Love, Immortal (Alchemy Book 2) Page 14

  “That tattoo on your shoulder wasn’t created by human hands, Ethan, and the circle I’m drawing is just a channel,” she explained, making her first mark on the skin despite his objection. “After the initial power required to begin the transmutation, the process itself will trigger an exponential surge in energy. The true seal will become branded into the automaton’s skin, just as it was on yours.”

  “I love it when you talk nerdy to me,” Ethan said with a mischievous grin.

  Davey just stared at him. She was unable to stop the blush rapidly creeping across her cheeks. Ethan was the same guy, but he was different, and she was falling in love with him all over again. Like that’s possible. Shaking her head, Davey resumed drawing. Once the transmutation symbol was done, she powered up the turbine and particle generator before turning to Ethan. “The only thing we’re missing is the murderous, body-swapping sociopath.”

  Ethan’s face was grim, lacking all of the humor he’d brandished moments before. “Drekker is on the island.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Hogan is safe?”

  “As long as he stays put, Drekker will never find him. I made sure of it.”

  Davey took a relieved breath and nodded. Needing to be busy, she reviewed her calculations and tried checking the equipment calibrations yet again, but her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. “Dammit,” she swore through clenched teeth.

  Ethan came and stood next to her. “It’s okay,” he whispered and briefly squeezed her hand.

  A second later, a strange voice called down from the stairwell. “Well, well, Ethan Remington. I see you’ve been as busy and resourceful as ever. It’s no wonder our overlords fight so hard to keep you in bondage.”

  Stunned to see it was a woman who descended the stairs, Davey looked at Ethan to gauge his reaction, but he had none.

  The woman moved stiffly, taking awkward hesitant steps in the patent leather high heels she wore. Her spine was held rigid with no sway in her hips evident beneath the tight pencil skirt that clung to her body. A small hobo crossbody rested on one hip. Though her tone was light—playful even—the expression on her face was almost angry. Reaching the basement floor, she stood with both hands at her waist and surveyed the room with a chilly gaze.

  Leveling those cold green eyes on Ethan, the woman scowled. “You are a formidable puppet, Remington. Have you ever considered cutting your strings?”

  “Every time I run away, my brother and his mercenaries just drag me back. There’s no escape for us.”

  “Wait,” Davey whispered. “Is that Drekker?”

  “It is.” Ethan smirked. “Maybe we shouldn’t have been so concerned with stealing the male android. He seems comfortable enough in a skirt.”

  Drekker’s glower deepened, marring the woman’s pretty features. “This vessel is only a temporary inconvenience. You have the android, but where is the boy?” The woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You know what will happen if you were foolish enough to betray me.”

  “Take it easy there, Sybil,” Ethan said, making a placating gesture. “You and I came to an agreement, and I intend to keep it. We don’t need the boy.”

  Drekker’s head tilted to one side. “Something has changed about you, Remington.”

  “Yes, but it pales in comparison to what you’ve done with yourself. Now, what we’re doing here isn’t sanctioned, and by now the labs must know the android is missing. So, let’s cut the chitchat, Drekker. You need to get on the table.”

  Drekker didn’t move. “How do you hope to accomplish what the greatest minds employed by Global Cures could not? That boy is the key. He bridges the possible and the impossible.”

  “Hogan Little is a neophyte. We’d be crazy to let him attempt a transmutation like this. We’d both end up with our souls ripped apart. Trust me.”

  Shaking his head, Drekker retreated a few steps. “I don’t.” Reaching into his purse, Drekker whipped out a short-barreled revolver and promptly aimed it in Davey’s direction. But Ethan moved even faster, stepping in front of Davey and completely blocking her from harm before Drekker had even finished raising his arm.

  “You can’t kill me with that, Drekker. And there’s no way in hell you’re getting past me to hurt her.”

  “Of course,” Drekker said simply. Then he took the gun and pressed it against his temple. “Why don’t I just kill myself now and return to the other realm? I’ll find Hogan tonight when he travels. I’m going to torment him until his young mind breaks. He’ll be rendered insane, but don’t worry. I’ll come back to this earth and put him out of his misery.”

