Chapter 8

ARIA

They make it hard to sleep when they're all in the next room, everyone whispering about what happened just hours ago.

I'm healed. My body is in one piece, I've been cleaned up, and I have on clothes that don't show the proof of the torture I endured.

"She's awake," I hear Jase say through a relieved exhale, and seconds later, the door is opening as he rushes to me.

I don't even have time to get up before he's pulling me to him and holding me like he's never going to let me go again. My tears creep out as I clutch him with the same ferocity, and he kisses my hair.

"I thought… We all thought…" His voice trails off when he chokes on his emotion, and I just hold him that much tighter.

I'm alive.

I feel his tears sneak out and run down to my cheek from his face. But all the other faces in the room distract me. Everyone is crying. They all thought I was dead. Now that the adrenaline from the fight has worn off, they're all catching up with their abandoned emotions.

Jase's lips slide against mine, but he doesn't kiss me. His breaths are still too erratic and labored. Leaning back, I look into his soft eyes, feeling his emotions through his mismatched colors.

"I love you," I whisper, worried this is all still a dream and that I'm really still strapped to the table of torture.

Jase winces, proving he just read my mind, and I try to block out everything.

"That's something we should probably discuss," Mel says, sighing heavily as she comes to sit beside me. Mom and Rex join us.

Why is my love for Jase provoke a need for discussion?

Jase looks away, but I see the faintest smirk on his face before he has time to banish it. Before I can ask questions, Melania continues.

"You denied your counter."

My smile falls, and guilt wracks through me. Kellan.

"How did you take him down in his savage form?" I ask Mom. He should be as strong as her, even though she has control of her savage. And he was full-blown phase three.

"He was weakened from the shots he took from the emergent. She was so damned strong. She was stronger than me," she says regretfully, making the last part a nearly inaudible whisper. "But she had weakened him enough for my power to override his."

How am I going to tell her who Alice really is?

Jase tilts his head when he overhears my thoughts, and I tighten my lips, letting him know that now is not the time. But the look of determination tells me he fully intends to grill me on this very soon.

"Is Kellan okay?" I ask, grimacing at the tension that spreads throughout Jase.

I just denied my counter while he was savage. I'm concerned for him. Not in love with him.

Jase forces a smile, and he leans over to me. "I know. I'm concerned for him, too. That's never been done before. You should talk to him."

The trust and faith he has in me almost dissolves all the angst that has built up inside me. That look is so comforting—comforting enough to give me strength.

"Where is he?"

KELLAN

"Fucking figure it out!" I roar, slinging everything off the steel table in front of me.

Vials, beakers, and numerous other things clatter to the floor, the noise resounding in the room as though it'll never stop echoing.

Simone doesn't even flinch or react at all. She's allowed my tantrums to continue since I woke up, and she hasn't batted an eye.

"I'm trying, Kellan. Believe me, I swear I'm trying. I've just finished testing their blood. I lied and told Jase I needed his blood for research. Which is true. I'll use it later to find help for the emergent, but I put it in the machine with Aria's blood. It was the worst match up ever. They barely rated at twenty percent. They're not counters. I tested yours against hers again, but…"

She trails off, her voice becoming hesitant.

"But what?" I prompt, sounding as damn irritated as I am.

Her shoulders sag, and she drops her head back as though she's defeated. "The tests have never changed before. Ever. I've used this machine in secrecy numerous times, doing what I could to finish my father's research. The tests never change. No matter how many times I've ever tested blood strands, the percentage always stays the same, because the variables in the blood don't change."

I have no idea why she's rambling on about this. "I don't really give a damn about all that. I just want to know how the fuck my counter denied me when I felt it—her. I know we're counters. I don't need the variables or this test to prove it. I just wanted to know if by some fucked-up tragedy that Jase was also her counter. Aria is a mystery, she's unique, so it's hard to rule anything out."

She stands there, seeming frozen for a moment, and then she exhales regretfully.

"You're at ninety percent now," she says, and my expression becomes marred by confusion.

"You mean ninety-five," I correct.

She tightens her lips and pulls up the screen. "You were at ninety-five percent. Now you're at ninety."

I swear I could throttle her right now. "You're not making a damn bit of sense. You just finished saying the variables and the percentages never change, and Aria and I are at ninety-five percent."

