CHAPTER 9

A/N – Hello everyone! I can assure you that I'm just as displeased as you are about this unwanted hiatus, but my muses refused to help and when I asked 'Come on, come on, give me something, damn it!' they just laughed in my nose because when have they ever done what I was asking?! That's right, never. (they also kindly suggested that I should stop drinking and deluding myself too…). But here it is, finally an update and I bet you didn't see THIS coming! Enjoy!

"It was a ghoul. I can still smell it on you."

Amelia had never gotten home the previous night.

Relieved to already see the white fence of her parent's home showing through the trees in the clearing at the end of the last alley, the blonde sped up, clutching the strap of her bag tightly against her shoulder. The wind had gotten much colder since she'd left the Fortress, making her dream of another hot shower and the fluffy warmth of her pajamas. And the need for comforting thoughts was further emphasized by the feeling of unease which had gradually grown on her on the short walk, along with the foul smell lingering in her nostrils. It was as if somewhere nearby there was a big pile of trash which had gone unpicked for days and now was all rotten, gone bad in the most literal sense of the word.

And then, out of the blue, large claws gripped her arms as something jumped Amelia from behind, making her stumble and nearly fall flat on her face. The thing made no sound, it was silent as death, but its claws tore through one of her thin jacket sleeves and through her skin with enough violence to make her scream in pain, but by some miracle-…

"Why was there a ghoul?" she asked absent, stretching her legs.

She was too tired to think right now, to ask herself where the hell her uncle had gone to so early in the morning, since when there were ghouls (of all fucking things!) in their small town and a million of other details in between, but she was much, much too tired…

"I don't know and I'd rather not make any grim assumptions just yet either."

"Ouch!"

It hurt like hell when Alin pressed the antiseptic-soaked pad over the deep scratches left by the beast on her left upper arm. But she had been lucky to escape with just that and make it back here, although how she'd actually made it back to the Fortress was a mystery. At least she'd had the instinct to drive the creature away from her home, away from her parents and Alfred. Her memories were a complete blur, up to the point where she'd stumbled up on the steps many hours later - just as dawn was breaking - and had used the spare key. Her bag was gone, jacket torn and jeans muddy, but at least the rest of her was in one piece.

"Is it really okay for you to do this?" Amelia asked, still quite numb. "To be this close to blood? It's like having a chat with your favorite cake, isn't it?"

A vague scowl made itself apparent on the vampire's face as he kept the pad pressed to her arm with light fingers and she saw his nostrils flare almost imperceptibly.

"It's not like that," he said neutrally, avoiding her gaze. "I don't think of people as food in this manner."

"But you've bitten people in the past," the American pointed, leaning backwards a bit. "That's why the Council punished you and that's why you're being kept under surveillance and tested regularly. Although… right now I don't know about the tests. Are they a hoax?"

Amelia rushed down the dark corridor, gripping her injured arm and forcing her shaking legs to move forward. Blood had soaked through the torn sleeve of her jacket and the wound pulsed with pain. Damn, her uncle needed to have a look at it right away!

Good things she still had her keys, because the repeated knocks on the doors of the laboratory rendered no result whatsoever! A slight panic gripped the American at the thought that her uncle might not be there as she pulled out the key with a trembling hand and struggled to make it fit in the hole, but then again where the hell could he be this early in the morning?! No, no, he had to be sound asleep!

Once in, she threw a hasty glance at the small, spiraled staircase leading from the main laboratory hall to Dr. Jones's small living quarters, but there was no light visible under the closed door. She rushed there, stumbling and nearly knocking over a metal table, and made the mistake of gripping the stairs railing with her injured arm. Pain shot through her limb with such violence that the blonde actually whimpered in pain, biting her lip and fresh tears welled from her eyes as she squeezed them shut for a moment.

The pain and fatigue made climbing every step hard and painful and by the time she reached the top of the stairs Amelia was nearly out of breath. She opened the door of Jones's room with one quick gesture, panting heavily, and one quick look around the room was enough to confirm her worst fears – the doctor wasn't in.

Instead, the boy she was having a not-yet-acknowledged crush on was laying face-down among the creased sheets of her uncle's bed, obviously asleep and even more obviously unclothed.

"Yes, they're a hoax," Alin confirmed, straightening his back and reaching for the gauze strip. "But the people I've bitten were all some drunkards who had no idea what was happening to them anyway, the type you find by the dozen at student parties. No one I actually knew."

