A what? Vivienne's mouth grew dry and she looked at him horrified and shocked at the same time. Was this man insane? How the hell was he on the payroll, the top of it at that, with these wild dreams? "What are you talking about?" Vivienne asked, clearly not believing the man. Mr. Brooks only smiled, again too excited to show off his work to realize. It wasn't the first or the last time he would garner this reaction. He relished in it every time. "Miss Westing, we are working on vaccines and other things here that will change and shape the world. This man was killed by a vampire and turned into a creature of the night. Because all of his blood was taken and none given back by the vampire that did this, he has turned into more of a monster. What we're doing is trying to control that and bring him back… Almost like trying to revive a zombie. It's magnificent, isn't it?" Mr. Brooks was too excited to notice the color draining from Vivienne's face. "I... what… I'm sorry did you say vampire?" Vivienne was having a hard time understanding. A headache was beginning to form as she turned her gaze back to the man in the room. Mr. Brooks laughed lightly and patted Vivienne on the back. "I know, it's always a shock the first time." He stuffed his hands into his pockets of his trousers and he too began to gaze at the man and the scientists working on him. "We do a lot of research down here regarding these creatures, Miss Westing. I know this is a lot to take in, but…" He turned to her with a warm smile, a knowing smile. "Your uncle worked on this for a very long time with The Council. This work will continue and you will become a part of it as well. I anticipate us having a very good working relationship." He extended his hand to her. Vivienne turned to stare at him and look into his eyes. Was this really happening? Was this really the secretive work that her uncle had been conducting?
It was starting to fall into place and make sense but it was still so unbelievable. She wasn't a skeptic, she had always thought there could be more out there in the world than we were aware of. She had always long felt there were secrets the world kept away for the greater good. Could you imagine if the world knew of something like this? It would be absolute chaos. She had a million questions and thoughts. She wanted to know more, everything. How did they find out about these creatures, what was that like, how many more of them are there, do they agree with what was happening here, was there some kind of hierarchy of this underworld? Vivienne stared at Mr. Brooks for a while before finally taking his hand in a firm handshake. "Yes… I hope so." She swallowed hard as she did her best to keep her composure. What else could one say to something like this? "I will need a briefing on … this…" She gestured with her hand. "I have, as I'm sure you understand, many questions.." Her eyes looked all over at everything in the lab, trying to take in what she could.
Mr. Brooks nodded his head knowingly. "Yes, I can imagine. I still remember my first time." He said, lost in his own memories as he gazed back at the vampire strapped away being pumped full of drugs they were testing. "We also are working on using the same DNA from these creatures to enhance our drugs and solutions for humans… Imagine the things we could accomplish for humans… Having the ability of a supernatural being without actually becoming one of them." This caught Vivienne's attention even more. "Just how long has this research been underway?" Mr. Brooks smiled. "Oh we're still in the early stages… It's been about fifteen years now. We've had a lot of obstacles in our way but lately we've been making good progress. I'll be more than happy to show you everything we're working on and answer any specific questions. I'll also be instructing the team to update your security credentials so that you can visit here any time you like. I'll send over some basic information on what we're doing here so that you feel more comfortable." Vivienne nodded. This was bizarre. This whole thing was just flat out bizarre and things just kept getting even more so. She felt like she was in a dream. Was any of this real? Maybe she would wake up soon. That had to be it, didn't it? How else could she explain this? Vampires aren't real, none of this was real… right?
"Well I won't keep you any longer. I know you have a very important meeting to attend." Mr. Brooks smiled and escorted Vivienne back to the elevator. She was lost in her own thoughts and was trying to reconcile with everything that just happened. How could her uncle keep this from her? It was inconceivable to her that he would have secrets as large as these. He probably thought it better that she was unaware. He wasn't counting on dying so early, she was sure of that. Although he had already set things into place long before his death, it was unexpected.
She still remembered that night that she received the phone call from Oliver. She had been in her condo in downtown, settling in after coming back home from dinner in the city with friends. She had just seen her uncle earlier that day at the office. He was jovial, healthy looking, charismatic as always. If she had only known that would've been the last time she would see him. It was a shock to her and everything that had happened following his death had been shock after shock. It was as if he was leading this double life. It appeared there was still so much about her uncle that she didn't know. Vivienne wasn't sure if she should be angry or upset. Maybe thankful? Thankful that he had shielded her from this part of the world for as long as he could. She could only imagine what her life would've looked like had she found something like this out ten years ago when she had just gotten out of college and started working for his company. She was too young then. Even now she felt too young to be where she was. Time was not her friend.
Vivienne returned to the car that was still waiting for her outside of the building. She turned to take one last look at the laboratory building before getting inside. The sun had set and now it was getting dark and cold outside. They were insistent that she visit this place before the meeting tonight... Did that mean that The Council had something to do with this as well?