She groans while dropping down to the stool across from me. "Exactly. They've never changed. Dad used himself and Mom as a controlled test. He used Araya and Hale as a controlled test. He also used Grayson and Angelica as a controlled test. You get the idea. Century after century, test after test—the percentages never changed. He used non-counters as tests, and the same thing. Nothing ever changed. But in less than a few weeks, you and Aria have dropped five percent. I don't know how to explain it. I've gone over both tests numerous times. The machine still works properly, because I used my blood and Jase's blood as tests and they read the same. Ten percent."

This is all a jumbled pile of confusion. "Why have you been comparing your blood to his?"

She shrugs. "I was confused and felt compelled to kiss him, just as I felt compelled to kiss you. I tested my blood against the both of yours, wondering if maybe… That's not the important part. The tests I had with him didn't change. We're still at ten percent. But your results with Aria have faltered."

I drop to the chair in front of her. How did I end up with the counter who didn't want her counter?

"So you were looking for your counter?" I ask, needing a distraction from my own hell.

"I was. I found my counter."

She turns and walks away, leaving that suspended in the air.

"Who? When?" I ask, watching her as she takes a deep breath.

With her back still turned, she answers, "Just after the bizarre make-out session we shared. I felt the calling. My counter went savage, and I felt it. I followed the calling, but pain suddenly ripped through me, and I knew it before I found him that he was dead.

"I followed it still, even though it grew weaker by the second. That's when I found it—one of the battles had led to a complete and utter slaughter. Three men lay in the vicinity to where I felt the pull. I took blood from all three, and tested it, using my gift to make it viable for long enough. One was a ninety-three percent match."

She turns with tears in her eyes, and my heart aches for her. We've all been using her to vent to, and she's been dealing with this all alone.

"Why didn't you tell someone?"

She offers me a bitter smile that feels like a knife jabbing into me. "Because my problems were the least important. I sought answers, and I got them. I still don't know why I felt the compulsion to flog you and Jase the way I did, but I think it might have had something to do with my counter searching for me in savage form. That's all I can figure out."

The door opens, and Simone looks away while wiping her tears. I turn just in time to see Aria walking toward me, sympathy oozing from her eyes. It's almost painful to look at her, knowing she was even able to deny me when it shouldn't have been possible. My counter hates me.

"Can we talk?" she asks softly, but her eyes drift up to the screen as she awaits my answer.

Her brow arches as she studies the two columns of blood, and she stares at the names on the screen.

"What's this?" she asks.

Simone clears her throat, and she puts her strong face back on. "It's the counter machine Dad created. I'm sorry, but I've been using your blood to test for compatibility with Kellan and Jase. He needed answers, and I felt like he deserved them."

Aria doesn't remove her eyes from the screen. Right now, it's her name next to the commander's, and it's telling her they are not a match.

"We already knew I wasn't Jase's counter, so why are you putting it through a test?" she asks, surprising me by the fact she doesn't even seem fazed by the results. I honestly thought that maybe deep down she believed he was her true counter.

She turns toward us, her eyes briefly showing me sympathy. I don't need sympathy. I need her.

"You were right to want answers. I wish I could give them to you," she says, but it sounds so condescending, even though I know she doesn't mean for it to.

"The variables changed," Simone says, reminding us she's in here.

I've yet to speak. I don't even know what to say.

The door swings open to the lab, and Simone groans. "How does everyone suddenly have the access code to my lab space in every compound we stay at?"

"Sorry," Araya says as she walks in, her eyes oozing sympathy when she sees me. I really hate how sorry for me everyone feels. "James Fricks won't speak to anyone but Aria, and our commander might kill the bastard if she doesn't come soon."

Aria's eyes widen, and in a blur of motion, she's running. "Simone!" she yells, and Simone starts running immediately.

I don't know why I'm following, but I'm running before I can stop myself, listening as she speaks to the scientist.

"I'm going to need your help. Just listen in," she finishes telling Simone, who falls instep behind her.

Aria disappears around a corner, and I start finding it impossible to keep up, no matter how fast I run. Even Simone loses her. Christ, is she getting faster? How?

ARIA

"Jase, don't!" I yell as soon as I walk into the interrogation room.

Captain Fricks is barely alive, and Jase's eyes are almost terrifying as he holds fire around his fist, ready to deliver the last blow.

"We don't need him, and he tortured you. I can't let that go, Aria. I can't."

I run over, grab his arm, and start pulling him back. He's suddenly a lot harder to budge. I suppose fury turns into determination and adds strength.

"He didn't torture me. Hedin did. Fricks had his reasons, and we do need him. Don't. Just let me deal with this."

Jase whips his head toward me, his eyes pulsing but not dilating. Shit. He's close to starting the descent into his savage.

