10:00 am. Abel’s plane arrived at its destination. Moments later, Abel and the others get out of the plane and walk into the airport. They get their remaining luggage and head to their pickup location. Abel and Erika were able to spot a man with a sign with Abel’s and Erika’s last names; they walked up to the driver.

“Wilson and Gabisa? Party of four?” The man asks.

“That’s us.” Erika replies.

“I’ve been instructed to take you to the Mandas Hotel. If you all are ready, follow me.”

The four follow the driver outside of the airport to the limo. The man opens the trunk so the four could put their luggage in. He then opens the back door to the limo. Erika and Autumn went in first then Abel and Vance. The driver gets in the driver side and drives to their location.

.   .   .

30 minutes later, they arrive at their destination; Mandas Hotel. After the driver puts the limo in park, he pushes a button for the trunk to be opened, gets out and goes to the back door to let them out. The four get out of the limo, get their belongings out of the trunk, and start walking into the hotel’s doors. The inside of the lobby was modern day décor and spacious. They walk to the front desk. Without hesitation, Abel gives the attendant his I.D.; the attendant finds the reservation under his name.

“Ah. Mr. Wilson. Party of four. You have two suites. Suite 708 and Suite 710.”

Abel feels irritated when the attendant said it was only two suites, and since Erika was in charge of booking the suites under his name. Knowing what has happened is done, he bites the bullet and calms down and is given both sets of keys by the attendant.

‘You’re an idiot sometimes.’ Abel’s inner self comments.

‘I don’t want to hear you about this. This is not the time, nor the place.’ Abel counters.

Abel gives the ‘710’ keys to Autumn while she and Vance stifle their smiles at Abel due to his initial reaction.

“Well, Abel. We’ll be seeing you later.” Autumn speaks quietly. “Just try to get comfortable, okay?”

She walks away with her belongings going into the elevator in the lobby. Vance walks up to Abel, puts a hand on Abel’s shoulder and got close to his ear.

“Good luck with her.” He whispers. “I’m praying for you. Don’t go hostile on her.”

Vance takes his belongings and follows Autumn into the elevator. As the elevator doors closed, Abel slowly looks over to Erika with a smile on her face. Abel picks up his belongings and turns away from her, walking to the elevator and waiting for, with Erika taking her bags as well and following him.

.   .   .

Abel and Erika reach the seventh floor; Abel begins walking in the hallway to find their room with Erika not far behind him. He finds the door, uses the key to unlock the door, and goes inside the suite. The suite is spacious with a kitchenette/living room, a little washer and dryer, a bedroom with a king-sized bed along with a connected bathroom, 45-inch TV, and an outside balcony. Erika had a smile the entire time as Abel observed every area.

“Do you like it, Abel?” Erika asks.

“Hmm.” He responds emotionlessly.

Abel did not want to see her face and walks past her to the bedroom and puts his briefcase on the bed, and his suitcase on the floor. In the bedroom, there was an office desk near the bed. He takes out his laptop from the briefcase and sets it on the desk. The telephone in the suite starts to ring; Abel answers the phone.

“Yes.” Abel answers.

“Ah, Mr. Wilson. Just the man I wanted to talk to.” A man answers. “I’m calling to inform you that the meeting will take place today at 6:00 pm. And tomorrow, we will have another follow up meeting at 3:00 pm to come with a conclusion. The meeting will be held underground in our facility. Enjoy your time.”

“Understood.”

Abel hangs up the phone and resumes setting up his stuff on the desk. Erika just stares at Abel, wanting to start a conversation with him. Abel sees her in his peripheral, making him annoyed.

“So, would you like to come to the pool downstairs with me?” Erika asks seductively.

“Go by yourself.” Abel retorts quickly. “I’ll be working on the final touches of this project.”

“You want me to help you with it?”

Abel growls.

“No! I don’t need your help! Leave me be with my work. Goodbye. See you at 6:00.”

Erika decides not to push Abel any further than she has and goes into the bathroom to dress in her black bikini with a black shawl around her waist. She gets out of the bathroom, puts her clothes on the bed, puts her black flipflops on, gets a towel, and leaves out the room. As Abel looks over the work he planned on presenting in the evening, he was starting to feel frustrated and unable to concentrate.

‘Irritated. Are we?’ His inner self asks.

“Yes. Very. I despise this feeling.” Abel replies aloud.

