to his swollen lips. “Better get started, you filthy parasite. Mommy’s here to see some action.”

Vaughn grabbed Joshua by his swollen head and dragged him through the flap of a nearby tent. Everyone fell silent when they saw the two men and all at once, they rose and filed outside.

“What the fuck do you want?” said Joshua.

“To know why you betrayed everyone.”

“That’s between me and your mommy.” Joshua grabbed a nearby glass of wine, drank it down, and shattered it against a tent post.

Vaughn flung Joshua into a chair. “It’s between you and me.”

“Just trot off and do as you’re told, like a good vampire monkey.” Joshua giggled and picked up a bunch of grapes. He tossed them into the air one at a time, catching them in his mouth.

Vaughn’s eyes glowed as he crouched down in front of him. “Ruby doesn’t care who I kill tonight as long as there’s lots of blood.”

Joshua froze with a grape halfway into his mouth. “She said you would kill Max. That was the agreement.”

“That’s what happens when you make a deal with Ruby, it shifts in whatever direction suits her. All she wants tonight is a death and the details are up to me.”

The grape fell from Joshua’s lips. He stared up at Vaughn in confusion before his face hardened. “Then go ahead and kill me. I know that’s what you want. What you’ve always wanted, you pussy, so give it a try.”

Vaughn smiled, though his eyes were still burning. “You’re used to getting thrashed—it’s a cozy part of your day. I want to make you uncomfortable.”

Joshua shifted on his chair. “You’re fucking with me.”

“I’ll just step outside and tell Max you plotted to kill him.”

Vaughn walked up to the tent entrance and Joshua jumped out of his chair. “He won’t believe you.”

“Ruby is up on the hill screaming for blood. I’m sure everyone’s wondering who the king of the celebration will be.”

Joshua ran a trembling hand through his greasy hair. “They’ll banish me.”

“It’ll be good for you to spend some quality time alone. Think of it as an opportunity to reflect on your pointless life.”

“You’re truly a freak, aren’t you?  You come out here, jerk me around, then go back to your big fancy room and fuck your momma all night. Do you drink her blood as she comes?”

He swaggered past Vaughn on his way out of the tent. Vaughn considered swiping an arm out to crush his head, but then noticed Joshua’s crooked smile disappear as he raised the flap: the entire clan was waiting outside.

“What’s happening?” asked Max, who stood in the front of the crowd.

Joshua gazed fearfully up at Max and for a moment, Vaughn saw him as a skinny, bruised ten-year old.  His lips hardly moved as he spoke. “I asked Ruby to make Vaughn kill you.”

A pleased grin spread across Max’s sallow face. “Then Ruby will get a good, bloody death but it won’t be mine.”

A group of older men and women sifted out of the crowd and surrounded the trio. A short man with white hair stepped between Joshua and Max. “We don’t execute our own people, Max.”

“I’m the leader of this clan, Ben, not you.” He jerked around to face the crowd and his neck bulged with veins. “The peaceful times are over. If we don’t give that woman blood tonight, she’ll come back on us tenfold. There’s nothing Ruby enjoys more than revenge, and Joshua has stirred her out of the castle like a hibernating snake.”