"He wants to speak to you, and he fucking thinks I'll let him. He took you and tortured you."

His words are starting to slur, and I cast a panicked look toward my mother who is already drawing out a vial of olophine and heading toward us. Damn. I've never seen Jase this close to losing it.

"Sorry, Commander, but this is not the time," Mom says, barely containing her own anger as she comes to inject him.

"Don't," he cautions quietly, but the threat can clearly be heard in his tone.

Shit. He's already on decline.

"If you don't let me, then your savage will call to your counter," Mom says gently, trying not to stir him up.

He blinks rapidly, staring at the man on the floor who won't give him the satisfaction of a wince, and the fire vanishes from his fist.

Great. Now Fricks will need blood to heal.

"Just give me the damn vial. I can do it myself," Jase growls, shrugging her off before she can give him the meds.

He takes the vial from her and breaks the top off before biting his wrist. After he takes a mouthful and blows it into his veins, he stalks to the corner to brood.

Mom and I exchange a look of relief, and then I turn my attention back to the traitor. As twisted as it sounds, I actually understand why he's done all he has. If the tables were turned and I was in his shoes and Jase was the one stuck in suspended animation… It's all so fucked up.

Our lives are just one big cluster fuck and we can't purge all the madness from it. Underneath the layers of flesh, we're all base creatures with similar animalistic instincts. I'm a thread's breadth away from insanity even with Jase here and healthy.

"We need blood," I say to Jase, hoping he goes.

"There's no way in hell I'm leaving this room before you do," he says, his eyes burning through Fricks.

"I'll get it," Mom says on a sigh. "For the record, I'm not too happy about him living either. You'd better have a good reason for all this trouble."

She has no idea.

Uncle Brazen walks in before she can leave, and he coldly passes by her without so much as a glance on his way to me. He's carrying packages of blood, his jaw is tense, and Mom's eyes water as he continues to ignore her.

What's going on?

"Here," he says, handing the fallen captain the blood, and then he stalks back out without so much as an accidental look to spare my mother.

She tightens her lips and moves to the far corner, doing all she can not to focus on her husband right now. They're usually too touchy and it's disgusting. They never fight unless it's playful.

That issue will have to wait, because my fiancé is close to tearing apart our only hope for the emergent children. So my attention is once again devoted to James Fricks as he idly drinks the packets of blood, his body already mostly healed.

Slowly, he climbs up from the floor, his eyes warily moving from Jase to Mom, and then he sits down at the chair behind the steel table. This interrogation room is too small for all of us. But there's no way Jase or Mom plan to leave me alone with the man who has put them through hell for over two weeks.

With a resigned sigh, I try to figure out how to get this next part out without watching the two of them blow up.

No way. Not going to happen.

"His blood can save the emergent children."

Mom and Jase both stare in surprise, and then Jase pushes off from the side of the wall. "How?"

Fricks stares at me, and then he takes an easy breath as his body finishes healing. "You need to be focused on Alice. She'll be coming for you," he growls. "She'll be unstoppable now. She'll destroy everything and everyone."

"Alice is the name of the emergent we faced?" Mom asks, now that I've filled her in on some of the basics. I'm waiting to tell her about the fact that Alice is her mother. Not exactly sure they have a how-to on that conversation.

"How do we beat her?" I ask, letting him run the topic.

"You can't, Aria. Not now. Your blood was all she needed to become invincible."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jase hisses.

Fricks glares at him momentarily, before returning his attention to me. "There was only that one window of opportunity, but now it's gone. Someone should have pursued her."

"We were in the middle of falling apart, thanks to your fucking kidnapping," Mom says, venom resting on the edges of her words.

I need Mom and Jase to both quit interrogating so that I can get useful information.

"Explain why she'll be invincible," I say before Captain Fricks shuts down and stops talking altogether.

His eyes meet mine once again, and he seems to drift off into his filed-away memories.

"Centuries ago, I rescued Alice from the ashes for my research. But the Scorpions seized her for their own projects after I gathered my samples. She was still unconscious while I was there—very barely surviving death. But her cells were regenerating very rapidly without blood.

"They'd dealt with emergents in the past, and they knew they had a limited time before they had to kill her. Otherwise she'd be unstoppable. But she was so brutally injured, that they decided to try something.

"There was a procedure, one that required a lot of uranium, numerous surgeries within hours of each other, and a new bone."

