"It's that God damn serum, isn't it?"
Eric didn't even look up from the monitor he was checking. "Nah. It isn't. In fact,
it should be doing the opposite."
"Then why does it hurt so damn much to heal myself?!" Lilith was lying on the
hospital bed, shooting him daggers from her lilac eyes. The young doctor really had to
wonder why the girl's voice hadn't gone hoarse from all the screaming she did at him.
"Because you're human," Eric said, looking at her. "It comes down to that. The serum
is just... it's just..."
He started to laugh as she just turned away to look over at the wall. She didn't like
having to be a patient in a hospital bed... especially with Eric as a doctor.
"I was lying when I said the serum would affect your empathy."
She turned back to face him, surprised.
"Anything you might have been feeling was just a trick of the mind. It's just a
concoction of chemicals, vitamins and nutrients to ensure the best conditions for your body
to assimilate with the core." He grinned at her. "There isn't really an Alice guilt trip
chemical in there."
"You... you...!" Lilith began to get out of her bed with the intention of attacking
Eric when he suddenly picked up a syringe.
"One more step, Super Bitch, and you're going to be taking a nice long nap," he said
as she flopped back down.
"Why can't you just... be a good doctor?! Just take care of me, please!"
The young man shrugged as he sat down in the chair next to you. "Hey, you did leave
Alice to die a horrible death, so it's your own fault. Anyway, it's your fear of losing
your humanity that's keeping you from being stronger."
Lilith took a moment to think on it. "That's all it is?"
"The core isn't refusing you... you're refusing the core," Eric said simply,
preparing to leave the room. "Adrian is supposed to be here soon and if you want to be
really strong... you'd best be willing to give up your human body for it."
He was sure she was still in shock, but he didn't care. She was taken care of now and
Dark had been tended to by his secretary so all was good. When he came back to his office
however, Eric's day just took a turn for the better.
"...shouldn't you be monitoring cameras?"
"And shouldn't you be doing paperwork?"
There, in front of his eyes, was perhaps something he never thought he would see
except in a scarce, elusive dream. His secretary, pushed up against a desk, making out with
an equally attractive woman and they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
Had he walked into the wrong room? Or some kind of space warp? Last he remembered,
secretaries didn't go around making out with other women. Eric took a step back and looked
at the nameplate next to the door that clearly stated it was his office.
Then he looked back at the two oblivious women, then at his watch. Eric didn't know
what to do - he was stuck between wanting to alert them of his presence and walking out of
the room. Thus, he settled for the appropriate compromise of gawking.
Erin noticed him first and let out a little shriek that in turn startled Faye. "Jeez,
I didn't even touch anything-" Started the love goddess until she noticed their one man
audience. "Oh..."
The two of them exchanged glances as Erin's face turned a bright shade of red. If
there was anything the snake goddess hated, it was getting walked in on. Faye cleared her
throat and put on a sweet smile. "Hello there, I'm Faye with Security. I was just checking
to make sure Erin didn't have any dangerous weapons on her person."
Erin smacked her head into Faye's shoulder, now even more embarrassed at the lame ass
excuse that had just been provided. Eric nodded dumbly. "Right... uh... I'm just going to
go have a little chat with the CEO of our company and I won't be back for a while so you
can... um, continue frisking Ms. Schlange for any dangerous objects..."
The professor walked out, but then popped his head back into the room. "Erin," he
said, in a slightly shaky voice. "You are like, the best secretary ever."
He left the room before Erin could figure out exactly what he meant, but it didn't
take long for Faye to start 'checking' her body again.
Eric shut the door behind him, still trying to come to terms with the fact that...
well, it was weird. Insanely weird... as he started down the hallway, he froze. If Faye was
with Security... then couldn't it be possible that she was the one helping Erin take care
of Dark?
He rushed over to 420A to ensure that the angel hadn't been... well, he didn't know
what, but how could he trust his secretary to take care of another female if she was
practically screwing the security officer? Eric let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw
that Dark was sleeping peacefully... hopefully that meant she hadn't been...
Whatever. He needed to stop thinking about girl on girl action because the last thing
he needed was a cold shower. Eric took a few deep breaths and left in a hurry after
checking Dark's vitals. He needed to imagine something that would...
Eric let a happy smile slip onto his face as he focused his thoughts on Lilith
instead and how much he wished she would get her comeuppance. He still didn't have a plan
to make Lilith and Adrian pay for what they did to Alice, but that was okay - he still had
plenty of time and research materials to do so.
But now he had to go talk to Adrian some more... the man was a nutcase, but then
again, Eric was working for him. Why hadn't he turned down the offer of the Shadow
Organization and just lived out a dull life of a normal doctor? Why couldn't he have just
gone to a normal pharmaceutical company where the evilest thing they do is "forget" to tell
customers about certain side effects?
