Cato dragged the cart which contained an unconscious Astraea, along a dark, sandy path to an abandoned building.
Dune.
After Isander had been defeated, Cato's only fear was that Sorin and Cassian would destroy the machine that could raise the dead. Fortunately for him, the machines was still intact.
The Undead and the Morning Star were the only things that remained in the laboratory. The Undead was the machine that resurrected dead people, but without their memories. It was what Isander had used to make his army and bring back Nola from the dead.
There was a way a dead person could retain their memories though. If a telekinetic person was able to hold the certain memories he needed the dead person to remember. That was how Nola remembered that Cassian had driven his sword through her.
The Morning Star was the machine that could make someone immortal. It had never been used because Cato never got complete batteries; telekinetic people.
He had named it the morning star after the fallen angel, Lucifer. Cato's mother was religious, so he had learnt that angels were immortal and that is how he wanted people to be.
He wanted to be God who created the immortal angels.
After so much struggling, he finally reached the floor where the machines were, with Astraea. He fell to the floor and panted, "At last!" he breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the machines.
He stood up and walked to the cart where Astraea was out cold. She was the perfect battery.
Before Cato had started Dune, he believed that in every generation, there was a perfect battery; someone who could harness the powers of the mind and help in his creation of the first immortal being. That was why he had sent out his workers to capture children between the ages of 12 and 16. The perfect battery had to be amongst them.
When he had met Isander, he had thought of him as a moody brat who could not be what he was looking for, but then, Isander was among the children that survived the first brain shock. That was when Cato started having interests in him.
After much studying of the children they had captured, Cato developed a hypothesis; the weak children were the ones who had hope that they could be saved, eventually. They had the mindset that they did not need to change, they just had to sit and wait for their parents to save them. Since Dune was dealing with the mind, they had to break the children's mindset, but it was harder than they thought.
While the strong ones were the children who had abandoned all hope and faith in the outside world and were looking for ways to adapt and change themselves so they could escape.
Isander was among that lot, but then, he met Andra. She was twelve and hopeful. She had dark hair, brown eyes, brown skin and a gap tooth. She was always smiling and giving the children hope that they would be saved soon.
Her message of hope got to Isander who had begun to like her, and during one of the brain shocks, he had almost died. Cato had instructed that his pills be tripled so they can work more effectively and so that he can be his former self, but Isander did not need pills, he needed his mindset to be changed.
Cato had noticed that the problem was Andra. She was like a weed killing the plant he had carefully watered and taken care of. It angered him, and he ordered her death. Weeds have to be removed before they completely sap out the energy of the plant.
That day, the scientist on duty, Oralie's father, had been ordered to increase the current of the tDCS(Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation), when it was time for Andra to be shocked, to 5mA. That was even too much for an adult.
The safety threshold for a child was 2mA, while for an adult was 4mA, anything more could result in death. Sacrifices have to be made, was Cato's only thought as he watched the little girl's brain get fried.
Isander had been connected to an EEG and was getting his brain waves read, when he saw Andra's hand drop lifelessly.
The squiggles on the printout moved faster as Isander felt anger rise within him. The scientist that had been reading it, got scared and got up, panick on his face.
Cato had been watching from the safety of his office, a sly smirk on his face.
When Isander had started destroying the place, he had hid in his basement and ignored the screaming of his workers and the children as they were killed mercilessly.
Isander had walked out of the dilapidated building, with Andra's lifeless body in his arms, that was when Cato had come out of hiding and made a proposal to the boy; he could bring Andra back to life and make her immortal with his help.
It was a symbiotic deal. Cato would achieve his life's long work, while Isander would be reunited with his lover, both of them immortal.
But they both failed.
But yet again, Cato had been blessed with another perfect battery, Astraea. She had been brought to life with the Undead, so she was perfect. They were bound to each other.
"It seems the perfection lies in the Monterey family," Cato grinned as he caressed her face.
She stirred awake and opened her eyes, "Did you enjoy your nap?" Cato's grin widened as her grey eyes widened in horror.
To her, the scary old man had not been a dream, he was real, and he had taken her somewhere far away from home.
She screamed and threw her hand at the man's face, scratching him across his eyes, with her nails.
Cato staggered back, blood seeping out of his wound. Astraea used that means to get out of the cart and dash out of the eerie, stuffy and smelly room.
Once Cato had recovered, he chased after the girl.
The night was a moonless one, hence it was very dark. Astraea was not used to the laboratory, so she kept on bumping into things, as she ran.
On the other hand, Cato had practically lived in Dune, so even though it was dark, he knew where he was going, therefore, he had the upper hand.
He sighted the girl and passed another route to corner her.
Astraea noticed some movement at a door. She knew the old man was onto her.
Cato ran towards Astraea, his hand moving to his belt where he had strapped a blade, but then, he felt a small shoulder hit his abdomen, then he was pushed to the floor.
Astraea hovered above him, with his dagger in her hands. She was trembling as she held the dagger in front of her, trying to keep Cato away.
Cato rubbed his sore back and pushed himself up with a grunt. He stared at the girl as she stood before him. He could sense her fear.
He grinned like the devil he was and swept her off her feet. She landed heavily on her back and then Cato snatched back his blade.
Her heart pounded in fear as memories of her parents, friends and relatives flashed through her eyes.
"Mummy, daddy," she sobbed and Cato climbed on top of her, "Mummy and daddy are not here, child."
He raised his blade and brought it down on her, but she caught his wrist before the blade could pierce through her chest.
Cato pushed his hand down, but she tried to keep it away from her chest. He could not believe he was struggling with a child. He was the adult, he was supposed to have the upper hand.
He put his other hand on the hand holding the dagger, while Astraea moved her hands from his wrist to the blade. It sliced her palms as Cato applied more force in bringing the dagger down.
The dagger finally touched her chest and Cato laughed as tears spewed out of her eyes. He pressed the dagger more and watched as the tip disappeared into her body, blood spluttering on her neck and her hands which still tried to pull the blade out of her.
Mummy, Astraea wept as she thought of her mother singing lullabies for her.
"Do not struggle anymore child, think of this as a deep sleep," he grinned mischievously and with a grunt, he drove the dagger completely, through her chest.
A gasp escaped from her lips and her grip weakened. He twisted the blade in her and one last tear fell from her left eye before her blood-stained hands fell from the dagger.
Cato watched the life leave her distraught grey eyes, then he dragged the dagger out her chest and got up from her lifeless body.
He wiped her blood off his hands and sighed. He did not want to give her a painful death, as gratitude to her uncle for being a good partner, but she had struggled.
He looked at the blood-stained dagger and a sinister smile crept up his face. "Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. This is only the beginning of what I am about to do."
He grabbed Astraea's cold and lifeless legs and dragged her along the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind him.