Miracle Ch. 04

Hello to you all beautiful friends.

Another part of Evander and Aliya's story.

Evander watched his sister, as she took Alyia to the guestroom. It didn't escape his attention that she chose the farthest one. It was kind of hilarious. Did she really think that it would prevent him from checking on Alyia if he wanted to?

Perhaps the only thing he had done right that day was to introduce those two girls. Evander thought to himself.

Alyia could certainly use a friend at that time. Even by his standards, which were quite high, what she was going through was incredibly difficult to comprehend. Not only was she in an entirely new environment, with complete strangers around, a totally new world, which was very different from the one she was accustomed to, but also she just realized that she didn't know anything about herself. What was even worse was the fact that, it was her own sister who had betrayed her, and sold her to the wolves. She had leaked their father's research on her, to the medical agencies, had taken their money and disappeared. Of course she hadn't counted on getting caught by a son of a bitch like himself.

She was lucky if someone had done her a favor and killed her already, because the moment she was in his hands, she would wish she wasn't born. They all did when he was finished with them. Although in this special occasion, he wasn't sure if Alyia appreciated him torturing and killing her sister. She was one of those few people with a very generous heart. One of those, who would forgive and forget. And that meant, he had to act civil around that traitor sister of hers. It wasn't easy. The puzzle in Evander's head was almost solved, except for maybe the most important part. Who was the mystery person who had left Dr. Monroe a note all those years ago, and was now responsible for orchestrating Alyia's kidnapping and her delivery to Azure?

There weren't many people in the world who knew about Azure's existence. And those people were some high profile wealthy politicians, entrepreneurs, celebrities or scientists. The problem was that, the person in question, had left absolutely no evidence. It could take time to find him. But he would do it. There shouldn't be a lot of people who fit that profile. But it also could be someone who was working inside Azure.

Azure had two skyscrapers, dedicated to the field of medical research. There were at least about one thousand ongoing genetic projects, running just at that time inside Azure. And that meant, they had hired a lot of very impressive scientists through the years.

He would find that person. But not today. Today his one and only priority, was the girl who was sleeping peacefully inside one of his guestrooms, Thanks to the sedative that Tania had so thoughtfully slipped in to her drink. When had his sister become so shrewd?! Except for disclosing almost about every major secret they had to Alyia, his sister had made him proud that day.

Evander watched Alyia as she slept. The rise and fall of her chest was the most peaceful sight he had ever seen. She looked like a little girl lying on her side, with both her hands tucked beneath her head. The strands of her hair spread on the bed like golden sunrays.

Why in the world did she look so fucking familiar? Unfortunately, now Evander knew the answer to that million dollar question. Because she just had to look completely like his dead love. If Mira was alive, she would have grown to be exactly like this girl. That was certainly why he had lost control when he first saw her. And also the reason, he was so attracted to her all at the same time. The whole situation was so a fucking mess.

He wanted to go down the hall, in to her room and take her in to his arms. He wanted to apologize. For the first time in a very long time, he was really sorry.

It wouldn't be a good idea at all. Apart from the fact that she hated him wholeheartedly, she would have enough on her plate when she woke up.

As much as he hated surprises and the fact that he would never forgive someone going behind his back, breaking just about every rule inside and outside Azure, ruining his program and endangering everyone in the process, now that he considered the situation, maybe he wouldn't kill the son of the bitch who put Alyia in his path. Or maybe he would kill those people with mercy.

After all, if she wasn't in his guestroom sleeping right now, she would probably have ended up captive in a secret medical research facility, in the hands of a mad scientist. Not that he himself, wasn't mad or cruel enough, or that he hadn't done enough experiments on humans before or wasn't doing it just now. And with what he had learned from her father's research, Alyia was truly an interesting and unique object for conducting all sorts of experiments. But for very obvious reasons, she was completely off limits. He would not touch her again, or allow anyone else to touch her ever. He would be content with helping her get out of this mess with as less damage as possible, which wasn't an easy task. Thanks to her sister's actions, all the medical and non-medical agencies around the world now wanted to have her, alive or dead.

