Blinding Light (BLS Book 1)

Asher

A few hours earlier…

I’m such a coward.

After all this time of writing entries and saying that this isn’t right to treat a human being, I’m still going along with this. Treating her like some experiment and putting her in danger instead of myself. Letting her feel all the pain, rather than take responsibility.

Her hand clasps tightly around mine as we run down the hallways, away from the guards. Only a few people know this room, including my mom and Nolan’s dad. This is where the APT operates. I grimace at the tightness she clings to my hand for dear life, out of uneasiness. My heart beats rapidly and it’s not because of the running.

Her abilities are growing, along with her strength—her inhuman strength tightening its grasp on my fingers. I try my best to keep my emotions intact. Staying strong for her is the least I could do. Any more pressure and I would have more than a broken hand. And it would take way more pain to fix a disfigured hand.

We run through the hallways. It must be strange to her, the color of white everywhere. It’s a necessity. To ensure no one else gets infected or sick, we find that the color white is the easiest to detect diseases and viruses over the years. It costed the loss of many, but we honor them for their sacrifice.

Now, our facility is safe and clean. Each panel has a robotic arm and a scanner. Each one scans for parasites to keep our compound clean and uninfected.

Although I know we’re safe, I can’t help but feel missing from the reality of life. I don’t know what it is, but the air quality almost feels fake, unreal. And I can’t help but wonder.

Is this what she’s living in every day? In a non-existent world with fake air surrounding her, people exposed to her under our command?

I let her run behind me, dropping her hand when I enter the passcode. To any outsider, it would look as if I’m pressing my hand into the wall. And if anyone tries, it would not activate the hidden door due to the biometrics that we set up.

The door opens and I drag her inside before slamming it shut. The syringe still tingling in my hand. I take a deep breath in.

All it takes is one stab.

She looks around the room, scanning, searching. My eyes travel down to her waist, the exact spot where this syringe would end up in. I’ve done the procedure so many times and punctured her body so often, yet it terrifies me to see her alive. She’s awake and walking for the first time—her beautiful, lightweight body standing in front of me like an angel. She is the savior that will save us all from eternal damnation in Hell.

I only hope that we will not kill this spirit by the end of this godforsaken Project.

Her long, straight, brown hair flows angelically as she walks around. Her slender waist and curves are exposed in the hospital gown. She’s not as short as I thought her to be; she could very well be around five-foot-seven.

Think Asher. You must do this for the good of everyone.

I ease closer to her, as quiet as I could, just like the thief I am, I stab the needle into her side. The liquid automatically extracts, and I remove it quickly. I couldn’t drive myself to erase all of it. She gasps and looks at me—but it’s already too late. The drug is already in her system. Only half of it remains in the syringe. Her face contorts into terror, then pain, then rage.

She looks so hurt and in anger that I don’t meet her eyes. I look away, keeping my gaze on the floor.

“What did you do?” She asks, darkness hooding her beautiful forest green eyes when I look up again.

‘Familiar pain.’ I hear her thoughts for the first time. She knows. She knows much more than we think.

Dangerous.

Beautiful—like a million stars. Even the goddess Aphrodite couldn’t compare to what I see before my eyes.

Her perfect features surround her clean, smooth face. The contrast of her bright green eyes and her rose-pink lips are stunning down to her buttoned nose. Her long brown hair ignites the glow radiating off her whole soul that travels to the tip of her fingers. Her body is perfectly made with such contrasting curves that stand out even from her hospital dress.

But the guilt sits in my chest. All we ever did was cause this goddess of a girl pain. I couldn’t bear to live with myself even if I have a life after this.

How can I?

I savor her innocent eyes, her beauty in my mind before replying,

“Saving you.”

My lips move on command, opening with a lie. “Don’t worry. You won’t remember this.”

Another lie.

It frustrates me that I can’t tell her the truth.

Her legs give out as she slumps back. I catch her light body with ease, picking her up, bridal-style, and set her on the bed.

“I’m sorry, Mila. I’m truly sorry that it was you. I’m sorry that you had to go through this, over and over again.”

A sickening feeling rumbles around my brain down into my stomach. I groan and tumble over. I force myself to swallow the vomit that already came up to my throat—it burns as it goes back down again.

I’ve already gotten the first symptom. I don’t know how long I have left, but it’s not long. Our days are counting down. And they’re going quicker, faster, without her, human existence would be wiped clean off this Earth.

Something beeps outside—the passcode. I expected to see Mother or Nolan’s dad, or that woman she calls Mother. But it was another woman that enters along with Silas.

“Asher.”

“Sira.”

She pushes her glasses up her nose, “What happened?”

I sigh and try to drag one hand through my hair, but I realized again that it was cut already. I shove my hands in my pockets.

