Chapter 7
The Longest Day
1
Kraken Bioresearch
“Don't you think?”
Clio's head shot up and she slowly craned her neck to where Crow sat behind the steering wheel. It was as though she had been at the bottom of a pool while he had been trying to carry out a complete conversation with her. The unmarked packet of blood in the cooler had made her go cold and tune him out.
Crow sighed indulgently. “I said, 'Sending blood to the same place he sent his girl doesn't bode well, don't you agree?'”
“Yes.” It had taken a Herculean effort to bring her back. The blood had taken hold of her. Its garnet color was mesmerizing. She was terrified of it.
He had plopped the cooler between her sandaled feet after he had run up to the penthouse. Curiosity had finally gotten the better of her and she had opened it.
Clio's concern for Bliss was mounting by the minute. The
Clio hung back as Crow waited for the little mad scientist to emerge from the buzzing door. He opened the cooler, nodded his head with an audible grunt, and disappeared though the door as quickly as he had came again.
Clio fingered her braid nervously waiting for him to finish the delivery. She arched her eyebrow expectantly and he led her by the elbow towards the elevator.
“Please remind Mr. Swann he is expected at
Once inside, Crow hit the second floor button to bypass the security guard in the lobby. The guard couldn't see them head for the stairwell.
On the second floor, Crow poked his head out of the elevator and looked up and down the hall. His hand took hers as he waited for her to finish punching the rest of the floor buttons and he pulled her out of the elevator and down the hall. Clio pointed out the “Exit” light and they found the stairwell.
Tromping down thirteen flights took the breath out of him.
“You really need more cardio, Crow.”
He gave her the finger as he bent over to catch his breath. At the door to the negative twelfth floor, she pulled his picklock set out of her bag and handed it to him. Clio pushed her curiosity aside and refused to ask where he had learned such a useful skill while he toiled on the lock. The lock clicked and he made a triumphant “yes,” through the mouthful of picks of various sizes in his mouth.
He opened the door a crack and peered into the hallway, two women in white lab coats had their backs to them as they spoke in low tones and walked away from him down the hall. He opened the door wider and poked his head out to check out the other end of the hall. A quick tug on her denim skirt was her signal to follow and they slid out into the hall. She taped the door mechanism to keep it from locking behind them.
The hallway resembled a hospital. Clio furrowed her brows. What kind of place is this? Empty gurneys and wheelchairs lined the hall, and the doors endured slim windows above doorknobs. The hall was completely white. A glaring lack of decoration, of flowers, of color was all that greeted them. It made Clio shiver.
Cold subterranean air in the hall reminded her of excursions into the Underworld. This place had all the wretchedness the Underworld could spare, it filled her lungs until they tightened and she could hardly take another breath.
She shuddered and Crow slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”
“Let's find Bliss and get the fuck out of here,” Clio said and continued down the hall. The window panels showed most of the rooms empty and the ones that weren't had 'patients' completely strapped into their beds.
Clio saw copper locks on a pillow and motioned to Crow. There was Bliss, strapped down on a thin bed by her wrists, legs, and forehead. Clio opened the door tentatively and slipped into the room. Bliss's eyes were closed.
“Bliss?” Clio whispered.
Bliss cracked her eyes open. “Who?”
“Honey, it's Clio. Are you okay?”
Clio could see Bliss concentrating on her words and she shook her head mournfully. Bliss was too dosed to understand. Clio turned to Crow standing behind her. “We have to get her out of here,” she said.
“I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't let you do that,” Vandenheuval said from the door. Two large orderlies with biceps bigger than Clio's thighs flanked either side of him.
Crow cleared his throat and said, “We got lost. We came back because I forgot to give you the money Mr. Swann sent.”
“So you came back through the stairwell?” The scientist said with mild amusement.
“I was worried about my friend,” Clio said.
“You understand this is a secured area. There could be contagion.”
“Her door would've been locked if she was contagious.” Crow countered.
“Mr. Swann would be interested in your new involvement. I'll have to detain you until he gets here.” The two orderlies advanced upon them, intent on taking them into custody.
Clio shot a wild look at Crow and leapt over Bliss' bed. The orderly rushed her with surprising speed, considering his size. She seized a wheelchair from the front of the bathroom door and came at him with it. With both hands, he grabbed the chair, which left him open for her foot to make contact with his jaw. This was so sudden and unexpected that he stumbled back, clutching his mouth.
“Crow, get us out of here,” she said.
While the orderly was still stunned from her kick to the face, her knuckles knocked into his nose with a hard right, his eyes teared, and he made a wild grab for her. A fist closed around her braid and he hauled her back. The floor met her ass with a sharp thud and she twisted around to slam her palm into his groin.
“Motherfuck,” he swore, and plummeted to his knees.
Scrambling to her feet, she saw Crow was not doing as well. Without thinking, she moved to help him.
Vandenheuval stuck something in her thigh as she ran by and Clio swatted at it. A needle stuck out of her leg, she pulled it out and stalked over to the small man.
“You little…” she said.
Clio's fist connected with his mouth and knocked his head into the door. Vandenheuval slid to the floor. Bliss giggled in the background before the room swam before Clio's eyes.
“Crow,” she called thickly. The tranquilizer was too strong and the orderly was wrapping huge bear arms around her. In a valiant effort, she tossed him off her one last time and watched as a fist the size of a small ham felled Crow.
“Oh-ho, shit! She was a fucking tiger,” was the last thing she heard before she gave up and sank into darkness.
2
Kraken Bioresearch
Bliss had been moved to an observation room, still in her bed, still strapped down.
Annie sat behind a two-way mirror in a long and narrow room, with two rows of chairs to watch the action that took place in the other room.
The room was dark and Annie sat alone. His palm pressed to the glass in front of him while he stared at the lonely child on the bed. Bliss was going to get a taste of divine essence this morning. Annie’s teeth were chattering, his excitement so acute. His stepmother had promised him this would work, and she hadn’t been wrong yet.
Aunt Meg and his stepmother had convinced Annie he couldn’t hurt Calliope, not like he had Violet. Calliope wouldn’t die, Aunt Meg had whispered over and over in his ear. Calliope wouldn’t die.
Calliope. She had been such a surprise.
After the Violet incident, things became intensified for Annie. Everything he felt, thought, or saw became an explosion for him. The power had been intoxicating.
Moved by his profound experience, Annie had taken Calliope on a romantic retreat. They spent the weekend in bed in some reclusive resort he had found in the South Pacific.
