Page 6 of Becoming D'Vaire
“I did.”
Her brow creased in confusion. “What?”
Grigori took the paper from her hand and waved it. “This is a formula for synthetic blood. Well, almost synthetic blood. It takes some real blood but basically, I figured out how to multiply the cells to make massive quantities. I think with some tweaking, I can reduce the amount of blood needed or figure out how to make it really synthetic, but this should work for now.”
“Grigori.”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Synthetic blood?”
“See, Irina? He’s not wasting one damn minute in that lab of his,” Alexei said.
Irina rose from her chair and tugged Grigori into her arms. He patted her back awkwardly.
“You okay, Mom? You aren’t going to cry again, are you?”
“You’re fourteen years old. How did you figure out how to make synthetic blood?” she asked as she tried her best to contain her emotions. While she was worrying over his welfare, he’d been devoting his time, helping to save their people, working to give them better access to the one thing they could not live without.
Grigori pulled out of her embrace and cocked his head to the side. “You really want me to go into how I discovered my formula? Because when I talk about math and science, you get this real weird look on your face.”
Irina smoothed a chunk of dark hair off his forehead. “You need a haircut, and that’s because you’re way smarter than me.”
“Yeah, right. You’ve ruled the Vampyr Clutch for thousands of years.”
“That just makes me old.”
“Can I give my formula to Nikolai? Umpyr could mass-produce it,” Grigori asked. Her eldest son’s company—one he’d founded at the age of eighteen—was a massive conglomerate of different businesses. Nikolai had used Grigori’s formulas before to produce flavor additives vampires could use to enhance blood, but she imagined her oldest son would be ecstatic to create something that would literally change the way her people lived. Somehow the genius she gave birth to fourteen years ago had accomplished the impossible, and Irina could barely wrap her head around it.
“In the morning, okay?”
“Think he’ll be excited?” Grigori asked.
“Nikolai’s going to be ecstatic,” Alexei assured him. “I know I am. I’m so proud of you.”
“Me too. I don’t even know what to say to you, Grigori. This is an incredible gift you’ve given to vampires.”
“I want Nikolai’s scientists to test it and make sure it’s right.”
“You haven’t given them any duds yet, but I’m sure your brother will make sure it’s thoroughly tested,” Alexei said. “Irina, are you still concerned about our son’s time in the lab?”
Grigori rolled his eyes. “Mom, we’ve talked about this before. I love my lab. I like science. I’m happy making formulas and shit.”
“Watch your mouth, mister, and it’s just that I want you to enjoy being a teenager. Flirting with girls and all of that.”
“I’m gay,” Grigori answered in a bored tone.
Irina laughed. “Leave it to you to throw it out there without any fanfare.”
“Nikolai’s gay, so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to you guys,” Grigori said with a nonchalant shrug.
“It’s not, Grigori. It’s the kind of thing we like to know as your parents. You know, so your mother doesn’t start inviting girls into your lab, so you’ll have a social life.”
“Mom.”
“I wasn’t going to invite anyone into your lab. Relax.”
“I’m not like the other kids. Besides they’re all older than me.”
