Notes: This is now part of a named series entitled Myth and Legend Series. If you haven't read them, then this one will make no sense. 1. Innocence In The Dark, 2. No Longer Alone, 3. Facing The Past, this story being the 4th. Plus, anyone who has read Ties That Bind will recognise Andrasta. Hey, I guess I've got my own little Universe going on here (Isn't it great to be in charge? :)). That said, hope you enjoy and any feedback is always welcome. Beta-ing thanks to Austin for checking this one over for me and for actually liking the series. I've given the entire series an R rating, because that's where I eventually intend to take it and there's a bit of blood spilt in this one. Feedback happily accepted at caffre19@hotmail.com
Disclaimers: Wellif I have too. They aren't mine. They're someone else's. Happy now?
* * * * *
The Gates Of Hell
By
Caffre
* * * * *
The room she was in was pitch black, except for the bright pool of light that shined down on her from above, blinding her to her surroundings outside the circle. Andrasta didn't bother to struggle against the restraints that held her down in the reclined chair she was in. Instead she tried to compose herself, to force herself to calm down enough so that these people wouldn't see any sign of weakness from her.
The sound of a door opening to her left caught her attention. She'd been locked up in here ever since she had arrived and, although she didn't have any means to tell the time, she was sure at least 24 hours had passed.
A figure came out of the darkness, and she turned to look at him.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
A raspy uneven voice answered her and immediately she knew she was dealing with Mr. Raines. Jarod had told her a few horror stories about him, and she was sure he had left out many that where worse.
"That's un-important. Miss Parker tells me you have something to show me. Something worth my time." He nodded out towards the gloom and within seconds a man she had never seen before stepped into the light, the scalpel in his hand bright and gleaming.
Now she struggled. She couldn't help herself. He came at her with no hesitation what so ever, slashing her bare arm with the knife. The blade was so sharp that for a few moments she felt no pain what so ever.
It was as Raines was bending down to look at the wound that she felt the pain spread like wildfire through her arm and she couldn't help the small whimper as it burned through her.
Raines looked up at her, a somewhat disappointed look to his gaunt face.
"Once again, it seems as if Miss Parker has underestimated..."
A flickering trail of blue lightening ran down the length of the wound, grabbing her tormentors' attention. Raines watched in fascination as the gash, visible through all the blood healed over in seconds. He turned to his assistant. "Swab!"
The man wiped at the wound, clearing the blood away to reveal a perfectly healed arm.
Raines turned to look out into the darkness, knowing somehow that Miss Parker would be watching. "I apologise Miss Parker. I should have known better." He turned to Andrasta, and she could suddenly see why Jarod had described him as a man of unrestrained evil.
"You could very well end up more important than the Pretender Programme for the Centre." He turned back to his lackey. "Bring my equipment from SL-13. I want to test the limits of her regenerative powers." The man turned to go, but Raines brought him to a stop. "Give me the scalpel."
The man turned over the blade, and the last sounds he heard before leaving the room where those of the woman in the chair screaming.
* * * * *
Broots was sitting as his computer terminal, Sydney at his side when a very pale looking Miss Parker came walking into the room.
"How is our latest visitor Miss Parker?" asked Sydney.
She looked like she was about to bite Sydney's head off at that question, but after a moment, she seemed to lose the will for it and sat down in a chair next to Broots. "Lets just say she's getting to know Raines nastier side and leave it at that shall we?"
Broots, his face glued to his screen spoke quietly. "I didn't think he had a nastier side. I just thought he was all nasty."
"Have you ran a search on this woman yet Broots? I want to know everything about her." Miss Parker said, glancing at Sydney who sat at the other side of the room.
"Oh yeah, but she's proving very difficult to trace. I found a birth record for an Andrea Forrester back in the 1970's for a hospital in Northumberland over in England, but the child only survived a matter of days."
Parker leaned back into her chair, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up, ignoring a cough from Broots as she blew out the smoke in his direction.
Parker took several moments breathing in deep from the cigarette before turning her attention back to Broots. "I heard Jarod call her Andrasta. Run that name, see what it coughs up."
Broots turned to look at her, expecting one of her more unnerving smiles, but found none. So he turned back to the computer, running a check.
"Found it. Although it doesn't make much sense, maybe it was a nick..."
Parker kicked his seat, the heal of her boot hitting the chair he was sitting in square on the side. "Could you just get on with it!"
"Sure. Ok, ahh, there was an Andrasta of the Iceni. The Iceni where one of the Celtic tribe from Great Britain before and during the time of the Romans. She was a warrior Goddess for them. You know, prisoners and women would be sacrificed to her in a sacred grove. Apparently Queen Bodica would have prayed to her."
Parker pulled a drag from her cigarette. "Great, more useless information." Abruptly she stood up and walked towards the door. "When you find something a little more concrete, I'll be in my office. I need a drink."
The door slid open as she left them, Broots turning round to question Sydney, only to find him with the same look of puzzlement on his face.
* * * * *
Sydney was on his way back to his own office when he spotted the woman Miss Parker had brought in with her. He stepped back slightly behind the pillar to make sure he wasn't seen.
One look at her and he was sure he wasn't meant to have seen her. Her clothes where torn and unnaturally dark. Even from this distance he could tell she was covered in blood.
Raines stepped out of the room behind the sweeper who had her in a wheel chair.
"Wash her, give her more of the sedative and then take her over to the Renewal Wing. We'll need a more secure location for her. We'll begin the less invasive testing tomorrow."
The sweeper nodded, pushing the bloodied woman quickly down a deserted corridor, her whole body slumped in the chair. It wasn't until he heard the squeaking of Raines oxygen tank disappear off into the distance that Sydney moved from his hiding spot.
Dear God, he thought to himself, what had they done to her?
* * * * *
Sydney pushed open the door to his office and sat down at his desk. He was still in shock from what he had seen. Even he hadn't thought Raines capable of doing something like that to another human being. It seemed he'd been too kind in judging the other man.
Sydney was in such deep thoughts that for a moment or two, he didn't hear his own phone ringing. When he did, he picked up the receiver keeping his voice steady despite how he was feeling.
"Sydney speaking."
"Is she alright Sydney?"
Sydney didn't even realise his grip on the receiver had tightened in response to that voice he knew so well.
"Jarod! No, she's not. Raines has her!"
Silence greeted this response, and it was Sydney who spoke first this time. "Who is she Jarod?"
The anger in the voice that was carried over the telephone line was almost palpable.
"She's someone I care about Sydney. Someone as important to me as my family."
"We tried to run a search on her name, the one you called her at your last lair, but all we got..."
"All you got was myth and legend? That's exactly what she is Sydney. Where are they keeping her?"
Sydney unconsciously leaned closer into his desk, as if whispering a secret he didn't want anyone else to overhear.
"They've just taken her down to the Renewal Wing Jarod, I..."