His memory of that afternoon wasn't clear, as they had consumed an enormous amount of alcohol. But he knew he wasn't crazy. He knew what he did and he knew what he saw.
Shrouded in a mosquito-netted bed, he made love to her in the middle of the afternoon. Annie lingered over her and heard only one thing whispered in his ear.
Calliope wouldn’t die.
On the verge of climax, Annie wrapped his hands around Calliope’s throat, as he had done to Violet. She bucked and writhed beneath him, her nails tore into the backs of his hands.
The climax had been incredible, it had never lasted so long, nor had it ever been so powerful. He had teetered on the brink of consciousness while it lasted. The entire time, his hands crushed her poor throat and her struggling had gradually ceased beneath him.
No breath passed between her lips when his hands finally fell away. Her chest neither rose nor fell and was silent when he laid his head upon it. The room was a still as a tomb, as still as Calliope's body lying upon the sheets.
Annie untangled himself from the mosquito net and touched the floor with shaky legs. He crumpled to all fours on the floor and heaved up the contents of his stomach. In the darkening room, he laid on the floor, not knowing what to do, knees slick with his own vomit.
Her hand hung over the bedside, skin beneath the nails, and blood tap-tap-tapping onto the carpet. His hands burned terribly and he looked down to find long trenches had been gored out of them. The pain was searing and his blood soaked the soiled carpet.
Birds tittering and chattering back and forth brought him back to this room in
Annie was on his feet and tearing away the canopy before he knew what he was up to.
“God damn you, Calliope!” He raised his fists above his head and crashed them into her chest. “Breathe!”
He yanked her head back, pinched her nose, and blew into her mouth. He pumped her chest a few times and repeated blowing into her mouth. “God damn you, you cunt! I told you to breathe!”
Annie kept up his manic CPR until he hadn’t the breath left. He finally just collapsed on top of her, a sobbing, broken heap of a man.
Not Calliope. I can’t do this without Calliope.
When his sobbing had finally reduced to sniffles, he wiped his nose with the back of his hand and stood on shaking legs. He wobbled to the bathroom and washed his face. His stomach lurched and threatened to be sick again, so he lay on the cool tile until the nausea passed.
The shadows had grown long on the walls by the time Annie finally emerged from the toilet. A fly buzzed about Calliope’s pale face, landing on her red lip. Annie brushed it away and smoothed her black curls. Her sapphire eyes had turned an interesting gray and he found he couldn’t tear himself away.
It had been hours now since she had taken a breath, Annie looked around for something to wrap her body in. He took a washcloth to his puke on the floor, set upon rolling her up in a rug she had admired.
The room had turned eerily quiet. Gone were the birds and the fan wound down. The light above the sink flickered out.
Annie stood from his crouched position, as a strange breeze seemed to bounce about the room. The hairs on the back of his neck stood alert and his testicles tightened and crawled. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
Calliope suddenly bolted upright and screamed.
Annie slipped on the rug and landed with a hard thud on the mahogany. He scrambled away from her.
She finally stopped and snapped her head in his direction. She stared at him.
And then Annie began to scream.
Her sudden resurrection had frightened him so badly that he wet himself. She had come back to life. His stepmother had been right.
Immortality. Calliope had it and Annie would have it, too. He was spending a fortune seeing to that.
“She's a pleasant surprise.”
Annie looked at him and blinked without recognition.
Vandenheuval cleared his throat and repeated himself. “The test subject is a real beauty. She was a pleasant surprise.”
“Oh. Yes. I know.” Annie’s gaze flitted to the copper-haired girl lying on the gurney in the next room.
The doctor coughed into his hand. “We need to have a conversation.”
Annie rolled his eyes, more talk, couldn't we get this on the road? “What the hell is it, Vandenheuval?” He twisted around and looked at the scientist. The man had a huge fat lip, for Christ's sake. “Let me guess, the first rule of Fight Club is to never talk about Fight Club?”
Vandenheuval looked puzzled and remembered his swollen mouth. “Well, yes, that's what I need to talk to you about.”
“What's up?”
“The two people that make your deliveries broke into our lab this afternoon.”
“What?”
“Yes, er –”
Disbelief washed over Annie. “Crow did that to you?”
“Er, no, the young lady did.”
“Young lady?” Annie furrowed his brow and burst into laughter. “Clio punched you in the mouth?”
“I don't find the situation humorous at all, Mr. Swann, you have compromised the project,” Vandenheuval attempted to hang on to a little dignity while his benefactor laughed at him.
“What happened?”
“The girl wanted to take the subject out of here. My guess is they were on a ‘rescue mission.’”
“Where are they now?” Annie asked.
“We detained them for questioning. Would you like to see them?”
Annie rubbed his chin. He considered telling Vandenheuval she was the source's sister, and decided against it. “No, keep them here until we see this thing through. I'll decide what we should do with them,” he said.
“Until then?”
“We don't know how much they know. Keep them isolated.” Annie smirked at the uppity little bitch punching the man in the mouth. “When are we going to get this show on the road? Time is money, man.”
“Oh, yes, yes.” Vandenheuval pushed his earpiece back into place and spoke into the tiny microphone clamped to his lapel. “You may begin.”
Annie noticed Bliss look towards the mirror as she cast her gaze sideways, her head held in place by the strap. “I love you, baby,” he whispered under his breath. He knew she couldn't see him.
Frightened and alone, he almost felt sorry for her. They had her hooked up to all sorts of machines with electrodes and leads stuck to her temples and chest.
Blue light filled Annie's room and he looked up to see several monitors above the one-way window had turned on. Bliss's brain waves were on one screen, the other was the EKG monitoring her heart rate, and he honestly didn't know what was on the other screens.
A nurse entered Bliss's room with the blood bag on a tray. She hung the bag from the IV stand and awaited her next order.
Vandenheuval turned to Annie. “The blood sample you sent has no type, or at least, not one we could categorize. When we tried to damage the cells, they systematically repaired and revived the damaged cells and acted as a virus when we introduced a foreign cell into their collective.”
“A virus?” Annie's face grew worried. He hated that word.
“Yes, you see, it would invade the foreign cell and transmute it into one of it's own. It would not abide anything foreign introduced into the collective, viruses and human blood alike.”
“Human blood?”
“If we put this blood into the subject, it will alter her own blood.” Vandenheuval sounded excited at the thought.
“What the hell will that do to Bliss?”
“Well, considering the healing factor, she should be fine, she should be better than fine.”
“Did you test this on anything else?”
“Well, of course.” Vandenheuval looked away.
“Well, what happened?”
“They expired, but they weren't human subjects.”
