Marker of Hope by Nely Cab

listen to
me. How many were there—Turpis?”
    “Three,” David answered before I could.
“First order.”
    “The ones we ran into in Greece were first
order, too,” Galilea said. “That’s when I knew she was going to be
trouble.”
    “What’s first order?” I asked, ignoring the
part where I’d been called an inconvenience.
    “The eldest of the demon species. Special
forces, so to speak,” David said. “Trained to fight, kill, and
possess people. Shift into human form.”
    “If they can shift into human form, it means
they could be anyone,” I said.
    “Exactly. That’s why I didn’t want you
leaving the house,” said Galilea. “Did the Turpis burn either of
you?”
    “No,” David and I said in unison.
    Galilea scratched the side of her head.
“Weird.”
    “Isis, David,” Eileen called us from the
hallway. “The lab’s ready. Galilea, be a dear and show them in
while I find Isis something of yours to wear.”
    “Her Christmas presents are somewhere in my
closet,” Galilea told her. “Might as well give them to her now
while they fit.”
    “It’s August,” I said. “Why do you have
Christmas presents?”
    “Because I like to plan ahead, and also
because you have bad taste in clothes.”
    ***
    Dr. Gunn’s new laboratory was set up in a
three-car garage, detached from the house. Though it was much
smaller than the lab in Athens, it housed a lot of the same
equipment. I wondered if these machines and supplies were his,
shipped from Greece, or if they were new. Galilea had told me he
had medical equipment, but I hadn’t asked how he’d gotten it. Given
David’s family had provided Dr. Gunn with a lot of financing in
order to have him render his services exclusively to us—and to keep
his mouth shut about the Chioses being immortal deities—I wouldn’t
be surprised if all the tools and machines were fresh stock.
    The doctor was sitting at a small table,
stroking the keyboard on his laptop. His hair was disheveled, and
he was wearing the same glasses he’d broken in Greece.
    “Hello, Isis. Long time,” Gunn said. “David,
I’m surprised to see you. Glad, as well. I’ve been trying to get
Isis to come in to keep record of the progress of the mutation as
you asked me to do before you left Bucharest, but the girl’s been a
ghost since we got here. No visits. No calls…” Gunn adjusted his
glasses. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my word, but she hasn’t made it
easy. Unfortunately, I haven’t any new information to share with
you. I assure you, not a single penny of your funding has been used
after we last spoke, except for the freight expense of my medical
equipment.”
    “You told him to continue the research?” I
asked David. “Why?”
    “Because he loves you, dummy,” Galilea said.
“And before you accuse me, I knew nothing about it until now, so
save that scowl on your face for another time.”
    “I told Dr. Gunn and Eileen not to tell you,”
David explained.
    “And I kept my promise. Now, let’s begin,
shall we?” The doctor rose from his computer and patted the
examination table set up on the right of him, an ultrasound machine
next to it. “Beside pregnancy symptoms, how’s your other situation,
Isis?” Dr. Gunn flipped the ON switch on the ultrasound machine.
“Any changes you’ve noticed about yourself?”
    “Well…” I looked at David, then back at the
doctor. “My senses are sharper, and I feel stronger. And…”
    “And?” Gunn asked.
    “And lately, I have a very persistent desire
to sink my teeth into people.”
    Dr. Gunn turned off the machine and backed
away from me, blinking.
    “Have you acted on your impulse?” David
asked.
    “Not intentionally.” David’s jaw dropped, and
Dr. Gunn took another two steps back. “But I didn’t kill anyone.” I
glanced at both of them. “I didn’t. Ask Galilea.”
    “Which was a total disappointment,” Galilea
said. I scowled at her. “What?”
    “Are you experiencing anything similar,
David?”