Page 22 of Last Hope
“That is a most unusual request. But,” he added before the man could reply with a snarky comment. “I will speak to my superior about this for authorization.”
He inclined his head one last time before turning to go into the building in search of Azizi. But the sound of the child’s useless struggles followed him on his journey inside.
* * *
“I’m notsure he buys it,” Victoria’s voice whispered through the ear piece. “These guys aren’t used to observers, so he might not let you in.”
Terrance had already figured that part out. He could practically feel the unease pool from every pore of Taylor whenever Terrance talked. It wasn’t a surprise that Terrance made someone feel nervous. It had happened so often in his life that he learned to smile internally about it. Then again, it was probably just his unnatural ability to sense the truth and lies on people, giving them the feeling that something about him was…abnormal.
“If he doesn’t let you in, that’s fine. But tell them to keep Savvy alive because you want to take him back home with you. It’ll give him a chance to sneak out and plant cameras. If that doesn’t work you know we will have Savvy as an eye witness anyway.” Victoria’s voice kept at it through his ear. He could almost feel her presence next to him but he didn’t dare whisper back. Not when he was standing in the middle of a laboratory that was more than likely run by Caesareon’s men, who wouldn’t hesitate to kill both him and Savvy if given the chance.
Terrance always felt at a disadvantage when he was fighting other supernaturals, considering his power only worked if he was looking into someone else’s eyes. He could pull the truth out from them easily, yet he could also distort a person’s memories, leaving them to forever wonder if the thoughts rolling around in their mind were real or not.
Sometimes his particular gift helped in battle. He could leave an oncoming werewolf so mentally scarred to the point where he would take his own life to end the mental pain. It was a rare thing to be a truth and lies demon and Terrance was very grateful for it, but sometimes he simply felt outnumbered.
He glared at the men in white masks as if to keep himself occupied. They were holding onto a struggling Savvy, who looked as though he would soil himself at any moment.
“Will this take much longer?” Terrance barked before the silence could stretch on any longer. He wanted to bust them all and go home and cradle Victoria in his arms and bury himself deep inside her. He was sick of the Caesareon case and wanted it to be over—no loose ends. “I have a rather important meeting to attend.”
At that moment, Taylor came back out, a smile on his face. “Good news, sir. The man in charge has given you permission to observe for a short while, just so you may confirm the safety of our facility. But after that he must kindly ask you to retire. Security reasons, I’m sureyouunderstand.”
A few minutes was all Terrance needed. He nodded and followed the men into the building. Almost immediately the smell of decay and disinfectant shot its way up his nostrils. The smell was unpleasant, but he was an expert at hiding un-pleasantries.
“What did you have in mind for the mutt?” Taylor asked casually as they walked down overly lit hallways and closed metal doors.
“I want to know what is in his DNA that prevents him from transforming.”
Taylor’s dark eyebrows shot up to his forehead. “He cannot transform?”
Terrance felt surprised himself. Was it such a rare thing to find a wolf that couldn’t transform? If so, then Savvy reallydidhave weird genetic makeup. The kid hardly ever transformed and he recalled that Victoria told him it was rare for a wolf to not transform, let alone notwantorneedto do so. “Is that so rare?” he asked, staying in supposed character.
Taylor took a look at Savvy, who was being dragged on his knees in front of them by the scientists. “It is very rare in a werewolf. Usually the main problem we have with their species is that they cannot control their transformation and are constantly changing and losing control. You’ve seen every typical werewolf movie, I assume?”
Terrance nodded.
“It’s just like that. Imagine a werewolf’s metabolism. It’s obviously higher than a human’s and that’s why they eat so much and burn it off just as quickly.
“Sometimes their genetic makeup process during the change can go awry, causing things to get scrambled and confused inside of them. Sometimes wolves will transform, and other times they will have a bipolar explosion with their human genes and their wolf genes inside of them and it will cause their bodies to act on its’ own accord. As if their body cannot make up its’ mind on whether it wants to be human or wolf; for this wolf child not to be able to transform? Well, we need to study his DNA and figure out why.”
“I do hope you will treat him with the utmost care,” Terrance said. He knew that if anything happened to Savvy, then Victoria would personally kill him. He wasn’t too fond of the kid, but it was Phillipe’s best friend and he respected that.
“Oh, no worries, sir.”
The scientists in front of them stopped abruptly to open a giant metal door that was off to the side, using an identification key card on the panel by the door. That would have been difficult to break out of, Terrance thought. Especially difficult for Savvy who wasn’t all that good at being a werewolf and who could barely transform.
Shit,he thought.
“Right this way, please.” Taylor gestured at Crawford to follow in after the scientists. An uneasy feeling knotted its way into his stomach. It was one of those gut feelings of his, the one telling him something waswrong. He tensed his body and his mind went on high alert as he stepped through the threshold, Taylor following in after him and closing the door behind them.
“Tie the child to the table so we may begin our experiment.”
The scientists unbound Savvy’s hands and ripped the duct tape from his mouth. He whimpered but remained silent as they put him onto a long metal operating table and tied him down with brown leather belts. The room was painted an unattractive green, the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling doing nothing but helping to blind Crawford’s senses. There was a long shelf next to the operating table that contained various needles and instruments, most of which he didn’t recognize, aligned neatly next to each other.
“What will you commence with?” Terrance asked Taylor as the scientist prepared a needle and syringe. Terrance eyed them cautiously. If they even tried to inject Savvy with poison or any substance similar, he would have to scramble their memories.
“First we are going to take a blood sample to study his DNA.”
“How long does that take?”
