XavLab

By James Milne

XavLab is the pinnacle of modern science. From an accident, humanity discovered a handful of powerful immortals, and from their blood, the cure. To everything. A new world was born that day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Milne
• Release date: Mar 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215636077

Book preview

XavLab

James Milne

XavLab

XavLab is the pinnacle of modern science. From an accident, humanity discovered a handful of powerful immortals, and from their blood, the cure. To everything. A new world was born that day.

Copyright © 2020 James Milne

All Rights Reserved.

Introducing Xavier...

chapter, IntroducingXavier

He covered his ears as an ear-piercing howl cut through the air, and kicked blindly out from his bed.

The howl cut off with a whimper.

He curled back under the blanket, and began to drift back to sleep. Though, as always, that simply wasn’t to be the case. He hated the full moon. It always made his other half... Frustrating.

She landed on top of him, The heck was that, Xavier!?

Shut up, and go back to sleep. He muttered as he tried to pretend her claws were not digging into his back and cutting straight through the blanket as if it wasn’t ever there.

She growled in his ear, and then giggled, Xavier. Do you want to play?

No. He moaned, I want to sleep.

So... If I were to... She began, fingers creeping around him and then lower. He rolled over and kicked her off the bed.

He sat up, looking down at the hurt looking monster. She was a monster, by almost any consideration of the word. A handful of vaguely related species could be found in nature, but nothing quite like the beast that howled at the moon for one week of the month, every month.

She pouted, looking up at him with sad eyes, hurt that he’d rejected her advances. Again. He was so sick of having this argument three or four times a month. She always ended up biting him to prove her ownership of him.

It is time. To sleep. He sighed, I’ve got a board meeting in... Four hours. Awesome. Can you leave me alone, at all? I made you that sound-proofed room so you can howl all you like.

She stuck out her bottom lip, But you’re not in it.

That’s sort of the point.

Her bit her lip, threatening to let loose another kind of howl. He rubbed his eyes, I don’t hate you. I just want to be able to sleep. Things are fairly stressful at work at the moment.

She bounded onto the end of the bed, I was going to help relax you. To say sorry.

That’s... Not relaxing. He laughed, You know that, right?

She smiled cheekily.

He rolled his eyes, Fine. You’re not going to let me sleep, anyway. Do you want a cuddle?

She sprang into his arms, rubbing her face against his chest, and wrapping around him. Her teeth sank into his neck. He winced, You’re drawing blood. Again.

She glared up at him, You’re mine, Xavier. Remember.

I know. He replied, Do any of the other scars around there remind you of anyone?

She grinned up at him, blood leaking down the corners of her mouth, They’re reminders of me. So you can’t ever forget.

He kissed her forehead gently, You’re one of four of your kind. I’m pretty sure the whole world knows who you are, let alone the guy who... Well, it’s supposed to be my bed, but it may as well be yours as well.

She grinned, Getting playful?

No. Tired. He complained, and let himself relax onto the bed, holding her, Besides, aren’t you supposed to have a long day, today, too?

She hissed, then nuzzled him, I guess. They’re making me do another drill. The stress test, followed by another blood draw.

Stress tests are work.

She kissed his cheek, Worried about me?

Last time you broke the equipment. He frowned, It was expensive. I’m hoping that I’ve managed to build things up to your limits this time. I doubt it, but I’m hopeful.

She winced, No. I don’t want to actually have to put in effort. That’d suck.

You lifted twelve tonnes last time. The machinery should make you have to lift closer to eighty this time before you max it out. Xavier sighed, Try not to break it when you blow away my expectations.

She giggled, Why is it so important for you to find my limits? Not like there’s any need to use them in the real world.

The closer to tired we can get you, the more effective the treatments we can derive from your blood. Xavier shrugged, The closer I can get to manufacturing something that effectively replicates your actual blood.

She sighed, Why did I have to fall for a doctor?

Scientist. He corrected, I don’t have a medical degree. Most people only call medical doctors that.

They call you Doctor Xav, though, don’t they?

