Richard Kincaid collapsed into his favourite armchair. The tightness in his back and knees eased slightly. He was getting old. Too old. As a younger man serving in the military, he thought he would be taken out by a bullet, maybe a stray spell when fighting against the Ancients, not sciatica and a stiff leg.
He considered getting another drink. Madeline was already mad enough to kick him to the spare room, so she wouldn't care if he were totally drunk. She hadn't even looked at him when she left to take Maddox home. He couldn't blame her for being so mad. In her eyes, he'd chosen his friend over their daughter. Her daughter. Even his wife had stopped pretending that she was his in any way.
Ashton Price came into the room a moment later and hoisted a sealed black case onto the desk before opening the liquor cabinet. He rifled through the bottles until finding a very old bottle of port and humming happily. He poured two glasses, handing one to Richard, and settled into the second chair. "I always look forward to this time of year," he held the glass up to look at the rich red alcohol. "You can't find this anywhere."
"You just can't afford it." Richard muttered emotionlessly.
Ashton shrugged and took a slow drink. The phone on Richard's desk rang. He reached out and pressed the speaker button. "Good evening, gentlemen." Came the familiar male voice of their superior. "Please announce yourselves."
"Richard Kincaid."
"Doctor Ashton Price."
Richard resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Publicly, Ashton was a stain on the medical community. His medical license had been revoked ages ago. This was the only place where he could still claim he was a doctor. The silence by Mark's absence hung heavily in the air until the male cleared his throat. "Where is Mark Landon?"
"It seems Mr. Landon has fallen into the minor ten percent of our experiments." Ashton almost laughed. "He's gone quite mad, I think."
"You don't need to sound so pleased about it." Richard snapped, his irritation beginning to leak through his well controlled mask of calm.
"Why not?" Ashton chuckled. "The three of us are the only field agents in the experiment. Given the vast differences in our daily interactions, I am impressed that it took this long for one of us to snap."
"Kincaid," the male voice cut between the two. "Elaborate."
Richard gave himself a moment to patch the crack in his resolve. "In the past few years," he started slowly. "Mark Landon's temper has gotten further and further out of control. It's in last year that the increase has become... noticeable. He is deliberately and cruelly antagonistic. He has lost the respect of any one under or parallel to him. His superiors are beginning to withdraw support. He is becoming the face of the police reform movement."
There was a low buzz through the speaker as the unnamed male and the other secret attendees discussed the new information. Ashton hummed tunelessly, swirling the port in his glass while Richard stared at the sealed black box. "Very well," the male finally spoke clearly again. "We will begin the extraction process for Mark Landon. Kincaid, it will be up to you to begin training his replacement."
"Do we have a replacement in mind?"
"Several. We are no longer in need of the political reach. Our priority has turned to numbers. We would like you to begin with Christian Churchill."
"No."
A tense silence hovered in the air at his stark refusal of what was clearly not being presented as a suggestion. "Would you like to repeat that, Mr. Kincaid?" the male's voice was filled with a mix of warning and curiosity.
Richard cursed himself silently for his outburst. "I would like to clarify that Churchill would likely be sympathetic to our mission." He said carefully. "However, he has burned the bridge with the asset months ago. The way their relationship ended has made him incompatible with field work within our unit. We cannot trust him not to antagonize her, and she will turn against us if we were to welcome him into our circle."
Another dull buzzing filled the air, longer this time, before the male answered. "Doctor Price," he said inflating Ashton's already bloated ego. "You're assessment?"
"I agree with Richard." He said without hesitation. "Landon brought Churchill to the Kincaid gathering. The entity was visibly affected by his mere presence. Her fear of him can be utilized if she gets out of hand, but otherwise should be trained in a different unit."
"We will take it under consideration. The next operative to begin immediate training is Maddox Kincaid."
