Chapter 3
1872 Words
Chapter Three – Blood Makes Monsters
Carter’s P.O.V.
Pain was honest.
It never lied.
It never pretended things would get better.
Every morning it greeted me before I opened my eyes, settling into my bones like an old friend I never wanted.
The silver shackles carved deeper into my wrists as I shifted against the stone wall. The wounds had long since stopped bleeding normally. They hissed, smoked, and refused to heal completely beneath the silver etched into the chains.
The cell was quiet.
Too quiet.
I counted the cracks in the ceiling.
The drips of water echoing through the corridor.
The breaths between my heartbeat.
Anything to keep my mind away from memories.
Because memories were worse than pain.
The iron door groaned open.
Charlie stepped inside carrying a small wooden bowl.
“You look terrible.”
I laughed dryly.
“I was hoping for flowers.”
“They would’ve died in here.”
She set the bowl on the floor just beyond my reach.
The scent hit me immediately.
Blood.
Fresh.
Warm.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“I’m not drinking that.”
“You are.”
“I’d rather choke.”
Charlie sighed.
“I know.”
She crouched beside the bowl.
“But your body doesn’t agree.”
“My body can go to hell.”
“It already has.”
Silence stretched between us.
My wolf clawed at the back of my mind.
Hungry.
Weak.
Desperate.
I hated him for it.
I hated myself even more.
Charlie nudged the bowl closer.
“You know why hybrids heal faster than wolves?”
“I don’t care.”
“Because your father made sure they would.”
That got my attention.
“My father didn’t make hybrids.”
Charlie looked at me with something dangerously close to pity.
“No?”
She tilted her head.
“Then whose blood do you think was used?”
The room felt smaller.
“What are you talking about?”
She didn’t answer.
Instead, she picked up the bowl.
“Drink.”
I stared at it.
“I said no.”
“You can refuse.”
Her voice remained calm.
“But you’ll be too weak to survive whatever Navarro has planned today.”
I hated that she was right.
Slowly…
I reached for the bowl.
The first swallow burned.
The second…
My body welcomed.
The warmth spread through my veins before my mind could reject it.
Cuts began knitting together.
Bruises faded.
My breathing steadied.
I slammed the empty bowl onto the floor.
“What was that?”
Charlie met my eyes.
“Human blood.”
My stomach lurched.
I doubled over.
“No…”
The word barely escaped.
“No…”
Charlie looked away.
“I told him not to do it like this.”
“You knew?”
“I know a lot of things.”
The door opened.
Navarro entered carrying a thick leather folder beneath one arm.
Unlike yesterday…
He wasn’t smiling.
He looked pleased.
“Excellent.”
He glanced toward the empty bowl.
“His body still accepts it.”
I glared at him.
“I’m not your damn experiment.”
Navarro chuckled.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You’re the original.”
Every instinct inside me screamed.
“What does that mean?”
He ignored the question.
Instead, he opened the folder and spread several aged documents across a nearby table.
Photographs.
Medical notes.
Drawings.
Vials.
Blood samples.
He handled them with almost reverent care.
“Your father was brilliant.”
“My father was a monster.”
Navarro looked up.
Finally…
Something we agreed on.
“Yes.”
The word caught me off guard.
“He was.”
Silence filled the room.
“You don’t have to convince me.”
Navarro picked up one of the old reports.
“Dorian Lykoudis wasn’t raising a son.”
He turned the page.
“He was creating a weapon.”
My heartbeat slowed.
“He told you hybrids were the future.”
“He lied.”
“He told you every sacrifice mattered.”
“He lied.”
“He told hundreds of children they were chosen.”
“He lied.”
My breathing grew uneven.
“You don’t know anything.”
Navarro’s expression hardened.
“I know exactly how many children died trying to become what you already were.”
The room spun.
“No…”
He slid one photograph across the table.
A laboratory.
Metal tables.
Children.
Some younger than ten.
Others barely teenagers.
Tubes.
Chains.
Blood.
At the center…
A younger version of me.
Unconscious.
My arms covered in needles.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Where…”
My voice cracked.
“Where did you get that?”
“Dorian kept records.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“I don’t remember this.”
“No.”
Navarro said quietly.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
My chest tightened.
“He sedated you.”
Another photograph.
Blood being drawn.
Again.
And again.
And again.
“Dorian discovered something extraordinary.”
Navarro folded his hands behind his back.
“Your blood adapted.”
“It accepted foreign DNA.”
“It healed faster after every extraction.”
“He realized your blood could stabilize hybrid transformations.”
I stared at him.
Unable to speak.
“So…”
Navarro continued.
“…he harvested it.”
Every word hit harder than the last.
“For years.”
My hands began shaking.
“He wasn’t building an army.”