Eh, for the cameras. He sighed, That’s just a PR thing. Most people call me Xavier. Or professor. And I know that you know that.

She sank her fangs into his shoulder again, and he felt the slight dizziness start as she did more than just bite. It was irritating, but he was used to it. This was exactly how he had met her, in fact.

You’re yummy, early. She grinned at him.

He wiped her cheek, And you’re hungry, early.

She kissed his nose, and then sat lightly on his chest, We don’t get much free time anymore, do we? You run the company. They test me. Cycle, cycle, cycle.

We get Sundays to ourselves. He shrugged, Are you feeling the pressure, Hope?

She shook her head, Not like that. I miss you too much. I don’t like sharing you with everyone. I didn’t used to have to let it go. You were only working four days when you started.

Xavier nodded, You’re right. I’m sorry. You changed the world, and I guess we’ve both been caught up in that storm. I haven’t been giving you much attention, have I?

No. She bared her fangs, You haven’t.

Xavier winced, So... Once this next big line is released to the public, I guess I need to take some leave. A week shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Hope made a pouting face, A week. That’s the best you can do?

The world keeps turning. He shrugged, It isn’t forever. Just a few decades. For you, that shouldn’t be that big a deal.

She punched him lightly, And lose your best years? No thanks.

He winced, looking where she hit him and knowing that it was probably worse than a bruise. She wasn’t just freakishly strong. She didn’t exactly have perfect control over it, following a feed.

It’s more than you’ve had.

Hope flashed her fangs, You better not disappoint me.

He smiled, So, because it’s going to take a little while to get the line out and ready, why don’t you plan our trip? We could go anywhere you like. Romania, or England, or -

Name another Vampire haunt. She threatened, glaring at him.

He grinned, It’s up to you where we go. Literally anywhere in the world. For a week. We could crash out in a hotel for all I care. This is about you.

Hope frowned, You’re being nice. What do you get out of this?

My bloodsucking fiance?

Hope grabbed his nose, not so gently, Do you want to reword that?

My beautiful fiance who happens to be the inspiration for vampires, werewolves, and a half dozen other mythical figures? He said painfully.

Hope let go and sighed, You’re never going to let me forget that, are you? Not even for five minutes?

You woke me up at 2AM howling at the moon, and then bit me. Twice. Xavier glared at her, Turnabout is fair.

Hope grinned and scratched at one of her teeth, Okay.

He sat up, Now, I guess I need breakfast. Since you had yours.

She sprang off him, spinning around as she landed daintily, and then grabbed him and swung him over her shoulder. He sighed as she carried him to the kitchen, knowing exactly what she was doing.

She put him gently into a chair, planted her hands on her hips, This morning, I’ll -

No.

Hope bit her lip, fighting back tears, But... But... I’ve been practising!

It only counts if things get less burned. Xavier said and stood up, I’ll be cooking my own breakfast. But you can watch.

As he got the fry pan and some bacon ready, he asked her something he had been wondering, So, since we found you, we found three others. Have you ever been interested in meeting them?

No. Hope purred in his ear, watching him with fascination. It wasn’t that Hope was a bad cook. She was the worst cook that Xavier had the displeasure of witnessing. She could hear the instructions to turn over what she was burning, and to turn the heat down, but the words were magically unintelligible. She took cooking and turn it into an art form of horror.

He flipped the sizzling meat and began to toast the bread, fending her off as she went to change the settings. Really? I’ve met distant cousins and all sorts. Just because they were family.

Only one of us was found on each continent, right? Hope whispered, brushing her fangs on his neck again, Why do you think that was?

Ah. Xavier said, So it’s a territory thing, then?

Pretty much. Hope said with disappointment, pulling back. So she had been going to bite him if he guessed wrong. You brought us out of hiding with that machine of yours. It calls to us. But, I’m pretty sure if you managed to call two of us to the one place, we’d rip each other to pieces.

