667 Issue #10: "Old Wounds"
March 27th, 2017 Subject #002: Adam Baudin

I was sitting at the kitchen table in the early morning, mulling over how to go on from here. Part of me wanted to run off on my own and hunt down Rex, and the other part of me wanted to replace Claire and force her to tell me what the hell she was doing with all these relics and then stop her.

She must have been a rather smart woman and fairly skilled in deception to have played the part she did and have Violet convinced that she was one of the good ones.

I figured it a good idea to call up Josiah back in the states and give him Claire’s name so he could mark her off in the roster we had created of all 667 of us; they needed to know what we knew now.

“Adam, how is everything?” He asked. I knew it was late on his end, but I needed to talk to him now.

“Not good.” I quickly dove into what we knew and regaled to him what had happened the night prior before giving him Claire’s name.

“She is indeed from Edinburgh. Says here that her number is 208.” Josiah gave me confirmation that she was definitely one of us.

“What do we do now? She wasn’t in that car so there’s a possibility that she’s still alive.” I wondered what we were supposed to do and hoped he had an idea.

“I’m not sure. I mean, what she is doing is illegal, and had she not tried to kill you all, I would say to come home and let her do her thing, but…she seems dangerous.” Josiah was right.

“Do me a favor then. I have to go wake everyone up and figure out a way to replace Claire, will you see if you can replace anything about her on the internet? I want to see what she was like before all of this because she mentioned something about being a Historic Artifacts Conservator here in Scotland. I just want to know how much of what she told us was a lie.” It really wasn’t important at this point, but I was curious.

“I can do that. Keep me updated.” Josiah agreed and hung up the phone.

I decided to let everyone get up on their own as my brain ran on and on about things. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Violet had told me last night. How she had been used, how she had been abused, how this man that I encountered in the pub had practically destroyed her on some level even though she seemed so strong.

I was thinking about all the ways that I wanted to kill him when there was a knock at the front door. As far as I knew, everyone was still in the house, so who would come knocking?

There was a possibility that it was the landlord and I didn’t want to be rude to our host, so I answered the door to replace Claire standing on the stoop.

“You’re alive.” The words didn’t come out of her mouth sounding like she was disappointed, more like she was surprised.

“Don’t try anything.” I raised my arms aflame to defend myself if need be.

“What are you?” Claire seemed astonished and drew back from me out of fear.

“Why did you try to kill us?” I spat back, lighting a smoldering fire in my hand to seem more intimidating.

She shook her head at me, “I didn’t try to kill you.”

“You didn’t try to telekinetically run us off the road with your car?” I stepped forward, pushing her off the stoop as she recoiled in fear.

“No. Wait, what do you mean telekinetically run you off the road with my car?” She was suddenly emboldened as she took a step forward towards me.

“We know what you are, Claire. Maybe you don’t, but we know. We know what you are capable of so don’t play dumb with me.” I snapped.

“Okay, so you know that I have psychokinetic powers, but I didn’t run you off the road. I was at home last night after my boyfriend stood me up for dinner. He did this, but I have no idea how.” Claire’s face didn’t waver as she spoke; she wasn’t lying.

“How did you replace us?” I was still wary, but starting to warm back up to her.

“Let me in and I’ll tell you. It’s chilly out here and I don’t want anyone to see me.” She pulled the collar of her coat up around her face.

I hesitated, weighing my options. There were eight of us and just one of her; if she was lying and tried to do something stupid, we could take her.

I stepped away from the door and extinguished my flame before letting her inside.

(*)

Everyone was awake now and we were all sitting around Claire in the living room as she wrung her hands in her lap and looked incredibly nervous.

“So, how did you replace us?” I asked and she started to respond.

“I knew he took my car, but I didn’t know where or what he had done with it. I caught wind of it on the news this morning; that the wreckage was found about a kilometer down the road from here. I called an Uber to take me down this way and passed the crash site; the news report said it had been a single vehicle accident and they assumed that whoever had been driving had been carried away by scavengers, but were perplexed by the lack of blood or any evidence of what the car had hit. I had this weird flash then—and hope—hope that maybe you all were still alive. I could sense Violet nearby and had the driver keep going until I passed the castle and saw your car in the drive.” Claire looked as if she didn’t think we’d believe her.