But Jarod cut him off. "I'm coming for her, and I suggest you keep Miss Parker out of my way."
The line went dead.
With a sigh, Sydney hung up the phone. Jarod was angry, and properly so if the state of the woman was anything to go by. He too thought Miss Parker shouldn't be anywhere near Jarod when he came for her.
* * * * *
Raines unlocked the door of Andrasta's cell, two sweepers behind him pulling an increasingly uncooperative Angelo into the room. The idea had hit him shortly after he'd sent her away to be cleaned, the opportunity to learn more about her too appealing to wait till morning.
"Touch her Angelo. Tell me what you feel..."
Yet Angelo seemed more reluctant than ever, turning round to bite one of the men that held him tight. "Ow! You little freakin' bastard..."
"Quiet! Take his hand and press it to her face."
Fighting against his struggles, the sweeper Gar took a firm hold of Angelo's wrist and forced his hand to her brow. All of a sudden the fight just left him and he stood, still like a statue.
For a moment no one spoke. Then, Gar thought he heard something being mumbled by the empath. He leaned closer to his mouth, trying to catch what he was saying.
Yet each time he said it, it got louder and louder, until soon, everyone in the room except the unconscious Andrasta could hear him.
"There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. "
He was still saying it when they dragged him away and put him back in his space, leaving Raines with no further clue as to where she may have come from.
* * * * *
Jarod pulled up in his jeep two miles outside Centre property, into a small lay-by close to the forest on the north side of the complex.
He knew he was blaming himself for her capture, knew deep down where it hurt the most that he could have gotten them both out of the dojo if he had of tried.
Instead he'd let Andrasta meet Miss Parker head on.
If it was up to Parker alone, he knew Andrasta wouldn't come to any serious harm, but that wasn't the case here. Parker had passed her on to Raines and he could easily guess what kind of tortures he must be putting her through. The thought of instantaneous healing would be almost too much for Raines to resist. And even worse, once they discovered that she could revive from death she would be almost impossible to break out. Raines would torture her and torture her until he learned the secret of her abilities. After all, to someone like Raines, a man who seemed to live just on the edge of death without ever crossing over, the appeal of harnessing her secrets would be addictive.
It was for this and this alone, that he doubted he'd ever be able to forgive Parker. She had handed her over knowing exactly what Mr. Raines was like.
He ran his hands over the wheel, unconsciously doing something to take the edge off the nervous energy he had building up as he waited.
Getting into the renewal wing wasn't going to be like getting back into his section of the building. Jarod could, if he wanted to, break into every section of the Centre without anyone ever knowing. No one there knew just how far his knowledge of the building ran to. The problem with the Renewal wing however was that getting in meant waiting for the security system to disengage from the main program so it could run it's self diagnostic before logging back into the main system.
It was this that was holding him up. The system didn't run it's diagnostic until 7.30 a.m., just before the main shift came on. And it was only 2.30 a.m.
Still, he would have to head out before that, make his way in the dark over the Centre's grounds and to one of his access points well before that.
He looked around to the back seat, looking at the sword that lay there gleaming in the moonlight.
It was now one of the most important things he owned. Learning of his immortality had opened up a whole new world for Jarod. If he kept his head he could one day outlive the Centre, take up a new life and live it through in peace. Even now, he had visions of himself and Andrasta just stopping, settling down one day.
He glanced up at himself in the wing mirror and caught himself with a smile on his face. He'd only known her for a little over 2 weeks and already he was seeing himself with a future with her.
He knew she wanted to travel with him, and there had been that almost moment in Boston when they'd been interrupted by Parker and Sydney. And he knew she cared for him, but this was the first time he'd thought about a future with her.
Jarod leaned over to the passengers' side of the dashboard, pulling open the pocket and taking out the gun. It was then that he realised just why he had this all-encompassing rage. He loved her. Which was why he was going to get her out.
* * *
Raines had come back to work early the next day, wanting to continue his tests on his latest subject.
He was walking slowly behind Andrasta as she was being taken to the lab on this level. He was going to run a few less invasive tests on her inner organs and also her ability to recover from illness. He had received permission to infect her with one of the more virulent haemorrhagic pathogens, as a final test after a few less deadly infections. Last night had just been surface testing. Every wound inflicted on her had seen almost spontaneous recovery. Raines was confident that that would also be the case today.
"Place her on the table."
Raines watched as his two sweepers gently lifted the semi-conscious woman out of her wheel chair and placed her on the table which stood close by to the refrigeration unit still installed in here from the last time Raines had been down here. They should have drugged Jarod then. He had proven to be a handful that day; no doubt a sign of his growing wilfulness.
The two men quickly strapped her down, with Raines dragging his oxygen tank across the room to decide on which drug he would try out first. He needed to start small and record her reactions, increasing the levels until he had results he could run comparisons on.
He pulled a small vial from the counter, holding it up to the light. It was by pure chance that it was the same one as had been used on Jarod when they had caused his heart to produce irregular beats. Placing him in the refrigeration unit had helped to slow down the process and allow for his chances of resuscitation to increase.
Raines had been willing to chance that the test would be less than successful, but Mr. Lyle had been insistent.
Picking up a syringe, Raines smoothly filled it from the vial with the pale yellow fluid.
He came back over to the table she'd been placed on, ignoring her faint struggles as he found a vein and plunged the needle into her arm.
He nodded at Gar, who had hit a button on a stopwatch to record how long until she had a reaction. According to their earlier tests, she would experience ventricular fibrillation within 60 seconds.
It was just then that the door to the lab swung open, Miss Parker coming in. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised exactly where she was. The same room she had seen Jarod die and be revived in on the secret DSA she, Sydney and Broots had watched.
"What the hell are you doing now?"
Raines almost scowled at her, but his attention was suddenly taken up by the woman on the table as the heart monitor she was on flat-lined.
The room was silent for a second, before Miss Parker came further into the room.
"Revive her!"
Raines pulled in a lungful of oxygen from his tank before he spoke. "You overstep yourself Miss Parker. This woman is under my care."
Parker walked round to the other side of Andrasta, looking down at her, noting how relaxed and at peace she looked in death. She hated this woman, that was true. After all, she had killed in cold blood the one man who had met her mother and had seemed unafraid of the Centre. Still, this wasn't what Parker was. She wasn't some cold, soulless creature no matter that that was exactly the image she portrayed. She had more of a conscious around here than some. She looked up again at Raines, her hand slipping round to the back as if she was going for her gun. "I said, revive her now!"
The sweepers where at a loss as to what to do. Both these people in front of them could inspire fear, but Raines was their immediate boss. Gar slowly brought his hand to his own gun. He couldn't shoot this woman, but he could at least threaten her to protect this project.
Raines however, took the situation in hand. "She will be revived Miss Parker. After her four minutes are up."
Raines had had no intention of starting this phase of his testing so soon, but once he had held that vial in his hands, the temptation again had been too much. He wanted to learn exactly what this woman was capable of, and pushing her to her limits seemed the best way to do so.
