I glanced at the promise ring David had given me months before. “Forever is a really long time.”
“Indeed. That’s why we wait for the one that we know we could never live without.”
Was she trying to tell me that David wasn’t the one for me? Not that it mattered, what with me being beheaded soon—or whatever it was the Council did to Creatura.
“Good strategy,” I said.
She stirred her soup, not looking at me. “But you should also know it’s perfectly normal to find yourself attracted to other people. Sometimes we can’t help our emotions. That’s why it’s called being human.”
“Are you saying you have a crush on someone?” I asked.
“No.” She set down her spoon. “I’m saying you do—on Eros.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but closed it just as fast, knowing there was no sense in arguing. Nyx could sense these things. I lowered my head, my cheeks on fire from embarrassment. She knew that she was right, and so did I.
“I’m not judging or reproaching you, Isis.” Nyx’s porcelain face rested on her fist.
“I haven’t admitted to anything.”
Her lips lifted at the corners with a confidence I had come to relate with deities. “Nor have you denied it.”
That was the end of my defense. A crow cawed, hiding somewhere in the tree branches—mocking me, no less. I traced the white, scrolled, metal arm on the patio chair, busying my hand to keep from biting what was left of my nails.
“Does it make you uncomfortable that I know this much?”
“It has since I met you.”
“Oh.” Nyx looked surprised. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t know the limit on how intimate mother and daughter-in-law talks should be.”
Daughter-in-law? That word was too awkward to use in this conversation. I felt like an ant under a magnifying glass, churning under the intensity of the rays of commitment.
“I won’t dwell on it anymore, and you can rest assured that I won’t tell.”
“What are you two gossiping about?” A voice came from behind me.
David’s hand landed on my shoulder and I tensed. His lips touched the side of my forehead for a moment.
“Girl talk,” Nyx said. “You should know better than to ask.”
“Girl talk. Gossip. Same thing.” David sat next to me and squeezed my hand. “I’m glad to see you out of bed.”
“I’m feeling better,” I said. “Did you get any sleep?”
“More than expected. Eryx woke me up when he called. He and Galen went without me to meet with the doctor that’ll be assessing your condition. He said they’ve confirmed the appointment for tomorrow.”
“What time?” Nyx asked.
“Early morning. It’ll only be Galen and me that’ll accompany Isis. We mustn’t rouse Eros’ or the doctor’s curiosity. Crowds attract attention.”
“That’s true,” Nyx agreed.
“I think Nyx should go instead of Galen,” I said. “She’s much better at reading people. What if this doctor’s a quack?”
"According to my father, this man is one of the most brilliant minds to be born in several centuries.”
“We’d know that for certain if you came along,” I said to Nyx.
“Isis is right. I should be there. ”
“No.” David shook his head. “Father was very clear about who would be attending this meeting.”
“Well, I don’t understand why.” Nyx frowned.
“Because this man is a geneticist, and he’s quick to notice characteristics that set people apart.”
“I’m not following…” I said.
“Isis, his studies are based on the theory that in some humans the genetic coding was altered by a superhuman or non-human race that lived before recorded time and might live among humans today. He only lacks proof of such a race to prove his theory.” He raised his hand, pointing to Nyx. “Exhibit A.” Then he pointed to himself, “Exhibit B, and Galen would be Exhibit C.”
“Oh c’mon. There’s no way he can tell the difference between you or a human mortal,” I argued.
“Yes, he can. He can extract DNA from dead cells in the air with a device he’s invented. It’s a scientific breakthrough in DNA sequencing, but he denies the contraption exists. Not even the people that fund his research know this man’s genius.”
“And how did you come across this information?” Nyx asked.
David gave his mother a crooked smile. “Gemini searched the doctor’s laboratory while he was out of town.”
“This is a bad idea. We should forget about this doctor,” I suggested. “I don’t think it’s safe for any of you to go. He’ll know you’re not human with that machine.”
“We won’t be in any danger of being discovered. Eryx and Galen found the DNA decoder—or whatever it’s called—in his lab. Tonight, Gemini will disable the filtration system it uses to discern between DNAs. Our DNA, along with his, will be a cluttered mess when it feeds into the system. He’ll think it’s a malfunction.”
“Do we fund this scientist’s research?” asked Nyx.
“We do now,” David said.
“And his name?”
“Gunn. Dr. Tobias Gunn.”
As dusk arrived, my stress level began to rise. I awaited the feeling of nervousness in my stomach and the tension in my muscles that always set in before the attack. I had a good two hours to go when my cell phone vibrated.
“Why haven’t you called?” Claire’s reprimanding voice trilled through my phone’s speaker.
“You didn’t even let me say hello.”
“You said you would call, Isis. It’s been almost a week.”
“I know, Mom,” I said, smoothing out my voice so that it didn’t sound too hoarse. “I get confused with the time difference between us, and I didn’t want to bother you at work or call while you were sleeping.”
“You sound strange. Are you sick? What’s wrong?”
My existence, is what I wanted to tell her, but instead, I said, “I have—a cold.”
“Otherwise, you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. How ‘bout you?”
It took a moment for her to answer. “Lonely.”