  Mason Drekker was a lunatic. No question about it. Davey had witnessed firsthand the extraordinary lengths he was willing to go to in order to get what he wanted and therefore knew his words were not an empty threat. It didn’t make sense to kill Hogan, the only person who could give him what he wanted (at least so Drekker thought), but mentally unstable people couldn’t be held to such pedestrian things like reason and logic. If Drekker couldn’t be convinced that Davey could perform the transmutation, then he would kill her brother.

  “Drekker, stop. Wait,” Ethan urged. “You know there’s another way. Think about it. Hogan Little wasn’t born when I was created.”

  Drekker’s finger tapped impatiently at the trigger. “Yes, you were the first—the golden child. And every attempt to replicate the experiment has failed because the good doctor died and took the crux of his research with him.”

  “I have his research. All of it. Davey has studied every word of The Alchemy Initiative and successfully replicated the formula that brought me back.” Ethan gestured toward the android. “She can put you in the body you’ve always wanted…permanently.”

  Drekker’s gaze shifted between Davey and the android. Then he shook his head, making his long, dark and stolen locks shimmer in the light. “Not good enough, Remington. I said I wanted the boy.”

  “You’re not getting him,” Ethan said flatly. “Davey can do this. Everything is ready to go. You just need to get on the table.”

  “I don’t believe you. Who is this girl that she can do what so many others have failed to achieve?”

  “Her name is Davey, Daveigh Little. And I told you. She’s studied alchemy for a very long time, and I have given her the original formula.”

  Drekker’s eyes went completely cold and a sort of peace settled over his features. “Not good enough,” he said.

  A leaden knot formed in Davey’s gut as she prepared to watch a human head explode into a shower of red mist and grey matter for the second time in her adult life. Drekker was going to do it. He was going to kill himself and fulfill every word of his promise. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

  “Drekker. Don’t do it.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Remington.”

  “Goddammit. She’s his daughter!” Ethan shouted desperately, startling everyone. “Dr. Savage was gifted and so are his children. Both of them.”

  12

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Drekker said, wearing a greedy smile as he finally lowered the gun. “Show me.”

  Ethan clenched his teeth. “Goddamn you, Drekker.” Shaking his head, he turned to Davey with a look of utter remorse. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “You were never meant to find out in this way.”

  “I-I don’t understand,” Davey stammered. Her mind was struggling to find a path through the shock and confusion she was feeling. What Ethan said made absolutely no sense. True, she had never known her real father, but there was no way a woman like Tina Little had conceived the child of a brilliant scientist who had supposedly died years before Davey was actually born.

  “Tick tock, Ethan.” Drekker moved next to the master console and made a show of noisily dragging the barrel of the revolver along the metal surface. “Prove your claim before our wealthy overlords arrive and spoil the dance.”

  “We don’t have time for this.”

  Drekker banged the butt of the gun against the table, ringing metal agai
nst metal. “Show me,” he demanded.

  Ethan’s expression was murderous as he strode to the console with stilted movements and slammed his hand against the data drive. His glower never left Drekker. Briefly, the computer monitor went dark, and then transitioned to footage of a grainy video. The time stamp was dated forty years earlier.

  Davey swallowed. Nothing about this can be good.

  A man wearing a white lab coat and who could have been no older than thirty-five walked on camera. His hair was dirty blonde. His big and kind brown eyes had a certain familiarity to them that Davey couldn’t quite put her finger on…or maybe she just wasn’t ready to believe.

  “My name is Dr. David Savage.” The man began speaking, looking directly into the camera. “After many, many trials, the human transmutation has finally succeeded—even beyond my expectations.” Smiling broadly, Dr. Savage adjusted the camera angle to the left. And there was Ethan, looking exactly as he did now. He sat in a chair, spine straight, gaze forward and unblinking. He was eerily motionless—as still as a statue—as if awaiting orders.