Annie put his palm on the glass again and cocked his head sideways to look at her face. “Why are you sure this won't kill Bliss?”
“I'm not sure, but I believe she has a great chance of surviving the procedure.”
“This is why you were fired from Stanford, Vandenheuval. You have no respect for human life.” Annie said. “Will there be any side effects?”
Vandenheuval sighed. “That's why we have a test subject, Mr. Swann, to keep from endangering you.”
Annie was quiet for a few moments. All he could think about was eternal life and if a few people were sacrificed to discover immortality, wasn't it worth it? He stared at the ceiling and the monitors, his gaze finally resting on Bliss.
“Go ahead with it.”
Fredric Vandenheuval studied his backer with an intense expression. “Bring the code blue station, we're not going to take any chances.”
Annie nodded his head. “Go in there yourself, Vandenheuval, I want a real doctor in there in case something goes wrong.”
“I understand, of course,” Fredrik replied and left Annie alone in the dark room.
Annie watched him enter Bliss’ room and an orderly pushed in a device with paddles best reserved for the ER. A terrible feeling washed over Annie. The blood was a virus. This would either kill her or worse, make her like him.
Vandenheuval set the transfusion up and the blood drained steadily into the groupie who had given her soul to him. Nothing happened for long minutes. The doctor pulled up a chair, sat, and watched his subject.
An hour passed, and Annie's eyes were closed while he waited.
A shrieking sound caused his eyes to snap open. An explosion of agony resounded in the next room. He rubbed his face vigorously to see what was happening.
Bliss shrieked again, a loud beeping noise demanded attention from one of the monitors, and he glared up at the screen. Her EKG was off the charts in here and out there as she convulsed on the bed, her face making horrifying grimaces. Annie stood and put both hands on the glass.
Vandenheuval gestured emphatically. “She's gone into arrest.”
Waiting for the paddles to heat up seemed like hours.
“Clear,” Vandenheuval barked and zapped her. Bliss's nude frame jumped an inch off the bed from the jolt.
Annie watched with gruesome interest. She flatlined.
Vandenheuval charged the paddles again. “Clear.” He zapped her again, Annie watched as she jumped again from the electricity. The long steady beep of the flat line was maddening.
Annie pounded on the glass, feeling helpless. “Fuck.”
Vandenheuval did it one more time. Nothing.
The staff looked to Vandenheuval. He put the paddles down and looked at his watch. “Call it,” he said.
At
“What happened?” Annie shouted. His fists pounded on the glass behind the mirror, causing the glass to shudder and moan. “What happened?”
The staff remained quiet.
Vandenheuval shook his head, and walked out into the hall.
3
Kraken Bioresearch
Clio watched over Crow as he slept off the fight. She sat on the cool tile while he lay on the only cot in the room. They had been on the floor when she awoke shivering, thirsty, drained, and hung over. Her tongue felt Velcroed to the roof of her mouth and her head pounded from her migraine.
Crow had lain sprawled before her, his chin swollen and dark. After a lot of pushing and pulling, she had managed to get him on the lone cot that had been tossed into the room. They had been locked in a bathroom with only a toilet and sink. No windows, of course.
The bruise on his jaw was beginning to blossom and she looked around for something to put on it. The room was without paper products and so she removed his boots and socks. She washed one of his socks in the sink and draped it across his chin. She sat on the floor watching him sleep, wishing he were awake. The door was dead bolted from the other side.
A volatile argument coming from the hall caught her attention and she pressed her ear to the door.
“What the fuck happened in there?” The man yelling was furious.
“Now, calm down, Mr. Swann.” Clio recognized the voice as the little bastard who had tranked her.
Mr. Swann? Clio ran to the cot. “Crow,” she said and shook him hard. She considered slapping him. “Crow wake up, Annie's out there.”
He awoke slowly and took in the bathroom with the cot.
“Huh?”
“Get up.” Clio hauled him to a sitting position. They were missing the fight. She ran back to the door and pressed her ear to it.
“What's goin –” Crow began.
“Shh.” She touched a finger to her lips.
“You fucking told me she'd survive,” Annie shouted.
“Mr. Swann, you understood the risks.”
“The risks? The risks? It was like her mother-fucking heart exploded according to that machine.”
The door thumped against Clio’s cheek as Annie kicked it with a loud bang. She pulled back for a second before resuming her eavesdropping.
“I appreciate that you're upset,” Vandenheuval said.
“You appreci – I should inject you with that blood myself, you little prick! Let's see how you appreciate that.”
“Let's not get hasty.”
“How the fuck are you going to fix this, Vandenheuval?”
Clio had never heard Annie so irate. Something terrible must have happened to Bliss.
“We will dispose of the subject –”
Clio's hand flew to her mouth.
“Not that. How are you going to fix it so my fucking heart doesn't explode, you moron?”
“We will keep working on it, Mr. Swann, I need to perform an autopsy on the subject and run some tests.”
“I can't believe you fucking killed her,” Annie shouted at the mention of an autopsy.
Clio shook her head in denial. No matter how much her and her sister disliked the girl, Bliss never deserved this.
Annie stormed off, and somewhere in the distance, it sounded like he threw a gurney down the hall.
“I think we're in trouble,” Clio said. She leaned against the door and slid to the floor.
“We'll get out of this.” He sat in front of her and brought her forehead to his shoulder. “Why was there a damp sock on my face when I woke up?”
Clio didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
4
The Villa
Calliope's eyes hurt and she hadn't even opened them yet. Several minutes ticked by while she tried to remember where she was and what she had done to deserve the cruel punishment her head was receiving. Tentatively, she cracked one eye open, and all she saw was a ceiling. She rolled her head on the pillow to see where she was and the agony in her brain told her she had a head injury. With great effort, she tried to concentrate to see if she remembered being in a car accident last night.
The last thing I remember is getting in that argument with
“He hit me.” Her fingers felt around to the back of her head and felt her hair had stiffened from blood. The flesh was tender and she had a large lump with some lacerations, but the bleeding had stopped.
A Power Puff Girls Band-Aid sat on the crook of her elbow. “Now what?”
The Band-Aid revealed a bruised vein. “What the hell did he give me?”
Usually with morphine, she'd have a hangover the size of
She hauled herself up and brought a shaky hand to her face, it had been a bad night. A Rob Zombie T-shirt covered her, and she wondered who had undressed her. Had
Clio’s room lay empty across the fireplace and Calli’s curiosity pushed her out of bed. Her robe lay draped on the chair in front of her desk and she padded across the floor to fetch it.
