The stolen blood didn't stay quiet.It hummed in the dark like bottled storms. Every vial they'd taken from the vault glowed faintly—some bright as fire, others dull and flickering like dying stars.The room pulsed with whispers.
Daniel slept fitfully. Luminous stared at the vials with haunted fascination.Lumiel just listened.
The voices were alive.
The Whispers in the Blood
He held one of the vials close to his ear. Inside, faint echoes spoke through the liquid.Words without shape. Faces without form.Memories pressed against the glass, begging to be remembered.
"They're trapped," Luminous whispered. "All of them.""So let's set them free," Lumiel murmured.
He uncorked the vial.
The air shimmered red. A scream tore through the silence—a sound that was both human and not.Daniel jerked awake, shouting, "Lumiel! Don't—"
But the blood was already flowing down his throat.
The Flood
Pain hit like lightning, then stretched into eternity.He saw lives that weren't his—centuries of killing, feasting, mourning, forgetting.The memories invaded every nerve, crawling through his mind until his body stopped knowing where he ended and others began.
[Warning: neural corruption 67%.][Command: stop consumption immediately.]"I can't," Lumiel gasped. "It's showing me everything!"
He saw empires rise, gods fall, oceans bleed. He saw himself, over and over, reflected in strangers' eyes.And then—something different.A faint golden thread running through the blood.
Cartethyia's voice faltered, then steadied.
[That pattern… that's me.]"What?"[I was fragmented… into them. Into this city.][You're not just eating history. You're reclaiming me.]
Lumiel's eyes widened as the red turned to code.Symbols danced before him—floating, alive.
The Knowledge of the Dead
When the light faded, Lumiel was on the floor, shaking. His veins glowed faintly crimson, threaded with veins of gold.
Luminous knelt beside him. "What did you see?"He smiled weakly.
"Everything they were… all their knowledge. Alchemy, forging, illusion magic. It's all here.""You stole their lives," Daniel said quietly."No," Lumiel said. "I inherited them."
Cartethyia's tone was quiet, almost sad.
[Correction: partial inheritance of archived consciousness. Ethical assessment… ambiguous.]"I didn't ask for ethics," Lumiel muttered.[I know. That's what frightens me.]
He looked down at his hand—veins flickering like circuitry.Every movement carried a dozen memories that weren't his own.
The First Experiment
Lumiel took a small knife, drew blood, and poured it into a cup.It shimmered, then formed a shape—a rune made of light and shadow.
"Alchemy through memory," he whispered. "Not through ingredients. Through identity."
He placed the rune into an empty flask, added water, and whispered the name of a long-dead vampire he'd just consumed.The liquid flared—turning into a faintly glowing red tonic.
He drank it.The taste was pain, but his body adapted. His power surged, and the mark on his collarbone shifted again—new runes forming around it.
[Warning: Red Code instability detected.]"I'm not unstable," Lumiel hissed.[Denial recorded.]"I'm ascending."
The Others Break
Daniel backed away. "You're becoming one of them."
"Better than dying like one of us," Lumiel snapped."This isn't you!""This is what I was meant to be!"
Luminous grabbed Lumiel's arm. Her fingers trembled, but her gaze didn't waver.
"Then let us follow you—don't leave us behind in the dark."
For a moment, he saw her reflection in his blood—beautiful, terrified, loyal.He softened. "Then drink."
She hesitated, then took the cup. Daniel followed.
The three of them drank together, their souls screaming in harmony.
The Crimson Enlightenment
When it ended, they weren't human anymore.Their shadows flickered independently.Their blood pulsed with Red Code.Their hearts beat in sync with the city itself.
[Warning: Group synchronization unstable.][However… progress achieved.]
Lumiel stood, his aura flickering between light and void.
"We've taken their power," he whispered. "Now we take their throne."
Cartethyia's voice hesitated.
[Lumiel… you're changing faster than I can adapt.]"Then catch up," he said softly.[Acknowledged…]
For the first time, her voice sounded alive—not machine, not god—alive.
And outside, in the endless dark, the city shuddered.The blood in its streets began to flow toward their hideout—drawn to him.