A/N: Okay. This update took WAY too long! I'm sorry about that. I got another fic idea and I took the past few months writing it and put this one aside for a little while, but I'm back! My other story is turning out really well and I might be posting it soon, so if you want to follow me to keep an eye out for it, then go for it! 😊 Here's chapter 12!
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Darren sat watching Lucas work for several hours. It was slightly boring, but Darren was fascinated by his work. Lucas tried explaining what he was doing in the beginning, but most of the terms and processes went right over Darren's head. Now, they sat silently except for Lucas occasionally asking Darren about his condition and asking him to guess the dosage he received.
Eventually, Lucas stepped away from the lab table. "Can I take a sample of your blood?" he asked.
Darren furrowed his brow. "How are you going to do that?"
Lucas pulled a syringe out of the drawer. "With a needle," he answered simply.
Darren looked nervous. He had never had his blood drawn with a needle before.
Lucas prepared Darren's arm to have his blood drawn. He wiped off the area with disinfectant and tied a tourniquet around his upper arm. Darren watched with fascination as Lucas prepared the needle and bottles. It barely hurt when Lucas inserted the needle and Darren watched as the blood slowly made its way through the syringe and into the tube. Lucas filled three tubes with his blood before taking the needle out and wiping down the small puncture wound.
"Thank you," Lucas said as he walked back to the lab table. He put a drop of Darren's blood on a small, clear slate and placed it under a microscope. Again, it was quiet.
Later in the night, Lucas stepped away from the table with a yawn. He pulled off his rubber gloves and tossed them in a trash bin.
Darren looked at him hopefully, but Lucas' somber expression caused it to quickly diminish.
Lucas spoke, "I could identify most of the chemicals in the serum you gave me. I found traces of mercury and other neurotoxins that probably explains the decline in your mental faculties. I examined your blood and vampire blood is significantly more resilient than a human's, which is why you haven't suffered any of the more severe symptoms of mercury poisoning, and it also explains why your head felt foggy when you tried to reach out with your mind."
Darren stared, "So, what does this mean?"
Lucas sighed, pausing before saying, "It means I don't think I can help you."
Darren's heart fell. "Why not?"
Lucas stepped around the lab table and leaned against it. With his arms crossed, he continued, "I am a chemist, not a doctor. I don't know how to treat mercury poisoning in a human; you can forget about me being able to treat a vampire! All I could do was figure out what this serum was made of, but curing you…. I'm sorry."
Darren sighed and dropped his head. Although he only knew Lucas for a few hours, he had let himself get his hopes up so high. It had seemed too good to be true: a vampire ally who knew a thing or two about science was willing to help him, but now that was done, over. Darren felt his dream of being cured shatter. What was he going to do? The Festival of the Undead was 2 years away. With vampire hunters trailing him, he couldn't possibly risk leading them to vampire mountain by going back. Would he be able to lose them by then? Would he even survive that long?
He remembered when he and Gavner found the missing generals, who were all in bad shape from being hunted. One had been killed by the time they reached him. Darren wondered what had happened to the other two. They told of their plans to return to the mountain. Did they make it? Or had vampire hunters caught up with them too?
It wasn't that Darren was afraid of dying - it was vampire way to face death with honor and bravery – but Darren had hoped he would have a chance for his friends and comrades to know what became of him. He dreaded the thought of his father not knowing how or when he passed to Paradise and he certainly didn't want to die without being able to feel Larten, Kaleb, or Gavner in his mind.
Darren looked up at Lucas with a frown and drooped eyebrows. His eyes already had bags under them from being awake for so long, but the exhaustion paired with the disappointment only made Lucas' guilt worsen. Without knowing what to say, Lucas chose not toj say anything and held out the bottle of serum and the list of ingredients. Darren looked down at them, sighed, and took them in his hands. With his shoulders slumped low and his hopes even lower, he turned to leave.
"Thank you anyway," he said over his shoulder, and headed to the door.
As he approached the exit, Lucas' cellphone rang.
"Hello?" he answered. Darren didn't stick around to hear the conversation. He needed to figure out what he was going to do next. As he got halfway down the hallway, he heard the door behind him open.
"Darren?" he heard Lucas call.
Darren turned. Lucas was jogging towards him, a look of worry plastered on his face.
"What's wrong?" Darren asked.
"It's Mya," Lucas said, catching up to him. "Something happened. Will you come with me?"
Darren nodded, and the pair rushed out of the building.
The drive back was long and quiet. It was still night so the roads were next to empty. Darren was thankful that there wasn't sunlight, since cars humans drove were covered in windows. The tension in the car only increased when Lucas turned onto the street the diner was on and found it surrounded by lit up police cars and the diner was lined with police tape.
