A Shade of Vampire 81 A Bringer of Night - Bella Forrest Page 0,15

features and lifespan. Then, there was a singular event that… made them into Aeternae. Much like vampirism, if you think about it.”

Derek and I stared at each other for a long minute as the information began to sink in. From what Petra had explained, the Aeternae had evolved into this current form about four million years ago. What Amal and Amane were telling us, however, was quite different. “What sort of event could have caused this transformation?” I asked.

The twins shrugged. Amal switched Petri dishes under the microscope again, motioning for Derek to observe the Aeternae molecules once more. “We’re not sure. This is what we were able to get out of the Aeternae’s DNA. We’d need weeks or even months of intense study to figure out a concise evolutionary history of the Aeternae, but my sister and I agree that the Aeternae basically evolved overnight.”

“Previously, they were living up to a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty years, if they were lucky. Ancient remnant cells in their DNA point to certain dietary habits involving fruits and meat. Then this event happened, and everything in their bodies changed,” Amane said.

Derek looked at me. “Do you think they know?”

“Who, the Aeternae?” I asked.

“They might not,” Amal replied. “And if they do, they lied to us.”

“Why would they, though? And what sort of event…” My voice trailed off as I realized I was about to ask the same question again. A few things didn’t make sense where the Aeternae’s timeline was concerned, but I chose to focus on the good parts. Specifically, the discovery of the day-walking protein. “That aside, congratulations!” I said to the Faulty girls. “Derek and I knew you’d be able to pull it off.”

“What’s next?” Derek asked, beaming at them.

Amane took a deep breath, crossing her arms. “Now that we’ve identified the original protein, we have to isolate it and compare it to yours. We’re assuming Ta’Zan made his modifications to the original because he feared your body might otherwise reject it. Just to stay on the safe side, we’ve agreed to do the same.”

“From what we can tell, the edits are rather straightforward. It will take some time to complete, but I think we can extract and reproduce the same vampire day-walking molecule from the original Aeternae clusters,” Amal said.

A few moments passed in satisfying silence. I didn’t understand the scientific side of Amal and Amane’s work, but I was able to appreciate its complexity, along with their dedication. They also did a great job of explaining their process in the simplest of terms, allowing me and Derek to grasp the fuller picture. They’d achieved something incredible here, and our work in bringing vampires back into the daylight was basically halfway done.

Neither of us wanted to leave until we had what we needed. Derek had often said that abandoning this project would’ve felt like a disservice to Nethissis. Her death would have been in vain. He’d urged us to leave at the time, but no one on our team could even consider going back home with failure and death hanging over our heads.

This discovery made it easier for all of us to stay. The closer we got, the more I could taste the victory. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue. Sweet as honey.

“I’m in awe of you two.” Derek sighed, glancing at Amal and Amane. “And words cannot describe how grateful I am for everything you’ve done.”

Amal chuckled. “Thank us when we’ve got a day-walking cure for every single vampire out there.”

“We should tell them about the… you know,” Amane muttered, nudging her sister. It was enough to capture our attention in an instant.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my chest tightening.

We had a tendency to run into all sorts of glitches and mishaps in our quests. Finding this protein had felt a little too smooth. Maybe its duplication and modification came with a hitch or something. Either way, the good feeling I’d had until now was starting to morph into something ugly. Hope was quickly threatened by fear.

“The day-walking protein isn’t the only area in which we’ve made significant progress,” Amal said. “We’ve figured something out regarding the Black Fever, as well. It’ll make our efforts to find a cure a lot more difficult, though.”

On the one hand, I was instantly relieved. Our day-walking project wasn’t threatened by any scientific condition. On the other hand, I felt bad. If what Amal had just said was true, it made our stay here