The Tor

The children were all excited at the prospect of moving into a larger home. Maria told them they could have their own bedrooms if they wanted but they would hear none of it.

'We can have separate beds but Niles has to sleep in the same room with me.' Aaron insisted.

'And Charlie wouldn't want to be alone so he has to stay with us also.' Niles insisted.

Charlie just nodded his head yes to his brother's comments. It seemed that while the prospect of moving excited the twins, Charlie seemed a little burned out by all the excitement.

Maria told Scott not to bother coming in for work tomorrow since he would need time to pack. She even jibbed him a bit since he had been the only intern to show up for work yesterday. She insisted that Scott would need to learn new social skills when I arrived at Mr. Steward's house.

By three o'clock that day we had finished packing up all their cloths and personal affects when the doorbell rang. At the door were two men dressed in black business suits. They both smiled at Scott and extended their hands as if to shake. When Scott reached out to meet their hands he was pulled into a bear hug by one of them while the other walk up behind me and grabbed me from behind so Scott was sandwiched between the two of them.

'So this is the new kid.' The man in front laughed.

'Fresh meat.' The other replied.

'Prime rib from where I stand.'

'Beef tenderloin from back here.'

Scott heard a cough from behind him and the two men released.

'Ah, you must be the new household doctor.' One of them replied.

'Yes.' Scott heard Ryan's voice answer. Can I have a word with the two of you?'

The two men grinned at each other and said, 'Sure why not,' before following Ryan into the bedroom.

Scott was left holding the front door as the two men joined Ryan in the bedroom. He was just shutting the door when he heard Ryan yelp. Scott ran to the bedroom but was met by one of the men in black. He put a finger to his wide spread smiling before removing his sunglasses.

'You're so cute.' He said while staring at Scott with blue glowing eyes.

'And you're... And you're the stranger who just entered my home.'

'Oh sorry, names Chuck. Maria sent us down to help with the move.'

He said with hand outstretched.

'I'm Scott, Scott Gannon.' Scott said which caused Chuck to cringe.

When Scott reached for his hand another yelp could be heard from the bedroom. 'What's going on in there?' Scott asked while trying to get around him.

'Don't worry about it. Alex is just getting to know the good doctor.

Want a piece of candy, I have a bitter taste in my mouth.'

'No thanks. It seems that there is a little more is involved in his greeting then a hand shake.'

'Haaa! Your right, Alex takes pride in being the first to bed the new recruits. I'd be careful if I were you, he'll be after you next. But for now you're MINE.'

'Huh?' Scott replied, a bit confused. It was then that he noticed that his hand was getting warm in Chuck's grip. He felt himself falling into a daze as Chuck wrapped his other arm around the back of Scott's neck and pulled him toward him.

'I've never met another empath before.' He whispered into my ear.

'Do you know that empaths make the best lovers?' He released Scott's hand and began groping him. 'How does it feel? Does it feel good? Oh I want to take you right here and now.'

Scott surprised the both of them when he pressed his mouth against Chuck's. Scott's heart was pounding and he felt Chuck's tongue enter his mouth. The kiss was deep and fulfilling as their tongues wrapped around each other. The sweet taste of candy added to the erotic feel of his rough tongue. Scott's body was fully pressed against him, each of them trying to maximize physical contact. Hips moved in circles, stimulating the hard-ons they now both had. One by one articles of clothing fell off their body until they were completely naked and their bodies entwined. The feel of smooth skin and muscles sent shivers down Scott's back.

'Dad... What's wrong with your eyes?' Niles voice called out.

In shock Scott tried to turn around to face his son but only ended up tripping with Chuck landing on top of him, knocking the air out of his lungs.

'I guess we were caught!' Chuck laughed when he fell on top of Scott but when he saw that he was gasping for air and could not talk he got off Scott.

'Dad, are you all right!' Niles shouted while running over to him.

Scott finally took a few breaths and was able to exhale a few words to reassure Niles. By this time Chuck was back on his feet with a hand outstretched to help Scott up. His eyes had returned to a dark brown.

He lifted Scott to him and whispered; 'I hope we can continue this sometime latter;' before kissing him on the cheek.

