Part 30 (1/2)
”Vinnie, will you shut up?” Trixie hissed. ”I want to know what Rafe has to do with all this, because I'm sure he's got something to do with whatever Seraphim's hiding out there.”
”Are they right, Mr. Kellen?” Pilar asked. ”Are you hiding something?”
The room fell silent as they waited for Seraphim to speak. Finally, he said, ”Yes. I am hiding something. I will tell you everything, but on one condition.”
”You're not in the position to specify conditions,” Adam said. ”Yes, I am.”
”This is absurd!” Arkin growled. ”The man is not cooperating sufficiently. I suggest we infiltrate his thoughts and learn what we must.”
”I would like to know what his conditions are,” Marina said.
”As would I,” Ca.s.sia added. ”And why he feels they are necessary.”
”I want the guards dismissed,” Seraphim said.
”Easy enough.” Vincent slammed one fist into his opposite palm. ”The twins and I can kick his a.s.s if he tries to escape.”
Adam waved to the guards who left the house.
Once the presence of the hybrid guards had faded, Seraphim stated his second request. ”I want your word that what I tell you will not be spread to the rest of the Network-at least not until after it's done.”
”After what's done?” Pilar sighed.
”This is what we get for accepting him in spite of our better judgment,” Arkin said. ”We knew the man was disturbed. Kellen was a bad choice for a Network agent. Whatever possessed us to -”
”Why?” Marina asked Seraphim. ”Why do you not want us to tell?”
”Because lives depend on it, lives to whom we owe our very existence.”
The room fell silent.
Finally Adam said, ”Originals. You know something more about the Originals.”
”I know this young man,” Seraphim motioned towards Sage who had been listening intently, his blue eyes wide, ”is not the last of his kind in this world. I know others are on their way to claim what they left behind and to see the world created by their explorers. I know there is danger.”
”What kind of danger?” Adam asked. ”Do I have your word?”
”Like you'd believe anybody,” Vincent scoffed. ”You probably wouldn't trust your own mother.”
”Like yours, my mother died long ago. And like your parents, Vincent, mine died at Luci's hand. You all must do what I ask and trust what I say.” At that moment, everyone in the room became aware of power rolling off Seraphim, almost frightening in its intensity.
”We know little of your past, Kellen,” Lourdes said. ”Tell us who you are and what you want, then we might consider what you ask.”
”More is known of my past than you think-at least by one of you.” Seraphim's eyes again held Marina's. ”You don't remember me.”
”Should I?” she asked.
”I suppose not. You knew me as a child, long before my scent changed to one of manhood. Do you remember Her and Zue?”
Marina's quickening heartbeat echoed throughout the room. ”Her and Zue. The Originals had found them drifting at sea and brought them to Atlantis. Their son was the first Immaculate born to hybrids.” She stopped suddenly and drew a sharp breath. ”The first Immaculate?”
Seraphim nodded slowly. ”I was the first. Son of Her and Zue.”
”It can't be. After the fight with Luci, not even a century after the destruction of Atlantis, the Original's last shuttle was destroyed. There were no survivors. Herm and Sheb -”
”Were severely injured in the crash. My parents were dead by the time I got there. We'd separated and I'd been tracking in the wrong direction. I took Herm and Sheb underground and tried to help them, but -” Seraphim shook his head. ”I think there were moments they hated me for saving them. They often said for many reasons they should take their own lives, but how easy is that?”
”You mean there are still Originals alive?” Matthew Winter's curiosity was almost tangible.
”Why haven't they revealed themselves?” Ca.s.sia asked. ”Fear,” Marina whispered. Seraphim nodded. ”Exactly.” ”Fear of what?” demanded Arkin.
”Fear of once again giving too much power and knowledge to a race not ready for it. Fear of being used and abused for what they are.”
”They're supposed to be all powerful, yet you expect us to believe they fear us ?” Lourdes' dark eyes narrowed with irritation and disbelief.
”As they've often told me, they're not warriors. They never were,” Seraphim said. ”They were their mission's scientists. Luci and the others were the warriors. Now they're all dead.”
”Scientists?” Matthew could scarcely control his excitement. ”Original scientists. G.o.d, what we could learn from them!”
Vincent's rage was just as prominent. ”You don't expect us to believe this bulls.h.i.+t? First Immaculate my a.s.s! You're a G.o.dd.a.m.n fruitcake, Seraphim, and you always have been!”
”I, too, find it difficult to believe you're actually the First,” Lourdes said.
”This man is obviously a fraud who has been working with Sir Edward to keep the Flower-and heaven knows how much other knowledge of our forbearers-from the rest of us,” Arkin stated. ”Again, I suggest we scour his thoughts.”
”I agree,” Pilar said. ”Together, the Jury should enter his mind and learn the truth.” ”First Father?” Ca.s.sia said as she and the others turned to Adam.
”All in favor of forcibly searching Seraphim Kellen's mind, please stand,” Adam stated, and stood along with the other five Jury members. He drew a deep breath. ”It's unanimous. We will make this as painless as possible, Seraphim. Cooperation will make it easier. We have no desire to hurt you, but we need the truth.”
Tension hung on the air. Matthew, and for once even Vincent, exuded pity. Hannah's fear filled the room like mist. Only Seraphim remained as closed and calm as the Jury.
”Are you ready, Seraphim?” Marina asked.
”Are you?” Seraphim's voice, just above a whisper, seemed to echo through the room before everyone was suddenly absorbed in utter blackness.
The feeling of Seraphim's power as it grasped every person in the room and wrapped them in its ancient magic was inexplicable. The closest description would be if an enormous vacuum sucked you, body and soul, across a galaxy of blackness. Then images began forming with such intensity they were no longer the pictures of someone else's memories, but true experiences. The smell, feel, sight, sound, and taste were reality.
Some flashed so quickly they made a person lose his breath. Hannah's soft body and gleaming little incisors. Love. Wounds from platinum bullets painful enough to make one scream. Hot blood running down your throat. Loneliness. Emptiness. Fear of discovery. Hatred. The embrace of two pale, legless creatures with tusk-like fangs and gentle touches that healed, soothed, and cared.
Gunfire. Gas chambers. Bleeding in foxholes alongside humans who would never resurrect. Racing across open plains after herds of buffalo. Wrestling mountain lions and swimming across muddy rivers too wide to see from one side to the other.
The rocking of a sinking s.h.i.+p. Lungs filled with water, straining for air. Rebellions. Burned crops. Dancing. Laughter. Hopes crushed. Plague-ridden towns. The odor of burning pyres. Witch! Evil! Killer!
Naked, fighting lions. Cheering crowds of Rome loud enough to make one deaf.
Beautiful dancer. Love. The taste of sweet mortal blood. Vincent's spite. Vincent! Love-stealing b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Kill him for killing my happiness! Oh, G.o.d, she's dead! No! I loved her and I killed her. Why did I take her blood? G.o.d, if I could die!