And then she saw it, and couldn’t believe it. Today was the day. Had seven years passed so fast?
The clepsydra sat atop her desk, the water trickling in. Calliope's breath caught and she flew from the room, her robe billowing behind her.
“Clio?” Calliope called. “Clio!”
The downstairs answered her with an eerie quiet. Calliope was alone. She tried her sister’s cell and only got her voicemail. Clio’s cell was turned off.
Calliope went in search of her phone to find Crow's number and remembered Annie had taken her home last night. Her bag had been left in the dressing room. Calliope phoned Stasia.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Calliope asked and realized she didn't care. “Did you grab my bag at the concert last night?”
“Calli?”
“Hi. Welcome to your fuckin' day. Did you find my bag or not?”
“Yeah, I have it. Are you okay? Annie said you passed out.”
I'll bet he did. “I'm fine, I just need that bag. Do you have Crow's number?”
“I think so, hang on.” Stasia came back on and recited the numbers.
“Bring my bag by later on tonight.”
“Sure, I'd love to come over.”
“Just bring the bag, I'll leave the backdoor open, leave it in the kitchen if I'm not here. Don't bring your tweaker friends, I like my stuff where it is – in my house.” She hung up before Stasia could say anything more.
Crow's number rendered only his voicemail as well. This did not bode well. Both of them have their cell phones off?
She checked her messages on their house phone. The only message was brief and bizarre, she had to replay it twice before she could make it out.
“Calli, get out of
Calliope dialed her number.
“Hello?” The voice did not belong to her sister.
“Who is this? Where the hell is Cory?” Calliope said.
“Thank god.”
“Excuse me? Who is this?”
“My name's Harley, I dance with Cory, who's this?” Her thick Texan accent was going to give Calliope a headache. She poured herself some iced tea from the fridge.
“This is Cory's sister.” Calliope went to the cookie jar and pulled out a baggie of blue pills.
“Something awful has happened.”
“Calm down.” Calliope had been right – the girl gave her a headache. She swallowed two of the blues and washed them down with the iced tea. “What’s happened?”
“Some man took her right out of the damned club is what’s happened.”
Calliope's flesh prickled and the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention, “When did this happen? What did he look like?”
“Not last night but the night before. He was English or Irish, I think, coulda been Australian. He looked like one of those guys from 'Grease.'”
“How do you mean he looked Greek?”
“No, I mean from the movie 'Grease.'”
Ares. “Did this guy have scary blue eyes and real sharp cheek bones?”
“Yeah, that's right, how did you –”
“How is it you have Cory's phone?”
“She left it cuz he was making her leave with him.”
“Did you call the police?”
“Well, yeah, but they got nuthin.”
“Did anyone get a make on the car?”
“No, he had a gun, nobody’d follow him out.”
“You just let him take her?”
“No, you have to believe me, I tried to help her and she pushed me away.”
“I believe you. Keep this phone with you, I'll call you back.”
Calliope hung up and threw the phone on one of the couches. The puzzle was perplexing. Ares has Cory and Clio was missing.
She lit a cigarette as she paced the tile. Ares coming to the states could only mean one thing: the shit was hitting the fan back home.
“Fuck,” she said and ran upstairs to pack a bag. Cory knew where they lived and Ares would drag it out of her – which is why he picked Cory up first.
She had to find Clio and get them the hell out of there.
5
Kraken Bioresearch
Clio lay on the cot with Crow, fearing what would happen to them, fearing what would happen to Crow. She wondered if they had been forgotten in the little room.
An hour had passed without a word between them. Clio cleared her throat.
“Crow?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you scared?”
“Do you remember the first time we were in the elevator and we realized we were going down?”
“Yes.”
“That's when I got scared.”
“Oh.” Clio said. “Me too. Why did you agree with me to try and help Bliss?” She turned around to face him and touched the red beard growth on his cheek.
“I guess I'm trying to make up for bringing her here.”
“Atonement.”
“Because I suck. And it would kill me if you knew that.” He pulled her in for a profound kiss. His hands delved into her hair and his lips explored the delicate curves of her mouth. His breath ran down her chin and neck and his hands moved to both sides of her face.
“God, Clio, how did I ever breathe without you?” He whispered with his lips against hers, overwhelming her.
His admission surprised her. This was wrong and terrible. Clio pulled herself away.
“There are things about me you need to know.” Clio said. Her gaze rested on his mouth for a long time, and, finally, she looked into his gray eyes. “Things I don't think I can tell you yet.”
“Clio, you can tell me anything.”
“You wouldn't understand.”
“You’d be surprised.” He clutched her to his chest. “Tell me when you're ready.”
Clio decided it wasn't the time, but she knew the longer she kept this from him, the harder it would be to tell him.
And she was out of time.
6
The Villa
Calliope drove through the hills in her Porsche and dug a cell phone from her leopard print purse. Clio's madness in keeping extra phones about the villa finally made all the sense in the world to her. She found the number she was looking for and pushed SEND.
“Strauss,” answered Annie's manager.
“William, it's Calliope,” she said. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything, Calli.”
“Can you get me the address Crow listed as his home address?”
“Will do, why?”
“I need to find my sister and him, but their cell phones are off, and it's sorta urgent.”
“Everything okay on the home front, Calli?”
No, you schmuck. Nothing is okay on the home front. “Everything's fine, William, just some family business she needs to attend to.”
“I'll have to call you back with the exact address, but if you need a direction to point the car in, it's in
“Got it,” she said and took a right on Sunset Boulevard.
7
Westbound I-10,
“Now, we can do this the hard way or the easy way, luv, you decide.” Ares said.
“What?” Cory had her eyes closed and was curled up on the
Ares grabbed her arm and pulled her into a sitting position. Cory thought she might retch.
“If you had been a good girl and not called your blooming sister this might not have had happened.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Just tell me where the Poet and the bleedin' Historian live and this’ll be all over, pet.”
“I told you already, I don’t know.” Cory's vision swam and she had the distinct feeling she might even have a fever.
“You know, I’m almost ready to believe you. Almost.” Ares said and scrutinized Cory's condition. “Look, Dancer, you are very ill right now, but you have been brave and I'm sure the poet wouldn't blame you, if you let it slip out in your delirium. I don't want to hurt you, but you don't want to fuck with me.”
Her thigh made a thick smacking noise as he brought his palm down on it, hard. A bright red handprint welled up.
Cory grabbed her thigh and cried out.
“I'd conserve those tears if I were you, you seem to be lacking adequate fluids right now.”
Her mouth was arid.
