Lover's Betrayal: Misfits of the Lore Series (22 page)

“It was only for a few weeks until you started acting logically again. You were in bad shape when I found you and frankly, you’re not looking great now. You should have sent someone else to deal with this case. This is too personal for you.”

“You know I had to see her again in order to be free of her.”

“But you’re not free, my friend. You have to accept that you may never be. That might not be such a bad thing. Olivia may be worth your freedom. From what I can see, any man would be lucky to have her.”

“She’s not for you!” Lucian barked. He tried to control that instant jealousy. He should not react in such a way, but he could not help it. The thought of anyone else showing any interest in Olivia incensed him. He knew he was overreacting to Lorenzo’s words. Lorenzo clearly liked Corinne, which was something Lucian could not fathom, but he knew there was no threat from Lorenzo. Yet his emotions were out of control.

“Of course not, but maybe someone else -- and if you don’t fight for her soon, you could lose her for good.”

“I can’t go back there again with her. I can’t trust her. I can’t forgive her. She betrayed me.”

“Do you know that for sure? I find that so few things are that black and white. Maybe she betrayed you, maybe not. Regardless, it was a long time ago and you’re both different people now. Can’t you start over? You still love her and I can see how much she loves you. That has to be worth something, Lucian.”

Love? Did he still love Olivia? A week ago, Lucian would not have considered the possibility, but this little time with her had reignited feelings he thought were long dead. He would not allow those feelings to be love. There could be no love when there was no trust.

“I can’t love her and I can’t be with her. This isn’t just about her and me anymore. There are other issues to consider as you well know. There’s no going back. I have to move forward and she needs to as well, for her sake. The sooner this case is over, the quicker we can focus on the rest of our lives, our separate lives.” Lucian tried to ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. “Enough of this. Let’s focus on more crucial matters right now. Is there any new information about the drug?”

“The mescah problem is getting worse.”

“Mescah?”

“That’s what Amalia’s named it and I wasn’t going to challenge her about it. You know Amalia.”

“Where’s my chief alchemist?” Lucian asked.

“At the compound. We created a lab for her here. She’s not pleased with it, but she understands we need her close by at all times. She locks herself in the lab all day and night. She never leaves that place. She won’t give up until she finds a cure for mescah. I hope she can find it before we lose too many others.”

Lucian paced the floor of the room trying to ease the stress caused by this new, lethal problem that could potentially destroy all vampires. The Council discovered mescah late last year. It had likely hit the black market years earlier, but it had remained an underground drug that slowly killed vampires. The drug’s potency had apparently increased lately, as vampires were dying more frequently and the symptoms were intensified. This was a priority issue for the Council and all were working on finding the source of the drug while the scientists searched for a cure. Fortunately, mescah was not widely known and seemed limited to a case or two a month in the Mediterranean. The goal was to stop this drug before it became an uncontrollable problem.

“Please ask Amalia to join us.” Lorenzo hesitated briefly, and then grabbed the phone on Lucian’s desk to place the call. Lucian tried to hide his amusement as Lorenzo pleaded with Amalia to leave her lab. He used his charm effectively and after several minutes, he finally hung up the phone.

“She will be here shortly, and you’re an ass for making me do that.”

Lucian burst into laughter. “At least she responds to you. That would have been an hour phone call if I had asked. I don’t have your charm.”

“Very true,” Lorenzo winked. “Vamps do not possess the Lycae charm.”

“Save your charm for the ladies. Let’s deal with mescah. What have you heard lately? Any news about Subject 0?”

“Amalia will have more details, but from I can tell the problem is getting much worse. The drug is like vampire crack. It’s incredibly addictive. The more you consume, the more you need and the worse the effects. Subject 0 had been addicted for about five months, according to his family. He would be in this unconscious state for hours and no one could reach him. When he was awake, he was jittery, angry, and super aggressive. He suffered severe headaches that increased his aggressiveness. That often led to violent outbursts. He nearly strangled his mother when she confronted him about his behavior. We brought him into custody and tried to counteract the effects of the drug, but nothing worked. His withdrawal was too intense and he was not strong enough to overcome it. Yesterday, a week after we took him into custody, he staked himself. He tore off a piece of metal from the bed and stabbed himself repeatedly until he hit his heart and turned to ash.”