Raines looked over at Gar, waiting for the sign that the four minutes would be up.
After what seemed like an eternity, he nodded at Raines.
Bringing out the paddles, Raines ordered Parker back as he shouted, "Clear!" Before pressing them to Andrasta's chest. Her body convulsed as the electric shock passed through her body, the heart monitor registering the shock, but no heart beat.
"Increase the voltage!"
Parker wasn't sure who he was ordering, but she took it upon herself, turning the button on the panel until he nodded his approval and again shocked Andrasta. "Clear!"
Both glanced at the monitors. Apart from a small blip, it was still registering as flat-lined. Raines called for adrenaline, before again increasing the voltage. "Clear!"
This went on for almost 5 minutes before Mr. Raines turned away from the body in disgust. "Nothing! Time of death 7.45 am."
"Wait. You can't stop now! Keep trying!"
Raines eyed Miss Parker carefully. Was that guilt he saw in her eyes? He thought so, and filed it away for future reference.
"She's dead." He walked up to her slowly, his version of a grin crawling over his face. "Tell me. Why give her to me if you didn't want her dead Miss Parker?"
Parker could see the still body on the table beside her, could feel just how desperately guilty this would make her feel, but she didn't so much as blink.
* * * * *
Jarod looked down on the scene in the lab with an ever-growing mixture of worry and anger.
He knew, rationally in that place that Sydney had developed inside him that Andrasta would revive. That her death was just temporary and that he wouldn't be denied her. Still, all his instincts where screaming at him that what if this time it didn't work? What if she didn't revive? Couldn't revive? He'd be alone...
He watched as the two sweepers where sent out of the room to get a stretcher and body bag to take her down to the morgue. His primary concern right now was that they didn't get to witness her resurrection. Maybe they would leave long enough for him to get her out before she revived.
* * * * *
Parker watched as the two men left her alone with the man she hated the most on earth right now. She hadn't been able to answer him because she honestly didn't know what to say, which was something of a new experience for her.
She had been angry with Andrasta. Every time they'd met she caused her nothing but trouble. The last time they'd met the other woman had killed what had looked to be the most promising living piece of evidence about her mother she had yet to find.
Then she had turned out to be some kind of freak of nature, one that Miss Parker knew Raines would enjoy and in her anger and frustration she had handed the other woman over.
Parker was just about to take her leave of this whole sorry mess when the heart monitor, which was still attached gave a loud and sudden 'beep' across the room, seconds before the body on the table convulsed and started gasping for air.
Mr. Raines hurried over, looking at Parker in astonishment.
"She's returned from the dead. Just how the hell is that possible?" It was Parker who had spoken first, now not being the time to remember grudges.
Raines was about to answer her when the grating across the room seemed to burst from its place on the wall.
Parker turned, surprised to see Jarod there, but not surprised enough not to draw her weapon, especially when she saw he had one of his own.
She wasn't quick enough. A single shot rang out and the next thing Miss Parker new was her hand reaching up to her neck to pull out the small dart that had hit her.
Already she was looking up at Jarod, her eyes closing and her legs giving out from under her. "You...bast..." She fell to the floor, unconscious.
Jarod then swung the weapon round to face Raines.
"You can't escape us forever Jarod."
Jarod found himself sickened by the sight of the man who had over the years tormented him more than any other human being within the Centre.
"I think forever might just give me more time than you think Raines." He glanced over to Andrasta, who was slowly becoming more aware of her surroundings as she recovered. "Do you want to know what you've just gotten yourself involved in? Do you Raines?"
Despite his fear at what Jarod might do to him, Raines knew that if he could only stall him long enough, his sweepers would return. Then Jarod would be his again.
"Tell me!"
Jarod stepped closer, almost face to face with the man he hated more than anything. "Myth and legend you bastard." He fired a round, hitting Raines in the chest with the dart, his eyes widening as the drug swept through his system before forcing him to collapse on the floor.
Realising that he had very little time, Jarod dropped the gun and ran for the bed, un-strapping Andrasta from the restraints that even looking at gave Jarod a chill.
"Are you alright? Can you walk?"
Her hands free, Andrasta wiped briefly at her face before nodding yes, Jarod helping her to her feet.
"Are you sure you're all right Andrasta?"
She turned on him. "I'm fine ok! I just want to get out of here."
She shook her arm free of his grip on her and walked rather unsteadily over to a chair, pulling it over so she would be able to reach the access to the ventilation shaft.
Jarod felt a slice of fear cut through him at her expression. She blamed him for what they had done to her and he knew deep down he was going to loose her. Knowing that now wasn't the time or the place, he climbed up first so that he could lead the way, Andrasta following right behind him.
* * * * *
They'd been driving for several hours now, any attempt at conversation being ignored as Andrasta just sat and stared out through the window at the passing country.
He had to make sure they would be safe, and while he had planned their escape down to the last detail, he was more than aware that sometimes chance steps in and ruins all your hard work.
Still, when they pulled into the motel room he'd booked the previous night, everything had gone exactly as planned.
"We're in room 12. Here." He held out the keys, which she took before leaving him alone in the car.
* * * * *
When he finally entered the room, he could hear the sounds of a shower running in the small bathroom they had. He had sat out in the car for a long time, wondering what he could do to make her understand just how sorry he was that he had left her to deal with Miss parker and the Centre all by her self.
Pulling his sword out from underneath his coat, he set it down on the table near the door before sitting down on the bed.
He wasn't sure he could handle this. He had no real experience of a relationship. And not just this kind of one either. He just knew that he loved her and didn't want to loose her. Already he could feel a gaping wound inside him that his immortality would never be able to heal over for him.
The door to the bathroom opened and before he knew it, he was up on his feet and walking over to her.
"We have to talk."
She tried to get out of his way, but Jarod was being obstinate. He wanted this dealt with now.
Finally she looked him in the eye, surprising him with the fear he saw there rather than the anger.
"Please, I can't do this right now ok? Later..."
Again she tried to get past him, as if she had said enough to give them both a bit of peace for a while. But she hadn't. This was cutting him up inside, but now he was sure that something a lot worse was eating away at Andrasta.
He took her by her hand. "We have to do this now, or there won't be any later. You know that as well as I do."
She nodded, but couldn't look at him anymore.
He led her over to the bed, sitting down with her. He then put his hand under her chin and gently forced her to look up at him. "Tell me? How can I fix it if you don't tell me?"
She could feel the tears welling up, but she refused to let them show. "I can't Jarod. Please. Don't make me do this..."
He never said a word, instead gently kissing her, trying to convey to her just how much he loved her.
"Please Andrasta. Tell me what they did..."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. It's not them. It's...It's me."
Jarod looked at her. She was right. He didn't understand. "You?"
