Those Eyes Ch. 05

Hi!

Here's the latest installment. I hope you all enjoy!

SRB

-Alex-

"This is it." She whispered as we pulled up to a large gate. She handed me a card, that I assumed was some sort of key, and I swiped it tentatively. The impressive gate creaked open, obvious that we were the only visitors that this place had seen in quite some time.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked as we drove down an impossibly long driveway. There were trees everywhere and I could imagine a younger Santana playing for hours our here behind the safety of that iron gate.

"Yes, I need to get some answers. I've been running from this for five years."

I nodded, I agreed that she needed to find answers but I had this sinking feeling that the truth was going to rock her to her core. I sighed as we came upon yet another large gate, this one requiring a pass code.

"6161988," She whispered. "It's my birthday. I told you that Papa was a little paranoid. I guess it didn't matter in the end."

I could hear the pain in her voice. I quickly punched in the pass code. As the gate creaked open, I reached over and took her hand in mine. "We don't have t-"

"No. I'm OK. You're here." She said, looking out the window toward the woods. The comfort she seemed to draw from me made me feel a sort of male pride that I had never experienced before. I could feel that she was now looking at me with a contemplative stare. "You know what I feel when you're close?" She asked suddenly.

"I imagine it's something like what I feel with you close." I said, thoughtfully.

"It feels like...my...soul is bursting through my body but at peace at the same time. I feel warm inside and my skin prickles like there is a small amount of electricity running over my body. Then there's your scent. I had never paid much attention to scents before but yours is like absolution and everything that I want and had no idea that I needed." She looked up at me, her cheeks had the sweetest red flush to them. "It makes no sense and it scares the shit out of me." She said with a nervous laugh.

"You just learned that vampires exists and this is what scares you?" I asked, trying to ease her embarrassment.

"Is that what you feel?" She asked, still looking at me.

I took a deep breath, my eloquence escaping me. "Yes. Everything about you calls to me, like I was made to..." I couldn't go on, it suddenly hit me why I was feeling like this, why she felt like this. I didn't know why I hadn't seen it sooner, when I first felt her. I needed to call my parents, they were the only people that I knew that might be able to confirm what I already knew was true.

"Like you were made to what?" Her sweet voice broke into my thoughts.

"Oh," I cleared my throat. "Let's have this conversation after we look through your place ok?" I said as normally as I could but what I was felt was anything but normal.

"Fine." She said, turning back to look out the window.

Shit, I thought. "We will talk about this later, Ana. I promise." I said, using my thumb to trace light circles in her palm. Her breathe caught and she coughed to cover up a groan. I couldn't help the smile the crossed my lips.

After one more gate and an impossibly long driveway, we reached the house. The house was surprisingly average considering the lead up.

"Home, sweet home." She said as she opened her car door. The house was a cobalt blue with once pristine white shutters. There were two wrap around porches, one on the first floor and the other on the second floor. It was a beautiful home, I told her so.

"Yeah, my mom's dream home. I loved it here. This is the first time that I've been back since...I couldn't bring myself to come back after that day." She said as she ascended the large stairs. She turned back to look at me, "Remember to take your shoes off. This is an oriental household." She said with a sad smile.

I was beside her in less than a second, her hand in mine. "We'll go in together." She nodded as she reached into her bag and pulled out her key chain. She sighed deeply as she unlocked the door and the scent of neglect accosted us as she began pushing open the door. I paused her advancement into the house. Considering the circumstances in which she left the house, it was best that I went in first.

My assumption had been correct.

-Santana-

It was all destroyed. The furniture was turned over, pictures were thrown from the walls. I fought the urge to collapse to the floor; I knew that if I had I would have never touched the floor. He would have caught me. I felt my vision began to sharpen, only making the disarray so much clearer. The heartbeat of the man beside me, the very sound that I had relished in during ride, was now a crippling pounding in my ears.

I didn't even bother taking deep breaths. I just wanted to free whatever it was inside of me and saturate myself in my anger and fear. As if sensing my intent, Alex caught my fist just before it could connect with the drywall of the foyer. "No," was all that he said. I stared up into those eyes, searching for the peace that only they could offer me. Our eyes remained connected long after I had calmed down.

