Chapter 66

Nick looked irritated, but also a bit worried. His face seemed placid and without emotion, but I noticed the twitch of his jaw and the tightening around his eyelids. Over the past few weeks I had started to learn to read this rather emotionless man. Now I saw him better, as more than a royal vampire, but almost human in emotion.

Finally he looks at me and says, 'The Zula clan has collapsed, most of the clans have been decimated by the Silent Phantasma.'

'What?!' I say, standing in shock and my hand covers my mouth as I whimper out, 'Milan?'

'Don't worry, she is fine. She was at the Library of Alexandria working with the Night Hunters when the attack occurred at the Royal Clans home, and the seven great houses of the clan. She is taking refuge with my clan now... what's left of it.'

Those final words made my heart wrench for this vampire. He was pacing back and forth, hands clasped behind his back as he continues, 'There is more.'

'What?'

'The Elrics have taken asylum in the Won lands, only Tiberius and the main branch seem to have survived a major attack.'

Slowly I find myself sitting, shaking with the knowledge of what this meant. He continues on, 'The Won have noticed smaller clans and groups have gone missing in their lands and have started monitoring their borders.'

'And the Romane leader?'

'He is safe in Kotowa at the moment.'

My mind was racing as I realize the implications of what is happening. He answers my thoughts, 'The Silent Phantasma has taken out two royal clans, only me and the leader of the Romane exist, the Zula are no more, the Won are starting to feel the storm brewing at their borders, the Elric are running, and we know nothing of the Silent Phantasma than some far reaching crap that no longer matters. We need answers before all of society collapses, ourselves and humankind.'

He had put his hands down on the desk, head hung, as if talking this out, no more like purging it to a clanless who had no say, would help. Finally he looks up at me and asks, 'Do you think this shriveled begger can really help us?'

'Yes.'

'We are stretched thin with resources now Nina, we have too many possible leads and no answers. I can't keep supporting this unless answers are found and soon or...'

The silence was answer enough to what was left unsaid. Standing, I look at this broad shouldered and powerful vampire, realizing just how weakened his stand is saying, 'The Silent Phantasma had a reason for taking me, I know, but they had a reason for leaving these clues and I intend to find them for my friend.'

With that I leave the office and head back to the room that held my old friend. Sliding the glass door open, he looks up from the file and I ask firmly, 'What have you found Longsworth?'

--D--

Ki whistles in surprise as he says, 'So Longsworth says that this is being synthesized?'

'Yes, but not in the way we expected. He says that the Tirdium is being taken, purified with heat in the normal way but there the process is suddenly changed. The Tridium is being corroded somehow through chemical manipulation.'

'What chemicals?' Nick asks, as Ki passes the notes I had wriitten as Longsworth dictated them to me.

'That is where it gets tricky, he is unsure, some of the chemicals are similar, iron, nitrogen, some red phosphorus.'

'Sounds like refining meth.'

'Yes, but then he said that the chemical makeup is changed, and he said it would be in my arena of expertise.'

'I don't follow,' Ki replies, looking a little confused.

'Whatever the Phantasma are doing, they are refining the chemcial in humans.'

Now they both stop, their eyes slowly lifting to me. I shake my head and say, 'I didn't want to believe it myself, but its much like cyanide is refined in the belly of pigs, they are taking this chemical compound and putting it into humans to refine it. The chemical breakdown says as much.'

Nick shakes his head and says, 'Impossible, this concentration of Tridium would kill a human, it would shred their blood.'

'Not if they were no longer human.'

Nick and I look a Ki, who was reading the report I had shorthanded and I ask with a frown, 'What do you mean?'

'When a vampire is changing into a ghoul, fundamental changes start to occur in the body, as if they revert back to being human as their blood starts to rot in their veins. Have you ever wondered why when a vampire is turning their eyes turn black?'

Suddenly my medical background returns and I facepalm saying, 'The eyes are literal chemical dumping grounds for the body, that's why you always look for liver failure in the eyes.'

'That's right, because the liver is failing in the vampire.'

Nick looks between us before asking, 'You have lost me, what does liver failure, ghouls, and this chemical panel from the UVA ink have to do with each other.'

I answer him, feeling my gut drop and my heart go cold, 'They are refining this chemical in the bodies of vampires turning ghoul. They extract it, remove the failed blood, and get that liquid.'

'Alright, I still don't understand.'

Brushing my hands through my hair, I whisper, 'If my theory is right...'

'That ink, isn't ink,' Ki finished for me, points to it and says, 'Its poison.'

'Not just any poison, it is most likely what is killing Purebloods,' I finish softly.

Nick flung the card down with a hiss, but I chuckle saying, 'Don't worry. If my theory is right, it is innert.'

Ki and Nick ask in unison, 'How so?'

'Something tells me it is missing a rital ingredient.'

'What?' Again in unison, with Nick looking at Ki with irritation.

'Purebloods' blood.'

'But shouldn't it harm us to touch it,' Ki asks, wiping his hands on his shirt.

Picking up the card, I shake my head with a small smile on my face as I reply, 'No, it won't work through osmosis, it has to have direct contact with your blood to work.'

'How can we know for sure?' Nick asks with narrowed eyes.

'Care to spare a few drops?'

--D--

We stood in a small glassed in lab as Nick holds out his offered arm and I take a syringe. Finding a vein, I pull a few milliletters as he says sardonicly, 'Its been some time since my blood was drawn so clinically.'

Ki was by a petri dish as I give Nick a sarcastic smile and walk away, the scent of his blood heady from the small bead in the crook of his arm.

Placing a few drops of the blood on a shaving of the card, we watch as Nick's blood slowly turns gray, then black, and finally crystaline as it dies. We started at it silently until finally Ki says, 'Well that's sobering.'

This made my fears more profound as I thought back to being in the room, chained, and tortured. Were they trying to do this to me? Had they? Was I?

Suddenly I rush to the cabinet, opening the drawer frantically looking for another hyperdermic needle and syringe. Nick asks worried, 'What's wrong?'

Memories flood my mind, remembering back to the pain of a needles prick and the burning sensation through my body as I hung there, wringing like a fish on a line screaming. Finding what I need, I plung it into my arm, wincing, but not stopping as I draw blood.

Ki says frantically, 'Nina, what's wrong?!'

But I don't answer as I drop some of my blood into a petri dish, and then a drop of Nick's holding my breath. Could this be what I was changing? Was I an incubator?

Nick and Ki were silent, looking over my shoulder as I did this, knowing not to ask anymore questions as I would ignore them.

My eyes fixate on the petri dish, holding my breath, praying my worries were unfounded.