A sigh escaped from her and he knew she had given up on keeping what ever this was inside her to herself. "They made me feel things Jarod I'd thought I'd killed inside me a very long time ago. Raines spent hours slashing at me, cutting me open and watching me heal over and over again until all I felt was pain and anger and all I wanted to do was kill him."
"That's normal Andrasta. Anyone who went what you went through..."
She laughed, a hollow bitter sound that scared Jarod more than anything else this conversation had brought up so far. "I wanted to tie him down and use that scalpel to show him his own heart Jarod. And every time I screamed I just became more and more capable of it. If you had of given me the chance I would have killed everyone in that entire complex without a moments hesitation."
She looked up at him then, and she knew what she was going to say would hurt, but she had to say it now. She wanted him to know just how real this had been for her. How close she had come to falling off the edge.
"It's not like I haven't done it before..."
That caught Jarod by surprise. "Before? I know you've killed in the Game. I'll have to one day myself when I meet my first challenge but..."
"I don't mean in the game Jarod. I killed hundreds before I even knew about the Game."
Jarod stood, backing away from her slightly. "I don't believe you."
Andrasta stood too. "I was sacrificed to my Goddess Jarod, on the advice of my husband to be. Do you want to know who that was Jarod? Do you want to know what he taught me?"
Jarod said nothing. He just stared as the tears now rolled silently down her face.
"He was one of the Four Horsemen Jarod. You know, you can read about them in Revelations if you care to look. He killed thousands in his own time, sweeping through village after village, tearing it apart, bathing everything in blood. Then Death left him, and soon everything he'd ever wanted in life was gone. His brothers abandoned him, the pack no longer being what it once was. He couldn't create the same kind of carnage any more. Not without Death. Not without his most valued brother."
She stopped, waiting to see if Jarod had anything to say, but instead he remained quiet, looking at her but giving nothing of how he felt away.
"Oh, he tried. He found one war, one raiding party after another, but it was never quite the same. Then time passed and he joined the Roman Legion. Found him self a wife he could teach the trade to. Set her up as the Goddess incarnate...enjoyed watching as she bathed herself in blood..."
Suddenly, it seemed as if Andrasta had realised exactly what she was doing. She could feel the strength leave her and she sat down on the bed with a soft thump.
"Kronos taught me to love death Jarod. To delight in the fear people had of him, of us. Before him all I'd ever known was the happiness that being with my people gave me. Then he persuaded my father to hand me over for the sacrifice and I hated him for it. I hated my own father more than I had ever loved him. Can you imagine that Jarod? And I took that hate and I focused it. Turned it into a sharp blade to use on others."
Jarod looked down on her from his position by the door.
"You didn't always enjoy it though, did you?"
She looked up at him. "No. My mother managed to get close enough to me to try and persuade me to see reason. Kronos thought that killing her would stop it. Her death only made me realise a lot quicker that what I was doing was wrong."
"What...what happened to Kronos?"
"I wasn't powerful enough to kill him Jarod. Instead I ran away in the night, and caught a trading ship to France before heading down into Italy. It took me a while, but I finally realised that I was only what Kronos had taught me to be. I had to relearn everything about myself, and eventually, I even learned to forgive myself. But the Centre..."
Jarod came over and sat down on the bed beside her. "The Centre made you feel like killing like that again. In taking pleasure in the death of others."
She nodded. "They turned me back into that monster Jarod, the monster I thought I'd killed inside myself a long time ago."
He couldn't take it anymore. Wrapping his arms tight about her, he said, "That's not you anymore, no matter what you think. I've been there remember? I know what Raines is like. What he did to you was not just wrong, it was perverted; evil." He pulled slightly back away from her. "Tell me. Do you really think you would have killed everyone you came across if you had of escaped? Really?"
Andrasta shuddered. "I...I don't know. I just now how angry I felt at the way I was being treated."
"Well, I've only known you a short time, but I think that you would have surprised yourself."
She leaned back into him, taking comfort from his faith in her, wondering what she had ever done to deserve it. Still, there was something she had to know.
"Do you hate me?"
That surprised him a little. "Hate you? Why would you think I would hate you?"
She was still in his arms, much longer than she thought she had a right to, but she knew that she had to have this question answered or go insane from wondering.
"I killed all those people Jarod. I let Kronos turn me into his own little slice of mayhem. I enjoyed watching those people die on my behalf. You must think I'm some kind of monster."
Jarod could see that this was killing her. Taking her face in his hands, he gently laid a kiss on her forehead before replying. "No. I don't hate you. If I hate anyone it's this Kronos. He taught you to enjoy people's fear and pain. You weren't born to it Andrasta, you where taught. If the capacity for pain and destruction had been in you from the start you probably wouldn't be the person I know you to be now. A kind..." He kissed her again. "Caring..." Another kiss this time, taking longer than the last. "Beautiful woman that I'm falling deeply in love with Andrasta. When the Centre took me, they gave me to Sydney, told him to mould me into their perfect Pretender. When they took my brother, Kyle, they gave him to Raines, and you've seen the kind of man he is. From what I know of the few times I was allowed to spend with Kyle as a child, I know he wouldn't have turned out the way he did if he had've been left in a better persons care."
Jarod was speaking from the heart now, and he wanted her to understand exactly how he felt.
"If Kyle were alive today, if I could only have shown him how it makes me feel to have done something worthwhile, I know I could have changed him. You had your mother to do that for you before it was too late. The fact that you took your life and turned it around...it tells me the kind of person you are now. Not what you where, and I'm not interested in what you might have been."
"Oh Jarod, I was so scared in there, I thought...I thought I could handle anything and then they did..."
He held her tight, comforting her as she finally let all the fear and the pain of her ordeal out, crying into his arms.
* * * * *
Mr. Raines sat at his computer terminal, studying the data on the screen.
He had called up both Kyle's and Jarod's DNA files again, looking at them in anticipation of what he was sure was about to be a major break through in his studies into their genetic profiles.
Still, he was angry at having Jarod once again get the better of him, and this time he couldn't even blame Miss Parker. He picked up his phone, dialling out to the Renewal wing.
Finally, someone picked up on the other line. "This is Mister Raines. Where is the DNA profile of test subject 225?"
A stammered reply told him that it was on its way, and he hung up the phone.
Within minutes he had her DNA helix on a shared screen, comparing it to both Kyle's and Jarod's. If he found the same anomaly then he knew he had made a significant discovery that would ensure his success within the Centre.
After several long moments he switched the screen off in frustration. Nothing! Her DNA showed nothing that would indicate any link to Jarod or Kyle.
Once he had seen her revive from death, he had been sure that somehow, Jarod had done the same that night in Seacover, when one of his agents had shot him while Miss Parker was in pursuit. That the Pretender had been able to come back from the dead and that in some way, he and the woman shared this ability.
