Chapter 512: The Moment of Truth
Marianne’s face became pale as she used the surgical tool to drain her blood to the limit. She swayed with dizziness after the small bowl was half-filled with her blood. Before she fell, Nikolai caught her with an arm around her waist.
"Be careful."
"Ah? T-thank you."
Her pale neckline brushed past him as she adjusted herself, but the scent of her blood lingered in his nose. ’Her blood smells sweet...’ Maybe a result of her special nature, but Marianne’s blood carried a deliciously sweet smell like honey-coated marshmallows melting over a fire.
Marianne tried to laugh it off, but the sound came out weak, breathless. "I’m... fine. Just a little lightheaded."
"Idiot," Nikolai muttered, shifting her gently onto a nearby stool. "You don’t need to push yourself this far."
"But... I want to help," Marianne whispered with a slight red hue on her cheeks, while she peeked back at him with bright red eyes filled with a strange glint. "Alexei... would’ve done the same."
’These siblings, what will I do with them?’
He couldn’t help but rub her silky hair with a grin on his face, the blood started to flow into the body, while his mother’s spirit also became dormant inside the pale body. He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear with a wink, then stepped back as Sasha slid the blood bowl into the centrifuge, the metallic whirring filling the room.
"Marianne’s blood has stabilised the matrix," Sasha said without looking up. Behind her, Anastasia managed several machines and strange devices alone. "Her blood’s regenerative power has begun to activate the base cells."
"Confirmed, reaction in cells." Anastasia responded.
"Good," Amphitrite added, checking the readings on a glowing monitor. "We’re close to phase two."
Nikolai’s gaze drifted between the women working hard together. Even in the back of the lab, there were dozens of assistants performing tasks he assumed were important.
His gaze drifted back to the pale figure on the table, his mother’s vessel, and his heart skipped a beat. The faintest pulse of energy rippled across her skin, like a heartbeat stirring beneath.
"Pulse and Soul Chain connection confirmed. Phase Two begins any moment now, prepare for seizures and bleeding!"
’She’s responding already...’
Nikolai didn’t know the phases or the details; they just told him to focus on what he had to do and when it was needed.
The room filled with an intoxicating scent... at least for the male vampire Nikolai. A vampire couple normally chose their mate using a series of categories, but the two most important were heritage and blood.
A couple with a high level of compatibility would find their partner’s blood irresistible, like he did with Selene and the other women. But, above that, there were special cases where a certain blood type might surpass even that.
Marianne’s blood had this effect on Nikolai.
Her blood was sweet, intoxicating, and almost overwhelming.
Nikolai’s fangs itched as they extended, and his primal instinct nearly took over. If not for his mother on the table, he might just have succumbed to the temptation. But he forced it down with a low growl. ’Not now’
"Alright," Amphitrite’s voice cut through the haze. "The base infusion is ready. Once we add your blood, the final stage of body fusion will begin."
Nikolai watched Amphitrite, who rolled her mermaid’s tear on her tongue. The two of them, both her and Sasha, helped by using two mermaids’ tears, which boosted the success by five per cent.
’Five percent... is better than nothing.’
Amphitrite’s teeth tugged gently at his ear before she pulled back with a sultry grin, the last traces of mischief fading as her tone shifted to something more serious. "Doin’t worry, I’ll do my best."
"Stop teasing me," Nikolai pushed her away with a rough voice. Amphitrite only giggled, the warmth of her breath brushing his ear as she slipped away from his chest and then looked at the huge needle.
Sasha nodded in agreement, already positioning the long, slender tubing. "Heart rate steady. Begin secondary infusion."
The two women exchanged a glance before looking at Nikolai with gentle smiles, and then simultaneously, their claws sliced shallow lines across their forearms. "I hate needles..." Their bright blood carried rich power and nutrients for monsters, flowing into the waiting basin for the second and final time.
The moment their blood mingled with Marianne’s, the room seemed to shudder. Runes carved into the steel floor flickered to life in pale blue, casting ghostly light across the chamber.
"Wow!"
Nikolai’s eyes shone at the sudden appearance of runes painted in invisible ink, like glow-in-the-dark sigils. They formed pentagrams and runic scripts around the bed and over his mother’s new body.
The runes were difficult to understand, but he noticed a few that he saw in the Volkov library books.
’I can understand a few of them... life, power, binding...’
"Stabilisation increasing — forty-seven percent..." Anastasia’s voice was steady, but Nikolai could see the tension in the way her hands hovered over the controls. "Fifty-five... sixty-two..."
The mixture inside the basin swirled, growing denser and brighter with every passing second. Threads of liquid light pulsed up through the tubing and into the artificial body on the table.
The effect was immediate!
Her pale chest rose with a slow, shallow breath, and faint colour began to creep into her cheeks.
"Mother?!" Nikolai’s chest pounded at the sight. He thought that during the soul binding, there wouldn’t be much for him to see, but thanks to the runes illuminating her insides like an X-ray, he could see the blood flowing to her two hearts and slowly... they started pumping.
