Chapter 91: Something Older!

  The air inside the dimly lit penthouse was thick with unspoken tension. The battle had not yet begun, but it was already being waged—through words, through silence, through the weight of choices left hanging in the air. The flickering city lights below cast long shadows across the walls, stretching over the figures standing near one side of the room.

  Lawrence, Kadir, and Harvey stood close together, their postures tense, their expressions unreadable as they communicated through The Pulse. A short distance away, Sia lingered just outside their conversation, silent but watchful.

  Across from them, Conrad lounged in his armchair, utterly at ease, one leg crossed over the other. Elijah leaned against the table beside him, arms folded, his gaze flicking between them with lazy amusement. And Kyon… he stood apart, near the glass wall, staring out at the city, his thoughts lost somewhere none of them could reach..

  Lawrence exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. His head ached, but not from exhaustion. No, this was the kind of frustration that came from waiting too long for a moment that should have already arrived. He tapped his fingers against the table, the soft thud-thud-thud of his calloused hands against the wood the only outward sign of his impatience.

  "The kid’s been awfully quiet." His voice carried through The Pulse, but there was no echo, no need for spoken words. The connection was clear, flowing seamlessly between the three of them.

  Kadir leaned back, his ancient eyes half-lidded but sharp, catching every twitch of movement. "Well, he is still a child, unsure of what he needs to do with his life. And the options before him aren’t exactly favorable."

  Harvey gave a slow nod, his fingers steepled before him, ever the tactician, ever the cautious observer. "It's the same for all children who awaken Flux. They know a normal life isn’t possible anymore. But Kyon’s situation is... different. Life isn’t going to give him the chance to ignore his destiny. He has to decide for himself."

  Lawrence scowled, shifting in his seat. "And at a critical juncture like this, we’re just supposed to sit back and let him figure it out?"

  Harvey’s gaze remained steady. "We can’t push him."

  The words were simple, but the weight behind them settled deep in Lawrence’s chest. He wasn’t a man used to standing still, especially not when there was a threat looming.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  "If it weren’t for all this damn politics," Lawrence muttered, "we should’ve just put this bloodsucker in the ground like any other leech we’ve hunted for years."

  Kadir sighed, folding his arms over his chest. "You are as impatient as ever, Lawrence." His tone was not unkind, but neither was it gentle. "It isn’t just about fighting an enemy. It’s about ensuring that we survive."

  Lawrence’s jaw tensed. He hated hearing that, hated the fact that they had to consider more than just victory. But Kadir was right.

  "You’ve never fought a PureBlood before," Kadir continued, his voice carrying an eerie calm. "And even if we put aside what Kyon must decide, we still know next to nothing about Conrad."

  Harvey frowned slightly, his gaze shifting toward the penthouse’s glass wall. “He introduced himself as Conrad Williams, but that could easily be an alias. Although his reputation is very real. The problem is, we don’t know which house he truly belongs to. That secrecy isn’t an accident.”

  “It’s well known that some PureBloods don’t use their true family names, even among their own kind. Low-level vampires wouldn’t know unless they were told, and only those in the upper echelon are ever truly ‘in the know.’ Their blood is rare, their numbers are low, and centuries of infighting and being hunted—by both humans and their own kind—have made them secretive. If we don’t know his true lineage, we have no way of predicting which house would retaliate if we take him down.”

  The weight of those words settled among them. The Sanguin Antiquus council had rules—laws that dictated the balance between vampires and humanity. But if Conrad truly belonged to one of the elder houses, his death would not be the end. It would be the beginning of something far worse.

  Lawrence exhaled through his nose. "Humans outnumber vampires, but Flux Users? We’re even rarer."

  "And not even all Flux Users awaken to its potential," Kadir reminded him. "Having just one aspect of it is already an advantage. But to use all three?" He shook his head. "That is a rarity beyond measure."

  A moment of silence passed between them. They all knew who Kadir was referring to.

  Kyon.

  Harvey adjusted his posture. "And yet, PureBloods are very hard to put down. Even with numbers, it’s not always enough. You know as well as I do—"

  "They have the strength of a thousand men," Lawrence finished, his voice edged with frustration.

  They had seen it before. Human armies had failed against them. Even those who wielded Flux had been overwhelmed in the past.

  "We have Flux," Lawrence argued, though his tone lacked its usual certainty. "That evens the battlefield."

  Kadir glanced at him. "In a direct confrontation? Perhaps. But in a war of attrition?" He let the question hang between them. "Even you, Lawrence, will run out of mental energy. Even you, strong as you are, have a limit."

  Lawrence clenched his fists. He knew Kadir was right.

  The room fell into a hushed stillness, only the faint hum of the city beyond the glass serving as background noise.

  Then, Lawrence broke the silence again. "If awakening all three aspects of Flux is so rare, why aren’t we fighting to protect Kyon?" He turned his gaze toward Kadir and Harvey, his eyes dark with something close to accusation. "Is it because of his other identity?"

  Harvey finally looked directly at him. There was no hesitation in his answer.

  "Yes."

  The word carried more weight than it should have, sending a ripple through The Pulse, making the frequencies shift ever so slightly.

  "Kyon isn’t just human now," Harvey elaborated. "He is half-vampire. And while his Flux masks it, he exhibits some of their abilities. Even those not well attuned to EchoFlux could sense the way his mental energy moves—it mimics them."

  Lawrence’s breath hitched for a fraction of a second.

  "His aura," Kadir added, "carries an energy similar to theirs."

  Harvey’s voice was steady, but the underlying truth was unsettling. "They have a claim to him, too."

  The words they have a claim to him sank into Lawrence like a heavy stone.

  "Even if his fangs have never tasted the blood of an innocent?" Lawrence challenged.

  Harvey hesitated for the first time.

  Kadir, however, did not. His gaze, sharp and thoughtful, shifted to the glass wall of the penthouse, where Conrad stood, watching.

  "Or the blood of something older?"