Chapter 146: Blood Truths
No one spoke for a long time after the video ended.
The war room, which had always felt loud with strategy and arguments, suddenly felt like a tomb. The laptop screen still glowed faintly on the table, frozen on the final frame of Dominic’s face just before the feed cut out.
Alive.
The word echoed in my head over and over again.
Alive.
My chest felt tight, like someone had wrapped iron chains around my ribs. My mind kept replaying the moment we buried him — the cold earth, the silence, the pain that had nearly crushed me.
That grief had been real.
But now…
Now it felt like someone had ripped open an old wound and poured fire into it.
Elena was the first to break the silence.
“Okay,” she said slowly, pressing her hands against the table. “I need someone to tell me this is some kind of sick deepfake or hallucination because otherwise I’m going to lose my mind.”
Ethan shook his head.
“It’s real.”
Everyone turned to him.
“I ran the video through every verification filter I have,” he continued. “Voice pattern, facial structure, micro-expression tracking, even thermal distortions in the footage.”
He looked up grimly.
“It’s Dominic.”
Aidan’s jaw tightened.
“Then we go get him.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
That kind of calm usually meant someone was about to do something extremely dangerous.
Echo folded her arms. “We don’t even know where he is.”
Ethan slowly turned his laptop back toward himself.
“Actually… we might.”
Everyone leaned forward.
\---
The screen changed to a digital map.
Dozens of blinking dots appeared across the state.
“These are signal traces from the transmission,” Ethan explained. “Most were fake routes meant to confuse tracking systems.”
He zoomed in.
“But one of them wasn’t fake.”
The map locked onto a location far outside the city.
A remote area surrounded by forest and abandoned industrial sites.
My stomach twisted.
“An old research facility,” Ethan said. “Closed about fifteen years ago after a ‘chemical contamination incident.’”
Elena snorted.
“Let me guess — Creed cover story?”
“Exactly,” Ethan replied.
Rhea leaned closer to the map.
“There’s something familiar about that place…”
She flipped through her worn journal quickly.
Pages rustled.
Then she stopped.
Her eyes widened.
“Oh no.”
“What?” Aidan asked.
Rhea slowly turned the book around so we could see.
The page contained an old hand-drawn map.
And the location Ethan had marked was circled in dark ink.
She read the faded words written beside it.
“The First Laboratory.”
The room went cold.
\---
“The first laboratory?” Elena repeated.
Rhea nodded slowly.
“According to the journal… this is where the Creed conducted their earliest hybrid experiments.”
My chest tightened.
“Experiments like me.”
No one answered.
Because no one could deny it anymore.
Dominic’s words echoed in my mind.
You’re the first successful hybrid the Creed ever created.
My hands trembled slightly.
All those years I thought my strange strength, my instincts, my connection to wolves…
I thought they were just part of the prophecy.
But what if they weren’t?
What if they were engineered?
Aidan noticed the look on my face.
He stepped closer and placed a steady hand on my shoulder.
“Hey.”
I looked up.
“Whatever they did,” he said firmly, “it doesn’t define you.”
I wanted to believe that.
But something deep inside me felt… different now.
Like a locked door inside my mind had cracked open.
And something powerful was stirring behind it.
\---
Elena broke the tension.
“So let’s summarize the nightmare we’re currently living in.”
She held up her fingers one by one.
“Dominic is alive.”
“One.”
“He’s being held by the Creed.”
“Two.”
“And Roxanne might actually be their first hybrid super-experiment.”
“Three.”
She dropped her hand.
“Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.”
Echo glanced at Aidan.
“What’s the move?”
Aidan didn’t hesitate.
“We go tonight.”
Ethan blinked.
“Tonight?”
“Yes,” Aidan said firmly. “If Dominic managed to send that message, it means the Creed already knows we’re aware he’s alive.”
He looked around the room.
“They’ll move him soon.”
He turned to the map again.
“So if we want to save him…”
His voice hardened.
“We attack now.”
\---
The preparations began immediately.
Weapons were laid out across the table.
Silver blades.
Modified rifles.
Flash grenades designed specifically to disrupt supernatural senses.
Elena loaded magazines with focused concentration.
Callum prepared the vehicles.