"She’s responding, but don’t get overconfident! We haven’t used Nikolai’s blood yet, ONLY HIS BLOOD can maintain this... we just need to reach Phase Three!"
"You’re right... The hybrid matrix is accepting the mermaid’s essence."
Another pulse, much stronger and with a firm echo.
A ripple of energy rolled through the room, rattling metal instruments and making the air hum with power. "Seventy-nine percent. Blood resonance climbing. Prepare for final stage," Anastasia’s cheeks dripped with sweat, but her eyes never left the apparatus.
’... It’s almost time!’
Amphitrite exhaled with a sharp gasp, her wound sealing almost instantly.
"That’s our limit. Any more and the vessel could destabilise."
Nikolai stepped forward, his heart racing with stress, watching his mother at the table. He wanted to remain strong, but the weight of everything felt overwhelming.
His childhood, his lost memory... his promise... all of it came together.
Sasha looked back at him with a pale face, smiling. "Phase Two is complete, we’re ready to accept the grand catalyst. Nikolai, do your best."
’It’s done?’
He couldn’t help but feel thrilled. The dangerous stage, which he could do nothing about, ended. Now it was all on his shoulders, his blood and his abilities.
’Evil god... black blood, I’ve never asked anything of you. Please. Help me save my mother and bring her back to our family.’
"Phase Three..." Amphitrite’s crimson gaze locked with his, voice trembling with excitement. "It’s all you now, Nikolai. Your blood will either wake her... or end everything we’ve built."
The room fell into a heavy silence with only the beeping of the monitors... and yet the fragile breaths of the half-living body stirred Nikolai on.
He smiled at each woman.
"I’ll do my best."
Nikolai stepped to the machine, and with a deep breath. He tore open his arm with a massive gash, blood pouring into the machine.
"Nikolai!?" The first to scream with worry wasn’t Amphitrite but Marianne!
Nikolai’s blood poured from his arm in thick, dark ribbons, not the usual crimson of a vampire, but a deeper, black glow that pulsed unnaturally with an immense power.
It hissed faintly as it hit the basin, mixing with the mermaid and vampire blood.
Then, the magic happened.
Both the light red and deep red of the mermaid and vampire blood turned jet black and crackled with a powerful aura. The machine roared, coolant pipes filling with liquid along with the air fans as the gauges spun wildly. Anastasia shouted numbers he barely registered.
"Fifteen percent... nineteen... twenty-three...!"
Every instinct in Nikolai’s body screamed to heal, the wound sealing shut every few seconds as his flesh twitched, the muscle fibres pulling together. But he tore it open again with his claws, forcing the blood to keep flowing.
No matter what, he wouldn’t stop.
"Stop! You’ll bleed out!" Marianne cried, trying to step forward, but Sasha caught her shoulder.
"No one touch him!" Amphitrite screamed.
Her voice was uncharacteristically sharp. "You cannot begin to understand his dedication to this! Do NOT get in his way, or I will kill you."
Mermaids protected their spouses to the death, especially after being fertilised, their instincts and desires transformed, and their affection and obsession increased to extreme levels.
"Calm down, Amphitrite." Sasha understood this and took out a calming shot, pumping it into her neck. "I promise, nothing will happen." The dazed mermaid looked at Sasha with wet eyes and nodded weakly.
Nikolai’s knees trembled under the weight of his own power. His vision blurred, and his heartbeat raced so much that he thought it might pop. Still, he couldn’t move... this was his mother. His mother! It was the moment everything had been building toward and the first promise he’d sworn to fulfil after becoming a hybrid.
"Thirty-two percent... thirty-six..." Amphitrite’s hands flew across the control panel, sweat streaking down her temples. "Stabilisation holding, but the energy output is climbing fast!
"His blood is amazing." Anastasia mumbled.
BOOOM!
The lab shook violently, lights flickering as alarms screamed through the facility. Dust rained from the ceiling, and several vials shattered against the floor.
"What the hell!?" Sasha’s head snapped toward the blast-proof doors.
A voice crackled through the speaker system, distorted by static and panic.
"Patriarch! This is Guard Unit Delta! The Volkov Compound is under attack! Unknown hostiles. Heavily armed and they’ve breached the outer perimeter!"
The blood percentage hit forty-one percent.
He couldn’t move, let alone fight...
’Why now?!’ At first, he screamed in his head, but then shook it to clear his thoughts... the dazed state helping him think in a more lucid and calm state.
’No, this is the perfect time...’
"I cannot stop. Even if everything ends." He spoke with a calm, sincere and honest voice. "Forgive me, Amphitrite... but I won’t stop even if it puts you in danger."
’I will pay for this sin
no matter what she wants later... what any of them want.’
Outside, another explosion rocked the ground, but Nikolai didn’t move an inch. His blood still flowed. His mother’s lungs started expanding as her cells and organs came to life.
The world could burn before he’d stop.