Flash suddenly froze, staring at the laptop screen. His body tensed like a taut string, shoulders rising slightly, breathing becoming even, but something new flashed in his eyes.
A mixture of surprise and rage, as if he had spotted an old enemy in a crowd. His hands, resting on the keyboard, went still; his fingers trembled faintly, not from fear, but from the adrenaline that always surged with such discoveries.
The screen reflected blue light in his eyes, turning his face into a mask; the shadows under his eyes deepened, his lips pressed into a thin line.
The hangar around them seemed even darker; the reddish glow of the emergency lamp in the corner barely cut through the dust, casting long shadows from the crates and the mattress.
"Wait," he said quietly, his voice low like the hum of the generator.
He leaned closer to the screen, eyes narrowing, fingers quickly clicking the trackpad.
He opened a new file, one that had just appeared in the folder with Maria's chip. The name glowed in white letters against a black background:
"Prime-Blood Contract".
The file opened with a soft click, as if the laptop itself was reluctant to reveal it.
The screen flickered, an old, battered display with scratches, but the text was sharp.
Before them unfolded a scanned document: old, with corrections, a red seal at the bottom like dried blood.
The paper in the scan was yellowed, corners bent as if the document had been handled, hidden, retrieved many times.
Ethan felt the blood drain from his face, as if someone had switched off the warmth inside him.
Goosebumps covered his skin; the cold from the catacombs returned, only now it was inside, in his veins.
"Contract No. 47.
Project 'Prime-Blood'.
Synthetic blood.
Objective: complete independence from human donors.
Funding: Corvin
Executor: South Street Laboratory.
Recipient's signature: M. R.
Date: 11/12/2049
Deliver personally to the Senator."
Ethan felt his heart skip a beat, as if it had stumbled mid-stride. Something clenched in his chest; his breathing became short, ragged.
He stared at the screen, eyes wide, fingers gripping the edge of the crate he sat on.
"M. R… Maria? Is that her signature? No, it can't be, it has to be someone else…"
"She fought against them. But this definitely isn't her."
The thought struck like a knife, sharp, painful. He remembered her voice, quiet and certain, when she spoke of justice.
"M. R… Maria?" he whispered, his voice trembling as if the name itself were a wound.
He leaned closer, almost touching the screen with his nose, fingers reaching to zoom in.
Flash nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the screen; his face was stone, but a shadow of doubt flickered in his eyes.
"Maria, possibly she signed it. But look at the note."
"Deliver personally to Senator K.R."
"That's not her signature, it's a forgery. Or… she was forced."
"Look at the date: 11/12/2049. That's a full year before her death. She was here. Or someone used her name."
"The signature is uneven, she couldn't have hidden something like this for a whole year."
Ethan grabbed the laptop; his hands shook as he zoomed in. The image enlarged; the signature was crooked, letters slightly tilted, as if the hand that wrote it had been under pressure.
The seal at the bottom, red, bearing a crest resembling the Corvin clan symbol: a cross with a drop of blood.
Ethan felt a chill, not from the cold hangar, but from his own thoughts.
"Maria was in that place… what the hell was she doing there? In that laboratory, signing a contract, some kind of agreement? Why? To expose them? Or… did they force her?"
"Corvin is almost mayor of the city. That means he's not just a monster. And Maria… she tried to break the system alone."
"Container 47…" he whispered, voice hoarse as if the air in the hangar had thickened. "That's the very subject from the protocol. Samples. Synthetic blood. They wanted to create 'eternal blood'."
"So vampires wouldn't depend on humans anymore. They want to rule even without needing human blood."
"This… this is the end of everything. If they succeed, we won't exist anymore." Corvin wants to become a god, and Maria stood in his way.
Gideon propped himself up on one elbow; his eyes widened, face twisting in pain, but he didn't lie back down, he gripped the mattress to keep from falling.
"So… Maria wasn't just digging. She was inside."
"They used her to deliver samples to the senator."
Bruno said quietly:
"Senator K.R."
"Corvin, he's a senator now. That means they control everything."
"From donors to experiments."
"Maria found the key, the synthetic blood itself. If they achieve this, vampires will become gods."
"And humans will be nothing."
Flash closed the laptop with a soft click; the screen went dark, leaving them in the reddish glow of the lamp.