Rebecca stared out the window of the SUV and ignored all attempts to engage her in conversation. Terry wasn’t saying much of anything, maybe because he was in shock or perhaps because Rebecca has refused to clean up the blood splattered on her face. Selina and Craig had tried their best to console her, but she didn’t feel as though she could trust them. Her whole life felt like a lie, and reconciling all of that could not begin until she got some answers from Thorn.
She watched the world fly by as they sped along the highway, their vehicle leading a small convoy of vans and trucks, trying to think about what she would say to the man she now knew to be her father. Would she feel sympathy for him or some strange connection, or would she rage at him, perhaps unleashing another round of powers that she now knew were inside her?
“We are about five minutes out,” Drake called to no one in particular.
Shifting in her seat, Rebecca looked at the man sitting up front in the passenger seat. He had introduced himself as the head of security for Thorn Industries, but she thought he looked more like a trashy European villain from a cheesy eighties action movie. It was the unshaven look, the sunglasses at night, and the designer shirt opened one button further than necessary that made Rebecca feel that way.
Feeling her eyes boring a hole into his skull, Drake turned around and said, “Everyone okay back there?”
Craig and Selina, who sat in the middle row, both flashed a thumbs up while Terry mumbled something unintelligible. Rebecca continued to stare, trying to get inside Drake’s head the way she had done with Silas. Nothing happened, though, so she turned away and looked out the window again, angry at herself for not being able to penetrate the man’s thoughts.
The SUV slowed as it approached the ruined security gate, which was now guarded by a trio of personnel armed to the gills. Drake flashed his identification and briefly spoke to one of the men before the vehicle sped up again and headed for the massive warehouse up ahead. They passed through another security gate and pulled into a parking lot in front of a loading dock.
Rebecca was a little surprised at the final stop. She had imagined that they would be meeting Thorn at some mega-mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean, not a warehouse where they made memory cards and motherboards. She stepped out into the night air and shrugged off Drake as he tried to help her out of the vehicle. “I’ve told you all already. No one, and I mean no one, but Terry gets to put their hand on me. Are we clear?”
Bowing slightly, Drake took a step back, pulling off his sunglasses and tucking them into the pocket of his shirt. “Crystal. If you would care to follow me, I’ll show you to Mister Thorn’s office.”
They fell in line behind Drake and followed him up a set of stairs in the loading dock that led into the lobby that housed the elevators. One of them sat with the doors open, a pair of men in hazmat suits scrubbing down the interior.
“Is that an arm sticking out of that bucket?” Terry asked, aghast.
Drake doubled back and took Terry by the elbow, leading him away from the open elevator. “Nothing for you to worry about, sir. Please, come with me.”
The doors to the other elevator slid open as soon as Drake placed his palm on the scanner. They all stepped inside and moved to the back, save for Drake, who held the door open with his foot.
“What are you doing?” Rebecca asked impatiently.
“We have two more coming.”
He stepped back as a pair of men, who could have passed as brothers, stepped into the elevator, laptop bags slung over their shoulders.
“Who are these guys?” Rebecca asked.
“This would be our IT specialists Bits and Bytes.”
Throwing her head back, Rebecca laughed and shook her head. “Unbelievable. We’ve just shifted from a horror movie into a James Bond flick. How cool.”
“Don’t be rude, Becky,” Selina barked.
“Let it go,” Craig chimed in.
Glaring at the woman that she had believed was her mother for the past quarter-century, Rebecca fought the urge to vent her anger and frustration. Closing her eyes and exhaling, she said, “You’re right. I apologize. Nice to meet you both, Bits and Bytes.”
The men nodded and then stepped out into the lobby outside Thorn’s office, walking briskly to Janet’s now unoccupied desk, where they began setting up their laptops.
“Please wait here a moment,” Drake said as he knocked on the office door and stepped inside.
Rebecca moved around the room, taking in some of the artifacts on display but mostly trying to keep an eye on what the computer guys were up to at the desk. She trusted no one but Terry, and her heart sank a little as she saw him slumped in a chair, looking confused and scared. She went to him and sat at his feet, taking his hands, which hung loosely by his side. “Are you hanging in there, my love?”
“Why didn’t you wash your face?”
“Huh?”
“So much blood. I-I don’t even know how you got that thing off me, let alone how you killed it. How can that be? I was there with you. Why don’t I know what happened?”
Rebecca kissed his hands and then leaned in and kissed his forehead. “It was all so fast, but it felt super slow to me. I can’t adequately explain it, but something happened to me back there.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to right now. Just know that I am always going to protect you. No person or thing is ever going to get near you again. You got it?”
