The conference room had descended into uneasy silence.
Twenty minutes since Silva left with Dr. Varen. Twenty minutes of waiting, delegations exchanging glances, security personnel stationed at doors with no orders.
The Chinese delegation head checked his watch for the third ti.
"Where is the Secretary-General?"
The question cut through the quiet. Polite. Pointed.
No answer ca.
The Arican military attaché stood. "And Dr. Varen? We were promised access to his research. Independent verification before..."
"Gentlen." A UN security officer appeared at the entrance. Young. Nervous. "Secretary-General Silva has been detained by urgent matters. He asks for your patience."
"Where is Dr. Varen?" The Russian representative’s voice carried no warmth. "We demand to see him imdiately."
"Dr. Varen is in protective custody. For his own safety." The guard gestured vaguely toward where the old man had died. "No visitors permitted."
Silence.
Then understanding.
They were being stalled.
"Get a secure line to Beijing," the Chinese representative said quietly to his aide. "Imdiately."
"Moscow needs to know about this," the Russian delegate murmured, phone already erging.
"Paris as well..."
"Washington..."
"London..."
The guard’s face went pale as a dozen delegates reached for encrypted phones simultaneously. "Gentlen, please, there’s no need to..."
But it was too late.
His panic had given everything away.
Sothing was very wrong.
***
Within hours, every major intelligence agency reached the sa conclusion.
Secretary-General Silva had vanished with Dr. Varen.
And Container Four... the largest of the seven... was gone.
The German delegation’s lead scientist worked through the night, cross-referencing Varen’s docuntation against known biological principles. The dilution ratios. Integration tilines. Age restrictions. Enhancent claims.
At 3:47 AM, he sent his report:
Everything checks out. Varen’s research is legitimate. Recomnd imdiate acquisition of remaining containers.
By dawn, every nation had verified the sa thing.
The divine blood worked.
And there were only six containers left.
***
"What happened next?" Alex asked quietly.
Catherine’s expression darkened. "Exactly what Silva predicted. Exactly what he wanted."
"Six containers. Over fifty nations demanding access. No way to split them. No way to share them... the blood couldn’t be subdivided, and there was no secure thod to store it elsewhere."
She shifted slightly against him, her voice carrying bitter amusent.
"So nations tried to be reasonable. Proposed giving one container per continent. Let one nation per region hold it, share access with neighboring countries."
Her fingers traced absent patterns on his chest.
"But then ca the obvious question: who holds it? Europe alone had twenty nations arguing over who’d be trustworthy enough. Asia? Forget it. Africa? The colonial powers all wanted control. Aricas? North and South couldn’t agree on anything."
A pause. Heavy with implication.
"Can you trust your neighbor with immortality? With divine power? When they could integrate it themselves and refuse to share? When they could use it to dominate everyone else?"
"They couldn’t cooperate," Alex said quietly.
"They couldn’t afford to." Catherine’s breath was warm against his skin. "Because while governnts debated procedures and protocols, while diplomats argued over trust and verification..."
She looked up at him.
"...the real powers acted."
Old families. Generational wealth. Shadow powers that had accumulated resources for centuries.
"Every nation has them," Catherine explained. "The invisible aristocracy. Dynasties whose fortunes predate modern governnts. Who own politicians like assets. Who move markets with phone calls."
Families whose combined wealth exceeded most nations’ GDP.
"They’d spent generations chasing what divine blood offered," Catherine said. "Longevity. Enhancent. Youth. Power that wouldn’t fade with age."
dical records appeared. Experintal treatnts costing billions. Marginal results. Dying patriarchs investing fortunes for six more months of life.
"They had everything except ti," Catherine said quietly. "Until Varen showed them ti could be bought."
What followed was called the Blood Month.
Though it lasted six weeks.
"The families went to war," Catherine said simply. "Not governnts. Not armies. The actual powers behind those institutions."
Her voice dropped.
"But first, they created chaos. Leaked state secrets. Exposed corruption scandals. Released classified docunts that had been buried for decades. Every nation suddenly faced internal crises—protests, political upheaval, economic panic."
She shifted against him.
"Presidents accused of treason. Pri ministers linked to trafficking rings. Military generals exposed for war cris. Financial ministers caught embezzling billions. All happening simultaneously across fifty nations."
Alex’s eyes widened. "They manufactured distractions."
"Precisely. While governnts scrambled to contain their own scandals, while citizens protested in the streets demanding accountability, while dia cycles consud themselves with dostic crises..."
Catherine’s expression hardened.
"...the families moved. Free from oversight. Free from interference. Free to fight for divine power while the world burned with manufactured outrage."
The casualty reports were staggering.
Not soldiers. Not rcenaries.
Families.
"They didn’t hire proxies," Alex said, reading between her words with growing horror. "They killed each other directly."
"These weren’t bureaucrats playing politics." Catherine’s voice was hard. "These were dynasties that had ruled through controlled violence for centuries. When divine power beca available, they used every resource they’d accumulated. Every connection. Every weapon. Every ounce of ruthlessness."
The numbers climbed.
Forty-seven thousand dead in six weeks.
