On the Edge of Humanity

AFTER WE WALKED OUT OF the mess hall, Tripp wanted to use the stairs instead of the elevator, which had a line waiting to board it. Ben and I followed behind the tall, muscular vampire to another hallway, which pitched down to the back of the building before climbing down the stairs to the second floor.

A strange odor hung in the stairwell and I inhaled, trying to identify it. It smelled like a cross between blood and vinegar. The tanginess of it made my eyes water. I grabbed the banister before stepping off the last riser and my hand landed on a sticky substance. The rail had splotches of red stains on it. I wiped my hand on my jeans and lingered for a brief second. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened in here.

"We're going to be late. Move," Tripp commanded.

His hand urged me through the door. I turned left and Ben was standing with one knee bent, foot on the wall with his hands in his pockets.

"What's with the tortoise walk?" Ben asked.

I wanted to give him the finger, but instead I ignored him and waited for Tripp to show us the way.

"Not talking to me now?" Ben asked.

I shook my head.

"What did I do?"

I raised my finger to my lips. During dinner Ben and I had argued. He teased me about the juice incident, wanting to know how the blood tasted. I thought it was rude he was asking all those questions in front of Tripp who'd seemed uncomfortable with the conversation. My patience was walking a tight rope and, at any moment, I was going to unleash my anger.

"Are we in church?" he whispered.

"God, you can be just as annoying as Darcy," I snapped.

"Watch your tongue," he replied.

Tripp stopped, turned and wagged his finger between Ben and me. "When we get into the war room, you two will sit in the back row next to me. You will not speak, not one word. You're there to listen and that's it. If I hear you two arguing, I will personally lock both of you up for the night. Are we clear?"

Whoa! Where did that come from? I was going to follow through on my promise later and kill Ben. The most time I had spent around Ben was during the past week. I didn't know he could be this annoying.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. The war room was located at the very end of the second floor hallway, which was about five doors down from the restroom. With my stomach still teetering on the edge, I wanted to make sure I knew where my refuge point was.

The war room was lit up like an airport runway. The brightness blinded me for a second until my eyes adjusted. The chairs rose in a pattern similar to an amphitheater with elongated steps cutting through two sections, which led down to a large conference table. On top were a couple of books and a stack of papers. Behind the table a movie screen hung from the ceiling.

Tripp directed Ben and me to the last row, which butted up against the back wall. I thought Tripp was going to sit between us, so Ben and I wouldn't talk, but he sat down in the aisle seat and instructed me to sit in the middle.

Several people were already seated in the rows below us chatting. I scanned the room and didn't see Webb, but Olivia, her partner from earlier today and Sloan were seated in the front row directly below us. Dr. Vieira walked in from a side door adjacent to the conference table with a binder in his hands and placed it on the table. He opened it, thumbing through the pages, searching for something.

Tripp sat in his chair, stoically looking straight ahead while Ben had his feet up on the chair in front of him, leaning back. I tapped his leg and he just glared at me.

"Feet down, Ben," Tripp commanded.

He dropped his feet and sat up. I stuck my tongue out at him. I thought he was going to hit me; instead, he narrowed his eyes and scowled.

Ignoring his gaze, I turned and faced forward. Webb had entered, standing by Dr. Vieira who was reading something from the binder. According to the clock on the wall in the far left corner, it was six fifty-nine. The people seated wore their black military uniforms similar to the one Webb was wearing. Other than Ben and me, there was one other person in civilian clothes, a woman who sat in the far section on the other side of the aisle in the front row. She wore a gray pantsuit and her brown hair was in a bun.

When the large hand on the clock slid on the twelve, Webb whispered in Dr. Vieira's ear, then cleared his throat.

"Okay, settle down," Webb said, his voice booming, filling the room.

The chatter stopped as abruptly as if someone had slammed on the brakes.

He held a remote control in his hand and pointed it at the projector. A slide appeared on the movie screen.

The word Agenda appeared, with a list of seven items typed below it. The first was Breakdown and Crest and Skylark. Item number two-Endotoxin. Three had the name Dr. Patrick Mason and Edmund Rain.

