Carson Evolved Ch. 10

Helena seemed lost in thought. "What do you think, Helena?" asked Carson.

"I agree with my husband, dear. But I also understand where you're coming from. We need to stop Eisenfaust, but that might best be accomplished by attacking them from different directions, keeping them distracted. I'm not sure seducing Gianna accomplishes much except thumbing your nose in Jozef's direction, but I like the idea of taking Isana, if you can."

Helena paused with a grin on her face. "I haven't given up planning to get you connected to all eleven golden lines, sweetheart. For obvious reasons, the van Heuval connection is going to be problematic. But Isana is...different. Jozef has a number of children from his first two marriages, but Isana and Jordan are the only ones Gianna delivered. The twins would know better than me, but my understanding is that where Jordan zigs, Isana zags. He revels in the trappings of wealth; she downplays her connection to the van Heuval empire." She paused, considering her words carefully.

Finally, she asked, "Are you sure going after Gianna is a good idea? Jozef doesn't like you at all, anyway. But this might cause him to do something drastic in response."

"Like attempting to have me killed? Twice?" growled Carson. "I'm just going to have to trust in Tilda and rest of her team to keep me safe. I doubt that he's given up on his plan to eliminate me entirely. This is more to send a personal message. Besides, it's not like I'm going to rape her, or Isana, for that matter. If they're not interested in me, fine. But," he said with a steely glint in his eye, "I'm going to use all my talents and resources to try to make it happen."

Helena nodded her understanding. She said, "In that case, I may be able to help. You're on your own with Isana, but I assume you have a plan for her?" Carson assured her that he did. "Believe it or not, Gianna and I used to be friends. We've drifted apart over time, mostly over how power-hungry her husband had gotten, and his refusal to accept that I had no interest in conceiving a child with him. But even before we lost touch, she wasn't all that pleased with her life with Jozef. I'll think about it and figure out a way I can get the two of you in contact."

Carson thanked her and turned to go. "Carson?" said Helena. When he looked back, she had a deadly serious expression on her face. "You understand that this thing with Gianna, if you do it, that's different than the times we've encouraged you to sleep with other women. She's too old to get pregnant, for one thing. This is strictly sex, and you'd be playing with her emotions to get it done. Are you sure you're capable of doing that? Are you willing to risk damaging what we have here? Will the other Lionesses understand?"

He didn't have any answers for her, and her questions stuck in his mind all the way to the meeting with Alyssa Grimaldi. How far am I willing to go? he asked himself.

Can I stay true to myself if I follow through with this plan?

*****

On his way to the coordinates that Alyssa had provided, Carson reached out to Edwards to ensure that the coast was clear. No sense making myself an easy target, he thought. Theirs was a short conversation. Edwards assured him that the only person in the house at present was Alyssa, and promised to remain on patrol to prevent any "surprises." Carson thanked him and disconnected.

Arriving at the "cabin," he thought to himself that it was a misnomer. This was no rustic log-and-mud hut with a thatched roof. First of all, the place was easily large enough to contain the first house he'd lived in with Mara twice-over, with room to spare. Second, while it had a wooden exterior, it appeared to be cedar plank siding that had been treated Japanese "shou sugi ban" style, offset by the large insulated glass windows throughout. Carson imagined that the interior was bathed in warm natural light throughout the daylight hours.

He made his way to the front entry, which opened as he arrived.

"Good evening, Mr. Jayne." Alyssa stepped back and motioned him in, taking a moment to scan the area before closing the door behind him.

"Can I get you a drink, Mr. Jayne?" she asked breezily. "Tea? Beer? Something stronger?"

"A beer would be nice," he replied. "And call me Carson."

Alyssa nodded and disappeared for a few minutes. While waiting, Carson took the liberty of admiring the extensive woodwork. Craftsmanship like this was unusual, and unusually expensive, given the propensity to use synthetic materials in many construction projects these days. "This place is amazing," he called over his shoulder.

"Thanks," said Alyssa, appearing from the kitchen just then. She handed him an ice-cold bottle of a very expensive bourbon-barrel stout. "My father would be pleased to hear it, even if he can't know that I brought you here."

