His eyes held mine, revealing nothing and everything at once.“You must earn their trust.There’s a bigger war that’s coming.”
“This is the worst war the world has ever known!”My frustration overwhelmed my caution.“What do you mean?”
Dupont sighed.“I cannot say much more, and it’s a risk to speak to you at all, lest I reveal myself.But there are those who’d leverage your power, your abilities, for far more than destroying an ammunition depot.”
I stepped toward him, desperate for answers.“Who are you?What do you know about Gallow’s plans?About these ‘treatments’?”
“The treatments alter more than behavior,” he said, his voice dropping lower.“They bind the will while preserving the skill.Perfect soldiers who follow orders without question.Weapons with no moral compass.”
“And you’ve known this all along?”Anger flared within me—at his deception, at my own failure to see what was happening to my flock.“Why not warn us sooner?”
“Because some battles must be fought from within enemy lines,” he replied.“As you well know, having infiltrated the Order once before.”
Before I could demand further explanation, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the corridor outside—the measured tread of military boots accompanied by the lighter, more precise steps I had come to associate with Dr.Gallow.
Dupont’s hand closed around my wrist with surprising strength.“Hide the letters.Remember what I’ve said, but speak of it to no one—not even Desiderius.”
“But—“
“Trust no one but the Bishop’s word,” he whispered, already fading back into shadow with a speed bordered on the limits of human capability.“And when the time comes, remember that light penetrates darkness, never the reverse.”
I replaced the letters and closed the drawer with seconds to spare, slipping behind a storage cabinet as the laboratory door opened.Gallow entered, accompanied by Mercer, their conversation already in progress.
”—final preparations for Ypres tomorrow night,“ Gallow was saying.“The General is most interested in how Specimens 7 and 4 perform under live fire conditions.”
“Ruth and Rebecca will exceed expectations,” Mercer replied confidently.“The treatments have taken well.They’ll make excellent field commanders once the war escalates to the next phase.”
“And the Bladewell woman?”
A pause, pregnant with implication.“Still a problem.Still too focused on her spiritual path.She remains a problem, but her influence wanes over her followers with each treatment.The serum is addictive by design.The more treatments they receive, the more they’ll depend on them.The morecompliantthey’ll become.”
Their voices faded as they moved deeper into the laboratory, allowing me to slip out undetected.I made my way back through the darkened abbey, Dupont’s warnings echoing in my mind alongside the damning evidence I had discovered.
A war beyond the war.Enemies sharing battlefields.The Bishop’s knowledge extended further than I had imagined.And somewhere in this web of deception and hidden purpose, my flock hung suspended like flies, unaware of the forces gathering to destroy them—forces I now knew included not just the Germans across no-man’s-land, but the very men who commanded our loyalty.
I touched the locket at my throat, feeling its weight like an anchor in a storm.Whatever came next, I would navigate it as I had everything since my transformation—one night at a time, guided by a faith that persisted despite darkness, despite betrayal, despite my own damned nature.
Chapter 25
Ikneltonthecold stone floor of the abbey’s chapel, the olive-wood rosary slipping through my fingers.Beside me, prayed Desiderius and Catherine.The only two in my flock who remained dedicated to our path.From what I’d seen in Gallow’s notes, Catherine was resistant to the treatments.So were James and Michael.However, unlike the others, she’d been open to my message of redemption path from the start.
“Lord who walks with us in darkness,” I whispered.“Guide our steps when we cannot see the path before us.”
Catherine’s lips moved in silent echo, her face contorted on account of the pain that prayer still caused her, being so new to our path.Desiderius remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the battered crucifix above the altar, his expression betraying nothing of his inner thoughts.The familiar rhythms of devotion continued between us, yet I could not stop my eyes from darting toward the chapel entrance each time the wind rattled the damaged doors.
I expected Lieutenant Dupont would show, but he never did.Had he been discovered?Given how soon we were to embark on our mission, why would he disappearnow?
The absence of the others weighed on me more heavily than the mission itself.Especially Ruth and Rebecca, my progenies, who’d been with me since nearly the beginning.Even my sire bond, it seemed, wasn’t enough to counteract the influence of Dr.Gallow’s “treatments.”
My mind drifted to the bishop.I’d agreed to this to protect him.I owed him that.But had it come at the expense of the majority of those souls I’d sworn to guide and protect?At least most of those who’d volunteered to join this team in an effort to spare the Bishop public exposure?
“Haven’t seen him in several hours,” Desiderius observed softly, his eyes never leaving the crucifix.“The Frenchman.”
I lowered my gaze back to my rosary.“He knows things about us, about the Order.Things that could help us survive what’s coming.”
“If he knows such things, then he is not what he appears to be,” Desiderius replied.“And that makes him dangerous, regardless of whose side he claims.”
Catherine shifted beside me, her eyes finally opening.“I can feel them coming,” she whispered.“The others.They...they don’t feel like themselves anymore.”
