Synthetic: Dark Beginning (6 page)

Chapter 6

Gus returned from the fridge and heaved a long, exaggerated sigh. “So you don’t know much about making vampires?”

“Or transferring brains into synthetic bodies. This is like my worst nightmare—everything I'm morally against rolled up into a big fat bomb dropped right on my head.” Kora, perched on a lab stool, stared down at her white pants. She'd just put them on and already there were three stains on the knees.
She
never
got dirty at Mirafield.

“Morals schmorals. This is reality time, baby. Ruby needs you for a script she's been working on for as long as I can remember. You’re here to add the final touch by transforming her bloated, decomposing body into a blood-sucking destroyer.  A star will be reborn.”

“That’s what this is about—a new reality show?”

“I read it a while back. It’s your typical California-goth-vampire-beach-slaughter extravaganza. Her idea has already been made into a lame-ass movie but only an idiot would point that out to her.”

“And I suppose the other vampire you mentioned will be in this show as well?”

“He’s the star. Not that Vaughn aspires to be an actor, but that’s why Ruby started creating mutants in the first place. Did you ever watch her last show,
Malibu Mutants?”

“
No,
”
said Kora who was only half listening as she drifted over to one of her work tables.
“
I work long hours. No time for TV.
”

Gus shook his head. “It's absolutely terrible how the work week has taken over our lives. People used to have much more leisure time.”

Kora looked up at Gus who was lounging on the couch with his sixth cup of coffee.
“
What do you do all day that's so hard?
”

“
My work is highly demanding in a way that's beyond your comprehension.
”

“
I'm pretty smart. Try me.
”

“
Okay— I'm a modern day philosopher, Kora.
I live down here in the quiet where I have plenty of time to contemplate the apocalyptic world beyond Malibu. The wheels in my brain spin night and day coming up with momentous solutions to various questions that now plague mankind.”
He scrunched his eyes closed and whirled his fingers on either side of his head.

“
Like what?
”

Gus sat up and pointed at his cup. “Like making coffee, for instance. When I first arrived here, there were no plastic pods so I suffered terrible caffeine withdrawal until I found this contraption in a junk heap.” Gus pointed at his old coffee machine that gleamed in the light pouring in from the dome. “I studied for weeks, relearning the long forgotten art of grinding beans and now I make coffee like the ancient ones of legend.”

Kora laughed.
“
I don't think it's that hard, really.
”

“
Have you ever done it? Made coffee without a manufactured pod?
”

“
No, I don't drink coffee, but I'd hardly rate that as a great question plaguing mankind.
”

“
Tell that to all those podless suckers out there who'll never wake up to that blissful aroma ever again.
”

“
Can we get back to Ruby and why I'm here.
”

“Oh yes, sorry,” said Gus, rising off the couch. “I think you’ve already met Caleb and Ivan who were part of
Malibu Mutants
main cast. Two of the lucky ones who made the cut because they remind us of someone famous: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Fred Gwynne.”

Kora hadn’t seen many movies but she had a vague idea of what Gus was talking about. “Maybe with Caleb, but Ivan?”

“A mix of Iggy Pop, Klaus Kinsky, and a Lucky Charms leprechaun. Vaughn is definitely based on one of those delicious little vampire boys from the early part of the century. I believe Ruby dated a few of those back in the day.”

Kora started a mental inventory of all the machines in Ishmael’s pile. She had two days to pull off two impossible tasks with only the help of a hoarding squid and a chatterbox hunchback. “I don’t understand why people are fascinated with vampires. I get at least a hundred requests a month at Mirafield. They're parasites—disgusting and clichéd.”

“Why Kora, you must be the only girl on earth who can resist the glamour.” Gus plucked a tiny contraption from the pile and heaped it onto the counter. “Don’t tell me you want to hook up with some average Joe?”

Kora grabbed the tiny machine and tossed it into the pile destined for the hall. “Randall is anything but an average Joe.”

Gus stared at her in alarm. “Randall Williams?  He's the one you're marrying?” 

