Chapter 141-National security threat

Chapter 141: 141-National security threat

In the vampire nation, all hell was breaking loose. Reports of a strange and rapidly worsening illness had begun pouring in from every corner of the capital and the surrounding communes.

Blackbloods, mixed-bloods, and even ordinary redbloods were collapsing without warning, their bodies rejecting the blood flowing through their veins.

The sheer number of cases had attracted enough attention to reach the royal palace.

Alarmed by the growing reports, the queen ordered her High Advisor to assemble a specialized team and investigate the mysterious sickness. They were to determine whether it was contagious, identify its source, and, most importantly, find a cure before the situation spiraled out of control.

Within hours, a quarantine facility had been established. Every infected vampire was transported there, separated from the healthy population, and placed under constant observation.

Alchemists, physicians, and blood specialists worked around the clock, desperately trying to understand what was happening inside their patients’ bodies.

At first, the symptoms seemed simple enough. Their bodies rejected blood. The blood flowing through their veins appeared poisoned, and they repeatedly vomited thick, black blood.

Their temperatures fluctuated wildly, their strength diminished, and some struggled to remain conscious and then midnight came where everything changed.

Dark veins began spreading beneath their skin like poisonous roots, turning almost completely black regardless of the patient’s blood type. The vomiting intensified. Their bodies became frighteningly thin as though something inside them was consuming them from within.

Within minutes, some patients had lost enough strength that they could barely lift their heads. The medical team was terrified.

"What have you found?"

Jarel Ashbourne, the High Advisor to the Queen, stood inside the quarantine facility, his expression grim as he faced the head of the investigation team.

"You’ve had hours with the sick," he continued. "Tell me something I can actually use."

Regina Clark, the team’s leader and one of the kingdom’s most accomplished alchemists, stepped forward.

"This trouble is indeed new. It’s something the vampire nation has never encountered before."

"Tell me something I don’t already know, Regina."

Regina rubbed the back of her neck before meeting his stern gaze. "What do you want me to tell you, J?"

"Call me Jarel," he corrected immediately. "Regina, we are conducting official business."

Regina stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes. His seriousness was ridiculous.

Yes, they were dealing with an unprecedented medical crisis, but they had also been close friends for years. She was even good friends with his wife and had spent the previous weekend at the Ashbourne mansion before being assigned to this investigation.

Still, she sighed and decided not to argue. "Fine, Lord Ashbourne," she turned and motioned for him to follow her. "What we’ve learned so far..."

She led him deeper into the quarantine facility and toward one of the sealed observation rooms. "Is that all the infected are students."

Jarel’s expression immediately hardened. "Students?"

"Yes."

"From which schools?"

"Veris Academy, Scaris Boys High, and Deckley Girls Academy."

Jarel’s eyes narrowed. "All three major schools?"

"Every confirmed case," she reported.

He stared at her for several seconds. "Does the sickness only affect the young?"

"Not exactly."

Regina adjusted her glasses before walking toward a small table. She poured Jarel a cup of warm blueblood and handed it to him.

He accepted it, taking a cautious sip.

"This isn’t an outbreak," Regina continued. "At least, not in the traditional sense."

Jarel lowered the cup. "What is it?"

"It’s poison, Jarel." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"Poison?" His eyes sharpened."What kind of poison?"

"We traced the poison back to the blood they consumed," Regina paused. "It almost behaves like whiteblood that has been taken by force."

Jarel slowly placed the cup down. "You mean the blood they consumed is reacting with their bodies and killing them?"

"Yes," she agreed.

A heavy silence settled between them. Jarel’s mind immediately began running through every possibility.

"Did the blood archive make a mistake?" he asked. "Did they accidentally distribute whiteblood to the students?"

Regina shook her head. "That was my first thought too. But after running the tests, we found no trace of whiteblood in their systems."

Jarel frowned. "Then what did they consume?"

Regina’s expression became grim. "Redblood."

Jarel froze. "Redblood?" He asked and rose so quickly that the chair scraped loudly against the floor.

