Page 20 of Bitten By Chaos

“Quite the contrary,” Elsa said with the kind of cool smile that sent shivers down my spine. “It would seem the younger Dr. Devaux has the upper hand in this situation.”

I choked on the sip of water I’d just taken, and Julian squeezed my knee in response. “Me?” I squeaked.

Elsa flashed a look of pity my way, and I wasn’t sure how to take that. “We knew they were after you because of your psychic powers, and your father has confirmed that he indeed mutated your genes to increase your abilities as a child.”

“Charlotte is a vampire now, so it is a moot point.” Julian’s spine went so rigid, I was afraid he might snap in half.

“We…believe that is not the full story,” Elsa said gently.

Don’t do anything rash. It was my turn to caution Julian despite my own body going stiff and cold. “How so?” I asked out loud, trying not to watch the queen’s reaction but failing to avoid the hungry interest on her face.

“It’s the research I’ve been doing.” My father rose and cleared his throat, all eyes on him.

The world spun. Only Julian’s hand kept me from falling from the chair. I should have kept a closer eye on my father instead of avoiding him. What had he done now?

Perhaps it isn’t as bad as we suspect, Julian offered.

“My genetic research has been funded by many through the years,” Dad continued, gesturing emphatically with his hands now that he had everyone’s attention. “And those that have competed with me,” he glanced pointedly at Julian, “have made no secret of what they were truly searching for. We all wanted to find a way to enhance supe abilities—to take the best qualities of each type and combine them into the perfect being.”

That wasn’t Julian’s purpose at all. He’d only ever gotten involved in psychic research because of me, his mate. My father on the other hand? He’d made it quite clear what his motivations were, and they coincided far more with those like MorningStar and SHADE, who were both willing to do anything that suited them to gain power.

Watching my father’s eyes lit from within, the almost manic way he moved as he spoke, I wondered how I’d ever been so blind to what he really was. Maybe some part of him loved his family, but that part didn’t hold a candle to his obsession with genetic manipulation. A mountain sized lump formed in my throat as he continued, beginning to pace back and forth behind Elsa, who merely watched everyone else’s reaction with interest.

“Sure, we all had different methods, and different reasons, but the desire was the same. And the demons, or gods as they introduced themselves to me, had the most pressing reason of all. They wanted freedom from the longtime war between themselves and the fae, who were the only race capable of decimating them.”

The queen snorted again, not bothering to cover it. “They’ve been a thorn in our roses for centuries. We’ve constantly had to prevent them from destroying an abundance of worlds and upsetting the balance of the universe.”

“Regardless of the true intentions, the demons perceived you as a nuisance,” Elsa said calmly. “We must understand their motives in order to take them down. Please continue, doctor.”

“The demon DNA has been by far the most promising outcome of all such research.” Dad’s blazing eyes fell on me with a too-wide smile that beamed with pride. It turned my stomach because it wasn’t that I was his offspring. It was that I was his most successful experiment.

I looked away.

“Recently, thanks to my daughter, I have come to see that working with Elsa was what I should have done all along instead of running from her. It was with Elsa’s support and a place where I can finally focus on my own ideas without fear for my life or my benefactor’s own priorities influencing it that I have finally been able to unlock the complexity of supe genetics. What we’ve found is that not only is blood the key—it is the catalyst. It’s why vampires who were once psychic can drink from others and absorb some of their abilities for a short amount of time. When there is even a hint of demon DNA in the blood, the power in a psychic victim’s blood absorbs into the system. My theory is the original psychics were born of demons mixing with witches ages ago, which leaves today’s average psychics with miniscule amounts of demon DNA. Unfortunately for the ones that become vampires, they lose the blood injested quickly, and the power doesn’t last.”

Silas had done that for centuries, slowly draining psychics to retain his powers. It was why he’d tried to find a way to turn me while keeping my abilities so he could take from me daily to steal them. I shuddered, and beside me, Julian clenched his jaw.

“With this knowledge,” Dad continued, “and the help of my assistant, I was able to create a serum that temporarily brings a vampire’s system back to life long enough to absorb higher amounts of demon DNA and retain their abilities, and…” He paused for dramatic effect as my stomach bottomed out. “Other supe’s abilities as well if they are drained completely after absorbing the initial demon DNA.”

Silence rang as my father finished with a hand held high in triumph.

He’d found a way to give vampires enormous power—the kind the demons were searching for. He made Silas’ dream come true posthumously. But one bit of information was worse than any of the rest of his speech. The assistant that helped him had to have been Lydia. And bringing the vampire’s system back to life, I didn’t want to believe it, but it made too much sense. My cure for vampirism was created mostly with Lydia’s help. She’d used that information, whether purposely or not—which I hoped to be the case with all my heart—to help my father do this twisted thing. He’d stolen my research.

“You’ve made it possible for vampires to do what the demons have been trying to accomplish?” the fae queen asked. Her anger was apparent by the loosening of her glamour and the way her fingers had turned into the long twigs of her real body as she clutched her crystal glass, now empty.

“Not yet,” my father answered, still flushed with fervor and the blood of whomever his last meal was. “You see, the demons were missing an ingredient despite having been working on this for so long. I asked myself what ingredient would these incredible beings never have contemplated?” He moved around to the other side of the table.

“Through the program at SHADE’s base, they’d experimented with all form of supes and combining DNA’s.” The cold tone he used to speak of the monstrous way they’d kept Em and the other children had me bending a fork in half with one hand. “But they were missing one type among the shifters and witches. Their enemy.”

My father’s scribbled note flashed through my mind. Fae blood. The demons’ enemy.

All heads turned toward the queen, who backed away from the table immediately.

“You are saying that if you add fae blood to the mix, you’ll create the perfect creature.” Merl voiced with amusement what we’d all realized.

“Only because we’re already perfect,” the queen huffed. “And I will not be sacrificing any of my kind to add to the power of vampires.”

“We wouldn’t dream of asking you to do so,” Elsa said. “But of course, knowing that Charlotte here became a vampire with ample demon DNA already in her system means it’s quite likely that she retained her abilities when turned. Only she and one other who has taken the serum Dr. Devaux created have these excess abilities. I’ve instructed the good doctor to withhold the serum from anyone else until and unless approved by the vampire council. We must be careful with such power.”

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