After telling Chuck where the bathroom was Scott quickly went about restoring himself to a clothed state before more of the children saw him in this compromised position. Scott was about halfway dressed when louder yelping came from the bedroom bringing the rest of the other children over to see what was happening.

'Is someone hurting Uncle Ryan?' Aaron asked, concern showing on his face.

'No uhmm...' Scott stalled not sure how to answer his question.

'No, Uncle Ryan is just having fun with a new friend right now.'

Chuck said, coming to Scott's rescue.

'Is that what you and dad were doing?' Niles just had to ask.

'Uhmm no.' I replied bashfully.

'Actually yes we were.' Chuck insisted.

'Our toys seem fun-er. Want to play with us?'

'That 'more fun' and yes we would.' Chuck laughed. Come on Scott, knowing Alex, it's going to be awhile before he and Uncle Ryan are done.

They played with the children for about a half an hour. It involved a lot of make believe since most of the children's toys were already in boxes. The game focused on escaping from a haunted castle and since none of the children wanted to play the evil ghost Scott volunteered for the position. This way the children would not view Chuck automatically as a bad person since he was still a stranger to all of them. Chuck instead played the role of the door riddle. For the children to escape the ghost 'Scott' they had to answer Chuck's riddle in order to escape into the closet. After all of them escaped. Scott would find a place to hide and wait for one of them to sneak out to see if he was still there. Then, Scott would jump out from where he was hiding and tickle them to death. It was near the end of the game when Chuck told them where Scott was hiding and gave them pillows to attack him with. The twins where unmerciful in their attacks, climbing on top of the beds so that they could hit me in the face. Charlie though did not seem too happy with the thought of hitting his father with a pillow so Scott picked him up and told him he was now a ghost and could attack his brothers. This he did gladly. It was when the twins had preceded in dropping the pillows and attempting to tackle their father that Ryan and Alex entered the room.

'Uncle Ryan, help us bring down the ghost.' Aaron called out as he made another daring jump from the bed and onto Scott's back.

'I think you've almost beaten him.' Ryan called out and on his queue Scott allowed himself to flop to the ground.

'We win! We win!' The twins shouted.

'Yep, you all are a pair of ghost busters.' Scott confirmed.

Once all the kids had settled down we moved everyone to the living room where each of the kids picked a lap to sit on. They were all worn out by now and preceded to fall asleep.

'Your children are beautiful.' Chuck commented.

'They sure are.' Scott replied

'They're all talented too.' Alex added.

'Yes but I'm not sure if that is still a good thing.' Ryan replied.

'How so? They're guaranteed the best jobs and education. They be given the choice of what career they want, not like the normals who are pre-assigned by the military and corporations.'

'They'll also have a long life and all the burdens that come with it.

They have to watch nearly all the people they know grow old and die. They will have to watch as society changes over the centuries and what was familiar to them disappear. They will live many years to develop prejudices and hatreds that will make their lives either one of destruction or of sorrow. No, I'm not sure this is the best thing for them.' Ryan said with resolution.

'But society will change with its longer life span. It will adjust to meet our new life span.'

'No it will not. We are less then 3% of the population. The highest expectations with selective breeding are that the numbers will rise to a little over 8% in the next thousand years. We will never be a part of general society and with what contact we have had; we have so far failed at.

'How?' Alex said defensively.

'By your tone I think you know what I mean. Look at the type of relationships the talented have. Because we KNOW that we will out live normals by centuries we avoid forming relationships with them. Why fall in love with a normal if you know he will die long before you do. Why suffer the heartbreak. That is not suggesting that we are any good at forming relationship with another talented. We've been around for only a few decades and already we are afraid of forming relationships with each other.

HOW can we form monogamous life relationships with one person we say to ourselves? After a century or two life would be so boring that we would get on each other nerves. So do we even try to have deep personal relationships with each other, NO! Instead we move from bed to bed always looking for something new. We are a pathetic people.'

'Scott here is different.' Chuck whispered after a moment of stunned silence.

'That's because he doesn't know any better.' Ryan said venomously.

