Chapter 148: Ashes, Truths and the Unthinkable
The facility was dying around us.
Metal groaned.
Concrete cracked.
Somewhere deep beneath the building, something massive exploded with a thunderous boom that shook the corridor like an earthquake.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Ethan shouted from behind us.
“Thirty seconds!”
Aidan grabbed Dominic’s arm and pulled him forward.
“Move!”
But I didn’t move.
Because my mind was stuck on the last thing Selene said.
He was your handler.
The words echoed like a gunshot in my head.
Dominic avoided my eyes.
That silence said everything.
Rage surged through my chest.
“Roxanne!” Aidan shouted.
Another explosion rocked the building.
The floor cracked open along the hallway.
Pieces of ceiling began collapsing.
Reality snapped back into place.
Survival first.
Answers later.
I ran.
\---
We burst out of the facility just as the first fireball erupted through the roof.
The night sky lit up in violent orange light.
A massive shockwave blasted outward from the collapsing building, throwing us forward across the wet ground.
I hit the dirt hard.
The explosion roared behind us.
Flames climbed into the sky like a burning tower.
Chunks of concrete rained down across the forest.
For several seconds, no one moved.
The only sound was the distant crackle of fire and our ragged breathing.
Elena slowly lifted her head.
“Well,” she muttered hoarsely.
“That escalated.”
Callum groaned from where he lay on the ground.
“I think my spine just rearranged itself.”
Echo was already back on her feet, scanning the tree line for threats.
Ethan looked back at the burning ruins.
“That place is gone.”
Aidan pulled Dominic up beside him.
Dominic looked exhausted.
Weakened.
But very much alive.
And that fact alone made my chest tighten again.
Because now the questions were unavoidable.
\---
We reached the vehicles in silence.
No one spoke during the drive back to the estate.
The storm had grown stronger.
Rain hammered against the windshield like angry fists.
Lightning split the sky again and again.
The mood inside the car was heavier than the storm outside.
Elena finally broke the silence.
“So… we’re just not going to talk about the handler thing?”
Aidan’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
Dominic stared out the window.
I looked straight ahead.
“I want to hear it,” I said quietly.
Dominic exhaled slowly.
“I figured you would.”
\---
Back at the estate, the war room lights burned long past midnight.
Dominic sat at the far end of the table.
Everyone else stood around him.
No one trusted him enough yet to sit comfortably.
Aidan leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Echo stood near the door.
Elena paced like a caged tiger.
Ethan recorded everything on his laptop.
I stood directly across from Dominic.
“Start talking.”
Dominic rubbed his wrists where the restraints had been.
“I wasn’t lying about everything,” he began quietly.
“That part about the Creed experimenting with hybrids… that’s real.”
Rhea spoke softly from behind me.
“The First Laboratory.”
Dominic nodded.
“Yes.”
He looked directly at me now.
“And Selene was telling the truth about one thing.”
My stomach twisted.
“You were created there.”
The room went silent again.
But this time, I didn’t deny it.
Something deep inside me already knew.
Dominic continued.
“The Creed began experimenting with supernatural bloodlines decades ago. Wolves, witches, hybrids… anything they could study.”
He paused.
“But they failed. Over and over.”
“Until me,” I said.
Dominic nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Elena stopped pacing.
“So Roxanne is basically their… prototype?”
Dominic winced slightly.
“That’s one way to put it.”
My fists clenched.
“Then why didn’t they keep me?”
Dominic’s voice softened.
“Because you were too powerful.”
That answer didn’t make me feel better.
“Your parents were part of the research team,” Dominic continued.
“They helped design the hybrid program.”
The air left my lungs.
“They realized what the Creed planned to do with you.”
Rhea whispered, “Weaponization.”
Dominic nodded.
“So they stole you.”
He looked down.
“They ran before the Creed could stop them.”
Aidan frowned.
“But the Creed found them eventually.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
“Yes.”
No one needed to ask what that meant.
\---
Elena slowly leaned against the table.
“Okay… that explains Roxanne.”
Her eyes narrowed at Dominic.
“But what about you?”
Dominic looked up.
“My job was to track her.”
The room exploded.
“You WHAT?” Elena shouted.
Aidan pushed off the wall instantly.
“You followed her for years?”
Dominic didn’t move.
“Yes.”
My chest felt hollow.
“You were spying on me.”
“At first,” Dominic admitted.
Silence filled the room again.
“Then what changed?” Aidan demanded.
Dominic looked at me.
“Her.”
His voice was quiet but firm.
“I was supposed to report every sign of her awakening powers.”
His jaw tightened.
“But the more time I spent around her… the more I realized what the Creed planned.”
“And you didn’t like it?” Elena asked sarcastically.
Dominic ignored the tone.
“They wanted control over every supernatural bloodline on Earth.”
Rhea whispered, “Through Roxanne.”
Dominic nodded.
“They believed if she fully awakened, she could command wolves, disrupt magical bloodlines, and even destroy hybrids.”
My stomach twisted.
“So you betrayed them.”
Dominic looked down again.
“Yes.”
Echo finally spoke.
“Then why fake your death?”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Because the Creed discovered my betrayal.”
He looked up slowly.
“They were going to kill Roxanne.”
The room went still.
“So I made a deal.”
My heart pounded.
“What deal?”
Dominic’s voice was heavy.
“I agreed to disappear.”
Everyone stared at him.
“The Creed would believe I died protecting Roxanne. They would stop hunting her for a while.”
“And in return?” Aidan asked coldly.
Dominic swallowed.
“They took me.”
\---
Elena blinked slowly.
“So you sacrificed yourself.”
Dominic gave a small humorless laugh.
“Something like that.”
My emotions twisted violently.
Anger.
Confusion.
Relief.
Betrayal.
Everything mixed together.
“You lied to me,” I said quietly.
Dominic nodded.
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
My voice shook slightly.
“You watched me bury you.”
Dominic’s eyes closed briefly.
“Yes.”
Silence returned again.
Finally Aidan spoke.
“So what now?”
Dominic looked around the room.
“The Creed’s plan is bigger than we thought.”
Ethan frowned.
“How?”
Dominic leaned forward.
“The First Laboratory wasn’t just where Roxanne was created.”
He looked at me again.
“It was where they started building an army like her.”
Everyone froze.
Elena whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was grim.
“They just haven’t succeeded yet.”
My chest tightened.
“What do you mean yet?”
Dominic met my eyes.
“Because Roxanne… you’re not just the first hybrid.”
He paused.
“You’re the only one who survived.”
The weight of that sentence pressed down on the room.
Then Dominic said something even worse.
“But the Creed hasn’t stopped trying.”
Ethan slowly turned his laptop screen around.
“Then you need to see this.”
The screen showed dozens of hidden facilities across the country.
Research sites.
Testing labs.
Secret bases.
The scale was terrifying.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“The Creed is preparing for something massive.”
Aidan frowned.
“What kind of massive?”
Dominic answered with three words that made my blood run cold.
“A hybrid uprising.”
\---
The room fell into stunned silence.
Then Elena whispered what everyone was thinking.
“So basically…”
She pointed at me.
“You’re the prototype.”
Then she pointed at the map.
“And they’re trying to mass produce you.”
Dominic nodded grimly.
“Yes.”
Thunder crashed outside the estate again.
But inside the war room…
Something even more dangerous had just been revealed.
The war wasn’t about destroying the Creed anymore.
It was about stopping them from replacing humanity.
And suddenly…
Everything had become much bigger than us.