Willow nodded, glancing back at the laptop screen as her twin was explaining more about her work for UWSI.
“Using Dr. Lewis’s formula as a base for ours, Theo and I and our team began creating new compounds of our own. Some of them failed miserably early on, but there was one formula that showed promise. Or so we thought. Given the unique physiology of the Breed, we were given no choice but to test on live subjects. We conducted numerous trials in the UWSI lab in Montreal. Unfortunately, some subjects could not tolerate the treatment at all. Death was often instant and horrific. We saw nothing but setbacks during those initial months.”
Although Razor remained silent, his fury rolled off him in palpable waves. Willow felt sick to her stomach as she listened to Laurel describe the deaths of living individuals—their chemical-induced murders—all in the name of science.
Willow reached out and hit the pause button on the video. “I don’t want to hear any more of this.” She rose from her chair and began to pace the rug-covered floor. Her skin felt too tight on her body. Her heart was racing in her rib cage, nausea roiling in her gut. “How could she participate in something like this, Razor? How are these experiments any different from what Dragos did to you and all the rest of his laboratory prisoners?”
Razor got up and went to her, gently pulling her into his embrace. “I’m not going to say I agree with what your sister just described, but there’s not a Breed member alive today who’d deny the chance to find a cure for Bloodlust. A true cure.”
Willow shook her head. “At what cost, though?”
“I can’t answer that. Neither can your sister now. Or Theo, if they’ve gotten to him as I suspect they have.” Razor pulled back, tenderly brushing her cheek. “All I know is I’m not going to stop searching for answers until I’m certain you’re safe. And in order to do that, I need to hear everything Laurel has to say.”
Willow nodded in agreement. “Okay.”
They went back to the laptop and Razor tapped the screen to resume Laurel’s message.
“I never wanted my work to be used to harm anyone,” she said as the video began playing again. Her voice was emphatic as she stared into the camera. “I was trying to help make the world a better place, including for the Breed individuals we treated in our trials. I wanted to make a difference, Wills. I wanted to do something lasting and good. I really believed that’s what UWSI was all about too.”
Onscreen, Laurel stared at the vial of clear liquid she still held carefully in her fingers. “Despite our initial failures, I knew our formula could be a success. All it was missing was a reparative property to speed recovery and cellular regeneration. It needed to be able to halt death and accelerate healing.” Laurel’s gaze returned to the camera. “So, I secretly altered the formula in the only way I knew how.”
“Oh, Laurel,” Willow gasped, reading the whole truth in her twin’s gaze.
“No one knew I’d added some of my own genetic material into the formula, not even Theo at first. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I knew I had to try. Using my white cells, I created a new version of the formula, Serenicure-L, and arranged for a new set of trials.” She smiled, but there was nothing but sadness in her eyes. “To everyone’s astonishment, the new formula exceeded all expectations. Our test subjects not only survived the treatment, but thrived. Their Bloodlust reversed almost instantly with no apparent adverse effects. They were healed. The new formula had put every case of blood addiction into permanent remission.”
Willow wanted to feel some relief at this remarkable breakthrough, but Laurel’s increasingly grave expression formed a knot of cold in her breast instead.
“It wasn’t until a week later that we recorded the first death. Then another followed. And another.” Laurel’s voice caught. “It turned out, my new formula had one disastrous flaw. It did cure Bloodlust, but at the same time it eliminated blood hunger entirely. One by one, our subjects refused to feed. Then they began to starve and die.”
“Shit,” Razor uttered low under his breath, his grasp on Willow’s hand tightening.
“I was devastated,” Laurel said. “I told Theo what I’d done, and he agreed we needed to destroy Serenicure-L and all the previous iterations of the formula. What we didn’t know was that wheels were already in motion with UWSI management. We considered the trials to be a complete failure, but they saw opportunity. The early formulas killed too swiftly and obviously to be of any use, but my version was a subtler solution to a problem UWSI and its benefactors ultimately wanted to solve. The complete eradication of the Breed as a species.”
“Oh, my God,” Willow whispered, horror gathering like acid in the back of her throat.
She glanced at Razor and found his eyes crackling with amber sparks, the tips of his fangs pressing behind his tightly closed mouth and clenched jaw.
“Serenicure-L was being slated for a major rollout,” Laurel continued. “It wasn’t going to be branded as a cure for Bloodlust after the fact, but as a preventive therapy for all members of the Breed. UWSI and their powerful investors planned to introduce their new vaccine, Serenivax, on an accelerated release. Rumor had it they were seeking the highest bids from firms like Scrully Pharmaceuticals for the distribution rights.”
“Scrully,” Willow murmured aloud. “Why is that name familiar?”
“Evidently, they were one of St. Anne’s sponsors,” Razor replied. “I noticed the portrait of Sister Agathe had been donated by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Scrully. But you may also have heard of the company from its dubious reputation. They made headlines a few times in recent years, first when the patriarch, Simon Scrully, began hiking prices on his patented medicines. The company was in the news again not long ago. The heir-apparent, Lars, took over the company following his father’s death, then proceeded to get on the wrong side of the Order and wound up dead himself a few months ago.”
“That must’ve been after Laurel recorded this video,” Willow guessed, based on the timeline of when her sister arrived in Colorado. “Do you think she could’ve been running from Scrully Pharmaceuticals as well as UWSI?”
“It’s possible,” Razor said. “The company’s known for having very deep pockets—and the shady associates that usually come along with it. That kind of wealth and power doesn’t just evaporate even if the company no longer exists. There’s always someone ready to step in and take the reins.”
Willow nodded, returning her attention to Laurel as she continued to speak. “I couldn’t let this formula be released, Wills. I had to do something. So, I did. With Theo’s help, I downloaded all of the project’s records onto this flash drive and deleted everything from the UWSI servers. Then I took all the existing test samples and formula specimens from the UWSI lab and I ran.” She indicated the vial she held. “This is the last remaining dose of Serenicure-L.”
Laurel unfastened the stopper on the vial, then turned the container upside down and poured it out into a trash bin. Using a ceramic coffee cup, she smashed the glass vial into a napkin and tossed that into the bin too.
A conflicted, regretful look haunted her gaze as she lifted her eyes to the camera again. “Destroying the formula doesn’t mean I’m safe. Theo stayed behind to help cover my tracks, even though I begged him not to. I’m terrified of what they might do to him. I’m terrified for myself too—and for you. Now that UWSI knows my blood was the key to making Serenicure-L, you can’t be safe either, Willow. If they can’t have me, make no mistake, they’re going to want you. Your blood.”
Razor snarled, low and menacing. “Over my dead fucking body.”
“I still believe there’s a true cure for Bloodlust,” Laurel said. “We were so close to finding it. That’s why I took the records with me and hid them somewhere only you would know to look for them. So, now that I’m gone, the choice is yours, Wills. These files, my work, it’s all that’s left of me. You decide what to do with the contents of this drive. Destroy it, or give it to someone you trust. All I ask is that you try to forgive me—not only for this monstrous thing I created, but also for dragging you into it.” Laurel swiped at an errant tear that streaked down her cheek. “No matter what, please know that I love you, Willow. I always have, and always will.”
With that, Laurel reached toward the camera and the screen went dark.
