“It’s fine.” Extending her arm, she stiffened as he swiped her skin with alcohol then pierced her with the needle.
She swayed toward me, exhaustion and discomfort bleeding into me.
I wrapped an arm around her icy shoulders, gritting my teeth as black blood siphoned into the syringe.
I waited for Frank to react to the awful colour. To lose his mind over how bad it looked, but he just gritted his teeth and didn’t say a word.
“Why is it black?” My question came out loud and angry. “Why aren’t you reacting?”
Taking another vial, he withdrew the needle, stuck a Band-Aid on the small prick, then prepared a fresh syringe.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked softly, catching my eyes.
“You swore on your children’s lives that you’d tell us everything.” I sniffed. “Are you backing out already?”
“No. I promise I’ll tell you everything relevant to keeping you alive. I will never hold anything back that will genuinely help. However...there’s a difference between knowing how youfeelversus knowingwhy.”
Rook swallowed hard. “I’m used to you not being able to sugarcoat things, Frank. Tell us.”
His gaze snapped to hers. “Are you sure? Are you sure you want that harsh data in your head when you’re already dealing with so much?”
Do you?Rook slipped into my thoughts.Your call. Frank is one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met but he doesn’t know how to deliver bad news.
I need to know.I fisted my hands on the table.
“Tell us,” Rook repeated firmly.
Sucking in a breath, Frank nodded. “Alright then.” Placing the vials full of Rook’s blood on the stainless-steel tray, he slid out a chair and sat down.
“Let’s start with the fact that you can’t eat anymore. If you can’t stomach even basic sustenance, then...that means your digestive system has already shut down.”
My heart squeezed.
He was right.
Feeling it was different from hearing it.
It made it so much more real. So...final.
“As you know from prior experiments, Rook, the gastrointestinal tract is the first major system to break because it’s the most energy intensive. We’ve seen it in every Requiem subjectwhere the body can no longer process food because it’s too busy rewriting itself on a cellular level. Food, water, even intravenous vitamins are rejected because the cells try to turn immortal yet end in necrosis.”
Rook pressed against me, her worry matching mine.
“What comes next?” I asked quietly.
Frank winced as if he didn’t want to share. “If you follow the same path as the rest, your endocrine system will fail next. You’ll experience extreme temperature swings, emotional instability, and crashing energy levels. The very power that’s making you suffer will do whatever it takes to get free—including breaking apart the host.”
“Jesus...” Dillon muttered from his corner.
“After that, your immune system will collapse.” Frank shut down whatever emotions he had and dissociated, focusing on facts only. “Your own body will start attacking itself as the last remaining cells fight to survive. Respiratory will be next. You’ll find it hard to catch your breath, even at rest. Neurological degradation comes after that—memory lapses, possible seizures as your brain tries to—”
“We get it.” Rook cut in. “You don’t have to tell us anymore—”
“T-The final stage,” he blurted, too entrenched in horror to stop. “Is cardiac and multi-organ failure. Once that happens, you’ll have hours—maybe less—before total systemic collapse.”
He looked up, his broad shoulders hunched by his ears in denial. “Every single test subject goes through these stages because the immortality gene no longer requires such mortal things. It systematically shuts the host down, piece by piece, until you either dissolve or disintegrate.”
“And there’s no way to stop it?” My voice was cold.
