Chapter Twenty-Seven
MY SKIN CRAWLED AS WE STOOD IN THE metal box, sinking deep into the belly of the glacier. The journey seemed to take forever—silent and swift—Whisper chuffing quietly with discomfort.
Laying my hand on his shoulders, the cat gave me a grateful look just as the doors opened, revealing a futuristic-looking labyrinth.
“Follow me.” Frank strode quickly down a steel-encased corridor. Heat vents pumped fresh air and warmth around our feet while the weight of the glacier felt as if I’d just entered a crypt.
My crypt. Our crypt.
Rook didn’t speak, but her fingers sought mine as we passed natural crevasses—some narrow and razor-sharp, others wide enough to swallow a truck. Each pocket of ice was reinforced with pillars and transparent walls, allowing the glacier’s blue gleam to break up the monotony of steel.
Far too many men and women darted around, looking official and busy. A few cast pleasantries at Frank, but a lot of them took one look at me and Rook and found something else to do.
I scowled, focusing on Rook. Her blood-splattered filthy nightgown was probably part of their wariness, along with the frailty of her body. My heart seized as I truly drank her in. She looked dreadful. Her eyes bruised with exhausted shadows; her lips pinched and face gaunt.
Gee thanks. Her sarcasm strayed into my thoughts.
My heart pinched with loss all over again. Fuck, I can’t lose her.
You won’t lose me. She squeezed my hand. And I won’t lose you, got it?
I wanted to tell her so many things. Nonsense, silly things that I needed a lifetime to say. In the end, I settled for silence as we headed deeper into the lab and spilled out into a vast chamber.
I sucked in a breath at the size. An entire section of the glacier had been hollowed out like an ancient cathedral, the roof touching the thinnest crust of ice above, allowing natural light to glow.
Frank caught me looking. “This chamber supports the energy grid for this level. What you’re seeing is only ten percent of the facility. The rest is deeper.”
I squeezed Rook’s fingers.
I despised this place.
The fire in me felt trapped and angry, hissing to get free.
I needed to be alone with her. To touch her, kiss her. To find a way to stop the migraine driving daggers into my skull and erase the ever-present nausea.
The longer we went without connecting, the sicker I felt. My heart stumbled over its beats. I could barely stand or take a satisfying breath. My body temperature rose from my usual scorching baseline, threatening to boil the tarry blood straight out of my veins.
Whisper came to my side, sensing my descent into agony. With a knowing look, he pressed against me, taking his usual place as my crutch.
My heart fisted with affection.
I didn’t know what I would’ve done without him during all those moments when he’d helped keep me upright in Cinderkeep. He’d supported me each time my emotions spiked and the vitalsync core delivered pain.
Fuck, knowing he was tailor-made for me? That he’d been genetically tampered with so his lifespan could reach sixty...I wanted to stick around for that.
I didn’t want to die and never see him again.
I didn’t want to leave him on his own.
Fuck...
I struggled to catch a breath. Weakness crawled through my body as we trailed down another twisty corridor before Frank finally stopped in front of a heavy steel door.
Pressing his palm to a scanner, the door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a large, minimalist room with floor-to-ceiling glass on the far side. A glowing turquoise crevasse lit up the space with eerie light.
The other walls were lined with metal and shelving.
Every inch of space was covered in apparatus that I was too fucking tired to care about.
Everything gleamed far too white and sterile and I hated it because it reminded me of how I’d been forced to siphon my blood, giving it to men who’d turned around and used it to torture others.
Frank headed straight to a cabinet and snapped on a pair of latex gloves. Grabbing a few things, he headed back toward us. Pointing at the metal chairs ringing the table, he ordered, “Sit. I need a blood sample from both of you.”
Yet another man wanting blood.
A crackle of flame danced around my fingers, costing me.
Rook shot me a worried look. “It’s alright, Lucien. We’re fine.”
“Frank won’t hurt either of you,” Dillon said from where he’d parked himself in the corner, his arms crossed but hand conveniently resting on the holster of his gun. “I give you my word.”
Whisper placed himself beside Rook’s bodyguard. He sat tall and proud, almost as if he’d labelled himself as my bodyguard. Dillon didn’t flinch at the panther’s closeness—revealing the journey from China together had ensured they might not be friends, but they were no longer enemies.
“Dil’s right.” Frank nodded, laying the tools he needed on a stainless tray. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you alive, but...we need to hurry.”