My eyes rested on the name and I began tapping my foot.

Tripp placed his hand on my knee. "You don't need to be nervous."

Was he kidding? Did he know what I had been through in the past week?

I leaned in. "Is Patrick Mason any relation?"

"It will all be explained shortly," Tripp said.

I continued to tap my foot as I read item number four. Plutariums.

"What's with the planet names around here?" Ben asked.

I shrugged. I wanted to know the answer to that one myself; even the tattoos were still a mystery to me. Olivia did explain why she had hers, but she didn't elaborate as to why the vampires had to be branded.

Number five on the list read, Update and new information. Excitement stirred as goosebumps peppered my arms. Maybe Webb had some news about Sam.

The last two bullet points were Plan for tomorrow and Wrap up. After reading through the list, I had a feeling we were going to be here all night.

Webb shifted his gaze between the audience and the screen.

"Tonight we'll recap the events of the past few days and look at the path forward. First, I want to make everyone aware that we have two civilians in the room. In case you're not aware, one of them is Commander Mason's daughter, Jo, who is sitting next to Petty Officer Tripp. The other is Ben Jackson, a friend of the Masons." He pointed in our direction.

A sea of vamps turned around and looked at me.

"You're famous," Ben said. "The daughter of a commander and a Navy SEAL. Wow, impressive. But the vampire thing, not so much."

I dropped my gaze and ignored Ben.

Tripp leaned over and whispered, "Breathe. They need to know who you are. It's pertinent to the mission."

I raised my head and all but one person had turned back to face Webb. The lady in gray was staring at me. I scanned her face. Her burgundy lips pronounced her pale features and her eyes were a deep blue. I focused on Webb and tried to ignore her. As he spoke, she shifted her position forward.

"The breakdown at Crest and Skylark can't happen anymore. Brock and Fehherty were ambushed as if the Plutariums knew their route. I'm not sure how this happened, but while we're looking for both Commander Mason and his son Sam, it is imperative that we're paying attention to detail. Every one of you has been trained not to be complacent. We cannot, for one second, let our guard down. They're becoming stronger as the days go on and their army is getting larger as well. Is that clear?"

The room vibrated as the group of vampires all said in unison, "Yes, sir."

"Second, the Plutariums now have access to an endotoxin, which Dr. Vieira will discuss in a second. I want each of you to pay close attention to what this toxin can do. But before we talk about the toxin-" The screen flashed and a picture of two men appeared. "-I want to make sure everyone is aware of these two men."

The one on the left was tall with short, slicked back brown hair and wore a blue long-sleeve button-down shirt, which accentuated his sky-blue eyes. The other was slightly taller with a short black military issue haircut.

"The man on the right, as most of you know, is Edmund Rain. He was part of our team four years ago. The other is Dr. Patrick Mason. He's a renowned genetic scientist and was recently recruited by the Plutariums," Webb said as he scanned the room. "He's also Commander Mason's half-brother."

The audience drew in a collective breath, sucking in all the air in the room.

I inhaled and my throat tightened as if someone were choking me.

"Your uncle bats for the enemy?" Ben asked, shock laden in his tone.

I shrugged. I didn't even know I had an uncle, but it was sounding that way.

"We'll discuss their status in a minute, but first let's talk about the toxin. Dr. Vieira, the floor is yours." Webb nodded at Dr. Vieira, then took a seat.

"Thank you, Lt. London." Dr. Vieira fiddled with the computer until a picture of a needle appeared on the screen.

It was a horse needle just like the one Jonah tried to stab me with.

"This needle was confiscated at Crest and Skylark earlier today. One of the Plutariums who managed to grab Jo Mason was going to use this on her. The contents of the needle contained an endotoxin, which is a bacterium. A couple of key points on what this substance can do." He paused and took a sip of water.

The entire audience stilled, waiting for Dr. Vieira's next words.

