Nature or Nurture Ch. 11

They leave the house together, Adison and Vincent heading towards the Chinese quarter, the doctor down town to a certain Doctor Van Helsing, the man who has made the study of blood and its unique properties his life's goal.

The day is nice and sunny, and the two lovers thoroughly enjoy the walk through town. Entering the Chinese quarters, the scenery changes. The buildings are more or less the same high rises with apartments as most of the city, but a lot of the homes have brightly coloured banners, and the shop-signs are of course in Chinese characters. There is more green in the streets, potted shrubs and even trees, there are more children about. The reason for this is also clear, the social structure here is much stronger.

Adison is greeted immediately by her title as doctor, and Vincent is hailed by name, by most passers-by and all of the children. It gives a feeling of belonging. They head for the community centre, a lower building set in a garden. The grounds must have once cost a fortune, and the building itself another one, built as it is in traditional style and of materials imported from China. Adison likes the strong community spirit, Vincent can imagine Bruce feeling very controlled and limited by it. Tradition rules everything in this part of town, and for a restless young man it can be very restricting.

They enter the building and head to master Man's room. Knocking, they are invited in, and find the room already full with a kind of council, consisting of three men and three women, of different ages. Bruce is there too, master Man heads it.

'We were expecting you two, welcome!', he says to the stunned couple, 'we had hoped to finally meet the doctor as well, but I suppose he had other pressing business?'

Adison stutters, 'How did you know we'd come? Do you also know our goal?'

The council nods in unison, and apparently master Man is their spokesperson.

'You want to know more about the evil that is trying to manifest in our city and that is threatening us all. Please be seated, both of you, and tell us what you know.'

Adison starts to speak.

'A week ago three people brought the body of a gruesome creature to the doctor's workshop. It was man-shaped, it had a light grey hard exoskeleton, like an insect, no body hair and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Cutting into the exoskeleton, the doctor found the body a darker grey, with hieroglyphs in relief.

Its blood was that of a normal human, but with elements of an infectious disease. The sight of the body and of the lady of the company of three, Miss Vanessa Yves, gave me a premonition: that the appearance of that particular group of people would change all our lives, explaining why the three of us felt compelled to learn weapons-craft and why Vincent needed to get to know and accept the violent side of him. We were going to need both in a battle against evil.'

She hands master Man the sketches.

'And your story?' he asks Vincent.

Thinking back to what might be relevant to the council, he starts.

'Do you know how I was born a year ago?'

'We have an idea, but we'd like to hear it from you. We have a suspicion you may be quite important in all this, so we'd like to hear first-hand.'

So he tells them.

'The doctor took a body dying of head trauma and resurrected it using lightning. It went totally wrong, I was born totally confused and in excruciating pain. This brought me to near-madness and violence. The doctor fled in fear and might have abandoned me, if I hadn't killed him in my state of rage and despair.

Adison intervened and comforted me, healed my wounds and relieved my loneliness. She taught me to walk, speak, read, write and think, and she showed me how to love and how to forgive. Finally she helped me face my violent streak and learn to love it as well.'

This is what we thought had happened.' Master Man is obviously not surprised by Vincent's story. 'Now hear our share. We knew the doctor had a task to fulfil, so we had him watched. We set up Adison to live next door, so she could assist in his task, and found a practice with him to bring Chinese medicine to English patients.

When we finally could see you in our readings, we were glad we had decided to intervene, for you had been set up for great evil even before your death. We don't know exactly what the enemy was planning of course, but we suppose you were to be resurrected, then scare your maker into flight, leaving you to grow up in utter loneliness, virtually indestructible and howling mad with hatred for your maker and all humankind.

You were to be the ultimate bringer of evil, though we don't exactly know in what way. We know this is not all, but we don't know the rest of his plan, we hoped you would find out.'

Vincent cannot seem to take all this in at once, but Adison makes a brave effort.

'You set me up to live there and save Vincent from becoming a demon? You mean to say that he was killed on purpose, so the doctor could raise him again?'

Now Vincent has found his voice back.

'I'm indestructible?'

'Virtually, yes', Bruce calls out happily, 'so we can go all out in practice from now on!'

Master Man adds, 'We believe the flashes are memories from your former life, they may be really important clues to what the enemy is planning, so try to remember them with as much detail as you can. You may even try to influence them a little.'

So, the visions he has been having are indeed flashbacks from his former life.

'Are they indeed more violent when Miss Yves touches me?'

The men and women discuss this for awhile, and a woman answers Vincent's question.

'This may very well be. If so, you need to avoid touching her, for temptation may enter you again via her. If it does happen, seek contact with Adison or another benevolent well, to draw it out.

Our powers tell us there is one close to Miss Yves, a very strong one though it is dormant. If you ever meet him, Adison, you could set it free, gaining a powerful ally against the enemy.

Flashbacks you experience in sleep or spontaneously are not harmful, they will return your memories to you, but you will not be their slave. You are your own person now.'

'Now, have we had the answers we were looking for? Please keep each other informed, and be careful. And Bruce, do your best the coming week, for we will be visiting your show when you least expect it!'

Thinking of a delegation from the Chinese quarter visiting the gruesome tales, Adison, Bruce and Vincent cannot help thinking: then the director will be thrilled his trick works!

'One last thing, Adison, may we keep this drawing for research?'

And with that, the meeting is done. Vincent and Bruce work themselves in a sweat on the sunny patio of the building, Adison is off for her first study of Chinese powers, hoping for a cure for possession.

After practise, Vincent and Bruce decide to meditate for half an hour, to prepare for the theatre. Vincent especially needs some quiet to digest his new knowledge.

Of course he knew from the start of his life that he was not normal, even when he did not yet have words to express it.

