Chapter 199: Next Facility
Victor finally crossed the mansion’s main doors as the sky was beginning to brighten. His coat still carried dust from Bramford, the smell of blood remained trapped in the sleeves, and small tears covered the fabric, reminders of a mission that should have been simple and had ended with clandestine laboratories, chimeras, werewolves, and an absurd number of reports waiting to be completed.
At that moment, however, he did not want to think about any of it.
He wanted to take a bath, change his clothes, and sleep for several hours before Serafall, Rosalyne, or anyone else decided to find him.
Victor closed the door behind him.
His feet had barely touched the noble marble of the hall when two presences appeared at the same time.
Carmilla emerged from the right and wrapped her fingers around his arm. Scarlet appeared from the left, pressing herself against him before Victor could say anything. Both had hidden their presences perfectly, waiting behind the columns like predators preparing a carefully planned ambush.
The difference was that neither of them intended to kill him.
Probably.
Carmilla wore a black dress that left her shoulders exposed and clung to her body with suspicious care. Her hair fell freely down her back, and the smile that appeared on her lips carried none of the serious composure she usually maintained in front of the other family members.
She slowly rubbed her body against his arm.
"The husband is back," Carmilla said mischievously.
"He is back! He is back!"
Scarlet was in her demi-human fox form. Two red-furred ears moved above her head, reacting to every small sound, while several tails swayed behind her with so much excitement that some were already wrapping around Victor’s waist and legs.
One tail slid across his back.
Another passed over his abdomen.
A third tried to slip beneath his coat.
Victor caught the tail before it went any farther.
"You two need to slow down."
Scarlet raised her face and stared at him with shining eyes.
"Slow down?"
"I just arrived."
"Exactly."
She brought her nose close to his neck and breathed deeply, completely ignoring the scent of battle trapped in his clothes.
"You were away for two weeks, three days, and many hours."
Victor looked toward Carmilla.
"She counted?"
"Every one."
Carmilla moved even closer, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"She also counted how many nights we slept without you."
Scarlet tightened her arms around his waist.
"And how many times reports about the mission interrupted us."
"You were receiving reports?"
"Naturally," Carmilla replied. "We needed to know when our husband intended to stop exploding parts of his own body and return home."
Victor made a slight grimace.
"The part about the leg arrived quickly."
"Far too quickly."
Scarlet raised one hand and squeezed his thigh as though confirming the limb had truly regenerated.
"It seems whole."
"It grew back."
"Good."
The way she said it made it clear that her concern about his leg had nothing to do with walking.
Victor released a quiet sigh.
Inside his mind, Rowena had remained strangely silent since the two women appeared. Victor almost believed she was pretending not to pay attention, but that hope lasted only several seconds.
"Please remove the ring."
Victor ignored her.
Carmilla slowly began undoing the first button of his coat.
Rowena spoke again, now with far greater urgency.
"Victor."
Scarlet used one tail to close the door he had just entered through. Another tail slid around his chest, while the rest continued moving with excitement.
"Victor, take that damned thing off your finger."
"You have watched worse battles."
"Battles end when someone dies. This is not going to end anytime soon."
Victor almost laughed.
Rowena noticed and completely lost her patience.
"Leave me out of this. I do not want to watch the three of you fuck without stopping until those two can no longer walk."
Victor removed the ring.
"Thank you."
"You are exaggerating."
"I am not. Look at the fox."
Victor looked.
Scarlet was biting her own lip while trying to undo another button of his coat with her fingers. Her ears remained completely upright, and her tails had practically surrounded the three of them inside a small barrier of red fur.
Then he looked toward Carmilla.
She maintained the same calm smile, but her red eyes were fixed on him with an intensity that had nothing to do with patience. One hand still held his arm. The other had already reached his waist.
Rowena had a reasonable argument.
Victor placed the ring inside the inner pocket of his coat, almost completely closing the connection. Her presence disappeared from his thoughts, leaving only a very comfortable silence.
Carmilla followed the movement.
Scarlet did too.
Both smiled at the same time.
Victor realized too late that removing the ring had served as confirmation.
Carmilla placed one hand against his chest and began slowly pushing him toward the staircase.
"So..."
Scarlet grabbed his other arm, her tails sliding around his legs as they walked.
"...shall we go to bed?"
Victor looked at both of them.
"I still need to take a bath."
Scarlet tilted her head.
"We can handle that together."
"And change clothes." Carmilla opened another button on his coat.
"We can handle that too."
...
News of Bramford’s fall crossed the border before dawn and reached a fortress hidden among mountains covered in black pine trees. The place did not appear on commercial maps, had no open roads, and was protected by narrow ravines that forced every visitor to pass through three observation posts. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an abandoned ancient structure. Inside, corridors carved into the rock led to rooms illuminated by lunar crystals, weapon stores, and laboratories far more organized than the one destroyed beneath the port city.
Six werewolves gathered around a circular table as the messenger finished his report.
No one spoke immediately.