'He has only lived in our world for four years and before that he was raised in a loving home totally ignorant to what he is.'

'What am I?' Scott asked.

'Scott, you're the most perfect empath I've ever run across and because you are not yet corrupted by our society you are ever trusting.

Your talent as an empathy sends out that trust to all those around you.

It's why the children automatically fell in love with you. It is why I love you. When you're a talent and all you feel around you are jaded people, your ability to love another person shuts down and you become as jaded as the rest of the world. Scott, you're talent has only developed part way and I expect that in the years to follow you will start to understand how special you really are.' Ryan said with sympathy.

Officer Saul Newman was the best of the best; the best husband, the best father and most importantly the best hunter. No other government trained vampire hunter had his record of kills. Rookies would be told that all they had to do to get their first kill was just stand next to Saul for an hour or two. Saul was able to do all this even though he was officially handicapped. Saul genetically had Down Syndrome but due to early medical intervention and computer implants he had normal physical features and above average intelligence. But still his life growing up was hard.

Because he was always labeled in school as a defect, he never had many friends and was usually looked down upon by teachers. This lead to him getting into many fights at school and his focus on his body instead of his mind. As soon as he was old enough, he used his physical strength to get into the military's elite forces. There, he won many honors including the right to marry his wife Beth who has given him two children so far. Due to his experience at school and because T's and E's were now recognized as the new superior race, Saul had a deep hatred for vampires. So, when a recruiter came up to him and asked if he wanted to join the Hunters, Saul jumped at the opportunity.

Today was a big day for Saul. He was hot on the trail of a Clan leader named Michael. Michael had been a thorn in Saul's side for several years now. Each time he was about to make a kill, Michael would show up and save the sorry vampire's ass. Michael would also torment Saul in other ways. Not the least of these was his standing offer to make him a vampire.

Saul hated Michael not just for being a vampire or ruining his hunts and not even for tempting him with T talent. It was that Michael seemed to know all of Saul's secrets, his secret desires.

'Bye honey I'm off to work.' Saul called from the front door.

'Be sure to kiss Sally and Kevin goodbye dear.' Beth said from the kitchen.

'I think Kevin is a little too old to get kisses from his dad.'

'He's only four years old dear, I think he can tolerate them for a little longer.'

'Come here you two.'

'Daddy!' Kids, still in their pj's, shouted as they ran to him.

Saul lifted up his two year old daughter had gave her a kiss on the forehead. 'Are you going to help your mother today?'

'Yes daddy, mom says I can help her decorate Christmas cookies.'

'That's good.' Saul smiled before putting the child down.

'And what about you big guy, going to protect the house while I'm away?' Saul said as he lifted up his son.

'When can I have a sword like you daddy?' Kevin asked as he played with the handle sticking outside his coat.

'Not until you're older.' He laughed as he lightly removed his son's hand from the blade.

Saul held his son closer to him, loving the nearness he felt and the clean smell of his son. Saul never felt clean. Too much blood was on his hands to ever feel clean. He gave his son a kiss on the cheek before setting him back down. 'Dad has to go now so be good.'

'I will dad.'

'Bye son.'

'Dad?'

'Yes?'

'I love you.'

'I love you too son.' Saul said while facing away from the boy. It was a rare moment for him. Soon Kevin will be all grown up and be too old to say he loved his father. Saul took a deep breath and stepped out the door his mind now focused on the hunt.

Jeremy was a company child. Born by the company, raised by the company, taught by the company, and now worked for the company. The company was his friend, his family, and his home. He was also terrified of it. For Jeremy did not work for just any company, he worked for GenCorp, a place of high rewards but also a place where one can disappear. Jeremy had taken up one and only one rule in his bid to survive, 'never get noticed.'

During his education he made sure he never scored higher then above average. At work he made sure he made as few mistakes as possible while also not asking questions or stating his opinions. He was the perfect invisible worker, working in the gene scanning division. Not part of any clubs or teams. He went to company parties but never talked, only stood around people who were talking so he would not look like a loner. It was during one of those parties that everything changed.