Yet the woman's sample had shown nothing significant at all, disproving the link he had suspected. Jarod must have faked his own death that night to escape from Miss Parker and to throw his agent off the track. It wouldn't be the first time Jarod had infiltrated the Centre and had learned of his plans, there-by ruining them for him.
Still, it didn't matter that the woman's DNA showed nothing significant. It didn't erase his interest in her. He would find her and continue his experiments.
He wanted what she had.
Immortality.
The End...
Disclaimers: Wellif I have too. They aren't mine. They're someone else's. Happy now?
* * * * *
By
Caffre
* * * * *
The room she was in was pitch black, except for the bright pool of light that shined down on her from above, blinding her to her surroundings outside the circle. Andrasta didn't bother to struggle against the restraints that held her down in the reclined chair she was in. Instead she tried to compose herself, to force herself to calm down enough so that these people wouldn't see any sign of weakness from her.
The sound of a door opening to her left caught her attention. She'd been locked up in here ever since she had arrived and, although she didn't have any means to tell the time, she was sure at least 24 hours had passed.
A figure came out of the darkness, and she turned to look at him.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
A raspy uneven voice answered her and immediately she knew she was dealing with Mr. Raines. Jarod had told her a few horror stories about him, and she was sure he had left out many that where worse.
"That's un-important. Miss Parker tells me you have something to show me. Something worth my time." He nodded out towards the gloom and within seconds a man she had never seen before stepped into the light, the scalpel in his hand bright and gleaming.
Now she struggled. She couldn't help herself. He came at her with no hesitation what so ever, slashing her bare arm with the knife. The blade was so sharp that for a few moments she felt no pain what so ever.
It was as Raines was bending down to look at the wound that she felt the pain spread like wildfire through her arm and she couldn't help the small whimper as it burned through her.
Raines looked up at her, a somewhat disappointed look to his gaunt face.
"Once again, it seems as if Miss Parker has underestimated..."
A flickering trail of blue lightening ran down the length of the wound, grabbing her tormentors' attention. Raines watched in fascination as the gash, visible through all the blood healed over in seconds. He turned to his assistant. "Swab!"
The man wiped at the wound, clearing the blood away to reveal a perfectly healed arm.
Raines turned to look out into the darkness, knowing somehow that Miss Parker would be watching. "I apologise Miss Parker. I should have known better." He turned to Andrasta, and she could suddenly see why Jarod had described him as a man of unrestrained evil.
"You could very well end up more important than the Pretender Programme for the Centre." He turned back to his lackey. "Bring my equipment from SL-13. I want to test the limits of her regenerative powers." The man turned to go, but Raines brought him to a stop. "Give me the scalpel."
The man turned over the blade, and the last sounds he heard before leaving the room where those of the woman in the chair screaming.
* * * * *
Broots was sitting as his computer terminal, Sydney at his side when a very pale looking Miss Parker came walking into the room.
"How is our latest visitor Miss Parker?" asked Sydney.
She looked like she was about to bite Sydney's head off at that question, but after a moment, she seemed to lose the will for it and sat down in a chair next to Broots. "Lets just say she's getting to know Raines nastier side and leave it at that shall we?"
Broots, his face glued to his screen spoke quietly. "I didn't think he had a nastier side. I just thought he was all nasty."
"Have you ran a search on this woman yet Broots? I want to know everything about her." Miss Parker said, glancing at Sydney who sat at the other side of the room.
"Oh yeah, but she's proving very difficult to trace. I found a birth record for an Andrea Forrester back in the 1970's for a hospital in Northumberland over in England, but the child only survived a matter of days."
Parker leaned back into her chair, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up, ignoring a cough from Broots as she blew out the smoke in his direction.
Parker took several moments breathing in deep from the cigarette before turning her attention back to Broots. "I heard Jarod call her Andrasta. Run that name, see what it coughs up."
Broots turned to look at her, expecting one of her more unnerving smiles, but found none. So he turned back to the computer, running a check.
"Found it. Although it doesn't make much sense, maybe it was a nick..."
Parker kicked his seat, the heal of her boot hitting the chair he was sitting in square on the side. "Could you just get on with it!"
"Sure. Ok, ahh, there was an Andrasta of the Iceni. The Iceni where one of the Celtic tribe from Great Britain before and during the time of the Romans. She was a warrior Goddess for them. You know, prisoners and women would be sacrificed to her in a sacred grove. Apparently Queen Bodica would have prayed to her."
Parker pulled a drag from her cigarette. "Great, more useless information." Abruptly she stood up and walked towards the door. "When you find something a little more concrete, I'll be in my office. I need a drink."
The door slid open as she left them, Broots turning round to question Sydney, only to find him with the same look of puzzlement on his face.
* * * * *
Sydney was on his way back to his own office when he spotted the woman Miss Parker had brought in with her. He stepped back slightly behind the pillar to make sure he wasn't seen.
One look at her and he was sure he wasn't meant to have seen her. Her clothes where torn and unnaturally dark. Even from this distance he could tell she was covered in blood.
Raines stepped out of the room behind the sweeper who had her in a wheel chair.
"Wash her, give her more of the sedative and then take her over to the Renewal Wing. We'll need a more secure location for her. We'll begin the less invasive testing tomorrow."
The sweeper nodded, pushing the bloodied woman quickly down a deserted corridor, her whole body slumped in the chair. It wasn't until he heard the squeaking of Raines oxygen tank disappear off into the distance that Sydney moved from his hiding spot.
Dear God, he thought to himself, what had they done to her?
* * * * *
Sydney pushed open the door to his office and sat down at his desk. He was still in shock from what he had seen. Even he hadn't thought Raines capable of doing something like that to another human being. It seemed he'd been too kind in judging the other man.
Sydney was in such deep thoughts that for a moment or two, he didn't hear his own phone ringing. When he did, he picked up the receiver keeping his voice steady despite how he was feeling.
"Sydney speaking."
"Is she alright Sydney?"
Sydney didn't even realise his grip on the receiver had tightened in response to that voice he knew so well.
"Jarod! No, she's not. Raines has her!"
Silence greeted this response, and it was Sydney who spoke first this time. "Who is she Jarod?"
The anger in the voice that was carried over the telephone line was almost palpable.
"She's someone I care about Sydney. Someone as important to me as my family."
"We tried to run a search on her name, the one you called her at your last lair, but all we got..."
"All you got was myth and legend? That's exactly what she is Sydney. Where are they keeping her?"
Sydney unconsciously leaned closer into his desk, as if whispering a secret he didn't want anyone else to overhear.
"They've just taken her down to the Renewal Wing Jarod, I..."
But Jarod cut him off. "I'm coming for her, and I suggest you keep Miss Parker out of my way."
The line went dead.
With a sigh, Sydney hung up the phone. Jarod was angry, and properly so if the state of the woman was anything to go by. He too thought Miss Parker shouldn't be anywhere near Jarod when he came for her.
