After the Calling

<<Secret: Part III

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John fell over as the elevator jolted to a stop from a faster than comfortable speed.

“Watch your step,” Garcia said smugly as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out.

“Please exit the lift,” Rai’s voice said suddenly.

“Get out of my head,” John said under his breath and stood up slowly.

 “The minute you see Rai, you’ll change your tone,” Garcia’s voice echoed. “I promise you that, sir.”

“Whatever.” John peered anxiously out of the elevator doors into… nothing.  A room, it seemed, that was made of nothing but white. Although Garcia had gone ahead of him, he was hesitant to step out.

“Optical illusion,” Garcia said. “Modified LED lights. Walk out.  I’m not floating. There’s a floor, I promise you.”

 “LED lights?” John questioned, continuing to stare into the whiteness.

“Light emitting diodes. Kills bacteria and fungus. Cures acne too.”

John stepped out of the elevator cautiously, finding, with relief, that there was in fact, a floor. As he did the elevator doors closed and seemed to recede into the wall, leaving nothing but white nothingness behind. “What the hell?” He stared into the blankness, searching for some hint of the elevator. “Where am I, Garcia? I have a right to know.”

“You have a right to shut-up. Now, we have to stand here for a moment to make sure we are relatively sterile before we enter the lab –”

“The lab? Before we enter the lab?”

 “Yes, a lab,” Garcia frowned. “A state of the art, top of the line … Look, just hush. I’m taking this opportunity to brief you. Give you some of the information your so desperately crave. If you’d shut you trap, maybe you’d learn something.”

John furrowed his eyebrows, but said nothing.

“Thank you. Now, in the past three years, the psychic world has been experiencing a pandemic of unknown origins. While I’m sure you are aware of the pandemic, I’m also sure that you are still a little too brainwashed by Rowanne to admit it, so I will explain.” Garcia said. “There has been a rapid increase in psychics that were once labeled by The Calling as “pre-vampiric”, which, I’m sure you know, means that they are losing the ability to maintain their own auroric energy. While they can still function, their rate of auroric replenishment is much lower than that of normal individual. Depending on the situation, if an aura is damaged, it can usually repair and replenish itself to a certain extent.”

“Pre-vampiric beings, for reasons yet to be uncovered, begin slowly losing auroric stability not to soon after they begin coming into their psychic powers. For some that can be far into their adulthood. For others, minutes after birth.”

John knew this, but listened quietly anyway.

“As their abilities to maintain their own aura begin to fail, they come to require alternative means of energy acquisition, since their own reserves seem to be slowly draining. We have been –”

“Who is ‘we’?” John asked, but fell silent as Garcia eyed him maliciously.

“We have been making huge advances in the practice of energy donations and the use of aura-maintaining serums. We’ve even managed to be occasionally successful in aura to aura basic healing, but none of it is sufficient. In fact, our attempts have led to the loss of a great healer, among other things…” Garcia’s voice trailed off.

“Sirian Sarke?” He avoided looking up at Garcia.

Garcia continued, ignoring him. “For the most part, pre-vampirics eventually lose all control over their psyche and graduate to the category of “vampiric”. These psychics, like Rowanne, can no longer sustain any of their own energy, and require that of others to survive.”

John peered around as the lights seemed to dim, and the contours of a small box of a room came into light. Garcia turned away from him as a door appeared in the wall across from him.

“What you are about to see, John, is our answer to these individuals, who, if not dealt with, will destroy us, as they are attempting to do this very instant. What you are about to see, is the only thing that is saving our kind from extinction. What you are about to see is the only thing that will save Rowanne from herself. Now, let’s go.”

John moved to join him as the door suddenly slide open.  His jaw nearly fell off his face.

“Hello John,” Mercer greeted him with a smile.

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“I should take off more,” Gari said, backing away from Hadrian, “but you’ve never liked it too short. I just can’t stand it when it grows into your eyes.” She began tossing her hair-cutting supplies back into the shaving kit that she had produced from one of the many bathroom drawers. “Here.” She handed him a hand mirror. “Tell me what you think. Be brutal.”

Hadrian had spent much of the grooming sitting silently, the bath having made him feel somewhat revived, despite the feeling of weakness deep in his muscles. However, whatever sense of relaxation he had gained from the 30 minutes of silence while Gari had shaved his face and trimmed his hair was lost as when he peeked shyly at his reflection. He barely recognized the face that was looking back at him, and the feeling of unfamiliarity with his own image was so disconcerting, he nearly dropped the mirror.

He handed it back to her quickly. “It’s fine. Thank you.”

“It’s fine? Really, that’s it?” Gari asked smiling. “I’ve never known you to spend less than fifteen minutes looking at your reflection, but if you say so.”

“Okay,” Hadrian replied awkwardly.

“I’m kidding, you know,” Gari’s smiled faltered a little. “I mean, not really, but…” She let her voice trail off and continued tidying the counter space. “You must be starving,” she changed the subject. “You haven’t eaten anything in days. You’ve been surviving on a glucose drip my dad was giving you.”

At the mention of food Hadrian suddenly became very aware of his stomach, which felt as if it had begun digesting itself for sustenance.

“There is definitely some turkey left, and some broccoli casserole,” she said, “Get dressed and I’ll warm you a plate.”

“Thank you,” he replied, looking up at her. “I appreciate everything that you’re doing for me.”

“You’re my husband. What else would I be doing?” She returned his gaze and for a moment they let silence engulf them.

Hadrian took the opportunity to examine her features. She had brown hair that matched her eyes, a wide expressive mouth, and a button nose that may have suffered a break or two in her past. She was nice-looking, but not gorgeous. Angular, but non-descript. He did not know this woman. But something about her gave him the feeling of security.

The moment between them quickly became tense, and Gari moved to leave.

“Wait,” Hadrian said, standing as she made her way to the door. He had been working up the nerve to ask her a question for the past half hour, and he grimaced the words seemed to tumble out of his mouth. “How long was I out?”

Gari turned her head and paused for a moment before answering over her shoulder. “Well, If you include today, about 10… 11 days.”

“Oh,” he replied, thinking about the ramification of the 11 lost days where his brain had apparently floundered.

Gari smiled uncomfortably and moved to leave again, but Hadrian called out to her again.

“Uhm… Gari?” he said.

“Yep?” she said, turning from the doorway to face him.

“Uhm… How far along are you?”

Gari rubbed her belly affectionately. “38 weeks. I’m probably going to pop open any day now,” she smiled at him, but quickly dropped her eyes. “I’ve never gone this long. Both of the boys were premature. You worried yourself sick over them.” She kept her gaze on the tiled floor. “Hadrian, what do you really want to ask me?”

Hadrian took pause, caught entirely off guard that she would see through him so easily.

Seeing his surprise, she explained. “You make this face when you have something to say that you don’t really want to say… you’re… you’re making it now.”

“Oh,” Hadrian said, rubbing his neck. This woman seemed to know him better than he knew himself.

“It’s alright. You can ask me anything,” she reassured him.

He had an odd feeling that she already knew what he wanted to say. “Well, I uh… well, I just saw that um…I thought that you might uhm…” Hadrian stopped rambling so that he could find his words. “Did you know my sister?”

Gari let her eyes rise to meet his and nodded. “Yeah… uh… I did. She was my… best friend,” she said quietly. She smiled sadly and then walked out of the bathroom, leaving Hadrian more confused and sad than ever.

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Secret: Part V>>