Ashton's eyebrow raised in Richard's direction, wondering if he would dare defy their superiors again. He was not disappointed. "Maddox is under the observation of the Counsel." He said, making sure his voice remained even and factual. "For several years, one of the-"
"We are aware of the Zero on Maddox's trail." The faceless male almost sounded bored as he brushed aside the complaint. "We are dealing with it. Be ready to accept him into the unit on our order. The third operative..."
The meeting continued. Three more names were read out, an up-and-coming state prosecutor coming in from New York, a young woman who was finding it difficult to find work in I.T., and a parapsychologist resident at U.C.L.A. All of these new recruits would have different roles in the organization, but all would begin orientation with Richard Kincaid. If they couldn't make it past his rigorous testing, they wouldn't be worth investing in.
"Moving on to the next item on the agenda." The male continued. "The status of the entity. General health?"
"She is physically healed from her encounter with Churchill." Richard matched the bored monotone of the speaker. "Psychologically she is still healing."
"Do you still hold concerns that your influence over her is waning?"
"Yes. She has no trust for Ashton, Mark has proven antagonistic towards her, and my continued relations with them has frayed my own control over her. The last few weeks, in particular, she has proven... difficult."
"If I may add," Ashton said quickly. "Her rebellion may be spurred by the affections she clearly has for a vampire, as well as a young dragonkin's inclination to protect her."
The silence was thicker than it had been before. Richard glowered at the disgraced doctor. He considered pulling the service pistol in his drawer and shooting the bastard in the leg. "Would you like to elaborate, Mr. Kincaid?"
The voice was not asking.
"The entity," he said slowly, thinking desperately. "Appears to have started a relationship, against my insistence, with a vampire physician. It is my belief that they met in a professional manner during her work as a paramedic. I was not made aware of their acquaintance until Maddox was admitted to the same hospital where he works."
"And you did not find this information important enough to fill us in?"
Richard was on very thin ice. He needed to be very careful with what he said next. "She has always been sympathetic towards the more... ostracized species. I was under the firm belief that their relationship was purely platonic and had no reason to think otherwise until tonight."
The smirk on Ashton's face told him that he had heard the hesitation in the words, which meant the faceless voice, and every voiceless, faceless member with him, heard it too. "What is the vampire's name?" the voice asked after a brief buzzing. "We will arrange for him to be eliminated."
Richard suspected as much. "Nolan Wes."
Immediately the buzzing began. It went on and on. Richard looked questioningly to Ashton, who shrugged. The buzzing continued for over twenty minutes before silence fell once again. "Doctor Price," the male, sounding more interested now than he had the entire night. "We will need you to cease all contact with the Kincaid family."
"Wh-what?!" Ashton sat up so quickly, the last sip of port sloshed out of his glass and all over his shirt.
"Calm yourself, Price, we are not removing you from your role. But our focus needs to be on improving relations with the entity and Nolan Wes. Richard," It was the first time the faceless voice had ever addressed him as such. "You need to convince the entity that you approve of her relationship with Wes."
Stunned silence filled the office. "Sir," Richard spluttered. "For the last twenty years, you have made it clear that she is to never even befriend an Ancient, and any attempt to begin a romantic relationship should be met with force. But now you want me to..."
"Nolan Wes must have a reason to remain in the United States." The voice was frustrated now. "If he is tempted to return to France, our efforts against the king will be for nothing. Raphaël can undoubtedly win against Constantine alone, but Wes is an immovable force. He has the confidence of the people, even the rebels. We cannot lose standing. Constantine must be eliminated."
"We're risking the security of the entity to accomplish her request!" Ashton shouted. "She's a fucking dragon! If she wants the vampire dead so desperately, she should kill him herself!"
"If you wish to tell her that, by all means, Mr. Price." The voice turned to cold irritation. "We will not stop you from contacting her. Though we will insist on your silence regarding the entity itself. It would not be in our best interest for her to learn that she still lives."