"Once this toxin enters your blood stream," he continued, "it can cause the blood to coagulate, causing a host of issues, but most importantly leading to blood poisoning where the toxin settles in and attacks the DNA and white blood cells. While most of you in this room may be immune to something like this, some of the younger folks may not be. However, if this needle had been used on Jo Mason, it would certainly have ended our mission, or at least in part made our mission more challenging. This is a lethal weapon, folks. We don't want to mess around with it." Dr. Vieira clicked a button on the remote.

The next photo depicted a row of body bags on the ground in front of a brick wall.

The vamps in their seats rustled and adjusted their positions as if they were nervous.

"This is getting weird." Ben leaned over and grabbed my hand.

I agreed. But I wouldn't have said weird. It was getting spooky.

"Our sources within the human government tell us that the missing person rate for the city has doubled over this time last year. In fact, their phones have been ringing off the hook with humans disappearing. Our own government has also documented an increase in missing vampires during the last few weeks. We speculate that the Plutariums and Dr. Mason have something to do with all this. Our government has confiscated these body bags and are running autopsies on them. We'll have more information during tomorrow's meeting." Dr. Vieira took another sip of water.

What did he mean it would have ended their mission? Why am I so vital to what happened?

Webb took control of the projector as Dr. Vieira sat down. The screen went blank. I stole a glance at Ben. His left hand was covering his mouth.

I tapped him on the leg. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh," he whispered as he placed his hand in his lap. "This is some deep shit. These guys are serious mother-"

I had to agree with him, but unfortunately, I was part of that deep shit.

"If you have any questions on this toxin, see Dr. Vieira after the meeting," Webb said. "Now, back to Edmund and Dr. Mason. We discussed this in our meeting last week, but it begs repeating here. The natural-born vampire population is dwindling, and some vampires in our community believe that the world needs vamps as part of the evolution of life. With that said, we have many problems with this belief, but two that are important to our short and long-term missions.

"Let's start with the bigger issue and drill down. We know that the Plutariums are building an army so they can infiltrate the government and rise to power. But we've learned recently that the Plutariums want to engineer a vampire army. And with our race fading, they've hired Dr. Mason to fabricate a serum to do just that. But before Dr. Mason develops a way to change humans who don't carry the vampire gene into vampires, he's taking care of the low hanging fruit first and experimenting on himself. It will be the ultimate test to prove to the Plutariums that this can be done. We also know that Patrick wants revenge against his half-brother for a host of personal reasons, which we won't discuss here. Whether Patrick is successful or not, we have a few problems on our hands." Webb opened a red folder, shuffled the contents around and pulled out a piece of paper.

My mouth fell open. This was the guy partly responsible for trying to kill me? My own uncle? First my father threw Sam and me away like pieces of trash, now I had an uncle trying to permanently dispose of me. Blood rushed to my face. My muscles tensed, bracing for Webb's next words.

"We believe that Patrick has figured out that he needs his half-brother's blood to have any chance of becoming immortal, which means he needs Commander Mason alive. In addition, we have it on good authority that Patrick will also need the DNA, blood and marrow of a male family member to run his experiments." Webb scanned the room.

His eyes avoided mine when he looked up at me. A chill skittered up my arms. What did he mean by male family member?

"Sir?" A guy seated in the section over from us raised his hand.

"Yes, Thatch?"

"Do we know if Edmund has the commander in custody?"

"We don't," Webb replied.

"Lieutenant?" Another vamp spoke.

"Moffet?"

"Since the commander is family, wouldn't Patrick just need to drink his brother's blood? Wouldn't that complete one of their plans?" Moffet asked.

"It's not as easy as you drinking your father's blood. There are a lot of factors against Patrick being successful. The first problem is Commander Mason and Patrick are from different mothers. We know the elder Mason was a vamp, but we also know he's dead-the second problem. We don't know if Patrick and the commander have the same blood type, which is important to the change-third problem. Aside from all this, the most important thing to consider is the genetics. Natural-born vampires are sired by a male vampire who mates with a human female. But that human female must have a blood type of Vel negative, which is a very rare blood type. And we don't know if Patrick even carries the vampire gene." Webb sipped from a cup on the table.