Kora tried to keep her face neutral.  “What's wrong with him?  He's rich, handsome—”

“And a ruthless tyrant.  Randall sent most of the people imprisoned here—including myself—and we're the lucky ones. Ruby's early prisoners were much worse off.” 

“That's what Ishmael told me a long time ago,” said Kora. 
“And I didn't believe him.”

“That is one smart kielbasa,” said Gus. 

A loud humming sound erupted behind Kora.  She turned to see Ishmael's container open like a steel flower.  He squiggled down off the pedestal and stopped next to Kora. 

“What the hell is that?” asked Gus.

Kora ran her fingers over Ishmael's slick arm.  “Gus, Ishmael—Ishmael, Gus.”

Ishmael reached out a tendril and Gus reluctantly grabbed onto it.  “You travel around with a giant squid?  Most girls just have a Chihuahua.”

“He must have liked what you said or he wouldn't have emerged so dramatically.”

“Good.  I'd rather have him emerge dramatic than pissed off.”

Ishmael reached up and tousled Gus's hair.  “So I take it he's no fan of Randall?”
asked Gus, smoothing down his hair that was now wet.

“Nope, but Randall has been good to me so—”

“You feel obligated to marry him?  Don't.  In fact, while you're here, I think you should mess around with Vaughn.  I would myself but he's straight, so I can't.”

After seeing Ivan and Caleb, Kora pictured Vaughn as a Nosferatu type with a bald head and horrid little pinched face.  It's no wonder Randall banned Ruby from producing anymore of her tragic mutants.  “I don't associate with synthetics, mutants, or vampires.”

G
us frowned.
“
And yet you'll talk to me and Ishmael?
”

“
Of course. You're human and Ishmael is... Ishmael,
”
said Kora.

“Wow, I thought you were cool, there, for a minute but really, you're a total snob.”

Gus turned to leave and before she could stop herself, the words popped out of her mouth.
“Is Vaughn Ruby’s lover?”

Gus paused in the doorway and held up two fingers, as if measuring his eyeball. “I guess we are a teensy bit interested in mutant-kind?”

“Forget I asked.”  Kora felt as if she had a sudden fever.  What did she care if Ruby and Vaughn were having sex in every filthy corner of this hideous castle?  But the thought of it pained her for some reason.

“He’s supposed to be Ruby’s lover but he despises every bone in her body. Pretty much everyone here has been Ruby’s lover at some point except I, of course, and Ivan. No one in their right mind would have sex with him.”

“Does Vaughn actually drink blood?”

Gus drifted back with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.  “And coffee and wine. He’s completely fascinated by cuisine though. I’ve always found it difficult to eat in front of him because he watches you like a starved animal.”

“How does he get blood? You mentioned an orgy?”

“I just said that to piss off Ruby but it seems to have captured your imagination. He eats from the Food. The prisoners here are charged with feeding him. They’re a wild bunch of bikini-clad babes who throw a ritual feast every evening out on the beach. It’s great fun.”

Kora had pictured them living in little cells in the dungeon. “They throw a beach party where they’re attacked by a vampire. Does Ruby go to these parties?”

“She would if Vaughn actually attacked anyone. He’s supposed to prowl out there at night, slash a few throats, and then leave a trail of drained corpses back to the castle. But Vaughn prefers to mingle and take charming little sips of everyone.  He's very popular.”

“Do you think I could pick Vaughn out at one of these parties? I’d like to examine him.”

“I bet you would.”

Kora chose to ignore the face Gus made at her. “How will I recognize him?”

“He’s gorgeous. And I don’t just mean—oh he’s sort of cute—I mean lip smacking, traffic-stopping delicious.”

How could Ruby produce Ivan and Caleb and then go on to make something beautiful?  Most likely Gus's idea of perfection was different from hers. After living in a house with Ruby, Caleb, and Ivan, she could see how that would happen. “So he’ll stand out because the other men in the Food are ugly?”

