Chapter 14
Gabriel waited until Melissa was safely inside her home before he pulled out of her driveway. The final moments they spent together replayed in his head. He had refused to look into her eyes. He believed that doing so would compel him to beg her not to leave–even if the separation was temporary. He knew that begging would not have been fair to her. She needed to process all she had seen. She needed to decide whether to be with him based on her needs, not his. And he would be forced to accept whatever choice she made.
He stopped at the bottom of her hill as earlier events of the night repeated in his head. Images of her troubled face flashed before his eyes. In the flashes, she did not resemble the person he knew. She was wild-eyed with fright, wrought with confusion, with disgust. The memories bombarded him, streaming her horrified expression over and over again. They were seared in his mind. He was powerless to erase them, despite having caused them.
Gabriel removed one hand from the steering wheel and pounded it, damning his very creation. His eyes clouded with emotion as he began driving again.
Mist had turned to a steady rainfall as droplets precipitated more purposefully.
He drove the Explorer dangerously, swerving on rain-slickened pavement, testing the engine as he stepped down heavily on the accelerator. Driving became a challenge. But Gabriel did not care.
Struggling to stay on the road, he agonized over her impending decision; that morning would bring about a painful verdict and he would lose Melissa forever.
Envisioning his life without her was unbearable. His days would be meaningless. Terzini’s vision, his many genetic gifts, all of it was inconsequential, his existence worthless if she were not a part of it.
His erratic driving continued during his soggy journey home. He sped down the gravel driveway and directed the SUV in to the garage before turning off the engine and getting out. He walked through the laundry room and climbed the steps. As he opened the door to the hallway and peered into the living room, a fresh swell of despair racked him. Before him was a once inspiring setting, romantic and filled with promise. Now, however, it was empty.
He immediately spotted the plate Melissa had eaten from sitting atop the coffee table. The once meticulously stacked dessert, lovingly prepared, sagged, melted and malformed.
The fire still burned in the hearth. Candles still glowed in the dining room. He was now charged with cleaning, restoring everything to its previous position.
After he cleaned, Gabriel surveyed the living room and dining room. As his eyes scanned the space, he noticed a piece of charcoal-gray woolen cloth draped behind the sofa. He walked to it and picked it up immediately.
Recognizing the shape of the material and its owner, he realized the small coat belonged to Melissa. She had not worn it when they went to Terzini’s laboratory. She did not wear it home.
He stood for a moment, clutching the fabric in his hands before raising it to his face. The warm, familiar scent lingered. Notes of vanilla, caramel and coconut, Melissa’s fragrance, brought Gabriel to his knees, an unrelenting pang twisting in his chest.
Outside, the rain picked up in intensity and mixed with sleet. Tiny ice pellets showered down, mortaring the roof tiles. Frozen precipitation bounced and ricocheted about the house and its surrounding property before changing back to a heavy rainfall again, soaking and saturating everything in its wake.
A fresh wave of agony washed over Gabriel, threatened to drown him in a churning sea of misery. Instead of retiring to his room as he originally intended, Gabriel lay on the couch fully clothed, grasping Melissa’s garment.
Thoughts swirled about his mind, muddled and fragmented until mercifully, sleep found Gabriel. Comforted temporarily by dreams of a future with Melissa, he was granted repose for several hours. But with dawn came reality.
The rain and sleet had stopped. The earth was washed clean, absolved of its impurities.
As the sun punctured the horizon and sliced through the darkness, bleeding the blue-black refuge in torrents of crimson and shades of sallow ginger, a small, dark presence appeared before Gabriel.
Sitting up, Gabriel rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The blurred image of his creator came into focus. Terzini’s stood, looming over Gabriel with his feet planted at shoulder width, his hands on his hips. His thin lips were pursed and the creases that lined his rumpled forehead were deepened further in pensive silence.
Terzini was alerted to his awakening; the nearly imperceptible twitch that arched his left eyebrow revealed as much. Gabriel watched as Terzini, from behind his wire-framed glasses, trained his small, watchful eyes on him and searched, narrowing them until his minuscule coal-hued irises were nearly invisible.
“Sir,” Gabriel said groggily. “I wasn’t expecting you until later this evening.”
Terzini remained, unflinching and eerily still, his gaze as stony as his stance.
“Who were you expecting Gabriel, Melissa Martin?” Dr. Terzini asked and enunciated each word slowly, icily.
“Sir, I can-”
“Do not insult me by attempting to concoct a story, Gabriel. I know everything. The question in my mind is: how long have you felt such stirrings?” he continued, his inflection flat and formal.
“Sir, it began when I met her,” Gabriel confessed. But how did you-”
“Know?” Terzini finished Gabriel’s question coolly then continued. “After the incident with the school bonfire when you defied me, I decided to install numerous extremely sensitive audiovisual recording devices. Tiny cameras with microphones were put in almost every article in this house and in my laboratory, though I doubted you would have the audacity to trespass in my inner sanctum. Yet you did,” Terzini said levelly.
