My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

Chapter 180: Then let us pull back.

Mirella stood still in the middle of the street for a few seconds, looking at the damage with a calm that did not match the scene. There was Black Ice stuck to the walls, white burn marks on the ground, and pieces of duplicates melting into dark puddles between the stones. The smell was horrible. It was not normal blood, nor ordinary burned flesh. It seemed like a mixture of old shadow, rust, and a body left too long in a damp basement.

Victor realized she was not impressed.

She was counting.

Natasha was doing the same thing, but with less patience. She passed by one of the false corpses, crouched, touched the dark puddle with the tips of two gloved fingers, and rubbed the residue between them. The material tried to cling to the leather like something alive, but she pressed her thumb against her index finger and crushed the shadow until it turned to ash.

"Low-autonomy duplicates," Natasha said. "But some had direct command."

Alexa was already kneeling near the frozen clone Victor had pointed out. The body had no head, but the torso still held traces of blood-shadow in the ribs. She took a small case from her pocket, opened three thin needles, and began collecting the residue before it disappeared completely.

"He used at least one projection core here," Alexa said. "He probably wanted to observe their reaction. And he succeeded."

Mirella looked at Victor.

"You pulled off the communication ring."

Victor crossed his arms.

"I was busy."

"Did you hear my indirect order through Alexa?"

"I did."

"And ignored it."

"Technically, I answered first."

Nera, still sitting on a crate, raised her hand.

"I ignored it too."

"I know," Mirella said.

"Just wanted recognition."

"Recognized as a problem."

Nera smiled, satisfied.

Natasha stood and looked at the surrounding rooftops. Some windows still had cracks that had closed too quickly. The city had heard the fight. That was inevitable. The problem was that, in Bramford, people were not running away. They were hiding in an organized way, as if they already knew what to do when the street became a battlefield.

"They were prepared," Natasha said.

Alexa stored the first sample in a vial.

"Yes. And quickly. Ghideon’s network must already have been assembled before our arrival."

Victor looked at her.

"So he knew we would come?"

"Maybe not us. But he knew someone would. A Specialist does not create this kind of city without expecting inspection sooner or later."

Mirella walked to the clone that had served as the stronger projection. The body was split, burned, and frozen at the same time, but enough of it still existed for analysis. She crouched, drew a short knife, and opened a line in the duplicate’s chest. There was no heart. In its place, a dark mass pulsed weakly, like a shadow root wrapped in coagulated blood.

"Alexa."

"I saw it."

"Can you track it?"

Alexa approached, but did not touch it immediately. First, she took a thin, almost transparent paper, placed it over the mass, and let the shadow stain the material. The lines formed an irregular drawing, then began to move toward one edge of the sheet.

"I can point to a general direction," she said. "Not distance. Not yet."

Victor looked at the paper.

"Where?"

Alexa turned the sheet.

"South of the city."

Nera sniffed the air.

"Port."

Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"Or beneath the port."

Mirella stayed silent for a moment, analyzing the street, the bodies, the position of the alleys, and the city’s reaction. Then she looked at Victor and Nera.

"You drew too much attention."

Victor opened his mouth.

Mirella raised a finger.

"I am not saying it was useless. The duplicates revealed that Ghideon has an active network on the left flank, that he can command clones from a distance, and that he is reacting to our movements. But now he knows you two are aggressive, fast, and difficult to contain."

"That was already obvious," Nera said.

"Now he has confirmation."

Victor looked at the street taken over by clone remains.

"And we also have confirmation that he does not like losing puppets."

Alexa stored the second sample.

"That is true. He cut the projection when he realized you were destroying the command structure. That means the cost is not zero."

Natasha looked at Victor.

"How many did you destroy?"

"I did not count."

Nera raised her fingers, trying to remember.

"I counted up to twenty-three. Then it got fun and I forgot."

Mirella passed a hand over her face.

"Of course."

Alexa closed the case and stood.

"Judging by the residue, I would say between forty and fifty duplicates. Most were weak, but the core had a real connection. That should inconvenience him for a few hours."

Victor smiled.

"Good."

"Good, but also dangerous," Natasha said. "He may retreat, speed up the plan, or change hiding places."

"Then we go after him now."

"No," Mirella cut in.

Victor looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because that is what he wants you to do."

The answer was dry enough to stop his provocation. Victor went quiet and waited.

Mirella pointed to the street behind them.

"He detected you and responded with enough duplicates to seem like an attempt at elimination. But this was too loud. If he truly wanted to kill you, he would have used something more discreet, more poisonous, or more restrictive. He wanted us looking at this side of the city."

Alexa nodded.

"Meanwhile, something moves on the other side."

Natasha touched the communication ring.

"Liora, Liria. Situation at the main pier."

The answer came after a short crackle.

"Full of beautiful liars," one of the twins said.

The other completed:

"And an inspector trying to escape through a window. He fell by himself. Not our fault."

Mirella closed her eyes for an instant.

"Is he alive?"

"Alive enough to answer questions."

"Does that mean alive?"

"Yes, Captain."

Natasha entered the communication.

"Did you find duplicates?"

