10. Stuck Between Denial

Never work how?

My first instinct is to get far away from them. My second is to get to the toilet before I leave everything I just had for dinner on the floor. Third, I need to recollect my thoughts before my mind has a mental breakdown.

Darcy is by my side the moment I kneel on the toilet. All my food and drinks end up scattered inside. The foul taste makes me feel worse.

“Bring me some water, Hector,” Darcy orders. Eyes closed, I count to ten, but my head feels fuzzy. “Drink.”

I groan, pushing the glass away and feeling this uncomfortable ache in my head.

“I think we talked too much,” Darcy speaks. “Maybe let’s stop for tonight. She needs rest and some medicine; she’s getting a fever.”

No, no more medicine.

I am in Callisto’s arms before I can even protest. God, why were they so overwhelming?

“I’ll go get her medicine. Get her comfortable and the rest leave.” An order which seems everyone agrees on.

Callisto and Hector help me on the bed. While Darcy disappears somewhere. Adonis is the first to leave and Seth just moves to a corner near the fire, where he seemed to think.

I sighed. My head ached worse than any other time. The itch disappeared after Adonis left.

Now that I think about it, all of them had something that made me feel not just only at ease but connected to them. Strangely, I was somehow tied to them and that made things more clearly.

If I think carefully, the itch on my neck was caused every time Adonis was close, like telling me he was coming.

Hector makes me feel at ease, like a big teddy bear comforting me. Darcy gives me the creeps, yet I find him funny in his own way. Seth didn’t make me feel scared. On the contrary, he made me curious about him. And last, but not least, Callisto. He made feel…

My eyes veer to his face.

“Open your mouth, Yophiel,” Darcy pulls me from my turmoil. I obey and take the medicine he offers. After that, I wince, feeling the shot on my thigh. “This will relax you. You looked like you’re about to pass out.”

“Enough for tonight. Let’s leave her to rest.” Hector pats my head before the rest follow. I instinctively reached for Callisto.

The poor fellow looks down at me. Silent words cross between us before he takes a sit back and waits for Darcy to close the doors.

“Feeling better?” he asks while I study his face. I wonder what he is thinking. Is he worried about what they told me?

“Your father…” I speak, knowing I was treading dangerous waters. “He did that to you?”

There are many things I want to know about. Of all, this one has been bugging me the most. I didn’t know they all had a past, no; I judged them without knowing, and pointed fingers at them, calling them monsters.

I got treated the same way, and I was doing it back to them.

I was like the rest.

Callisto gives me a sad smile, then leans to rest against the two pillows. His arm snaked around my waist, pulling me to his lean body.

I don’t protest, in fact now I feel pity for all of them. The rumors that spread about this being a failed test in a lab made sense now, but how did it all come to this?

Callisto remains silent. A few times, he sighed as if he needed to feel human. Honestly, I’m understanding them a bit more.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it.” He glanced down at me and thanked me.

I smiled. He really seemed troubled.

“There’s a phrase that goes, people live with the same weight as the sins they had committed. And I have committed to many for my own good Yophiel. Don’t feel pity for me or the others. We are all monsters hiding under human flesh.” He smiles. “I once was a human like you. I did fun things. I had a lonely life. I had dreams and wishes, ones I never got to do because…”

“Your father hurt you,” I finish for him. He nods, resting his arm over his eyes.

“I grew up in a wealthy family where both my parents neglected me. We were not poor, but they only thought about working, accomplishing those things they so desired.”

There’s a pause.

“My mother was the first to encourage me to be part of an experiment to save humans. To find cures. She wanted me to be part of her silly experiment, which she said would benefit me. I thought it was a good idea. It was the first time she talked to me after so long without being around her, the first time she counted me as part of her family.

“Then my father came, and one day my mother stopped talking to me. I thought she was no longer interested, until I found a file that had my name on it and the signature of my parents selling me to a lab in Europe where humans got tested for a rare mutation. When I found out, I ran from home but with all the bodyguards they had put me around, I barely made it two days before I was captured and taken by force.

