The rain kept its rhythm against the car windows steady, relentless, almost like the world exhaling after holding its breath for too long.
Luca’s hand was still warm around Alessia’s as they sped down the misted road, headlights slicing through the dark.
Her phone rang for the second ti.
She ignored it. The sound felt almost sacrilegious after what they had survived.
But when the screen lit up, her breath hitched.
"SERAPHINA"....
Her pulse stuttered. She hadn’t heard that na in months—not since she went to get her stolen items in Seraphina’s empire and she iced them, using the power of the full moon.
"Answer it," Luca said quietly, eyes still on the road.
Alessia hesitated. "What if it’s a trap?"
Luca’s jaw tightened. "Then it’s one we will see coming."
She swiped the screen. "Seraphina?"
For a mont, there was only static. Then—her voice, soft and hoarse, laced with sothing Alessia had never heard from her before: fear. "Hello Alessia... I didn’t know who else to call."
Alessia’s grip tightened. "Seraphina, why did you called ?"
A weak laugh answered. "Alive, barely..... Don’t sound so surprised."
"Why are you calling ?" Alessia asked again.
"Because you are the only one who still believes in things like rcy."
Luca’s eyes flicked toward her, sharp, assessing. Alessia put the phone on speaker. "What do you want?"
Seraphina’s breathing ca in shallow bursts. "I need your help. I’m dying."
The words cut through the hum of the rain.
Luca’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "You expect us to care?"
"No," Seraphina rasped. "I expect her to understand."
"Understand what?" Alessia asked, voice low.
A long pause followed, broken only by the sound of thunder rolling in the distance. Then Seraphina said it—each word dragged through pain. "Lorenzo infected ." she finally spilled.
Luca slamd the brakes.
The car skidded to a stop on the empty road, tires hissing on wet asphalt.
"What?" Alessia whispered.
Seraphina’s voice cracked. "It was supposed to be punishnt. When I went to his den six months ago, I thought we could be a team. Instead... he wants to end . He called it his masterpiece—And only a witch nad Lapàtásodà Vàlká or you Alessia can help overco this. "
Alessia’s chest tightened. The na always sounded like it had been born from another world, cruel and sacred all at once. "The blood curse?"
"Not a curse, a creation," Seraphina murmured. "He made it in his lab from ancient blood and his own. It doesn’t kill instantly, It makes you relive your sins. Every day, Every hour, the body rots while the mind rembers."
Luca muttered sothing.. So strange words too dark for the air. "You are lying. Lorenzo isn’t that powerful."
Seraphina gave a bitter laugh that turned into a cough. "Dead n leave legacies. You should know, Luca. The virus doesn’t die with him. It spreads."
"Why call Alessia?" he snapped.
"Because she’s the key. She’s the only one who can find the cure aside finding the witch."
Alessia blinked. "?"
"You carry the blood that neutralized his first strain," Seraphina said. "Your trials—those rites you survived—they changed your blood. You bled for that na, Alessia. And now your blood might be the only thing that can stop his poison."
The rain grew heavier, drumming against the car like an approaching army.
Luca leaned forward. "Where are you?"
Silence... Then coordinates.
A coastal town two hours away.
"I can’t promise I’ll be alive when you arrive," Seraphina whispered. "The symptoms are worsening. I can feel it in my bones."
"Then tell us what you know now," Luca said.
"No. It’s not sothing I can say over the phone. He made sure of that. His toxin reacts to confession. You talk too much about it—you bleed from the lungs. Trust , I tried."
Alessia’s stomach turned. "Why would Lorenzo create sothing like that?"
"Because he wanted to live forever through suffering. And he wanted you, Alessia, to carry that legacy if he couldn’t, he want to be the master and winner of all the struggling for power."
Her throat tightened. "You think I’d continue his madness?"
"He thought you would have no choice."
A sound ca from the other end—tal scraping, maybe chains rattling. Then Seraphina’s voice, trembling now.
"Please... I don’t want to die this way. There’s sothing I need you to find. A file, he called it the ’Vàlká Codex.’ It holds the key to reversing this. It’s hidden in the ruins of his den beneath the old asylum in Sorella Province."
Alessia t Luca’s eyes. "That’s restricted territory."
"Then make it unrestricted," Seraphina hissed. "You’re a Morano. You have power now. Use it."
"Why should we help you?" Luca asked coldly.
"Because if this spreads," Seraphina said, "it won’t just be dying. The Morano bloodline will rot from within, it’s becoming contagious... He made sure of that."
Her voice weakened further, breaking into sobs she tried to suppress. "I know what I’ve done. The things I’ve destroyed. I don’t deserve forgiveness. But please, Alessia... I’m begging for rcy, not redemption."
The line crackled again. Alessia’s voice softened. "I will co for you."
"You always were the saint among sinners," Seraphina whispered. "Luca... keep her safe. There are people watching. You are not the only ones chasing the Codex."
The call cut off.
For a long mont, the only sound was the rain and the faint echo of thunder rolling toward them from the hills.
Luca rested his forehead against the steering wheel. "Lapàtásodà Vàlká," he muttered. "The sleeping curse of blood. I thought it was a myth."
Alessia looked out the window, the dark horizon stretching endless ahead. "Nothing about our world is myth anymore."
He turned to her. "You can’t go after her."
"She’s dying, Luca." Alessia said in a calm tone.
"She tried to kill you, she tried to steal the morano properties." Luca said harshly.
"And I tried to save her once," Alessia said quietly. "Maybe that’s why she called."
He reached for her hand, gripping it tight. "If this is another of her gas..... Then I will end it myself."
Lightning split the sky, illuminating her face—the resolve, the sorrow, the fire.
Luca exhaled. "You’re not going without ."
"I never do." Alessia said.
They drove into the storm, leaving behind the ashes of the Council and the faint scent of incense still clinging to their clothes.
As the coastline neared, Alessia’s phone buzzed again—a single text from an unknown number:
"The Codex isn’t a cure. It’s a choice."
Luca read it over her shoulder, his expression hardening.
"Then we’ll see what kind of choice he left us," he said.
The sea ca into view—dark, endless, and hungry. Sowhere beyond its horizon waited the ruins of Lorenzo’s madness, and Seraphina’s dying breath.
Alessia felt the dagger’s weight still pressing against her bandaged palm. The mark she had carved for honor now burned faintly, as if it recognized what awaited them next.
She closed her eyes for a mont and whispered, barely audible over the rain, "If rcy is my sin, let be damned beautifully."
The car disappeared into the fog.
Behind them, thunder answered—low, warning, alive.
And sowhere far ahead, in the ruins of Sorella, Seraphina Morano began to scream......
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