The sound that followed was not a roar, but a wet, rattling hiss.
Cattleya spun around, her lantern flickering violently. Emerging from the shadows behind her father, a creature detached itself from the gloom”a former ward patient she had treated only three nights ago. The man’s eyes were glassy, his movements jerky and wrong, his veins pulsing with an unnatural, luminescent violet fluid.
He had been the "anomaly" she had failed to stabilize. He hadn't died; he had been repurposed.
"He is quite hungry, Cattleya," Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly calm. He didn't look at the creature; his gaze remained fixed on his daughter. "You always had a penchant for 'fixing' things that were broken. Let us see if you can fix him now that he is truly beyond saving."
Dominic stepped back, the hea