Slowly, Ashton relaxed back into his seat. He had gone pale at the invitation. He still bore scars from the last time he made an offhand comment within her hearing range. He knew better than anyone exactly what she would do if she found out Rhia lived. Death. Death to them all. "What should I do in the meantime?" he asked quietly.
"Focus on your research." The male's voice returned the casual monotone.
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Thank you, Ashton Price. Please, take your annual dose and carry on with your new orders."
One third the black box cracked open with a hiss and a fog of supercooled air escaped from the crack. Ashton lifted open the heavy lid and took out two files of glowing red liquid. He unscrewed the caps, lifted them in a toast to Richard, and drank the contents of the vials in one gulp. "Thank you very much, counsellors," he said coolly, knowing how much they hated being compared to the Ancient Counsel. "I will take my leave. Good night, Richard."
He turned on his heel and all but stormed out of the house. Richard waited for the male to speak again. He had not yet been excused, and he suspected they weren't quite done speaking to him. The low buzzing filled the space left by Ashton. "Mr. Kincaid," the male finally spoke again. "Should we be concerned about the security of the entity?"
The silence of his hesitation hung heavily in the air. "I fear that our tactics may be have been..." he paused again, trying to think of the right word. "Overbearing. She is a strong willed being and has turned away from myself and Landon. I worry that suddenly accepting her involvement with the vampire will only put her guard up."
A short buzzing of conversation. "What about the security of her bloodline?" the male continued. "Does she show any risk of awakening?"
"No." This he was able to answer immediately. "Her power is sealed."
"Then we will discuss her interactions with Nolan Wes further. Now, before we approve your biannual dose, do we need to be concerned about your feelings for the entity?"
"What do you mean?"
"You are an excellent operative, Mr. Kincaid. But you are still human. Our kind has regularly shown that our emotions are our greatest weakness. The entity has been in your care for over twenty years. We just want to be sure that you are still willing to do what needs to be done if necessary."
"Sirs," he said in a tone colder than the winds of antarctica. "I am insulted that you would question my devotion. You think that just because that creature lived under my roof, called me father, called my wife mother, and my son brother that I feel any level of affection for it? That because my wife and son see it as their family, I would hesitate to put it down if that were necessary? Was I not the one you came to when you needed to take on two dragons? Was I not there in Greece when we successfully executed the plan? How dare you, sit there, unseen and unwilling to lift a finger in our cause, accuse of me of sedition!?"
It was quiet again. There wasn't even the buzz indicating the other members talking among themselves. "Thank you, Mr. Kincaid." The male finally said. "Please, take your annual dose and carry on with your new orders."
The phone line clicked closed, and another third of the box hissed open. Richard lifted the two vials of dragon blood from the box, sat back, and stared at them. Supposedly, according to Price, the results of the experiments, and the very dragon who donated to their cause, it should be safe. It would give him near superhero level speed, strength, and senses for about ten months before fading and requiring the next dose. It would keep him alive for an extended time, if not give him true immortality. The moment he drank it, his sciatica and old injury to his knee would stop aching.
All the things that humans everywhere dreamed of were in the two vials he held. That was the main reason why thousands flocked the vampiric and lycanthropic consulates every day, applying to be turned into one of these two contagious creatures. Less than one percent of the applicants had ever been accepted and everyone was willing to pay for their very souls to have their wish.
Richard didn't care much for his soul. He'd given that up long ago. Perhaps when he joined the military to serve in the shifter wars in the Eurasian Steppes. Maybe when he joined a secret government operation after coming out of the military. Or maybe when he plotted to capture the infant in order to run experiments on a handleable version of the oldest creatures in the world. Probably when he advocated for killing the hatchling... as they were supposed to.
No... he wasn't even sure if he believed in the soul. He had, however, clung to his humanity. It was what drove him to work against the Counsel, plot against the Dragons, and work tirelessly to level the playing field between humans and the supernatural.
At least he had. Now he was drinking dragon blood, binding him to the creatures he conspired against.
Where was his humanity now?
~