Ben was squeezing my hand so tight it was starting to turn blue.

I slid him a quick glance and he eased up.

"I feel like we're in medical school," he whispered.

Ben was right again. This was Genetics 101. I didn't know what to process first. I was trying to understand the last part of what Webb said about the blood type of the human female. That meant my mother had a rare blood type. I was starting to relax a little. I wasn't the only weird one carrying a rare blood type.

While the blood types were one thing, I couldn't get my head around the idea of vampires and humans mating. I shook my head trying to clear it. Sam was the topic, not the mating of vampires.

I leaned in. "Is Webb talking about Sam? Is he the male family member?" I held my breath.

Tripp peered down at me. "I don't know. Let's listen."

"Given what we discussed, we don't know if Patrick will be successful in genetically engineering a blood serum, but one thing's for sure: he's one of the best in his field in this country, so let's not forget that. If anyone can do this, it will be him. Any more questions before I move on?"

Two vamps raised their hands at the same time. Webb called on some dude named Talon first.

"You mentioned that the Plutariums want to build an army. Change humans into vampires. Is that even possible? Is sounds like cloning, if you ask me."

"I can't answer that. What I can share with everyone, which is common knowledge to the medical community, is that Dr. Mason has had a medical breakthrough in taking a rat and changing that rat's genetic features. While this is far, far from changing a human into a vampire, we need to be cautious. We'll discuss more of this as we find out more information."

Great! But what did that mean? I wasn't getting any warm and fuzzy feelings here. Besides he still hadn't elaborated on the male donor. I was about to raise my hand.

"Sanderson?" Webb pointed to the other vamp who had raised his hand earlier.

"Do we suspect Cmdr. Mason is the male donor?" Sanderson asked.

"Thank you," I muttered.

"We believe that the Plutariums have-" Webb looked directly at me, or so I thought.

Tripp grabbed my other hand and held it in my lap. He had a strong grip like Ben.

"We believe...it's Sam Mason, the commander's son."

At that moment, all the blood rushed to my feet and I tried to stand up. I suspected even Ben knew to hold me down. My heart raced, then a warm, tingling sensation settled over me. Was Tripp using his power to calm me? My muscles relaxed and my consciousness was clouded in a fog.

"I don't...understand." My voice quivered. "Why Sam?"

Webb focused his attention in our direction. Tripp shook his head. I imagined Webb asked if I were okay through his telepathic connection.

"Let's take a fifteen minute break and be back here at eight sharp," Webb said to the crowd.

Some of the vampires filed out of the room, while a few hung out talking. One had cornered Dr. Vieira to probably chat about that needle.

I covered my face with my hands and tears began to fall. Why was this happening?

A hand touched my back. "Jo, they don't know for sure if it's Sam. Webb said he believed, he didn't say it was Sam," Ben said with a soft voice.

"Webb wants to talk to us," Tripp said. "Ben, take her arm."

I stood up and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "I can walk."

Tripp led us down the wide steps to the bottom of the meeting room. A door to the right of the conference table was open and a light trickled out.

"In here." Tripp pointed to the door and waited for Ben and me to go ahead of him.

"Have a seat both of you." Webb waved a hand at the table and metal chairs, which were the only items in the dimly lit room.

Ben and I sat down, while Tripp stood at the door with his hands crossed in front of him.

"Jo, I'm sorry you had to hear about Sam in there. We don't know for sure if your Uncle Patrick has Sam or not. We're speculating. But it's a realization that we have to consider." Webb bit his bottom lip.

"But why Sam?" Ben asked. "Why not their father?"

"The Plutariums could very well have both of them. We can't confirm the validity of what we suspect because the Plutariums' compound is just as heavily guarded as our own. Remember what I explained. It's not as easy as Patrick drinking the commander's blood." Webb looked directly at me as he spoke. "What we suspect, and Dr. Vieira is researching this, is that Patrick needs the DNA of a family member who has not yet become a vampire. He will need to isolate Sam's adolescent vampire gene for him to study and test it. Plus, he will need Sam's blood to extract the white blood cells and then the marrow. I know this is a lot of information and probably doesn't make sense, but the bottom line is if Patrick can study Sam's genetic make-up, then Patrick is halfway to reaching his goal." Webb sat back in his chair.