"No. But we found three records with repeated names, two ships unloading without declared cargo, and a sealed box that smells bad."

Alexa became alert.

"Do not open the box."

"We already opened it."

"Liria."

"It did not explode."

"That does not make it better."

"There is preserved blood inside. A lot. And some vials with scraped-off labels."

Natasha looked at Mirella.

"Confirmed diversion."

Mirella answered through the ring:

"Arrest the inspector, mark the warehouse, and do not touch the cargo again until Dahlia arrives."

"But the box is right here."

"Do not touch it."

"Boring."

Mirella ignored that and changed the channel.

"Dahlia, Yvonne. Report."

Dahlia’s voice came far too cheerful.

"Good news: I found the bodies."

Mirella waited.

Dahlia continued:

"Bad news: some should not be dead."

Victor frowned.

Yvonne spoke next, low and direct:

"Corpses used as covers. There is shadow sewn under the skin. Dahlia is removing it. Local administration tried to stop us. I stopped them."

Mirella asked:

"How many?"

"Four guards. Alive."

"Good."

Dahlia spoke again:

"One of them cried when he saw the instruments."

Yvonne corrected her:

"Before the instruments."

"Detail."

Natasha took a deep breath.

"This is bigger than smuggling."

Alexa looked to the south of the city, toward the port.

"Ghideon is using bodies, records, cargo, and authorities. The entire city has layers."

Victor took the communication ring off his finger and looked at it, as if thinking about removing it again.

Mirella pointed.

"No."

He put it back on.

"I did not even say anything."

"You thought loudly with your hand."

Nera jumped off the crate and approached the headless frozen clone.

"And this one?"

Natasha looked at the real prisoner Victor had torn out of the shadow before the attack. He was still on the ground, unconscious, trapped by a layer of Black Ice up to his neck.

"That one is useful."

Victor looked at him.

"I brought one alive. I am improving."

Mirella stared at him.

"You brought one alive and killed fifty copies on the way."

"Irregular progress is still progress."

Nera poked the prisoner with the scythe’s handle.

"Will he wake up if I break a finger?"

Dahlia answered through the ring, excited:

"Usually, yes."

Mirella and Natasha spoke together:

"No."

Victor laughed.

Alexa approached the prisoner and placed two fingers on his forehead. Small violet lines came from her ring and entered the man’s skin. The body reacted with a spasm, but did not wake.

"He is not a complete duplicate," Alexa said. "He is a host. A real person with implanted shadow."

Natasha became colder.

"Control?"

"Partial. Maybe blackmail, maybe parasite. I cannot tell here."

Mirella looked at Victor.

"Can you carry him without killing him?"

"I can."

"Then carry him."

"Again?"

"You are the one who brought him."

Victor sighed and threw the man over his shoulder like a heavy sack.

Nera pointed to the prisoner.

"If he wakes up and bites your neck, I cut both of you."

"How kind."

"I am practical."

Natasha opened a small folded map and marked three points with blood. The city seemed simple from above, but now every path was suspicious. The left flank was compromised, the pier had diverted cargo, the administration was hiding bodies, and the south port pointed to some underground structure.

"We change the approach," Natasha said. "Squad Six closes the discreet exits. Alexa tracks the residue south. Mirella, you take your group to the Gray Tide inn as planned, but not as a resting point. We use the cellar for quick interrogation."

Mirella nodded.

"And Victor and Nera?"

Natasha looked at the two of them.

"They have already been seen. Now they are better used as pressure."

Nera smiled.

"Pressure means hitting?"

"Pressure means appearing where Ghideon does not want you to appear," Natasha replied.

Victor liked the idea.

Alexa stored the vials and looked at him.

"And without taking off the ring."

"You are very stuck on that subject."

"Because communication exists to keep powerful idiots from ruining operations."

"Did I ruin it?"

Alexa looked at the destroyed street.

"You accelerated it violently."

"So it worked."

Natasha turned before Alexa could answer.

"Let us get out of here. The city is watching."

Victor looked at the windows around them. The cracks remained shut, but now he could feel eyes behind them. Fear, curiosity, and something worse. Normal people did not observe a street full of false corpses with such discipline. Bramford was far too used to the abnormal.

Mirella began walking first, following the side of the street to avoid the center where the shadows were still melting. Nera followed, spinning the scythe over her shoulder. Victor accompanied them with the unconscious prisoner, and Natasha walked beside Alexa, discussing the siege points in a low voice.

They turned a narrow corner.

The next street was empty.

Too empty.

Nera stopped.

Victor did too.

Mirella raised her hand, and everyone froze.

At the end of the street, hanging from an iron post, there was a body.

This time, it was not a duplicate.

It was one of the local guards, wearing Bramford inspection uniform, hung by the neck with a chain of shadow. On his chest, the clothes had been torn open, and words had been written in dark blood.

Victor narrowed his eyes and read.

"You arrived late."

Alexa went pale with rage.

Natasha clenched her teeth.

Mirella looked at the body, then at the closed windows, and her voice came out low.

"He is pulling us."

Victor placed the prisoner carefully on the ground.

"Then let us pull back."

Nera smiled again.

This time, no one told her to stop.