“I can’t believe you’re already making me feel guilty about coming here. It hasn’t even been a full week since I left.”
“Hey, I was the one that told you to go to Greece. Why would I lay a guilt trip on you?”
“Oh right,” I said, feeling a wave of nausea making its way up my throat. “Mom,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “They’re calling me for dinner. I better go.”
“You sound congested, honey. You need to take something for that.”
“I will,” I said, racing to the bathroom.
“And don’t have any cold drinks.”
“Okay.” I hovered over the toilet.
“You need to—”
“Okay, okay,” I cut her off. “Yes, Mom. I’ll take care of myself. I have to go.”
I barely had time to hang up the phone before I vomited into the toilet bowl. Only it wasn’t soup. It was a thick fluid that condensed into a jelly-like substance as soon as it hit the water in the bowl. I didn’t know what to make of it.
“What is that? Ewww!” I pulled the handle on the tank to flush the debris.
“No!” Out of nowhere Eryx launched himself forward and reached into the toilet bowl with his bare hand, managing to scoop some of the substance before it disappeared down the drain. He gagged and covered his nose with his free hand, and then dumped the stuff into the bathtub. Heaving, I helped him open the sink faucet and emptied the contents of the liquid soap dispenser onto his hand.
“You. Are. So. Gross!” I said, the back of my head against the open bathroom door. “Why did you do that?”
“We need specimens,” Eryx said, drying his hands on a towel.
“I’ve never heard of anyone using vomit for analysis.”
“You should watch more crime shows. They use everything.”
Eryx glanced back at the tub. “I need to gather that. I’ll send one of the others to look after you.”
“Sick.” I closed my eyes and shuddered.
A few minutes later, with the door to my room closed, the members of the Chios family were gathered talking over each other and taking turns looking at the nauseating goo that Eryx had transferred to a plastic zipper bag. For the next hour, I listened as they went back and forth about how much of my background should be revealed to Dr. Gunn the next day.
“You mustn’t tell him that that specimen is hers,” Nyx said. “Let him draw his own conclusions.” She put the back of her hand on my cheek, checking for a drop in temperature. “It’s begun,” she announced, striding to the bathroom. Her black hair flowed in waves as she walked. From the bed, I could see her running the water in the tub. She lowered herself to the floor, raising her hands to the heavens and moving her lips without emitting sound.
Anxiety started crawling up my back and through my stomach and limbs. I felt the pain of agony in my chest and I trembled. David wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, offering refuge to the feelings of despair that were building up to screams of emotional torture inside me. Those tormenting screams petrified us every time. And every time it happened, a part of the Isis that once was disappeared forever. I feared my soul was dying, being replaced by the monster I would become.
I clawed my fingers into David’s arms and pressed my head into his chest, waiting for the deafening scream to escape my throat. I steadied myself, and then—then it was gone. The despair, anxiety, and feelings of emotional death vanished. My fingers eased on David’s arms, but my head was still buried in his chest.
“It’s gone.” I pulled away from him. “It’s not happening.”
I raised my eyes to look at David. I couldn’t believe that the attack would not come tonight. The room was quiet.
Galen was the first to move. He stepped forward and placed two fingers over my forehead. “Your vital signs are normal.”
Relieved, I glanced at David. The feeling lasted but a brief second. A bright crimson line trailed down from David’s nose to his mouth, filling the crease between his lips. Galen’s eyes widened and the color in his face vanished.
“What?” David frowned.
“Your nose is bleeding,” I said.
David wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He stared at the red smear in awe. His face turned as pale as Galen’s.
“It’s just a nose bleed, right?” David didn’t answer me. “Right?”
David parted his lips and touched his throat. He coughed and a million little specks of red flew through the air and landed on the side of my face. Then the blood gushed out of his nose and formed a thick scarlet river all the way down to his neck. His eyes rolled back into his lids. His body quaked as if thousands of volts of electricity surged through it, blood bubbling at the corners of his mouth. I reached out to him as he fell on the bed, convulsing.
“David!” I gasped.
Galen stuck his hand in David’s mouth. “He’s seizing!”
In a blink, Nyx and Eryx were on either side of David’s body. We watched, frozen with fear, as David’s body arced and jerked over the ivory sheets tinged with splashes of bright crimson.
“Make it stop!” I cried. “Help him!”
At long last, the bed stopped shaking and David’s body lay limp and motionless. Most of his face and neck were covered in a burgundy film. The bleeding had stopped, but I couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. I saw his chest begin to rise and fall in a steady rhythm. I let out a short whimper of relief.
“We need to call an ambulance,” I said, but none of them acknowledged my words.
Nyx and Eryx fell over David, hugging him. Through watery eyes, I saw a blanket that had somehow remained unsoiled. I dabbed David’s face with it. Nyx took a pitcher of water that was set on the nightstand, wet a corner of the blanket, and handed it to me. She wiped her tears. I hadn’t even noticed she was crying. David’s blood covered her face, neck, and dress. Nyx took in short breaths of air as she cried. I saw on her face the affliction that only a mother knows. I had seen that same affliction on my mother’s face a few months earlier for me.