Was Sam being used as a lab rat? My stomach twisted into a knot of nerves.

"What else does he need?" I asked.

"He will need to use a vampire's blood to create the serum," Tripp said. "And that blood has to come from a family member. One key element, though, is that Patrick's blood type has to match your dad's blood type." Tripp had moved away from the door and was now standing next to Ben.

"So that's why we think he has both your dad and Sam," Webb added.

I blew out all the air in my lungs. I was still a little hazy from Tripp's medicinal touch.

"Can't you just put together a team and break into their compound?" Ben asked. "You're SEALs. That's what you guys do."

"Sure, we could. But we don't think Sam is at their compound," Tripp said.

"No, that would be too easy. The Plutariums are waiting for us to do just that. However, they could have Commander Mason there," Webb explained.

"Then where's Sam?" Ben asked.

"We don't know. We're checking a few places we suspect, but haven't been able to confirm anything yet," Webb said. His voice sounded tired.

"Why separate the two?" I asked.

"Remember I told you that your father is a very powerful vampire?" Webb asked.

I nodded.

"Well, they would need to lock him up at their place in a very secure room and keep him sedated until they needed him."

"A little lost here. What do you mean by powerful?" Ben asked.

Webb had told me my dad was a powerful vampire, but he didn't elaborate on it and I was just as lost as Ben.

"His mental abilities far outweigh any other living vampire. When they crossover, all vampires go through physical changes, and when they emerge on the other side, they're stronger, their eyesight is ten times sharper and their hearing is better than the canine species. But we also inherit one or two unique mental acuities, such as the ability to compel humans or speak to other vampires through a telepathic connection. Those are just a couple of examples." Webb paused and stood up. He walked around the room with his head down. It looked as if he were struggling with something...or stalling.

He stopped and clasped his hands together with his fingers touching his mouth. Then Tripp nodded at Webb.

I was beginning to hate this telepathic thing.

Ben stared at Webb waiting for him to speak.

"There are no other vampires that we know of who have more than two mental acuities-other than Commander Mason. He not only has the ability to do what we can do, but he also has a unique psych strength that no other vampire has-he can read minds. He can get in your head and read your thoughts. This ability is something that the Plutariums are concerned about. They think Commander Mason will discover the ins and outs of their plan."

"So why not just kill my father? Then they wouldn't have to worry about him reading anything. Why go through all this trouble of blood serums and kidnapping my brother?" I asked.

Webb began pacing. It seemed he wasn't ready to answer any of my questions. As I waited for him to speak, I thought of how easily I could kill my father. Better yet, maybe I could take a contract out on his head. Then all of this would be over with. Although, with Sam missing, it probably wasn't a good idea right now.

"Edmund Rain," Webb said, jarring me from my sinister thoughts, "the leader of the Plutariums, is a twisted individual. He and your father go way back and, at one time, were best friends. Well, Edmund got mixed up with the wrong people and he was dishonorably discharged. He believes your father betrayed him. Now he wants revenge, not only against your father, but the government as well. Killing your father would be too easy. Vampires settle their scores by making their enemies suffer for a long time before ending their lives. Edmund knows if he's caught committing any crimes, our vampire laws are strict. The penalty could be as high as death. He has a plan. Knowing Edmund, he's going to make your father's life a living hell. If he's successful with creating a vampire army, then he'll kill your father and his whole family. Until then, we have our work cut out for us."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was I only a pawn in the bigger scheme of things? It seemed the Sentinels were using me as their sacrificial lamb while Sam was being used as one by the Plutariums. Foster care was looking better by the minute.

Ben stood up and sidled next to me. He rubbed his chin. A small amount of facial hair had grown in since we left for school this morning.

"Back to Sam. How we going to find him?" Ben asked.

