Darkness

Darkness. I try to open my eyes, but I realize they're already open and I am simply in pitch-black darkness. No sight, no sound. A metallic smell lingers in the air. Where am I? I wonder.

Then it hits me. Ashley! I left her outside of the restaurant. What happened?! Is she okay? Did they take her too? Fuck, I think. This must be the company. But I did as they asked; I haven't looked into the **** or anything like that since their phone call. Fuck, fuck. I try to look around, feel for anything, but I am bound to a chair and unable to move much. My breathing comes in heavy gasps from the exertion, and I sag back against the metal chair.

"Good, you're awake," a harsh voice says. It is distorted as if coming through a speaker box. I sense it is almost directly in front of me. "Listen carefully. We have not taken your family. If you comply, they will be without harm. If you resist, we will take them and they will be harmed. Speak yes if you understand."

"Yes," I answer, the word hollow in my throat. I know exactly who has taken me.

Anger explodes in my chest. The potent emotion swirles through my body and sends maddening energy flooding my system. I fight to restrain myself, to prevent the harm they threaten from coming to fruition.

"We will be performing some research trials on you today, Dom. You will be released afterward. Comply, and no one will come to harm."

"What do you need me to do?" I ask, defeated. I have no power. No control. I can't let them harm those I love.

"To start with, a simple blood extraction. A nurse will come in shortly to perform the procedure. Be calm and silent. Afterward, some additional medical checks and psychological evaluations."

"Okay," I say. My chin sinks against my chest in defeat, and I sigh. What else can I do?

A faint light grows above me, and I look up to see an overhead light building luminance. As it brightens, I see that I am in a carpeted room. A bedroom. The floors are a beige color, and so are the walls. The window is covered with a gunmetal grey metal sheet and taped shut on the edges to block out light. The door seams are also covered. A small, black speaker box is on a small metal gurney, a few feet in front of me.

The door opens, and a woman walks in. She has shoulder-length dark hair and Russian features. "Hey..." I mutter as a sinking feeling settles in my stomach. She wears nurse scrubs this time and carries a medical bag, but I recognize those thick lips, large, natural breasts, and the round ass she presents as she checks the door. Felicity. The woman from my Aunt's gym. They were that close to me, even then?

She gives me a look that stalls the questions in my throat, then looks over my shoulder. At a camera, my nootropic brain realizes. "Alright," she begins. "My name is Carmen and I will be taking your blood. Just four vials, like at the doctor's. I will begin now by inserting the needle. Please be still." Her voice is flat and lifeless, unlike the teasing tone she had at the gym.

I nod, still reeling at the sight of her.

She wraps a rubber band around my bicep and slides a needle into the vein at the crook of my elbow, then pops a small vial into the other end of it. Three more vials are filled the same way, and then she removes the needle and tapes a band-aid in place.

She places the vials on the table behind her, next to the speaker, and motions to the camera. "Blood extraction is completed. We should begin the next test."

"Very--," the voice begins, but it is cut off as the room returns to darkness.

I hear Carmen-Felicity shuffle out of the room and the door shut behind her. A few minutes later, she returns.

"Dom, listen to me. I don't have much time. The power has been cut off outside the building and the guard is going to check on it. We only have a few minutes of privacy before he returns. Yes, it is me, Felicity. I am a geneticist who works for the organization you received these pills from. Listen, Dom. They've lied to you about what is happening. The pills work, true, but only for you. There have been no other trials. If they find out I'm telling you this, they'll kill me." She pauses for a breath, and I start to ask something but she cuts me off by placing her hand over my lips. "They are synthesized from the genes of an extinct breed of wolf from Eastern Europe, then engineered to bond with a specific DNA sequence that only a small population has. You have it, Dom. Just like your father. It runs in our family."

She pauses again, but this time her hand falls away from my lips. "Our family?"

"Only the men," she continues. The movement of air between us tells me she is nodding, but I cannot see her. "Dom, I am your Aunt. Your father, Dominus, was my older brother. He got us embroiled in this mess. This is why you were attracted to me that day at the gym, and no one else. This pill, Dom, makes you into a genius, but at a cost. The spirit of the wolf blends with yours, giving you enhanced senses, strength, and brain power, but also making you wolf-like in your mentality, very pack-driven, and eager to lead. It makes you exude a pheromone that affects those closest to you. Makes them feel the same way. You've noticed it, haven't you?"

The desire to support my family. To lead them. The bursts of anger. The strange sense of smell I've developed when they're near. Even now, I can smell lavender emanating from Felicity. "I...have."

"Dom, they're doing this to you because by filtering the **** through your body, they believe they can extract a version that doesn't require that DNA sequence. They already tried this on your father and failed. Once they find out it works on you, or doesn't work, you're done for. They'll take you and make you a captive, just like me, or kill you." Just like my father.

"What do I do?" I stutter, alarmed at my newfound Aunt's words.

"Swallow this." She pushes a coin-sized object into my mouth. "It is a flash drive containing information about them. Don't open it at home. Go to a library, plug it into a computer there, and then wipe it afterward. Break the drive and throw it away. Tell no one."

"Wait, what about the pheromone? Is it hurting them? Will it go away if I stop taking the pill?"

She gives me a sad smile. "No, dear, it isn't. And it isn't temporary. When you took the first pill, it became too late to stop it. Some of these changes are permanent, even if you don't realize it. The pheromone, your sense of self, some of your musculature changes... Even now, I am being affected by it. Something in the blood is permanently changed when it meets the wolf's genome. Your love for them and their love for you... that part of this at least, is as true as anything else in this world."

The lights flicker back on, and Felicity steps back. She looks over my shoulder again, at the camera I presume. Even still, even at this moment, I found myself attracted to her voluptuous body. Fuck me, there's no way she is making all of this up. I swallow the coin-shaped drive, not eager to retrieve it later, and wait. My Aunt quickly leaves the room.

She enters again a few minutes later, and the voice comes onto the intercom again, saying, "Apologies for that, Carmen. Please continue."

And so we continue, as though nothing had happened at all.

Heart rate check.

Blood pressure.

Uranalysis.

Psychological questioning.

Minutes turn to hours as we rotate through sets of tests, then the same tests again. I ask for water and am denied, then they bring me some an hour later. Finally, after what feels like a day has passed and Felicity has left me alone for a while, the voice comes onto the intercom. "Our testing is complete. Carmen will return to administer an agent to transport you outside of this location. We will be in touch."

And so she does; I'm almost excited to see her, but even her thick curves do little to prevent the explosion of heat from searing across my body when she jabs me in the neck with a long metal needle. The room turns black, and I think that I really should try and help her.