Travis Gannon was a hollow of a man. Even with all of GenCorp's technology they could not restore a broken heart. His body was now part human and part something else, the vampires would call that something Other, but GenCorp did not believe in vampire legends. His emotions were now alien and no one could reach his heart. He left the running of the company to Gordon. Instead he focused on his own research in an attempt to repair the hole in his heart. It was therefore by a large amount of cajoling by Gordon and other's that he attended tonight's company wide party.

He walked down between the rooms of the central office, his gray skin now a match for the gray glow of his eyes. He emitted and aura of dread and rot to keep people from approaching him. It was unnecessary. People knew that those that came in contact with Travis often ended up as experiments. He was just heading down the main lobby stairs when he saw a familiar face turn away and try not to be noticed. Knowing that he would probably scare the poor man but unable to resist he walked right up behind him and stood there. 'Look at me.' He told the quivering man.

The man sank to his feet and crawled into a ball begging that he be left alone.

'Is this what I've become, a monster that scares people to this extent.' Travis thought to himself. He lifted up the frighten man and pulled his head so he could see his face. 'John?' He whispered when he saw the common features.

'Please go away, please go away.' The poor man whispered.

Travis wanted to continue holding the man that reminded him of his love but could not stand seeing him like this so he gently put him back on the ground and left.

He was about to leave without a word but stopped and said; 'Let me see you again.' Before continuing down the stairs.

Jeremy lay there for several minutes until one of his lab partners got the courage to approach him.

'Jeremy, are you alright?'

'Is he gone?'

'Yes, wow I never thought you would attract one of the top's eye.

You better lay low for a while or better yet stay in large groups, less chance of you disappearing that way. I'd invite you to stay with Max and me but I don't want any trouble.'

'I... I understand Yale.'

'Just be careful. We company guys are a dime a dozen to them but I would hate too loose you. Who would cover my ass when I screw up?'

'I'll try.'

The next morning was stressful. Jeremy was almost certain he would get called away from his station and be sent to the lower levels. The whole lab was on edge in fact. They all saw or were told about what happened and were just waiting for the next shoe to drop but nothing happened. A week past and nothing happened and eventually everyone started relaxing. Then came the order for a department wide gene test and everyone knew whom to blame.

'They start carting us off Jeremy I swear I'll kill you first.' One of the lab techs whispered while they had lunch.

Jeremy wasn't afraid of the threats but was of the test. During his whole 19 years of life he had avoided every gene test given. The policy of gene testing employees was only eight years old but even then it was quite a feat to avoid them all. Now there was going to be a department wide test, harder to avoid them then the random one's that usually occur. He would need Yale's help with this one.

When they had gone back to work Jeremy approached Yale. 'Yale I need a favor.'

'What, a painless death before the others get to you?'

'No, a way to escape the gene testing.'

'Ha, good luck at that.'

'No wait, listen, I have the artificial skin needed to form a pouch where they take the blood, I just need a blood sample close enough to my own to pass the hair sample comparison.'

'Just as I said, good luck.'

'Please!'

'Hey I'm not going to risk my neck as well as the person you want to use just because your afraid of a simple test that you've already had.'

'That's the point, I've never had the test done before.'

'What, how did you pull that off?'

'Never mind, I just need your help for this one.'

'Well for starters, it would be near impossible to find a hair match to a blood sample that wont get caught but I'll try. I just need a sample of your blood to run though the machine.'

'Gulp, do you really need a sample.'

'Yes I really do, it's the only way to find a match. Don't worry it will just be in a random batch, they wont even notice it.'

'I guess I have no choice.' Jeremy admitted but for some reason felt a sense of dread.

Jeremy gave Yale a blood sample then went back to work. Yale told him that they would get results by the end of the day and to come back then. Jeremy worked hard those several hours all in an attempt to not think about his predicament. Therefore at the end of the day he walked slowly to Yale's lab only to be met by a pair of gray eyes.

Saul was on a roll, he had just taken out two of Michael's lieutenants and had Michael trapped in an old warehouse. Ten of his men had been hurt in the hunt but no deaths so far. With the police surrounding the building Saul and three of his men entered for the final showdown.