  Dr. Savage moved the camera back to film himself as he began speaking once more. “Even though I was forced to split his soul, Seth Eleazar was able to assume control of the automaton. He’s still adjusting. At first, it was difficult for him…learning of his death and accepting he is no longer truly human. I spent many months working with Seth, helping him to accept who—what—he is now. Physically, he was and is every bit the weapon I was tasked to create. But mentally, he was not ready to embrace his true purpose.” Dr. Savage’s features grew softer with affection. “I found hope in the most unlikely ally. Come here, monkey.”

  “Hi, Daddy,” the child’s voice called out just before a little girl appeared. She couldn’t have been more than five years of age. “Hi, Seth!” the little girl said as she turned and waved enthusiastically at the Ethan in her time.

  “Hello, Davey.” The camera moved as he answered. A smile had transformed his robotic countenance, melding him into something more human as he stared fondly at the little girl.

  “Daddy, can I play with Seth now?”

  Dr. Savage gathered the girl into his arms. “In a minute, monkey. Seth and I have to do some work first.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the world is a dangerous place, and I need to make sure you and your brother will always be safe.”

  The little girl blinked, clearly not understanding. “Daddy, I don’t have a brother.”

  Dr. Savage patted his daughter’s head. “You will.” Looking down, he whispered something into her ear that the microphone did not pick up. Then he raised his eyes to the camera once more. His expression was deeply troubled. “I have seen things—unspeakable crimes committed by cruel men and unforgiveable acts committed by kind men with good intentions. Part of me believes what I have done to Eleazer’s son falls into the latter category. For that, I am truly sorry. But what I have done is to protect the future, and to protect my children.” Dr. Savage set the little girl on the floor. “Go play with Seth,” he said, ushering her forward. He didn’t speak again until she was out of earshot.

  “Davey, if you are watching this, then what I feared has come to pass. I was not allowed to live and watch you grow, my life no doubt rendered less useful now that my experiments have succeeded. But if you are watching this, then it also means Seth has found you. And because of that, I know you will be safe. You can trust him, Davey. No matter what is done to him, I built fail-safes within his core programming to ensure his default is to find you and to protect you. Every time the code is attacked, it will only replicate and grow stronger.” Hearing a sound off camera, Dr. Savage turned around. “Look,” he whispered and then panned the viewfinder.

  Little Davey and past Ethan became a part of the footage once more. With their pointer fingers touching, beams of light passed between them like the filaments of a plasma ball that stretched out toward a smooth glass enclosure, attracted by electrical discharges of the human body. The little girl giggled with delight as the light expanded and shrank, pulsating hypnotically.

  “She isn’t aware of her gifts yet, and still, the automaton seems to act as a sort of amplifier, charging latent abilities,” Dr. Savage explained in a low voice. “If she realizes those gifts too soon, it could be disastrous. Seth,” Dr. Savage called out in a warning tone. “That’s enough.”

  Nodding, past Ethan moved his hand away, terminating the connection and the enchanting light with it. Little Davey continued to laugh. “Can I show you my new doll?” she asked excitedly.

  “Of course,” past Ethan answered lightly.

  Dr. Savage sighed and resumed his monologue.

  “Davey, I’m afraid for you. The path in front of you will only get much, much harder. However, remember that Seth will always be there to guide you through it. I’ve entrusted the safekeeping of my research to him and to you. It is a great power, and the two of you must never let it fall into the hands of those who would abuse it. One last thing,” he said. With a sad smile, he brought two of his finger to his lips and then touched the screen. “I love you, monkey.”

  The feed abruptly terminated, and the basement room fell into silence. Davey felt tears run down her cheeks and quickly wiped them away. Ethan saw her, and the rage in his expression intensified.

  “Outstanding,” Drekker exclaimed. His voice was hushed in awe. “You’ve convinced me, Ethan. Things are even more incredible than I thought.”

  “Great,” Ethan said flatly, and pounded his fist into the side of Drekker’s head. The woman’s body crumpled. “Now you can get on the fucking table.”

  13

  “Ethan,” Davey began carefully, “I realize this isn’t the best time, but we really have to talk about what I just saw on that video.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Davey hesitated. Meeting Ethan should have prepared her for every other extraordinary thing that could have happened in her once fairly ordinary life. Yet, learning the truth about Drekker’s demented crusade and Hogan’s remarkable abilities had been a difficult pill to swallow. And now this. Her father and the scientist who had created Ethan were one and the same. Even more mind-boggling was seeing herself as a young child in a video from four decades ago. Davey wasn’t yet thirty in the present, so how could it be possible?

