Chapter 37 37

Cassian Graves was ecstatic.

At last, everything had fallen into place. He had turned factions against each other, betrayed the pureblood council, killed Cassian Graves—no, replaced him in power—and seized all twelve elders for the ritual.

The altar was prepared.

The final piece had been delivered.

Blade had taken the bait.

Captured. Bound. Drained.

Tonight, Cassian Graves would ascend.

Tonight, he would become the Blood God.

Blade hung over the altar, barely conscious, his body pierced through by jagged spikes. Blood flowed from him in steady streams, tracing carved channels that led into the ritual circle. Each drop reached a waiting pureblood, marking their foreheads in crimson.

The air changed.

Something old… something wrong… stirred.

Energy gathered.

The altar pulsed.

Then the twelve elders began to break.

Their bodies split apart from within.

Bone forced its way out.

Skulls tore free and rose into the air, spinning in slow, unnatural orbits.

The chamber became a nightmare of motion and sound.

And then—

The ceiling exploded.

A figure dropped through the collapsing debris, landing hard in the center of the ritual.

Steel armor.

Red-lit eyes.

Drex Valen.

Black Queen had been tracking Blade for days. When she flagged the capture, Drex didn't hesitate.

He knew how this story usually ended.

That didn't mean he was willing to gamble on it.

So he came prepared.

Fully armed.

And carrying enough anticoagulant payloads to turn the battlefield into a chemical warzone if things went sideways.

He scanned the altar.

Floating skulls.

Unstable energy.

Ritual nearly complete.

Bad timing.

But not too late.

Cassian Graves turned sharply, eyes widening.

"Kill him!"

Drex didn't answer.

His visor ignited.

A line of burning red carved through the air.

Heat vision.

It struck Cassian Graves center mass.

There was no struggle.

No second phase.

No speech.

Just ash.

The temperature spiked violently as Cassian Graves disintegrated mid-ritual.

The floating skulls faltered.

Lost direction.

Drifted in confusion.

Drex swept the chamber with heat vision again, cutting down the remaining vampires before they could react, before they could adapt, before anything else could go wrong.

Then—

The skulls shifted.

All at once.

They turned toward Blade.

And rushed him.

"Don't—"

Too late.

Drex's psionic force detonated outward in a golden surge.

The air locked.

Space tightened.

Most of the skulls froze mid-flight, trapped as if reality itself had clenched its fist around them.

But not all.

A few slipped through.

They struck Blade.

And vanished into his body.

Blade's form snapped upright.

Suspended.

Unnatural.

Drex's posture shifted instantly.

Every weapon system armed.

Every contingency ready.

If Blade transformed—

He would end it immediately.

Blade's eyes opened.

Clarity.

Confusion.

Power.

"…What did you do to me?"

His voice was rough, but steady.

Not feral.

Not broken.

Drex studied him carefully.

"You're conscious. That's a good sign."

Blade's gaze sharpened.

Ashes everywhere.

Dead vampires.

A man in armor standing over him.

"Who are you?"

Drex didn't hesitate.

"Just a passerby."

A beat.

"Superhero, if you need a label."

Blade didn't smile.

"I didn't ask for help."

"No," Drex said calmly. "But you still need it."

He tilted his head slightly.

"You were part of something you don't understand. That usually comes with consequences."

Blade shifted, testing his body.

He felt stronger.

Faster.

Wrong.

"I'm fine."

Drex's tone didn't change.

"If you don't want to become something worse than a vampire, you should let me run a scan."

A pause.

Then—

"I have a private facility."

Another pause.

The skulls above them began to crumble into dust.

Blade hesitated.

That was enough.

Drex closed the distance and grabbed him.

Not violently.

Not gently either.

Just… decisively.

Blade tried to resist.

Failed.

He assumed it was the armor.

He didn't realize it wasn't.

By the time they arrived, it was nearing dawn.

Dr. Curt Connors showed up within minutes of the call.

No complaints.

No delay.

Because Drex had said one thing.

"Potential universal cure sample."

That was enough.

Blade's girlfriend came too.

She didn't trust anyone else to handle him.

But when she saw where they were—

Blade Technology Industries.

And who Drex was—

Her expression changed.

This wasn't normal.

None of this was normal.

Blade underwent full diagnostics.

Reluctantly.

Carefully.

Connors didn't miss a single detail.

Blood.

Tissue.

Cellular scans.

Everything.

At the same time, Black Queen ran a full-spectrum analysis.

What they found—

Wasn't human.

Not fully.

Blade's metabolism was beyond extreme.

His cells were dividing at an absurd rate.

But there was no degradation.

No limit.

No decay.

As long as enough of his cellular structure remained intact—

He would not die.

His DNA showed only about ten percent deviation from baseline human.

That ten percent—

Vampire.

But refined.

Optimized.

Superior to every vampire sample they had.

Something new had formed.

Something stable.

Something dangerous.

"Boss."

Connors practically ran into the room.

"The serum is ready."

His hands were shaking.

Not from fear.

From excitement.

"This solves everything. Do you understand? This could eliminate disease entirely. We should secure the subject immediately—"

"No."

Drex cut him off.

Flat.

Cold.

"We test first."

Connors froze.

Drex continued.

"We isolate variables. We observe. We wait."

His eyes didn't leave the data.

"Excitement kills more projects than failure."

A pause.

Then—

"You'll have test subjects."

They did.

Criminals.

The kind no one would miss.

They were infected.

One by one.

Every major lethal disease.

Every known viral strain.

Then—

Injected.

With the serum.

The question was simple.

Would it cure them?

Or would it turn them into something else?

Drex set the observation period himself.

One year.

Long enough to catch slow mutations.

Long enough to expose hidden risks.

Because power like this—

Didn't come without a cost.