Chapter 184: 184-Like a criminal
The alarm had barely stopped ringing when the doors to the containment corridor swung open.
A woman in a dark coat strode inside, her footsteps sharp against the stone floor. Her presence silenced the guards stationed outside Maisa’s cell. Even before she spoke, they straightened, their expressions turning serious.
Regina had arrived. The senior examiner carried a thin file in one hand, her expression cold and focused. Her eyes flicked toward the sealed door, then to the security guard waiting beside it.
"Show me the results," she said even though she knew what they’ll find.
The guard immediately handed her a tablet. Regina read through the report in silence. The unclassified blood signature, potential biological hazard and the repeated test confirmation was in line with her own findings.
Her fingers moved across the screen, bringing up the archived records associated with the earlier blood contamination incident. As she compared the two sets of results, a crease appeared between her brows.
The infected students, the black blood they had vomited and the dark veins that had spread beneath their skin. The strange poison that had nearly killed them all before the blood moon cleansed their bodies.
Regina’s gaze sharpened. "Bring her out."
The guard unlocked the containment room. Maisa had been pacing for so long that the sound of the lock made her stop abruptly. She turned toward the opening door, hope rising in her chest.
Finally, someone was going to explain what was happening and then she saw the woman standing outside. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂
"Maisa Loven," Regina said. "Come with us."
Maisa hesitated. "Are you going to tell me why I’ve been locked up?"
Regina looked at her. "Yes, I will tell you," the answer was so immediate that Maisa almost felt relieved. "Your blood is the reason several students became critically ill," Regina continued. "Some of them came dangerously close to dying."
Maisa stared at her. "What?" she asked, she had heard about the strange cases during school break of the talks in the blood mirror once school resumed but hadn’t anticipated that it had something to do with her blood.
"We detected the same abnormal signature in the blood associated with the contamination incident. Your sample has triggered the same biological hazard classification."
"No." Maisa shook her head. "That can’t be right."
"The results are consistent and our research has been thorough so rest assured that no one is accusing you falsely."
"But I didn’t do anything! I never gave my blood to those students."
"That is something we intend to investigate. And you didn’t necessarily have to give it to them, blood donated in the blood archives are distributed to all students. You too access other vampire’s blood, no?"
"Then investigate it! Why am I being treated like a criminal?" Maisa cried.
Regina’s expression remained impassive. "Because your blood may pose a danger to everyone around you. That’s why we have no choice," the words struck Maisa harder than she expected.
She had spent weeks trying to understand the strange things happening to her. Her inability to feel sunlight or touch, the silence of the flower of fate and the lingering memory of the werewolf in the forest and the venom that had entered her body.
But she had never imagined that her blood might be responsible for the illness that had nearly killed the students.
She looked down at her hands. ’No. It can’t be me,’ her mind refused to believe it.
She had donated blood before. She had even received blood from the archives during the days when she was taking the strange medicines her mysterious benefactor had given her. Nothing had happened then so why now?
"What changed?" she whispered. "I donated blood before. Nobody said anything was wrong with me."
"Which is why further investigation is necessary," Regina replied. "However, until we determine the nature of your blood and the threat it poses, you cannot be allowed to move freely through the academy or the nation."
Maisa lifted her head. "Then let me stay here while you investigate. I’ll cooperate. I’ll answer your questions. I’ll do whatever tests you need."
Regina closed the file. "You don’t have the authority to negotiate your own confinement."
Maisa’s lips parted, but no words came out. The examiner turned to the guards. "Prepare an escort to the palace."
Maisa went still at the sound of the palace. "The palace?"
"You will stand trial before the appropriate authorities. Given the severity of the contamination incident and the possibility that your blood represents a danger to vampire society, you will be transferred to the Dark Forest if the charges are upheld."
For a moment, Maisa couldn’t understand what she had heard. The Dark Forest? Those two words had the power to silence even the most troublesome students at Veris Academy. It was the place where dangerous vampires were sent when the authorities decided they could no longer be allowed to live among ordinary society.
Some prisoners never returned, others returned so broken that they wished they hadn’t and the unlucky ones vanished entirely.
Maisa’s fingers began to tremble. "No. Not there..."
Regina regarded her without sympathy. "You are being accused of endangering the lives of several vampires. If the evidence confirms your involvement, the Dark Forest is a reasonable sentence."
"But I didn’t poison anyone!"
"Then you may present your defense at trial."
"I’m innocent!" Maisa argued, she knew that once she stood before the palace, the likes of Adelaide Challan would use this chance to get rid of her. Her defense would never hold and she’d end up in the dark forest.
The guards shifted uneasily, but Regina remained unmoved. "Your innocence is not something I can establish based on your word alone."
Maisa stared at her, waiting for something in the woman’s face to soften. A hint of doubt or a trace of understanding but there was nothing.
Regina wasn’t looking at a frightened young vampire who had come to the archives for blood. She was looking at a potential threat.
"Take her."
The guards stepped forward to act on the order without hesitation.
Maisa backed away. "No. Wait."
One reached for her arm while another watched her movements closely.
"Don’t touch me!" The words burst out of her before she could stop them. The guard paused, then seized her wrist.
Maisa twisted away, but another guard caught her other arm. They were stronger than she was, and their grip tightened as they began escorting her down the corridor.
She struggled. "Let go of me! I haven’t done anything!"
"Stop resisting," one guard ordered. "This just proves your guilt more than your Innocence."
"I’m not going to the Dark Forest!"
Regina followed behind them, her heels clicking against the floor. "You would be wise to cooperate, Miss Loven. Resistance will only worsen your situation."
Maisa barely heard her. The corridor blurred before her eyes. The thought of the dark forest, a trial and a sentence that could strip her of every chance she had to discover what had happened to her.
She thought of Varitreya, Addessa, Lumi and Zolani. The people she had been trying so desperately to reach, even after the bond between them had fallen silent.
She thought of the flower of fate buried inside her chest, its petals unreachable, its power hidden behind a wall she couldn’t break.
If they took her away, who would help her? Who would believe her? And if she entered the dark forest without the bond to guide her mates to rescue her, would she ever escape?