赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“I just need a minute,” she said, walking toward the door.

Peter sat down at the computer as the door closed behind her. He minimized the video, looking through the documents and folders that were opened on the screen.

He found notes similar to the ones he had already read about the temporary fae cells that Spring had been trying to make, though these were far more detailed.

Several other documents were about iron absorption and how much the average wolf could survive. There were notes added to this document alongside experiment numbers. Ever-increasing amounts of iron that would have killed most wolves and would cause excruciating pain in any wolf.

He thought of the scream that had filled the room. He sighed as he thought of that poor child subjected to these experiments.

From what he could see, ‘Tea for Two’ began more than two years ago. But it was unclear when Holden actually pulled Sadie into his twisted science.

Peter sighed and moved on, continuing to explore the folder\'s contents.

His eyes widened as he read about plans to implement a virus that would mutate the fae cells within the host.

Alice had mentioned finding something about this, but the documents she had shown him were purely theoretical. They had yet to find a way to actually implement the plan. But Holden’s records seemed to indicate that that was not the case.

There was one last folder he hadn’t opened yet. He paused when he read the name.

“Alice,” he whispered, reading it out loud.

“He knew I would be the one to find this,” Alice’s voice called from the door. “One way or another.”

Peter looked back at her.

“What do you mean?” he asked, then looking back at the screen, he added, “and why didn’t you show this to me before?”

“Because I had no idea it existed before,” she said, moving toward him. “Or at least, I didn’t know I did.”

“Is this more of your memories clearing up?” Peter asked.

“Yes and no,” she said. “When Sadie said ‘Tea for two,’ it triggered something in my mind. I searched through the Spring files, and nothing popped up, but then I focused on the Alice folder, where the children’s files were kept as well as my own. After some digging, I found a hidden drive. We were lucky it copied over with the other data. It was stored behind Sadie’s files, like a digital shadow.”

“I didn’t realize Holden was so computer savvy,” Peter said.

Alice sighed.

“He wasn’t,” she said. “I think… I set it up for him.”

“What?” Peter asked, sitting forward.

“I don’t remember for sure,” she said. “And many unrecovered memories have been blocked to keep me from the oh-so-fun seizures.”

“Then why do you think you did it?” he asked.

“Because I know how, and everything I have read in those files indicates that this project was Holden’s and unknown to anyone else. Which means he wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to set it up or have access to them.”

Peter turned back to the computer screen, glancing at the files.

“But we’ve seen other documents about the fae contaminant and the mutation virus, so how much of a secret could it be?” he asked.

“This project wasn’t about spreading the virus,” she said. “It was about curing it or possibly preventing it.”

Peter turned back to her with wide eyes. Then, he stood up and tilted his head.

“What?” he asked with an even blend of shock and confusion. “You mean… he’s already worked out what we need to cure Myka? Maybe even keep everyone else safe?”

“It seems like he might have, yea,” Alice hesitantly replied.

Peter let out a laugh and then an excited shout. But his reason caught up to joy, and he calmed himself.

“Ok…Ok, wait…why? From everything I have been told from you and everyone else that dealt with this guy, it sounds like the virus is exactly his style, so why would he want a cure for it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Alice replied. “But the only place I haven’t looked yet is that folder.”

Alice tilted her head to the screen towards the folder with her name written on it.

“Well,” Peter said, “what are we waiting for?”

Alice shrugged and sat down in the chair. She opened the folder. Inside were two more documents and a video file.

“Maybe we should watch the video first?” Peter asked. “Get it done with?”

Alice sighed.

“Might as well.”

The video began. It was the same lab they had seen Sadie in, only the bed was empty this time. Holden sat in his chair before the camera. He straightened his glasses and cleared his throat.

“Alice,” he began. “Let me start by saying I am so proud of you.”

Alice swallowed and clenched her jaw.

“I say this knowing you have survived me,” he smiled. “Surprised? Probably not. I think we both knew that of the two of us, you were always far more likely to kill me.”

Alice let out a chuckle. Peter reached down and paused the video.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yea… it’s just… he thought I was going to kill him.”

“You weren’t?” Peter asked, genuinely surprised.

Alice laughed.

“Well, he DID try to kill me. But I don’t think I could, well, no, I could. If he had come after Axel again, I could have,” she nodded to herself. “But not in the way he means.”

