“D-dad, what’re you doing here?”
He held his chin high, eyes locked onto my father, a steely gaze that dared him to challenge him. “I’m here to end this war.”
My dad was still on the ground in pain, but managed to croak, “End the war? The vampires will never lose. We’re-we’re winning.”
“Oh, are you?” A chuckle came from Arthur’s mouth. “I had a trick up my sleeve, too. Why don’t you see for yourself, Sal?”
We stared at the screen, the four quadrants of the war outside painted in stark, flashing colors, the air heavy with the unspoken screams of those fighting. The vampires were growing tired. The battle looked about even, with both sides slowing down. From the gate, a larger wave of humans appeared, brandishing pitchforks, axes, and other barbaric weapons.
A horrifying eruption of red liquid sprayed across the floor as my father let out a massive belch. “The vampires will be victorious. If the Exiles fail, my military will step in.”
“So you say.” Arthur shook his head in disbelief before turning to me. “Vincent, what’s wrong with your father? It seems he has fallen ill after trying to drink your blood.”
Why did Arthur’s tone change? The once fatherly man now radiated dark energy. Something different, something sinister. “Yeah, it-it has never happened before.”
“Never happened before, isn’t that strange?” With a frown, Arthur tapped a finger to his chin, feigning deep concentration. “What might be different from the last time he drank from you?”
I had no idea what he was getting at. There was nothing different about me.
“Your blood is no longer drinkable, thanks to my son.”
Gasps of horror filled the room, a chilling counterpoint to my father’s labored moans and the sounds of his vomit. Gabe’s eyes were wide, his chin almost hitting the floor. With his mouth clamped shut, Jude expelled ragged breaths through his nose, his eyes glistening with moisture. The revelation hung in the air, heavy and shocking.
How could this be true? Did Jude somehow deceive me? The thought was like a dagger to my heart, shattering the trust I had in him and leaving my thoughts in a whirlwind of confusion and betrayal.
“You liar!” My father’s accusation pierced the air. “That dirty human is gaslighting you!”
Arthur cocked his head at me. “Am I lying, Vincent? Have you been feeling…ill? Maybe even itchy?”
All eyes were on me, boring into me like daggers. How did he know I’ve been nauseous and my constant itchiness? What was Arthur trying to get at? “Yes, but that doesn’t mean my blood is bad.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong.” Arthur held one finger in the air like he remembered something. “You’re special, Vincent, you’re the blueprint. I had a thought after hacking into the files Sal created on extending blood lifespan—maybe, just maybe, I could delve into the data to see if there was a way to render your blood unusable. And after years of experiments,I did. You needed fertile semen injected into your bloodstream, it seemed so obvious once I realized. Something alive would cancel out the death—the fertile human DNA caused a cellular-level rejection and had manifested as a full body rash.” His eyes glinted in the light. “But there was no way of confirming the validity of my experiment, which is why we staged an attack to kidnap you…and I made sure my son was there every step of the way.”
“Wait a sec…” Jude lowered his gun from my father’s head. “Did you-did youuseme?”
Arthur’s pupils drifted upward, and he moved each of his hands up and down, like he was trying to balance something. “I wouldn’t say I used you exactly…more like I initiated your meeting and forced the two of you together with the hope you may get close…too close. And I was right.” He held up a finger. “That was part one of my plan. The second was to continue to fuel Vincent’s hatred for his father after the first laboratory fell, and that’s when I set off the bomb at Silvertown.”
“You’re disgusting!” I yelled over my father’s screams of pain. “You killed all those innocent humans, leaving children without parents!”
“But I wasn’t wrong. You wanted nothing more than to help me.” Arthur smiled, his larger-than-normal incisors peeking out of his lips. “After intercourse with my son, your blood was infiltrated and unusable by the vampires going forward.” His chin gave a slight nod toward my father, who was fixed on him. “Vincent is no longer able to be used to continue the vampire race.” He sidled closer to Jude with a smug smile painted across his lips. “But I believe I can.”
“What do you mean?” I screamed. “How’s that possible?”
“Throughout the years, I’ve been microdosing on vampire blood, leaving just enough human in me. Equal parts human and vampire.” He couldn’t hide his triumphant smile. “After a few experiments, I believe my blood can create the next generation.”
A gasp caught in my throat. His experiments were the sick people in Silvertown jail. He was experimenting on his own citizens, whom he vowed to protect.
“Dad, I-I can’t believe this.” Disbelief etched Jude’s face as he shook his head, his whole body trembling in anger.
It was unreal. This man, who was so nice, so caring, was a monster. He was the puppet master, pulling the strings behind everything that transpired between Jude and me. I was sick, and I felt dirty. We played right into his hands. He was the king, and we were his pawns. Despite my best efforts to break free from my father’s grasp and forge my own path, I had fallen into the hands of someone else’s control.
“Now we can create our own world. One without Salvatore Asposito. We can rebuild the world with superhumans. Doesn’t that sound exciting?”
“Hold on,” my father groaned. “I know you, aren’t you—ahh!” With a pained expression, he grabbed his aching stomach and puffed his cheeks. Whatever was happening to him wasn’t good.
Arthur walked closer to the trembling Jude. “Move out of the way, let me take a look at this man before I put him out of his misery.”
Jude remained steadfast, a silent sentinel between my father and his father, his presence unyielding.