He could imagine the collateral damage. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Most humanoids, in a fight, ended up pinning the opponent, and then bashing in their face. However, so far, Hope had a punch force that exceeded a semi-trailer truck being dropped into the ground. Probably much exceeded it. It would be nothing short of an earthquake’s destructive force.

You go through some... Excessive intimacy issues. He tried to word it carefully, Like once or twice a month. How are you supposed to handle that, spread out across the globe?

We don’t mate with our own kind, silly. Hope laughed, I inject my eggs into a suitable host, like a human, and then the young consume them from the inside out.

He rolled his eyes.

She had a fairly normal reproductive system, as far as primates went. Apart from the cycle of extremely high hormone production. He also knew that she could viably mate with any primate at all, which was something he would rather that he could forget.

Studying his own fiance’s biological make up had its hazards.

Hope glared, You’re supposed to laugh. I said I was an alien or something from one of those 60s movies.

He finished making his sandwich and turned to her, You’re cute when you’re mad.

So, you want a serious answer. Hope sighed, Can you ever not do the science thing? It isn’t attractive at all. It’s embarrassing. I... Take care of... Myself. And you just made me tell you.

He covered his mouth as he laughed, looking at her nearly crying at his response. He swallowed and put the sandwich onto a plate, Hope... I didn’t actually expect an answer.

She went bright red, Asshole!

He shrugged and ducked under her playful punch so he wouldn’t need to see a nurse, and then grabbed her in a cuddle, Got you.

She grinned up at him, fangs shining, ‘Who has who, human?"

He clapped a hand on his neck, No. You’ve done that enough this morning. At least give me a chance to heal.

Hope grinned broader, I could just heal you.

He kissed her forehead, My monster. What am I going to do with you?

Hopefully finish at a reasonable time. Hope glared at him, I started howling this morning. You know what that means.

That is why I was asking about your cycle. Xavier responded, It’s on my mind. I mean, I love it when you’re romantic, but after just a couple days, you wear me kind of ragged.

She pouted, Not my fault humans are so easy to wear out.

He leaned her back, smiling down at her, No. But the interest of this human is definitely your fault.

Hope smiled at him, You know, if you kiss me now, that won’t be enough for me.

You got me up two hours early. He smiled at her, and then he kissed her.

— — —

Professor!

He looked up as one of his researchers stepped in, she paused, looking at the bandage on his neck, and probably how the entire thing was bright red. I... Uh... We’ve had a system... Failure... Are you okay?

Xavier smiled, I’m fine. Hope’s just... In her phase. System failure? Did the Testing Facility knock everything offline again?

Uh. Okay. Phase. The researcher repeated to herself, Anyway, um, no, not this time. The central core is offline, which is sort of weird. But without it, we’re not going to see any interaction between the xavcells. So all the experiments are on hold.

Xavier rubbed his temples, Crap. Any idea what knocked it out?

No. Sorry. She winced, I wouldn’t have bothered you but...

He stood up, and shook his head, It’s fine. I’m the resident expert. If nobody else has any idea, it’s my job. Sophie, isn’t it? I promoted you to head of the cancer research group a while back.

She hurried to keep up with him, Yeah. That’s me. I sort of got promoted sideways to the maintenance team. I picked up a lot of your theory on the resonance features of the core.

He nodded, Aye, it can be a brain-twister. We always run short on people who can even grasp the basics. Reprogramming the cells is one thing, activating them to begin with is another.

He stepped into the elevator, and she hurried in. He waited as it moved towards the basement, and made idle conversation, Say, have you met Hope at all, yet?

Sophie nodded, I’m afraid it didn’t go well.

Xavier laugh, If I had a nickle. She’s got an aggressive personality, especially when it comes to those she views as a threat.

The scientist raised an eyebrow, She did attack me. I’m still not clear on the why, though. Something about encroaching on her territory, as best I can figure it. Like I didn’t keep my distance or something.

Nothing so complex. Xavier shook his head, You’re female. So along with about half the human population in the world, she sees you as a threat.

Sophie frowned, Isn’t it difficult for you, then? I mean, you’re dating her, right?

