Blood Bond

The large, flat screen display shone back at me, harsh and neon against the dark room. It was late at night in the Blackwood facility, and I could see through the glass walls that all the other rooms were dark, their patients deep asleep.

A stone castle wall stood on the screen with a drawing of people excavating underneath. There was a caption beside it.

'Pig fat was used as explosives and a fire-starter to bring down the castle wall.'

A laugh escaped my lips. There is no way Theron would stoop to something as low and crude as using pigs. But then I remembered the last sight of him with the white eye and cavernous scar carved over his face. My laugh died.

I was researching all the possible ways he could attack the keep, and everything I needed to prepare for. I had asked Stonehand to contact Scrap Crowd for me about finding a way in for him, but I was not sure Theron—this new Theron—would even agree to it. Would he trust me after finding out I was made Regent?

In either case, there was the quote I had stumbled upon earlier while looking up battle tactics.

'No plan survives contact with the enemy.'

Backup plans, I need backup of backups even. This is going to be such a mess.

I laid my head down on the desk and looked over at my open right palm, where on the other side the palm-fang lay sheathed in between muscles, sinews and bone. I suppose my blood will be my last line of defense.

My blood was moving up toward my wrist, but the image that coalesced in my mind wasn't the retractable fang, instead it was a sword-like bone spike protruding from the arm. It was one of the body parts from the demon file. Something deep inside of me had compelled me to memorize every single bit of data in that file. I knew its chemical makeup, how blood circulated within it, what glands stimulated its growth, and how to guide its shape as it formed. I could grow it now.

I quickly willed my blood to disperse, my body shaking once again.

That file. It had all the detailed info about making a demon, from a person. After all, the muscle mass numbers, the hormone adjustments, the new sinew, ligament, and bone placements, they were all based on a human body. Not only that, but the info didn't specify scalpels or tools. There was no mention of injections. It just seemed to assume that whoever made those changes could do so almost magically, like my blood.

It was aimed at me?

That doesn't make sense. It was a file from Blackwood, one created in the past. The 'Date Added' field showed it was from thirty years ago. I had no idea how it could have run on the new laptop. And how would someone back then know what I could do now?

I glanced over at the flatscreen. The image that showed when the demon file started up. It was the Wardstone. And when I touched the screen, the Wardstone faded into red veins. During my Soul Seeding, I had seen veins, and they were connected from the beating fleshy heart of the Wardstone to me.

I rubbed my chest where the point of the Wardstone had pierced.

It was the Wardstone that had given me this power.

So was this what the Wardstone intended all along. Did it give me blood powers to create demons?

All my life I'd been told: the Wardstone gives powers to humanity to protect against the demons.

It's supposed to be a ward against them!

I am supposed to be the Chosen. It doesn't make any sense. The Wardstone wanted me to both fight and create demons?

Did father know about this? Did Astrid? This couldn't be the horror that they thought awaited the Chosen. Neither of them would stand for such a lie!

Then I remembered: my Soul Seed, that red orb, how different, how unique it was. Maybe I was the only one doomed to birth out demons in the end.

A sense of lonely despair descended over me in the dark empty room while the light from the screen glared down at me.

—

It took me a while to push myself up from my desk. There was something that I needed to do which I had been putting off since I dreaded it.

But now I realize how important it is that I get to the bottom of what Blackwood is.

The demon file had shown their connection to Aetheria, to the prime evil there. But the other files had also revealed how powerful the organization is, they have access to so many resources, they experimented on humans. It was doubtful that just simple exposure would be a threat to them. Getting Kyle involved was a mistake, they wouldn't care if he's the Mayor's son.

My eyes found the tin-foil Key to Freedom that Maya made for me, the painted knight figure from Sam, the Switch console from all my friends, and, in a small glass of water, a white flower from the park where Naomi and I kissed. They are all in danger because of me.

I took a deep breath to steel myself. I had already sent Key out, and now it was just a matter of calming my nerves. I pressed down upon the black onyx wristband, my BMI link.

"Please notify Julia Vale I want to talk."

I adjusted my shirt and then eased back against my seat, resting my hands upon the armrests. I turned the chair to the entrance of my room, and gazed upon it the way my father would when he awaited the entrance of a vassal.

All those other times, Julia had taken the initiative, taking her words to me when I was least ready and off-balanced. She always pressed into me, asserting herself. This time I would greet her the way a proper princess should.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"So, did you have a good run with your friend today?" Julia asked as she walked through the sliding glass door.

"Yes, it was good to run in the woods. Be under real sunlight. And breathe in fresh air." I kept my voice even, measured. My gaze remained steady on hers as I bridged my fingers together, the way Quintus would when confronting me.

Julia raised an eyebrow, perhaps noticing the room's new atmosphere. "You want to talk? Changed your mind about putting off the inductions? Like I said, we don't have much time."

I let the question sink into the ambient hum of the air vents. Again, she was trying to push me, to take the initiative. I held her hazel eyes in my gaze and shifted it out to the other rooms behind glass walls. "Tell me, what exactly is Blackwood?"

Julia stiffened. "What do you mean? We are an institution set to advance humanity by expanding and exploring the frontiers of medical science."

My gaze stopped at Aunty May's room. All her things have been cleared away, leaving just a bare desk and an uncovered mattress. "I read the wiki and the website," I hissed as my gaze roved back to her. "But you and I both know that this facility is far beyond the frontiers of this world's technology. Even this is a bit out there." I held up the BMI link wrapped around my wrist.

Julia's hand moved up to her taut jawline. Her eyes narrowed, trying to pierce through my gaze. She wasn't going to answer truthfully unless I pushed back, with teeth.