'Michael, give yourself up, it will be easier for you if you do so.'

'What, a beheading instead of being let to burn in the sun, not on your life. I have a choice for you, come with me and none of your men will be hurt.'

'No deal, now give yourself up.' Saul said frustrated but at that moment the lights went out and Saul could hear the screams from the men behind him. Saul pushed down his night goggles but could only see the empty footprints of his men.

'Hahaha! Are you ready to negotiate now Mr. Hunter!' Michael mocked. 'Give yourself up and your men live. It's a good deal three lives for one. They'll probably name a high school after you.'

'Arrrrr!' Saul screamed as he threw down his blade, went to his knees and put his hands on top of his head.

'Now that's a good boy, I'll be there in a jiff.'

Saul didn't hear a sound of his approach but almost bolted when he felt cuffs being put on his hands and feet.

'Don't want you to run away from me now that I got you.' Michael smiled, his red eyes ablaze.

'What about my men!' Saul demanded.

'Oh they're fine, just knocked out. By the time they awake we'll be long gone.'

'Where are you taking me?'

'To my home of course beloved.'

'I don't love you, I hate your kind.'

'I never said you loved us, it is we vampires that love you, or at least your family. You're like the lost sheep and I'm the shepherd here to bring you back to the flock.'

'In your dreams.'

'And in yours as well if I read your thoughts right.' Michael said as he lifted Saul onto his left shoulder.

'You put that into my mind.'

'Me, no, your desire for men is not my doing, it's your own. Your desire to be loved by men is only equaled by your self-hatred and fear of what you don't understand. You and I have been running circles around each other for years now. I know more about you then you know about yourself and I know you want to be loved.'

'Why me, why are you targeting me.' Saul asked as he was lowered down a sewer grate.

'Because of your family.'

'What does my family have to do with it? If you touch my children I'll...'

'Not that family fool, your father's family.'

'I don't know my father's family my mother would never talk about it.'

'I know, it was a great loss for all involved. Let me just say that your father's family and the vampires are linked. It is why you are such a good vampire hunter. Vampires are attracted to you like bees to honey. It is only a cruel trick that you kill them when all they are looking for is your love.'

'That's a lie. Vampires are senseless killers. They killed billions.

They...'

'They killed your mother is what you were going to say. No Saul, we did not cause the plague. Gen Corp caused it. They caused it out of madness and the desire to create more telepaths. The government needed the telepaths that GenCorp provided so they came to an agreement to blame the vampires for the plague. We are innocent and while you have killed many of us unjustly, we forgive you. We want to bring you to your true home.

Saul wept, all the anger and hatred he had for the vampires was now a displaced body of fear with nowhere to go. When he killed vampires, Saul had felt he was killing his lust for them. Now he was being told that he was born to love the vampires. He didn't know what to do.

'I think its time I fed you. Everything will seem clearer after that.'

Michael lay the built Saul down on the damp ground of the sewer like he was an infant. Saul was still despondent, not yet able to explain his feelings. Michael looked at Saul with sympathy in his eyes before giving him the blood kiss.

Saul at first tried to struggle; 'He's trying to turn me into a vampire!'

his mind screamed but slowly he began to calm down. While the blood sent his veins on fire, the overall effect was calming. Saul was taken by how gentle Michael was being with him. Saul was use to seeing vampires ripping out people's throats only to throw up into their mouths to change them.

This was not an act of violence but of love. When Michael released the kiss, Saul could see his blue glowing eyes reflected from Michael's. The two just stood there and smiled at each other. They were so taken by the moment that neither of them noticed the blade crossing Michaels's throat until his head ended up in Saul's lap. The last thing Saul heard from Michael was; 'Welcome back Saul Morgan.'

'Please take a seat Jeremy.' Travis requested. Jeremy being a company baby didn't have a last name.

Jeremy just stood there, frozen in fear of seeing Dr. Gannon before him, know he had gotten caught.

'Please sit Jeremy, I wont hurt you but I think we need to have a talk.'

Jeremy continued to stand frozen in place. Travis, seeing that he would have to push things along used his T talent to force Jeremy to the nearby chair. So it was like a stumbling robot that Jeremy walked to his fate.