He held his hand with the ring on it, Not just dating. But, no, I’m fine. Hope takes a little getting used to. But, I don’t think every girl would agree to be a lab-rat for their boyfriend, even if it was to look for the ultimate cure.

Sophie blinked, Huh. I guess I hadn’t thought too much about that. She lets us because of you?

Mostly. He nodded, It also stops her getting bored.

The doors opened and he stepped into the room with the machine of his invention. The core at the centre of XavLab that was capable of activating and attracting the cells that they had at first cloned, and then attempted to synthesise, from Hope’s blood.

Xavier walked up to one of the console’s, as the engineering team looked around nervously, So what do we know for sure?

It went offline weirdly. Like there was a glitch of some kind. One of the engineers said quickly, There was a fluctuation in the waves, kicking into high gear, and then nothing.

Xavier nodded slowly, looking over the logs, I’m seeing it. And unfortunately, it looks like we have the root cause, too. Hope. This coincides with an increase with one of the exercise tests they’re putting her through. She increased her output, and overloaded the inner ring buffer.

Sophie winced, That means it burned out, right?

Yeah. Xavier winced, We can’t keep the spares onsite, because they’d burn out at the same time. Someone needs to ring down to the warehouse in Oakland. It’ll take a few hours to get here, even at priority.

He turned and waved, Well, keep it up. You’re doing a decent job down here, people. Enough that I rarely even notice if there’s a glitch.

Sophie frowned, About the buffer... I don’t think any of us has actually run through a replacement before. Do you have any of the last round of engineers on call?

Xavier sighed, Ah. I’ll supervise. Anderson is the closest, but he’s busy deploying the satellite grid. But you still need to ring Oakland yourself.

He sat at the workstation, logging into his own desktop and returned to responding to the various emails. Just because he actually had something even halfway interesting to do did not mean that his usual workload would up and vanish on him.

He did have a secretary to deal with the non-critical decisions, but it was truly shocking the number of extremely urgent and critical decisions that people could imagine into being for a business that hadn’t even existed a year ago.

Being the only company in the world to have access to the four mythics meant that every scientist with a vague interest in biology demanded access, and often had government pressure behind them. Before you got to the governments that wanted to access the figures for purely altruistic reasons that had nothing at all to do with weaponizing them.

One of the four actually was vaguely interested in military experiments, and wasn’t uninterested in becoming an assassin for hire. Xavier was doing his best to deter the man and keep that one under wraps. An unstoppable, immortal, and incredibly strong assassin was a new super weapon that the world just didn’t need right now.

The other two shared Hope’s opinion. Violence was best left to the lesser human species. They were too old, and had seen too many people die, to be interested. If any of them saw XavLab leaning in that direction, they would be gone.

His machines that could attract them, and increase their cell activation, wasn’t foolproof. It wasn’t some psychic force that could compel someone against their will. It just dragged at their attention, making them aware that something was in a certain direction. The mythics had only appeared out of curiosity.

With varying results.

Hope had bitten him, feeding off him until he was nearly dead, when he powered up the first resonance engine. Then, she had saved his life, and proclaimed that he was now her property, and attacked anyone who even attempted to get close to him.

That the resonance engine had attracted her at all was a total fluke. He had been trying to build a new kind of engine, for propulsion. He had also completely failed at that. It didn’t work. However, it was something that seemed to work with the unique biology of the mythics.

Particularly Hope.

The cells of the others activated, and produced things useful for various medical purposes, but not as well. The engine was close to 80% efficient for activating Hope’s cells, and ones he had cloned from her, but close to 30% for the others. Most of the current research on the other continents was looking to improve those numbers.

It’s on its way. Sophie called out, and he waved a hand, acknowledging her. He had brought up the reports on her as well. It seemed that her sideways promotion to the maintenance team wasn’t solely driven by her understanding of his theories. It also had to do with her being completely incapable of working in a group.

She took on board too much work, and couldn’t delegate. She couldn’t supervise. She was also extremely unkind to anyone she worked with when anything went wrong. If she failed to mesh with the maintenance team they might have to let her go, despite her valuable intelligence and knowledge. HR had spoken to her no less than a dozen times in the last week about separate complaints.