“You can't die, Dancer, but you can't imagine the pain that comes with dehydration.” He pulled her up by her hair. “Where's the fucking Poet? We'll stop and get water the moment you tell me, pet, until then, we're going to drive to LA and keep circling until either you tell me or your blood begins to powder. I don't rightly care which.”
“Bastard.”
“I’ve never heard that before.” He flashed her his wolfish smile and rubbed her thigh where she could feel the bruise beginning to blossom.
8
The sun was beaming on
“Hello, I was looking for Crow?”
“Crow?” The woman frowned. “I'm sorry, dear, but he's not here.”
“Are you his grandmother?”
“No, I'm his grandmother's aid.”
“Is she here then? I'd like to speak with her, if I could. You have my ferret.”
“Oh. Yes, the ferret is in the upstairs bathroom. He tore that room to pieces.”
Calliope smiled. Homer's favorite game was 'How Long Is This Toilet Paper Roll?' and she understood immediately. The woman opened the door for her and Calliope entered the cool dwelling.
Once inside, Calliope looked to the drawing room where the harpsichord sat and her face softened. She drifted toward it as though sleepwalking. With a familiar air, she closed her eyes and bent to inhale the age. The harpsichord moved her, sobered her by her significant past.
“Be careful, young lady, that harpsichord is worth more than you'll ever know.”
Calliope's eyes flew open to discover where the warning had come from. The woman in blue stood behind the one who had issued the warning. Her thick, white hair was parted to the side with a deep wave in it that fell past her shoulders and she wore a black, sheer blouse fastened by a Classical Greek brooch at the throat. A black camisole stood out beneath the blouse and she wore a pair of black cigarette slacks. The woman looked like she belonged in a Humphrey Bogart movie if she had been much younger.
Her eyebrows rose high above her pale gray eyes as she looked over Calliope.
The aid spoke first, “Mrs.
“Calli, ma'am, I'm here to fetch my sister's bag and our ferret, I hope he wasn't too much trouble.” Calliope stepped away from the spinet.
“He was no trouble at all. Won't you stay for tea?” Mrs.
“Of course,” Calliope finally said, her gaze was lured back by the spinet.
A slow smile came over the woman's face and Calliope saw she looked much younger than how old she'd have to be. “You seem to be familiar with the harpsichord.”
“Oh, yes, ma'am.”
Once in the living room, Calliope was seated at a low sofa across from Mrs.
“Is this ridiculous little tour of your gentleman's almost finished?” Mrs.
“We actually finished last night.” How did she know I was Annie's girlfriend?
“I suppose you'll be going back to school.” The woman leaned towards the table and picked up a slim, gold case. It swung open with a flick of her wrist and she plucked a thin cigarette from it. She tapped it on the case while she waited for an answer.
“School?” Calliope pulled her lighter from her purse and reached across the table to light the older woman's cigarette. “No, I won't. The ferret aside, I actually came for a different reason, ma'am.”
Mrs.
Calliope's eyes widened, she adored this woman. “My sister was last seen with your grandson, and I haven't been able to locate them for two days.”
Mrs.
“It's been turned off.”
“Curious.”
“Well, I'm sure they'll show up.” Calliope decided to expand on the urgency of the situation. “Someone we had a restraining order against blew into town and I'm worried.”
Mrs.
Calliope's gaze drifted back to her harpsichord.
“What do you do, if you're not a student?” Mrs.
“Me?” Calliope said through a mouthful of cucumber sandwich. She swallowed. “I'm a music instructor.”
“What do you teach?”
“I can play any instrument. I usually give piano lessons, sometimes guitar lessons.” Calliope smiled at the woman, she was ready to make her bid for the harpsichord.
Mrs.
“Really?”
Mrs.
Calliope practically skipped into the drawing room. Her eyes closed as she tested a couple of the keys and brushed the soft ivory with her fingertips.
A song most people mistook for Moonlight Sonata curled like smoke out of the instrument. The sonata was a piece by him, her maestro, and had never been written down. Calliope was the only person left on Earth who knew how to play this piece.
Calliope's eyes finally opened to stare deep into the eyes of a marble bust that was clearly Clio. Suddenly, she remembered her surroundings and looked to Mrs.
The woman had a peculiar expression on her young-old face. She was lost in thought and music as Calliope's fingers glided along the keys. Calliope stopped worrying about Mrs.
Mrs.
Startled, Calliope stopped playing, and stared at the older woman for a moment.
Calliope abruptly understood. She’s having a heart attack. She jumped from the bench.
“Someone call 911!” Calliope cried.
The plump woman in blue hit a red button on the security system and ran back in the room, wrapping her in a blanket. “Mrs.
Calliope felt the blood drain from her face.
Mrs.
Suddenly the room was filled with men in navy blue uniforms, moving quickly and methodically. They pulled Calliope away from Mrs.
Calliope tried to focus, tried to pay attention to what they were doing. Blood pressure, IVs, oxygen, penlights being flashed in her eyes, CPR, and she was hoisted onto a gurney and wheeled away.
Calliope jumped into her Boxster and skidded after the ambulance.
9
Kraken Bioresearch
The screaming was what roused Crow. Unearthly howling filled the entire research center. Shrieking that seemed to boil Clio's blood and make her pace the bathroom like a caged cat.
Crow sat up and looked to Clio, who was pacing with her hands to her ears, trying to blot out the lamentation. He could hear it, but obviously not as she could, and he kept asking her what could possibly make such a noise. Banshees must sound like this.
The lights flickered and failed. The bathroom was plunged into darkness. The pacing and screaming ground to a halt. Crow stiffened where he sat on the cot.
Something was in the room with them.
A breeze blew past him, seemingly ran into the wall opposite him, and blew past him again. It was strong enough to blow his bangs back and the hair on his arms stood up. The strange wind pinballed about the room until he heard Clio gasp.
The lights flickered back to life and the screaming began anew, only louder this time. Clio resumed her pacing and now she groaned with the every shriek.
The wailing was deafening, and Clio’s low growls only made it worse. Eerie screams closed in on them. When he could take no more of her pacing, Crow tried to grab her shoulders and she tossed him across the room like a rag doll with a strength she could not possibly possess.
“Clio, what the hell is going on?”
Her breathing had picked up, and she was grinding her teeth and digging her nails into her palms. Her head was tossing back and forth in denial.
“Stay back,” she finally managed.
Clio’s pupils dilated and her eyes became black. She turned on him with an animal intensity. Crow didn't dare touch her as she sniffed the air and turned to the door. With both hands on the handle, she suddenly pulled.
