Mengliad (The Mengliad Series Book 1) Read online

  “She’s starting to come out of it.” Bibi nudged Craddock towards her when he inched up on his knees. “Talk to her. Calming words.”

  “Please, don’t cry.” His voice was as soothing as his touch; the back of his fingers gently wiped the tears from her temple. “I know you’re scared, but you’re going to be okay. We’re here. We’re all right here.”

  “Her arms and legs are twitching,” Bibi realized. “She’s trying to move.”

  Seeing that as well, he said to Jessica, “Don’t try to move or talk just yet. It’s too soon. You’ll only exhaust yourself. Wait a few minutes, then try again.” He took her hand in both of his, his thumb stroking each of her fingers in turn.

  “As the heaviness starts to lift, you’re going to feel somewhat uncoordinated,” Bibi said. “That’s completely normal.”

  “It’s like when your foot wakes up after falling asleep, ‘cause you were sitting on it funny,” Josiah chimed in. “Only, without that pins and needles thing.”

  Jessica’s mouth opened slightly, like she was trying to speak, but no words came out.

  “Don’t rush it,” Bibi advised. “It’s a slow process, but everything will be back to normal soon enough.”

  “It’s a good sign, isn’t it?” Craddock asked Bibi, grasping at the dangling thread of hope. “That. . . that she’s. . .?”

  Bibi nodded. “Yes. It’s a very good sign.”

  “Hold. . .”

  At the sound of Jessica’s barely audible voice, Craddock leaned in towards her. “What did you say, Jessica?”

  “It sounded like ‘hold’,” Bibi answered for her.

  Jessica nodded once, ever so slightly, being as how that was all she was capable of. “Me. . .”

  “‘Me’.” Bibi repeated what she heard, looking over at Craddock. “Hold me.”

  Again, Jessica nodded, almost imperceptibly.

  “Hold you?” Craddock asked her, receiving another slight nod. “Who? Me?”

  A single nod was given in answer as another tear slipped from her eye and into her hair.

  With only the briefest of glances at Bibi, Craddock climbed onto the couch behind Jessica, inching in and gathering her to him as his arms wrapped protectively around her.

  “It’s a sensory kind of thing,” Bibi said, for Craddock’s benefit mostly, not wanting him to misconstrue the meaning behind Jessica’s request. “You feel, when like this, like you’re trapped in your own body. You’re telling your body to do something, but it’s refusing to cooperate. It’s like, when you’re lying in bed, really really still, and after a while, you feel like you just have to move, to remind yourself that you still can. Only, like this, you can’t do that.”

  As Jessica nodded, her eyes slowly opened, and when they did, Bibi smiled down on her. “Hey there.” Her expression and tone were warm and comforting. “Welcome back.”

  Weakly, Jessica smiled in return, but as her eyes drifted closed again, it slowly dropped from her face.

  “Stroke her arms,” Bibi suggested. “The more she feels, the less unnerving it’ll be.”

  Rubbing her right arm, the only arm comfortably accessible to him, he planted a soft kiss in her hair. “This will all be over soon. I promise.”

  “Why. . . did. . . this. . . happen?” Every word was a struggle to say, her voice a breathy, distant whisper.

  “For a successful conversion to take place,” Bibi explained, “the donor’s blood should be as close to one hundred percent pure as possible. This will minimize the possible negative side effects. If it’s not, if it’s ‘weak’, one of three things will happen. One, the conversion will take place okay. . . this is very unlikely. Two, the conversion won’t take place at all. That’s a pretty likely scenario, depending on how strong the Mengliad DNA is in the Human. Three, you will get what’s called a muddy conversion. If the donor blood is weak, but the Human’s Mengliad DNA is strong, this is pretty much what’s likely to happen.

  “With a muddy conversion,” she continued, “the Mengliad blood isn’t strong enough to completely overpower the Human blood. The conversion will start to take place, but will be met later with opposition. The Human side will fight back. Treat the Mengliad properties like a virus. Essentially, your body goes to war with itself. If left untreated, the best you can hope for is living in a completely vegetative state, as something of a half-breed. The worst, is death.”

