Chapter 156

Chapter 156
Calla

I watched in shock as Dante held Blake's wrist in an iron grip, both men locked in a deadly standoff. The laboratory felt frozen in that moment, like the whole world was holding its breath.

Dante's fangs were showing as he chuckled, his red eyes gleaming with centuries of patience finally paying off. "Foolish politician," he said, his voice carrying that smooth mockery I'd heard before. "Did you really think you could outsmart someone who's been alive since before your country existed?"

Blake's face twisted with fury, but then something shifted in his expression. Almost like he was smiling.

That's when he opened his mouth and spat.

A stream of water exploded from Blake's lips, hitting Dante square in the face. The vampire's grip loosened in surprise as liquid splashed across his pale features.

I realized Blake had never swallowed the water from the bottle. He'd kept it in his mouth the whole time, waiting for this exact moment.

Dante's scream of agony filled the laboratory.

His face started burning where the water had touched him, smoke rising from his skin like acid was eating through flesh. The smell was horrible - like sulfur mixed with rotting meat. Dante clawed at his face, his usual composure shattered as he writhed in pain.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Dante shrieked, his voice breaking as he struggled to breath while blisters erupted across his cheeks and forehead.

Blake spat again, clearing the rest of the liquid from his mouth, though I could see it had affected him too. His lips were red and swollen, and he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. But the damage to him was nothing compared to what was happening to Dante.

"Thornspike flower extract," Blake said, his voice rough but satisfied. "Deadly to vampires, but we hybrids have better resistance."

He drove the hidden syringe into Dante's neck while the vampire was still convulsing from the flower poison. The blue-green liquid emptied into Dante's bloodstream as he screamed in rage and pain.

From her restraints across the room, Vera started laughing. The sound was wild and maniac, like she'd finally lost her mind completely.

"Oh, this is beautiful," she cackled, pulling against her bonds. "The puppet master getting played by his own puppet."

Michael stared in shock, his mouth hanging open. Even Lucian looked stunned by what was happening. Only Marcus Kane remained unconscious, hanging limply in his restraints.

Dante dropped to his knees as whatever Blake had injected him with spread through his system. His perfect vampire features were twisted with pain and something else - fear.

Blake stood over him, wiping more blood from his swollen lips. "The vampire you've been asking about?" he said, his voice cold with satisfaction. "Kael? I killed him two days ago. Couldn't have loose ends walking around who knew too much about my plans."

"You bastard," Dante gasped, his hands shaking as he tried to push himself upright. "I underestimated you."

"Yes, you did," Blake agreed. "You see, I became a hybrid instead of a vampire for two reasons. First, because I was terrified of you. I knew I could never beat a full vampire in a straight fight even if I was a full vampire, so I needed an edge. Second, hybrids have fewer vampire weaknesses - like immunity to most plant toxins that would kill your kind."

I watched in horrified fascination as Blake explained his strategy. He'd planned this betrayal from the beginning, even risking death during the transformation procedure just to gain the advantage he needed.

Dante was convulsing now, dark veins spreading under his pale skin as the mysterious injection did its work. Whatever Blake had given him, it was tearing him apart from the inside.

But then Dante's eyes blazed with fury, and he reached for the metal case beside him - the one filled with glowing syringes that contained the feral compounds.

"I'll never let you win," he snarled.

With his last bit of strength, he grabbed the case and smashed it against the concrete floor.

Glass exploded everywhere as dozens of syringes shattered, their blue-green contents spreading across the laboratory floor in a toxic puddle. The liquid hissed and steamed where it touched the concrete, filling the air with chemical fumes.

Blake's face went white with horror as he watched months of research destroy itself in seconds.

"No!" he screamed, dropping to his knees beside the spreading chemicals. "Those compounds took weeks to synthesize!"

Dante collapsed backward, his body still shaking from the injection, but his lips curved into a satisfied smile. "If I can't have the moonkeeper's power," he wheezed, "then neither can you."

The acrid smell of the destroyed compounds filled my lungs, making me cough. Whatever those chemicals were, breathing them couldn't be healthy for anyone in the room.

Blake knelt in the spreading puddle of ruined research, his hands shaking with rage and desperation. His carefully laid plans were falling apart, and I could see the panic starting to set in behind his cold political mask.

Across the room, the suspended cartel members watched the chaos with mixed expressions of shock and dark satisfaction.

"Looks like you are fucked Blake," Lucian called out, his voice carrying cruel amusement.

Blake stood slowly, his features twisted with fury as he looked between Dante's convulsing form and the destroyed chemicals. Everything he'd worked for was turning to ash, and I could practically see his mind racing to find a new plan.

That's when I realized something that made my blood run cold.

With the strange compounds destroyed and his vampire ally betrayed, Blake only had one card left to play.

Me.

And desperate men with nothing left to lose were the most dangerous kind.