It seemed clear Ben didn't care about my father or his enemies. He wanted to find Sam. I wanted to jump up and hug him. But I was also surprised at how serious and in control Ben seemed. During the last few hours I'd seen his emotions rise and fall between shock, horror, excitement and anger. This demeanor of bravery was new.

"We've been looking. Our team has been following the Plutariums. Understand, though, it doesn't take long for them to figure out what we're doing. The vampire senses are strong and sharp, so it's hard to catch them off their game," Tripp said.

"We need...to..." Webb stood still and rubbed his right hand over his face. He seemed to be struggling with the words.

"Sir, do you want me to explain?" Tripp asked.

Webb shook his head. "No." He took a deep breath and knelt down with one knee in front of me. "Jo?" He paused.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The gesture looked as if he were about to propose. He had one hand on his knee. I studied him as he looked up at me through his long, dark lashes. I tried to ferret out his thoughts, but the doleful expression etched on his face spoke volumes. I grabbed the seat of the metal chair and held my breath.

My heart raced and blood snaked through every pore in me. He raised his hand from his knee and placed it on mine. His touch sent a spark, which rifled through me, slowing my heartbeat. My emotions were scrambled, as if a mixture of fear and anticipation were fighting each other for control.

I dropped my head. He touched the bottom of my chin and tilted it up. Our eyes met and my body trembled. I squeezed the chair tighter, bracing for the dreadful news.

"Hey, man, don't touch her," Ben said sharply.

Webb snapped up his head and glared at Ben. His eyes vacillated from blue to black. Did Ben think Webb was going to hurt me? After the incident with Dr. Vieira, I imagined Ben wasn't too trusting of the vampires in the building.

I uncurled my fingers from around the chair and gently touched Webb's face. He turned his gaze toward me. Tripp grabbed Ben and pulled him away from my chair.

"What is it?" I whispered, words barely audible, hands shaking.

Webb cleared his throat as he grabbed my hand. "Jo, I need you to be prepared for something. When we spoke in my office, I mentioned to you about choices, about choosing our path. Do you remember?" His eyes were pitch-black now with a hint of red dots inside.

I nodded, afraid to speak, but thankful he held my hand.

"If we do find your brother, he may be on his...deathbed. Meaning, for us to save him, he will need your blood to survive." He paused.

Save him? Deathbed? Did I just hear him correctly?

My hand trembled beneath Webb's, while the other one was gripping the metal chair, holding on to it for dear life. I surveyed each of the men in the room. Tripp had his head tilted a fraction, looking at me. Ben was staring at me with a pained expression and Webb watched as if he were searching for a green light from me so he could continue.

"My blood? You mean transfusion?" I asked. "I can share some of my blood with him." I prayed Webb wouldn't let go of my hand. I was afraid the rest of my body would start shaking and I wouldn't be able to stop. This was one of those moments that I wanted Tripp to hold me, to calm me.

"I'm not sure you understand, Jo. What I mean is, Sam will need your vampire blood to survive," Webb whispered.

My body went numb. I sat statue-still and couldn't move. I probably looked as pale as the white tile floor beneath my feet. Forget my suspicions about things happening in threes. No, the universe is spitting out terrible, horrible things in tens. What the hell is going on? Why can't I catch a break?

"We don't know for sure if it will come to that, but you do need to be prepared. You do have a choice," Tripp chimed in.

A choice? What kind of choice was that?

"I don't...don't...even know what that means. Are you saying that I need to become a...vampire...to save my brother?"

"It may come to that. We're trying to find Sam first, to confirm his physical state. We want you to be prepared to make the decision as soon as we know. It will take at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours for you to make the transition. This is strictly your decision," Webb explained.

Tears spilled, overflowing freely down my cheeks. Wrapping my head around the fact that vampires were real was one thing. Asking me to become one was an entirely different story. The thought of immortality was nauseating. I couldn't imagine walking around this earth for eternity. I had a life, albeit not a perfect one, but I believed the future held promise for me, for Sam. Now my world was turned completely upside down and I didn't know which way to go.