Regis led them into a hall behind yet another door hidden in
the mirrored wall. Kendra thought
that they were opposite and a few panels down from the door that led to the
greenhouse tunnel, but she couldn’t be sure.
Regis walked quickly through the dimly lit hallway. Alex walked ahead of her, and kept one
hand behind him to hold her hand.
She wasn’t sure if he meant to comfort her, or to hurry her along.
Kendra knew that she had nowhere near the grace of a vampire,
but even her steps made no sound in the thick carpet. It was so thick that she quickly felt as if she were jogging
in sand. She was tired, and had
begun to sweat by the time Alex pulled her into a sharp left turn onto a ramp that
spiraled steeply down, more than two stories she thought. The ache in her quads increased to a
burn as she controlled her hurried step at a pace just below a jog. Before long she dragged at Alex’s hand,
her mouth open to beg him to stop for a minute, when he did stop, abruptly.
Kendra bumped into his back with a grunt. She thought she saw Regis glare at her,
but in the next instant the shadowy figure of the vampire leader left the
hallway. Alex followed, and pulled
Kendra with him.
She could not take in more than the room’s dark wood paneling
while Alex led her quickly to the far end of a massive rectangular table. He drew a chair from the table and held
it for her. By the time she was
seated, Regis was settled at the head of the table, near the door. Alex sat across from her in the only
remaining chair. Between them, at
the table’s foot, was stern Asian vampire, who seemed very grumpy about the
delay, or perhaps it’s my presence he finds distasteful. Kendra looked toward Alex for
reassurance, but could hardly make out his face. The room was lit by only four candles, each in a sconce
mounted in the center of each wall.
All heads turned toward Regis, who stood. Evidently he spoke too, but so softly
that Kendra could not make out what he said. She studied the room instead, and counted ten vague figures
on each side of the long, dark table.
Unable to glean any more information from her surroundings, Kendra
explored the facing just beneath the table’s top. She felt thick whorls and sharp-tipped ovals that she
guessed were leaves carved in bas-relief from the wood. The grain in some of the whorls had
separated, and the varnish felt crinkled, as if it were old. The wood of the facing, like the
tabletop, was very thick.
Regis talked for what seemed like forever, but was probably
only fifteen minutes before he slid back two of the wooden panels behind him to
reveal a screen. He clicked
through some dimly lit slides. The slides flew by, and Kendra wondered just how
fast Regis was speaking. One
looked like a snap shot of her rescue from American Missile, yes, she made out
her huddled form as it rocked back and the vampire behind her reached down to
lift her. Next came a headshot of
Xenopoulos, and finally the first page of Kendra’s time travel equation showed
on the screen.
“Hey,” Kendra objected and stood up. The vampires around her clapped their hands over their ears.
“Ms. Tanagawa,” Regis said loudly enough for her to hear him,
“surely you have realized by now that our hearing is very acute. Your normal speaking voice borders on
being uncomfortable for us.”
“My apologies,” Kendra whispered, and struggled to keep the scorn
out of her voice. “Would you
please do me the courtesy of informing me how you obtained my research and what
you intend to do with it?”
“Of course,” said Regis, “and had you managed to restrain
yourself, I would, by now, have finished that explanation.”
“Not that I could have heard,” Kendra muttered as she resumed
her seat. Instantly she regretted her
sarcasm. In confirmation of her
misstep, Alex shot her a look and shook his head. The bared fangs of the stern vampire seated between them
gleamed for a second in the dim light.
“I beg the forbearance of my illustrious guests as I shout
slowly for the human,” Regis said.
“As I said, we have both the data necessary for time travel and the
scientist who has accomplished it.
I see no reason that our own expert shouldn’t be able to duplicate her
results once we recreate her lab on the premises.”
“What?” Kendra whispered.
“Yes, Ms. Tanagawa,” Regis said coldly. “You hold the key to our continued
existence. Do you really think we
would leave you, a human, on your own?
Just trust you to see us through this crisis?”
The room rippled with soft, cruel laughter. The hair on Kendra’s neck stood up.
“You can’t steal my research,” she said. “It’s…it’s mine!”
“It was yours,” Regis corrected. “Our own scientist was very nearly there himself. Isn’t that so, Alex?”
Alex nodded, and avoided Kendra’s eyes.
“You?” she said in disbelief, “but I thought you were on my
side.” Her voice faded to a
whisper.
Quiet laughter rippled through the room once more. Alex shifted in his seat. He seemed guilty or at least
uncomfortable, but Kendra wished that she could see his face clearly to be
sure.
Regis continued the meeting at a pace and volume that suited
the vampires. Kendra crossed her
arms and stewed. She had to
escape. Right, from a secret
complex filled with strong, fast, and dead kidnappers.
The meeting ended.
Every vampire in the place zoomed by to shake Alex’s hand or pat him on
the shoulder. They moved so fast
that the room emptied in ten seconds.
Kendra was alone with Alex.
“You stole my work,” she accused.
He did not reply, but walked to the front of the room and
pinched out the candle there.
“Answer me!” Kendra shouted.
Alex flinched, but only walked closer to her to pinch out a
second candle. Without a word he
came around the foot of the table and snuffed out the third. Kendra felt as though she were
suffocating. Panic mounted within
her.
“What are you doing?
You’re going to leave me here in the dark to die, aren’t you?”
“Of course not, darling.” Alex offered his elbow.
Feeling more vulnerable and dependent than she ever had, and
hating every moment of it, Kendra took his arm with a sharp, punitive jerk.
Unfazed, Alex led them toward the door. He paused at the fourth candle.
“You see? I am
merely turning out the lights.”