He smiled, but his eyes remained soulless and dead looking. “Can you please wash your face?”
“I will, I promise, but I need Thorn to see what I did to one of his precious museum pieces.”
The office door opened, and Drake stepped out. “Mister Thorn will see you now, Miss Grainger.”
Rebecca stood and helped Terry to his feet. “Let’s go talk to this psycho.”
“Just you, Miss Grainger.”
“I’m not going anywhere without him,” she barked.
“Please. No harm is going to come to Terry while we are here. Craig and Selina will look after him while you have a chat with Mister Thorn.”
“It’s okay,” Terry mumbled.
Planting another kiss on his forehead, Rebecca marched into the office, muttering “asshole” to Drake as she blew past him. She made a beeline for the desk and sat down, waiting for Thorn to turn around.
The billionaire stared out the window, watching the woman’s reflection as she entered his office. It was amazing how much she looked like her mother, and from the brief report he had received from Drake, her powers were just as strong, maybe even more so. He turned his powerchair and smiled at the woman sitting across from him. “Good evening, Miss Grainger, or may I call you Rebecca?”
“You may not.”
“Miss Grainger it is then. Can I offer you a drink or perhaps a wet wipe for your face? That blood is rather jarring.”
“You are seriously going to look at me with that mug of yours and talk about how I look?” Rebecca shot back.
“Touche.”
“I have questions.”
“I’m sure you do, and I am happy to answer them all.” Thorn opened the desk drawer and pulled out a stack of folders, which he placed next to the laptop in front of him. “I have been prepared for your visit for quite some time. We have, as I am sure you now know, been keeping an eye on you.”
“Maybe I will take that drink,” Rebecca said. “And a washcloth.”
“What’s your poison, dear?”
“Gin and tonic.”
Thorn snapped his fingers and pointed at the cabinet holding the alcohol. “An iced water for me, Lionel, if you don’t mind.”
Rebecca watched as the security man poured the drinks and then headed to the private bathroom attached to the office. He handed Rebecca a damp cloth before delivering their drinks and moving back to his spot by the office door.
“A security guard and a personal bartender all rolled into one. You must be paying him well,” Rebecca said.
“Lionel makes out just fine. Now, questions, let me hear them.”
After wiping her face and placing the soiled cloth on the corner of the desk, Rebecca picked up her drink and ran her finger around the rim of the glass. “Where was I born?”
“In a separate facility on these grounds.”
“Why was I allowed to leave while Ag…my mother remained imprisoned?”
Thorn steepled his fingers and tapped them against his chin. “How can I put this delicately? We perform certain experiments here. Now, some might claim that doing these things makes me as much of a monster as the things I collect, but I am not without compassion and mercy. You were a precious, innocent baby. My experiment with you was all about nurture versus nature.”
“How so?”
“Simple, really. If I had left you in the care of your mother, I do not doubt that you would have become just like her, powers and all. The exciting thing for me, though, was to watch how you would develop naturally.”
Swallowing down the gin in a single shot, Rebecca slid the empty glass across the desk. “Can you have your lackey pour me another, please and thank you?”
Without prompt, Drake retrieved the empty glass and went to refill it.
“Are you sure that this was an experiment or were you simply worried that your seed would produce an unspectacular child?”
Blood rushed to Thorn’s face. Rebecca could not tell whether it was from shame or anger, but she got a kick out of the reaction.
“It seems I struck a nerve.”
Clearing his throat, Thorn regained some of his composure. “You seem to be suggesting that I am your father. Whatever would make you think that?”
“Silas showed me before he bled out like a stuck pig on my bedroom floor.”
Throwing his head back as though struck on the chin, Thorn’s eyes went wide. “How did he manage that?”
“I’m asking the questions, Daddy. How did my mother escape?”
“It was all caught on surveillance cameras. Lionel will show it to you once we are finished here.”
“Two more questions, and then we can wrap this up. What else got out with her, and how are you planning on keeping my boyfriend and I safe until you round them all up again?”
Thorn flipped the laptop around so that it was facing Rebecca. “I would suggest that you can keep yourself safe at this point. I think you proved that tonight.”
“I have no idea how I did what I did, though. It wasn’t something I controlled.”
“We can help you with that, help you harness your powers and learn how to use them to your advantage.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Curiosity, for one thing. I want to know what powers you possess. Don’t you want the same now that you’ve had a taste?”
It was Rebecca’s turn to flush. She hated to agree with Thorn, but she had to admit that what she had done earlier that night had been as thrilling as it was terrifying. “Maybe I do,” she confessed.
