Chapter 452: Blood And Iron
Eve
Everyone exchanged glances. Maya raised a brow, her eyes raking over Thea. "Go on."
"Let’s take the case of a poisonous gas as an example," She rose, gesturing with her hands. "When one is encountered, what is the solution?" she asked.
"A gas mask," Kael answered.
Thea snapped her fingers, her eyes gleaming as though she had seen all the secrets of the universe. "Yes, why not create a vaccine so the gas will have no effect?"
"It wouldn’t make much sense. It would be a waste," Gallinti replied to her question.
"Let us see the radiation as a cataclysmic tide that will fall over our world and instead of trying to find ways to ensure that people don’t react to it, we will try to create a gas mask for it, but on a far larger scale, a containment vessel that the tide cannot penetrate and reach the civilians."
Maya seemed to turn over her words in her head but she still looked unconvinced. "I see what you are saying—you prefer a more physical approach to a biological one."
Thea nodded enthusiastically, delicate hope twinkling in her eyes.
But Maya did not seem at all fazed. "I have been working on the coming of the bloodmoon since the reign of Late Alpha Lucas, the gods bless his soul." Her gaze was cutting as she spoke to Thea, whose shoulders had already begun to slump. "We have attempted shields against the radiation. Every material, every element toxic and non-toxic, every alloy—no one can filter out the radiation much less completely deflect it. No material in existence is impenetrable to the radiation that the Bloodmoon will bring."
Once again we were at a dead end.
We were plummeting again.
But though Thea had looked defeated, she had not sat again, the gears in her head were turning so hard and fast that I was sure that we could hear them.
I locked eyes with everyone except for Kael who was wholly consumed with staring at Thea as she put together a puzzle in her head.
She snapped her finger again, and it sounded like a thunder clap. "Why not use a metal infused with Lily’s... I mean... the Luna’s Fenrir’s marker. It will make it impervious to the radiation, it will be impenetrable."
Again, Maya was not impressed, she even crossed her arms. "Markers are proteins, even supernatural ones such as the Fenrir’s marker. Exposure to heat, pressure or the elements during welding of the metal will completely denature it leaving it absolutely useless—that is if it even bonds properly to the metal."
She was shooting down every suggestion.
Thea’s eyes dimmed again but she still did not sit, she simply refused to give in. The grinding gears in her head resumed.
Again, we exchanged glances, all except Kael who did not look away from her.
Suddenly, Thea’s head whipped to us.
Hades and I.
"Forgive me for the question I am about to ask, are you two mates, whether fated or chosen and if so are you bonded?" She asked it with all seriousness.
I blinked but Hades found his tongue and answered. "Yes, we are fated and bonded mates."
A slow dangerous smile spread on her lips. "That’s even better."
Hades raised a brow. "Why are you asking?"
"When my parents were in the military and one ended up injured to the point of requiring blood, they could easily donate to one another. Because the blood or other biological materials of mates have an innate affinity for the other."
Kael rose too, tearing his eyes away from Thea to look at Hades. "Like what happened in the lab when the containment of both your blood and Eve’s Fenrir’s mark shattered so they could reach each other and intertwine."
"Yes," Hades affirmed.
Kael faced Thea. "Their innate affinity is strong, very."
She smiled up at him like he had the galaxy in his eyes. "That’s perfect."
"So where are you going with this?" Maya inquired, almost bored.
Thea answered, self-assured like it all suddenly made sense. "We create a composite using both your blood types. The vampire blood acts as a protective lattice—since it’s immortal, it can’t degrade or denature. When we bond the Fenrir’s marker to it, the marker gets locked into this unbreakable matrix. Your mate bond ensures they’ll actually combine instead of rejecting each other. Then we can infuse this composite into iron during metalworking without destroying the immunity properties. The result is metal that’s genuinely impervious to Blood Moon radiation—not because we’re blocking it, but because the metal itself carries the immunity."
For the first time, both of Maya’s brows rose in surprise and realization. "It is possible, a composite can be made out of the combination of the two in the right ratio, with a catalyst. It can work especially with iron, an element already present in blood. The bonding will be perfect." She was close to yelling. "This is a breakthrough."
My heart was in my throat as I spoke. "It could work?"
"There is no other option and it all just fits perfectly."
I turned to Thea, relief making my shoulders slump and my lips tremble. "Thank you."
"You are welcome, li--- Luna," she replied, not meeting my eyes again. "Hopefully, it works."
Hades studied Thea. "How do you know all of this?" he asked.
Thea gulped, "I didn’t go to college but I was a laboratory assistant for a while and studied more on my own."
Hades smirked. "Interesting," he murmured. "Would you like to work in the lab with Dr Maya?" he asked.
The way her eyes seemed to twinkle was all the reply we needed.
Maya stepped forward, her earlier uncertainty replaced by scientific fervor. "If we start immediately, we can have prototypes ready for testing within days. The composite will need to be refined, but the basic process is straightforward."
"How much time do we need for full implementation?" Hades asked, his tactical mind already working through logistics.
"Two weeks for the composite perfection, another two for metalworking integration," Maya calculated aloud. "We’ll need significant blood samples from Eve, but nothing that would compromise your health."
I felt a weight lift from my shoulders that I hadn’t even realized was there. "So we can actually protect everyone."