“When I woke up, my father was there, clad in his all-black lab suit, with six other strangers.” He chuckles. “I remember that day so well. They had me tied on a table. A huge tub with a thick needle hangs from above. I remember I panicked, afraid of what was going to happen. I called their names, asked them what was happening, and then that needle was pushed into my neck with force while two of them held me down.

“The pain felt worse than a burn from fire or hot water. Worse than what you felt. My entire body felt like glass, shattering with the minimum of movements. And then the worst came. My father and the rest grabbed their instruments and one by one they cut through my stomach, opening it while I bled. My father, with no love or care, stabbed me in the stomach and pulled out one of my organs.

“I tried to scream, but they had gagged my mouth. I watched them cut my skin, play with my organs, stab me multiple times, until I would bleed and my heart would stop. I would get revived again and again. I don’t even recall how many times I died before I finally stopped breathing.”

God.

“When I opened my eyes again, I no longer felt pain. I felt nothing, Yophiel.” Callisto looked at me. His fathomless looked cold, lifeless. “I felt nothing. That’s when I learned I was no longer human and I was something that should have never existed. I am what should only exist in movies or in books. I had become your worst nightmare. The devil. The monster. A vampire. And they had played God.”

He pulled his arm from me and sat on the edge of the mattress. His face in his hands.

“What they didn’t know was that I was alive and within me, I carried a power no human could handle. I became a tool for their benefits, but I didn’t let them accomplish that, Yophiel. Instead, I destroyed them, killed all of them who played not only with me, but with other innocent lives. I tore each of their heads and drank their blood. The 187 scientists inside that lab died. The last to die by my hand were my parents.”

I sit up, eyes wide.

“What?” the words a breathless whisper.

He looked over his shoulder, a razor-sharp smile on his pale face.

“Yes, Yophiel. I killed my parents. I made my father watch how I killed my mother with my powers. Then I did what he did to me until there was nothing left of them.” He chuckles. “Still, that didn’t satisfy me. Nothing did. So, I roamed the place and found the rest of humans who got locked inside that hideous place for experiments. And within those walls, I came up with a plan.”

I remained still, waiting for him to continue.

“I offered them an option, and they chose.” Callisto smiled with his eyes pitch black and his fangs out. “I created my army, gave them what they wanted and then I searched for those who died unfairly and then I found them, Hector, Adonis, Seth and Darcy. Each of them died and were sent to the lab. And I gave them a second chance to get their revenge. Now I created this world for you, Yophiel. All those who did you wrong paid. All those who mistreated the others paid and are still paying.

“I didn’t destroy this world for fun. No, I made it a better place for you. You who are the one we want the most, the only one we know that carries our gene.” Callisto said, turning and crawling up to me. An icy shiver ran down my back. My heart is racing. “The only one who can’t be like us because you are human. An innocent and frail human.”

I swallowed, fearing him.

“Now you understand. The gene with your human chromosome inside your blood keeps us half human. When we drink your blood, the mutation mixes in our system and we feel, we live, our heart beats. You make us humans. The mutation was created through you. Thanks to your father, we are this. And we are not planning to let you go, not when we crave you so madly, Yophiel.”

It took me a while to understand what he just told me. The little of many other questions popped into my mind, ready to question Callisto, but the way he gazed at me with such hateful coldness made me think twice before continuing this talk.

A knock on the door has both of us sitting up. The shifting in the room lowered and Callisto snapped out of whatever weird trance he was in.

“Sir, you have a call.” A tall, skinny vampire stepped into the room with his head bowed. “It’s urgent.”

Callisto didn’t hesitate in standing. Once at the door, he halted. “I will tell Darcy to accompany you tonight. If you have more questions, ask him. There are some things you might find useful and interesting once you know.”

He shut the door, and I sighed, falling into the comfort of the bed and closing my eyes.

I felt a wave of dizziness hit me hard. With a couple of deep breaths, I calmed my nerves and tried to think on something that wasn’t what he just told me.