“I knew it.” Thorn pumped his fist and smiled widely. “I should tell you, though, that I would also like your help in getting my creatures back. I feel like you owe me after killing one of them.”
Drake reached over and placed the freshly refilled glass beside her. The piney scent of the gin tickled her nostrils and made her mouth water, but Rebecca resisted the urge to down the drink like she had the previous one.
“So, what do you think about my proposal?” Thorn asked.
“Tell me about the things that escaped.”
Reaching over the top of the laptop, Thorn pressed a couple of keys and produced the image of a rail-thin humanoid creature with dark eyes. The picture showed it on all fours, mouth open as it appeared to scream at the photographer. He tossed the first of the folders over to Rebecca, who flipped it open. “The Rake. You may have heard of this one on the Creepypasta website. We planted the original story so that people would believe it to be nothing more than some urban legend, but he is quite real. He is also fast and prone to acts of violence, especially if it means getting a taste of human flesh. Our best guess is that Raven chose him as her personal attack dog.”
Rebecca flipped through the file and felt her stomach turn as she came upon a series of pictures showing a group of armed men torn to pieces. “Jesus.”
“Indeed. A tough one to capture.” Thorn tapped the keyboard again and another image popped on the screen. This time, it was what looked to be an older woman whose flesh appeared to be melting off her body. It seemed as though she had talons on her hands and feet, all of which looked a good deal sharper than the shard of glass Rebecca had wielded earlier. “The Aswang. A shapeshifting creature that can become anything human that it touches. She was our newest addition, but she helped start the breakout before we could get her locked up.”
Rebecca opened the folder that Thorn handed to her and shook her head. “This is crazy.”
“She will help Raven get into places without too much commotion by shifting. It’s how she got her out of here. Next up is the Nuckelavee.”
The screen flipped to an image of a man on a horse, both of them missing their skin. Rebecca felt bile rise in her throat at the sight of the exposed bones and sinew. “That is grotesque.”
“Yes, but also beautiful in a weird kind of way. The Nuckelavee does not like fresh water, but get him in the ocean, and he will get you where you want to go and quickly. A convenient friend to have when looking to make a quick escape by water. Raven chose her friends wisely.”
“Is there more?” Rebecca asked, reaching for her glass.
“One more.” Thorn tapped the keyboard one more time. “The Wenlutah. A wendigo/human hybrid native to one specific forest in Oregon. A ferocious meat eater, this thing will tear you apart and devour every scrap, bones and all.”
Of all the creatures Thorn had shown her, the Wenlutah struck her as the most beautiful, albeit in a weird way. Its head looked like the skull of a massive antlered animal, and while it too was missing large chunks of flesh, its lean muscles were visually appealing. It had long arms and huge clawed hands, while its legs looked similar to those of a grasshopper.
“This is the only one that I consider to be disposable,” Thorn said. “There is a herd of his brethren still roaming the forest, so catching another one should not be a problem.”
Pushing the folders aside, Rebecca took a sip of her fresh drink and looked over the top of her glass at Thorn. “This all seems a bit much for someone who was teaching second graders a couple of days ago. I don’t believe I’m up to the task.”
“Is it a matter of money? The house is yours to keep, and I can deposit a sizeable amount of cash into your account and set things up to make it look like you won the lottery. Imagine, no more early mornings and days spent dealing with bratty, snot-nosed kids whose parents all look down on you.”
“I’m happy with my life the way it is, snot-nosed kids and all.”
“I see,” Thorn said, nodding over in the direction of Drake.
“All I ask is that you keep us safe until those things are either dead or back behind bars.”
“Plan B it is then,” Thorn said, tapping at the laptop one more time. A live camera feed of a prison cell replaced the image of the Wenlutah. Terry gripped the bars and appeared to be yelling, but no sound came out of the speakers.
Rebecca leaped to her feet and pushed the laptop off the desk, taking satisfaction in the cracking sound it made as it hit the floor. She closed her eyes and let the rage build inside her, the heat of her anger spreading out through her body, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. She felt the floor begin to vibrate under her feet, watching as the items on the office shelves began to lift into the air.
Rebecca turned her attention to an animal skull with a single horn in the center of its head. She made it turn in the air until it was pointing directly at Thorn. Before she could launch it, though, she felt a hand on her shoulder and a pinching sensation in her neck. Her head lolled to one side, where Drake stood holding an empty syringe, arms outstretched, waiting to catch her as she fell.
Really enjoying this. Thank you.
Ah, Rebecca. Always take out the bodyguard first.