“What’s wrong with him?” I forced words out through my constricted throat.
Galen was turned away from us, and he didn’t respond. Eryx’s stare was glossy as he answered, “The transformation.”
Nyx’s sobs became louder at the statement. She ran her hand over David’s hair and raised his head to her, kissing his forehead. “My dear son.”
“Yes, he’s changing.” Galen’s back was still turned, and his voice was lower than usual. “But we all know this attack was not normal.”
A sharp pain made my chest cave as I observed Nyx, rocking David back and forth in her arms. David looked fragile—so different than I had ever seen him.
“He’ll be fine.” Nyx’s cheek rested on David’s forehead. “My son will be fine.”
I don’t know if Nyx was saying those words for her comfort or mine. But as much as she wanted to believe it, the painful truth was that David would never be fine again. He was no longer immortal. He bled like me. And worst of all, he could die like me.
Grandma Eva had told me once that the greatest pain in her life was outliving her son, my father, who had died earlier that year. Nyx would outlive David. She had known it all along.
Now, reality was closing in on us, and Nyx was no longer the strong woman I had met a few months before. It hurt me to see her crumbling, afraid of what would come. As I studied the way she held her son, I saw a mother in mourning.
When David was conscious, I didn’t make an effort to pull him away from Nyx. I desperately wanted to feel his heart beating against mine. I wanted to breathe in his scent, which had all of a sudden become as much a necessity as the oxygen in my lungs, but I knew how selfish it would be to take David out of Nyx’s embrace. She was his mother, after all.
Nyx observed David for a long while, before she let him sit up. He looked pale and exhausted, but he said he felt fine.
“I don’t understand why David hemorrhaged,” I said. “He should see a doctor.”
“And he will,” Nyx said. “Tomorrow, he’ll consult this Dr. Gunn.”
“No, not him. He needs one of your own people. Dr. Gunn will know he’s not a mortal human. What if he exposes him—and all of you?”
“If we take him to a deity, we will all die,” Nyx said. “We have a better chance of survival with this doctor.”
“And if Gunn goes to the press with this?”
“Everyone has a price,” said Eryx.
I glanced at David who was sitting on the floor next to me, and then looked up at Galen, hoping Galen would take my side. “You’re okay with this?”
“Do we have any other choice?” Galen asked, raising his hand and pointing.
My eyes shifted in the direction he indicated, to the blood-spattered sheets on the bed. Galen raised his brows at me, expecting an answer.
“I guess not.”
We were all a bloody mess. My bed looked like a crime scene out of America’s Most Wanted.
“Isis, you can sleep in David’s room tonight, and he can sleep with one of his brothers.” Nyx lifted one of the sheets between two fingers. “I’ll have to clean this mess up myself. Don’t want to raise any alarm among the staff.”
We took turns showering in my bathroom. We couldn’t exactly walk out of my room looking like assassins. I showered first, and then I fetched Nyx’s nightclothes from her room. Once she was dressed, she gathered all three boys’ pajamas, and we said our goodnights.
***
I was half asleep when he whispered, “I love you,” into my ear.
“I love you, too,” I answered, my eyes adjusting to the dimness.
David clicked on the nightstand lamp, but paused for a brief moment before he slipped under the covers.
“What are you doing? Galen and Eryx will be looking for you. Your mom mig
ht come in here.”
“The twins went to disable Dr. Gunn’s DNA decoding contraption. They should be gone a long while.” His arms tightened around me. “And my mother sleeps much like bears hibernate. Fortunately for me.”
“Well, you’re feeling a lot better, aren’t you?” I cocked my brow.
“Yes, I am,” he said. “But I couldn’t sleep because I’ve been thinking, and well, I wanted to tell you something.”
“So tell me.”
“Isis, I can’t live this way. I’ve never wanted someone so much that it made me frantic. I need to know you’re mine to keep and only for me. We don’t know for how long we have each other.”
The palm of his hand slid from the center of my neck down to my stomach. I could feel the heat in his fingers as he rubbed them against my skin.
“Mihi vivas,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“You are alive in me.”
I felt his hot breath on my neck as his teeth devoured me with small bites. My eyes closed in response to the trail his moist, delicious lips left along the curve of my shoulder. His sandalwood scent was more potent than ever, penetrating the room. The weight of his body fell over me, his touch branching and exploring. It was so easy to let myself go when I was with him, so easy to accept his kisses, so easy to let him navigate through the waves of caresses that turned us into two colliding tempests of desire.
“Do you need me?” David asked.
“Yes,” I said breathless.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be mine?”
“Yes.”
Our lips locked in a long, deep kiss. His pelvis stirred against mine, creating sweet agonizing quivers within me. I wanted this. I wanted him. If I let him continue, I’d be entering a union that was bound by the laws of the gods. Then it occurred to me that as much as my yearning body ached, I wasn’t ready to be anyone’s wife.
“David, we can’t do this.”
“You don’t have to worry. The change is already occurring. The rule doesn’t matter.”
“No, I mean, I—I can’t marry you.”
David blinked. Then he shifted his weight off me and sat on the edge of the mattress, his back to me.