The blonde ignored that piece of information, still unable to digest her uncle's incredible hypocrisy. He was all talk about how vampires were a plague for this world and how an extended, permanent war was necessary for their long-term eradication, but in the same time he was letting a vampire feed on his own blood in exchange for sex. Because this must have been it, right?!

And here she was, jealous of it. God, I'm such a fucking idiot!

"You know, I always thought that if you swung that way you'd be going for Lukas," Amelia stated, with a bitter smile. "I mean that boy is so fucking beautiful that he's stressing me out."

"I don't though," the vampire said, extracting a strip from the package and unfolding it carefully. "But yeah, Lukas is something else I guess… I can tell him that you like him, if you want," he offered with a lop-sided smile which only lingered on his face for a brief moment. The blank expression from before replaced it as he worked on wrapping the strip around her arm, over the pad, and secured it in place.

"I want you to tell me why the fuck are you sleeping with my uncle!" the American tried to shout, her voice tired and raspy. "What the fuck is going on, huh?! Is he letting you drink his blood?! Is that it?!" Okay, she was on the verge of tears again and this was just fucking lame right now.

Alin pulled away and crossed his arms, scowling, yet he didn't look as much offended by the question, more like it made him sad.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?!"

"I'm sorry that you discovered this world, that you got involved into this whole thing and that you ever set foot in this place," he stated. "And I'm sorry that you have put yourself in danger by talking to me."

Amelia exhaled loudly and leaned further in her chair, letting her head fall backwards over the backrest and her arms hang limply at her sides as she stared blankly at the dark ceiling, where long spider webs blackened with dust hung and fluttered faintly in the draft.

"Yeah."

She was sleepy now and fatigue was gradually overcoming the creeping headache and numbing the fear, hurt and disappointment. If only she could forget everything, drop it all and leave it behind, everything she loved in this weird, wicked little town, everything that was so much a part of who she was and that would end up suffocating her eventually, making her rot alive in her own misery and unhappiness. God, this was such a horrible, horrible shit!

A few steps away, Alin was observing the girl sprawled over in helplessness, her hair spilling over the iron backrest in ruffled caramel locks, her lids resting heavy and purplish over her closed eyes, long eyelashes brushing the slightly freckled top of her cheeks, her rosy lips parted as she breathed slowly and suddenly had the vision of a fresh rose bud withering before time under harsh, adverse winds. Silently, he cursed his maker, Dr. Jones, the Zwingli siblings, Tsvetan Borisov and his stupid shop, the eccentric Kirklands and last but not least his own inability to push her away and make her give up this foolish and perilous endeavor.

"Ghouls don't walk outside during the day, you should go home and get some sleep now," the vampire said eventually with a sigh, after the silence had stretched between them long enough to become uncomfortable, at least for him. "As for your uncle, he's probably spending some quality time with his protégées, so I wouldn't waste my time waiting for him if I were you. Speaking of which, no, he doesn't let me drink his blood, just gives me a couple of blood bags every now and then, since he's getting regular supplies for them anyway."

As he was talking, Amelia thought she felt light fingers treading through her hair and that he was leaning over her, their noses almost touching. And then he was gone.

Of course, Alin had known right off the bat that Amelia had been brokenhearted by the discovery of his unfortunate 'affair' with Dr. Jones, so much so that more obvious and grave things had escaped her attention, but had dismissed it right away. Not because he didn't care – he did care, the blonde was the only girl he'd actually spoken to since his turning, he liked her even as he realized how very different they were and how nothing good could ever come out of their getting close – but because things were getting really serious with the Zwinglis and their threats no longer seemed as farfetched as before. Alin had envisaged that something bad was bound to happen if (when) they were to escape Dr. Jones's imprisonment, but it had turned out that the peril was much closer: they must have had someone outside, servants of some sort which had been contacted and set in motion, because that ghoul hadn't popped out of thin air and surely, it could have killed Amelia with ease if that had been its masters' intentions.

But instead the attack looked like a warning, not as much to Amelia as to him, it clearly spelled 'help us escape, or your human friends will pay the price and their blood will be on your hands'.

The thought was dismal to say the least, because even if the Romanian could take down a ghoul in the blink of an eye there was no way he could be with Amelia at all times to keep her safe and figured that Jones wouldn't be of much help either. For some reason, the doctor was too engrossed in whatever his project was involving the vampire children and Alin told Amelia so quite openly.

"It must have something to do with all the books on alchemy I saw in the lab," he pointed. "He was very evasive when I asked about them."

