y swallowed the skyline. The roads were narrow, slick with recent rain, and the

gaze fixed on the lights streaking past the window. Every reflection of the wet

ice was barely above a whisper

ring wheel. If he isn't, someone's

his file? she m

ing its structure. My mother's been attending board meetings in secret. The est

awns on the boar

enched, but he

l Research, a sprawling building that loomed at the edge of the river, its façade cracked and ivy-choked. A

d. "Are you s

is the place. Lang's name was tied t

ed of damp paper and chemicals long evaporated. Their footst

e run the institute. But someone had taken a knife to their faces

o this? Ele

Damian murmured. Just lik

ights flickered, bathing the walls in a faint red pulse.

ken glass littered the floor. In the center stood a single pedestal, its displ

a fr

as the one she'd been restoring at Blackst

an in it wa

dark hair pulled back, her gaze hauntingly alive. But

Victor

th caught. H

t have. My father was obsessed with immortal

to him. T

d the frame. Lo

t codes etched into the pigment sequences of letters and numbers. It w

trait, she whisp

? Damia

roject Heirlo

allery. Both turned sharply, flashl

, a shadow darted b

mian called out,

ans

y behind, but she shook her

rembling as it swept across peeling walls and toppled easels. The

g called out from the darknes

roze. "D

under the flicker of emergency red. His once-white lab coat was stain

e come here," he r

otion cracking her voice.

a heartbeat, he didn't breathe

ightened. Y

ur mother begged me to save you. I smu

red, stunn

cceeded twins, both viable, he panicked. He wanted only one heir. The 'perfect' one. I hi

egs weaken. She

lf the next day. Guilt. Grief. I don't k

nto her palm. "Project Heirloom wasn't just about genetics. It

furrowed. Yo

l with bio-engineered code. He wanted to breed intel

m, horror dawning.

ted most and what he feared most. Two sides of

e, the gallery's main light

. "No, no, th

rough the loudspeak

lo, my children. Ele

Damian w

ingly composed. You didn't think I'd let you

pounded. You w

ng up Victor's mess for twenty years. And

d. She's activated the fail-

afes? Damia

s wired with autoclave sterilization protoc

vents above began releasing thin str

Lang s

sliding on shattered glass, alarms wailing. The air grew acrid,

urned.

he gallery under the manor! The originals are His words broke into a s

on's force threw them backward. Elena

eared, the entire

all. They burst through the main doors just as the windows

lowed them again-sirens

ping. The flash drive was still clutched in

ing through soot on her chee

en whatever's on that drive, whatever he risked ev

lected in the river like a second sun. Elena watched it co

de her. He said there was

y. And that's wher

ginals

d him, her voice

as heavier than the smoke t

ckles were white on the steering wheel, his jaw set, but there wa

softly, that maybe some secr

almost broken. We crossed that li

smoldered. Ahead, Blackstone waited in its portrait gallery,

g ancient stirred, awakened its heartbeat pulsing faintly in th