Alas, he had chosen a different path... He entered the office on the top floor with
ease, only to see Adrian staring out the window of his fabulously large room. The window
stretched an entire wall, allowing him to see almost everything outside... It was already
night.
Eric could have gotten himself a badass room, but he kind of liked his plain, messy
office-lab thing. Adrian turned around, seeming a little perturbed by something. Eric took
it upon himself to sit down in one of the chairs in front of Adrian's desks and prepared
himself for another long winded speech.
It was to be expected - Adrian was the big bad boss after all. "Do you remember what
we talked about before?"
Eric shrugged. "Something about needing your ex-fiance of 2000 or so years for
something, right?"
"That's right... I guess I didn't finish explaining it to you..." Adrian trailed off,
walking over to the desk. "Sakura is the only angel alive without the constraints of the
taboo."
It took Eric a minute to understand what was being implied. "Wait... you're saying
that she doesn't have to worry about having little hybrids at all?"
Adrian nodded. "Exactly. That's what I need her for. The taboo was put into place
after she left and even though I was exiled, I still can't have children with humans or
demons... the curse is wound into our DNA."
"Or so we think," Eric said, sitting up. "Even artificially trying to create a child
in a test tube or a surrogate womb results in death."
"That's why I want Sakura."
The doctor let a smile creep up onto his face. "Right. Lilith wouldn't be too happy
about the competition."
Adrian smirked. "It seems Sakura isn't into boys though... she'd much rather have a
female companion in bed."
Eric was sure his face was a picture of hilarity for Adrian began to laugh. First his
secretary and random security officer and now Adrian's ex-girlfriend? "That's a total waste
of her body!" Eric said suddenly. "Could you imagine having more hybrids besides Tycara? It
would be amazing the amount of cores we could cultivate and... and..."
"If we had Sakura, we could artificially create her eggs," Adrian said, more to
himself than Eric. "Her natural eggs are probably long degraded so she must be infertile
after all these years, even if her body was frozen in a perpetual state of young age."
"Damn, you're an evil genius... but a genius," Eric said, envisioning the results of
such a thing. "I'm guessing you would use Solomon's sperm then? Since he's a powerful fiend
and Sakura is a powerful angel, which would create a powerful hybrid."
"And Sakura's lover would make a perfect test surrogate," Adrian said with a grin. "I
think it would all be fitting. We'll still capture Tycara since I promised her to you...
Plus we still need to get Eveon... That whole family unit is extremely useful."
Eric leaned back in the chair again, his brain working out all the possibilities. If
he could successfully breed hybrids and concentrate their power... then perhaps... It took
him a while to notice Adrian staring at him with those icy blue eyes.
"Are you formulating a plan to destroy me?"
"Of course," the professor said with a laugh. "Always."
As Eric got up from the chair, ready to leave, Adrian spoke again. "You want to bring
Alice back, don't you?"
The young man froze and turned around. "Why? If I did, would you kill her again?"
Adrian just ignored his question. "I've noticed some reports about a secret lab of
yours..."
Eric gave him a tight smile. "I'm trying to recreate her body with her DNA samples. I
have some artificial organs working away, so she's coming out fine in case you're curious
about your little sister that you so heartlessly destroyed."
"So you're making a hollow vessel to receive her soul? You know it's impossible if
she's already moved on to Purgatory or farther," Adrian said, as though mocking the
professor's attempts.
"Whatever," Eric said, heading out the door. "If I can just see her face again, it
will be enough for me..."
"God could bring her back."
Eric knew he should continue to head out the door, but this was the real reason he
was with the Shadow Organization, wasn't it? Power. Pure, unrestricted power. He was unable
to save Alice and Adrian was always dangling the key above his head... just the ability to
do anything.
"Would you really do that?" Eric asked quietly, turning around again. "Would you
really bring her back to life once you attain the power of God?"
"For you, I would," Adrian said, looking back at his window. "Alice is nothing to me,
dead or alive. You can have her, so long as you always stay my loyal, number two man."
The corner of Eric's mouth twitched. Alice had been everything to him - he'd loved
her so much even though she'd rarely glance his way. It was... it wasn't meant to be -
seven years between them and the burden that had been placed on her.
*****
"Hey, Alice!"
The girl turned around at the sound of her name, only to see Eric trotting towards
her. "Eric? Why are you here?"
Alice had decided to take a little walk around the south eastern branch of the Shadow
Organization where she and Mariah were staying. It was a lot more convenient than a hotel
room and much safer...
"I just wanted to stop by," he said casually, trying to pretend he hadn't high tailed
it there on a company helicopter. "Where's Mariah?"
"She was tired and wanted to go to sleep early," Alice said. "The rooms here are
really nice!"
