Chapter 19
Like the building in Dubai, Caius runs his true business from the ground floors in the big island of Hawaii. It offered a private place to work and play, with excellent opportunities to import and export goods. Though most of his imports are endangered animals, the government here believes he is in the art business. Straightening his red tie on his black suit he checks his teeth before exiting the elevator and talking to the two guards on duty.
“The shipment is due any moment, sir.”
“Excellent, these baboons are extremely aggressive. Make sure you avoid their teeth.” He laughs wickedly. “Bring Brody to cell seven,” he orders before walking off.
Caius hesitates outside of the cell Magdalene is in. She has proven to be more difficult than he had anticipated. No doubt due to her misguided loyalty to her brother. The council was adamant about persuading her and not killing off the entire blood line she carries. There are ways to handle that if he should he be forced to kill her.
The door opens with a puff of air and seals behind him. He flips a switch and the bright, ultra violet light flares to life. Magdalene hisses and squeezes her swollen eyes from the burning glare. Caius can smell the sweat, blood, and fear, floating around the room. It almost makes him feel something. He sighs and steps closer to her. Magdalene hangs from the ceiling, chained above a concrete floor with a drain, for such a purpose as this.
“Maggie, I grow tired of waiting for a change that will not come. I am creating a new race on Earth, all one species. Driven by one purpose, driven by the same needs, desires, and hunger.”
“The Angel’s will not…” Magdalene tries to say, but he turns on her and hisses.
“DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OF ANGELS! They control us…” Caius grips his forehead and stalks away.
The door opens and two male vampires push a rolling cage with a black tarp over it inside the room. They do not make eye contact with her as they rush outside. Caius jerks the tarp off and laughs when the creature lunges at the cage. He points at the cage where a Bengal Tiger hisses and spits at them.
“Magnificent, isn’t he? Look at him, Magdalene!” Caius grabs her face by the chin and forces her to stare at the tiger. “A predator needs to hunt. We are driven by an uncontrollable urge to take, seek, control. No longer will we be declawed, neutered or defanged.” Caius stalks back to look at her hanging form.
Her legs are chained to the floor below and the pain in her arms is unbearable. Three days now, she has been without nourishment and the hunger grows worse every minute. The tiger has a strong heart beat and his blood rushes through his body, driving her to distraction.
“Magdalene, I know you have felt it… the call to your soul. Can you deny it?” Caius walks closer to her and smiles when blood red eyes glare back at him. Her blood lust is intense now, “His name is Brody. Wait for it,” he giggles when the animal falls to his side in the cage and twitches uncontrollable.
“No matter how hard I try, I can’t change what he is.” Brody’s body stretches out and his bones begin to crack and pop, reshaping itself into the naked form of a man. “I can change how he looks, but not the instinct.” He stalks back to the cage. The large man has rolled to his side and crouches on his feet. Blonde hair, tan skin, and an exquisite muscular body greet him. His yellow eyes never leave Caius’s face. When he gets close enough the man lunges at the cage reaching through in a desperate attempt to grab his captor. Roaring in rage, he grabs the metal bars and shakes them, hissing and spitting.
“You see. Predator and prey. That is all he sees. It’s a shame, really.” Caius mumbles. “His brain remained the same. Only a tiger. I can give him the ability to shift to human form, but not the brain.” He turns back and looks at her. “Like you he is unchangeable. Magdalene, surely you’re smarter than this beast! The instinct is very much alive in all of us. Do you deny the truth in it, that you feel the pull of it?”
A tear of shame tracks down her cheek. “No, I can’t,” she whispers. Caius is stunned by her honesty and looks at her with shocked eyes.
“You do not deny it? Then why are you fighting me?”
Lifting her tear stained face, she snarls, “Because, you are no different than the ones you seek to destroy. You chain me, take away my freedom, and seek to dominate my will.” She looks behind Caius to a glass wall where they watch her. “I feel you. Know this, I will never bow to you! I choose freedom!”
Caius stalks to the glass wall and stares through it, to the council members watching behind. They nod at him and stand up filing out one, by, one.
“Freedom on my own terms, not yours!” She screams, breathing hard, she struggles violently against the bonds that hold her. The council does not look back because they know what comes next. “Bastian will destroy you for this!” she screams at their retreating backs.
Magdalene lifts her head and stares past