“You found us.” Violet seemed a little more at ease by this revelation.

“And you said that it was your boyfriend that tried to kill us?” I asked again and she nodded.

“Is he one of us too maybe?” Salome asked aloud.

“One of us? I don’t understand.” Claire was perplexed.

“I really should just make a blasted pamphlet.” Violet exhaled loudly before diving into our origins like we had now done numerous times before.

When she was finished, Claire looked like she was going to combust, her eyes ringed in red and watery as she regarded each of us.

“Our birthdays? Genetically altered? Demons and angels? What in the fuck are we?” She finally blurted.

“Still working on that. Been working on that. But we all have numbers to mark us and from what I’ve been told, you’re number 208.” I informed her.

“And you said something about a fog? It killed regular people?” Claire’s hand flew to her mouth.

“What is it, Claire? What are you remembering?” Violet knew that look in her eye.

“I have barely any recollection of my birthday. I was at a gala for the National Museum and the only thing I remember is waking up and everyone was dead.” She blinked rapidly a few times as her mind tried to close around the information she was receiving.

I was going to ask a question when the phone rang; it was Josiah.

“Excuse me just a moment.” I got up from the sofa and went to the kitchen to answer the call.

“Find anything?” I asked after hitting the call button.

“Actually, yes. There was a report made on June 7th of last year about an incident at the National Museum of Scotland. The museum had been closed off the weekend prior due to remodeling and the installation of new exhibits after receiving some sort of government grant. They were going to unveil a purported relic of Christ that was to go on display after the reopening on the 7th. Those working for the museum in various capacities held a gala on June 5th to celebrate the grant and the newly remodeled museum, but when it was time to open on the 7th, no one was there to unlock the doors. The police were called and when they were able to get inside, they found a ballroom full of deceased people, but no webbing of any kind. Based on what research I have done in regards to the webbing, it must deteriorate after 24 hours or so. The authorities were stumped. There is a list of the deceased that I found, but Claire isn’t on it.” Josiah informed me.

“Because she lived…she must have gotten out of there before the cops showed up. She’s actually here right now.” I bit at my cheek as I waited for Josiah’s return.

“Alive?” Josiah questioned.

“Yeah. From what she told us, she isn’t the one that tried to kill us; her boyfriend is. We’re working on questioning her about it right now.” I explained.

“Get back to it then and call me when you know more.” Josiah was short and I hung up before going back into the living room to listen to what Claire had to say.

“He rescued me. We were the only two that survived. He wasn’t at the gala but was working downstairs with preparing our newest artifact that was to go on display when the museum opened that Tuesday. Whatever happened must have missed him somehow.” I heard Claire talking about her boyfriend.

“Just talked to Josiah. I had him do a little research for me in regards to Claire earlier this morning. What she is saying is the truth.” I knew that she wasn’t lying at this point.

“Did the police question you both?” Naomi queried.

“No. He believed me when I told him that I hadn’t been the one to kill those people and snuck me out through the basement before the authorities ever came. He didn’t want me to be blamed for what happened and I’ve been questioning myself ever since, wondering if maybe I had been the culprit somehow. My powers manifested instantly and I couldn’t control them, but he helped me, he believed me, and he didn’t judge.” Claire had this desolate look in her eyes as she spoke of him.

“What I still don’t understand is how he was able to drive a car when he wasn’t in it? He has to be one of us or something.” Khaine was convinced.

“I don’t think so; he’s a few years older than me, at least that’s what he said.” Claire doubted that he was, “Granted, he could have lied to me. He’s been dishonest for a long while, I think.”

Claire was starting to look exhausted and I figured she probably hadn’t slept since yesterday.

“Why don’t you try and relax for a little while. Get some sleep if you can.” I offered her respite, but she didn’t seem like she’d take it.

“I can’t. What if he comes looking for me?” She was clearly afraid.

“We won’t let anything happen to you. Get some rest and we can talk more about everything when you wake up.” Violet got up from the sofa and directed Claire upstairs to her bedroom where she could get some peace and quiet. Claire reluctantly agreed and left us to ponder what we were going to do next.