* * * * *
Raines unlocked the door of Andrasta's cell, two sweepers behind him pulling an increasingly uncooperative Angelo into the room. The idea had hit him shortly after he'd sent her away to be cleaned, the opportunity to learn more about her too appealing to wait till morning.
"Touch her Angelo. Tell me what you feel..."
Yet Angelo seemed more reluctant than ever, turning round to bite one of the men that held him tight. "Ow! You little freakin' bastard..."
"Quiet! Take his hand and press it to her face."
Fighting against his struggles, the sweeper Gar took a firm hold of Angelo's wrist and forced his hand to her brow. All of a sudden the fight just left him and he stood, still like a statue.
For a moment no one spoke. Then, Gar thought he heard something being mumbled by the empath. He leaned closer to his mouth, trying to catch what he was saying.
Yet each time he said it, it got louder and louder, until soon, everyone in the room except the unconscious Andrasta could hear him.
"There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. There can be only one. "
He was still saying it when they dragged him away and put him back in his space, leaving Raines with no further clue as to where she may have come from.
* * * * *
Jarod pulled up in his jeep two miles outside Centre property, into a small lay-by close to the forest on the north side of the complex.
He knew he was blaming himself for her capture, knew deep down where it hurt the most that he could have gotten them both out of the dojo if he had of tried.
Instead he'd let Andrasta meet Miss Parker head on.
If it was up to Parker alone, he knew Andrasta wouldn't come to any serious harm, but that wasn't the case here. Parker had passed her on to Raines and he could easily guess what kind of tortures he must be putting her through. The thought of instantaneous healing would be almost too much for Raines to resist. And even worse, once they discovered that she could revive from death she would be almost impossible to break out. Raines would torture her and torture her until he learned the secret of her abilities. After all, to someone like Raines, a man who seemed to live just on the edge of death without ever crossing over, the appeal of harnessing her secrets would be addictive.
It was for this and this alone, that he doubted he'd ever be able to forgive Parker. She had handed her over knowing exactly what Mr. Raines was like.
He ran his hands over the wheel, unconsciously doing something to take the edge off the nervous energy he had building up as he waited.
Getting into the renewal wing wasn't going to be like getting back into his section of the building. Jarod could, if he wanted to, break into every section of the Centre without anyone ever knowing. No one there knew just how far his knowledge of the building ran to. The problem with the Renewal wing however was that getting in meant waiting for the security system to disengage from the main program so it could run it's self diagnostic before logging back into the main system.
It was this that was holding him up. The system didn't run it's diagnostic until 7.30 a.m., just before the main shift came on. And it was only 2.30 a.m.
Still, he would have to head out before that, make his way in the dark over the Centre's grounds and to one of his access points well before that.
He looked around to the back seat, looking at the sword that lay there gleaming in the moonlight.
It was now one of the most important things he owned. Learning of his immortality had opened up a whole new world for Jarod. If he kept his head he could one day outlive the Centre, take up a new life and live it through in peace. Even now, he had visions of himself and Andrasta just stopping, settling down one day.
He glanced up at himself in the wing mirror and caught himself with a smile on his face. He'd only known her for a little over 2 weeks and already he was seeing himself with a future with her.
He knew she wanted to travel with him, and there had been that almost moment in Boston when they'd been interrupted by Parker and Sydney. And he knew she cared for him, but this was the first time he'd thought about a future with her.
Jarod leaned over to the passengers' side of the dashboard, pulling open the pocket and taking out the gun. It was then that he realised just why he had this all-encompassing rage. He loved her. Which was why he was going to get her out.
* * *
Raines had come back to work early the next day, wanting to continue his tests on his latest subject.
He was walking slowly behind Andrasta as she was being taken to the lab on this level. He was going to run a few less invasive tests on her inner organs and also her ability to recover from illness. He had received permission to infect her with one of the more virulent haemorrhagic pathogens, as a final test after a few less deadly infections. Last night had just been surface testing. Every wound inflicted on her had seen almost spontaneous recovery. Raines was confident that that would also be the case today.
"Place her on the table."
Raines watched as his two sweepers gently lifted the semi-conscious woman out of her wheel chair and placed her on the table which stood close by to the refrigeration unit still installed in here from the last time Raines had been down here. They should have drugged Jarod then. He had proven to be a handful that day; no doubt a sign of his growing wilfulness.
The two men quickly strapped her down, with Raines dragging his oxygen tank across the room to decide on which drug he would try out first. He needed to start small and record her reactions, increasing the levels until he had results he could run comparisons on.
He pulled a small vial from the counter, holding it up to the light. It was by pure chance that it was the same one as had been used on Jarod when they had caused his heart to produce irregular beats. Placing him in the refrigeration unit had helped to slow down the process and allow for his chances of resuscitation to increase.
Raines had been willing to chance that the test would be less than successful, but Mr. Lyle had been insistent.
Picking up a syringe, Raines smoothly filled it from the vial with the pale yellow fluid.
He came back over to the table she'd been placed on, ignoring her faint struggles as he found a vein and plunged the needle into her arm.
He nodded at Gar, who had hit a button on a stopwatch to record how long until she had a reaction. According to their earlier tests, she would experience ventricular fibrillation within 60 seconds.
It was just then that the door to the lab swung open, Miss Parker coming in. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised exactly where she was. The same room she had seen Jarod die and be revived in on the secret DSA she, Sydney and Broots had watched.
"What the hell are you doing now?"
Raines almost scowled at her, but his attention was suddenly taken up by the woman on the table as the heart monitor she was on flat-lined.
The room was silent for a second, before Miss Parker came further into the room.
"Revive her!"
Raines pulled in a lungful of oxygen from his tank before he spoke. "You overstep yourself Miss Parker. This woman is under my care."
Parker walked round to the other side of Andrasta, looking down at her, noting how relaxed and at peace she looked in death. She hated this woman, that was true. After all, she had killed in cold blood the one man who had met her mother and had seemed unafraid of the Centre. Still, this wasn't what Parker was. She wasn't some cold, soulless creature no matter that that was exactly the image she portrayed. She had more of a conscious around here than some. She looked up again at Raines, her hand slipping round to the back as if she was going for her gun. "I said, revive her now!"
The sweepers where at a loss as to what to do. Both these people in front of them could inspire fear, but Raines was their immediate boss. Gar slowly brought his hand to his own gun. He couldn't shoot this woman, but he could at least threaten her to protect this project.
Raines however, took the situation in hand. "She will be revived Miss Parker. After her four minutes are up."
Raines had had no intention of starting this phase of his testing so soon, but once he had held that vial in his hands, the temptation again had been too much. He wanted to learn exactly what this woman was capable of, and pushing her to her limits seemed the best way to do so.
Raines looked over at Gar, waiting for the sign that the four minutes would be up.
After what seemed like an eternity, he nodded at Raines.