"New bone?" Mom asks, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes. A full blood bone—just one. Too many would cause the body to react poorly, and it would attack itself. But a bone such as a rib bone is ideal. Her body was still fragile enough to break off one of her rib bones and replace it with one from a full blood. The bone was infused with liquid uranium, and since it was dead bone—"

"It didn't heal, and it weakened the surrounding tissue," Mom says through a sigh. "Which gives her a weakness."

"They kept her pinned to the table by injecting her through that surrounding tissue. They kept her veins loaded with a lethal amount of uranium for centuries. My research had proved fruitless with her blood, but it was close. So, so close.

"I worked with the Scorpions, managing to escape their tattoo requirement due to my affiliation with the United. But nothing worked on Penelope. One day there was an issue with our security system—it surged, and the next thing I knew, Alice was tearing the place apart.

"She found her way home to the Fire Hawks, but by then, I had already infiltrated their operation, hoping to further my research. Unfortunately, she realized the same thing she needed to repair the damage done to her is the one thing I needed to cure my wife. She only assumed I was searching for the same thing as she was for reasons that only stem from the scientific curiosity. She's unaware of Penelope's existence."

Jase runs a hand through his hair, his body shaking as he fights to restrain his fury. "You mean Aria's blood," he growls.

Fricks doesn't look away from me. "The blood of a true-born emergent hybrid—one with limitless power and self-healing qualities like no other. Only Aria's blood can transform the bone within her that we replaced, and turn it as invincible as the rest of her body. Because that bone can't be removed now that it has fused to her skeletal system. Her change wasn't complete when they made the swap. She still had some human-like structures. Only Aria's blood can cure the incurable. Which is why I did what I had to."

I've never seen such a monster be so apologetic. As much as I'd love to hate him, I sympathize. I'm not sure I could watch Jase be alive and dead in the same place for centuries.

"It doesn't make what he did acceptable," Jase says to me, but his eyes stay on Fricks. "That's why you keep your mind a madhouse around me, isn't it?"

Fricks slowly nods his head. "I do my best not to think about anything other than things you can know when I'm in your presence. I learned about your gift years ago. Hale Banner suspected it when you would answer questions no one thought to even ask. He confided in me, and then he approached you about your hybrid roots."

So Dad knew all along. No wonder Jase never got an idea of what I was beforehand. Dad was too damn good to be fooled.

Jase doesn't acknowledge my thoughts. His full attention is focused solely on the full blood across the table from me. And he's not going to like what I have to say next.

"I didn't come in here to talk about the indestructible monster. Not yet. I came in here to talk about using your blood. We have children who might can be saved. Simone can use your blood."

Jase snorts derisively. "We'll just take his blood. We don't need his fucking permission. I'll make sure he enjoys the withdrawal as much as you did. And then I'll let him believe his world is gone—everything he has to live for."

My tears form in my eyes as I turn to look at him. Broken. He looks so broken and almost lost right now.

"I'm fine, baby. Now. But that doesn't mean I'm not pissed," Jase says, finally looking back at me.

"We can't just take his blood. We're not them." I turn back to face Fricks. "If you give your blood willingly, then I'll give mine for the quest of saving your wife."

"Absolutely not!" Jase roars, slamming his hands down on the table and forcing it to bow from the force.

Please calm down.

"No! Aria, I won't calm down. You're offering him your blood."

"I completely agree with Jase," Mom barks, glaring at me like I've lost my mind.

"No. I'm not offering him anything. I'll never let any of them ever touch my blood again. I'm offering Simone my blood. She can take over his research. He can offer his blood to her, and she can save the emergent children at last. She can do a lot more with a hell of a lot less blood."

The door to the interrogation room swings open, and the room becomes a little smaller when Simone steps in. The tears in her eyes surprise me. "I won't help him. I'll take his blood without his permission. After what he did to you… to all of us… I refuse to help this sick bastard."

I shake my head while looking at her. "Simone, I'm not asking you to do this for him. This could help save all the infected. Humans could have a choice."

She tightens her lips as the first tear falls, but I can see that she's thinking logically now. The rational scientist within her will win out over her emotions. Everyone is still adjusting to the fact that I'm alive.

Jase curses and walks away, storming out and slamming the door behind him. Mom follows, muttering threats all the way through the door. But Simone stays in the room with me, begging me with her eyes not to make her help him.

"His wife never did anything to me," I tell her, trying to explain. "She doesn't deserve to be punished for his crimes."

She wipes away another tear, resigning herself to the truth. Once I feel as though she's really onboard, I turn back to Fricks whose eyes have glossed over.

"Do we have a deal?"

He puts his arm on the table, keeping his inner wrist facing upward. "Take as much as you need."