He released my wrist and walked into the living room. I watched him with curiosity from the foyer as he picked up a picture of me and my parents and placed it back on the wall. I watched, dumfounded, as he set the couch upright and then the loveseat and coffee table.

"What are you doing?" I asked as my eyes watched his every movement.

"I'm fixing it. You shouldn't have had to see it this way." He whispered as he picked up a large painting.

"Alex..." I began to say but the words were caught in my throat. I swallowed the lump and wandered into the living room. My heightened emotional state allowed me to tap into my strength and speed and it only took us a few hours to have the entire downstairs back as it should have been. Tears streamed down my face the entire time. Every once in a while, Alex would stop what he was doing to hold me.

Once down stairs was finished, we went upstairs. I was sure what we were looking for was in my parent's room. I had always referred to it as my parent's room even after it became only my father's room.

"Can we go to my room now? I can't go into his room yet." I asked, staring at his closed door.

"Anything you want, Ana." He said as he took my hand. "Which is yours?" He asked.

"The one at the end of hall. It'll probably be the worst." I said as we made our way down the hall. I was right. My room was beyond recognizable. Nothing was in the place that I had left it. "We don't have to fix this. Whatever they wanted wasn't in here. I just wanted to see it." I said as I walked into the place that was once my haven. "I used to spend so much time in here." I said as I picked up a picture of my parents and me. I slid it into my bag.

"I can't see my parent's room like this. I just can't." I turned to look at a very lost looking Alex and couldn't help the slight smile. "in their room, there's a space in the closet, I've never been in there. I had no reason to before but if Papa was hiding anything, it'd be there." I described how to find the secret space and went back downstairs into the living room. I waited there, looking through old pictures until Alex returned holding a medium sized box.

He sat the box down in front of me. "I need to make a phone call, I'm sure my family is worried about me." I nodded. "I'll be right outside, if you need me just call my name." He looked at me as if he was afraid to leave me alone but I could tell that something was on his mind. "If you want to wait to go through the box when I get back or we could do it now and I'll call home after..."

"No, it's OK. Go call your family." I said trying to assure him, yet not being so sure myself.

"I'll be right outside." He said as he left, closing the door behind him.

I took a deep breath as I lifted the lid off the box. I'm not sure how much time passed with me staring at its contents, several manila folders and filing folders. I lifted the folder that was on top and sifted through its pages, everything was a Xerox copy. I peeked through the remaining folders, they were the same as the first, and everything was a copy. "Where are the originals?" I whispered to myself as I settled down to go through the first folder more in depth.

It appeared to be a case study of some sort. It was something Papa was working on but I found that strange. Papa never bought his wok home, it was a rule that Mama has put in place before they had even adopted me. I was particularly intrigued because I never had any real idea what Papa did.

The file held contents of study on a man named Adam. There were several pictures at each stage of , what I can only assume was, Adam's life. Every once in a while, there was a picture of a large black wolf. I paused on what appeared to be the latest picture of Adam taken. He was an attractive man. He had jet black hair, olive toned skin, and appeared to be some mix of Native American and Asian but the first thing I had noticed were his eyes, an eerie shade of green. The look in those eyes was wild, and feral. I shuddered. He looked like he was barely in control.

I set the pictures aside and started looking through the other documents, all written in my father's handwriting.

On, November 7, 1976, he wrote, "It's appearing impossible to splice the genes together. I need more time."

On January 4, 1977, he wrote, "I've figured it out. I've figured out how to link the genes together but the cost may be too high. Despite my concerns, the experiment will proceed into the next stage."

I was confused but I continued to skim through the notes and read aloud.

August 10, 1977: "Adam was 'born' at 5:34am this morning. Everything appears to be in order; however, he is aging at a rate much quicker than predicted. If this keeps up, we begin testing in three days."