After that, an awkward silence descended on the room. Carson took that as his cue to get things moving. "So...you said something about Aria having a plan? Involving me?"

Alyssa moved to a nearby chair and tucked her feet under herself. Taking a sip from her glass of wine, she seemed to be steeling herself for the conversation to come. Carson picked up on her nervousness from the slight tremor in the hand holding her glass.

Taking a seat on the couch across from her, he indicated she should continue.

"Before I begin, I want you to know that I love my sister unconditionally. She's a couple of years younger than me, but we've been as close as any sisters could be our whole lives. To understand Aria, you really have to go back a number of years. See, Aria is the baby of our family, and she's always been a little spoiled. Maybe 'indulged' is a better term. Regardless, she's never been denied much of what she wants.

"The thing is, she's smart. Like, scary smart. So she picked up on how much she could get away with pretty early in her life. And mostly she didn't abuse it. Not enough for the rest of us to resent her at least. But we all learned better than to complain about what she got. We kind of learned to work around her, if you know what I'm saying."

Carson nodded as he followed along, seeking to absorb as much of this as he could in the limited time they had. Clearing his throat, he interrupted Alyssa. "Can I ask you a question? She told me right off that all she really wanted to do in life was to have children and be a mom. Does that match your expectations of her?"

Alyssa chewed on her lip, her gaze fixed on the wine glass she still held. He could see that she was struggling with her emotions. Quietly, she said, "Yes. But it's not that simple anymore."

"How so?"

With a sigh, Alyssa began to speak again. "I guess you need to understand how things are in my family before I can really answer that. For a long time, at least the last 4 or 5 generations, the girls have been raised to be...well, it wouldn't be far off to describe us as a combination incubator and sex—not really 'slaves,' but enthusiastic partners. As soon as one of us begins to show interest in boys, we are encouraged to experiment and figure out what it is we like. The way my mother explained it to me, the thought's that if we find sex enjoyable, then we'll naturally do what's necessary to get pregnant quite a bit."

"That sounds...callous."

With a shrug, Alyssa simply said, "It is what it is. There're some positives to it, if you think about it. But I can see where it wouldn't be for everyone. That's not really the point. Aria, she found out she liked sex even earlier than the rest of us—there are four girls in our generation—and she was enthusiastic about experimenting."

"Oo-kay," he said.

She took another sip of her wine. "Aria is headstrong and smart, and she probably moved a little faster than she should have. She got hooked up with a college guy. He was one of the popular kids, good-looking, all that. She thought he was a confident, in-control kind of guy. But after they'd dated a little bit, they progressed to intimacy. That's when she found out what a jerk he was. He never made any effort to please her, and he got off on rough stuff and humiliation. He'd cum on her face, even after she told him she'd prefer to swallow. He liked to take her from behind, spanking her a little too hard. And she put up with him for a while until she heard him putting her down to a bunch of his friends for being a slut that took facials and stuff.

"When she heard him making plans to arrange for her to be gangbanged by his friends, she got so pissed at him that she broke his nose right in front of his friends. Then she started criticizing him for being a shitty lover, having a small dick, and any other insults she could think of. She told me later that as she watched the light die in his eyes the longer she went on, the more excited she got. She had to jill off when she got home, she was so amped.

"After that, she focused on guys she could dominate. But the more she got into it, the less she respected men in general. She'd look at how pathetic they were—her words—and think about the way things are in our family."

Again, Carson interrupted. "I thought you said that she wanted to have kids? Is she planning on doing it all on her own with a sperm donor? Does she not want a man in her life at all?"

Alyssa shook her head. "That's jumping ahead a little, but the short answer is, she's conflicted. She has really come to hate our father because of his insistence on choosing her mate for her. Between that, and the general disdain she has for men, and she doesn't know how she's going to have the babies she wants."

"So, where do I come into this circus act?"

