By morning the entire command structure of Helios Gate was involved.
Kael sat at the end of the council chamber table while officers, scholars, and engineers argued around him like he wasn't even there.
Execution.
Containment.
Weaponization.
Study.
Each suggestion worse than the last.
Commander Rhyse listened to all of it.
Then he looked at Kael.
"Do you feel different?"
Kael considered the question.
"Yes."
"How?"
Kael answered honestly.
"Hungry."
The room went silent.
Malik shifted slightly.
Elara's jaw tightened.
Rhyse didn't react.
"Hungry for blood?" he asked.
Kael thought about that.
"Not exactly."
"What then?"
Kael looked down at his hands again.
"Power."
That answer unsettled everyone.
Except Sen.
The archivist leaned forward.
"The Eclipse Vessel hypothesis suggested dual-spectrum resonance could create evolutionary acceleration."
Rhyse stared at him.
"Speak plainly."
Sen gestured toward Kael.
"He isn't becoming a vampire."
"What then?"
Sen hesitated.
"I'm not sure the old world had a word for it."
Elara spoke for the first time.
"Then we make one."
Rhyse nodded slowly.
"For now," he said, "Mercer remains under Sentinel authority."
Relief flickered across Elara's face.
But Rhyse wasn't finished.
"He will also remain under observation."
Kael met his gaze.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," Rhyse said calmly, "if you lose control, Captain Vance will kill you."
Elara did not argue.
She simply nodded once.
Kael respected that more than mercy.