October 15, 1977:" Adam now appears to look like a typical human five year old. He's beginning the early stages of transformation. He cannot fully transform yet but it's only a matter of time. His other nature is showing itself in his eating habits. Overall, Adam is progressing as expected."

December 12, 1977: "Adam transformed today."

I paused then and picked up one of the photos of the black wolf. I ran my finger over the photo. "Adam?"

I skimmed through the other notes, only detailing Adam's progress. I didn't stop to really read until I had reached June 8, 1985.

"Adam refuses to speak. He insists on staying in his other form until he is persuaded to change. The feral look in his eyes increases daily. His temper is beginning to flare and due to the volatile turn of his nature, we have been forced to decrease his contact with the staff. It's becoming unsafe. We made a mistake."

July 20, 1985:" The order has been sent. Adam is scheduled for termination. Today, Adam broke free of his confines and attacked a staff member. She died. "

July 22, 1985: "Adam has been terminated. It feels wrong, people don't get 'terminated.' It was murder. We made a mistake. The order has been sent, we begin phase 2 immediately."

I was shocked. I had no idea what Papa did and now that I did...I wiped a tear away as it ran down my cheek. I couldn't figure out for whom I was crying. My father or Adam.

I still didn't understand what my father had done to Adam. I searched through the file until I came across something that looked far beyond the scope of my biology knowledge. I looked through the page trying to pick out words that I could understand. I began to form a conclusion when I saw a small equation in the bottom corner of the page. I laughed. It was just like my father to simplify things to a condescending degree.

"Lycanthrope+Vampyre-Human=Adam"

It dawned on me what my father had done. To splice together the two genes, vampyre and whatever a lycanthrope is, he had to remove some degree of humanity. "The cost may be too high..." I whispered my father's written words.

I picked up the next file; it held information about a woman named, Melanie Johnson. I sifted through the pictures attached to the back of the file. Melanie Johnson was a very pretty woman. The pictures were of her going through various stages of pregnancy. She was beautiful while pregnant, her milk chocolate skin glowed and her eyes twinkled.

I read her bio. She was 23 years old, from New Orleans, and in medical school. The page after her bio was the copy of some sort of contract. I read through the document, she had agreed to be a surrogate mother. I started getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach but proceeded going through the file.

As in Adam's file, there were notes written by my father.

September 20, 1987:"We performed the procedure. Today, at 10:15am, Melanie Johnson was inseminated with Adam's sperm."

I looked back at the contract, something didn't seem right. Melanie had agreed to be the surrogate for a Mr. and Mrs. Jasper. She had been lied to.

All of the notes until the birth date just chronicled the pregnancy and my father's apparently growing guilt.

June 16, 1988: "Baby Girl Eve was born, 12:14pm. Melanie did not survive the birth."

This was the last passage in her file. My hands trembled as I picked up the last file, Eve.

There were only two pictures in this file. They were both of a light skinned baby with black hair and green eyes.

June 20, 1988: "The child appears to have sensory issues. She is slow to respond to both audio and visual stimuli. There have also been issues concerning the child's diet. It has yet to be discovered what food items the child can digest. She seems to like blood but it appears that blood isn't wholly nourishing to her. The child also suffers from sensitivity to UV rays. It is hoxped that in time, the child will no longer have these issues. Hopefully, sooner than later."

December 16, 1988: "The child is six months old. There has been no improvements in her condition. The order has been sent. The child has until her first year to show improvement."

I skipped to the last update.

June 10, 1989: "The child has made no improvement. The status of the experiment has been determined as 'Failed'."

I flipped through the remainder of the documents in the file, medical records, test results, and a...letter from Papa. Tears were continuously streaming down my face now. This was too much to take. My vision was blurry and I wiped my eyes so, that I could read the letter written in my father's native language.