Echo checked and rechecked every piece of equipment.
Rhea studied the journal again, searching for anything about the old laboratory.
But I couldn’t focus.
The strange feeling inside me kept growing.
A quiet heat under my skin.
Like energy humming through my veins.
Aidan noticed.
“You okay?”
I nodded automatically.
But the truth was…
No.
I wasn’t okay.
Because something inside me was waking up.
\---
Two hours later we stood in the garage.
The storm outside had begun to roll in.
Thunder rumbled across the sky like distant war drums.
Elena adjusted her jacket.
“I hate creepy abandoned facilities,” she muttered. “They always have ghosts, murder basements, or both.”
Callum smirked.
“Relax. Worst case scenario, we just fight a small army of hybrid monsters.”
Elena stared at him.
“Do you hear yourself?”
Aidan stepped forward.
“Alright, listen up.”
Everyone looked at him.
“We don’t know what’s inside that facility. We assume heavy security, possible hybrid subjects, and Creed personnel.”
He looked at me briefly.
“Our primary objective is Dominic.”
Echo added, “Secondary objective: gather any data we can about the hybrid program.”
Ethan raised a finger.
“And ideally not die.”
Elena pointed at him.
“Yes, that part is very important.”
Aidan looked back at everyone.
“We move in quiet. We get Dominic. We get out.”
Then he looked directly at me.
“And Roxanne stays close to me the entire time.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Do I look like I need babysitting?”
His expression softened slightly.
“No.”
Then his voice became serious again.
“But right now you’re the most important person in this war.”
He gestured toward the door.
“So I’m not taking chances.”
\---
The drive took almost an hour.
The forest roads were dark and slick with rain.
Thunder cracked overhead.
The further we drove from the city, the more the world felt… wrong.
Like we were approaching something that didn’t belong in this time.
Finally Ethan slowed the vehicle.
“There.”
Through the trees, the facility appeared.
A massive concrete complex rising from the forest like a forgotten bunker.
Broken windows.
Rusting metal fences.
Watchtowers barely visible through the storm.
Elena whispered, “That place looks cursed.”
Aidan studied the structure.
“There’s power running through parts of it,” Ethan said quietly.
“Meaning?” Echo asked.
“Meaning someone’s still using it.”
My pulse quickened.
Dominic was inside that place.
Somewhere behind those walls.
Alive.
\---
We slipped through the trees toward the facility perimeter.
The rain helped cover our movement.
Echo cut the fence quietly with wire cutters.
We slipped through one by one.
Inside the compound, the silence felt unnatural.
No guards.
No patrols.
Just the sound of rain hitting concrete.
“Too quiet,” Callum whispered.
Aidan nodded.
“Stay sharp.”
We moved toward the main entrance.
The massive metal doors stood slightly open.
That alone was wrong.
Aidan signaled for us to stop.
“Something’s off.”
I could feel it too.
A strange pressure in the air.
Like electricity.
Then suddenly—
The doors slammed shut behind us.
Metal locks snapped into place.
The lights inside the facility flickered on.
Harsh white light flooded the corridor.
And a slow clapping sound echoed from the darkness ahead.
Someone stepped forward.
Tall.
Elegant.
Familiar.
Selene.
She smiled.
“Well done,” she said softly.
Her voice echoed through the empty facility.
“You walked exactly where I needed you to.”
My stomach dropped.
“You set the video,” Aidan realized.
Selene nodded.
“Of course.”
Her eyes moved to me.
“Dominic was very useful bait.”
Rage exploded inside my chest.
“Where is he?”
Selene smiled wider.
“Oh, he’s here.”
She gestured deeper into the facility.
“But before you see him…”
Her eyes gleamed with something terrifying.
“I think it’s time you finally learned what you really are.”
Suddenly the floor beneath us began to vibrate.
Massive metal doors slid open along the walls.
Inside them—
Figures stepped out.
Dozens of them.
Human shaped.
But wrong.
Their eyes glowed faintly.
Their movements unnatural.
Hybrid soldiers.
Selene’s voice echoed through the hall.
“Welcome to the birthplace of the Harbinger.”
Her smile sharpened.
“Let’s see what my greatest creation can really do.”
And just like that…
The battle began.