‘You’re lacking something. That’s why. And it’s going to be a full moon out tonight. Sadly, you can’t play around with the compatible one, so you’ll need to let your itch be scratched by the incompatible one. Even though you don’t want to, it must be done. You don’t want this feeling to go on any further, do you?’

“No. I don’t. But Erika is also the reason why I can’t concentrate. I refuse to touch that woman!”

‘You have no choice. You need to calm down some way inside. Also, channel me if you want to tonight. I’ll save you the trouble. I’ll put her right to sleep.’

Abel sighs.

“Fine by me.”

Abel hears a knock at the door and gets up from the desk to get it. He opens the door seeing Vance in a tank top, sweat shorts and some gym shoes.

“Hey, Abe.” Vance greets. “Autumn and I are about to go downstairs to the gym. You want to come with us? At least to help clear your mind?”

“I never thought I would say this, but yes. I’ll join you two.” Abel replies.

“Okay. Get your gear on so we can go downstairs. We’ll be waiting for you.”

Abel closes the door and goes back to his room to change. He takes off the clothes he wore from his flight and puts on a V-neck t-shirt, black sweatpants, and white gym shoes with a black trim. He takes a couple of towels from the bathroom, walks out the suite, and locks the door. He then follows Vance and Autumn downstairs to the gym.

.   .   .

11:55 am. Marlene was changing Adam’s IV bag to a full bag of liquid medication. Eve was staring at Marlene the way she did before.

“How are you feeling, Adam?” Marlene asks.

“A little better.” Adam answers weakly. “I just hope they can find me a new heart soon, because this pacemaker can only do so much.”

“I understand, little man. Even though you have a weak heart, you have a strong soul. I know the doctors will find you a new heart.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

Marlow comes in the room with Adam’s sheet.

“Well, Adam. You’re awake. I have good news to tell you.” Marlow speaks.

“What is it?” Adam asks.

“We found a match for you for a new heart. We are planning to set the operation a couple of days from now.”

Marlene puts her hand on her chest in relief.

“That’s great. Thank God.” She speaks.

Eve turns Marlene with a surprised look on her face.

“So, you’ll need to get ready for that day and you both will be going back home to your guardians.” Marlow speaks. “Marlene, I think it’s time for his lunch. Give the little lady some, too. I need to check on another patient.”

Marlow puts Adam’s sheet on the table in the room and leaves. Marlene sees Eve staring at her again, but this time amazed.

“What’s wrong, Eve?” Marlene asks concerned.

“You… you made a premonition that Adam would get a new heart.” Eve replies.

Marlene looks to her confused. “I did?”

“Yes. You just said that you knew he was going to get a new heart. And after that, the doctor said they found a match.”

Marlene realized she did say that earlier and even surprised herself.

“Are you psychic like me?” Eve asks.

“Are you an angel?” Adam adds.

“No, I am neither of those.” Marlene replies modestly. “For me, these types of things just happen on the fly, little ones.”

“No. You’re a psychic like me.” Eve counters. “There’s no way that was a coincidence, Nurse Rosa.”

“No, I’m not. But what about you, little one? You’re a psychic?”

“She is.” Adam replies with Eve nodding.

“Okay.” Marlene speaks. “Well, I know you’ve been looking at me for a very long time. And you were able to know my last name. What else do you know about me? I’m curious.”

Eve began to concentrate as she looked Marlene dead in the eye.

“Marlene Rosa.” She answers. “You have seven other sisters, you’re the second out of eight: the youngest twin. Marcus Demos is your biological father. Natalina Rosa is your mother. Did you get a boyfriend not too long ago?”

“Yes.” Marlene replies.

“Abel Wilson is his name. Now… there is something about him.”

Marlene looks concerned.

“What about him? Is it something bad?” She asks.

Eve feels hesitant to answer.

“That’s for something for you to find out. I’m scared to tell you.” She replies.

Marlene begins to wonder what Eve said about Abel, but an alarm on her phone goes off for lunch. Another nurse comes in to take her spot for the next hour and a half, prompting Marlene to leave.

.   .   .

During a break in the cafeteria, Marlene and Zeina were eating; Zeina decides to start a conversation.

“So, you were on a date last night?” She asks Marlene.

“Uh… Yeah.” Marlene replies hesitantly. “How’d you know?”

“Nikita told me.”

“Dammit, Niki.” Marlene curses under her breath.

Zeina chuckles.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed. So, what’s he like?” She asks curiously.

“Well, all I can say is he’s an absolute gentleman. I don’t really know him yet.” Marlene answers.