"My Dearest Santana, if you're reading this now then I am no longer with you and you've found a need to seek answers. You have surely seen the other contents of the box. Please do not think less of me, My Love. There is not a day that passes that I don't hurt for what I did. I was young and it was the opportunity of a lifetime. The Organization was on the cutting edge of genetic testing and I was, at one point, proud to be a part of it. Learning the existence of vampires and lycans was shocking to say the least but I adjusted. I was convinced that I was doing good work and that the combination of the two creatures could lead to several breakthroughs in medicine. As I am sure you have figured out, to combine the two genes, the human aspects were compromised. I have only cried four times as a grown man, when your mother died, when Adam was killed, when your birth mother died, and when I was supposed to kill you. I could not go through with it, with the help of some morally conscious colleagues, we got you out. I meant to hide you, to get you as far away from me and The Organization as possible but when my wife laid eyes on you, I knew there was no way we could give you up. The contacts that I still had in The Organization informed me of any developments pertaining to you, for years there were none, failed experiments were irrelevant. When you were about 14, I was informed that the Organization was going to begin searching for you. They had continued conducting experiments of the same nature that had created you, there were various results. One child, a boy, was born with similar issues to the ones you exhibited, at age 10, he began showing signs of his multifaceted nature. The Organization wanted you back, to see if this was also the case with you. I had managed to evade them for years and I'm sorry that my efforts were in vain, my princess. I hope that you have begun reaching your full potential for you will need all of your strength to face what's ahead. I know your life has never been easy. Though, you never complained, your mother and I knew the hardships you faced living here but know that we stayed to keep you safe. Be strong, my love and please forgive me .Love you with everything that I am, Papa"

I stared at the letter through my tear blurred eyes. I felt like I was barely in control and only a single thread away from breaking, I clutched the letter to my chest. I felt like I was orphaned all over again and I sought the comfort of the only person who could give it. "Alex..." I whispered.

-Alex-

I wanted to be by her side but I sensed that she needed to go through the box alone. As I stepped onto the front porch, I pulled my iPhone from my pocket. "Call Parents." I said into the phone.

I waited as the phone line rang, staring up at the sky. The stars really were magnificent here. I was distracted from my perusal by the tinkling of my mother's voice. "Alex? Where are you, baby?" She was blatantly concerned and I mentally scolded myself for causing her to worry.

"Hi, Mom. Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine."

"Where are you? How come no one has heard from in more than a week, Alexander?" She said in a rush, her motherly concern obviously not decreasing.

"Mom, seriously, I'm okay. I've had some things to figure out and I wanted to be alone." I paused, looking back towards the house. "I'm much better now." I smiled to myself. "I have some questions that I need to ask you and dad."

"Okay, let me tell your father to pick up the other phone." I laughed to myself as I heard her screaming for Dad to pick up the phone.

"Alexander? Where you been, my boy?" My father's deep voice boomed over the line.

"Hey, Dad. I'm actually in Southwest, Virginia right now."

"Well, what are you doing there?" My father inquired in his slightly Italian accent.

"For a girl, that's actually what I'm calling about." I said, a bit sheepishly.

"A girl?" Mom could barely contain her excitement. "What girl? Can we meet her soon?" She exclaimed.

I laughed. "Calm down, Francesca." I said, teasingly. Both my parents laughed.

"Franny, give the boy a chance to tell us what he needed before you start planning a wedding. Now, you said that you needed to speak with us, Alex?"

I took a deep breath. "I need you to tell me how you..." I hadn't realized how awkward this conversation was going to be.

"How what, son?" My mother said in her soothing tone.

I steeled myself and decided to just press forward and get it out. "I need you to tell me how you knew that you had found your mate." I said in one breath. I braced myself for my mother's squeal of pleasure.

"Your Maatteeeeeeee!" She screeched. I winced. "Al! Did you hear that? Alexander has found his mate!"

"Franny! Franny, calm down." My father said with amusement in his tone. My mother continued to squeal her excitement. "Calm down, Francesca." She quieted then but I could almost hear her delight. "Tell us about this girl, Son." My father said, I could that tell he was smiling.

I couldn't help but smile too, controlling my anticipation for Santana's sake was killing me. "I will later. I just need to know how you guys knew." I said, running a hand down my face.

I could picture them smiling at each other the way that they did when they didn't think that anyone else was looking. I imagined sharing those secret looks with Santana and my heart clenched.