Are you sure you trust him? I didn’t look at Rook as we sat down.
She kept her eyes on Frank as he bustled about, preparing what needed to be done. I’ve loved him like my favourite uncle since before I could remember. Without him taking over the company, I doubt I would’ve survived after my parents died. So yes...I do trust him. Or at least...I want to.
Frank leaned over the table and placed his tray in front of Rook. Grabbing a syringe, he winced as if he genuinely hated the thought of hurting her. “Just a tiny sting. I’m sorry, little snowflake.”
“It’s fine.” Extending her arm, she stiffened as he swiped her skin with alcohol then pierced her with the needle.
She swayed toward me, exhaustion and discomfort bleeding into me.
I wrapped an arm around her icy shoulders, gritting my teeth as black blood siphoned into the syringe.
I waited for Frank to react to the awful colour. To lose his mind over how bad it looked, but he just gritted his teeth and didn’t say a word.
“Why is it black?” My question came out loud and angry. “Why aren’t you reacting?”
Taking another vial, he withdrew the needle, stuck a Band-Aid on the small prick, then prepared a fresh syringe.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked softly, catching my eyes.
“You swore on your children’s lives that you’d tell us everything.” I sniffed. “Are you backing out already?”
“No. I promise I’ll tell you everything relevant to keeping you alive. I will never hold anything back that will genuinely help. However...there’s a difference between knowing how you feel versus knowing why.”
Rook swallowed hard. “I’m used to you not being able to sugarcoat things, Frank. Tell us.”
His gaze snapped to hers. “Are you sure? Are you sure you want that harsh data in your head when you’re already dealing with so much?”
Do you? Rook slipped into my thoughts. Your call. Frank is one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met but he doesn’t know how to deliver bad news.
I need to know. I fisted my hands on the table.
“Tell us,” Rook repeated firmly.
Sucking in a breath, Frank nodded. “Alright then.” Placing the vials full of Rook’s blood on the stainless-steel tray, he slid out a chair and sat down.
“Let’s start with the fact that you can’t eat anymore. If you can’t stomach even basic sustenance, then...that means your digestive system has already shut down.”
My heart squeezed.
He was right.
Feeling it was different from hearing it.
It made it so much more real. So...final.
“As you know from prior experiments, Rook, the gastrointestinal tract is the first major system to break because it’s the most energy intensive.
We’ve seen it in every Requiem subject where the body can no longer process food because it’s too busy rewriting itself on a cellular level.
Food, water, even intravenous vitamins are rejected because the cells try to turn immortal yet end in necrosis. ”
Rook pressed against me, her worry matching mine.
“What comes next?” I asked quietly.
Frank winced as if he didn’t want to share.
“If you follow the same path as the rest, your endocrine system will fail next. You’ll experience extreme temperature swings, emotional instability, and crashing energy levels.
The very power that’s making you suffer will do whatever it takes to get free—including breaking apart the host.”
“Jesus...” Dillon muttered from his corner.
“After that, your immune system will collapse.” Frank shut down whatever emotions he had and dissociated, focusing on facts only.
“Your own body will start attacking itself as the last remaining cells fight to survive. Respiratory will be next. You’ll find it hard to catch your breath, even at rest. Neurological degradation comes after that—memory lapses, possible seizures as your brain tries to—”
“We get it.” Rook cut in. “You don’t have to tell us anymore—”
“T-The final stage,” he blurted, too entrenched in horror to stop. “Is cardiac and multi-organ failure. Once that happens, you’ll have hours—maybe less—before total systemic collapse.”
He looked up, his broad shoulders hunched by his ears in denial. “Every single test subject goes through these stages because the immortality gene no longer requires such mortal things. It systematically shuts the host down, piece by piece, until you either dissolve or disintegrate.”
“And there’s no way to stop it?” My voice was cold.
“Not that I know of. Like I said...the Requiem code is rewriting you on a cellular level. Your old cells are dying off en masse. Your haemoglobin is breaking down, the iron in your blood is oxidising, and the cellular membranes are collapsing into necrotic sludge. Your blood is black because it’s filled with dead cells that tried—and failed—to complete the ascension. ”
“But we triggered our ascension weeks ago.” Rook shot me a look before focusing on Frank. “Lucien did dissipate. I watched him die. But...I was able to bring him back.”
