22 The Mission

" What took you so long?" Lucas questioned sternly.

He placed his hands behind his back and plodded tediously towards the burner.

His back ached ( the expression was visible on his face) but he didn't want Brandon or Sebastien to notice it.

Lately, he has been having disturbing nightmares that pained the scars on his back.

Brandon and Sebastien turned around with a start.

" It was difficult to find the lair. You know it's out of habitation," Sebastien explained and he straighten his stiff limbs.

Brandon trudged towards the microscope.

" We've been studying some DNA, Lucas."

" Exogenous DNA?" Lucas asked in a soft but cold voice.

" We aren't certain yet."

Cassidy glanced at them coldly.

She only stood there helplessly like a frightened rabbit.

Her wild thudding heartbeat increased when Brandon shot her a long glare. That wasn't a likeness gaze - she knew when someone looked at her like that.

" I didn't know you now have a lady working with you," Brandon stated and winked at her.

" She's pretty, Lucas."

Cassidy felt her heart skitter to a halt. Those flirtatious eyes scanned her painstakingly.

The stern glint from Lucas' metallic gray eyes told her differently.

" Who's she?"

Lucas chuckled.

" Cassidy Lucian."

" Lucian?" they asked almost immediately.

" Y.....You know me?" Cassidy stuttered.

" She's of the Dracos?"

Lucas smirked uncontrollably.

" Khalid Lucian's wife, or rather his wife to be."

Brandon and Sebastien tilted their heads to the sides.

" How did you..."

" Since Khalid couldn't pay for his father's sins, I thought it would be fun to make someone he cares so much about pay for it - that way, he would feel the pains I felt."

His voice bore malice and Cassidy could see that he already despised her.

But for what exactly?

She knew the Draco had done so much evil to people but why would she be the one to pay for all those sins.

She felt his fixated gaze upon her burn her.

Lines of stress formed on her forehead; she swallowed a lump in her throat.

Brandon tightened his fists.

He had witnessed those pains with Lucas.

It was the goriest sight he had seen as a child who was barely in his mid teens.

Images from that day had sworn never to leave his mind.

It consumed him.

" Lucas?" Brandon called.

Lucas turned his back towards them.

" How about the V poison?

" That's an acidic variant of wasp venom carried by wasps infected with the T virus.

" But, it is one of the components necessary to create the anti T virus serum called daylight," he reasoned as it wasn't a better way to make Khalid pay.

" How about the ATP decoupler? The toxin converts ATP, the universal source of energy for all living things, into a depleted form, ADP," Sebastien suggested.

Brandon's sinister followed.

" The cure is an injection called medicine one, but since the toxin kills within seconds, it's nearly impossible to get the cure in time."

" This way, everything will work smoothly."

Cassidy felt her heart curl inside her ribcage as she let out a pained whimper.

" Leave her to me," Lucas thundered.

He unceremoniously turned around to meet Cassidy's terrifying gaze who felt her palms grow cold.

" What will you do with me?" she questioned without a second thought and without falter.

Maybe there was fear, but she had managed to mask it with bravery... or was it foolishness?

She was supposed to be begging for her life.

Lucas chuckled softly.

" ..... transform you into a blood sucking creature, or maybe a zombie... how does that sound?"

Cassidy's heart stumbled over its own rhythm.

He looked towards Brandon and Sebastien.

" She's the sample for our tests."

" The zombie tests?"

" We could get to the masses through her. Through one bite, other healthy humans transform."

" Modify her DNA and recombine so that the transformation can take place," Lucas ordered.

If there was any other word other than horror, that word would surely describe her.

The emotions on her face were inexplicable.

She wanted to speak, maybe plead for her life, but she was blank at the moment.

Where was she going to start from?

Perhaps, first apologize for whatever had happened to him, then go ahead to plead that her life be spared.

Brandon shot her a hard glare and pulled his laboratory coat from the hanger.

He sneezed when he sniffed in dust.

" Lucas, do we start now?"

His quiet, disbelieving laugh jolted them all from their thoughts.

He had other plans - super plans (and he wasn't going to let them do it for him.)

He wanted to inflict the same pains on her by himself, even more.

Khalid would plead for death himself but death won't come.

Cassidy would be a walk over for him. She would be the bait to get Khalid into the lair.

" Whatever will be done to the guest, I'll do it myself."

Brandon gazed at him.

It was an understandable reaction.

" Let me inflict the pain myself."

" .... but I'll let her watch the way others suffer."

" Prepare the first batch of the toxin."

Cassidy felt numbness take over her body which had turned pale already.

Her face abruptly lost its light.

She bit her lower lip to prevent the tears that welled up in her eyes from trickling.

She didn't know them but they knew who she was; they had planned her abduction.

" Oh God," she whimpered.

Her body glistened with sweat.

She felt the gown stick to her body - and she could feel the drenched gown on her body.

" Bring them in."

Two people walked in as two other people guarded them.

Cassidy couldn't decide their gender because their faces were covered with a sack.

Those guards bowed slightly and scampered away as their master nodded.

Cassidy watched Brandon pull the table closer.

Those people lay there helplessly - it seemed like they weren't alive anymore, or maybe unconscious.

Brandon placed his left hand on a turner on the equipment.

Just while he was about to release the vapour, the power supply ran out and they were left in utter darkness.

Cassidy coughed heavily as if she was choking on something.

Her abrupt thud on the floor made them grope in the dark.

" There shouldn't be any mistakes," Lucas thundered impatiently.