He leaned back, and considered. It wasn’t really his job to bring it up, but she might not understand just how close she was to the edge of that particular cliff. He looked up, Sophie, have you got a minute?

Of course, professor. She nodded, Just give me a second.

She finished tapping away at a particular line of code, and then stood up, and stretched, and considered it again. He was familiar with this. Holding a large amount of code in your head took effort, and interruptions to flow could be catastrophic to your own performance.

She walked over, and smiled, What can I help with?

More help you. Xavier said as grimly as he dared, Probably shouldn’t be doing this, and it will probably get flagged as improper access by HR... But you need to look at your file.

He saw her smile vanish, I know it’s bad. I’m trying.

He stood up and waved at the workstation, I’m not looking to talk about it. I just think you should read what’s written for yourself. It’s what the decision maker will see.

Xavier walked away, and paused in front of his machine. It really was a source of pride for him, even if it was a total accident that it worked in the first place. A lot had changed since that first version, even in only eighteen months. This version was about half the size of the original, and about twice as effective.

He swung around the toolkit and began disassembling the main access port. The buffer didn’t take long to replace. It was one of the only critical components, so he’d made efforts to make sure replacing it was as easy as possible.

He pulled out the square wire-wrapped weight and set it on the table, looking at the burnout. It was worse than he’d expected, which meant that Hope had yet again soared way passed his expectations on her own energy output.

He might have to redesign the whole thing.

He really wished that he could have a multiple buffer system, but every time he’d tried, each buffer interfered with the others, and the output of the machine dropped to practically zero, making it useful for activating no more than a handful of cells, rather than an entire building.

Sophie stood in front of him, I’m really sorry.

I don’t care about it. Xavier shook his head, I don’t make that decision. I just thought you should know. I’m rough as guts. What I do care about, is this. Maintenance is your department, tell me what you see.

Sophie switched tactics fluidly, showing the single-mindedness that had got her in such trouble with her other scientists. The burnout is... It’s larger than I expected, which is irritating. Last time we estimated Hope’s output to be somewhere in the 10-20 gigawatt range. This looks more like three or four hundred. It also arced across these fibres. I’ll need to run some diagnostics, but that suggests that the compensator failed, and this failed before it could failsafe.

Terrifying thought. Xavier nodded, Let me see... Jordan?

One of the techs looked over, Professor?

Can you run some level one diagnostics on this buffer? Xavier asked, doing Sophie’s job for her, and hopefully teaching her that it was okay to delegate. There was no one in the room more capable of it than himself, but he didn’t even hand it to the team lead.

Sophie looked perturbed, but didn’t speak up. She could probably guess what he was doing. Xavier smiled at her, You have something more important to do. If the compensator failed, we need to know why or how before we can fit the replacement buffer. We also need to check for secondary component failure, but you can probably pass that on. Dismantle, test everything, and re-assemble, before day’s close.

Sophie swallowed nervously, Before day’s close? Are you kidding? These things take three days to assemble downstairs.

Xavier smiled, You’ve been given a crazy deadline by your boss. What do you need, to meet it?

Half the assembly team. Sophie frowned, Peterson is essential. He’s a faster tester than anyone else, but he’s been drafted over to -

Doesn’t matter. Xavier shook his head, Nobody is doing anything whilst this is down. Send a list to me, and I’ll see the various department heads get the urgent orders. So, what do you think? Can you meet the deadline?

It’ll be close. Sophie mused, It depends mostly on why the compensator failed.

Who would be best to look into that?

Sophie blinked, and then bit her lip, I hate to say it, but I don’t think any one onsite is remotely qualified. They’re built over in Germany, and shipped here. I can link up with one of the engineers, but debugging over the air is terrible.

Xavier shrugged, So? Make a decision.

I’ll need myself, Hendrickson, and uh... Veronique over in the physics department. And we’ll need our own lab. Sophie winced, Which is going to piss everyone off.