She would be safe living in Azure, but she wouldn't be happy. Also based on his and the council's rules, she couldn't stay there for long. In fact he should have deported her the second he knew about her real identity. She was no longer a charge admitted to his program. She wasn't staff. And she wasn't a family member. So he could not justify her presence to anyone. Of course no one in the council was brave or stupid enough to challenge his authority, but for his and her sake, he had to come up with a solution for her problem. One that gave her back her freedom.

Evander put his head in to his hands. DAMN. How did he end up in this fucking mess. How did she become his responsibility?

Alyia opened her eyes. For the first few seconds she was disoriented and groggy. She wasn't in her own bed. She doubted a bed could have felt so soft. It was like she was sleeping on the clouds. The sheets, the room's light, the temperature, all felt heavenly. She could hear the very faint sound of some sort of a music, playing in the background. She surveyed the room. It looked to her more like the inside of a spaceship than a regular room.

Suddenly yesterday's incidents came flooding inside her brain. The kidnapping. Cruel green brilliant eyes. Severe pain and finally her father's crazy words.

She remembered multiple times wishing that she was asleep, that she would get up from this nightmare. However, this did seem to be the reality. What was wrong with her body? Was she even alive or had she died? Maybe she had died all those years ago and had just entered heaven? Again she looked around the room. Furniture so royal and exquisite couldn't exist in the real world. Could it? However judging by what the king of darkness had done to her, she had most probably ended up in hell and not heaven. A very luxurious version of the hell.

She noticed someone was sleeping close to other side of the bed. First she panicked. Then she remembered Tania. Her strange new friend in the wonderland. The Devil's sister who was so very different from him. She was asleep in what appeared to be a silk black robe. That girl was fond of black. In complete contrast to her brother, she appeared to be a normal human being with a kind heart. At least as far as she knew.

"Hey,Ummm..... Tania?" Alyia patted her friend on the shoulder gently.

Tania started smiling as soon as her dark brown eyes opened. She was really a God-sent.

"Oh....look who is finally awake!! ........Are you hungry? Do you want me to order breakfast? Tania said as she yawned and stretched her limbs. Leisurely.

"Breakfast?! What time is it? "Alyia asked anxiously. She wasn't sure what time she went to bed or how long she slept. But she felt amazingly refreshed.

"Tania quickly tapped what appeared to be a computer screen beside her on the bedside table, and a huge digital clock appeared on the ceiling. It read '07:20am'.

"How do you do all this stuff? Huh? It seems like there is a button for just about anything around here." Alyia uttered in disbelief. She certainly was in another planet. A reasonable explanation for every crazy thing that had happened so far.

"Well, you have just been here for a day and you have spent most of it chasing your outside life. It's easy. You will learn soon enough. Don't worry. And in the mean time, you can count on me to be your tour guide." Tania announced gleefully. That girl was so full of energy.

The reality however, was that finding your way around all that new technology was difficult for those who just arrived there. And Tania knew that. She just wanted to reassure her friend. Alyia seemed to a very smart girl. She could learn everything sooner than others.

"Tania, do you know what is wrong with my body? Did you hear what my father said?" Alyia asked with melancholy. Truthfully she wished Tania would just tell her that she had imagined the whole conversation and that her father had never arrived there.

"Yes Alyia. I heard. I told you there are cameras in just about every corner of this place. "Tania paused, waiting for her brother's reprimand. It never came. Maybe she had lost her earbuds during her sleep. She checked her ears. The earbuds were in their place. But no words from Mr.schoolmaster. Maybe he had finally learned to mind his own business? Impossible. Tania thought. He must have fallen asleep. Again no fucking way.

"I know just as much as you do. To be honest....it's too much to take. Very crazy. Normally I'd tell you to just let it go. But I can't. Well.....it seems to be just an extra antigen. But.....girl......it's weird. "Tania said with a playful tone. Alyia knew that Tania was trying to lighten the mood for her benefit. Also she was busy entering some numbers in to the bedside table's screen. It seemed like she was ordering their breakfast.