I keep my eyes closed and maintain my slow breathing. I’m lying in bed still when Darcy opens the door, which means Callisto informed him of what I needed.

Honestly, I am seeing him from another perspective now. He seems the type of person who would joke and be a pervert, just as Hector said. Or maybe I just understand them now. See from where they are coming.

“How is your fever?” he asks, taking a seat on the bed and placing his hand on my forehead.

“Better.”

“Did you ask questions to Callisto?” He sounds interested. I’m honestly surprised he is even asking. He knows the least I was doing was keeping my mouth shut.

“Didn’t he tell you?” I smile.

“Sort off, but I know you have other questions.”

I wave my hand. “Nothing escapes you.”

I hadn’t really thought about what I could ask Darcy. True Callisto mentioned about my father being the one experimenting on me. And now that I thought about it, I wondered if it was entirely true. There was no way he did something like that to me. I don’t even remember.

“You said you owned Medtek and that I must have heard it from my father. And Callisto said my father was experimenting on me. You knew my father then?” I honestly don’t know what I was trying to ask, but tying those loose ends was important to me.

A muscle in Darcy’s jaw twitches. “Your father owned shares on Medtek. I met him before I died.”

“You didn’t say how you died…” I voice my question. He shrugs.

“There’s no need.” Darcy crosses his arms over his chest and leans on the headboard. “My death shouldn’t be of your concern, but if you wish to know, then let’s say I died by choice.”

I blink.

“Meaning I died because I wanted. Nothing new. I played with the wrong vial and ended up dead. Of course, Callisto brought me back to life.”

I blink again.

I’m still not sure I’m getting him.

“Yophiel,” Darcy sighs. “The experiments were conducted in Medtek's lab. Callisto was brought there to be our human test, our guinea pig. Of course, I had no idea what was happening behind doors until I heard human trails were being taken without permission. When I tried to intervene, it was too late. They had already subjected Callisto to the mutation. He changed, and then hell broke loose. I wasn’t near that area at that time since I lived here most of the time.

“I asked for the experiments to cease, but various trails had already been done with no results, not until Callisto awoke no longer being human. Word of what happened got out, and that’s when things started taking a different turn.” He shrugs.

“There was nothing I could do but try to revert, fix the mess, yet I failed and ended up dead a few years later. Later on, I found myself awake inside an enormous tube like the ones you saw in the lab. I was surprised I was alive; I thought my team had saved me, but then I learned Callisto had vouched for our bodies to be sent to the lab where he injected me with the gene and his poison and I was reborn as one of the bloodlines.”

I start moving to the edge of the mattress.

“Yophiel,” Darcy calls. “Listen, there’s no need for you to know about this.”

“I know.”

“Then what is the problem?” He asked, eyeing me close.

Instead of answering, I moved to the coffee table and poured myself a glass of water.

“You said you died in 2035, then when did you come back?”

His crimson eyes are cold. “We all died in October of different years, but we all woke up a week later from our death date. Except for Callisto, who died first, then all of us.”

“Then why did he take so long to wake up?” The question is out of my mouth before I know. “You woke up in a week. He took two years. Why?”

Instead of answering, he moves back onto the comfort of the bed and studies me. Frustration sinks its claws into me, but I do my best to calm its wrath.

“Fine.” I throw my hands.

His brows draw together. “I don’t understand why you’re eager to know everything so soon. You have time to ask us all you want, so why overwhelmed yourself with all this?” He tilts his head to the side. “We got time.”

I close my eyes. Try to think instead of letting my emotions take control. I exhale slowly and open my eyes. “Just answer me, Darcy.” The plea is there.

I wait, but he doesn’t offer an answer.

Darcy chuckles. “Anger suits you. But to answer your question, then it’s simple. The gene inside you mutated perfectly on Callisto’s body except for the mutation that turned us into bloodsuckers and monsters.”

“Meaning?”

“That you and Callisto were the perfect subjects of this experiment. You two are tied not just by attraction, but to a single gene inside your system. That makes you both patients Zero, and makes the rest of us succumb to you, the one we desire with all our thirst.”