'I'm sorry that I scared you at the party last time. It's my fault that people see me as some sort of monster. I'm also sorry that you felt you needed to hide from me. I predicted that you would try to hide your genetic profile from me and I knew whom you would go to help you do so. A company child does stick out like a sore thumb when his profile is blank.

I just wish you would give me a chance. We have more in common then most people and I really would like to get to know you.'

'You won't experiment on me?' Jeremy finally asked.

So he gets to the hard part, Travis thought. 'I can't promise that, I'm sorry. You're special Jeremy and I need to find out why you're special.'

Jeremy began to cry.

Travis felt his heart twist, while Jeremy had a similar face as his John, his body was very different He was thin and fine boned he looked more like 16 then 19 and his crying right now only added to his child like appearance. He wanted to hold the man like a son. He also wanted to find out why Jeremy was so much like him, so Other, not knowing that he was the product of Vox and Morgan genetics.

Jeremy was a company baby alright. He had been born from genetic samples that arrived at GenCorp from their labs in Arizona. All that was know about him was that he parents names were James Morgan and Jason Vox and that a request for a son to be produced from the material had been approved. Travis tried to find where the parents were today but no other record was found.

Travis continued to stare at the young man until he was no longer able to control himself. Travis stood up and picked up the frail young man and held him close. 'Don't worry little one, I'll never hurt you, just let me love you is all I ask.' And after many years of sadness, Travis felt the thin arms of the man he carried wrap around his neck and hold on for dear life.

Jeremy was moved to Travis's private labs where Travis himself kept his quarters. Part of the reason for this was too keep Jeremy close to him.

The other was to hide him from Gordon. Travis kept his promise not to test on Jeremy for the first month but after reaching the limit of what he could find out by simple observation he cajoled Jeremy to take part of several exams. The results were amazing. Jeremy was the product of the same empathic family as John was and that of a vampire. Travis then began looking into what they had learned in interrogating vampires captured by the government. He learned the legend of Vox, the Fisherman, and the Others. It was the part dealing with the Others that most interested him.

They were blood feeders as was Travis now. He had a preference for the cold as did the Others. The empaths and the telepaths were the product of genetic engineering by the Other's. What did the Other's base the genes from if not themselves. Travis's life had been saved by using both John's and a captured vampire's DNA. If vampire and empath DNA both came from the Other's then were Travis and Jeremy made up more of Other DNA then human?

Jeremy was on the exam table with probes sticking out of his head when Travis walked in. 'How are you feeling Jeremy?'

'The scan makes me feel funny.'

'It will do that. It will check your brain structure as well as chemistry.

Then we will go to the other room and check for activity. Don't worry, I went through the same thing.' Travis tried to smile. He didn't mention that he was too sick to leave bed for weeks afterwards. 'Jeremy I want you to drink this.'

'What is it.'

'You might feel a little sick in the stomach, this will prevent you from throwing up.'

'All righty.' Jeremy said nervously. 'This will not hurt will it?'

'No...' Travis was about to lie. 'Yes, yes I'm afraid it will.'

'Why?'

'Why am I hurting you, because I want to understand what we are?'

'Please don't leave me.' Jeremy said a little scared

'I'll be here the whole time.' He said softly just as he pushed the button to start the first test.

It was like a dream at first. Jeremy was in a park with green meadows and trees surrounding all around. In the center of the park was a hedge maze and at its core was a gray sphere. Jeremy could here Travis's voice telling him to go into the maze and touch the sphere. Jeremy obediently began down the trail to the entrance of the hedge.

It was near the entrance that he felt a sense of foreboding overtake him and he was tempted to turn around but Travis's voice kept telling him not to. It was the sharp sound of a breaking stick that convinced Jeremy that he was being followed and against Travis's pleading, he turned around.

About 20 yards behind him was a pack of giant rats the size of large dogs.

Their eyes had a yellow glow to them that caused pain to shoot up Jeremy's head when he looked at them too long. Their ears were replaced with ram horns and their claws replaced with talons. But it was their squealing that was the most frightening. It would rattle the caps off a person's teeth and nearly brought Jeremy to the ground. The only thing that kept him up was Travis's constant plea for him to run and run he did.