  “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I have so many questions.”

  “And I will do my best to answer them,” he said. “But right now, we need to focus on Drekker. My superiors allowed a lot of leniency for me to settle this one, but I’m running out of time, Davey. I will have to report in soon, and this situation needs to be handled by then or they will come for all of us.”

  Davey nodded. “I understand.”

  Ethan was trying to keep them safe and out of Global Cure’s sights. They didn’t know about Hogan’s remarkable abilities. Even if Drekker told them, it could be chalked up as the ravings of a lunatic rogue agent. There was no way the corporation had any idea she and her brother were actually Dr. Savage’s offspring. Because if they did, Davey had no doubt she and Hogan would have been promptly rounded up and locked in cages.

  Setting the marker to the woman’s bare abdomen, Davey went back to the task of mirroring the image already mapped out on the machine. Drekker’s soul couldn’t be directly transferred from the woman’s body to the android. He would first have to return to the other realm before taking possession of what was to become his permanent body.

  With the second transmutation circle completed, Davey aligned the particle generator’s calibration according to her father’s formula. After opening the soul gate, the particle generator would help channel the immense power unleashed by the opened portal. Davey eyed the turbine skeptically. She was confident in Ethan’s skilled construction, but having two of the turbines would have been more reassuring. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been enough raw materials to build a second. She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping one could handle the job.

  “N
o turning back now,” Davey whispered and typed in the command to execute.

  Bright light exploded across the room, momentarily blinding her. A thunderous roar followed, overloading her ears, and overlapped with a boom that reverberated through the walls and into Davey’s bones. When her sight returned, she saw the body of the woman was levitating, floating high above the table where a blue aura surrounded her. Convulsions ripped through her limbs, shaking them with enough violence to tear them apart. The aura abruptly disappeared, and the woman fell like a stone. Everything went still, and naively Davey wondered if it was over. But then she heard the whirring of turbine’s laborious struggle.

  An enormous wave of darkness crossed the ceiling, turning everything black in its wake. Davey dropped to the floor as the night sky opened above her. Tiny jeweled pinpoints sparkled within the dark expanse, twinkling like saintly lights. But that was no sky. And Davey knew those were no stars, even before they began rushing forward, pulsating frenetically as they hurtled toward the open portal.

  The turbine groaned. The shriek of sheared metal followed. Davey looked and saw a red glow spilling from beneath the particle generator. Energy was escaping, evidence of impending collapse, but the transmutation hadn’t completed. She shouted a warning to Ethan, and he quickly sprang into action, rushing to stand between the generator and the turbine, taking hold of them both. The surge of power flowed into his body, and Ethan gritted his teeth. His face was visibly strained, but he only cried out when red rays of light exploded from his chest. As he screamed with pain, the mass of energy funneled through him and toward the dark expanse. Slowly, the portal began to close, folding in and around the red glow. One of the false stars, moving faster than the others, escaped from the void just as the portal disappeared and the basement ceiling returned, shimmering into place like a ghostly hologram.

  Ethan slowly fell to his knees, and Davey ran to him. When she touched his skin, the excess particles escaped his body, hitting her like a miniature bolt of lightning as the energy transferred between them. Davey yelped with the sudden pain, while Ethan flashed to his feet, moving across the room in a blur of motion to seize the newly awakened automaton and forced it to the floor. Drekker fought back, but his movements were sluggish and uncoordinated. Ethan kept him pinned as he extracted an object from his back pocket. Davey recognized the small metal disk, especially when Ethan rammed it into the transmutation circle—now branded on Drekker’s chest—and the disk latched on, sinking deeply into synthetic flesh as it fused to the symbol. Years ago, a team of mercenaries sent by Ethan’s brother had used a very similar weapon to subdue Ethan. On Drekker, the disk proved equally effective, and within seconds, the movements of his newly minted body had altogether ceased.