The door struggled to maintain its integrity before it buckled beneath her strength and the lock popped. She stood in the hall, her head snapped to the right, then to the left, and the caterwauling had somehow intensified. An orderly rushed at her, she grabbed him by the throat, and flung him to the ground where he didn't get back up.
Clio whirled around at Crow, her hair unbound and crackling with the power coursing through her. His eyes widened and he threw his hands up.
“Clio, it’s me.”
She leaned in as close as she could and stared into his eyes. He didn’t breathe. He didn’t speak. She sniffed him and he shuddered.
Finding him beneath her immediate concern, Clio turned from Crow and stalked the hall towards the screaming. Crow followed behind, keeping his distance.
Vandenheuval and several nurses stood in the hall staring into an open door. This was where Clio was heading. This was where the screaming was coming from.
Vandenheuval’s eyes were wide with fright, and he saw Clio too late. She backhanded him away from the door. He fell on his rump and slid fifteen feet across the tile.
Crow stared after Clio as she entered the observation room, and he could see the screamer in one corner, nude, with her hands to her ears, squatting with her back to the corner.
Bliss.
This screaming was coming from Bliss. A mad glint in Bliss's eyes made Crow fear for Clio, even as scary as she was right now.
Clio grabbed Bliss by her copper hair, hauled her to her feet, threw her over her shoulder, and strode out of the room with Crow right behind her. Clio found the reception area and pounded the elevator panel. The receptionist stood and Crow ripped the headset off her head.
He stuck a finger in her face and said, “I think you'd best sit, my girlfriend here is pretty pissed off right about now.”
One look at his grave expression and the receptionist took her seat.
Crow ripped her telephone out of the wall and tossed it across the room. “Move your chair to the back of that wall, away from the desk. Push that panic button and I’ll give you a reason to.”
The elevator opened and Clio stepped inside, Crow walked backwards towards the elevator in order to keep an eye on the receptionist. Once inside, he pumped the lobby button several times.
The elevator stopped and the rent-a-cop was right there when the doors slid open. He had a gun aimed at the trio.
“Freeze,” the rent-a-cop screamed. It was as though he had waited his whole life to say one word.
Clio's hand shot out and knocked the gun out of his hand. Her hand closed around his wrist and Crow heard a sickening crunch as she snapped him into the elevator. Crow punched the fortieth floor and jumped out. The doors closed and the elevator ascended.
He ran out of the lobby into the parking garage and the
Clio arranged the now quiet Bliss on the back seat and climbed in beside her. Her eyes had returned to normal and she was avoiding Crow's curious glances. He knew Clio was back, but didn't say anything yet.
Crow dropped the truck into reverse and skidded out of the parking garage. Clio sat in the back covering Bliss from head to toe with the blanket. Both Bliss and Clio were shivering as he watched them in the rear view mirror.
“Clee...”
“Not now.”
“Do you want me to take her to a hospital?”
“No.” Clio moved into the passenger seat when she felt Bliss pass out. “Are you crazy? No hospitals.”
“Where do you want to go then?”
After a few quiet moments, she said, “We're in danger here. Annie has done something terrible, and you're probably for sure fired. We need to get my sister and take Bliss to
“
“There are people there that can help Bliss. One of my sisters.”
“I thought you said you and Calliope were alone.”
“I lied.”
10
A long, black slip swished over black motorcycle boots as they passed by the open door. Calliope poked her head out the door and saw two pale blue angel wings tattooed on the girl’s back, and both upper arms were tattooed with Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Her short, fiery red bob with short bangs made a dramatic contrast against milky white skin. Black lips and nails, and red eye shadow framing her silver eyes, the girl cut a striking figure in the bright white of the hospital halls.
Calliope moved to the door from where she sat beside Mrs.
The girl stopped at the nurse's station. “The
“Are you family?”
“Yeah, my name's Alice Bishop, I'm her granddaughter, I'm expected.”
Calliope watched as
“Right down that hall.” The nurse indicated which hall by pointing a clipboard at it.
Without another word,
Calliope panicked and jumped back in her seat.
“I don't know,” Calliope said. “Better, I think.”
“Do I know you?”
“I'm Calliope, a friend of Crow's.”
“Cool name, like the Greek goddess.” Her carry-on was abandoned in a corner of the room.
“Muse,” Calliope said.
“Hmm?”
“Calliope is a muse, not a goddess.” Calliope had the distinct feeling
“Oh, yeah.”
“Did you find us okay?”
“Here, aren't I?”
She settled into the chair across the bed from Calliope and looked at the equipment keeping her grandmother alive. “How do you know my brother?”
“My boyfriend is his employer.”
“No shit, your Annie Christ's girl? No offense, but why are you here and where's my brother?”
“I was with your grandmother when it happened. I was looking for your brother, or my sister for that matter.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I haven't seen them in two days,” Calliope said.
“Are they together?”
“Something like that.” Calliope wanted to avoid this type of questioning.
“Are you sure I haven't met you somewhere else?”
“I'm sure.”
“You guys page him?”
“Yeah. But your grandmother had a heart attack. He didn't get much of a chance to call.”
“I'll page him again.”
“Great.” Calliope cast her a weary glance. Something didn’t feel right.
11
The Villa
The
“What are you looking at me that way for? I kept my promise, didn't I?” He raised his eyebrow at her scowl.
Her cuffs were unlocked and secreted away.
“I hate you,” she said.
“Yes, yes, Dancer, we've been through all this before.” He opened her door and waited for her to get out.
He walked up to the front door, tried the handle, and found it locked. After a couple of attempts, he managed to kick it open.
It was dark inside.
“Oh, not that sodding poofter,” Ares said in response to the tile work on the floor. He pulled out his Glock and aimed it at the mosaic.
Cory turned and shielded her face as he fired two shots into the floor causing tile pieces to spray out. A piece caught his cheek and gave him a shallow cut that beaded with blood. He wiped at it with a finger and licked it off. Cory shook dust from her hair and looked around. She moved to turn on a light and he stopped her.
“We don't want to advertise our presence, luv.”
“Then you shouldn't have parked in Calli's parking space or fired a gun twice in a predominantly white wealthy neighborhood of
It was his turn to glare at her. She was right, of course, and this pissed him off. He followed her to the kitchen.
“If you try anything stupid, I will shoot you in the face.”
“Yes, yes, Ares, we've been through all this before,” she mimicked. Cory found the fridge and was busy pulling out some pepperoni to munch on. With beer in hand, she took a stool at the island where she ate her snack.
“Stick with me, Dancer.”