“What?” Frank blinked.
“Same for me.” I narrowed my eyes. “I woke to Rook dissolving into snow and used whatever gifts I have to stop her from leaving.”
Shock flared in Frank’s blue gaze. “You’re saying you reversed death?”
Rook and I nodded at the same time.
“So have I got it all wrong then?” Frank shot to his feet. “Did you actually achieve the impossible? Are you immortal?” Leaning over Rook, he studied her as if he could see evidence in her face. “But if you are...why do you look so terrible?”
Rook shrugged. “I’m saying we triggered it. Not that we survived it. Ever since I lost my necklace and Lucien broke the vitalsync core, we’ve worked as each other’s frequency blockers. We literally hold each other in stasis. But...that ability seems to have either worn off or is no longer working.”
Frank paced around the lab. “So you’re saying you ascended. You literally went through the breakdown like all the rest and somehow came back?”
“I guess?” Rook wrinkled her nose. “I mean...I seem to have an extra gift where I can...” She trailed off, looking at me. Should I tell him?
My hackles rose but I nodded. It might help figure stuff out.
“Lucien died. I saw it with my own eyes, but...I kind of turned back time just enough to prevent him from doing so.”
“You what?” Frank whirled on her. “How?”
“No idea.”
“And you?” Frank pointed at me. “Apart from yang-based power, do you have anything ‘extra’?”
I glowered at him. Fire coiled around my heart, killing me that much quicker, warning me not to tell him, but...
this was our last chance. “You’re right that I can feed off other lifeforces.
I...hear their heartbeats. By listening closely, I can gather their energy.
I stole everything I could and gave it all to Rook. It prevented her from leaving me.”
Rook winced as guilt flowed down the bond.
Frank stumbled to the chair and sat heavily. He didn’t speak for ages, shaking his head.
“What does all of this mean, Frank?” Dillon asked, his fingers straying to Whisper’s head. “Can you fix it? They’re not going to die, right?”
The panther didn’t bite Dillon for petting him which gave me very mixed feelings.
Frank rubbed his mouth, his face white. “I honestly don’t know. All of this is new. There’s been no precedent because, until now, there hasn’t been a connected Requiem pair.”
“Connected pair?” I asked.
“You said it yourself. You’ve been holding each other in stasis ever since the tools to keep you from ascending broke.
By that very definition something about your makeup affects the other which leads me back to quantum entanglement.
” His face lit up as he warmed to the idea.
“The combination of your energies is basically the sides of a single coin. Once together, you create a synergy.” His face fell.
“Although, I’m guessing that the moment your blood turned black, all those special abilities vanished? ”
“Not entirely.” Rook answered him. “I think I just manipulated time again to read the file I found when I was a child. And back in Ashfall Cliff when I was shot, we—”
“Hang on.” Frank gawked. “You were shot? When? By who?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m fine now.” Rook waved away his concern. “Lucien healed me but not with his blood. We somehow tripped into a place that’s elsewhere and—”
“Here.” I shoved my arm under his nose, cutting her off. “Take my blood. You’ve taken hers and we’re running out of time.”
Rook scowled but then nodded when she understood my hesitation.
The dreamscape was yet another unexplainable element to all of this. I wanted to know if he could cure us physically before we went spilling what happened in a completely different realm.
“You’re right.” Shaking himself, he came to my side of the table and drew a couple of vials. Labelling them, he carried his tray to the microscope on the bench along the wall. Turning it on, a large flatscreen lit up above.
Pointing at it, he said, “This will allow you to see what I do. We’ve already concluded that your blood is breaking down, so I’m fairly sure I’ll see nothing helpful.
However, I’m curious. Especially after everything you’ve just said.
I’m going to mix your blood together and see if that gives me any answers. ”
A bitter ashy taste coated my tongue as something else broke inside me.
A high-pitched ringing made me shake my head and shove aside the ever-growing weakness.
I’m running out of time. I looked pointedly at Rook. I’m going to need you soon if you want me to stay breathing.
Reaching under the table, her fingers found mine. Five more minutes. Then you can have me flat on my back. Or any other position you fancy.
A much-needed chuckle escaped me. Deal.
Shutting down my pain the best I could, I focused on Frank as he used a pipette to drop blood onto glass slides.
Five more minutes.
Five minutes and then I’d pull her into the dreamscape and do whatever it took to keep both of us alive.