CH 013: Blood and Betrayal's Whisper
"Gotcha!" John Blackwood, resident tech wizard and Lily's go - to guy for all things hackable, slammed his fist down hard on the makeshift table, the impact sending a violent tremor through the surface.
The energy drink on the table shook violently, its contents sloshing dangerously close to the rim, nearly flying off.
The sound of his fist hitting the table echoed sharply in the small room.
"I'm in! Surveillance system's a joke. Seriously, these vampires need to update their firewalls. It's like they're asking to be hacked."
He tapped furiously on his keyboard, the clattering of the keys like a rapid - fire drumbeat.
A wide grin was plastered across his face, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Okay, okay... let's see what goodies we have here. Basement level... level two... Bingo! Level three. There's a room labeled... 'Moonlight Project.' Ooh, sounds spooky. And potentially full of answers."
His fingers danced nimbly across the keys, and on the screen, schematics and live feeds materialized as if by magic.
"There's a lot of activity down there. Guards, scientists... the whole shebang. Wait a sec..."
John's brow furrowed, his face suddenly clouded with worry.
His rapid - fire typing slowed, then stopped altogether.
The triumphant grin vanished, replaced by a look of mounting dread.
"Uh... guys? I think we have a problem."
The screen flickered, a jarring red warning flashing across it like a bolt of lightning.
Then, with a theatrical flourish, a holographic image of Victoria materialized.
Her face was a mask of cruel amusement, and her presence seemed to fill the room with an icy chill.
"My dear Lily," Victoria purred, her voice dripping with condescending sweetness, the words slithering through the air like venomous snakes.
"Looking for something? Or perhaps... someone?"
The image shifted, revealing a grainy feed of a dank, stone chamber.
The air in the chamber looked thick and murky, and the cold stone walls glistened with moisture.
In the center, strapped to a cold, metal operating table, was John.
His face was as pale as a sheet of paper, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and defiance.
"I believe this belongs to you," Victoria said, her smile widening, the sound of her laughter like shards of glass in the air.
"He was so... eager to delve into our little secrets. I simply couldn't resist granting him a closer look."
A collective gasp rippled through the small, hidden room where Lily and Alexander were huddled with John.
The sound of their gasps was sharp and sudden, cutting through the tense silence.
Lily's heart leaped into her throat, a primal growl rumbling deep in her chest, the sound vibrating like a low - frequency drum.
"John!" she breathed, her fists clenching so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
Alexander, ever the pragmatist, laid a calming hand on her arm.
His touch was firm but gentle.
"We need a plan. Rushing in blindly will only get us all killed."
But Lily's wolf was already stirring, scratching at the surface of her consciousness, desperate to break free.
The thought of John, her friend, her pack, in the clutches of that viper...
It was unbearable.
John's words brought everyone back from their shock, Lily clenched her fists with determination in her eyes.Alexander quickly formulated a simple plan, they took the necessary equipment and cautiously headed towards the location shown in the surveillance. It wasn't long before they arrived at the basement entrance to this old castle.
The air in the sub - basement of the ancient castle hung heavy and thick, a suffocating blend of old stone, rust, and a cloying, almost sickly sweet floral scent.
The smell was so strong that it stung Lily's nostrils.
It was the smell of blood, Lily realized, mingled with the faint, artificial aroma of jasmine – a pathetic attempt to mask the coppery tang of death.
The corridor stretched before them, dimly lit by flickering sconces that cast long, dancing shadows.
The light from the sconces was weak and wavering, creating an eerie, ghostly atmosphere.
Each step they took echoed unnervingly, the sound bouncing off the stone walls, a stark reminder of the silence that pressed in from all sides.
Lily's heightened senses were on overdrive.
She could hear the faint, ragged breathing of the prisoners, like the soft wheezing of a dying man.
She could smell the fear and despair that clung to them like a shroud, a pungent, acrid odor.
They walked slowly along the dimly lit corridor, each step filled with the fear of the unknown.Lily's heart beat violently in her chest, as if sounding an alarm for the truth they were about to discover. Finally, they came to the door with the strange symbol engraved on it, and upon pushing it open, the sight before them stunned them.
They found the "Moonlight Project" room easily enough.
It was a large, steel - reinforced chamber, the door emblazoned with a stylized symbol of a crescent moon dripping with what Lily could only assume was stylized blood.
The symbol looked menacing, as if it were alive and staring back at her.
Classy.
Inside, the scene was a horror show.
Cages lined the walls, each containing a werewolf, or what was left of one.
They were emaciated, their fur matted and dirty, their eyes vacant and dull, like lifeless marbles.
Tubes snaked from their bodies, draining their blood into gleaming, stainless steel vats.
The sound of the blood dripping into the vats was a slow, steady rhythm, like a macabre metronome.
The air hummed with the low thrum of machinery, a constant, mechanical heartbeat that underscored the systematic cruelty of the operation.
John was in the center of the room, strapped to a surgical table that looked like it had been ripped straight out of a medieval torture chamber.
A slow, steady drip of crimson liquid – Victoria's blood, Lily guessed – was being fed directly into his veins via an IV.
Lily's attention was fully focused on freeing these poor werewolves, her eyes only on her trapped kind. Alexander, on the other hand, was always on the alert for movement around him, and as he moved closer to John, he kept an eye out for any breeze in the darkness. Just then, Victoria appeared like a ghost.
Alexander moved like a wraith, silent and deadly.
He was about to sever the restraints when Victoria appeared, seemingly out of thin air.
Before he could react, she plunged a dagger made of pure, shimmering ice into his back.
The sound of the ice dagger piercing his flesh was a sharp, sickening crunch.
"Now, now, Alexander," Victoria said, her voice a silken whisper, the words caressing the air like a poisonous kiss.
"Don't be rude. We have guests."
Alexander was pinned, like a butterfly in a display case, the ice dagger protruding, frozen and fixed on his back.
Lily, meanwhile, was a whirlwind of fury.
She launched herself at the nearest cage, her claws extended, ripping through the metal bars as if they were made of paper.
The sound of the metal bars tearing was a loud, screeching noise.
"Don't!" John screamed, his voice strained and weak, like a dying man's plea.
"Her blood... it's poisoned! It suppresses a werewolf's strength... makes you... docile..."
Victoria laughed, a high, brittle sound that grated on Lily's nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
"Oh, he's such a smart one, isn't he? Pity he's on the wrong side. Imagine, Lily," she crooned, advancing on the caged werewolves.
"A pack of werewolves, completely under my control. Loyal, obedient... tame."
Lily ignored her, focused on freeing the prisoners.
But as she tore at the bars of another cage, her gaze fell upon a pool of blood that had collected on the floor.
It was a mixture of her own, from a cut on her arm, and the poisoned blood that had dripped from the IV line.
The blood looked thick and viscous, like a dark, menacing sludge.
An idea, reckless and desperate, sparked in her mind.
She could feel the two forces warring within her, the poison trying to subdue her wolf, the wolf fighting back with primal ferocity.
And then, there was the pull, the faint, almost imperceptible hum of the moonstone necklace she wore, resonating with the conflict.
"Too bad it only works one way," Lily said to Victoria, her voice guttural, laced with a newfound savagery.
The two powers inside of Lily were fighting for control, and she could no longer stand the pain.
With a guttural cry, she seized and took the blood on the ground.
"We'll see about that."
Alexander's lips were pulled tight, and his eyes were on Lily, "What are you..."