“She woke up,” I reply, keeping the emotional wreck version of myself bottled up. I sneer at the two of them, “It wouldn’t have anything to do with you guys, right?”

They both look at each other. And at that moment, I knew.

“You idiots! You…” I breathed deeply, my mind drifting to Nolan. I will NOT lose my temper to these idiots. “What did you do?” They both look at each other again.

Twins.

“Well?”

Sira types into her iPad. The data transferred quickly from the monitor screen in front of me to hers.

“We may or may not have used…” They both speak at the same time. They both stare at each other and laugh. I only glare at them. This has happened way too often for it to be funny anymore.

“We…”

I roll my eyes as Silas attempted to speak.

“Just out with it!” I spat, losing my patience quickly.

Sira jabs my stomach with her monitor.

I hold the monitor, analyzing it. The data from the beginning of March showed no difference. But ever since June, there have been significant changes in her ability shifts. I narrow my eyes at Sira, who avoids my gaze.

“Well? This is good, isn’t it?” I ask Silas.

“It is, sir. This transfer with the big boost in ability management is useful and beneficial to Project Transfusion. We should be able to shock the ability back within a week’s time.”

I raise my eyebrows, “Really? Are you certain?”

He nodded, and so did Sira.

Sira took the monitor back and began typing furiously. She pushes her glasses up again and smiles, “There are great improvements in the data we’ve collected, especially in the past few days with Si—” She cuts herself off and glances at her brother. Silas lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Out with it, just tell him. You’ve already spoiled it,” he sighs again.

“Well then. Out with it, Sira,” I cock my head to the side, waiting.

She sighs then rolls her eyes, “We’ve may or may not been experimenting on our own accord.”

My anger perks up at this. It takes all my self-restraint not to strangle these two.

“Since when?” I say through gritted teeth.

“Since July,” Sira says in a small voice.

“Is anyone else informed of this?”

Both of them shake their heads.

Sira points to the data jumps, “Look here, sir. Do you remember the time that she passed out on the carriage ride you had to escort to the tasting?”

“Yes. Where are you going with this?”

“We’ve begun our own process with her lost memory of you in the first night. When Silas showed her the footage, there was no impact—only the fact that she was a bit shaken up.”

Silas chimes in, “Do you remember when Nolan jabbed his finger at you at the beginning of the month?”

“Yes, he claimed that it was me who’s done something to her. But to this day, I’m still not sure what he was talking about.”

“Well, we had a part in that. We apologize!”

Sira puts both her hands up in surrender, “We revealed the host’s brother to her. It was a short amount of time. We’ve come across another memory with her brother, the boost multiplied by 0.5%.”

I nodded. The boost with me was negative, much to my disappointment. Of course, I didn’t tell either of them that.

“This can only mean one thing,” I glance at the two of them. “You should’ve told either my mother or Kaine. They’ll probably have your heads now.”

“We know, sir,” Sira says.

“Sorry,” Silas chimes in.

“Well, this can only mean that phase two is going to start early,” I say, eyeing the both of them.

“Yes, we believe so. We didn’t want to inform anyone because the ability boost wasn’t as big. We needed some extra data too.

“Now, we’ve decided to try another one. This time with your permission, sir?” They both asked, with hope in their eyes.

“Is it safe? No one has found out?!” I ask incredulously.

“Of course not, sir. It’s not that we haven’t told anyone, it’s just that we wanted to gain access to the APT. Hopefully, with our externally collected data.” I can only stare at her. The APT was the Accessible Project Transfusion.

“Your only interest was to gain entry to the APT?! I would’ve gladly given you entry,” I sigh, frustrated.

These two will be the death of me.

“You’ve now successfully gained entry, so why ask, nerds?”

They look at each other.

“Anyways, what did you find overall?” I ask, crossing my arms.

“We’ve found that her connections to outsiders proven negative in boosts. Neither you nor Mr. Quinn has given much significance. We believe that it’s family members that give us the biggest boosts.”

Sira clears her throat,

“Silas has been watching her. Her frequent memory loss must be a side effect of the Project and the drugs, the cyro-sleep she’s been taking. Nonetheless, we have a proposal.”

She shows me the provided data of her current family, the sister—Raven Song Hayes.

“We’re going to try a new and different approach with the sister. With your permission, of course.”

I think about it, this does have risks.

But have we not taken many risks in life already to stay in it? To stay alive?

I nod, confident that this will begin phase two of the APT.

“If it’s for the best. Do it.”

Want more chapters quicker? This book is available on amazon! Just click on the SUPPORT ME button on my profile!

Like ❃ Comment ❃ Share

Thanks, with lots of smiles

☆•Yiona•☆