From Darkness Comes - Book 2 in The Dissonance Series

A Deal with the Devil

"Miss Attwood, what a pleasant surprise. Please, come sit," Cassius Tarquin hisses and points to the chair on the other side of his enormous desk. He leans back, arms folded, calm and collected. 

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he asks, acting as if he doesn't know exactly why I've come to speak with him.

"You know why I'm here."

He stares at me, eyes unreadable, waiting for me to speak. He won't admit anything, unless I call him out on it. A man in his position doesn't admit fault: like a politician, he dances around it.

"You stole my research."

"I think you're confused, Miss Attwood. We simply returned our research which you stole from our lab. You work for us and thus the research belongs to us. Environettix does not steal." He smirks.

"Oh that's right, Environettix doesn't steal," I reply, laying on the sarcasm. "You just kidnap and hold people, or should I say Mods, prisoner against their will."

Now I've got his attention. My comment wipes the smug smirk off his face. I don't have time for his little games.

"I'm certain I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm certain you know exactly what I'm talking about."

He looks me up and down, seeming to assess my seriousness, assessing whether he will play ball with me, assessing whether or not I'm worth it. He leans back further in his chair, putting his hands together in a praying motion and bringing his fingers to his mouth. Thinking. Waiting. His nonresponse irritates me and he knows it. Every little movement and tick is a tactic to get me to do what he wants.

"You captured Mods from Earth and brought them here against their will."

"Oh Ever, I think you're confused. Those Mods were a part of The Alteration Study. They belong to us. Like your research, we simply took back what we owned."

"They're not property. You can't own a person."

"We saved those Mods," he replies, ignoring my comment. He truly should have been a politician.

"They would be dead had we not brought them to this planet," he adds, spinning the conversation to make him appear as the savior. "You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you?! You've been keeping them as prisoners for 8 months!"

"A necessary measure, unfortunately. We don't know yet if they can be trusted. They were a part of the resistance. Surely, you can understand that we have a responsibility to our citizens to keep them safe."

It's difficult for me to believe that the only reason that Environettix is keeping the Mods as prisoners is to watch and see if they can be trusted, but I knew when I came here that it would be a long shot that Cassius Tarquin would tell me the truth. Environettix's plans are always layered in lies: a never-ending dissonance between what they say and what they do.

"Keeping them held hostage is unlikely to make them trust you. You're only turning them against you more."

He seems to contemplate this.

"So what do you propose?"

"Release them or I will tell everyone what you're doing here. The citizens, and the other Mods, will turn against you when they see how ruthless you are."

He laughs, deep and menacing. The sound of his cackle makes my skin crawl.

"Oh Ever, you are a foolish little child. You realize that all I have to do is snap my fingers and I could have you thrown in a cell with them, and your friends too," he threatens. "Your cries will be buried deep below the surface with no one to hear you but the rats." His pointy tongue darts in and out of his mouth, hiding behind his clenched yellowing teeth.

"And what will you tell the people who notice that we are missing?"

"I'll tell them that a group of traitor Mods tried to steal research integral to the survival of humans on this planet. We have your friend on video." Again, he chuckles. "You're out of your league, Miss Attwood. You seem to be under the impression that you hold some sort of power, but you don't, not even with your brother's status with Environetttix. Now, unless you have something else to offer me, this conversation is over."

I knew it would come to this. I am prepared for what I have to do, no matter how much I detest it.

"I have something to barter."

"What could you possibly offer that would make me even consider freeing the Mods," he replies mockingly.

I take a deep breath and steady my nerves. I remind myself that this is for Kelly and for the other Mods. I remember my promise.

"Me."

He leans forward in his chair, eyes dark and sinister. He knew this conversation would wind up here. Maybe he planned it all along. He was right. He didn't have to ask for what he wants, nor did he have to take it. He put things in motion long ago so that I would ask, maybe even beg, for what he desires. A man like Cassius finds pleasure in the groveling of others at his feet. Like a cunning fox who has trapped his prey, I'm at his mercy, and he has no desire to be merciful. There's a reason he's wound up in his position. It takes a cunning and conniving personality to reach his status. I underestimated him, but I won't do it again.

"I'm listening," he says.

"I know it's me that you want. Release the Mods. Let them live amongst us. You have more than enough guards and cameras to watch over them. There's no need to be concerned."

"And if I do what you've asked?"

He wants to hear me say it. He wants it to come voluntarily from my lips: for it to be a request that he gets to approve, so that I know that even as I make the choice, it's him who will choose to allow it. I'm at his mercy.

"Then I will be yours. Willingly." I force the bile rising in my throat back down, swallowing hard.

"An interesting proposition."

He rises from his chair and moves around the desk, sliding his body in front of my seat, leaning against the front of the desk.

"Will you make the deal?" I say, offering my hand for him to shake.

"I'll make the trade, but with one caveat."

I gulp in nervous anticipation of what he is about to ask. Will I be able to do whatever horrible thing it is and still look at myself in the mirror? Will I be able to look at myself in the mirror if I don't do as he requests and the Mods die?

"I've watched you Ever, for a long time. I've tracked all the Mods since birth, but you've always been of particular...interest to me. I knew you were special from the start. Your mother knew it too, and she knew I was watching you, perhaps that's why she ran away."

The mention of my mother makes me so angry that I want to hit him. I retract my arm. My hand balls up into a fist.

"I see everything that happens, Ever. I'm the eyes in the sky," he says pushing himself off of the desk and moving closer, coming down to my level, his face just inches from mine.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that there are others who share my interest in you. Should your friend Wyler or someone else try to intervene in our deal then your life with me will be most...unpleasant."

Before I can tell what's happening, he's pinned both my wrists to the armrest of the chair.

"Do you understand?" he says, lips smacking an inch from my face. I turn my cheek in disgust.  His enormous belly pushes against my chest.

"Yes," I reply reluctantly, trying to fight the urge to either throw up on him or throw him down on the ground and knock him unconscious. He loosens his grip on my wrists and stands upright, smiling that he's gotten exactly what he wanted all along.

"Good," his demeanor changes entirely in a split second. "I'm glad we're in agreement. I'll arrange for the release of the Mods. And when the time comes, I'll send for you. You may go," he waves his hand, dismissing me like a servant, which is what I am to him now. I'm indebted to the most vile human on this planet. My servitude is my penance for being the chosen one: the one others have given their lives to protect.

Maybe I was wrong: you can own a person, or at least a Mod.