The icy wind howled through the cracked stone frame of the study window, carrying a heavy spray of midnight rain that speckled the polished wooden floor.
Evelyn Vance pressed her spine flat against the cold glass, her hands trembling as she held her mother’s leather-bound journal directly in front of her chest.
Every muscle in her body was tense.
Just a few feet away, her grandfather, Old Master Vance, took another slow, dragging step forward.
The small wheels of his heavy chrome life-support machine squeaked softly against the floorboards, and the glowing green liquid inside the long silver syringe cast a sickly, emerald light across his wrinkled, ancient face.
Old Master Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “Do not struggle, child.
This needle only takes enough to copy your genetic frequency.
Your survival is guaranteed, as long as you remain under my roof.
I built the Vance family to last for generations, and your blood is the final piece of that foundation.”
Evelyn Vance stared at the gleaming tip of the needle, her heart racing like a trapped bird inside her chest.
She looked past him to the dark window behind her, where the sheer drop led to the jagged stone terrace far below.
Evelyn Vance said to Old Master Vance, “My mother died to keep me away from you and your sick experiments.
She sacrificed her life to protect the Genesis Core from falling into your hands.
I will jump from this window and shatter my own body on the rocks before I let you touch me with that needle.”
Across the circular room, Damien Vance was fighting with everything he had.
The heavy titanium cuffs clamped around his wrists and ankles dug deep into his flesh, but he ignored the sharp pain.
Crimson blood began to smear against the cold metal restraints as he pulled forward, his veins bulging against his skin under the strain.
He knew the magnetic locks holding the cuffs were powered directly by the villa’s primary electrical grid, making them completely unbreakable through raw physical force alone.
Damien Vance looked across the dusty study and said to Evelyn Vance, “Evelyn!
Do not look at him!
Look at the spine of your mother’s journal!
There is a small silver emblem of a phoenix near the top, and a raised barcode near the bottom. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Press them both down at the exact same time!”
Old Master Vance’s eyes widened in sudden alarm as he realized what Damien was planning.
He tried to lunge forward, but his weak, frail legs could not move fast enough under the weight of his heavy medical equipment.
Old Master Vance said to Captain Leo Chang, “Leo!
Stop her!
Grab that book before she activates the frequency!”
But Evelyn Vance was already moving.
She slid her fingers rapidly down the worn leather spine of Dr.
Diana Ross’s diary.
Her thumb pressed firmly against the tiny silver phoenix emblem while her index finger squeezed the microscopic barcode at the bottom.
For a fraction of a second, the room went completely still.
A violent, invisible ultrasonic pulse exploded outward from the binding of the leather book.
The high-frequency sound wave tore through the air with a deafening, metallic screech that made everyone’s ears bleed.
Instantly, every single glass display case, antique vase, and lightbulb in the massive circular study shattered into thousands of tiny, flying shards.
The grand crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling exploded in a spectacular shower of glass, plunging the room into absolute darkness, save for the wild, flickering green light of the life-support machine.
The ultrasonic blast slammed directly into the delicate electronics of the old man’s medical equipment.
Inside the chrome casing, the small, polished shard of Verdant Jade-9 began to vibrate violently, its steady green glow transforming into a chaotic, rapid flicker.
Old Master Vance gasped loudly, clutching his chest as his artificial pacemaker began to misfire under the electronic interference.
He fell to his knees on the glass-covered floor, the silver syringe slipping from his hand and rolling away into the dark shadows.
Old Master Vance said to Captain Leo Chang, “Kill her!
Grab the book and kill her now!”
Despite the ringing in his ears, Captain Leo Chang recovered instantly.
He raised his tactical assault rifle, aiming the barrel directly at Evelyn Vance as she stood frozen by the shattered window.
The magnetic generators in the walls sparked violently, and the titanium handcuffs securing Damien Vance suddenly lost their power, clicking open with a sharp, pneumatic hiss.
Free from his restraints, Damien Vance exploded forward like a coiled spring.
He did not reach for his weapon.
Instead, he launched his entire body across the dark room, tackling Captain Leo Chang just as the guard’s finger began to squeeze the trigger.
Their combined weight smashed directly through the weakened glass of the giant study window.
Damien Vance and Captain Leo Chang went flying out of the room, tumbling down onto the wet, rain-slicked stone terrace outside.
The rain poured down on them in sheets.
Damien Vance quickly mounted the traitor, throwing a powerful, heavy punch directly into Captain Leo Chang’s jaw.
Leo Chang blocked the second strike with his rifle barrel, kicking Damien Vance off him and scrambling to his feet on the slippery stone.
They stood facing each other in the dark, rainy night, their breathing heavy as they prepared for a fight to the death.
Inside the dark study, the situation had turned from chaotic to lethal.
Without the proper electronic dampeners of the life-support machine to control it, the Verdant Jade-9 shard was absorbing too much raw kinetic energy from the feedback loop.
The hum of the machine grew higher and sharper, turning into a terrifying, high-pitched scream that shook the floorboards.
The beautiful green glow of the Jade-9 shard vanished completely, replaced by a violent, burning crimson light that pulsed like a dying star.
Old Master Vance lay flat on his back, gasping for shallow breaths of air as the red light illuminated his terrified face.
He pointed a trembling, weak finger at the main terminal on his desk.
Old Master Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “You foolish girl…
the feedback loop has started.
The shard is going critical.
If you do not inject your own blood into the bioscanner terminal to absorb the excess energy, this entire estate—and your husband on the terrace—will be vaporized in sixty seconds.”
Evelyn Vance stared at the pulsing crimson terminal, her heart beating in perfect, terrifying synchronization with the dying light of the core.