Her fingers waggled a dismissal at him. “I'm not going anywhere, I've already told you where they live, I'm not going to just leave them with you, ass.”
Ares gave her his most serious glare and shrugged. He picked up the phone and took it with him. He walked around the villa, picking up and examining various items throughout. The stairway carried him into Calliope's room, and he took in the suspended bed, the fireplace, and the clepsydra full of water and ready to drop. His eyebrow rose at the water clock, he knew he had to catch them before they moved on again.
In Clio's room, he sat on the suspended bed. Her sugary vanilla scent draped about her bed like a canopy and he picked up a pillow and held it to his nose. He examined the baseball and tossed it aside.
A framed photo of the two sisters sat on the desk beside her computer. Calliope with dusky waves and sapphire eyes, and Clio’s long, brown curls, silver Elven eyes, and full, sensuous lips. The picture was pulled from the frame and pocketed into his coat.
He went downstairs to find something to eat and wait for the little brats to come home.
12
“Visiting hours are over, girls,” a nurse told them when she poked her head into the door. Calliope knew visiting hours were long over, and smiled at the nurse.
Mrs.
Crow had not returned
“Martha is probably gone and I don't want to go to my Grandma's alone right now, you wanna come with me?”
“We can try paging Crow again, right?” Calliope shifted in her chair, her butt was numb from sitting.
“Sure. You can grab your ferret, too.” She glanced at Calli conspiratorially, “I really needed a ride.”
They placed
“I cleaned up the living room for you, sweetheart,” she told
Calliope wondered if the woman wasn't far from the truth.
The lights were out when they got inside, neither of them moved to turn any on, the fluorescents at the hospital had strained their eyes. Instead,
“Do you want some real coffee?”
“That would be great.” Calliope moved towards the stairs. “I'm going upstairs to find Homer.”
She found her ferret curled in a ball on a cat bed in the bathroom. He blinked grumpily against the light. “There you are.” She bent down and scooped up the little fuzzball.
The ferret was happy to see her and lapped at Calliope’s chin with joy. She settled on the couch and waited for
“It's brewing,”
“I'm going to leave him in here, not as many things he can knock over and break.” Homer was set down and Calliope closed the bottom half of the kitchen's Dutch door.
She walked around the living room and wandered back into the drawing room, the spinet calling to her. Her fingers traced the bust's familiar features and she whispered, “Where the hell are you, Clee?”
Calliope sat at the harpsichord and began to play. She stopped when
“Don't stop, please,”
Determined not to play a piece that would cause such a stir, she purposefully picked a Tori Amos tune.
“I've got your mind,” I said
she said, “I've your voice”
I said, “You don't need my voice girl, you have your own
but you never thought it was enough of”
so they went for years and years
like sisters, blanket girls
always there through that and this
“there's nothing we cannot ever fix,” I said
The words were ones Calliope had inspired for another breathtaking, titian-haired girl she had loved yet set free. Tori’s music had come from a different place, not from Calliope. Tori was her own muse, she had never needed Calliope. Tori had been touched by her own divinity.
Can't stop what's coming
Can't stop what is on it's way
and now I speak to you
are you in there
you have her face and her eyes
but you are not her
Can't stop loving
Can't stop what is on it's way
And I see it coming
And it's on it's –
The phone rang. They both stared at it.
13
The Villa
The
Crow helped her get the girl up and wrapped the blanket around her. He eased Clio back and picked Bliss up. She opened the garden gate for him and made her way to the front door.
The first thing she noticed was the porch light was out, and the door had been kicked in. Panic clawed at her heart and she spun around to tell Crow to get back to the truck. No sooner did she do that than someone was behind her with an arm around her waist and a gun to her temple.
“Weren't you gonna come in and greet your guests, Historian?”
The heat, the bad accent, she knew who it was immediately.
“Clio!” Crow exclaimed from where he stood holding Bliss.
“Don't worry,” she tried to sound calmer than she was, “it's okay. I'm okay.” She moved her head to look at him. “We have to get the girl inside. Calli's in big trouble, Ares.”
“I'd say you should worry 'bout yourself right now, muse.” He motioned with his gun for Crow to bring Bliss in. Crow hurried past to deposit Bliss on the couch.
Clio pulled away from Ares and whirled around. “I'm unarmed. I don't have time to deal with you right now, Ares. Honestly, I don't.”
Cory giggled at Ares' expression. He began to say something and snapped his mouth shut.
Ares swung his gaze toward Bliss.
“
Clio grabbed at the black leather of his coat. “No, she’s my problem!”
He turned on her, his ice blue eyes shooting daggers at her. Clio’s heart beat wildly and she realized she still had her grip on his jacket. They stared at each other and she let go.
His fingers raked through his peroxide locks in frustration, mussing his pompadour.
“Why would you bring that abomination here?” Ares asked.
They were face to face – locked in a battle of wills.
“She's my responsibility. She wasn't made by another lamia.” Clio was furious with him for being in her home, for showing up at the worst possible time, for scaring her to her core.
“How?”
“In a lab, and I think they used my sister's blood to make her and I don't know if Calli's alright.” Clio tore herself away from the argument with Ares to go to Bliss on the couch.
“Who the fuck is this guy, Clio?” Crow looked ready to spit nails.
“Don’t ask, it’s a long story,” she said.
Clio hugged Cory. “Hi, you okay?”
Cory fell into her sister's arms. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Clio, he was hurting me and it was so hot and I was so thirsty. I didn't mean to bring him here, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.”
Clio tried to hush her sobbing. “It's okay, I know what he's like, don’t worry.” Cory looked at her. “Don’t worry.” Clio said again. Calliope won’t be so forgiving, little sister.
They broke apart and Clio wiped Cory's eyes.
Ares cleared his throat. “I hate to break this lovely reunion up, but Loverboy over there looks like he's going to do something that might get him shot, muse.”
“Crow, this is Ares, and my sister, Cory.” With deliberate motions, she moved to Crow and put her arms around him, tilted his chin, and looked into his eyes. “Look at me, make no moves towards him, he is very dangerous. He will kill you." She said it again to bring her point across, “He will kill you.”
Crow nodded. It didn't explain who Ares was or why he was doing this, but he understood the danger she was implying.
Clio looked from Cory to Ares, turned back to Crow, and said, “Remember I told you I had a lot of secrets? My father is a powerful and important man and he wants Calliope and me to come home. We ran away a long time ago and Ares is here to take us back. He brought Cory because she knew where we lived.” Clio gave him a small apologetic glance. “That's all I can explain right now, I'm sorry, but there's too much to do and too little time.” She reached out and touched his cheek.
