Page 74 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

Formula, experimental, successful version of human enhancement compound. Combat proven. Full process, vector, and stabilizers included. Limited copy.

My stomach went cold.

“Say it,” I told him.

He met my gaze. “Whatever formula they used to make those enhanced soldiers, it is for sale.”

The room felt smaller all at once.

Con straightened, eyes sharpening. “The compound that turned those humans into the things we fought last night.”

Julian nodded. “Or an upgraded version. The tag says combat proven. That usually means field tested, refined, and ready to ruin someone’s day.”

Manu’s expression stayed calm, but his fingers drummed once against the table. “If that formula spreads, it changes the balance. Permanently. No more isolated enhanced humans. We would be looking at armies.”

I stared at the screen, at the bland words that masked something that had already shredded vampires and lycans alike. I remembered how the enhanced moved in the cemetery, silent and precise, eyes empty of anything but purpose. Tools, not soldiers. Manufactured monsters.

“Is it at the same location as the piece?” I asked.

Julian shook his head slowly. “I do not think so. The manifest tags for Item Ten are different. Separate routing. Different holding protocols, more secure. The fragment is in the warehouse. The formula is probably being kept somewhere else until the main event.”

“So the formula is not in the industrial district,” I said.

“No. The fragment is bait and profit. The formula is the real prize,” Julian said. “Whoever wins that auction will not care about one pretty shard of metal.”

“They will care about an army,” Manu added.

Con’s voice went very quiet. “We need that formula.”

I nodded. “We cannot let it be sold.”

Julian leaned back in his chair. “And here I was hoping we would just crash one warehouse and call it a night.”

I ignored him. “We have two targets. The fragment we can intercept at the warehouse. The formula, we can only reach through the main auction.”

“So we need to be approved for that auction,” Con said. “Cleanly. No side doors, no guesswork. We walk in as buyers, we walk out with the formula, and we burn every copy.”

“Burning will be difficult,” Manu said. “These people do not keep one copy of anything. They will have backups.”

“Then we take the original and any data we can get,” I replied. “We destroy what we find and trace what we cannot. Step one is getting close.”

Julian rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. “You realize what you are asking, right? These are people who vet buyers so thoroughly that they know who you owed money to in college. They do genetic cross-referencing. They calculate risk factors on social behavior.”

“Is that supposed to scare me?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “It is supposed to make you appreciate me.”

I gave him a look. “I already appreciate you. Now help me get approved for that auction.”

He brightened. “That is all I wanted to hear.”

Con exhaled, steady but tight. “You said her application is pending.”

Julian swiveled the laptop back toward himself and pulled up a new screen. Rows of numbers, some highlighted in green, others flashing amber.

“Your candidate profile is in the system,” he said. “Marcus did his part. Dimitri’s past deeds are tied to your alias. They have you flagged as a private collector who handles dangerous inventory quietly.”

“Correct,” I said.