“He was building it…”
“…with you.”
Charlie watched me carefully.
Not because she enjoyed my pain.
Because she knew exactly when the truth became too much.
I remembered waking exhausted.
Bruises I couldn’t explain.
The smell of antiseptic.
Doctors.
Needles.
Dorian telling me…
“You’re helping our people.”
I had believed him.
Moon Goddess…
I had believed every word.
Navarro stepped closer.
“Tell me, Carter.”
His voice was almost gentle.
“If a man drains his own son’s blood…”
“…is he still a father?”
The chains rattled violently.
My wolf exploded against the walls of my mind.
A roar ripped from my chest before I could stop it.
Every torch in the corridor flickered.
The iron bars trembled.
Charlie took an instinctive step backward.
Navarro didn’t move.
Instead…
He smiled.
Not because he enjoyed my suffering.
Because he’d finally broken something.
Not my body.
My certainty.
I had spent my entire life trying to prove I wasn’t my father.
Now…
I had to face something even worse.
I had never been his son to begin with.
I had only ever been his experiment.
The cell was silent again.
Too silent.
I stared at the photographs scattered across the stone floor.
A boy.
Needles in his arms.
Blood flowing into glass containers.
A face I recognized.
Mine.
My stomach twisted.
Fragments of memories clawed their way to the surface.
White lights.
Cold tables.
The smell of antiseptic.
Voices.
“Hold him down.”
“He’s coding.”
“Increase the dosage.”
Then…
Dorian.
Standing over me.
Not with fear.
Not with concern.
With disappointment.
“Again.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“No…”
The word barely escaped my lips.
“I remember…”
My breathing became uneven.
Not everything.
Just enough.
Enough to know Navarro hadn’t lied.
The bastard had enjoyed telling me…
But he hadn’t lied.
The iron door creaked open again.
Charlie stepped inside carrying fresh bandages.
She stopped when she saw the photographs lying around me.
“So…”
she sighed.
“He showed you.”
I didn’t answer.
She knelt beside one of the photographs, carefully turning it face down.
“You shouldn’t look at those too long.”
My laugh was hollow.
“Afraid I’ll remember?”
“I’m afraid you’ll stop sleeping.”
“I already have.”
She reached toward my wrist.
I jerked away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m changing your bandages.”
“I said don’t.”
For the first time…
Charlie looked angry.
“Fine.”
She tossed the clean cloth onto the floor.
“Bleed.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know.”
She leaned against the opposite wall.
“But someone does.”
I looked at her.
“Navarro?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Silence.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
“I’ve worked for men like Dorian.”
Her voice was quieter now.
“They all say the same thing.”
“It’s for the future.”
“It’s for our people.”
“One life saves thousands.”
She looked up at me.
“They never volunteer themselves.”
I studied her.
For the first time…
She didn’t look like Navarro’s ally.
She looked tired.
Older somehow.
“What are you?”
I asked.
She smiled faintly.
“A woman who chose survival.”
“No.”
I held her gaze.
“What are you?”
After a long pause, she answered.
“My mother was a witch.”
“My father…”
She laughed once.
“…was one of Dorian’s failures.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He tried to make my father into a hybrid.”
My blood ran cold.
“He survived.”
Another pause.
“But he was never whole again.”
The room seemed to shrink around us.
“Dorian didn’t stop with me.”
Charlie looked away.
“You were the success.”
“The others…”
She swallowed.
“…were lessons.”
I closed my eyes.
Moon Goddess…
How many?
How many children?
How many families?
How many graves?
The weight of it settled over me until I could barely breathe.
Charlie quietly picked up the scattered photographs and slipped them back into the folder Navarro had left behind.
She hesitated over the last one.
It showed me no older than eight.
Sleeping.
A tube running from my arm.
She stared at it for several seconds before sliding it into the folder.
“You know what scares me?”
she whispered.
I didn’t answer.
She continued anyway.
“You still don’t hate him enough.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“You keep calling him your father.”
The words struck harder than any punch.
Charlie stepped closer.
“If a man raises cattle for slaughter…”
“…the cattle don’t owe him loyalty.”
She placed fresh bandages beside me.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
As she reached the door, I spoke.
“Charlie.”
She stopped.
Without turning around, she waited.
“Why are you helping me?”
The silence stretched so long I thought she wasn’t going to answer.
Finally…
Her voice came, barely above a whisper.
“I’m trying to decide if saving you…”
“…will damn us all.”
The door shut behind her.
I was alone again.
My wrists burned.
My wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin.
For the first time since my capture…
Escape wasn’t the only thing on my mind.
If Dorian had built an army with my blood…
How many of those hybrids were still alive?
And if they were…
Would they see me as their enemy…
Or their brother?
- Writer
