Page 16

A woke from a sleep I didn’t know I’d been in. Hardened crust glued the corners of my eyes together, and I couldn’t move to scratch it. A film coated my eyes as I tried to open them.

“Brother,” Drakon’s voice cut through the silence. “You’ve always been such a disappointment to the family.”In a darkened room with a single spotlight, my brother appeared under it. “I knew it before you even knew it. I felt you pulling away from the plan. Maybe it was when you looked surprised, or maybe it was when Naja caught you with a rat.”

“Soren is not a rat,” I snapped and tugged my arms. I was bound by ropes, and they were laced with single-spun threads of metal, no doubt, that’s what they used here to keep everyone at bay. And I was definitely no different now to someone they’d pulled in off the street to treat as a criminal.

“Well, no, Soren Quillen is a flying squirrel, from the QuillAir family,” he said. “You know, brother. If you said you wanted to mate with someone from a ridiculously rich family, I wouldn’t have even stopped you. My issue, and I’m sure it’s an issue to every single member of the Syndicate, is how Soren isn’t actually part of that family anymore. He’s off making a name for himself and a reputation as someone who likes to disrupt businesses.”

“No he’s not. And you better not hurt him.”

Drakon laughed in my face, getting closer to me. The smell of decay on his breath wasn’t something I thought he’d do, but we all had our vices, and his was clearly drinking the venom like the soldiers. “I’m not going to hurt him. You’re going to hurt him. Once we’ve dosed you up again and again, oh, did I mention, we’re going to keep dosing you up until you forget all about him. Then, you’ll tie him to a bed, poison him, and then, we’ll even let him be the first to carry the new generation.”

There was one thing wrong with that, but I couldn’t say it to my brother. Soren was an exploit in making me better. “Do it,” I said. “Don’t say it. Do it.”

“We are already,” he said.

Suddenly conscious of every feeling on my body. Completely naked, a still breeze traveling in from the convection fan in the room. Both of the doctors appeared in view with my brother.

“He does have an impressive set, you have to admit,” Doctor Rathe said, her eyes on my cocks. “You’d think he would get twice the omegas pregnant with it. But one of them is practically useless after the first load is shot.”

“What?” I asked, trying to tug my arms and legs on the constraints, and feeling of tubes and needles inside my muscles became increasingly painful and stung with each motion my limbs took.

“Well, we’ve inspected you several times already,” Doctor Payne said. “The fact that you didn’t recall told us you hadn’t regained full consciousness of your memories yet. There were a lot of things you would never do.”

Doctor Rathe bit her lip and hummed. “Like me, for one,” she said. “But any time I was able to get you willing to undress, I took it. I actually didn’t realize the assistant was an omega, but alas, I am yet a humble human who is unable to see the differences.”

“Or smell them,” Drakon said. “We’re going to try this again, Vasilis. We’re going to pump you with all of these hormones and amp up the venom in your system so you’ll rut, like you usually do after your injections. It works though, it keeps the soldiers in line, and fearing you.”

My brain felt detached from my body, spinning around in my skull. I didn’t know how to believe or if what they were saying was true. I had no memories of that, even as they mentioned it and I searched, I couldn’t find it.

“Where’s Soren?” I asked as my limbs grew heavy with pain.

“He would be in your room,” Drakon said, turning his nose up. “But that place stinks, so we’ve put him in with the other omegas. You know, you shouldn’t leave your room like that. Vomit, food, bedding everywhere. I know if mom was here, she’d have you on clean-up duty for a month. But you wouldn’t even remember it, so what would be the use.”

“What are you—” Saliva built up in the corners of my mouth, slobbering out over my lips. “What are—” I was on the verge of vomiting, but also passing out. “Putting in me?”

Doctor Rathe in all the haze she belonged to raised a clipboard to me. “This is a double dose of the cocktail we created. It’s been worked to target the parts of your brain specifically, shutting off the cortex capable of storing memories, and pushing high levels of the venom back into your body.”