"Alyia....listen to me. If you want more information which I'm sure you do, you can always talk to Evander. He always has some answer for everything. And even if he doesn't, he can get the answers for you. And I KNOW that he would help you. You might not know him but he is quite brilliant in anything that he sets his mind in to doing." Tania explained patiently.

"Well......I have no doubt sooner or later he is gonna barge in here and sell me to the highest bidder or better strap me to a gurney and start experimenting on me himself." Alyia said sarcastically. She was surprised that he hadn't done that already.

"WHAT?!!" Tania exclaimed loudly. "No Alyia, he would NEVER do that. NEVER. "Tania said with absolute certainty.

She would never express a word of that to her new friend. But the truth was that, there certainly were, ongoing human experiment in Azure. She had learned quite a bit about the details, during her snooping inside her brother's office. As far as she knew, they were all legal experiment. With informed consent from the participants. However, where Evander was concerned, she knew that she never knew all the details.

Just like Evander's exclusive program for the criminals. It required their full and informed consent before deciding to pick the program instead of the time served in prison. Although Tania wasn't exactly sure how much detail they were given before making a decision to choose Azure. Hell, she didn't know if it was possible to inform someone of what was Azure or her brother like beforehand.

"Why are you so sure Tania? I remember he had no problem beating a complete stranger. In my book if you are capable of that, you are capable of anything. "Alyia responded apprehensively. Her anxiety was rising with each passing second.

Okay. Maybe that was right. Tania thought despondently. The fact was that it WAS right. Sadly, her brother WAS capable of anything. But he wasn't going to do research on Alyia. Tania was certain of that.

Tania stared at her new friend pensively, as they ate their breakfast. The truth was that, she couldn't even explain to herself why her brother acted that way yesterday. She knew that sometimes he was violent. But never during a session with one of his charges. And there was no way that losing control was the only reason he had punished her. At least she hoped for her own sake, there was another explanation. A good explanation.

Tania was never sure if she knew him completely. And she was considered one of the few individuals who knew anything about Evander Peirce. He was all about pushing limits. And the first of those limits were his own. He believed firmly in corporal punishment as a type of motivation to prevent human crime. But as far as Tania knew, he also believed that there had to be a strict line between corporal punishment and physical abuse.

A punishment if delivered wrong, did more harm than good. That was what her brother had told him numerous times. She knew that Evander was first introduced to this method of correction by their father. She also knew that her parents had some sort of a unique sexual relationship. She wasn't aware of the details. Her parents had married very young and were still a happily married couple, after so many years.

Tania herself had been punished both by her father and her brother.

During the first years that they had adopted her, she was a very angry and destructive little girl. She was forever grateful to them for saving her from the world and from herself. If Evander hadn't been in her path that fateful night on the street, and if they hadn't adopted her, Surely she would have ended up at best, a prostitute or maybe, her body had been found in the corner of an ally. Raped and beaten.

Tania tried to pull herself out of the dreary old memories. She distinctly remembered Evander, always encouraging her to be good for his sake. Because as her mentor, it was his responsibility to punish her if she wasn't.

Tania knew that there might be a thousand things about her brother that she didn't know. But there was one thing that she had no doubt about. And that was this fact: he never took pleasure in punishing her. He was extremely strict when it came to following the rules, but he was never cruel in delivering a punishment to anyone.

And Evander believed that a basic level of trust between two person, was one of the requirements of delivering a punishment. And that was one of the reasons Tania was surprised to see that he had punished Alyia in the first hour of meeting her. And she knew that her brother reserved the belt for major transgressions. As the result of all those facts, she had a very hard time coming to terms with what he had done to Alyia. Also there was this very weird fact that he seemed to care about Alyia a whole lot more than he had ever cared about a charge or anyone else for that matter. Her confused mind was interrupted by her brother's collected voice in her ears.

