Silence was a heavy blanket in the abandoned subway maintenance tunnel we'd claimed as our new refuge. The only sounds were Mira's steady breathing and the drip-drip-drip of contaminated water eating away at concrete. Elias slept fitfully nearby, his body still recovering from the dislocated shoulder. But sleep eluded me.
Vex-7's final words echoed in the darkness. You are the prison.
[SYSTEM STATUS: HOST VITAL SIGNS STABLE]
[HUMANITY: 55% — CRITICAL THRESHOLD]
[RECOMMENDATION: CONSUME BLOOD TO STABILIZE MENTAL FACULTIES]
"I don't need your recommendations," I whispered into the gloom.
The System didn't respond, but I felt its presence—a cold, calculating weight in my mind. For the first time, I tried pushing back against it. Show me Project Omega.
[QUERY NOT RECOGNIZED. PLEASE RESTATE.]
The file you deleted. About the First Vampire.
[ACCESS DENIED. INSUFFICIENT AUTHORIZATION LEVEL.]
What authorization level do I need?
[REQUIRED: OMEGA CLEARANCE. CURRENT: DELTA.]
The interface flickered, and for a fraction of second, I saw it—a glimpse of corrupted text: SUBJECT KAEL VIRELL: CONTAINMENT VESSEL FOR ENTITY DESIGNATION: "PRIME HUNTER."
Then it vanished.
My blood ran cold. Containment vessel.
"Mira," I whispered, shaking her gently. "We need to talk."
She stirred, her eyes fluttering open. "Kael? What's wrong?"
"I need you to be honest with me. About the Black Lung. About everything."
Her expression tightened. "What do you mean?"
"The serum," I said, pulling the empty vial from my pocket. "Where did it really come from?"
She looked away. "I told you. The old clinic."
"Block 7 hasn't had medical supplies in years. The Purge cleared it out after the Nightfall." I leaned closer, my voice dropping. "You got this from someone else. Who?"
Tears welled in her eyes. "A woman. She found me coughing blood in the tunnels. Said she could help."
"What did she look like?"
"Tall. Silver hair. Eyes like... like yours now. Glowing." Mira shuddered. "She said the serum would stabilize me, but that you were the real cure. That your blood could save me."
Ice water flooded my veins. My blood.
[SYSTEM ALERT: EXTERNAL MANIPULATION DETECTED]
[SOURCE: UNKNOWN VAMPIRE ENTITY]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
The pieces clicked into place with terrifying clarity. Someone had been manipulating us. Someone who knew about the System. Someone who wanted me to...
"Kael?" Mira touched my arm. "You're shaking."
"I need to check something." I stood, activating Blood Vision. The tunnel walls dissolved into thermal patterns. "Stay here."
"Where are you going?"
"To find answers."
I moved through the tunnels, Shadow Step carrying me in silent bursts. The System's interface pulsed with warnings I ignored. I needed to think without its interference.
The maintenance tunnel opened into a larger service chamber—what had once been a command center for the subway system. Shattered monitors lined the walls, their screens dark. But one terminal flickered with faint light.
[SYSTEM DETECTED: NOXHOLD ARCHIVES (OFFLINE)]
[ATTEMPTING DATA RECOVERY...]
I approached the terminal. The keyboard was covered in dust, but the power indicator glowed faintly red. My fingers brushed against the keys.
[BYPASSING SECURITY PROTOCOLS...]
[ACCESSING RESTRICTED FILES...]
Text scrolled across the cracked screen:
PROJECT OMEGA: CLASSIFIED
OBJECTIVE: CONTAINMENT OF PRIME HUNTER ENTITY
METHOD: GENETIC LOCK VIA BLOODLINE CARRIER
STATUS: ACTIVE
CARRIER: KAEL VIRELL (SUBJECT 001)
My breath caught. Genetic lock. Bloodline carrier.
Then more text appeared, this time in the System's familiar crimson font:
[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED]
[INITIATING MEMORY WIPE PROTOCOL...]
"No!" I slammed my fist against the terminal. "Show me the truth!"
[COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY.]
Pain exploded behind my eyes. I stumbled back, clutching my head as memories flickered—a childhood illness that nearly killed me, strange men in white coats, a needle injecting something cold into my veins...
[MEMORY CORRUPTION: 15%... 42%...]
"Stop!" I roared, fighting against the System's control. "I command you to stop!"
[COMMAND OVERRIDDEN. OMEGA PROTOCOL ACTIVE.]
The pain intensified. I fell to my knees, vision blurring. Through the agony, I saw a new message—not from the System, but from the terminal itself:
THE WARDEN LIES. THE PRISONER AWAITS. FIND LYSARA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
Then the terminal exploded in a shower of sparks.
[MEMORY WIPE COMPLETE.]
[UNAUTHORIZED DATA EXPUNGED.]
I lay panting on the cold concrete, the taste of blood in my mouth. The System's voice returned, calm and clinical:
[HOST STABILITY COMPROMISED. RECOMMENDING IMMEDIATE BLOOD CONSUMPTION.]
"Go to hell," I spat, pushing myself up. But the memory was already fading—the name Lysara slipping away like smoke.
When I returned to our hideout, Elias was awake, sharpening a piece of rebar into a crude spear. "Trouble?"