"Yeah, well we are a huge company," Eric began, walking with her down the hallway.
"We can afford nice things for our employees..."
Alice nodded, growing silent. The walk began to get uncomfortable as Eric tried to
think of words to say... it was then that he realized his hands her freezing and that he
had gotten them soda to drink. "Oh! Here, you like this flavor right?"
"Yep!" She happily took the lemon lime soda from him as he popped the top of his own.
Orange was the best to him, but he had been sure to note what Alice's favorite kind was.
Not like he was keeping track of her preferences or anything.
"Do you... uh, want to go outside?" he asked, a bit nervous.
Alice just took a sip of her soda and hiccupped. It was such an unexpected sound that
Eric almost spilled his own drink. The girl blushed and put her hand over her mouth.
"Sorry... I always do that when I first drink soda."
"No, it's cool," he said, trying not to laugh. He led her outside onto a balcony like
area where there was a bench to sit and relax.
Alice sat down next to him and looked up. "Wow... I'm surprised we can see all this
with the lights on around us."
Maybe it was a little odd for him to take her out to sit beneath the stars... but he
thought it was kind of romantic. He flushed red at the thought, knowing that a normal 21
year old shouldn't be so interested in a 14 year old girl.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and watched as she continued gazing at
the stars. She was... cute. He would admit that much, but he didn't... Eric knew he wasn't
in love with her that way. It wasn't a pedophilic obsession just a love for a girl.
"Eric, how come you're a doctor at such an early age?" Her question startled him out
of his thoughts.
"Well, I'm actually a professor of sorts, but... I was just really smart and my
parents got me into all kinds of programs when I was young," he said, trying to drink his
soda to allay his nervousness.
"Do you still talk to your parents...?" She looked over at him and he just shook his
head.
"I got so busy that we just grew apart... I send them cards and vice versa but we
don't really speak anymore."
"I wish I had parents... must have been nice," Alice murmured, swirling her can. "My
dad was a drug addict and my mom was too young to care for me and put me up for adoption."
Eric knew that already... Alice had been adopted at the age of six especially for
Project Angelus. He felt a bit of guilt at the thought because she was so unaware of the
fate that would befall her in only a week. But then... then she would be his subject, his
experiment. He would be the one to care for her and watch her grow every day.
Having Alice all to himself was such a beautiful thought. She wouldn't be happy at
first, but he was sure that she would come around to her new life and he wouldn't treat her
like an ordinary subject - Eric was already preparing her room. He would have to confine
her for a bit, but soon they could go out to normal places and maybe... just maybe... she
would grow to love him by the time she was an adult.
"I'm sure you miss your family," Eric said. "But everything will be okay... I'm here
for you and everyone at the organization is rooting for your success!"
She smiled at him and it melted his heart. "I guess that's true... I kind of wish I
was normal..."
"What do you... what do you want to be when you grow up?" He knew that she would
never achieve her dream, because the Shadow Organization already had her life mapped out
for her.
"I... I guess I want to be a ninja," she said definitively.
"A ninja," Eric stated.
"Yeah, wouldn't that be cool? Having ninja skills and throwing stuff and smoke
screens," Alice said excitedly. "I know it's kind of silly, but I would really love to be
one... but I wouldn't assassinate people. I'd probably fight demons still."
Eric began to laugh. "Well aren't you halfway there? You're pretty good with a sword,
so maybe all you need are stealth skills. But what kind of wannabe ninja is named Alice?"
She pouted at the thought. "Yeah, I guess I would need a cool Asian name, like...
like..." She trailed off, her mirth starting to dissipate. "I guess Miki could be a ninja.
She has an awesome name, very ninja like... Miki Uramoto."
Alice bit her lip. "I-I'm sure if Miki hadn't been sick... she would have done sword
training with Adrian and me... and she probably could have made an awesome ninja... but the
incident... she... my family..."
He could hear her sobbing, but as he went to comfort her, Alice got up. "S-sorry,
Eric... I think I want to go to bed now."
She was furiously wiping at her tears and Eric tried to hold her. Alice just turned
away, heading inside as he followed silently. When they finally got the room she was
sleeping in, he just murmured, "Good night, Alice."
She nodded and went inside without another word. He could feel something tug at his
heart because he was unable to comfort her... to make her feel better about everything...
He wondered how long he could keep the secret about Adrian's faked death from her or Miki's
actual condition.
Just as he was about to go back to his own room, he could hear a choked cry.
"Mariah...!"
Eric leaned in and eavesdropped without hesitation.
"What is it? ...Alice, it's okay... it's alright..."
He could feel the jealousy and helplessness build inside of him at the sounds of
Alice crying on Mariah's shoulder. There was nothing worse than knowing that the one you
love seeks comfort in someone else...
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