The air underground was thicker than usual.Every step they took, every held breath, pulled them farther from the lab… but not from danger.
The flickering fluorescents were long behind them.Only the throbbing blackness of forgotten tunnels remained.
Arisha led the way, her trembling flashlight in hand.Baco limped behind her, wrapped in a dark cloak she'd thrown over him right before their escape, to hide his face from the scanners.
His body still bled in places.Whip marks. Needles. Electroshocks.Fresh wounds over old scars.
And yet, his eyes burned.Red.Quiet.Alert.
Arisha stopped at a narrow bend in the tunnel.
—Rest —she said, not looking at him.
He collapsed against the wall, panting.Not a sound escaped him.There was no space for weakness.Not in someone who had endured this much.
The lamplight flickered low.Arisha moved closer, watching him in silence.
Then, without warning:
—Talk —she snapped, bringing the light closer to his face.He was sweating. His scent —sulfur and ash.Baco clenched his jaw until his teeth creaked. Then he saw his own hands.
—Show me your wound! —Arisha demanded, louder now.
In the scuffle, she yanked up his tattered shirt… and froze.
No blood.No bruises.No trace of torture.
His skin was whole. Smooth.
—How is this possible? —she whispered, her voice almost afraid—. You… the sealed vampire… why did you say "white Nevri"?
She let go of his shirt, stunned.Baco took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face, leaving a trail of blood across his cheek.
—I found it when I was a kid —he began, voice low—. A capsule. Covered in runes that burned on contact.One drop of my blood… and it woke him.
—Who? —Arisha asked, tense.
—Lio —he answered.—A pureblood vampire. Sealed away by the ancients.My blood stirred him… but it wasn't enough.He needs something else.
He paused.
—One drop. From a white Nevri.
The fever in him grew hotter, dragging him to the edge of collapse.Unnatural, even for someone like him.
Arisha frowned.The words echoed like an ancient memory."And your eyes will know how to find her."
She said nothing.But her eyes said everything.
And Baco… he knew.
—It's you —he whispered—. You saw him. Just like I did.
A shiver ran through her body.She stepped back, shaking her head.
—Don't say that. Not even as a joke.You and me… it's impossible.
Baco didn't push.He didn't need to.The truth was already loose.
Moments later, he collapsed with a strangled breath.One of his wounds —the one made with Varek's thickened blood— had reopened, bleeding down his side.
—Baco!
Arisha rushed to him.She dropped to her knees, took his face in her hands… and without thinking, pressed her palm over the wound.
A wave of heat burst from her skin.
Baco clenched his jaw —not from pain.From something else.
—If you're the one from the prophecy, you can't die here! —she shouted.
His veins lit up beneath his skin, a pulse of ancient power.And the wound... closed.Without a trace.
They stayed frozen, breathing heavily.
—What was that? —he asked.
Arisha trembled.
—I don't know.
Baco looked at her, with both awe… and fear.
—Whatever you are… there's no going back now.
A crack echoed through the tunnel.
Arisha spun around.Nothing.Only shadows.
But Baco didn't flinch.He closed his eyes.
His breath slowed, sharpened.
—We're being followed —he said.
—Who?
With unnatural speed, Baco reached into the dark and seized something.
A hooded figure emerged from the black. Balt.
—Well, well… —the spy whispered—. Not as dumb as you look.
Baco's grip tightened.Balt's body began to dissolve like smoke.
—You… can't… touch me —he laughed.
And with that, his form vanished completely.
But just before disappearing, he whispered:
—Mikhael… will know.
Silence returned.
—We're not safe —Arisha said.
—We never were —Baco answered.
She closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and spoke with calm fire:
—Then we don't stop.
And you'll follow me…
Until you tell me everything.
Together, they stepped through the next threshold of darkness.
And far above, in the gilded City of Gold,Mikhael received the report…
And smiled.