"No, we made the right choice. You have an alchemist's heart, Apollo, unlike your brothers." Dr. Bellerose got to her feet. "Walk with me. I wish to show you our vision."
Apollo didn't object. There was no point. Besides, he wanted to see what these assholes were really up to. He followed Dr. Bellerose out of the conference room and back to the elevator.
A guard appeared out of nowhere to join them. He had a severe blonde crew cut and a face that looked like it had been broken more than once. Despite that, there was a low hum coming off him that Apollo recognized as magic.
"Apollo, this is Mr. Viktor Kovacs. He's the head of our security branch," Dr. Bellerose said.
"So this is your new dragon. I thought he would be bigger," Kovacs grunted and followed them into the elevator.
"Let me guess. You're the one that taught Jean the suicide spell?" Apollo asked, ignoring the comment about his size. Just because he wasn't built like a tank meant nothing. He could probably take Kovacs in a fair fight, but nothing about his man suggested he ever fought fair.
"Good guess. Did you like it?" Kovacs asked.
Apollo lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Effective if inelegant."
Kovacs made a grunting sound, and it took Apollo a moment to realize he was laughing. "Effective is more important than elegance in my line of work."
Apollo didn't ask him what line of work that was. He knew that Kovacs was the Sanguis Vitae's brute that would do their dirty work. Apollo could all but smell the violence on him. And the crazy.
"Play nice, Viktor. Apollo was only making an observation."
Kovacs smiled, showing too many teeth. "I would like to show him some of my other magic, Dr Bellerose."
"Perhaps later, Viktor," she said, patting the big man on the arm like he was a pet mastiff.
Apollo followed them through a set of labs where machines and people worked together to makeChrysopoeiaproducts. He had joked to Lachie that they were after his shampoo recipe and fought not to smile despite the situation. He missed Lachie.
Mate, his dragon whispered.
Go away. These assholes want you, not me.The last thing Apollo needed was to have his dragon come out and play when the Sanguis Vitae had already shown an interest in that side of him.
Apollo realized a little too late that Dr. Bellrose had been talking, and he had missed it. "This is all very impressive, but I thought I was going to see the real work?" he said, cutting in to cover the fact he hadn't heard a word she had said.
"We will get there, Apollo. And it's not real work so much as the Great Work," she replied.
Apollo laughed softly. "I have never met an alchemist that wasn't studying some Great Work. Let me guess, Philosopher's Stone? You don't believe it's an actual stone, do you?"
"I believe many things," Dr. Bellerose said as they came to another door. She keyed in a code, and Kovacs stood in the way to hide it from Apollo's view.
Fucking prick. Apollo plastered on what he thought of as his 'pretty and dumb' face and hoped that Kovacs would let his guard down.
The doors slid open and magic resonance hit Apollo in a wave that had him stepping back in surprise. He steeled himself and stepped inside an altogether different kind of lab.
Gone was the modern chrome and white brilliance. The walls here were stone and carved with sigils, unlike anything he had ever seen. He had never studied blood magic before; it had always freaked him out too much. This wasn't the kind of sigil work done by amateurs. This had real power, and it felt…hungry.
The work areas were made of wood, with ancient-looking tomes on stands next to bubbling beakers, alembics, and other artifice. On a wall were the double doors of a freezer that had thousands of tubes of blood stored in it. Apollo swallowed the bile creeping up his throat.
"And who does that all belong to?" he asked.
"This is our collection of the magically inclined. Some are from our own families and bloodlines. We are collectors first and foremost because, as we all know, magic is held in the blood," Dr. Bellerose said.
"And this is your Great Work?" Apollo asked.
"It is a part of it. You see, Apollo, we are so very close to discovering the greatest alchemical prize of all. The Elixir of Life. With it, we can eradicate the aging process, eliminate disease, and perhaps even conquer death itself," she continued, her voice going breathy with excitement.
"The planet is already suffering from overpopulation, Doctor. Do you really believe stopping the natural process of death is going to be a good idea?" Apollo asked.
Dr. Bellerose laughed. "Oh, we wouldn't give it to just anyone, dear boy. Just the best and brightest."