“What way is that?” Peter asked.

“He congratulated me on surviving him and then said that of the two of us, I was more likely to kill him,” she repeated. “He thinks, at least at the point he made this video, that I killed him out of vengeance or to free myself of him.”

“And you wouldn’t have done that?”

Alice looked up at Peter with a gentle smile.

“Vengeance is not the panacea so many believe it to be,” she replied. “It may provide a momentary satisfaction or relief for your pain, but it does nothing to keep it away. Instead, it burns into your gut and doesn’t stop until you are a shriveled shadow of your former self.”

Peter stared at Alice, his brows lifted, eyes wide, and jaw open.

Alice chuckled.

“I have seen many travelers of that road,” she said. “I have no interest in it.”

“Ok… so what about freeing yourself? You wouldn’t have killed him to be freed sooner than you were?”

“I did free myself… without killing him,” she replied. “And because I didn’t kill him, I don’t have to think about him every day for the rest of my life.”

Peter nodded and smiled.

“He didn’t really know you,” he said.

Alice grinned.

“No, he didn’t,” she said. “He tried desperately to make me in his image, and I was his greatest failure in that regard.”

She smiled proudly as she turned back to the monitor and resumed the video.

“But none of that matters now, my dear Alice,” Holden grinned. “What does matter is that though we did not always see eye to eye, nor did we have a proper relationship as father and daughter, I still want to protect you.”

On the screen, Holden clenched his jaw and swallowed. Alice could see that he meant what he said, as ridiculous as it was.

“There are things you don’t know about, and I don’t have time to explain. But they are dangerous and insane.”

“Pot, kettle…” Alice whispered.

“Everything you need to know is in these files. The experiments and the results,” he said, then paused, rolling his eyes and sighing.

“Yes, I know, what a monster I am for subjecting this child to all these experiments,” Holden scoffed. “Be thankful! Because I have done this, I have found the way to keep us, or at least you, safe should that demon bitch get her way.”

“Demon bitch?” Peter whispered.

“I don’t know,” Alice replied.

“The virus is almost ready; as soon as she has a more reliable way to bond the fae DNA to the wolves, it will be weeks, if we are lucky before she sets it loose.”

“Axel’s blood,” Alice sighed.

Peter nodded.

“Once the mutations start taking hold, those wolves won’t exist anymore. They will be no better than zombies. No thought of their own. They will belong to her and her alone.”

Peter felt a heavy weight in his stomach.

“Now, you may think I am no better than she is because of what you have endured,” he said, pausing to clench his jaw. “But there is one thing that you should know.”

Holden paused, took a deep breath, and licked his lips before looking back at the camera.

“I loved your mother. I loved her so much,” Holden whispered, his eyes lowering away from the camera. He took a deep breath before continuing. “But our relationship was not… acceptable.”

Alice sat up, listening closely.

“I kept her, and you, a secret for several years. But eventually, Alpha Gorn found out,” he continued. “When he learned about you, curious about how you survived the womb with your mixed genetics… he demanded that you come back with me. But the only way that he would allow Savannah to join us… that’s her name… your mother.”

Holden looked away again, taking a deep breath and blowing it out slowly.

“He would only allow her to come… if she survived the turning,” he said. “I did kill your mother… but not because I wanted to.”

Alice let out a shaky breath. She remembered the red-stained kitchen, Holden picking her up and taking her to the car.

“When I brought you, Alpha Gorn made it painfully clear that you had to be useful to stay,” he continued. “So, I made you indispensable. I made sure that you were the best at everything you did. That you were always useful.”

Holden growled softly and turned his eyes from the camera.

“You are all I have left of her…” he said softly. And then he raised his eyes slowly back to the camera. Deep anger shone inside of them. “You’re also the reason I had to kill her.”

Alice clenched her jaw.

“For her, I will always protect your life, Alice,” he said, his voice cold, his smile colder. “But I never had to make it easy.”

Peter looked at Alice with concern, but if she was affected by what her father had said, she was hiding it well.

“So, there is a monster looking to enslave the wolves. Likely the humans as well…" Holden said with a shrug and chuckle.

He leaned forward, still smiling.

"But you won’t have to worry about that, my dear. I have found the solution, and the best part is….” Holden leaned even closer to the camera with a wide grin. “It’s gonna hurt… A lot.”