Done. Xavier stated, and picked up a cloth to wipe the grease from his hands, I’ll shield you from the fallout. For this one. Have you worked with Veronique before?

Once. Sophie winced, I think I got three complaints against me.

Awesome. Xavier nodded, I think that’s a record low. She issued one a day against me for the year I spent designing the old compensator rig with her. Don’t worry about it.

He hung up the cloth and walked over and signed out of the work station. Xavier waved on his way out, Counting on you, folks!

As the elevator doors closed he realised he had exactly no hope that they would succeed. For Sophie, the amount of responsibility he had just dumped on her might prove to be the last straw. If she’d made any enemies in HR, they would try extremely hard to dump her.

The doors opened, and he saw legs hanging over the back of the couch in his office. He waved to his secretary as he walked back in, and tickled the sole of one of the feet.

Hope laughed and swung upright, Xav.

Xavier. He corrected and sat down at his desk, Testing ended early, I guess.

Hope glared at him, Apparently your machine broke. Again. Are you busy fixing it? Or can I have some of your attention?

Busy making sure the girl fixing it won’t get fired before she can. Xavier stated, Then, probably.

Hope sprang over as he brought up the contact details of the various people that Sophie had been dealing with at HR. Which showed the same name more than it should for random assignment. Someone had been asking for cases, which was a little worrying.

His fiance glared, She’s cute. I don’t like her.

You’ve met her. Xavier replied, She also gets along with most people about as well as you, apparently. Though, this seems a bit off.

Hope frowned, and tapped the screen, This name. I know it. Aaron Castle. I don’t know many people. Why do I know this name?

Xavier shrugged, and picked up his phone, trying to end the conversation, but knowing that it wouldn’t. Hope didn’t exactly understand boundaries at the best of times. Since she’d just entered her cycle, she was completely unpredictable.

Hi, this is Xavier. He started his conversation, and heard a gruff voice growl back at him, Xavier who?

I’m not making a joke, and there is only one Xavier currently employed in this organisation. He retorted, waiting for the penny to drop.

The voice was tired, Look, I don’t care who you are. Calling my direct line is out of line.

The phone hung up.

Xavier frowned, and then called the supervisor. Hi, this is Xavier.

The female voice sounded surprised, Oh, professor! How can I help?

Sophie Vandeuren is working on a critical mission right now. She’s going to be ticking people off left and right, acquiring equipment, labs, and reassigning people. I need you to get everyone out of her way. Xavier stated, This one is on me.

The woman sounded like she was nodding, Okay, I can take care of that... Though I do have to ask, why call me and not the department head?

Nearly two thirds of complaints against Miss Vandeuren have been assigned to someone underneath you. I actually called him first, but he hung up on me.

The voice went timid, Oh. That doesn’t sound right. No one is supposed to be able to field cases like that... I... Aaron Castle. That’s not good.

Xavier laughed, No idea how things work down there. Just thought a heads up from someone who might be trying to take the case would help.

I’ll make sure it happens. The woman replied, And that Aaron isn’t a problem.

Thanks, I appreciate it. He replied and hung up.

Hope jumped into his lap, Done?

Not quite. He replied and kissed her cheek, Almost. Next, I need to make sure that every department head gets an email telling them in no uncertain terms that Sophie Vandeuren is in charge for the day.

Hope pouted as he typed around her.

He fired off the email, and then put his arms around her and leaned back in the chair, There. I’ve got ten minutes I probably can’t spare.

Hope glared at him, I hate it when you work.

I know.

Hope flashed her fangs at him, So, mine? For ten minutes?

Clock is ticking.

She pulled a small box from behind her back, Open it.

Xavier opened it carefully, wondering if it was going to explode, catch fire or just contain something grossly inappropriate. He was pleasantly surprised when none of that happened. Inside was a hand-drawn map.

He opened it up slowly, This is our apartment.

Hope grinned and kissed his cheek, Yep!

And there’s a series of instructions I’m supposed to follow. He frowned, Why exactly do I need to walk back and forth between the kitchen and the lounge?

