Little Sister
#2 of Demi-Gods
Emilia stared at the large screen, the words 'establishing video link' flashing across it. She shivered in anticipation as the link connected, a video screen opening, a progress bar speeding across it.
"Heya, Roland! How ya been?" Emilia stared at the man on the screen as he grinned out at them foolishly, the sounds of heavy labour drifting in from the background.
"Hello, Bradley. I am well, as, I can see, are you." Roland replied, a mild look of annoyance flashing across his face as his brother greeted him, "I trust you know why I have contacted you at this time?"
"Something about Project Demi, you wanted to talk about one of the Products." Emilia watched her husband's face go serious as he rubbed his eyes with a dirty hand, "So, what's happened now?"
"Bradley!" Emilia suddenly sobbed, jumping up from her chair as tears streamed from her eyes, "Oh my god, I've missed you so much!"
"What the...? Emilia? What are...? Why is she here?" Bradley stammered, shocked by her sudden appearance, "What happened, Roland?!"
"What's going on? Bradley! Don't talk to Roland! Talk to me! Roland said you could explain this! SO explain it!" Emilia shouted at her husband, making the man jump in surprise, quickly cooing to her through the screen, trying to calm her down.
"Sweet heart, look, I'm sorry I didn't notice you just then, but what this is about is something we don't usually talk about to those not invol..." He said, trying to comfort her, but being cut off suddenly as Roland stood and spoke.
"She is involved, Bradley. And so is your daughter." Roland paused, allowing the information to sink in before he continued, "Explain to her, tell her about Project Demi."
"Huh, so Samantha's in this too? Well then, I guess it's best if I do talk," Bradley sighed, turning to face his distraught wife, "Sit down sweet heart, I'll explain everything."
Samantha sighed happily, stretching out her arms as she did every morning, letting them flop down lazily as she rolled over, pressing up against the warm body. Snuggling up to it, she blinked her eyes open, wondering why she felt like she was being watched. Giving a low groan, she sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes, looking around her bedroom, her eyes falling on her two best friends, who were staring at her intently.
"What?" she yawned, swinging her legs out of her bed and leaning back against the still sleeping person behind her.
"There's a boy in your bed," her one friend, Emily, said, pointing at the sleeping form as he blinked his own eyes, looking at the two girls in surprise, "Why?"
"Because he is," Samantha yawned again, getting out of her bed and pulling on her dressing gown and slippers, walking out of her bedroom door without a backwards glance, the two other girls following her closely.
"Is it safe to just leave him there?" The other girl, Sarah, asked, looking back at the boy as he leant out the door, watching them walk down the corridor, his scarred chest bare, his tail lashing around behind him.
"Safer than you'd think," Samantha replied, walking straight into the bathroom and shutting the door before the other two could follow.
"But, he's a guy! He could do perverted stuff in there!" Emily hissed through the door as her friend went about her business.
"I doubt that," Samantha called, "He'll probably just try to tidy it up again."
"What the...? Who is this guy, Sammy? And why was he in your bed?! And why does he have a tail?!" Sarah called, grabbing the girl as she opened the door and shaking her.
"His name is Grey, and he was in my bed because it was cold last night, and he's like a hot water bottle. An extremely comfortable hot water bottle." Samantha answered, a slight blush on her face as she returned to her room, where Grey was making her bed, still shirtless, "And you'll have to ask him about the tail, I still don't get it either."
"Good morning," he said, watching the three emotionlessly as they entered, Emily and Sarah hiding behind Samantha as she groaned, head in her hand.
"Is there something wrong, Samantha?" Grey asked, watching her as she opened her cupboard and took out some clothes, having to push the two girls out the way as they continued to try hiding behind her.
"No, nothing, just wait outside while I change, and take these two with you," she sighed, pulling her pyjama top off before they had even left the room.
"About nineteen years ago, on the archaeological dig you and I met on, Roland and I made a discovery."
"I remember; it was that cat-man mummy." Emilia said, watching the image of her husband as he talked, "The one that had the ears and tail of a cat attached to it, but we couldn't find any stitches to confirm it."
"That's because they weren't attached at all, they were real." Bradley said solemnly, leaning forwards as he spoke, "Before anyone else came into that tomb, it was just Roland and me. We were the ones to open the casket, and we were the ones to find the mummy. But that wasn't all we found."
