Chapter 13: Lily Wakes Up
The mark on Lily's wrist burned.
Not like a cut.
Not like a bruise.
It felt as though something beneath her skin had suddenly come alive.
She dropped to one knee.
“Lily!”
Victor rushed toward the vault.
But before he could reach her, every light in the chamber exploded.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then came a sound.
A heartbeat.
Slow.
Deep.
Not Lily's.
Ethan's.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The baby stared at Lily.
His tiny hand lifted.
The black crescent beneath his wrist glowed.
Lily stared back.
And suddenly she heard a voice inside her head.
Open the door.
She gasped.
“Who are you?”
Nobody answered.
The voice came again.
Open the door.
Lily looked toward the massive steel wall.
There hadn't been a door there before.
Now there was.
A thin line appeared across the stone.
Then another.
The wall slowly separated.
Behind it was a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Victor stared.
“What the hell is that?”
Elena shook her head.
“I've never seen it.”
Lily stood.
The pain in her wrist disappeared.
She looked at Ethan.
Then at the staircase.
“I think I'm supposed to go down there.”
Victor immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“I have to.”
“Lily, no.”
She looked at him.
“Victor.”
His expression softened.
“You don't know what's down there.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because Ethan does.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
Lily looked at the baby.
“He's showing me.”
Victor stared at her.
“Showing you what?”
Lily whispered:
“The way.”
They descended together.
Victor first.
Lily behind him.
Ethan in her arms.
Elena followed.
Isabella and Adrian remained above with the others.
The staircase seemed endless.
The deeper they went, the colder the air became.
Finally, they reached a massive underground chamber.
Victor stopped.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Thousands of them.
Blackwood family members.
Crescent family members.
Children.
Executions.
Experiments.
Every generation had been documented.
Lily stared in horror.
“What is this?”
Victor walked toward the nearest wall.
His face changed.
He recognized himself.
A photograph of Victor at seventeen.
Standing beside Lily.
She was fourteen.
He was holding her hand.
Lily stared.
“I don't remember this.”
Victor touched the photograph.
“Neither do I.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Look at the date.”
Lily did.
Fourteen years earlier.
The same night Lily had supposedly first met Victor.
Victor stared.
“We knew each other.”
“Yes.”
“Why don't I remember?”
Elena answered:
“Because your grandfather erased both of you.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
A speaker crackled overhead.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
“Because you were becoming attached.”
Everyone froze.
The old Blackwood patriarch appeared on a screen.
He was no longer bleeding.
No wound.
No fear.
Just a smile.
Victor raised his gun toward the screen.
“You're dead.”
The old man laughed.
“Not yet.”
“You've been lying to us.”
“Of course.”
“Where are you?”
“You're standing in my laboratory.”
Victor looked around.
“You created all of this?”
“No.”
The old man smiled.
“Your mother did.”
Lily's mother stepped toward the screen.
“You stole it.”
“I perfected it.”
“You murdered my husband.”
“He failed.”
“You erased Lily.”
“I saved the program.”
“You destroyed Elena.”
“I improved her.”
Elena's face hardened.
“You turned me into a weapon.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were born to be one.”
Elena clenched her fists.
“And Lily?”
The old man smiled.
“She was born to destroy you.”
Lily froze.
“What?”
“Two sisters.”
“One weapon.”
“One key.”
“One heir.”
He laughed.
“The perfect system.”
Victor stepped forward.
“You're insane.”
“No.”
The old man looked at him.
“I'm a strategist.”
Victor's expression darkened.
“You're a murderer.”
“History is written by survivors.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Then let's change history.”
The screen went black.
Suddenly, alarms screamed.
Red lights flashed.
A mechanical voice announced:
GENETIC PURGE INITIATED.
Lily looked around.
“What does that mean?”
Elena's face turned white.
“It means the laboratory is going to destroy itself.”
Victor grabbed Lily's arm.
“Move.”
They ran.
Behind them, explosions began tearing through the lower levels.
The floor shook.
Glass shattered.
Files burned.
Lily held Ethan tightly.
“Where do we go?”
Victor pointed ahead.
“There!”