He dashed into the maze not paying attention to where he was running only so long as he felt he was escaping the rats. It was therefore by luck and effort that he reached the center of the maze and the gray glowing sphere that was there only to face another horror. There, with a clawed hand on the sphere, was a humanoid figure dressed in insect like gray armor and a gray light shinning through the black sockets. The free hand beckoned Jeremy to him but he was too afraid. He knew in his heart that the thing in the armor was Travis and he now knew that Travis wasn't human. The hand continued to beckon Jeremy to him but Jeremy, out of fear, hid himself in a corner of the maze and hid his face, wishing that it would all go away.

But it didn't go away. It only became worse. The rats that had been on his trail had finally caught up to him, fangs bare. The creature that was Travis gave off a loud roar that stopped the rats in their track. The armored man took this last chance to beg Jeremy to take his hand but Jeremy wouldn't budge.

Seeing the rats were about to make their attack, the armored creature removed his hand from the sphere. All at once the sphere went black and a sword appeared in the creature's hand. Jeremy didn't see what happened but he could hear the death sounds of the rats as they died. Eventually silence returned. Jeremy uncovered his head and opened his eyes. Standing before him was the armored creature that was Travis. In several spots blue blood could be seen oozing out. While there was no moveable parts to the face, Jeremy felt sadness coming from it. The creature extended one called finger and touched Jeremy on the forehead. It was then that Jeremy awoke.

He awoke to a blinding headache and fever. He was still on the exam table, Travis nowhere to be seen. A technician helped him off the table and dressed him before taking him to his room to recover. It was in the hallway that he saw several men piling up orange bags labeled biohazard and the tail sticking out of one of the bags, a tail that looked a lot like that of a giant rat.

It was time for another family meeting of the Vassar's. Gordon Vassar stood at the head of the table while his three full grown son's sat at opposite ends of the circular table with the eldest Carl facing his father.

'I'm pleased to announce that your new brother Ulrich is now out of the tanks and is joining us for the first time.' Gordon Vassar said cheerfully.'

'Hip, Hip Hurray.' Carl said sarcastically.

'Welcome to the family.' Derrick said in a more welcoming tone then his brother.

'Thank you, I'll do my best to help the family.'

'I'm sure you will.' Gordon said with false cheer, his anger toward his eldest was growing by the day. Carl was unhappy that his father would not give him more authority or in the replacement of that more freedom.

Instead he was locked up in the sub basements trapped in the role of a sham family.

'Carl you will be more respectful of your new brother.' Gordon demanded.

'Yes father, I apologize if I made you feel unwelcome. Please tell us about yourself.'

'I...' Ulrich tried to start but could not. All the memories he had were given to him by his father. Just coming from the tanks he had no personality of his own and everyone knew it.'

'That's enough Carl you can go to your room and stay there until you can be more respectful to your family.'

'Yes father, sorry father.' Carl excused himself happy to leave the fake scene. When he got to his room and locked the door he flopped on the bed and contemplated his situation. He was the first and therefore least perfect in his father's eyes. After Gordon had seen the results with the first son, he made sure that the other's were more obedient and fitted better with his idea of the perfect family. Carl didn't want to cause trouble he just did so. Part of the reason was as the first he spent the first 12 years of his life growing up like a normal child, developing his own personality. The others went straight from the artificial womb to the growth chambers and had only what their father gave them. Carl was also lonely, except for his family and the drone guards he never saw another person. The only person that came to visit him was his uncle Ryan and he was now dead. It was since his death that Carl had began really pushing to be allowed in the outside world but so far his father had refused.

Maybe it was time he tried a different approach and see Dr. Gannon. There were still rumors that Dr. Travis Gannon was his dad's real father. His dad also always acted guilty whenever Dr. Gannon would ask for something.

If Carl could get Dr. Gannon to help loosen his father's apron strings, Carl could go out and see what the real world was like. Carl liked the plan so much that he went straight out of his room apologized to his father and then made his way to Dr. Gannon's labs.