Dark Nightmares Ch. 01

On a dark night, in an alley, a car pulled in silently. The headlights flicked off as two men got out of the car. They began to scan the alley, clearing it of anything that may be a threat. The front man told them he was all clear as the back man pulled the back door of the car open and another man stepped out. He was at least six feet tall, with a slender body, short spiked hair that looked light in the darkness. He was dressed in a black suit with a blood red shirt. He looked crisp and clean as he straightened his jacket. "The meeting should be ready," he said as another car pulled up in front of theirs.

The men did the same search and then their cargo stepped out. He was the opposite of the first guy. He was about six foot 5inches, with long dark colored hair, and wide shoulders. His body was trimmed to the point it looked like he worked out every day. He had on black jeans, with a black t-shirt. A leather duster lay on his shoulders as the edges swept the ground. He reached up and stroked his goatee as he waited on his men to finish their scan.

"Is the area secure?" the goatee man asked. The guard nodded and fell into line as they began to walk to the front of the cars and wait for the other man to join them.

As the suit man joined them he held out his hand and said, "it is finally nice to meet the man who has a way of being in interesting places."

The goatee man shook his hand and replied, "I enjoy that my work takes me to interesting places and is able to bring new creatures. Is there something particular that you are looking for, or are you looking to invest?"

The suit man laughed before he replied, "I am thinking of both. I have found a woman who is of interest and I believe that she will make a perfect candidate for your experiments. As well, I am interested in learning more about what you experiment with and would like to consider investing if your project proves hopeful."

The goatee man leaned back against the car and looked thoughtfully as he considered. "My experiments range over a large area, is there a particular experiment that you wish to enter your woman?"

The suit turned to one of his guards as they handed him a packet, "inside is the information and a picture of the woman. I heard that you were looking for someone to be involved in the 'angelic' experiment and thought this woman would be of interest."

As the goatee man opened the packet and scanned the document, his eye brow lifted with surprise. Then he smiled as he looked at the photo. "I think that she may fit the lines we would need. So far every one that has been in this particular program has either rejected or become twisted. If her blood test prove high enough we may get a success with her. Is she volunteer or force?"

The suit's grin was dark as he said, "forced, she is payment from an associate so to speak. But it works out better for me than them. So do we have an agreement for her and possible investment?"

"We do. Here is my contact information for the lab, and the location where you can deliver her. I will be looking forward to having her."

The suit gave an evil laugh as he shook hands, "I will deliver her in a week to you. I look forward to getting a tour of your lab." As the parted back to their cars, the goatee man slide into his and reopened the file. He began to read more in depth. She apparently was a new species even though she looked human.

From the blood tests they had done she had a super enzyme in her blood stream as well as high feline markers along her DNA. She would make an interesting test subject when he had her in the lab. The guard who was driving asked, "Mr. Shadows, do you believe that he will hand over the girl? It seems like he knows more than he is saying."

Mr. Shadows reached into the little refrigerator in the back and pulled out a bottle of wine. He poured himself a glass as he considered. "I believe that he will hand her over just so he can have the satisfaction of torturing his 'associate.' At the same time it does seems strange that she would be brought to us when we need to explore other options. I believe that he does know more than he lets on, but that is for some one else to find out for me." The driver nodded in agreement and kept silent the rest of the journey.

The week seem to fly by with testing and business. Mr. Shadows was growing excited at the thought of a new test subject. The experiments that he had running were producing mixed results. He needed to have something change so that he could produce better outcomes. With the blood tests coming in, he sat at his desk and looked them over. He knew that there was something he was missing. His phone rang as he was making notes. "yes" he answered. "Mr. Shadows, a car has arrived from Mr. Grey."

"Let them through." As he rose from his desk, he grabbed his short leather jacket and went to greet Mr. Grey. He took the elevator down to the parking space. He watched as the Town car pulled in and the driver got out and opened the back door. As Mr. Grey got out, he pulled a slender woman out with him.

He smiled as he walked toward Mr. Shadows. "I have brought the subject as requested. I am hoping that I can have a tour before you get started with her."

Mr. Shadows looked to the man that was standing by the door, he walked over and took the woman. "Place her in quarantine until I can come process her myself."

"Yes sir," replied the man as he lead the woman to the door. As he turned back to Mr. Grey he said, " I would be delighted to give you a tour so that you may see the different experiments."