“God no. Several are quite delectable. Not as succulent as Vaughn, but still extremely palatable.” Gus stabbed a finger in the air. “It just so happens I have picture of him. I found it in a stack of papers Ruby left behind in one of her labs.”

Kora’s face brightened. “Are they Ruby’s scientific notes? Something like that could help me with this project.”

“I can go get them and bring them up if you’d like?”

“I wouldn’t mind coming,” said Kora. “I’m eager to see more of the castle.”
She turned to sign to Ishmael, but he was busy piling up junk that he knew Kora wanted to throw away.

“We won't be long.” Gus took Kora by the hand and guided her down the damp hall where Ruby had disappeared earlier. 

Kora hated leaving Ishmael alone in the bright lab and soon regretted her decision to follow after Gus.  “Why do you wear a monk’s robe?”

“It’s my costume. We all have a part to play in this mad theater where Ruby directs and no one listens, except Ivan who fancies himself Ruby’s sidekick. I’m the only one who wears my costume. It’s comfortable and versatile: warm in the winter, breezy in the summer. Vaughn refuses to wear his vampire wardrobe so Ivan, whose official costume consists of filthy rags, steals all of his clothes and refashions them into these wild outfits for he and Caleb.”

“I’ve seen.” Kora laughed and then covered her mouth, not wanting her voice to carry as Gus gave a door on their right a light push. She caught her breath when she realized they were standing at the threshold of Ruby’s office. The room itself was spacious with wood-paneled walls, and numerous shelves of leather-bound volumes covered in a thick layer of dust. Kora noticed a fireplace against one wall and beside it, a large cabinet with glass doors through which she could see shrunken heads and the requisite jars full of slimy objects and disembodied limbs. Everything one would expect to see in the gothic office of a mad scientist right down to the feathered quill in its inkstand.  And there lounged Ruby, sound asleep with her stilettoed feet propped up on an oak desk.

“She’s not accustomed to being awake at this hour,” whispered Gus, inching closer to the snoring woman’s ear. “A bit of a night owl aren’t you, Rube?”

Kora stepped back, terrified of what would happen if Ruby woke up. Gus sniggered and followed her out into the hall. “That was just to show you how deeply she sleeps.”

“Thank you for the demonstration,” said Kora. “Now I think I’ll go back to the lab and start working.”

Gus laughed and put his arm around her as she tried to escape. “We’ll be fine. You need to trust me. I’ve been here for almost six years so I know the drill.”

Kora followed him down the hall until they hit a stone staircase. She felt humbled when she saw where the hunchback lived. She had to deal with her gross bedroom for only a short time but Gus lived here indefinitely. He turned on a series of gas lanterns that transformed the dim, forbidding room into a rather cozy nook. His cell wasn’t spacious, but he’d collected things to make it more comfortable. A row of silk pillows lined the edge of his cot and Kora noticed a thick comforter covering the mattress. Makeshift shelves lined the walls stacked with strange mechanical objects, some of which looked oddly familiar. She had to navigate through tall stacks of old books that nearly filled the floor.

“This would drive me crazy,” she said, knocking over a pile of mystery novels.

“I really should take some of these books back up to Ruby’s library, but I’m the only one who checks anything out so I never bother to return them.”
He rubbed his chin.
“
Actually, that's not true
. I noticed in the log that Caleb checked out a copy of Moby-Dick a billion years ago and never returned it. Weird huh? To think at one time the big guy could read.
”

Kora moved aside a pile of junk before she sat down on his bed, and made a vow to never yell at her maids again when she returned to Mirafield.  They kept everything spotless but Kora was never satisfied, always nitpicking.
“Does Ruby lock you in at night?”

“She used to, but she knows I have a key so she doesn’t bother anymore, unless she’s in a bad mood. Something about slamming and locking iron doors cheers her up.”

Gus awkwardly lowered himself to the floor and yanked a battered suitcase out from under his cot. He pressed some levers and it popped open in a flurry of papers. He rifled around in the mess for a few minutes and stuffed a bunch of porn back into the case before handing her a yellowed packet. “I found this the first year I came here.”