"I watched her die," Celeste says. Her voice is steady, controlled. "I killed her myself."
A ripple of reaction moves through the room. Isabelle's eyes widen slightly. Dr. Sullivan shifts in his seat. Even Nadia looks momentarily impressed before her expression hardens again.
"That explains the power shift I've been tracking," Ethan says, scrolling through his tablet. "Konstantin's communications went dark for almost six hours after that night. He was regrouping."
"There's more." I look at Celeste. I feel her steel herself, squaring her shoulders against what's coming. "Konstantin has been planning this for years. What Celeste learned changes everything we thought we knew."
Celeste steps forward, and I feel her reach for me, not physically, but through our connection, drawing strength from my presence.
"The fight where Valentina turned me, it wasn't random," she says. "Konstantin watched me for months before that night. Had people at my underground matches, recording me, analyzing me."
"Why?" Julian asks, genuinely curious.
"Because I was useful." Celeste's hands clench at her sides. "Konstantin has been building an army of enhanced vampires. Stronger, faster, more resilient. He finds promising humans, hasthem turned, modifies them, and releases them into the world. Sleeper soldiers he can activate later."
Silence. I feel the weight of attention shifting, reassessing.
"Activate how?" Dr. Sullivan leans forward, medical interest cutting through his formal demeanor. "What exactly did he do?"
"The turning happened in Atlanta," Celeste continues. "But while I was transforming, dead for the three days it takes to change, they transported me to Rome. I woke up there, not that I remember it. Three weeks of modifications. Experiments. And then they blocked my memories, flew me back to Atlanta, and let me wake up thinking only three days had passed."
"Three weeks of modifications." Dr. Sullivan's voice is clinical now, fascinated despite himself. "Do you know what kind? Chemical? Biological? Something else entirely?"
"We don't know the full extent." I step closer to Celeste, a deliberate show of solidarity. "We know she healed from contaminated blood faster than should have been possible. We know she's adapted more quickly than any fledgling I've seen. And we know Konstantin mentioned abilities that haven't manifested yet."
"You said activate," Nadia says, her voice sharp. "What does that mean? Activate how?"
Celeste takes a breath. I feel her brace herself. "There's a trigger buried in the modifications. A kill switch. When Konstantin sends the signal, I stop being me. I become a weapon with no will of my own."
The room goes very still.
"A sleeper agent," Julian breathes. "He built a sleeper agent."
"Pointed directly at you." Nadia stands, her chair scraping against the floor. "She was designed to get close to you, make you care, make you vulnerable. And then, when the moment is right, he activates her and she destroys you from the inside."
"That was his plan, yes." I keep my voice steady. "It won't work."
"How can you be so sure? She just told us there's a trigger in her blood that could turn her into a mindless killer at any moment."
"The bond provides protection." I press my hand to my chest, over the mark. "When we formed the bond, I felt the trigger. The bond wrapped around it, around the core of who she is. Whatever signal Konstantin sends will have to fight through our connection to reach her."
"Will have to fight through," Nadia repeats. "So you don't know if it will work."
"We know it's protection we didn't have before. And we know we need to find a way to remove the trigger entirely."
"Before he activates her." Nadia's voice is flat. "Before she kills you."
"She won't kill me."
"You can't know that."
"I know her." I meet Nadia's eyes. "And I trust her. That's enough."
Nadia makes a sound of disgust. "Trust. You've bound yourself to a weapon aimed at your heart because you trust her."
"My feelings are my own." Celeste's voice cuts through Nadia's tirade. "Yes, Konstantin built a trigger into me. Yes, he designed me to be a weapon. But I chose to stay. I chose to fight Valentina. I chose to kill my maker instead of letting her use me."
"How do we know that wasn't part of the design?" Nadia presses.