“The information recorded was routed directly to my personal computer. Then, I lied and told you I was going away to buy more equipment for the lab. But, I checked into the Hilton Hotel in Fallkill to watch what you would do when you thought you were alone. As I did so, I became aware of various interesting developments in you construct, of your flaw. Then the piece de resistance came when you invited her here and cooked her dinner. I do not need to recount the rest. You just experienced it; as did I. And what a pathetic display it was,” Terzini said emotionlessly. “I don’t know who cried more, you or her. Nevertheless, she will be dealt with as well.”
Gabriel hung his head not in shame or defeat but in emotional exhaustion.
After summoning his strength, he spoke.
“Dealt with?”
“Yes, Gabriel.”
“But sir, I love her,” he said.
“Love?” his maker questioned. “You do not love, Gabriel.”
“But I do, sir,” Gabriel countered.
Anger flashed almost undetectably, fleetingly, in Terzini’s hardened eyes. “You were not created to experience such a useless emotion. I made sure of that.”
“Sir, I know what your intentions were with me. My feelings for her were entirely unfamiliar, unexpected. I’m not certain whether they evolved subtly or-”
“An explanation is unnecessary. This situation will be handled,” Terzini interrupted.
“Sir, I realize what I’ve done. I have jeopardized everything. But I will speak to Melissa. I assure you, she will not say anything to anyone.”
Gabriel regarded Terzini; his face impassive, unrevealing.
“Are you proposing that I just trust some foolish teenage girl? You have unparalleled intelligence, Gabriel. Surely, you do not expect me to take a chance with a random, hormone-saturated adolescent. That would be absurd. If anyone were to discover the nature of my work or that I live, everything I have achieved could end; my life would be jeopardized. No, Gabriel, I am not willing to risk the entirety of my research and development-all of my work-by trusting your limited little girlfriend. No, absolutely not. And you, you will be destroyed and dissected by nightfall.”
“Sir, I’m not sure I understand. Melissa, she’s done nothing wrong. What do you int
end to do with her?” Gabriel asked.
His mind raced, searching for an explanation for his creator’s vague plans for Melissa. He recalled the expression “dealt with” being used concerning her fate. A direct threat had been made. Terzini made plain his intent to kill Gabriel. But that fact was irrelevant. He feared for Melissa.
“That is no longer your concern. Your work is complete. I have no further use for you.”
“It is my concern, sir. She is my concern. She will not tell anyone. I am certain she would not share what she knows. I assure you, I will speak with her. She will listen to me.”
“Oh yes, Gabriel. I know; because you believe she loves you, right?” Terzini offered flatly. “Such nonsense. She has to be disposed of. There is no alternative.”
Gabriel lifted his chin and met his maker’s intense glower.
“Sir, I understand the consequences for my transgressions. I accept my fate. But Melissa…”
Gabriel breathing became labored.
“Sir, you’re not going to kill her. I won’t let you.”
Terzini laughed the shrill staccato laughter of an evil man before declaring plainly, “Gabriel, you will be dead, you will not be able to do anything.”
“No, no, no,” Gabriel shook his head in disbelief. “This can’t happen. You’re not a monster. You wouldn’t kill an innocent.”
“An innocent?” Terzini raised his voice slightly. “She could destroy everything!” he vented, shedding his composed veneer. “It astounds me that you somehow believe any of this could be taken lightly! After all Gabriel, you sealed her fate the moment she crossed the threshold of this house.” Terzini accused, then after calming himself he added more levelly, “Eugene is already en route to deal with the situation.”
Gabriel’s mind reeled. Panic settled upon him. He had no idea that Eugene had even arrived yet. Stopping Eugene would be nearly impossible. Eugene was far stronger than Gabriel, but his deadliest attribute remained his uncompromising obedience to his maker. He would kill on command, targeting whomever Terzini deemed deserving.
Melissa would be his target.
Infused with rage equal in intensity to the love he felt for Melissa, Gabriel stood, towering over his diminutive maker and hissed angrily, “Neither of you will touch her!”
Terzini seemed genuinely shocked by Gabriel’s threatening tone and posture yet tried to speak with authority.
“It is done Gabriel. It’s over,” Terzini said.
Gabriel suddenly realized that all the doubts he had about his humanity were unfounded. He was not a monster. But Dr. Franklin Terzini was.
Gabriel erupted in a furious rage. His body was suddenly overtaken by an intense, primal urge to harm the man standing before him.
“NO!” he heard his voice scream, foreign to his ears, before he attacked Dr. Terzini.
Gabriel outstretched both arms, snapping them forward with the entire weight of his body behind them and shoved the diminutive geneticist by his shoulders.
The blow exploded against Terzini’s small body and forced him backward, slamming him against one of the mahogany bookshelves in the living room.
Gabriel watched as his creator’s head struck the shelves, hard, before his body slumped in a near seated position, unconscious on the hardwood floor.
Gabriel looked at Terzini with both satisfaction and misgiving. But he wasted no time on consideration. His mind had ceased its dizzying whirl. His thoughts were no longer confused. His next steps were clear.
Trembling, Gabriel turned and ran for the door. He needed to get to his car.
He needed to find Melissa.