  When he felt Jessica tense, he held her tighter. “But that’s not what’s going to happen to you, okay? We caught it. Fixed it. You’re going to be fine.”

  “Scared. Can’t. Move. Help.”

  More tears broke free, and as she started to shake and jerk in his arms, Craddock looked up at Bibi, to determine without actually voicing the question if she was seeing what he was feeling.

  She nodded in answer. “She’s panicking.”

  “Relax, Jessica.” He rested his head against hers. “I have you. You’re safe. It won’t be much longer now,” he added, though he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true.

  “Do you have any saccharin?” Bibi asked abruptly, sighing when Craddock looked at her with an uneasy expression. “I’m not judging you. Just, do you have some?”

  He scowled, dreading the obvious direction she was headed in. “Why?”

  “To help her relax—” She hurried on when he started shaking his head. “Doc, I’m not even talking a full packet here. Just a little sprinkle on her tongue, to help calm her down.”

  He shook his head again, firmly. “Addiction runs in her family.”

  Bibi glanced into Jessica’s eyes briefly before reinitiating contact with Craddock’s. “She’s a smart woman. If we explain the dangers associated with abuse of it, I’m sure she’ll make the right decision and stay away from it.”

  “Why not just ask her?” Josiah suggested. “Ask her if she wants a little, to help settle her down.”

  Nodding at Josiah, ignoring Craddock, Bibi asked Jessica, “Would you like us to give you something, to help you feel less anxious?”

  Closing his eyes when he felt Jessica nod, Craddock muttered, “In the cupboard above the fridge, in the far back.”

  “I’ll get it,” Josiah offered.

  “I only have it for days that are really stressful at work,” Craddock defended himself, eyes still shut tight.

  “I’m not judging you, Doc,” Bibi repeated. “No one is.”

  “Here.”

  Taking the little pink packet from Josiah’s outstretched hand, Bibi then shook it to settle the contents before ripping it open. “Stick out your tongue.”

  Straining to do so, Jessica complied.

  “Just a little, Bibi,” Craddock warned her, peering over and watching anxiously.

  After emptying a little less than half the packet onto her tongue, as Jessica closed her mouth, Bibi gestured with the tiny envelope towards Craddock.

  Almost as if in pain, and definitely with a sense of shame, Craddock closed his eyes, nodded, then stuck out his tongue.

  “No one’s judging you,” she said again as she emptied the remainder of the contents onto his tongue. She touched his face in friendly affection, wadding up the pink paper and tucking it into her pocket.

  Nuzzling into Jessica’s hair, Craddock whispered, “In about five minutes, you’re going to feel really relaxed. Until then, just take slow, deep, calming breaths.”

  Chapter Ten

  Finishing her herbal tea with lemon, Bibi placed her used cup in the sink before sauntering back over to the couch, where Jessica was still in Craddock’s arms. Smirking, she kneeled down, touching his shoulder softly to gain his attention.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  A lazy smile appeared on his face, his eyes squinting open in acknowledgement of her presence. “Fine.” The word dragged out slowly, and his tone contained the hint of a laugh.

  Tousling his hair, she then stroked Jessica’s arm in an almost motherly way, quietly posing the same question.

  “Okay,” Jessica
rasped. Her expression mirrored Craddock’s. “Still can’t move much.”

  “That’s to be expected,” Bibi assured her. “It’ll take a couple hours, to get completely back to normal. Move your fingers for me.” Jessica did so, but the movement was slight. Still, it was enough to satisfy Bibi. “They’re both higher than kites,” she told Josiah as he stepped up behind her, who nodded easily in agreement.

  “I didn’t even know he had that stuff up there.” Even though he was whispering, his concern was evident. “I mean, after what happened to—”

  Bibi quickly put her finger to her lips, then stood off the floor and gestured for him to follow her. “In the kitchen.”

  Once there, Josiah asked, “Do you think we should be worried? Should we. . . do something?”

  “I don’t think he does it often. Between the two of us, we would’ve noticed something.”