Subject 0 was the first vampire they caught hooked on the drug. They wanted to observe him detox to understand the effect of the drug. He was their hope for a cure. The other vampires they found were already in a deep coma that continued until their brains eventually ceased activity. It was incomprehensible to see a vampire die in such a human-like way, but it was happening more and more and would continue until mescah was stopped.

“Jesus. Did he tell us anything useful before he died?”

“Nothing. He just begged for more of that damn drug, but it was like he wasn’t really communicating with us. He was constantly talking, but not to us. It was like someone else was in the room with him. We asked him about who he was talking to, but he would not answer us and eventually he just became completely silent. Amalia tried to induce a coma to keep him calm, but that lasted no more than an hour. It’s like his body would respond only to mescah. This stuff is powerful and unlike anything we have ever seen.”

“And it’s spreading.” Both Lucian and Lorenzo turned to see Amalia standing in the doorway. Her mahogany hair was braided in a tight bun and her black-rimmed glasses were resting on her nose. She barely looked twenty, but she was at least a three-century-old sage specializing in alchemy.

Sages were a race of herbalist who knew drugs like no other and often would create special potions for sale. They were neither true immortals nor eternals as their youth, their lives, depended on the drugs they created and consumed to defy the aging process. Not all sages had the ability to discover the fountain of youth, but Amalia was special, which was why Lucian hired her. She was also a complicated, idiosyncratic, somewhat annoying migraine but she knew her job like no other and would devote every ounce of her ability to resolving a medical mystery. At times she seemed to lack human emotions. As if her scientific mind left her devoid of feelings, but Lucian suspected there was more to the mysterious Amalia and that she worked hard to keep it hidden. Her loyalty was unquestioned, and for that reason alone, he would keep her in his employ forever.

“Spreading? More vampires are impacted?” Lucian queried.

“Yes, but not just vampires. I have consulted with others of my kind who work with different immortals. Many have reported similar symptoms of mescah in patients they have treated. For instance, Kasha treated a Lycan who had been deprived of the drug for so long that he clawed himself to death. He tore at his flesh, ripped out his own eyes. He kept begging for his medicine -- which was the mescah, of course.”

“No one stopped him?” The usually calm Lorenzo looked ready to erupt. The Lycae clan was close. The loss of one brother affected all.

“Of course not. Kasha needed to understand the addiction and how far he would go. She observed, took notes, and shared them with the rest of us.”

“How can you be so uncaring about this? You really are some schizoid.”

Amalia’s eyes betrayed a moment of what looked like hurt, but she instantly dismissed the foreign emotion. “My job is not to care. My job is to find a cure for mescah before others die. You can cry over this lost Lycae if you like, but I need to focus.”

Lucian stepped in to temper this situation before it worsened. Amalia might appear somewhat meek, but he did not doubt that if Lorenzo annoyed her too much, she might concoct something leaving the poor Lycan neutered. “Are there any other immortals affected?”

“We believe so. We have a shifter who could not control his shifting. His body convulsed to such a degree that he eventually died mid-shift. We are testing his blood to confirm the presence of mescah, but all evidence indicates he succumbed to the drug. That’s all we know so far about other immortals, but there is no reason to believe mescah could not reach all creatures. It doesn’t seem to distinguish, but the reactions may be slightly different. It also seems to impact alphas more severely. Their heightened power may fuel the impact of the drug, but that is just my hypothesis.”

“Who has the ability to create such a drug?”

“Someone like me, perhaps. A sage with skill in alchemy who also has the aid of a witch to cast a spell could do it. You see, the drug is a fusion of leaves known in many of the illegal drugs humans consume that generally have minimal to no impact on immortals. For instance, the blood test shows traces of coca leaf, opium poppy, khat, and mescaline. Typically, these drugs would not complement each other, but in the case of mescah, they mesh together to form the perfect potent drug cocktail, the effects of which are strong enough to destroy immortals and inhibit our ability to heal ourselves. I have to believe that a powerful witch is helping to bind these drugs by spell.”