“Well, later down the line, you’ll get to know him, I’m sure.”

Marlene begins thinking about what Eve had said about Abel, along with thinking about Abel himself. Is there something Eve knew about him? Is there something that Abel is doing that is illegal since he is a scientist? Thinking too much about this, she decides to calm down and not to think about it as she ate her lunch.

.   .   .   .   .

12:30 pm. Abel, Autumn, and Vance were spending their time in the hotel’s gym. Autumn was running on the treadmill wearing a sports bra, sweatpants, gym shoes, and her hair in a braid. Vance was lifting weights; bench pressing 200 lbs. Abel was punching and kicking a punching bag. Abel was thinking to himself as he was striking the bag.

‘You’re starting to feel better, but you need that release still.’ Abel’s inner voice spoke.

‘Nice to know.’ Abel replies in thought.

‘You’re thinking of the compatible one, I see. Wondering how she’s doing?’

‘I am. I’m sure she’s doing alright. She might be working right now.’

‘I know you’re thinking about her more than how she’s doing. I’m sure you’re thinking about how beautiful her body looks without any clothes on. She looks like she hasn’t been graced yet with the touch of a man. And when she feels the grace of you, you’ll make her shine.’

‘How poetic. When did you start talking like that?’

‘Ever since she came to your attention. Again, you need to… get personal with her.’

As Abel was thinking to himself, he catches Autumn’s attention while she was on the treadmill, slowing the speed.

‘Curious question. It might anger you. Would you protect Marlene from any harm that could come her way?’ Inner voice asks.

Abel starts punching the bag harder.

‘I would protect her. I feel like I should, more than I would protect Erika.’ He replies.

‘What would you do if you saw Marlene harmed in any way?’

Abel growls and starts punching the bag with inhuman speed. With a powerful spin kick, the punching bag tore from the hinges and flew across the gym, stopping Autumn and Vance from their workout and looking to him. Autumn decides to get off the treadmill and walks toward Abel. Autumn touches his face to read his thoughts; what she felt was fire of mixed emotions within Abel, mainly about Erika and a new woman she now knows is Marlene. She looks at him face to face.

“You’re conflicted on so many things, Abel.” She speaks and gets close to whisper in his ear. “Calm down. Clear your mind. Focus on the task at hand so we can get this over with.”

Abel takes deep breaths and calms down. Everything that was important to him becomes clear and listed in his mind. He looks to Autumn.

“Thank you, Autumn. I have work to do. I’ll see you both at 6:00.”

Abel puts the punching bag back on its hinges, grabbed his towels, and walked out the gym to go back to his suite.

.   .   .

After Abel was done with his shower, he put on some clothes and went back to his laptop. As he looked over his project, he corrected some errors and looked over the results; seeing it was sound.

‘Now what we need for this is a test subject.’ His inner voice speaks.

“They provided us with five prisoners; which means five different results.” Abel comments aloud.

‘What if the results for all five of them come back in failure—’

“They won’t come back in failure. I’ve checked and used the serum numerous times—”

‘And 50% of the subjects lived with no mutations. The unlucky half mutated and combusted in front of you. Let us hope 3 of the 5 survive.’

Abel remembers the 50 test subjects he and Erika experimented on throughout the course of two years. He only experimented on prisoners who committed the worst crimes from sexual assault to murder. Through his findings, he found out the serum, when it works positively with one’s body, the subjects would have side effects of feeling alert of their surroundings and energetic. It worked with all blood types, and whatever ailments the subject had would either lower or diminish; be it a mental or physical disability and even a fatal illness; it would prolong the subject’s life.

On the negative side, the serum doesn’t react well with prisoners who have had substance problems, chemical imbalance, irrational brain function from substance abuse, or certain impurities in the blood. The reaction would lead to mutation of the affected area via injection within five minutes in pain. After the five minutes, 30 seconds later, the subject’s blood will boil, and the body will spontaneously combust.

“The serum is only compatible with natural problems in humans; except for the imbalance.” Abel explains to himself. “The prisoners who are in their right mind, who have sense inside still, can survive it, even ones with the mental instability. Let us hope none of them are under the influence of anything when they’re administered the serum.”

As Abel finished typing his report for his research, he sees the time was 1:30 pm. Abel decides to turn off his laptop and get some rest before 6:00 pm came around. He puts his laptop back in his briefcase and puts the briefcase in his suitcase so Erika could not tamper with it. He then lays down on the bed and instantly goes to sleep.