“No, no,” I struggled, slurring my words as I shook my head. “No. I don’t want it.” My head dipping to my chest now, staring at the floor and my feet. They’d had me standing upright, my legs and arms spread apart like the Vitruvian man.

“Good night, brother,” Drakon said, his finger hooking under my chin and pushing it up to see me. “When you wake up, I hope you’ll feel different about the plan. Remember, we’re doing this to take over. We’re doing this to become the biggest and beastliest organization the world has seen.”

As the world around me faded into black, my brothers words echoed like an ache in my brain. But so did Soren’s face, he was right there, almost like I had a live feed to him. We were bonded after all, and it was going to either save me, or kill me.

***

The world stopped spinning long enough for me to open my eyes and the comfort of my air purifier going off had me smiling. Today was a good day. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but everything smelled ten times sweeter, and that was just from the moss on my walls.

On my nightstand, my morning glass of blood, temperately warm, just the way I liked it. It was what had perfumed the air so nicely. A delight on my senses. The only thing better would be to have an omega on hand and on tap to suck from and poison at my will.

A knock came at my door just as I was getting dressed.

My brother stood in the doorway with a smile.

“You’re awake,” he said.

“Apex,” I greeted him.

We embraced in a big hug. “It’s good to see you up and about,” he said. “You weren’t feeling too well. Has it passed?”

“It must have,” I laughed. “I don’t feel sick, if that’s what you’re asking. I heard we’ve got a third batch of omegas coming in. I didn’t think you’d be here for that. I love the onboarding process. You know, seeing the light dull in their eyes as they give in to the addictive toxins.”

“That happened days ago,” he said. “You were quite sick. Feverish, if I recall. Well, I’m glad you’re better. That’s all that matters. Right?”

“Right.” It must’ve done a number on me not to recall it, but I wasn’t going to stress over it. “Must’ve been whatever mystery meat they’re serving up here. They’re really getting careless with their cooking.”

Drakon hummed and nodded his head. “I’ll have a word with the people in charge of food,” he said. “Also, don’t forget to check in with the doctors. They’re in the third omega bay. After you being sick and all, they want to check up on you. We don’t want anything spreading, and we need to make sure that venom is still potent. There’s a straggler omega in there who needs to be given a bite.”

I licked my lips. It felt like I hadn’t bitten anyone in years with the way my mouth salivated over the idea. “I’ll get right to. Need something to eat first. I’ll—” I stared into my brother’s eyes, there was a flash of something, but it was probably just the light in hallway playing tricks on me. “I’ll probably stick to the rice. I heard if you get sick, it’s good to stick to the plainer foods.”

“Where did you hear that?” he asked.

“It’s just something I know.” I shrugged. “But it’s what I always do after I’ve been ill. I just wolf down some rice and then I’m fine.”

“Ok. Well, as long as you get yourself to the doctors afterward, that should be fine,” he said. “I’m sad you missed my speech though. Well, you were there, but you were looking a little sick, so we sent you back to bed.”

“Right. Yeah, I remember. I’m sorry I had to miss it. I know they mean a lot to the Syndicate to see the family together looking strong.”

Drakon patted me on the shoulder. “Well, mom wasn’t there, so it wasn’t too big of an issue. Anyway, I’ll see you later. And if you feel anything strange, let me know right away. I’ve got to make sure my little brother and my second-in-command by birth is ok.”

“Thank you.” I knew I wasn’t his direct second-in-command, that was mostly made up by his counsel, but if anything major happened to him where he couldn’t operate the Syndicate like it needed to be, I would be called into command, or my mom, but she’d retired from control.

Once I was dressed, there seemed to be a pleasant upbeat music singing in my ears, like pop punk music with a catchy beat and mumbled words I couldn’t place. I walked right to the canteen where all my soldiers were eating. It was impossible to tell which meal since the same serving was given at all meal times.

“I’m glad you’re looking more like yourself,” Naja said, standing beside me as I piled rice on my tray. “Your brother was worried, as was the rest of us. The soldiers didn’t notice it, but you’ve got to be more careful with what you consume.”

