Nexus [COMPLETE]

19. Mordekai

June 1938

There was a man in the attic. A man chained to the wall by his wrists, his ankles, his legs, and his waist. He was covered in blood, and his eyes glowed green in the dark of his shadowy corner. He wasn't wearing any clothes, but you could hardly tell, so thick was the layer of blood dried to his skin.

"Mordekai," Lewis said softly, "meet Mr. Devonshire."

The captive man jerked violently at the chains, eyes burning as they locked on to Lewis. Lewis didn't flinch, but I leapt back in shock.

"Show us your fangs, monster," Lewis snarled, picking an old fireplace poker off of a rack on the wall and approaching the man threateningly. I watched in horror as Lewis thrust the rusty old poker through the man's chest and even more blood poured from the wound around it. The man didn't scream, but he did hiss, and my jaw dropped at the sight of his elongated fangs.

Lewis freed the poker, and the wound healed almost instantly, right before my eyes.

"Devonshire has been our prisoner for two months, but still he heals so quickly that if you blink, you'd miss it."

"What is he?" I asked, trembling and pale.

"A vampire. A monster. It's what the Greysons are as well."

Oddly, I felt relieved. There had been no better way to restore the Lewis' character in my eyes. "So this is why you really hate them – and ah! Your sister?"

"They turned her into one of their own...recently." His grip on the bloody poker was white-knuckled.

"So the experiments...the volunteers...it has to do with them?"

"With defeating them. If we can make hunters as strong as vampires without turning into monsters, then we can win."

I shuddered. "And you're going to do that to me?"

"I won't let you do it alone," he muttered, "Father's criminals can go first."

"Lewis, I am a criminal," I reminded him gently.

"Not like them. You are a victim of circumstance." He smiled sadly. "And you are my friend."

"So you'd have me go last?"

"Every person gets a different version of the formula, and the tests are done in control groups, so that each variation and reaction can be carefully studied. The subjects are numbered accordingly." He didn't look at me. "My parents don't know this, but I'm going to get a transfusion as well."

"Lewis, no! You can't!"

"I'm going to."

"You could die," I argued.

He offered me a tired smile, and I knew there was going to be no arguing with him.

"So could you."