  “So, we should just do and say nothing?” The inflection he used indicated he was requesting guidance on the matter.

  “For now.” She then grabbed her coat and purse. “I have some research to do. Keep an eye on the stoner twins for me, will’ya?”

  “What if something happens?” he whined.

  She stopped her departure at the door. “Nothing’s gonna happen, Joe. Jessica is recovering right on schedule, and they’re both so high right now, I doubt they’ll do little more than that for several hours! I’ll be back in two, tops, okay?”

  When he nodded apprehensively, she hid a smirk, giving his chin a gentle pinch, expressing with her eyes alone that all would be fine. She then turned and left, leaving him standing by the door, shifting anxiously.

  Slowly, he turned to face Craddock and Jessica, stepping hesitantly towards them a second later. If something were to happen, he just knew he wouldn’t be able to deal with it. The thought of it set him on edge.

  ****

  The TV was on, but Josiah scarcely watched it. His focus of attention was more on the time, and, of course, Craddock and Jessica. They hadn’t moved more than an inch for the entire hour and a half that Bibi had been gone, and really only bounced a few idle words back and forth to one another. One of the things said was something about snow; that caused them to erupt into a fit of giggles, since almost everything said, when in that state of altered awareness, is hysterically funny.

  “If it’s not illegal, and it makes you feel so-ooh good, why is it bad to use it?”

  When Josiah heard Jessica’s question, his ears perked in anticipation of the answer to come.

  Dazedly, Craddock licked his dry lips. “It messes with food absorption. The more you use, the more it messes with it. Mess with it too much, you’ll slowly die of malnutrition, even if you eat twenty-four/seven.”

  “Intense,” she whispered, a slight scowl on her face, and Craddock hummed in agreement. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore. You’re harshing my buzz.”

  When they both started giggling, Josiah rolled his eyes, checking his watch again for the time. “Where the hell is she?” he asked no one, pushing off the chair and heading for the bathroom.

  As soon as the door clicked closed, Jessica asked, “How long have you known Josiah?”

  “Oh, a long time.” Each word was like its own elongated sentence. “I’ve known him since before I was Craddock Daniels.”

  “You changed identities?” She felt him nod slowly in answer. “Who were you before?”

  “Matt Fisher,” he murmured, readjusting his position and pulling her tighter to him.

  “Why did you change it?”

  The way he held her, and nuzzled against her, didn’t go unnoticed.

  He shrugged. “My mom was changing hers, and she asked me if I wanted to, too.”

  “Why Craddock Daniels? It’s an odd name.”

  “My mom chose Craddock. Daniels was chosen for us, by the people creating the identities.”

  “Matt suits you better,” she mused. “Who was Josiah before?”

  He answered without thought or concern. “Dylan Thomas.” He startled when a voice broke through on the last syllable.

  “Don’t you think he should be the one to decide who knows his previous identity?”

  He looked up to see Bibi standing over them, looking cross.

  “I didn’t see the harm,” he told her, gazing at her dimly.

  As Josiah exited the bathroom, and saw Bibi standing there, he sighed with relief. “Finally, you’re back!” Approaching, when he saw the serious expression she wore, he scowled in response. “What’s going on?”

  Not wanting to rat Craddock out, Bibi turned from him, faced Josiah, and changed the subject. “I think we have a problem. That Marcy chick at Judy’s, is a Purist.”

  Josiah gasped and Craddock sobered quickly.

  Leaping off the couch, Craddock snatched the paper Bibi held out of her hand. “Shit,” he cursed, after speed-reading it to get the gist.

  “She belongs to a sister group that was responsible for bombing that ‘research lab’,” Bibi explained, mostly to Josiah, since Craddock had just assumedly seen that as he read through it.

  “I don’t understand.” Still shaking off the effects of her ordeal, Jessica struggled to sit upright. “Why would they bomb a research lab?”

  “That’s just what it was known as.” Sitting next to Jessica, Bibi reached over and began taking her pulse as the conversation continued.

  “It was actually a place where clinical studies were being conducted. On late converts.” Craddock handed the paper he was holding off to Josiah before starting to pace.