Lucian hated dealing with witches. Their powers were unpredictable and unstable. They refused to be ruled by one leader unless it was the one they believed to be the destined ruler. Anyone who assumed the role and could not pass their tests would quickly be erased. The witches believed that the destined ruler would one day emerge and bring unity to the chaos that currently plagued the coven. Lucian was looking forward to that day as well. For now, witches would continue to offer their services like mercenaries. Anyone could buy them. They seemed to have very little conscience and would create any spell requested regardless of the harm it caused, as long as the price was right. They had no qualms about destroying their own kind for the right fee. Lucian despised that kind of disloyalty.

“Amalia, do you know of any witches powerful enough to do this?”

“I’m sure there are quite a few. I will work with the other sages to develop a list of names. Now, if there is nothing further, I would like to return to my lab. Kasha has another test subject we would like to monitor. We will try to gather more information about mescah before this subject dies.”

“Or maybe try to cure him?” Lorenzo questioned, trying to control his frustration with the detached sage.

“Not probable. I doubt we will find a cure quick enough.” Amalia walked out of the room leaving Lorenzo and Lucian frustrated with the lack of progress. This drug was like a disease. If continued, it could destroy all immortals.

“She’s so irritating,” Lorenzo growled.

“Yes, but she’s the best and we need her on our side. If anyone can stop this, she can. I just wish I knew who was behind this. Immortals have lived together in relative peace for millennia. I can’t imagine that one of us would create a drug that could destroy all of us. Unless the object of this was not destruction, but control.”

“Ah, what better way to seize power from the Council than to create chaos that the Council cannot control?”

“Yes, but then why not publicize this? We have been trying to silence the news about mescah, but the architect of this drug should want all immortals to know. It’s still relatively underground.”

“Maybe this is just a test,” Lorenzo suggested, “a pilot program to see how this works, and if it works well it could lead to other experiments.”

“That could be, but we should not dismiss the possibility that destruction of immortals is a motive even though it’s difficult to imagine.”

“What immortal would want that?”

“No immortal,” Lucian acknowledged, “but a human.”

“Impossible,” Lorenzo shouted.

“We should not underestimate them. They suspect our existence and some may know for sure. All the myths and legends about immortals come from somewhere. They are based on facts embellished by stories. They’d rather pretend we’re a myth than face the reality that the monsters they fear are real. It was inevitable that one day we would be discovered -- the question is whether this knowledge is possessed by a limited few that we could easily silence.”

“Should we alert the other Council members?”

“Not yet. They have been relatively quiet about Kaden’s case and I don’t want to contact them and deal with questions. I don’t know if we will be able to resolve this in the time I requested. There are many on the Council that see Kaden’s recklessness as a threat to the stability of our kind. They want him removed. Unless we find proof of his innocence, they may only see the proof of his guilt.”

“You believe he is innocent?”

“I believe there is much more to the story than we know, and we need more time to uncover the truth. I just don’t think Kaden has time.”

One of Lucian’s guards raced into his office. His eyes betrayed his nerves as he struggled to find his words. “What is it, Maxim?”

“W-well sir, the prisoner Gaspard has escaped. I don’t kn…”

Lucian seized Maxim’s throat, using his mental abilities. He squeezed hard enough to hurt, but not to kill. “How did you let this happen? You were responsible for this prisoner.”

Maxim tried to respond, but could not choke out any words. “You may want to allow him to breathe a little so he can answer,” Lorenzo suggested.

Lucian released Maxim and the vampire fell to the floor gasping for air. “I-I was watching him,” he stuttered. “He was with Gaspard’s mama and the superhot vampire with the black leather outfit, never-ending legs, perfect ass, edible…”

Maxim seized from pain. “Focus!” Lucian yelled.