Not in war zones. In cities. In corporate towers. In private estates where families that had existed for centuries were erased overnight.
"The ones who survived weren’t the wealthiest," Catherine said. "They were the most vicious. The most prepared. The most willing to sacrifice everything... including their own blood... for victory."
***
"By the ti governnts realized what had happened," Catherine said, "it was too late. Families controlled the containers. They had successfully integrated divine essence into their chosen heirs. And they had no intention of sharing."
"They couldn’t be stopped," Alex said.
"Not by normal humans. Not by governnts. Not by anyone."
Catherine’s expression shifted.
"Except Silva."
He erged when he judged the mont right. Not to negotiate. Not to cooperate.
To take everything.
"He started systematically," Catherine said quietly. "Hunting the families one by one. Eliminating bloodlines."
Her voice dropped.
"And he was winning. Too strong. Too fast. Too refined. Families that had survived the Blood Month were being wiped out in days. Silva moved through them like death itself."
She paused.
"Then he encountered sothing impossible."
Alex felt her tense against him.
"Six people. Four n. Two won. All Enhanced. All at his level."
"His level?" Alex’s voice carried disbelief.
"That’s..."
"Impossible. Exactly." Catherine’s fingers stilled on his chest. "Silva had spent two months optimizing integration. Refining enhancent beyond what Varen achieved. He should have been untouchable."
Her breath was warm against his skin.
"But these six matched him. Not individually... he could have killed any of them alone. But together? They fought him to a standstill."
"Who were they?"
"That’s what Silva wanted to know."
Catherine’s voice carried dark amusent.
"He was astonished. Furious. These people shouldn’t exist. Their integration was too perfect. Their power too refined. As if soone had given them the exact sa advantages he’d taken months to develop."
She shifted slightly.
"Silva realized imdiately... this wasn’t coincidence. Soone was helping them. Soone had been preparing them specifically to counter him. But who? How?"
Alex waited.
"He had no answers. Just six Enhanced humans who could match his strength. Who moved with coordination that suggested training. Who fought with techniques that implied guidance."
Her voice hardened.
"So Silva made a choice. He could fight them... maybe win, maybe die trying. Or he could retreat. Regroup. Find whoever was plotting against him and eliminate them first."
"He gave up the containers," Alex said slowly.
"For now." Catherine’s tone carried weight.
"Silva withdrew. Vanished back into the shadows. Left the six standing victorious."
"But he’s still out there."
"Oh yes." Her smile pressed against his shoulder. "Still out there. Still waiting. Still planning his revenge against whoever dared oppose him."
What happened next wasn’t docunted in any official record.
Just six people standing in the ruins of where gods had died, breathing hard, wounded, victorious.
And imdiately, the alliance began to crack.
"The mont Silva retreated," Catherine said quietly, "they turned on each other. Six Enhanced humans. Six containers. And now no common enemy to unite them."
Her fingers traced patterns on his chest.
"One of the n moved first. Went for the woman nearest him. Saw her container as easy prey. The others reacted. Weapons drawn. Power flaring. Within seconds, they were about to tear each other apart."
Alex felt her tense.
"Then one of them spoke."
She paused.
Catherine’s voice shifted, taking on a tone of mory... as if reciting words passed down through generations:
"This is exactly what he wants. This is why he retreated. He’s out there... more powerful than any of us alone... waiting for us to destroy each other. Then he’ll return and take everything from our corpses."
Silence in the archive.
"The others stopped," Catherine continued.
"Because she was right. Silva hadn’t fled in defeat. He’d made a tactical retreat. And if they fought now, weakened themselves, killed each other..."
"He’d win by doing nothing," Alex finished.
"Exactly." Catherine shifted against him.
"She kept talking. Told them they had a choice. Fight each other and guarantee Silva’s victory. Or cooperate. Beco stronger. Prove that whoever helped them... whoever gave them the power to match Silva... had chosen wisely."
Her voice dropped.
"She said: ’We alone can’t face him. But together? Together we might beco strong enough that he’ll never dare return. Strong enough to protect what we’ve claid. Strong enough to prove we deserved this power in the first place.’"
Alex absorbed that. A diator. A strategist who saw past imdiate advantage to long-term survival.
"The negotiation lasted three Hours," Catherine said. "No governnts involved. No UN oversight. No democratic process. Just six Enhanced humans... soon to be seven when Silva was included... deciding they had more to gain from cooperation than conquest."
"They made a deal," Catherine said. "The only deal that made sense."
*We, the Inheritors of Divine Blood, establish the following:*
*One: Each of us retains one container and its bloodline. No theft. No conquest.*
*Two: Each of us governs designated territory as autonomous power.*
*Three: We do not interfere in each other’s domains.*
*Four: Violations will be t with united response from the other six.*
*Five: We are the Seven. We represent the Seven Gods. We rule.*
Seven signatures.
"They stopped fighting," Alex said slowly, "because they realized they’d destroy each other if they continued."
"More than that." Catherine’s voice carried sothing like admiration. "They realized they could rule if they cooperated. Not as nations. Not as governnts. But as Enhanced aristocracy above normal human institutions."
The map appeared. The world divided into seven territories.
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