A steel door opened.
They rushed through.
The door slammed behind them.
A second later, an explosion rocked the corridor.
Victor grabbed Lily.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Ethan began crying.
Lily checked him.
He was unharmed.
Then she noticed something.
The black crescent on his wrist had disappeared.
“What happened?”
Elena stared.
“It's gone.”
Lily looked at her own wrist.
Her mark was gone too.
Victor frowned.
“Is that good?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the mark didn't disappear.”
She looked toward Ethan.
“It transferred.”
“To where?”
Elena slowly pointed toward Lily's chest.
Lily touched her heart.
A faint black light appeared beneath her skin.
She gasped.
“What is happening?”
Elena whispered:
“Ethan gave you the inheritance.”
Victor stared.
“What inheritance?”
“The Black Wolf.”
Silence.
Lily suddenly heard the voice again.
Find the first door.
She closed her eyes.
“What is the first door?”
Elena looked confused.
“What?”
Lily opened her eyes.
“I can hear something.”
Victor stepped closer.
“What?”
“A voice.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
Then Lily looked toward the wall.
“There.”
A small symbol appeared.
A crescent.
She pressed her hand against it.
The wall opened.
Behind it was a tiny room.
Inside sat an old wooden chair.
And on the chair was a tape recorder.
Lily picked it up.
There was a label.
FOR LILY.
Her hands trembled.
She pressed play.
Static.
Then a man's voice.
Her father's.
“Lily.”
She stopped breathing.
“If you're hearing this, I'm dead.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I need you to know something.”
A pause.
“You were never meant to be a weapon.”
Lily covered her mouth.
“You were meant to be free.”
Victor looked down.
The recording continued.
“Your grandfather will tell you that you were created to control Ethan.”
“He will lie.”
“Ethan is not your enemy.”
“He is your family.”
Lily cried silently.
Then her father's voice became urgent.
“There is one thing you must never let them discover.”
The recording crackled.
Victor leaned closer.
“What?”
Lily stared at the recorder.
Her father's voice returned.
“Ethan's real father isn't Adrian.”
Everyone froze.
Victor's eyes widened.
The recording continued.
“Adrian only raised him.”
Lily whispered:
“Then who is his father?”
The tape crackled.
“His father is…”
Static.
The recording stopped.
Lily stared at the recorder.
“No.”
She pressed play again.
Nothing.
Victor took it.
“There's more.”
He opened the battery compartment.
A tiny memory card was hidden inside.
He inserted it into his phone.
A video appeared.
Lily's father sat in a dark room.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, then the Black Wolf protocol has already activated.”
He leaned closer.
“There is only one person Ethan's father feared.”
Victor frowned.
“Who?”
The man said:
“Victor.”
Victor froze.
Lily's heart stopped.
Her father's voice continued:
“Not Victor Blackwood.”
A pause.
“His brother.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“Adrian?”
“No.”
The recording continued.
“The other brother.”
Everyone went silent.
Victor's face drained of color.
“There were three?”
The video showed an old photograph.
Three newborn boys.
Three Blackwood brothers.
Victor.
Adrian.
And a third baby.
The face had been scratched out.
Lily stared.
“Who is that?”
The recording continued.
“His name was never written in the Blackwood records.”
“He was called…”
The video glitched.
Then the name appeared.
CAIN.
Lily's blood ran cold.
Victor whispered:
“Cain.”
Then the screen suddenly displayed a live feed.
Ethan.
Again.
But this time he wasn't asleep.
He was standing.
A man was holding his hand.
The man's face slowly came into view.
Victor froze.
Adrian froze.
Isabella screamed.
“No!”
The man looked directly into the camera.
He had Victor's face.
Adrian's face.
But older.
Colder.
And on his neck was a black wolf tattoo.
Cain smiled.
Then he spoke.
“Hello, Victor.”
He lifted Ethan into his arms.
“You've been looking for me for fourteen months.”
Victor stepped toward the screen.
“Give him back.”
Cain laughed.
“Not until you remember what you did to me.”
The screen went black.
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Then one final sentence appeared:
THE THIRD BROTHER HAS RETURNED.
