Chapter 201 A name Slips

Chapter 201 A name Slips
Calder died three nights later.

Not before destroying what little certainty we still had left.The transfer was supposed to be routine. That was the first mistake.

After the incident with the cameras and my private conversation with him, Darius increased Calder’s security immediately. The scientist was moved from the underground interrogation wing to a reinforced black-site holding facility several miles outside headquarters.

No digital records.

No official transport logs.

Only handpicked Blood Guards knew the route.

Because by then everyone understood the same thing: Someone was systematically erasing loose ends. And Calder knew too much.

Rain lashed violently against the armored convoy the night of the transfer while black SUVs cut through isolated mountain roads under heavy escort.

I sat beside Darius in the lead vehicle watching water distort the world outside the windows into shifting gray shadows.

The atmosphere inside the convoy felt wrong.

Too tense.

Nobody relaxed anymore.

Not after the safehouse massacre.

Not after Calder started talking about things older than the Council itself.

Vincent checked his rifle beside the rear door for the third time in twenty minutes.

Thane monitored route surveillance from a portable console while muttering under his breath about signal interference.

Fred remained unusually quiet.

That worried me more than anything else. He disable the security systems for me but Darius blamed him and had him interrogated as a suspect, I tried explain that I was the one who snuck in and he did it from f me but Darius said as an employee of the council he knew the protocol and deliberately broke and hence he couldn't be trusted.

Darius sat beside me motionless except for the steady tap of one finger against his knee.

“You’re doing it again,” I murmured quietly.

His eyes shifted toward me immediately.

“What?”

“Preparing for something bad.”

One corner of his mouth twitched humorlessly.

“That’s become our entire lifestyle.”

Fair.

But still

My instincts screamed tonight. I could feel it beneath my skin like static.Like the world holding its breath. The convoy turned sharply onto the mountain pass leading toward the holding facility. Dark forest pressed close on both sides while fog crawled thick through the cliffs ahead.

Too perfect for an ambush.

I saw Darius notice it too.

His posture sharpened instantly.

“Slow the convoy,” he ordered through comms.

Static crackled.

Then Vincent’s voice answered from the second vehicle.

“Already did.”

The rain intensified harder against the armored glass.

Visibility dropped rapidly.

And suddenly

Every light died.

Complete darkness swallowed the road.

“EMP pulse!” Thane snapped.

The convoy skidded violently.

Metal screamed outside.

Then gunfire exploded through the storm.

Everything fractured into chaos instantly.

The second escort vehicle detonated first.

The explosion lit the mountainside bright orange while Blood Guards shouted through comms and weapons fire erupted from the forest.

Darius moved before the blast fully faded.

“MOVE.”

The SUV door ripped open.

Rain slammed into us instantly while wolves shifted around the convoy perimeter and muzzle flashes strobed through the darkness.

Not ordinary attackers.

Disciplined.

Coordinated.

Assassins.

Black tactical figures emerged through the trees firing silver rounds directly into escort formations while something larger moved between them.

Fast.

Too fast.

Hybrids.

Of course.

A V-Canis tore through one of the Blood Guards near the rear transport vehicle hard enough to launch him across the road.

Vincent shifted mid-run and collided with another attacker in a violent explosion of claws and gunfire.

Thane dragged a wounded guard behind overturned cover while trying to restore the convoy systems simultaneously.

And through all of it

My attention locked onto the prisoner transport.

The assassins weren’t trying to kill everyone.

They were pushing toward Calder.

Darius saw it too.

“Protect the prisoner!”

Too late.

The rear containment vehicle doors exploded outward.

One hybrid variant slammed directly into the armored compartment while black-clad operatives advanced behind it with horrifying precision.

I shifted instantly.

The world sharpened.

Rain slowed.

Heartbeats thundered.

I hit the nearest assassin hard enough to crack ribs beneath body armor and sent him flying sideways into the cliff wall.

Gunfire erupted toward me immediately.

I dodged instinctively.

Claws tore through another operative’s throat before he could reload.

But there were too many.

Too organized.

This wasn’t a retrieval mission.

It was extermination.

The hybrid reached Calder first.

I heard the scream even over the storm.

Not fear.

Pain.

By the time I tore through the final assassin blocking the transport entrance—

Blood already painted the inside of the containment vehicle.

Calder collapsed against the restraints gasping wetly while the hybrid variant lay dead nearby with its skull partially caved in by Darius.

The remaining attackers retreated instantly after that.

No hesitation.

No cleanup.

Mission complete.

The forest swallowed them within seconds.

Silence crashed down hard afterward broken only by rain and distant groans from wounded guards.

My pulse hammered violently while I climbed into the ruined transport compartment.

Calder looked terrible.

Silver rounds tore through his abdomen and chest while blood spread rapidly beneath him across shattered restraints.

Not survivable.

Fred appeared beside the transport door seconds later.

One look at Calder’s injuries

And I saw him understand immediately.

Gone.

Calder laughed softly through blood.

God.

Even dying he still sounded wrong.

Darius climbed into the compartment behind me while Vincent secured the perimeter outside.

“You’re not dying yet,” Darius growled.

Calder coughed violently.

Blood spilled down his chin.

“You still think…” He wheezed painfully. “This can be stopped.”

I crouched beside him instinctively.

“Who sent them? Was it the architect?”

Calder’s eyes found mine immediately.

And suddenly

Clarity returned again.

Terrifying clarity.

Not madness.

Not fear.

Recognition.

He looked almost relieved.

“They know,” he whispered.

Cold spread sharply through my chest.

“Know what?”

Calder’s shaking hand twitched weakly toward me.

“That you survived correctly.”

Rain hammered the ruined transport overhead.

Darius grabbed Calder by the front of his torn shirt.

“Names.”

Calder laughed weakly again.

Then suddenly winced hard enough blood spilled from his mouth. His body was shutting down fast.

I felt it instinctively.

He looked toward me one final time.

And quietly

Almost reverently

He whispered “King Aurelius, strong and brave,
 Won every fight, no fear he gave.
 But brother’s hate grew deep inside,
 And by his hand, the king soon died”

Everything inside me stopped. The world narrowed violently around that single name. I knew that name .From the Silverbound ceremony. The lanterns.Alpha Kings honored through bloodline memory. Darius’s ancestors.

My stomach twisted violently.

Because I remembered writing the name carefully onto glowing paper and releasing them during the ceremony while Darius stood beside me watching the lantern rise into the night sky.

An ancient ruler.

A legend. One of the first unified Alpha Kings. Dead for centuries. Calder smiled faintly at whatever horror crossed my face. And then he laughed softly through blood.

Calder’s breathing turned shallow suddenly.

Rapid.

Failing.

Then he died laughing.