Bringing out the paddles, Raines ordered Parker back as he shouted, "Clear!" Before pressing them to Andrasta's chest. Her body convulsed as the electric shock passed through her body, the heart monitor registering the shock, but no heart beat.
"Increase the voltage!"
Parker wasn't sure who he was ordering, but she took it upon herself, turning the button on the panel until he nodded his approval and again shocked Andrasta. "Clear!"
Both glanced at the monitors. Apart from a small blip, it was still registering as flat-lined. Raines called for adrenaline, before again increasing the voltage. "Clear!"
This went on for almost 5 minutes before Mr. Raines turned away from the body in disgust. "Nothing! Time of death 7.45 am."
"Wait. You can't stop now! Keep trying!"
Raines eyed Miss Parker carefully. Was that guilt he saw in her eyes? He thought so, and filed it away for future reference.
"She's dead." He walked up to her slowly, his version of a grin crawling over his face. "Tell me. Why give her to me if you didn't want her dead Miss Parker?"
Parker could see the still body on the table beside her, could feel just how desperately guilty this would make her feel, but she didn't so much as blink.
* * * * *
Jarod looked down on the scene in the lab with an ever-growing mixture of worry and anger.
He knew, rationally in that place that Sydney had developed inside him that Andrasta would revive. That her death was just temporary and that he wouldn't be denied her. Still, all his instincts where screaming at him that what if this time it didn't work? What if she didn't revive? Couldn't revive? He'd be alone...
He watched as the two sweepers where sent out of the room to get a stretcher and body bag to take her down to the morgue. His primary concern right now was that they didn't get to witness her resurrection. Maybe they would leave long enough for him to get her out before she revived.
* * * * *
Parker watched as the two men left her alone with the man she hated the most on earth right now. She hadn't been able to answer him because she honestly didn't know what to say, which was something of a new experience for her.
She had been angry with Andrasta. Every time they'd met she caused her nothing but trouble. The last time they'd met the other woman had killed what had looked to be the most promising living piece of evidence about her mother she had yet to find.
Then she had turned out to be some kind of freak of nature, one that Miss Parker knew Raines would enjoy and in her anger and frustration she had handed the other woman over.
Parker was just about to take her leave of this whole sorry mess when the heart monitor, which was still attached gave a loud and sudden 'beep' across the room, seconds before the body on the table convulsed and started gasping for air.
Mr. Raines hurried over, looking at Parker in astonishment.
"She's returned from the dead. Just how the hell is that possible?" It was Parker who had spoken first, now not being the time to remember grudges.
Raines was about to answer her when the grating across the room seemed to burst from its place on the wall.
Parker turned, surprised to see Jarod there, but not surprised enough not to draw her weapon, especially when she saw he had one of his own.
She wasn't quick enough. A single shot rang out and the next thing Miss Parker new was her hand reaching up to her neck to pull out the small dart that had hit her.
Already she was looking up at Jarod, her eyes closing and her legs giving out from under her. "You...bast..." She fell to the floor, unconscious.
Jarod then swung the weapon round to face Raines.
"You can't escape us forever Jarod."
Jarod found himself sickened by the sight of the man who had over the years tormented him more than any other human being within the Centre.
"I think forever might just give me more time than you think Raines." He glanced over to Andrasta, who was slowly becoming more aware of her surroundings as she recovered. "Do you want to know what you've just gotten yourself involved in? Do you Raines?"
Despite his fear at what Jarod might do to him, Raines knew that if he could only stall him long enough, his sweepers would return. Then Jarod would be his again.
"Tell me!"
Jarod stepped closer, almost face to face with the man he hated more than anything. "Myth and legend you bastard." He fired a round, hitting Raines in the chest with the dart, his eyes widening as the drug swept through his system before forcing him to collapse on the floor.
Realising that he had very little time, Jarod dropped the gun and ran for the bed, un-strapping Andrasta from the restraints that even looking at gave Jarod a chill.
"Are you alright? Can you walk?"
Her hands free, Andrasta wiped briefly at her face before nodding yes, Jarod helping her to her feet.
"Are you sure you're all right Andrasta?"
She turned on him. "I'm fine ok! I just want to get out of here."
She shook her arm free of his grip on her and walked rather unsteadily over to a chair, pulling it over so she would be able to reach the access to the ventilation shaft.
Jarod felt a slice of fear cut through him at her expression. She blamed him for what they had done to her and he knew deep down he was going to loose her. Knowing that now wasn't the time or the place, he climbed up first so that he could lead the way, Andrasta following right behind him.
* * * * *
They'd been driving for several hours now, any attempt at conversation being ignored as Andrasta just sat and stared out through the window at the passing country.
He had to make sure they would be safe, and while he had planned their escape down to the last detail, he was more than aware that sometimes chance steps in and ruins all your hard work.
Still, when they pulled into the motel room he'd booked the previous night, everything had gone exactly as planned.
"We're in room 12. Here." He held out the keys, which she took before leaving him alone in the car.
* * * * *
When he finally entered the room, he could hear the sounds of a shower running in the small bathroom they had. He had sat out in the car for a long time, wondering what he could do to make her understand just how sorry he was that he had left her to deal with Miss parker and the Centre all by her self.
Pulling his sword out from underneath his coat, he set it down on the table near the door before sitting down on the bed.
He wasn't sure he could handle this. He had no real experience of a relationship. And not just this kind of one either. He just knew that he loved her and didn't want to loose her. Already he could feel a gaping wound inside him that his immortality would never be able to heal over for him.
The door to the bathroom opened and before he knew it, he was up on his feet and walking over to her.
"We have to talk."
She tried to get out of his way, but Jarod was being obstinate. He wanted this dealt with now.
Finally she looked him in the eye, surprising him with the fear he saw there rather than the anger.
"Please, I can't do this right now ok? Later..."
Again she tried to get past him, as if she had said enough to give them both a bit of peace for a while. But she hadn't. This was cutting him up inside, but now he was sure that something a lot worse was eating away at Andrasta.
He took her by her hand. "We have to do this now, or there won't be any later. You know that as well as I do."
She nodded, but couldn't look at him anymore.
He led her over to the bed, sitting down with her. He then put his hand under her chin and gently forced her to look up at him. "Tell me? How can I fix it if you don't tell me?"
She could feel the tears welling up, but she refused to let them show. "I can't Jarod. Please. Don't make me do this..."
He never said a word, instead gently kissing her, trying to convey to her just how much he loved her.
"Please Andrasta. Tell me what they did..."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. It's not them. It's...It's me."
Jarod looked at her. She was right. He didn't understand. "You?"
A sigh escaped from her and he knew she had given up on keeping what ever this was inside her to herself. "They made me feel things Jarod I'd thought I'd killed inside me a very long time ago. Raines spent hours slashing at me, cutting me open and watching me heal over and over again until all I felt was pain and anger and all I wanted to do was kill him."
"That's normal Andrasta. Anyone who went what you went through..."