"Not long after she was married to Jordan, two things happened that sent her around the bend a bit. First, from what she's told me, her husband is pretty enough, but a lousy lay. From Aria's perspective, Dad forced her into a marriage of convenience with someone who's no good in bed, which made her even more angry with him. In an act of rebellion, she decided she'd take on a lover. But before she could, she was sexually assaulted by a guy she met in a club. He slipped her something, and the next thing she knew, she's waking up in a strange bed naked.

"She called me in tears. Initially, she was hysterical with what had happened and scared of the consequences. But after we'd finished at the clinic, she was calm. Like...unnaturally calm. Over the coming weeks, she seemed to move on quickly from that night. I'm her sister, though. I could see that something wasn't right, so I cornered her and asked her what was going on. I'll never forget the look in her eyes. She was...crazed. She started telling me about this plan on hers to 'strike a blow for women everywhere,' whatever that means."

Carson was reeling with the revelations that Alyssa had shared, and it troubled him that Aria had suffered so much at the hands of her father. The man that should have made it a priority to keep her safe had treated her like property and shackled her to a guy with a less than stellar reputation. His actions had indirectly put Aria in the sights of a predator, and she'd paid a price for that. Alyssa still hadn't explained Carson's involvement though.

"Why me?" he asked.

"Carson, you've become a bit of a legend in our world already. And you get bonus points for pushing the buttons of Dad and his cronies. But I believe that that's where Aria got your name. She overheard them talking about you, complaining about how you're messing up their plans by gathering so many women into your family. Aria figured she could kill two birds with one stone if she removed you from the board, so to speak. To her, you're emblematic of all the misogynistic men out there who prey on women for their own pleasure."

"When you say 'remove me from the board,' what does that mean?" he asked in concern.

Alyssa could barely meet his eyes. This was the part she'd been dreading the most, but it was also the reason she'd sought Carson out. She needed to warn him before Aria acted.

"You know how sexual predators—rapists, pedophiles, etc.—are chemically castrated as part of their punishment?" Carson nodded that he did. "A lot of people don't know this, but it's not like the older style drugs that simply repress the libido and responses temporarily. The stuff they use today is permanent. Guys can't get erect, stop producing sperm, and their libido is effectively destroyed."

She could see from the growing horror in Carson's eyes that he could see where this was going. Nodding, she said, "Aria's got this plan to dose you with this stuff—who knows how she got hold of it—and stop you from producing anymore children. She figures this will cost you most of the women in your life, freeing them from your 'oppression.' At the same time, she gets to thumb her nose at Dad for eliminating you when they haven't been able to get it done."

Much as Carson was sickened at the thought, there was something about what she said that didn't make sense to him. "Does Aria know what your father and his compatriots are up to? Do you?" He watched her carefully to gauge her reaction.

He could see the anguish on her face, and she seemed to plead to him silently with her eyes to not make her discuss this. When he made no move to stop her, she slumped and nodded. "They don't know it, but the kids have pieced together most of it from little snippets of overheard conversations and the occasional odd comment."

He stared hard at her. "Why didn't you say something to someone? There are innocent men out there who are suffering, unable to father their own children because of what your father and his friends have done!" he finished, his voice rising in anger.

She stared into her lap, but from Carson's position, he could see the tear that leaked down her nose to drip into her wine glass; he wasn't sure if Alyssa was aware of it or not. Finally, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "He's my father. He can be a bastard, and I wish he didn't treat the girls like he does. But...I'm too much of a coward to report him. For the longest time, it seemed outlandish. Even after reports started coming in, I didn't really put it together. It's only recently that I've really accepted what they're doing. I just...I guess I just didn't want to be the one to put my father in prison. It just seemed like it was happening to other people, so I could ignore it."

Carson frowned in confusion. If she was able to compartmentalize things like that, why would she bother warning him about Aria's plan?

"If that's your approach to the virus, why bother warning me about Aria's plan? I mean, you don't know me, either."

Alyssa sighed. "I know it doesn't make sense. I'm sorry that I don't have a better answer, but the truth is that I just want to figure out a way to help Aria. Not helping her to destroy your life," she added quickly, noting his alarm. "I thought...I hoped...that you might be willing to show her that there are good men out there. If you could heal her hurts, show her love and compassion, she might not feel so angry and alone, trapped in a marriage of convenience."