"There were two amulets," Roland suddenly interjected, "One black, one white. We each touched one and saw something incredible. Bradley's showed him where many artefacts of these cat people were, and how to get them, and mine showed me how they worked, and how to use them to recreate these beings."
"Recreate? Beings?" Emilia stared at the two men, who looked back at her just as intently, "What are you talking about? What were those things?"
"They were what we would call Demi-gods," Roland said suddenly, pulling a small white disk from his shirt collar, holding it up as Bradley did the same, his a black disk she had seen many times before.
"We believe they were Demi-gods," he corrected, "We cannot be sure that they were, Roland."
"Hah, it's not like you to be disbelieving of legends, Bradley. Or maybe it's because they are no longer legends that you do not believe in them?" Roland laughed, smiling at his now scowling brother.
"No longer legends? Are you saying you've managed to...to create these things?" Emilia asked, falling back into her chair in astonishment.
"Yes, and you met one only yesterday, my dear." Roland said, turning back to face her, "Demi-god 27BC15."
"Epsilon?!" Bradley shouted, leaping up suddenly, knocking his chair back, "She met Epsilon?!"
"What? Who's Epsilon? And why is this such a... It's Grey isn't it? This Epsilon person?" Emilia said, staring at Roland as he nodded.
"What? Grey? Why are you saying Epsilon is grey?" Bradley asked, lowering his voice as he picked up his chair, waving a couple of workers who had come to check on him away.
"Grey is a strange boy Samantha met yesterday." Emilia replied, "I...I saw him get shot, and die, then...then he just came alive again in her arms. Then he said that...he said that..."
"He said that he 'listens to her,'" Roland finished for her, making Bradley's eyes go wide.
"What? Are you being serious? But...where is Samantha now?" He asked, staring at Emilia.
"At home, with some friends of hers I called over earlier, and Grey." She replied, watching her husband as he ran his hands through his hair.
"Is that safe?" he asked, "What if something happens? What if someone finds out?"
"She's perfectly safe, I can assure you, brother." Roland replied, "I mean, she has her own personal Demi-god, after all."
"He's cute,"
"Really cute,"
"Like nearly off the scale cute,"
Samantha watched the two girls as she ate her breakfast, as they watched Grey eat his. They had been whispering to each other about him for the past ten minutes, and had just gotten off of the subject of why he had been in Samantha's bed.
"I know, it's almost illegal how good looking he is, like he's not human or something,"
Samantha bit down on the spoonful of cereal hard, making it crunch loudly.
"Huh?" Emily asked, turning to face her, "Something up, Sammy?"
"No," She said hurriedly, finishing her cereal and putting the bowl in the scullery, having to dodge around Grey as he went to place his in the sink too.
"So why are you two here anyway?" she asked, sitting on the chair next to them as Grey leant against the wall just behind her, watching them calmly.
"Oh, your mom called, and asked if we could watch you for the day, seeing as how she had to go to some really important work meeting and you apparently had a traumatic experience yesterday, though you'd never be able to tell 'cause..."
"Breath Emily!" Samantha ordered as the girl started to trail off, her breath running out, "So you two are here to baby-sit me today? Whatever, let's go to the shops or something. We have to buy some clothes for this lummox, anyway."
"What?! Doesn't he have any clothes at all?!" The two other girls said in unison, staring at Grey, who shook his head.
A pair of sly smiles stretched across their faces as they looked at each other, identical thoughts forming inside their heads.
"Well," they chimed, each grabbing Grey by an arm, "Then we'd better get going!"
The light blinked on the phone, indicating that he had a call on the emergency line. Sighing, he picked up and listened to the sounds coming from the other end of the line. There was a scream and several short bursts of gun-fire.
"Hello?" he spoke clearly, reading the last few lines of the report he had just received.
"Sir? Yes! Sir, it's Gamma again, we have no clue why this keeps happening!" the person o the other end of the line shouted, an explosion drowning out their voice for a few seconds.
"Gamma? Again? This is the fifth time in the past twelve hours. Is she doing anything erratic?" the man asked, looking over the report again.
