Chapter 83: A precious friendship is coming to an end.
Serafall sat beside the bed, her body leaning slightly forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she silently observed Natasha’s pale face.
The constant sound of the purification machine filled the room with a low, continuous hum, almost irritating after a few minutes, but still necessary.
The mask covering her face filtered the air precisely, releasing small, controlled bursts with each breath, as if even the most basic act of living now needed to be diated by sothing external. There was no movent beyond that. No reaction. No response. Only that chanical rhythm that kept her body functioning while the rest slowly failed.
The illness wasn’t simple. It never was. It started as sothing treatable, a common lung infection, caused by known agents and which, under normal conditions, would have been resolved without great difficulty. But that wasn’t the case. The problem evolved. Adapted. Spread. Natasha’s lung tissue was being destroyed from the inside out, constantly inflad, unable to regenerate at the necessary speed.
Each passing day, her respiratory capacity diminished a little more.
Each day, her body grew weaker. It was a slow but constant deterioration, and the worst part wasn’t the pain or the limitation. It was the fact that there was no response. No treatnt was working.
Serafall didn’t say anything. She didn’t touch. She made no gesture other than observing. Her gaze was fixed, but not empty. There was tension there, controlled with effort, compressed under a layer of stability that was clearly unnatural.
Anyone else in that position would have shown so more visible reaction, so kind of despair or denial, but not her. Not there. Not at that mont. Because if she let it slip, even for a second, the result wouldn’t be just emotional.
The door to the dical wing opened with a soft, almost respectful sound, as if even the environnt understood that it wasn’t a place for abrupt noises. The steps that followed were firm but controlled, approaching without haste. Serafall didn’t turn her face imdiately. She already knew who it was. Charlotte Grey entered the room with a tablet in hand, her eyes quickly scanning the data as she walked to the opposite side of the bed. She wasn’t wearing a traditional military uniform, but there was still an authority in the way she moved.
She wasn’t a Valentine, and that alone placed her in a different position within that environnt, but her presence there was unquestioned. She was responsible for the research, the analysis, the attempt to find a solution.
She stopped beside the bed and looked directly at Natasha for a few seconds, analyzing her vital signs, her assisted breathing, her skin color. Nothing had changed significantly since the last assessnt. And that, in this case, was not good news.
"You’re not like this," Charlotte said, breaking the silence without raising her voice. The sentence was direct, unprepared, like soone who no longer saw the point in beating around the bush. "So stop pretending everything is under control."
Serafall didn’t respond imdiately. Her gaze remained fixed on Natasha for a few more seconds before finally shifting, slightly glancing at Charlotte.
"If I don’t hold back," she replied, her voice low but firm, "I’ll release an aura that will probably kill half the vampires in the capital."
Charlotte didn’t argue. There was no attempt to deny or soften it. She simply nodded slightly, as if accepting the fact as part of the context.
"Fair enough," she said simply.
Silence returned for a mont, but this ti it wasn’t comfortable. Charlotte continued watching Natasha, her fingers gliding across the tablet as she reviewed once more the data she already knew by heart.
"The situation hasn’t changed," she continued, now in a more technical tone. "The inflammation continues to advance. The tissues aren’t responding to any of the regenerative treatnts. And the contamination..." she paused briefly, as if choosing her words carefully, "...can no longer be isolated."
Serafall listened to everything without interrupting.
Charlotte then turned her face toward her.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, without softening the question.
Serafall shrugged slightly. It didn’t seem like disinterest. It seed... a decision already made.
"In the end," she said, "I just need to find a way to cure her."
Charlotte kept her gaze steady.
"And how do you intend to do that?"
Serafall tilted her head slightly.
"If necessary, I’ll go to Jianshu," she replied. "And if that’s the case... I’ll kidnap the Divine Doctor."
There was no irony in her words. Nor exaggeration. She said it as if describing a viable option within a larger plan.
Charlotte didn’t react with shock.
But she didn’t agree either.
"Even if you find him," she said calmly, "that doesn’t guarantee anything."
Serafall didn’t respond.
Charlotte continued.
"And that’s assuming he’s still accessible," she added. "The Divine Doctor has been missing for over two hundred years. Since he saved the king of Ingracia... no one has had real confirmation of his location."
Serafall looked away for a second, but didn’t comnt.
Charlotte took a deep breath before continuing, now in a more serious tone.
"Natasha’s problem isn’t just the infection," she said. "That was the beginning. What she has now... is sothing else." Serafall looked back.
Charlotte continued.
"She contracted this after fighting that hybrid," she explained. "What entered her system wasn’t just bacteria or a virus. It was... sothing mixed. Possibly a type of altered biological poison."
She paused briefly.
"And now it’s spread too far. It’s already integrated into her body."
Serafall fell silent.
Charlotte then concluded:
"As it is... there’s no reversibility with the thods we know."
The weight of the sentence hung in the air for a few seconds.
But Charlotte wasn’t finished yet.
"The only theoretical possibility," she continued, "would be to neutralize it with blood that can rewrite her system before the collapse is complete."
Serafall narrowed her eyes slightly.
"What kind of blood?" she asked.
Charlotte answered without hesitation.
"RH Null."
Silence followed imdiately.
This ti, different. Heavier.
More specific.
Serafall didn’t react imdiately. Her body remained still for a second too long, as if her brain had locked onto the information before fully processing it.
"...RH Null?" she repeated, more quietly.
Charlotte nodded.
"It’s extrely rare," she explained. "But it has adaptive and regenerative properties far above normal. In theory... it could neutralize what’s attacking her."
Serafall blinked once.
Slowly.
"...Like..." she began, still processing, "my son?"
Charlotte stopped.
The movent was minimal, but perceptible.
Her gaze shifted from Natasha and returned completely to Serafall, now with a different expression.
"...You have RH Null?" she asked, this ti without hiding her surprise.
Reviews
All reviews (0)