Hope pouted, To give me time. When we get home, you do this.

Okay. He smiled up at her, only having the vaguest idea what she was doing. The pattern would take him roughly five minutes to walk, and it ended in her bedroom, not his. Which probably meant she had been doing something in there.

She stood up quickly, and he noticed his wallet in her hand. He sighed, Didn’t I give you a credit card? With your own name on it?

Hope smiled innocently, Yes.

Did you lose it again?

Hope went red, Maybe.

You need to tell me. Xavier sighed, So I can cancel the card. You’re not in trouble. I’m not that much of an ass. It’s just so I can make sure someone else isn’t using it to buy a house or something.

Hope frowned, I don’t remember where I lost it. It’s embarrassing.

He shrugged, I’ll cancel your card. I’m not going to ask you where. I know you can forget things. Just like the burned out breakfast knows when you’re practising.

She glared at him, and then pulled his card from her wallet, What’s my spending limit, today?

He shrugged, If you’re just shopping for you, the usual. If it’s for our getaway, then you can triple it.

Hope grinned at him, You know how to make a girl happy. Is that what I’m supposed to say?

He shrugged, I have no idea if normal human women say that.

He knew that she wasn’t asking sarcastically. She really didn’t know what she was supposed to say, other than a thank you. Which was boring. And if something was remotely boring, she avoided doing that.

Spending limits were more a way of teaching Hope about the concept of money, and how much things cost, than something strictly enforced. She was the source of a miracle cure for all illnesses in the world. Whilst Xavier might have a static pay cheque, various governments had set up trusts in Hope’s name, to make sure she was comfortable and didn’t have an excuse to stop helping them search for a way to duplicate her blood.

Xavier liked that he could support the both of them without touching the trusts, as a way of making sure no particular government expected more loyalty than any other, but he had told Hope of their existence. The trusts belonged to her. So far, she had been sensible about it.

Not that financial gain was any incentive for Hope at all. The reason she helped was that it made him happy when she did. She felt no obligation to any of the short-lived humans she was helping out, or anyone who tried to give her gifts. She was too old, and had seen too many people wither and die to care.

Hope wasn’t completely inhumane, either. Every now and then, when she was feeling particularly down, she would suddenly appear in a random hospital’s children’s ward, and go through and cure every single one of them. It would leave her exhausted and haggard for weeks afterwards, but she would feel better about herself.

He waved goodbye as she skipped out the doorway, and turned his attention back to the daily running of the business. The new product line was two weeks away from launch, if they could get production back up and running.

The advertising was almost nailed down, but there were questions about word usage which were inane, frustrating, but experience told him was extremely important. There were complaints from various departments working on it, about each other and how they weren’t answering emails, and so they were asking for a meeting to badmouth each other, where he would probably sit them down, and tell them to get it done by end of day or he would start firing people.

He hated those kinds of things, but they happened frequently in a multinational corporation. It was beyond frustrating that running a business felt like herding cats, half the time. He wasn’t in the business to do business, he was in it for the science, which he got further from each day.

He looked up as a thought occurred.

He’d just let Hope leave without anyone to protect her from the general public. That was a mistake. She was either the devil, or a god, depending on the people she might encounter.

Introducing Hope...

chapter, IntroducingHope

She swung on the handhold in the bus, and landed in a seat with a plop. A nearby man growled at her almost immediately, That seat is for people who need help.

She glared at him, her eyes changing colour, and she barred her fangs. It was easier than explaining that she felt sick on a bus, and if she felt too sick, she’d end up passing through the floor of the vehicle and hitting the road.

He looked at her, Another crazy nut obsessed with those freaks. That doesn’t make you special.

She considered the insult, and then decided to speak directly into his mind at a relatively high volume. My name, asshole, is Hope. Not freak.

He grabbed at his chest, and she saw his heart pounding away. Not at risk of arrest, thankfully. She’d had that effect a number of times. She smiled as pleasantly as she could, Nice to meet you.

He stared at her in shock as the bus began to pull away, "You’re...