"Erratic? She's attacking us sir! Actually attacking us! And she keeps calling for her brothers!" the man screamed, the sounds of gun fire getting louder and more frequent.
"Have you brought them, then?"
"Yes, but she just ignored them! Then they said she wasn't talking about them and left!"
"Left?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow, "Left to where?"
"Their rooms, they just returned!"
"Oh, good. Put me on speaker phone."
"Sir?"
"Just do it, man."
"Yessir! You're on!"
"Gamma?" the man called, "Gamma? Can you hear me?"
There was a slight pause, then a quiet voice said, "Yes."
"But, but...Demi-gods!" Emilia stuttered, staring at Roland and Bradley in shock, "They really exist?!"
"So it would seem," her husband sighed, "And one of them has taken a liking to our daughter."
The phone suddenly buzzed, surprising the three adults as Roland picked it up, apologising, "I told them no calls. What? What? What? Put it on screen, Conference room 3."
The window appeared on the screen suddenly, a loading bar zipping across before it played, showing an impossible scene. What looked like a young girl, no older than Samantha, was walking through a corridor, her long black hair flowing around her like a living liquid, lashing out at the soldiers who pressed themselves against the walls, trying desperately to get away from her. One of the soldiers jumped up behind her and pulled a pistol from his thigh, shooting at her repeatedly. The girl gave no indication of even noticing the man as he continued to shoot.
It cut to another scene, from a camera further down the hall. Another soldier rounded a corner and began shooting at her, screaming at her to stop. The man behind her suddenly screamed as the gun he held was ripped out of his hand, taking his trigger finger with it. The pistol floated momentarily, then shot forwards, slamming into the second man's helmet, making him crumple to the floor.
"Gamma? Gamma? Can you hear me?" the voice sounded distorted, as though it was coming from a speaker system.
"Yes." The girl's voice was soft, but surprisingly strong, the stunned trio watched the scene unfold in muted amazement.
"Hello, Gamma. I'm sure you must be very worried about something, seeing as how you keep going on these rampages." The male voice said, echoing off the walls of the hallway.
"Yes."
"Now, I think I might know what it is you're worried about. It's your brother correct?"
"Yes."
"But not Alpha or Delta, am I right?"
"Yes."
"I thought so. Now, I know about your brother, where he is and so forth, but I unfortunately cannot tell you any of that information. Do you understand?"
The girl stood silently for a time, as if contemplating what had just been said, She then walked to a phone, another soldier cowering next to it and picked up the receiver, "Why?"
"Because, you are dangerous. And we cannot just let you go roaming around looking for your brother, especially considering your frequent episodes as of late. Do you understand?" The voice replied.
"No."
There was a sound like someone sighing, then the voice continued, "If you want, I can give you a picture of him. It's not very good, because it was taken with a security camera, but you can see his face clearly enough. Would you like that?"
"Yes."
"Tell me, Gamma," the unknown man asked, "I just want to make sure I've got this right, but which brother are you looking for?"
"Epsilon."
The sound of the voice as it spoke changed, sound almost as if the person talking was smiling evilly, "Thought so, now, go back to your room and I'll bring you the picture personally. How does that sound?"
"Good."
The girl dropped the receiver and turned around, walking down the hallway the way she had come, glancing back once at the phone. The video cut off at that point, her face clear as her hair was swept out of the way. Emilie gasped, staring at her in awe.
"Oh my lord, she's beautiful."
"Yes," Roland said, "They all are. Did you see that, Bradley?"
"Yeah. This is bad. Gamma is extremely strong, we can't let her get out of hand!" He sighed, dropping his head onto the desk he was sitting at, "What are we going to do?"
"Can't you let him visit?"
Both men stared at Emilia in astonishment as they spoke, "What?"
"She seems to want to see him. So why can't you let Grey, or Epsilon, or whatever his name is, visit her? Or why not bring her here?" Emilia said repeated, looking at them worryingly.
"Let Epsilon visit?" Bradley said, looking at his brother, "Do you think we'll be able to control him?"
"I'm sure Samantha could do that for us." He replied, looking at Emilia, "I'll see what I can do."
"I want to go with!" Emilia suddenly added, "I mean, if Samantha's going, so am I!"
"Of course," Roland replied, smiling gently at her, "I'll see what I can do."