But he always assumed he had been a normal man in his life before his resurrection. He can hardly believe that he was primed to be a bringer of evil in that former life, he's only one person after all. What can one man do?

And wouldn't he have evil thoughts once in awhile? And if Adison was planted there to save him, does she really love him, or is it just a compulsion that she is under, like the woman of his dreams was primed to lead him into destruction?

Of course it is impossible to meditate with a head so full of revelations. Maybe a trained individual can do it, but Vincent has been doing it for less than a month. So when his features slacken and his tenseness lessens, Bruce immediately realizes he is having another flashback. He decides to watch his friend closely as it progresses, hoping it will tell them anything about the process Vincent is going through, ready to intervene if something seems off.

This time, he is in a city, and not riding a black horse, but inside a luxurious carriage. The inside at least is not black, but deep red velvet. He wonders if this means it is not his own, but rented. Detached from what is happening, he looks around to see if he can find any clue as to who he is. First the carriage, does it have any insignia? Apparently not. A watch, watches are often engraved. And indeed he has a heavy golden one, on a chain, and it is engraved: 'yours forever, Cathy'. And a date, five years ago.

When the heath was blooming and all was still well? Or already in the city, to make up for a lover's row? He checks his body for wounds, there are some, but not fresh, they're scars.

Hunting boots, black trousers of course, both of the finest quality, shirt, white, also fine quality. Kerchief, dark red, the colour of blood. No marks of ownership anywhere.

His dagger, nice quality, expensive, a maker's mark. Stenman in London, five years ago. That may be traceable. He looks out of the window, hoping for a clue. He recognizes nothing, he tries to think frantically of another way to identify himself.

The carriage stops, in front of a seedy looking bar. The driver opens the door.

'This is it, sir, the address you gave me. The Dark Fox, East London. It looks like a seedy place.' The driver is clearly sorry to have spoken that thought out loud.

Though he personally agrees, he feels a twitch of annoyance from his host, his former self. He is in control though, so he does not deliver the expected blow. It is a sad sight, to see people cringing from him, though he knows it is not him they fear, not really. For though he wears the same body, he refuses to accept that this was his life.

Lost in thought, he enters the crowded taproom of, indeed, a seedy establishment. There is no recognition visible in any of the patrons, so he is not a regular here. Well, that is to be expected, it is clear that he is rich.

Then, a beautiful young woman comes towards him as if she is the one he is supposed to meet here. His body seems to know her, but he cannot place the feeling. Is he cheating on his wild girl, who he now knows is called Cathy, with this woman? She comes towards him to shake hands, and indeed she does.

'There you are, finally,' she says, proving they do know each other, though they don't seem to be lovers, for she is not looking at him, but behind him. He hopes she will call him by his name, whilst he tries to remember hers. Concentrating on her name, he fails to react to the intense warning of danger his own body's honed reflexes gives him.

When he finally realizes he's in danger, it is too late. He does remember the name of the woman who has set him up in this bar: Mina. Through the haze of pain that follows the blow on the back of his head, he realizes that he is not just living through his own death, he has caused it. Then everything turns black.

From what he has heard, Bruce knows this is the longest flash Vincent has experienced so far, excepting maybe the dreams he has had. Vincent's vital signs are fine, so he does not wake him. As his friend starts to show some agitation, Bruce starts to doubt if he should pull him out.

He rushes to master Man's window, taps on it. Then he returns to his friend, whose vitals have not changed. As the master and Adison approach at a run, he meets them halfway and reports on what has happened. The master convinces Adison that it is not harmful to experience a flashback this long, as long as the body stays warm and breathes well.

They wait for what seems an age, when suddenly, with a cry of pain, Vincent keels over. Adison is with him in less than a second, checking his vital signs then holding him possessively.

'He lives, but he will not wake up,' she says in agitation.

Master Man stays calm, and tells Bruce to fetch his herb-case speedily. Bruce is off and back before Adison even notices he is gone.

Handing her a jar with a cork stopper, master Man says, 'Adison, let him smell this, it will certainly bring him out. But he may react violently, so I suggest you move to a safe distance.'

Adison does not comply.

'I will not leave him, he needs me close, all he ever needed was to have someone close to him.'

Master Man gently corrects her.

'Not just anyone, Adison, he needed you. You saved him from a fate worse than death. I wonder what he has just relived. Just let him smell it dearest, that stuff would wake up a dead volcano.' Unplugging the jar, Adison does as he tells her, and indeed, as soon as he has smelled the vile stuff, Vincent jerks up, sees Adison close, then collapses again, in her arms.

'How long before the show?' he asks.

Adison doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she does neither.

'Plenty of time still, you're the lead, you can be fashionably late', and when he looks at her searchingly, to see if she is really making fun of him, she just loses it. She takes his face in both hands, and looks him straight in the eye, the intense yellow eyes she wants to drown herself in.

'Do you have any idea how much I love you, you...' her words fade, but her eyes tell him everything he needs to know.

She loves him as much as he loves her, of her own free, indomitable will. They take comfort in each other until they become aware again of Bruce and master Man standing there, dying of curiosity at what Vincent has learned of his past.

But the actor in him cannot take the time to do his tale justice, that would ruin both the play and the story he has to tell.

'I'll have to save it until after the show. Now I need to concentrate on my role. Why don't you all come see the play tonight, do the director a huge favour, and after it is done I'll tell you all about my flashback. I'm not likely to forget my own death!'

Now he has them, and they know it. Bruce, Adison and Vincent hurry off to pick up Maud at Bruce's family's apartment, then they are off to the theatre together. Vincent does not talk or even think about his shocking discovery, his head would start spinning, causing him to forget his lines. Instead he thinks solely of his character, of his heroic deeds, of his flowing lines, meant to declaim rather than bring naturally.