She laughed, a hollow bitter sound that scared Jarod more than anything else this conversation had brought up so far. "I wanted to tie him down and use that scalpel to show him his own heart Jarod. And every time I screamed I just became more and more capable of it. If you had of given me the chance I would have killed everyone in that entire complex without a moments hesitation."
She looked up at him then, and she knew what she was going to say would hurt, but she had to say it now. She wanted him to know just how real this had been for her. How close she had come to falling off the edge.
"It's not like I haven't done it before..."
That caught Jarod by surprise. "Before? I know you've killed in the Game. I'll have to one day myself when I meet my first challenge but..."
"I don't mean in the game Jarod. I killed hundreds before I even knew about the Game."
Jarod stood, backing away from her slightly. "I don't believe you."
Andrasta stood too. "I was sacrificed to my Goddess Jarod, on the advice of my husband to be. Do you want to know who that was Jarod? Do you want to know what he taught me?"
Jarod said nothing. He just stared as the tears now rolled silently down her face.
"He was one of the Four Horsemen Jarod. You know, you can read about them in Revelations if you care to look. He killed thousands in his own time, sweeping through village after village, tearing it apart, bathing everything in blood. Then Death left him, and soon everything he'd ever wanted in life was gone. His brothers abandoned him, the pack no longer being what it once was. He couldn't create the same kind of carnage any more. Not without Death. Not without his most valued brother."
She stopped, waiting to see if Jarod had anything to say, but instead he remained quiet, looking at her but giving nothing of how he felt away.
"Oh, he tried. He found one war, one raiding party after another, but it was never quite the same. Then time passed and he joined the Roman Legion. Found him self a wife he could teach the trade to. Set her up as the Goddess incarnate...enjoyed watching as she bathed herself in blood..."
Suddenly, it seemed as if Andrasta had realised exactly what she was doing. She could feel the strength leave her and she sat down on the bed with a soft thump.
"Kronos taught me to love death Jarod. To delight in the fear people had of him, of us. Before him all I'd ever known was the happiness that being with my people gave me. Then he persuaded my father to hand me over for the sacrifice and I hated him for it. I hated my own father more than I had ever loved him. Can you imagine that Jarod? And I took that hate and I focused it. Turned it into a sharp blade to use on others."
Jarod looked down on her from his position by the door.
"You didn't always enjoy it though, did you?"
She looked up at him. "No. My mother managed to get close enough to me to try and persuade me to see reason. Kronos thought that killing her would stop it. Her death only made me realise a lot quicker that what I was doing was wrong."
"What...what happened to Kronos?"
"I wasn't powerful enough to kill him Jarod. Instead I ran away in the night, and caught a trading ship to France before heading down into Italy. It took me a while, but I finally realised that I was only what Kronos had taught me to be. I had to relearn everything about myself, and eventually, I even learned to forgive myself. But the Centre..."
Jarod came over and sat down on the bed beside her. "The Centre made you feel like killing like that again. In taking pleasure in the death of others."
She nodded. "They turned me back into that monster Jarod, the monster I thought I'd killed inside myself a long time ago."
He couldn't take it anymore. Wrapping his arms tight about her, he said, "That's not you anymore, no matter what you think. I've been there remember? I know what Raines is like. What he did to you was not just wrong, it was perverted; evil." He pulled slightly back away from her. "Tell me. Do you really think you would have killed everyone you came across if you had of escaped? Really?"
Andrasta shuddered. "I...I don't know. I just now how angry I felt at the way I was being treated."
"Well, I've only known you a short time, but I think that you would have surprised yourself."
She leaned back into him, taking comfort from his faith in her, wondering what she had ever done to deserve it. Still, there was something she had to know.
"Do you hate me?"
That surprised him a little. "Hate you? Why would you think I would hate you?"
She was still in his arms, much longer than she thought she had a right to, but she knew that she had to have this question answered or go insane from wondering.
"I killed all those people Jarod. I let Kronos turn me into his own little slice of mayhem. I enjoyed watching those people die on my behalf. You must think I'm some kind of monster."
Jarod could see that this was killing her. Taking her face in his hands, he gently laid a kiss on her forehead before replying. "No. I don't hate you. If I hate anyone it's this Kronos. He taught you to enjoy people's fear and pain. You weren't born to it Andrasta, you where taught. If the capacity for pain and destruction had been in you from the start you probably wouldn't be the person I know you to be now. A kind..." He kissed her again. "Caring..." Another kiss this time, taking longer than the last. "Beautiful woman that I'm falling deeply in love with Andrasta. When the Centre took me, they gave me to Sydney, told him to mould me into their perfect Pretender. When they took my brother, Kyle, they gave him to Raines, and you've seen the kind of man he is. From what I know of the few times I was allowed to spend with Kyle as a child, I know he wouldn't have turned out the way he did if he had've been left in a better persons care."
Jarod was speaking from the heart now, and he wanted her to understand exactly how he felt.
"If Kyle were alive today, if I could only have shown him how it makes me feel to have done something worthwhile, I know I could have changed him. You had your mother to do that for you before it was too late. The fact that you took your life and turned it around...it tells me the kind of person you are now. Not what you where, and I'm not interested in what you might have been."
"Oh Jarod, I was so scared in there, I thought...I thought I could handle anything and then they did..."
He held her tight, comforting her as she finally let all the fear and the pain of her ordeal out, crying into his arms.
* * * * *
Mr. Raines sat at his computer terminal, studying the data on the screen.
He had called up both Kyle's and Jarod's DNA files again, looking at them in anticipation of what he was sure was about to be a major break through in his studies into their genetic profiles.
Still, he was angry at having Jarod once again get the better of him, and this time he couldn't even blame Miss Parker. He picked up his phone, dialling out to the Renewal wing.
Finally, someone picked up on the other line. "This is Mister Raines. Where is the DNA profile of test subject 225?"
A stammered reply told him that it was on its way, and he hung up the phone.
Within minutes he had her DNA helix on a shared screen, comparing it to both Kyle's and Jarod's. If he found the same anomaly then he knew he had made a significant discovery that would ensure his success within the Centre.
After several long moments he switched the screen off in frustration. Nothing! Her DNA showed nothing that would indicate any link to Jarod or Kyle.
Once he had seen her revive from death, he had been sure that somehow, Jarod had done the same that night in Seacover, when one of his agents had shot him while Miss Parker was in pursuit. That the Pretender had been able to come back from the dead and that in some way, he and the woman shared this ability.
Yet the woman's sample had shown nothing significant at all, disproving the link he had suspected. Jarod must have faked his own death that night to escape from Miss Parker and to throw his agent off the track. It wouldn't be the first time Jarod had infiltrated the Centre and had learned of his plans, there-by ruining them for him.
Still, it didn't matter that the woman's DNA showed nothing significant. It didn't erase his interest in her. He would find her and continue his experiments.
He wanted what she had.
Immortality.
The End...