Mr. Grey laughed, "you may call me Charles. I am looking forward to seeing the possibilities that we could achieve."

"I'm Devon, and I think that you will surprised at the different experiments we have going here. We have so many questions and possibilities but yet it seems that we have very few test subjects."

As they moved into the elevator, Devon entered a code and away they went. When the doors open, there was a long hallway in front of them. They exited the elevator and started to walk. As Devon stopped in front of a clouded window, he tapped a code into a panel on the side and the glass became clear. As Charles looked his face lit up with surprise. Inside was what looked like a humanoid.

The body for the most part was that of a woman, it had a flat stomach, with big luscious breast, the arms were long with reddish brown fur that ended in paws with extremely long claws. The legs had green scales that ended in lizard like feet. The head was female but with a protruding snout that had whiskers and long sharp teeth. The eyes had moved and been formed on top of two stalks that kept swiveling around the room. A long blue tail snaked out of the back side and was covered in tiny spikes that kept extending and retracting. As the creature looked at the men, it growled and gnashed its teeth at them.

Charles kept staring and admiring it. "How did it become this way?" Devon clouded the glass and turned to him motioning him to the other windows throughout the hall.

"We started with one animal and started to do DNA splicing. We were hoping that with the insert that the test subject would be able to use all of the attributes. Unfortunately most of the test subjects ended up with mixed features. Some have features that stayed and others have ones that pop up suddenly. We are working on the blood samples to see if there is a character between the two or if there is a flaw with either."

As they continued walking he showed the different rooms with various species in different forms. Some women with fur and over sized claws, others had tails with scales or pincers. One woman was covered in a slimy film all over her body as her head was elongated like a snakes.

When they reached the end of the hall, they stepped through the door into another hallway that was shorter. Devon walked up to the glass of the first with Charles. As he cleared the glass, Charles gasped and stepped back as the room was revealed.

Inside was a woman who looked normal, except her shoulder blades seemed to protrude from her back and long grotesque appendages seemed to spread out. Appearing almost like bat wings, but with holes in spots, and tattered edges. She lay curled up as the "wings" seemed to curl inward and not move. As Charles looked at Devon he asked, "is she one of the fails?"

"Yes, she appeared to bond with the formula. But after a week the wings seemed to shrivel inward and when she attempted to move them holes began to rip in them. Now they are as you see." The next window held a woman with what looked like she had angel wings. When Devon instructed for her to turn around Charles noticed that only half of the wings were intact. She had the upper half, but the bottom half was jagged and torn looking.

"Her wings started to grow nicely, but after two weeks they stopped half way and refused to grow any further. We noticed that she had an accelerated blood flow for healing. We decided to try to remove the bottom and see if they would regrow properly. But sadly they refuse and stay as they are." Charles nodded thoughtfully before he said, "is there a pattern to each of the test subjects or is it an isolated incident with each subject?"

"It seems to be isolated per subject as each has come out differently" Devon replied. He lead them to an elevator at the end of the hall and they stepped in to be taken to his office. When they arrived, Charles followed Devon in and sat in the chair in front of the desk as Devon went to sit behind it. Charles pulled a packet out of his suit and handed it to Devon as he lit a cigar.

"In this packet is an outline to a few 'subjects' that may be promising for you. As well as a outline for a project that I would be interested in starting." As Devon reviewed the information in the packet, he began to get ideas on how to make it work as well as uses for the 'subjects' in the packet. He set the packet on the desk as he stood up and went over to the mini bar in his office and poured brandy for both of them. He came back and offered one glass, which Charles took with a smile.

He opened a box on his desk and removed a cigar for himself. "I can see the potential of the subjects. They could prove quite useful. As for your ideas in the research area it seems a bit risky but intriguing. It could be doable if I have proper time to make the substance and to test it."

Charles inhaled deeply as he thought it over. "How much time is needed to make a test sample?"

"I could make a test sample in about 3 months. It would be the first proto-type sample, but it would be workable and useable."

Nodding Charles thought that if the product was doable then the possibilities could be endless. "I will fund you for the 3 months of cost to make the substance. I will bring a test subject for the first trial. If you can prefect it to work as intended then the market will be open us." Devon agreed.

They signed an agreement and money was exchanged. Before Charles left the office he turned to Devon and said, "I hope the woman will give you your promising results with the angelic substance." As he left Devon threw back his drink and got to his feet, ready to begin with the woman in question.