“Fine,” Crow said, but brushed her hand away just the same.
Ares made a sound of disgust and rolled his eyes. He tucked the Glock back into his shoulder holster, satisfied nobody was going to do anything that required a shooting.
Clio looked the war god up and down, took in his shock of bleached blonde hair and the black leather motorcycle jacket. “Nice, Ares, very Outsiders,” she said.
Ares gestured towards the corpse on the couch with a blatant middle finger, and said, “What are we going to do about that?”
Clio sat on the couch next to Bliss. Her skin was cold. Clio knew she'd be hungry when she woke.
“We don't have much time. Cory, run upstairs to my closet and get some comfortable clothes for her. Ares can you grab a knife out of the kitchen and some bandages from the bathroom?” Clio asked.
“Wait a bloody minute, Historian, I'm here to take you home, not to play wet nurse to a sodding lamia.”
Bliss was stirring and Clio twisted in his direction. “Ares, we don't have time for this, just fucking do it.”
Crow's eyes widened at this forceful Clio, and Cory was frozen with fascination at this battle of wills. Ares' icy blue eyes locked with her silver, flashing ones. Finally, he spun, and stormed out of the room. Cory bolted up the stairs.
“What's a lamia?” Crow asked.
“You're about to find out,” Clio said. “Hold her for me, when she wakes up, she'll be powerful, like angel-dust strong.”
True to Clio's warning, Bliss' eyes snapped open and she bolted straight up, her spine straight as a rod, her eyes black and wild. She snarled and made a grab for Clio. Crow was losing his struggle to keep Bliss from attacking her.
“Move aside, mortal,” Ares told him. He grabbed Bliss' copper locks and jerked her head back with his hand locked on her forehead. His other arm was wrapped around her waist pinning her arms to her sides. “Let's go, muse, I don't have all bleedin' day.”
Clio took the knife and saw Cory had come down the stairs. “Cory, keep him back,” she told her sister and tossed a glance at Crow. Grateful Ares had brought the sharpest knife he could find, she drew the blade across the inside of her wrist, and a thick line of blood appeared. A grimace of pain scrunched up her face.
“You're okay, girl, just do the sodding thing,” Ares said.
“Clio! What the hell?” Crow lunged for her and Cory pushed him back.
“Don't. She knows what she's doing,” she said.
Clio held the opened wound over Bliss' face and watched as the girl opened her mouth to catch the blood as it dripped into her waiting mouth. Clio cringed and found Crow to focus on, not wanting to watch.
“You see, what we call lamias, you call vampires, and you never let a newly awakened lamia latch onto you or they wouldn't stop until they drained you,” Clio said. “That’s why I have to let it drip into her mouth.”
Crow’s face had gone white.
When Bliss calmed, Clio pulled her wrist back and Cory ran over to bandage it. Ares on the other hand was busying himself tying Bliss's hands together.
“What are you doing?” Clio asked him.
“Never trust a lamia.” He looked at Clio, shaking his head in disgust. “Feeding this gaffe, you're turning into that barmy sister of yours.”
“That reminds me,” Clio said. “We need to call Mel, see if she'll take Bliss, and we have to warn Calli about Annie.” The loss of blood and the earlier events of the evening were taxing her and the room swam before her eyes.
“You need some sleep, Clio,” Crow said. “She went all super-beastie when Bliss woke up at the lab. I think she hurt herself.” He explained and gestured toward her bruised and bloodied hands.
Cory nodded. “Sometimes, when a lamia is made, the body dies and the soul has to return on it's own from the Underworld. The body instinctively fights off the soul's reentry, so the soul found the nearest person it was familiar with to occupy, which was obviously Clio.” Cory looked at her exhausted sister. “Pure self-interest is what got Bliss's body out of there. The soul probably returned to Bliss as soon as her body grew exhausted from fighting it off. Or after she lost consciousness, right?” Cory looked at Crow.
“Yeah.”
Cory dressed Bliss and asked Ares to untie the lamia while she slipped a Wonderwoman tank top over her head.
Clio looked at the top and raised an eyebrow at her sister. Cory smiled satisfactorily and brushed the girl’s tangled mop when she sat her on the floor in front of her. Bliss sat for her like a good little catatonic.
Ares sat on the couch beside Cory and watched in disgust as they treated the lamia like a child. “Are we goin' to tart each other up next, paint each others toenails?”
Clio was curled in a ball, falling asleep next to Cory. She snapped awake and said, “We have to call Calliope and warn her.”
“Warn her about who? What did she mean this thing was made from Calliope's blood? What lab?” Ares said and glared at Crow, who was sitting cross-legged at the coffee table.
“Well, we think my friend has finally gone out of his mind,” Crow said and caught them up on the Kraken situation.
“If the only other one he has been close to is Calli, then Clee's probably right, she's probably in danger from this guy.” Cory said.
Clio was listening from her spot on the couch.
“Bugger. What the hell am I doing? I've only three more days to get you bloody birds home to daddy before my bollocks are in the grinder.” Ares said.
“Can I go get the phone? We need to find Calli and I need to call and check in with my family,” Crow asked Ares.
“Go get the phone, but bring it back here, the Dancer will be doing all the calling, wanker,” Ares said.
Crow brought the phone back in the living room and sat. Bliss sat staring off into space. She hadn't said anything since she had been fed.
“Is she okay?” Crow asked.
“She's in shock, she'll be okay in a few days,” Cory told him, “it's not everyday you die, go to the Underworld and come back.” She took the phone from him. “What's your number?”
Clio listened to them chatter back and forth and was suddenly sorry she had dragged Crow into any of this. He would never look at her the same way again. Momentous.
14
Kraken Bioresearch
“What do you mean she's gone?” Annie's face burned red with rage. “How the fuck do you explain her waking up?”
“Mr. Swann, I don't know how she woke up, she was dead for nearly 12 hours. I went in to do the autopsy and she suddenly screamed. It was quite unnerving.” He did after all have to change his pants after the whole incident.
“Yeah, well, no fuck it was unnerving. What's even more unnerving is you let that little bitch carry her out of here. Did you know she is related to the original blood source?”
“What?”
“A sister. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm telling you, Vandenheuval,” he shouted. Annie swept everything off the scientist's desk with his arm. “Pack up fucking shop, we've gotta move, all hell's gonna come down on this place. Everything goes to the warehouse. You had better get some genius ideas. What the hell am I paying you for?” Annie’s fingers raked through his greasy locks. “I'm going to get a source. Whichever bitch I run into first – I'm hauling in. You be ready!”
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