"You had an intruder lately who took some of your files."

Her eyes instantly expanded as shock filled her face. "How did you know?"

"I watched, and I saw. Spooky action from a distance, you know? It seems that Blackwood is willing to go to some rather gruesome extremes. What are you guys really after?"

At this, Julia's lips curled into a grin. "Like our mission statement said, the betterment of humanity…" She took a step closer. "Through any means possible."

I snapped the thumb drive upon the armrest with a cold click that stopped her in her tracks. "We had an agreement. And yet there is all this talk on here of going after my sister and my family. They are not specimens for you!"

Julia shrank back a step, her words coming in sharp spurts. "It's just Stanley's ravings. He's a scientist in the hunt for data. How did you get that?"

"I took it from the intruder before he could run off with the data. It seems he's trying to get it for this 'Consortium'."

Her lips pressed thin against each other. "You don't want to get involved with them Leonard. They definitely will not have your interest at heart."

My hand slammed down over the thumb drive. "Then why did you leave me and my family's info for them to steal? And why did you not defend her in those comments on file? It seems you need a stronger motivation to defend my family."

"Remember when I promised to destroy this place if you don't leave her alone?" This time, it was me that leaned forward. "Well, I know every ventilation shaft in this facility, every water line. I know where humidity controls are, where the water treatment center is. You know how virulent my blood is. You can imagine what I can do with access to those. And I will have access." I snapped my fingers, and the lights down the main hallway flickered off.

Julia's head darted up and around. Then I snapped my fingers again. Key, who was in the circuit breaker room, pushed on a button in the fuse box and the lights flashed back on.

"And even if you kill me, know that the ghost of me will come back and finish the job." I focused on the fact that I had come from being eviscerated by an explosion. Even if it was in another world, all I had to do here was to believe.

Still reeling, Julia looked up and around her. She had her BMI link half raised, but instead turned back to me. "What do you want?"

"I want a stronger guarantee of protection for my family." I thought of the fact that I had dragged Kyle into this. "I want my friends to be left alone, especially Kyle… and Sam, Chloe and Naomi as well. And I want to know what Blackwood really is. What do you want with me?" My eyes drifted down to the thumb drive. "And why do you have that file?"

"You can open that file?"

I didn't answer and instead glared back at her.

Julia looked away for a long contemplative moment. When she turned back, there was a look of resignation on her face. "I can ensure that your sister and mother will have a full security detail. That should cover them from both interests here and outside. As for your friends…" One corner of her lips curled into a mysterious, sardonic grin. "I don't believe there will be any issues there. But on the issue of that file, and the true nature of this institution. I do not have the clearance to divulge that. You will have to talk to the Director. I will put in a request for a talk as soon as possible, given the seriousness of the situation."

I sighed, in a way I kind of figured this is where the talks would go. It almost felt like a video game, on to the next boss.

"I can, however, tell you what I'm after." She walked over to the edge of my bed. "My father, he was one of the founding members of this organization, his research focus was on cancer. Not on a cure but on its propensity for inexhaustible growth. He wanted to harness that power. He was obsessed with it. It was said he was willing to go to any lengths to discover its secrets, including consorting with outside, non-terrestrial entities."

She held up a finger just as I was about to interrupt. "That you'll have to ask the Director. I was never given much."

Then she shrugged before continuing. "In the end, cancer took him. Brain cancer. Yes, the very thing he forsook his family—me—for, killed him. I've devoted my whole life to undo what he had sold his life to. This whole section of the facility, my division, is focused on one thing: the extermination of that disease."

I couldn't find anything but truth in her eyes, and found myself exhaling a sigh. There was solace in her words.

In the silence that followed, I looked out to the room off to the corner where a little girl lay sleeping with her bear. "And… Annie?"

"She was sent to me after losing her parents. From what I could tell, it was some breeding program for enhanced biological functions. A different way to better humanity I guess." She chewed bitterly on those last few words, but then smiled. "In a way she reminded me a little of myself when I was little."

"So you believe what she sees?"

Julia dipped her head as she looked toward Annie's room as well.

A thought came up and I had to stop myself from biting my lips. On this throne, I cannot hesitate.

"You know those roots that she sees in me? I think I have seen the same thing in my heart. It might be that those roots are the manifestation of the cancer and are tied to my blood's resistance and powers. If you destroy the cancer, those could very well be gone as well."

Julia folded her arms across her chest and responded with no hesitation, "then at least we found a way to kill this one."

She didn't seem to care one bit and I thought of whether I care or not. If Annie is right and the roots are the extension of myself from the other world. Then cutting it off would certainly cut both of my worlds apart. My two selves would be split again into halves, cut off from one another.

As I contemplated this, Julia stopped at the doorway. "Oh, when you speak to the Director. I would suggest not revealing this theory of yours. I think you're a smart enough boy to figure out why."

I was left back alone once more in the darkness. Now that I had secured the safety of my family on Earth, there was still the battle for Aethelgard coming up. So much to research, to think of, to prepare for.

My eyes sank back down to my open palm. All this might not even matter. I saw in my mind what might be the true last resort: the walls of the keep crumbling and ablaze, and air ships streaking overhead with plumes of dark smoke trailing them before exploding into flames in the distance. Then a clawed foot crushed the rubble. And the massive fist of a giant, winged monstrosity smashed the lines of human soldiers before it.

Perhaps it might be me who'd unleash Demons upon Aethelgard.

I threw my head back over the chair as fits of delirious, uncontrollable laughter convulsed through my body.