I gestured to the rice going on my tray. “I think I’m already onboard with the caution,” I told her. “I’m not going to be eating anymore of whatever that is.” The meat was coated in a glaze that my body actually craved, but it wasn’t worth getting sick over. “So, you can report back to my brother that I’m taking care of myself.”

“And once you’ve finished, the doctors want to see you,” she said, tapping away on her tablet. “We don’t want you getting the entire compound infected.”

I rolled my eyes and was almost ready to stick my foot out and hope she tripped over it. I stopped myself from it. She wasn’t the most popular person here, given her position as director of intelligence, and overseer of the cameras and whatever other devices she used to keep track on the soldiers.

At a table, I sat and ate as soldiers flocked to me with their trays of food, each of them asking how I was doing, and definitely attempting to brownnose me like I was going to offer them more or less of the venom they were all so addicted to.

“How have all the omegas been?” I asked.

“We’re all ready,” one of them said.

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” another answered. “The big news your brother brought with him. They’re being used to create the new generation. And we all get a chance at trying.”

“I’m not following. What’s happening?” I asked, taking a quick look around the canteen. It was both the same and different, like an overlay of the place I’d been in several times before. They all spoke over each other, and I couldn’t make sense of a single one of them. My hand raised to my chest, placed across it, I rubbed at something painful like wounds. “Can one person speak?”

The soldier in front of me I locked eyes with. “We were operating with the idea that we would be using the infected omegas like bombs to send into groups of vamps and such, but they’re actually much more useful than we all thought. So, we’ve had to stop feeding on them.” He snort-laughed. “They’re actually going to be used as hosts for your offspring.”

“Mine?” I laughed and shook my head. “I’m never having kids. I don’t remember that happening.” I unbuttoned to look at my chest, and in areas where there was no hair, I discovered small claw marks etched into me, not quite healed over yet. “Can you repeat that?”

Another soldier took over. “Technically, the Apex said we would all be mating with them, but you mainly because you’re of the bloodline. You and the Apex are the reason we’re able to become the kings of this earth. New Eden is a stepping stone. We’re all going to create something bigger.” Most of it didn’t go in at first because I’d become preoccupied with the look of black teeth and the smell emanating from their mouths. But as they went on explaining it, I was beginning to understand that this wasn’t what I’d signed up for, and my brother knew more than well that I never wanted to produce any offspring in this world.

“I’m going to double check that,” I said, after barely managing a spoonful of rice. I raced off out of the canteen in search of the doctors. They would probably tell me what was really going on. They were humans, they weren’t going to lie to me.

After clocking in a couple hundred steps, I made it to the bay were the new omegas were kept. These were the ones who weren’t being sedated. I recalled that much at least.

Three soldiers and the two doctors stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the beds, most of them with omegas in, and one of them with an omega who was unconscious, a sheet covering their entire body. They were breathing, I saw the sheet moving.

“Is that one dead?” I asked, not sure of anything anymore.

Doctor Rathe laughed. “Oh, no. They should be in bay one. But they need you to infect them.”

“The sheet is so that we remember,” Doctor Payne said.

“How do you decide who goes where?”

“Well, random draw, mostly,” Doctor Rathe answer, shrugging it off. “Anyway, we want to see how you’re doing. We hate to see you out of commission and sick.”

Doctor Payne stood by and nodded as Doctor Rathe asked me questions about my symptoms. I didn’t know what they were symptomatic of, but I answered each to the best of my knowledge. Although, everything felt like a giant case of Deja vu.

“Ok,” they finished with, leading me to the omega with the sheet over them. “This one is new in. We just need to make sure your bite is still functional after being sick.”

I took my position by the omega, and pulled an arm out from the sheet. Their body was warm, and strangely familiar in scent. I pulled it to my mouth and inhaled, dragging my nose from the wrist up to the elbow. “Soren,” his name rolled gently off my tongue.