It had been two days since the incident, a relatively peaceful interval during which Amelia had been more or less numb with shock and had purposely procrastinated thinking things over. The truth was that she sort of doubted that she had the energy for it to begin with. Still, she'd gone back to Borisov's shop on autopilot on Monday evening, work was work and having something to do helped to keep her mind off other things. At least until now that Alin had brought up the subject at hand in a very forward manner, perhaps uncharacteristically so and something in his demeanor made it clear that time for beating around the bush was over.

"Alchemy?" she asked casually, continuing to sort through the mess of booklets and flyers littering the front desk. Mr. Borisov had the unfortunate habit of bringing new stuff and just dropping it in a heap that was somehow supposed to sort and order itself by magic or something…

"Yes. You know, that kind of stuff where you mix unicorn piss with the Philosopher's stone to make gold from sand for example," Alin explained with a grimace. "It's supposedly a science."

"So my uncle is trying to make gold?" She looked up and gave the vampire a questioning glare. "I get it, he's not such a good guy as I thought he was all my life but he's not a fucking leprechaun either, you know?!

"The Philosopher's stone is also supposed to make someone immortal," Alin replied smoothly. "Like a vampire, but without having to hide from the sun and without the curse of blood-thirst. It sounds very convenient."

"Yeah."

With an irritated huff, the American tossed down the bunch of flyers she was sorting and went to pick up her jacket from the back room. When she came back, there was a scowl on her face.

"Okay, I'm so done with this shit right now! Just cover for me, okay? I'll be back soon."

"Hey, where are you going?"

Hand on the knob, Amelia paused only for a second to smooth a nervous hand through her hair. "Going to see Arthur and Alice. If there's anyone who can give me any fucking answers about all this alchemy shit it's gotta be them!"

Ignoring the very real possibility of ghouls outside lurking at the cover of darkness, Amelia stepped out in the street hugging herself in the battered old leather jacket which was now back in use. She felt safe in it, however ridiculous and unfounded that was. It was damn cold again and the scent of an impending icy rain hung in the night air, but luckily the Kirklands lived in one of the old, elegant townhouses in the center, not two corners away from Borisov's Magic Books & Gifts Shop.

The blonde rushed up the front steps and rang the bell impatient. Come on, Alice, come on! Slow, cautious steps resounded on the other side of the door, then someone fumbled with the lock, eventually cracking the door open.

"Alice! Is Arthur home?! I need you guys to help me with something and it's rather ur-"

Amelia paused abruptly upon noticing her English friend's expression. It was tired and wary, like a chased animal's. Alice seemed to observe her face carefully, then peeked past Amelia's shoulder and proceeded to slam the door shut, without a single word.

"Alice! Seriously?!"

Plagued by a sudden suspicion, the American turned around and saw Alin leaning against a streetlamp, just behind her.

"The fuck are you doing?! Are you stalking me now?!" she shouted. "There! My friends turned their back on me because of you! They warned me, you know?! They told me that this was a bad idea!"

The vampire rolled his eyes and shook his head. "And Heaven forbid you ever listen to what you're told, Miss Jones," he teased. "But still, this right now wasn't because of me. I took the liberty of reading her mind - Arthur's done some shit and they don't want you to know about it."

Amelia blinked in shock, trying to comprehend what he was just saying. Alice and Arthur had always been her friends, ever since they were all kids, she'd always known they had their quirks but even when Arthur had been picked up by the Council for interrogation because of his studies of black magic, it had been because of his own big mouth, not hers. She would never betray her friends! Never! And the thought that Alice could now think otherwise hurt so much that it brought tears in her eyes.

Meanwhile, the Romanian walked up to the door and knocked on it softly, clearing his throat. "Hey, Alice! Could you open up please? We don't want to come in, we just need to talk to Arthur, okay? If this is about Alastair Grey, we already know."

The door opened again, and this time the bespectacled girl on the other side pulled the chain off. She still looked scared, her gaze trailing from the vampire to Amelia and back, her shoulders slumped as if she barely held back the urge to hug herself. She licked her chapped lips nervously.

"H-How do you know about Alastair Grey?" she asked in a low voice.

"Arthur's been talking about him a lot," Alin explained. "And wearing that awful 'scar' on his neck. And last time we spoke, he was trying to… um… well, it's not very clear to me what he was trying to do, but-"

"Can you help him?!" Alice cut him off suddenly. "Can you fix his mind?! I want my brother back!" She started to sob. "Please, I want my brother back!"

To be continued