"You went to a lot of trouble for a suck head who was willing to give you up to save his own ass." Blade was saying.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lorelei said.
"Sure you do Lori." Scud said reaching for her lip and snatching his hand back when she tried to bite him.
"Leave her alone dammit!" Paulo said.
Blade shot him a look and then grabbed Lori's head holding it still, while Scud gently pulled her bottom lip down revealing a glyph.
"I have Damaskinos mark in the same spot." Scud said. "Just be glad it wasn't on your other lips."
"Lorelei?" Paulo questioned in confusion.
"What?" She spat. "Did you really think that I came back here because I missed you and wanted us to have some wonderful father daughter relationship? Truth is I was planning on feeding off of you first."
Scud suddenly laughed. "Did you think he was going to turn you? And here I thought I was the stupid one.
At least I knew exactly what was ahead for me. Even if I hadn't been smart enough to turn to B to get away from them, even if I had been the perfect little familiar I still would have ended up dead in an alley somewhere when I wasn't pretty enough for them. The same thing that would have happened to you when Fernando didn't need you anymore."
"Fernando promised." She said.
"Like he promised to protect you? As soon as he figured out who B was, he gave you up to keep B from killing him. Not that it made a difference in the end." Scud snorted.
Lorelei looked at Blade. "You killed him?"
"It's what I do." Blade said.
"Fernando told us the whole story. He sent you to worm your way in with Byron because he knew Valerie was hunting for him. Valerie didn't save you at all, you worked your way in with her because she had access to all the documents about La Magra. Then he found out your father was looking for you."
"You were the one who started dropping hints about how your father would never forgive you. You asked me to help you." Valerie said. "I only tried to help you. And tonight you were going to kill me. I considered you a friend."
"She didn't need you anymore. She had Josh to finish the translations." Blade said. "You left the photo in the workshop for Josh to find didn't you Lori? The one of Valerie and Deacon Frost. You set her up for me to kill her."
"I had to do something, Josh wouldn't cooperate." Lori told him. "I tried."
"It pissed you off something fierce that I wasn't interested in fucking you, didn't it." Scud shook his head. "No offense, but after the time I spent in The Maze, I ain't interested in fucking anybody for a while."
"So what do we do with her now?" Valerie asked.
Paulo who had been silent since his first outburst answered. "There's only one thing to do, kill her. She's no daughter of mine."
"Blade, before you leave I'd like to talk to you. I know that you are going to go back out there and kill vampires but you need to know that some of them will never stop trying to raise La Magra.
I'm not the only one that doesn't want that to happen. La Magra was stopped before because 12 Purebloods chose to sacrifice themselves. For now La Magra sleeps but if someone ever were to truly wake him, It would take 12 purebloods willing to sacrifice themselves. These are the names of those who have agreed to make that sacrifice if necessary." Valerie said handing him a rolled parchment.
"You trust me with this?" Blade asked.
"You're trusting me with Josh, we both are holding something that is important to the other."
"You and Frost, you looked pretty happy in that picture." Blade said.
"It was taken a long time ago, before he knew anything about La Magra. Before he became obsessed with the legend." She said. "I sometimes wonder, if I had never mentioned it would he have still turned out the way he did. But it is what it is. His thirst for power was as unquenchable as his thirst for blood in the end.
"Sure you want to stay here Skid?" Whistler asked.
"I'm sure Gramps. Valerie needs the help and if La Magra rises we both know I won't belong to B anymore. Scud said. "Besides they are one body short. They can use all the help they can get, even if it comes from me."
"Don't sell yourself short kid. You're smart, that's the biggest part of what it takes to fight these fuckers." Whistler said. "Just lay off the weed, huh?"
Whistler and Scud turned as Blade approached the car. He reached inside and pulled out a pair of shades. He handed them to Scud. "You even think one of these suckheads is considering raising La Magra call me." Blade got in the car and started the engine.
"That means when you're ready, call." Whistler said getting into the car.
Scud slipped on the shades and watched as the disappeared into the distance.