Thorn shook his head and held up a hand, stopping the man in the lab coat in mid-sentence. “Hold on, doc. Run that by me again, only this time imagine that I am a blithering idiot. Talk to me in layman’s terms, if you will.”
Tapping at his laptop, the doctor turned it so that Thorn could see the video, which had been paused, on the screen.
“Is this the blood tests?”
“Yes. As you already know, sir, we already have plenty of samples from Raven. We have been testing those for years, looking for a way to deliver a transfusion that will bring you the, uh, the desired results you are looking for.”
“Okay, go on.”
“We have only recently started testing the samples from your daughter and given that you are both the same blood type, the assumption was that her plasma would be a much better fit for you.”
Sighing in agitation, Thorn said, “Are you telling me that she’s not.
“No, sir, that’s not what I am saying at all.”
Moving his powerchair closer to the desk where the laptop sat, Thorn stared at the paused video image. “Then what is it you want to show me.”
“As I previously explained…”
“Keep it simple, I’m warning you. I don’t have time to listen to medical mumbo jumbo.”
“Of course. One of my assistants had the idea of seeing what might happen if we combined the blood of the mother and daughter. Specifically, we were looking for some type of reaction.”
“Who is this assistant?”
A young blond-haired man stepped forward with his hand raised. He looked like he had just crawled out of a dumpster, his hair shooting off in all directions and his lab coat dotted with unrecognizable stains.
Thorn gave him the once over. He thought about lecturing the kid on personal hygiene, but he decided to stick to business. “What’s your name, son.”
“Luke Robson, sir.”
“I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new?”
“Yes, sir. Dr. Bloom hired me as his intern just recently.
Thorn rolled his eyes, finding it hard to believe that some punk ass kid working for nothing would deliver a major breakthrough. “I see. And where did you get the idea for mixing the blood?”
The lab assistant adjusted his sweat stained collar and flushed a bright shade of red. “Um, from the movies, sir.”
“The movies?” Thorn asked indignantly.
“Yes. Specifically, The Thing. There is a scene where they test the blood to see who might be harboring the alien DNA, the thought being that…”
“I’ve seen the movie,” Thorn said. “Please just tell me what happened when you combined the two samples.”
“I can show you,” Bloom said, pressing play on the video.
Thorn watched his medical team going through their paces, doing God only knows what with the samples. It was all rather dull and dreary stuff until they dropped a sample of both Raven and Salem’s blood into a Petrie dish.
The two drops sat in their respective spots, but as Thorn watched, they began to move toward one another before meeting and mixing. The combined blood turned from crimson red to onyx in the blink of an eye, and then shot up in the air and out of sight of the camera.
Bloom hit the pause button.
“What happened, where did it go?”
The doctor pointed up to the lab’s ceiling to a large hole that looked fried around the edges.
“The blood did that? Thorn asked.
Bloom nodded. “Needless to say, we called you as soon as it happened.”
The billionaire gaped at the hole and then reached out and restarted the video, watching it a few more times before pressing stop. “My God.”
“My sentiments exactly, sir. The easiest way I can put it is that their blood is stronger together.”
“I want units of both inside me, do you understand.”
“I’m not sure that’s wise. You saw the reaction. We have no idea what it might do to your body.”
Thorn looked back at the hole one more time. “You let me worry about that.”
At first glance, the circular cell looked like an overblown killing jar. The glass was thicker than the previous cell and completely bulletproof, tempered steel on top house a series of small pipes that could pump in air or gas, as needed.
It sat on a platform in the middle of an otherwise bare room ringed by security guards, all of whom had their weapons out, aimed at the cell.
Raven and Salem sat on the wide cot that took up most of the space. The only other item in the cell was a metal bucket serving as a toilet. The women had lost latrine rights after the incident in their previous cell.
Raven looked around the space for the umpteenth time, looking for some flaw that she could expose and take advantage of. There was nothing. She brushed her hands against her daughter’s fingers, the tips of which were still stained blood red. “How are you feeling?”
“Why didn’t you help me?” Salem asked.
“What?”
“The glass was breaking. If you had helped, we would be out now.”
Hanging her head, Raven mumbled an apology. “It happened so quickly. Perhaps my instincts have been dulled after being a prisoner for so long.”
“They weren’t so dull when you broke out the first time.”
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, both watching the door sitting opposite their cell. It looked like the entrance to a bank vault, complete with a wheel-type lock in the middle and a light overhead, which was currently a blazing shade of red.
Salem let loose a sigh and grabbed her mother’s hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t blame you.”
“No, you have every reason to. I was slow to react.”
“Do you think we’ll get another chance?”
“To escape?”
“Yes.”
Raven turned to face her daughter. “Let me ask you this. If we did get out, what would you do?”
The question took Salem by surprise, as freedom was not something that she had given much thought in her short time as Thorn’s prisoner. She shook her head. “I don’t know, honestly. I’d find Terry and try and get our perfectly ordinary life back.”
Raven grunted. “That’s something you think you could do now that you know your powers?”
Salem thought back to the hours before her life had changed. How happy she had been with her little family. She wondered where Terry was now, feeling a knot in her belly at the thought of him being somewhere alone and afraid. Her mind then drifted to Selina and Craig, the people she thought of as her parents for her entire life. The anger she had felt at them once they revealed their true identity was now turning to grief. It hurt that she would never see them again, would never get to say a proper goodbye.
She suddenly realized just how tired she was, and looking at the blood that stained her clothes, how beaten down she felt.
“Yes, I think I could. What about you?”
“I’m tired of running and hiding. I think perhaps it’s time to go on the offensive.” Raven’s eyes came to life as she spoke. “The world is a shitty place full of even shittier people. You and I, we could change that.”
“How so?” Salem asked, beginning to feel a little afraid.
“Think about what we could do, the havoc we could cause. You, child, are so much stronger than me, but together, out there in the world, we could rule.”
Salem put her hand to her mouth, snorting as she laughed. “We barely made it out alive the last time.”
“How long have you known about your powers?”
“A couple of days.”
“And yet you are a force of nature. Imagine what you could be with a little push from your mother. We could conquer entire nations.”
Pushing away from her mother, Salem walked over to the glass and looked out at the men guarding their cell. The one’s she made eye contact with placed their fingers on the triggers of their guns ready to shoot, even though they were aware that the bullets would not penetrate the glass.
Salem saw fear in the eyes of each of them, and while she felt a certain satisfaction at seeing them scared, deep inside, she knew that willfully killing hordes of humans and destroying the world she knew was not something that was in her nature.
“Do you hear me, child?”
“I do, but that is not something I want.”
“Who doesn’t want to use their powers to rule and conquer?” Raven asked.
“People who are good.”
“I don’t know any of those people,” Raven scoffed.
“You know me.”
The tough expression on Raven’s face softened upon hearing her daughter’s words.
“How about we make a deal?”
“What’s that?” Raven asked.
“We use any means necessary to get out of here, after which we can figure out the future.”
Standing, Raven held out her arms, inviting Salem in for an embrace. “Deal,” she said.
Snuggling against her mother, Salem felt their hearts beat in perfect time. She felt the anger and frustration of the last few days begin to melt away, and it felt good. “I’ll tell you one thing, though, Mother, world domination is not on the list of options.”