#Chapter 147: The Un-Autopsy

Simon had sent a summons just after dawn. It had no preamble, no subject line, and only a single word in the body: "Urgent." The lab was cold when I arrived, harshly lit and sterile. Everything gleamed in stainless steel, as if the scent of antiseptic alone might scare the truth into surfacing. Richard was already there, arms folded and jaw set. He didn’t greet me but nodded toward the display. On the screen was a magnified strand of something that looked almost like blood, though it was too thick, too dark, and too organized. Simon didn’t look away from the monitor. “This was taken from a tissue sample embedded in the hyoid bone. It was the cleanest extraction we could get since most of Darius’s system burned too fast.” Richard’s voice was flat. “And?” “And it’s not wolf, and it’s not human either.” Simon tapped a few keys, and the image on screen split in two. “It’s showing dormant viral sequences that match known relics from vampire DNA archives, ancient ones, preserved in