Carson sat back to think about what she was asking of him. He'd be taking a big risk for his future, and for the futures of all the women who'd chosen to join his Pride. And for what? He was having a hard time figuring out why he should put himself on the line for her. His heart went out to her, sure, but he didn't really know Aria, didn't owe her anything.

He looked at Alyssa, who'd chosen silent observation as he thought things through. "Why should I put myself at risk like this? It sounds like she needs professional help, not just a friendly face."

Alyssa nodded in understanding. "You're right; you don't owe her anything. And I realize that I'm asking you to take a big chance. I'm scared for my sister, though. I could try to get her some therapy, but what are they going to say? All men aren't bad, despite all the evidence you've seen and experienced?" She shook her head. "I don't think that's going to work. She needs someone to show her, not tell her. And there's rumors out there about you being something really special, like magical with women. I just thought..." She trailed off for a moment before gathering herself. "I just thought maybe you could make a big difference in her life."

Cringing inside a little, Carson could scarcely believe that he was actually considering this. This white-knight mentality is likely to be the death of me, he thought. Nevertheless, he couldn't deny that in spite of the danger, this was the kind of situation he'd thought he could improve when he agreed to join Orriri. "Let's say that I'm even considering helping you and your sister," he said. "How am I supposed to trust her enough to be around her, considering the stakes? I'm not thrilled with the idea of being impotent for the rest of my life."

"You don't have to worry about that," she said, rising and retrieving her handbag. She rummaged around for a moment before withdrawing a small silver canister. She handed it to Carson. "There's no way to reverse the chemical activity of the drugs she's acquired. This stuff," she said, tapping the label, "Modifies the drugs in the bloodstream, before they take effect. It's kind of like a vaccination, but it's short-lived, so you'll need to inject yourself shortly before she doses you."

"How short is 'short-lived?'"

"No more than a day in advance," she answered.

He studied the label of the canister. "Are there any negative effects of using this stuff regularly? I'd rather just dose myself with this stuff every day as a precaution, instead of hoping I catch her in time."

"Does that mean you'll do it?" she asked, excitedly.

"I'm thinking about it. Now, side effects?"

"None that I know of. The biggest thing is, it's expensive. Like, a thousand-credits-a-day expensive. If you can afford it, you should be fine doing it that way."

Carson couldn't think of another question for now, but he was reluctant to commit to any further action. Instead, he said, "I'll need to think about this, but I appreciate you warning me. You could have chosen to not get involved."

"I'm a horrible person, Carson, for not having the courage to confront my father and his friends. The guilt's been killing me. But when Aria started talking about this plan of hers, I couldn't stand by and watch Aria ruin any chance she might have at happiness without trying to help her."

With that, Carson took his leave, but not before reiterating that he wasn't committed to doing this. Alyssa said she understood and thanked him again for meeting her. Making his way to his transport, Carson dismissed Edwards, thanking him for keeping watch.

He wasn't surprised when Edwards responded, "Let the eye of vigilance never be closed. Thomas Jefferson." That man is something else, he thought, shaking his head at the seemingly-inexhaustible reserves of wise quotes that Edwards possessed.

Carson navigated home essentially on autopilot. The strange conversation this evening had captured his thoughts. The ride passed quicker than expected, and Carson was surprised to find that, in his distraction, he'd successfully arrived home with almost no memory of the journey between the cabin and here.

Heading inside, he was pleased to find Sam relaxing in the kitchen. Planting a kiss on her cheek, he inquired about the work she and her father were conducting on an anti-viral treatment for the Eisenfaust virus.

"We're making some progress," she assured him. "The virus they used as a template has been the subject of much study through the years, so we weren't starting from zero. It shouldn't be long before we have a treatment. We may not be able to reverse the effects for guys who've been infected right away, but we should be able to stop the spread. We really need to try and get into their files and see how they were going to control the effects. Sterilizing men without some means of control would just be a genocide; they must have had something that would allow people to stave off the effects."