  Glancing between Craddock and Bibi, Jessica asked, “What kind of clinical studies?”

  “Late converts are fascinating to the Mengliad medical community,” Craddock explained. “They offer a unique perspective, on the differences and similarities between the two species, what with having been both after the age of reason.”

  “She should eat.” Bibi pushed off the couch, heading for the kitchen, but she was only two steps into the trek when Craddock called her name.

  He said her name in English, but after a momentary pause, he continued in the Mengliad language, so that Jessica wouldn’t understand him. “Distraction is the key. Get her talking, and she’ll eat without even thinking about it.”

  “What?”

  When Jessica scowled at him, he offered a reassuring smile as he slipped into the seat beside her.

  “I just told her that we all should probably eat,” he lied. “The idea of food kinda got away from us, what with everything that’s been going on.”

  Having no reason to doubt him, she accepted the lie easily. “So, if Marcy is a Purist, where does that leave me? In greater danger?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Bibi told her honestly as she puttered about the kitchen. “She was there, when the effects of the conversion started. Then you called in sick. Then, you quit. If she’s not an idiot, like Lilith, she’s going to put two and two together.”

  Jessica sighed in resignation. “Okay, then, what do we do now?”

  “Going on the run now is just too risky.” Bibi walked back into the living room with a large bowl of Mealies they could all share. “Your Enyoh is just too strong.”

  “But you’ll be safe here,” Craddock added. “They don’t know you’re here, they’ll think you’re at your place.”

  Suddenly, Jessica gasped, her hand to her mouth, a look of horror on her face. “Oh God.”

  “What?” Craddock shifted his position on the couch to better face her.

  “When you showed up, that first night. . .” Her voice was shaking. “I called Marcy, and asked her boyfriend to research you.”

  “What do you mean, research?” Craddock asked, though he was pretty sure he knew what she meant.

  “I thought you were a fruitloop! I thought Lilith was playing a game with me, and you were in on it! I was worried for my safety, so, I called and asked him to look you up, to see if you had any kind of past record or something.”

  “Essentially,�
� Bibi handed the bowl over to Jessica and sat beside her, “we’re on borrowed time here.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Jessica apologized, grabbing a pinch of mealworms and popping them into her mouth. “I didn’t know any of this then!”

  “I’d take her to my place,” Bibi offered, “but I have that one really nosey neighbor. She’s not a Purist, but I know she supports their cause.”

  “We could get a hotel room,” Craddock suggested.

  Josiah shook his head. “Hotels have lots of people. Less people, the better.”

  “Nick!” Bibi announced all of a sudden, immediately receiving a ‘no’ from Craddock in response. As if reprimanding him, she shot back, “Doc, we don’t have time for this! Hate the man on your own time!” She pushed off the couch and headed for the counter where the phone was located. “This is Jessica’s time!”

  Exasperated, he sighed, but said nothing further in response. Watching as Bibi dialed the number, he resisted the urge to put a protective arm around Jessica.

  “Nick! It’s Bibi,” she said into the phone, turning her back on Craddock, and the room in general. “I need a huge favor. . .”

  ****

  Dr. Nicholas Brady was more than happy to help, and, true to his word, was down in his fancy sports car, in front of Craddock’s and Josiah’s building, in less than fifteen minutes. Craddock and Josiah helped Jessica down and out of the building, where Nicholas immediately stepped up, offering his assistance. Bibi then held the front passenger door open as the three men settled her into the seat.

  “It’s only a four seater,” Nicholas stated apologetically, patting the roof of his car. “One of you will have to follow in a cab or something.”

  “Joe,” Bibi called to him, “you go with. Doc and I will take the subway. I wanted to talk to him, anyway.”

  “I really think I should go,” Craddock balked, avoiding direct eye contact with Nicholas, but glancing at him out of his peripheral vision.

  “Joe will be with her, Doc,” Bibi both soothed and admonished. “She’ll be fine.”

  Only because he didn’t feel he had a choice, Craddock relented, watching almost helplessly as Josiah and Nicholas climbed into the car and sped away.