A map of the Vampire Empire covered the entire surface, marked with lines indicating smuggling routes, infiltrated cities, and locations where small groups had disappeared over the last several months. Bramford stood near the coast, highlighted by a white circle. Beneath it were three smaller symbols representing the facility, the warehouses, and the tunnels used to move prisoners.
The messenger remained kneeling, his left shoulder covered in dried blood. He had lost two fingers during the escape and still breathed with difficulty, but no one showed any concern for his injuries.
"Ghideon is dead," he repeated. "The facility was taken. The vampires collected bodies, documents, samples, and part of the equipment before destroying the rest."
A tall woman with gray hair tied behind her head closed her fingers around the edge of the table. A scar crossed her face from the eyebrow to the corner of her mouth, and her nails slowly lengthened as she tried to control the transformation.
"How many of ours died?"
"I could not confirm."
"An estimate."
"More than twenty inside the tunnels. Perhaps thirty when counting the men scattered through the warehouses."
The woman struck the table with her fist.
The reinforced wood cracked.
"They were warriors of the clans, not disposable animals for that vampire to use as fuel."
A light-haired man seated on the opposite side released a humorless laugh.
"They agreed to protect the laboratory in exchange for the results. They knew the risk."
"They knew they might face soldiers," she replied, showing her fangs. "They did not know Ghideon would tear organs from our dead and place them inside his own body."
"Does that matter now?"
"It matters to me."
"Then you should have prevented your nephew from joining the project."
The energy in the room increased rapidly.
The woman leaned across the table, ready to cross it, but a single tap of fingers interrupted the argument. The sound was not loud. Even so, everyone became still.
At the opposite end of the room, the group’s leader remained seated in a chair made from dark wood and polished bones. His name was Vaelor, although few dared use it without a title. He appeared older than the others, with black hair crossed by white strands and golden eyes that had shown no change since the report began. He did not possess the largest body or release his energy ostentatiously, but none of those present mistook that calm for weakness.
"Continue," Vaelor ordered.
The messenger lowered his head even farther.
"The four stable specimens had already been removed before the attack. The main records were also transferred, but Ghideon kept copies in Bramford. We do not know how much the vampires will be able to recover."
The gray-haired woman sat again.
"If they found the records about the hybrids, they already know what we are doing."
"They know part of it," said a thin man wearing a researcher’s robe. "Ghideon documented everything, but encoded the essential stages. The reports left inside the facility describe bodies, rejection, grafts, and consciousness transfer. They do not explain how we stabilized the lunar channels."
"They do not need to understand it to declare war."
"They were already searching for justification."
The light-haired man pointed toward the map.
"Now they have one."
The discussion began again, this time less aggressive but far more concerned. Some wanted to abandon every facility near vampiric territory. Others argued for immediate attacks against the wagons transporting the corpses. One of those present suggested eliminating the human intermediaries used in Bramford before they could be interrogated, while another claimed the vampires probably already possessed enough names to reach the clans involved.
Vaelor allowed them to speak for almost a minute.
Then he raised one hand.
Silence returned.
"This changes nothing."
The gray-haired woman looked toward him.
"They know we are creating hybrids."
"They discovered that Ghideon was creating hybrids."
"He worked for us."
"He worked for himself and received resources from us while our interests aligned." Vaelor leaned forward and placed one finger over the circle marking Bramford. "Ghideon stopped being reliable when he began grafting the experiments into his own body. His death removes a variable we would eventually have needed to eliminate ourselves."
The robed researcher slowly nodded.
"He was hiding results."
"And trying to produce vessels capable of carrying his consciousness without depending on us," Vaelor continued. "The laboratory in Bramford was already compromised before the vampires arrived. We lost bodies, equipment, and combatants, but the useful knowledge was removed weeks ago."
The woman did not appear satisfied.
"And the dead?"
"They will be remembered after the objective is completed."
"That answer will not be enough for the clans."
"Then tell the clans their warriors were killed by vampires while defending imprisoned brothers." Vaelor’s tone did not change. "Do not mention Ghideon using corpses. Do not mention the failed experiments. Give them a simple, understandable enemy."
The light-haired man smiled faintly.
"We will turn Bramford into propaganda."
"We will turn the truth into something useful."
Vaelor removed the white marker from the map and set it aside. The loss of the facility no longer seemed important to him.
"The research will continue elsewhere."
The researcher raised his eyes.
"Which facility?"
"The complex beneath Orthea."
Several of those present showed surprise.
Orthea was a small city located inside neutral territory, far from the official borders and built over ruins much older than the Vampire Empire. The region was controlled by merchants, mercenaries, and human families unlikely to notice underground activity. More importantly, there was no significant vampiric military presence nearby.
"Orthea is not ready yet," the researcher warned. "The reservoirs have been installed, but we still lack sources of compatible vampiric blood."
"It will receive what it needs in three days."
"From where?"
Vaelor looked toward another man seated near the door.
He had brown hair, simple clothing, and no visible lupine characteristics. His scent, however, revealed a perfectly controlled transformation.
"Two shipments will leave the southern border tomorrow," the man explained. "A vampiric patrol disappeared last week. The bodies were preserved."