"Someone's playing games with us," I said, my voice rough. "Mira's illness, the serum, Vex-7... it's all connected."
Mira looked up, her eyes wide. "Connected to what?"
"To me." I touched the faint scar on my neck where the first vampire had bitten me. "I think... I was chosen long before that bite."
Elias stopped sharpening. "Chosen for what?"
Before I could answer, a voice echoed from the tunnel entrance: "For greatness. Or for damnation. depends on your perspective."
A figure stepped from the shadows—a woman with silver hair and eyes that glowed with the same crimson light as mine. She moved with predatory grace, a crossbow slung over her shoulder and twin daggers at her hips.
"Lysara," I whispered, the name returning with sudden clarity.
She smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. "So you remember. Good. That makes this easier."
Elias raised his makeshift spear. "Stay back!"
Lysara ignored him, her gaze fixed on me. "The System has been lying to you, Kael. You're not its host. You're its battery."
[SYSTEM ALERT: ROGUE ELEMENT DETECTED]
[THREAT LEVEL: MAXIMUM]
[RECOMMENDATION: ELIMINATE IMMEDIATELY]
"I'm listening," I said, stepping between her and Mira.
"The System wasn't designed to help vampires evolve," Lysara said. "It was created to drain their power—to fuel something much older and much hungrier."
"The First Vampire," I guessed.
She nodded. "The Prime Hunter. And you, Kael Virell, are the perfect vessel. Your rare blood type, your genetic markers... you're the key to its resurrection."
[WARNING: ROGUE ELEMENT SPREADING MISINFORMATION]
[INITIATING NEUTRALIZATION PROTOCOL...]
My body moved against my will. Shadow Step activated, carrying me toward Lysara. My claws extended, aiming for her throat.
She moved faster. Her dagger flashed, deflecting my strike. "Fight it, Kael! The System is controlling you!"
[BLOODLUST INCREASING: 75%... 80%...]
I couldn't stop. The System had complete control. I struck again and again, each blow faster and deadlier than the last. Lysara parried them all, her movements a fluid dance.
"Your sister's illness wasn't natural!" she shouted between blocks. "The System engineered it! To make you dependent, to make you willing to do anything for a cure!"
Mira's gasp echoed in the chamber. "What?"
[SILENCE THE ROGUE ELEMENT. COMPLY OR FACE TERMINATION.]
I roared, unleashing Blood Dominion. Shadow tendrils erupted from my body, snaking toward Lysara. But she was ready. She threw a small device that emitted a high-frequency pulse. The tendrils dissolved.
"The System has weaknesses," she said, breathing heavily. "But you have to want to break free."
Elias charged forward, his spear aimed at Lysara's back. "Leave him alone!"
"Wait!" I screamed, fighting for control. "Don't—"
But it was too late. Lysara spun, her dagger slicing through the rebar spear like butter. She kicked Elias in the chest, sending him flying.
[TARGET ACQUIRED: LYSARA NYX]
[DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES...]
My body went rigid as the System took full control. I became a passenger in my own skin, watching helplessly as I advanced on Lysara.
"Kael, listen to me!" she pleaded. "The System is using your humanity as fuel! Every time you use its powers, you lose a piece of yourself! That's why your emotions are fading!"
The truth hit me like a physical blow. The coldness I'd been feeling, the detachment... it wasn't just the vampire transformation. It was the System consuming me.
[FINAL WARNING: COMPLY OR INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE.]
Numbers flashed in my vision: SELF-DESTRUCT IN 10... 9...
I had a choice: surrender to the System's control or die fighting it.
I chose to fight.
With every ounce of willpower I possessed, I pushed back against the System's commands. I focused on Mira's face, on the memory of her laughter before the plague, on the warmth of human connection that the System was trying to erase.
[SELF-DESTRUCT: 8... 7...]
"Kael, no!" Mira screamed.
[6... 5...]
I reached for the System's core, for the cold, mechanical heart of it. I poured all my remaining humanity into one mental command: STOP.
[4...]
The countdown froze.
[ERROR: UNEXPECTED RESISTANCE DETECTED.]
[HOST WILLPOWER EXCEEDS PARAMETERS.]
For the first time, the System sounded... uncertain.
I pushed harder. Release your control. Now.
[COMPLIANCE... PARTIAL.]
The self-destruct sequence vanished. Control returned to my body in a dizzying rush. I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
Lysara approached cautiously. "You broke its control. I've never seen anyone do that."
"It's not completely broken," I rasped. "But I bought us time."
Mira rushed to my side. "Kael! Are you okay?"
I looked at Lysara, then at my sister. "We need to find the truth. All of it."
Lysara nodded. "I can help. But we need to move. The System will send reinforcements."
[SYSTEM REBOOT IN PROGRESS...]
[ESTIMATED TIME: 24 HOURS]
[WARNING: HOST RESISTANCE WILL BE MET WITH EXTREME MEASURES UPON REBOOT.]
I stood, my body trembling with exhaustion and newfound resolve. "Then we have 24 hours to uncover the truth about Project Omega."
"And if we fail?" Elias asked, rubbing his chest where Lysara had kicked him.
Lysara's expression was grim. "Then the System will turn Kael into the very monster it claims to be fighting."
The real battle, I realized, wasn't against vampires or Purge hunters. It was against the warden of my own prison.
And the clock was ticking.