Chapter 28 The Weight of Secrets
Chapter 28 The Weight of Secrets
The darkness of the service tunnel was a living thing, squeezing tighter with every breath. Concrete walls sweat like they were bleeding, and the stench of rot and old blood clawed at Eric’s nose like a warning. He hauled his father forward, feeling through the sweat-soaked shirt that Gilbert’s skin burned like he was melting from the inside.
“We gotta stop… Eric… I can’t,” Gilbert gasped, collapsing against a wall crusted with saltpeter. His back slid down, leaving a smeared streak of red on the stone.
Eric scanned the shadows behind them, his wolf eyes slicing through black like a knife. The Enforcers had been on the roof minutes ago, and he knew the tunnel’s silence was a lie. They were there. Waiting. And they wouldn’t stop.
“We can’t stop, Dad. If those things catch up—”
“Listen to me!” Gilbert grabbed Eric’s arm, bony fingers digging like claws. His bloodshot eyes locked onto his son’s with desperate intensity. “The tunnel… I didn’t build it alone. It was Clifford. Clifford Lane.”
The name hit Eric like a sledgehammer. His biological father. The monster his mother had fled.
“Why tell me now?” he growled, voice trembling with rage.
“Because the Council isn’t hunting you for what you are, Eric,” Gilbert repeated, each word a struggle. “They’re hunting you for what he left in you. Twenty years ago, I made a deal with the Lane clan to save you and Eunice.”
Gilbert dropped his gaze, shame etched on his face like acid scars.
“I handed Clifford over to the Enforcers in exchange for your freedom.”
The world fractured. The man he called “Dad”—the one who’d raised him in the lie of a normal life—had sold his own blood.
“You betrayed him?” Eric’s voice was a raw whisper. “My whole life… you made me think he abandoned us…”
“It was for you!” Gilbert coughed blood, body wracked with spasms. “Eunice… she knew. She agreed to the sacrifice so you could grow up away from the blood wars. But Clifford didn’t die that day, Eric. He was taken to Eternity Tower.”
_\[SYSTEM\]_
⚠️ BLOOD RESONANCE DETECTED: Diabolus Rage awakening.
⚠️ STAT: Strength +10 | Lucidity -20%.
Pressure built in Eric’s temples like his skull was splitting. His blood roared in his veins like acid. Eunice’s urn, clenched in Gilbert’s hand, felt like a dead weight—anchoring him to this fucked-up reality.
“We’re getting out,” Eric growled, voice unrecognizable—cold, cutting. “We’re going to Old Noctaria. And once we’re safe, you’re telling me everything. Everything.”
He hoisted Gilbert up like he was nothing, muscles surging with anger-fueled strength.
They pushed deeper into the city’s guts, where the Council’s grip was thin.
The tunnel stretched like an endless grave. Eric’s footsteps were thunder in the silence, his rage a beacon calling predators.
As they spotted the exit—a dim rectangle of light ahead—a scream cut through the tunnel behind them. Not a wolf’s howl. Not a vampire’s shriek. The metallic cry of an Enforcer that had just picked up their scent.
Eric’s past had just caught up. And it was armed with an obsidian blade.