Of all the blood types in the vampire nation, whiteblood, blackblood, and blueblood could be poisonous to lower-ranked vampires under certain circumstances.

But redblood? Redblood was considered the safest blood in existence. It was the most common, the least dangerous, and the blood most vampires could consume without suffering any adverse effects. Yet somehow... Redblood was killing them.

"How can redblood be poisonous?" Jarel demanded.

"That’s what we’re trying to figure out," Regina gently pushed him back into his seat before taking the chair opposite him. "For now, we’ve confirmed one important connection. The redblood consumed by the infected students from all three schools came directly from Veris Academy’s blood archive."

Jarel’s face darkened. "So the redblood capable of killing vampires belongs to a student at Veris Academy?"

"Yes."

"Do we know who?"

"Not yet," Regina shook her head. "We’ve narrowed the source down to Veris Academy, but identifying the student will take time. We need to trace every donation that entered the archive and determine which blood was distributed to the three schools."

Jarel nodded slowly. He memorized every detail as he would have to report all of this to the queen but one question remained in his mind. "How do we heal them?"

Regina hesitated. "At first, I thought a small amount of whiteblood would counteract the poison," she folded her arms. "So I obtained a warrant authorizing the blood archive to release a bag of whiteblood for testing."

Jarel’s eyes immediately lit with a sliver of hope. "Did it work?"

"No," Regina released a sigh as she shook her head. She was constantly hitting dead ends on that front.

The hope vanished from his face. He felt like this was a problem that they would cripple the nation if they don’t find a solution for it soon.

"Their bodies rejected it."

"What?" Jarel shot to his feet again. For the first time since entering the quarantine facility, genuine fear appeared in his eyes. "Say that again."

Regina swallowed. "Their bodies rejected the whiteblood."

Jarel stared at her as though she had just told him the laws of nature had ceased to exist.

Whiteblood was famous throughout the vampire nation for its extraordinary healing properties. It could repair damaged organs, neutralize countless poisons, and stabilize vampires on the brink of death.

It was, for all practical purposes, considered a universal healing blood but now, there was a poison it couldn’t overpower.

"There has never been a blood poison that could resist whiteblood," Jarel whispered.

"I know," Regina’s voice dropped. "That was exactly how I felt when we discovered it."

She glanced through the observation window at the sick vampires lying motionless on their beds. "It’s terrifying."

Jarel’s expression hardened. "Which is why we need to identify that redblood immediately."

Regina nodded. "We need to remove every drop of their donated blood from the archive before more students are exposed. And we have to stop them from donating again until we understand what’s happening."

"They need to be brought before the Blood Council," Jarel’s voice was firm. "If their blood has somehow been weaponized, the entire nation needs to know."

Regina’s face slowly lost its color. "Weaponized?"

"Think about it," Jarel stepped closer to her. "We’ve already seen what happened when their blood was distributed to only three schools."

He gestured toward the quarantine rooms. "Look at the chaos it has caused."

Regina glanced through the glass again. Hundreds and hundreds of students were suffering. Some were unconscious, others were vomiting blood while healers desperately tried to keep them alive.

Jarel’s voice became quieter. "Now imagine if someone deliberately targeted the vampire nation with this blood."

Regina’s eyes widened. "They could infect thousands and thousands of vampires of all bloods."

"Exactly."

"And they could kill vampires regardless of their blood type... pureblood or low blood."

"Exactly. That’s why this redblood needs to be labelled as high level threat and be hunted down as soon as possible."

"They would pose a threat to everyone..." Regina’s voice trembled. "Even whitebloods."

Jarel said nothing. The silence between them became heavier.

Regina slowly lowered herself into the chair. "And if this information falls into the wrong hands..." She stopped talking.

Jarel looked at her. "Finish that thought."

Regina swallowed hard. "Vampires with malicious intentions could capture the person responsible and weaponize their blood. They could use it to kill anyone they wanted."

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table. "One person’s blood could become a weapon capable of bringing down the entire vampire nation."

Jarel’s expression turned cold. "This is no longer just a medical crisis." He looked through the glass at the dying students. "It’s a national security threat."