"Tania please show Alyia her clothes. I have brought some of her clothes with me from her house and just sent them to your guestroom's closet. And Tell Alyia that she will be safe here. No one is going to hurt her anymore. And as soon as we can find a way to let her out and back to her own life safely, we will, and soon she will be back to her own world. There will be no experiments. And Tania, please come to my office as soon as you are done eating breakfast. There are some things we need to discuss." That last sentence always made her uneasy. Whenever Evander told her they needed to 'have a discussion' it meant that it would be painful for her backside and humiliating to her. To be honest, She DID remember breaking a couple of nonsignificant rules yesterday.

But she only wanted to be honest with her new friend. Surely Evander would understand?

Tania sighed heavily. She had done a terrible thing. Revealing those facts was considered major offense. She was certainly going to get a severe punishment. And unfortunately she deserved it. She just didn't know what inspired her to reveal that information.

"Alyia.....listen. My brother just said that some of your clothes are here. You can find them in the closet over there." Tania pointed to the walk-in closet at the corner of the room.

"Evander also said that you are gonna be completely safe here. No worries at all. I told you that he won't hurt you again. He said he is working to find a way for you so that you can be free again. You are gonna be just fine." Tania said in the most reassuring voice she could muster.

"I'm gonna be back soon Alyia. Don't go anywhere without me. You will get lost inside the penthouse. I will take you for a tour around when I'm back. "And with that words, Tania was gone. Leaving Alyia alone with all of her troubled thoughts.

"Tania, can you please tell me whatever happened to our first rule? Not revealing secret information to the outsiders?" Evander asked in an exasperated voice.

Tania knew he was doing his best to appear intimidating. However, they both knew that the full effects of his mastery in intimidation was lost on her.

Her brother rose elegantly from his seat behind his huge imposing office desk, and went to sit down beside her on the couch.

"Tania you know that Alyia isn't going to be here for long. I specifically reminded you, not to reveal any kind of information. You probably thought that you were doing her a favor, gaining her trust by volunteering that information. However, you are actually making her life harder. She shouldn't have been here in the first place. Her presence here is all a big mistake. But now that she is here, the less she knows is the better. You know that by disclosing that information, you endanger her life, as well as anyone's else's safety here. You have been here for nine years Tania. I shouldn't be telling you these things." Evander explained patiently as he looked in to his sister's eyes.

He was his usual caring self. His words made complete sense. Tania hated to admit, but he was right like always. If word got out about their location and other detail of Azure, no one would be safe there anymore.

"Why does she have to leave? She can stay here. She isn't safe out there. And she is my friend." Tania all but whined.

Somewhere during the very weird incidents of the last day she had made a friend. And it didn't happen often.

"Tania, she can't stay here. She doesn't belong here. You know that. She isn't family and she isn't staff. You know the rules. She has to get back to her own life outside here. Now be a good girl and tell me what is the punishment for revealing secret unit's information." Evander arched an eyebrow. He was holding her chin in his hands so that she had no choice but to look in to his probing eyes.

"It's forty strokes with the paddle." Tania replied, her eyes grew bigger by each passing second. Did he really intend to give her that many strokes?

"Tania, please tell me the original punishment." Her brother asked patiently. There was nothing new about him. Despite her messing up again, he was still as considerate and gentle as ever.

"Five years in the high towers in solitude." Tania whispered.

The high tower was Azure's prison. It was a terrifying place. Her brother and the city council always tried to give everyone second and even third chances and with Evander's program, they seldom needed a prison. However, that name always hovered beyond their heads as a threat.

"Why is this important not to reveal our secret information to the outsiders Tania?" Evander questioned in a tone that showed her sister he meant business.

Evander knew that his sister wasn't normally that careless. But he had to remind her of the dangers of not considering the consequences of her actions and words.

"It is dangerous for the safety of all the people who live here." Tania answered contritely. She was ashamed of herself.