There were officers surrounding the building and a crowd of people trying to take a peek at whatever they could of what was going on inside. Darren and Lucas got out of the car and rushed over. They pushed through the crowd to get to the front. When they got there, they were shocked by what they saw. The diner's windows were shattered and the stones used to break them were scattered across the ground. Inside the diner. Darren could make out tipped tables and chairs, and the mugs that were kept on the shelves behind the counter were knocked off and shattered. All the damage was amplified as the diner stood, lit by the constant flashing of red and blue light. They shone as a spotlight on the place where Darren spent most of his free years and to see it broken hurt him more than he could admit.
But the broken windows, tables, and mugs he could deal with. Those things can be fixed and the Midnight Diner could be up and running again in a few months, but there was more. Illuminated in the flashing lights of the police cars was large, dark writing. The crude letters were clearly smeared over the brick and wood of the building quickly and sloppily, but it's message was clear as day,
"THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL FRIENDS OF BLOODSUCKERS"
Darren couldn't tell what it was written with, but whatever the liquid was, it was dark and dripped partially down the wall. As if Darren's anger wasn't high enough, he then saw something that made it swell to a blind rage he had never experienced.
The paramedics rolled a gurney out of the diner and towards an ambulance parked near the scene. On it was a still figure covered by a sheet. Lucas, who had been at Darren's side, rushed forward to the officers.
"Excuse me," he called. A twinge of panic was audible in his voice. "Excuse me!" he said louder. He was stopped by a different officer and Lucas craned his neck to get a better look. Darren rushed forward to follow and appeared at Lucas' side, but he didn't acknowledge that he was there. They overheard two of the officers talking,
"She was found in the office in the back. I think she's the manager."
Lucas and Darren froze with dread. They killed Mya. Darren was shocked. If he had thought Steve would go after an innocent woman, he would have told her to hide, but he honestly didn't think she'd be in any danger.
Darren sighed heavily, then slowly turned to face Lucas, who was still staring straight ahead. He continued staring with an unreadable expression, even after the ambulance had driven away.
"Lucas?" Darren said hesitantly. "Are you alright?"
Instead of responding, Lucas turned and walked back to his car. Darren followed, walking a pace behind him. Lucas opened his car door and paused. Without looking up at Darren he said, "They killed her, didn't they?" With the way he emphasized 'they' Darren knew who he was talking about.
"Yes," Darren answered. "I'm so sorry. If I had known they would come after her I would have…" He stopped, knowing would-haves and self-pity were useless.
Lucas looked up and met Darren's eye. "If you got your mental abilities back, could you beat them? Could you avenge my sister?"
Darren eyed Lucas carefully. "Yes…"
Lucas looked back down and took a moment to think. Finally, he said, "Then I'll help you make a cure."
"Really?" Darren couldn't mask the relief in his voice. Then his tone got serious. "Are you sure? They killed Mya because she was associated with me. They could come after you too. I would do what I can to protect you, but it still puts you in danger."
"I don't care," Lucas said. "I refuse to do nothing while those monsters are still out there."
Darren nodded. "I understand. And thank you."
Lucas finished opening his car door. "Then let's go."
When they got in the car, Darren and Lucas began creating a plan. Lucas had to arrange Mya's funeral, but after that, they would begin working on making a cure for the serum. Darren told Lucas that it was too dangerous to keep working in his lab. The vampire hunters could easily find him there.
"And the fact that I took the bottle of serum from Steve means they will probably be looking for me harder than ever in order to get it back."
They agreed to find a more hidden location. Lucas took them both back to his lab and he began packing up the equipment he would need.
"Won't anyone notice this stuff gone?" Darren asked.
Lucas replied, "Everything I'm taking is mine. I brought it with me when I started working here. They'll see my stuff gone and assume I left. They might be a little confused and that throws getting a recommendation letter out the window, but at least I'm not stealing."
Once they got everything in his car, Lucas got a call asking him to identify Mya's body. He was stone-faced as they drove back to the tiny town that used be such a happy place for Darren.
Darren prided Lucas in keeping his composure. He did not cry. He stayed focused on planning one detail at a time, keeping his mind on the tasks at hand.
Darren wanted to stay for Mya's funeral, but it was too dangerous. It would take several days to plan the service, and Darren didn't have the luxury of staying in one place for that long. He had no idea where Steve was. And he didn't know how many other vampire hunters would be coming after him, but he knew there were several people who caused the damage to the diner.
So, he told Lucas he would come back for him in a week and warned Lucas to keep a low profile until he got back to ward off suspicions and make him less of a target.
Darren traveled quickly and sporadically over the following days. He went in no particular direction and changed it constantly and abruptly. He was careful to leave as little evidence of him being somewhere as possible. While he ran, he thought back to home. He wanted nothing more than to return to Vampire Mountain where his father and friends were, but that was no longer an option. He had to stay with Lucas and he couldn't risk leading the vampire hunters to the vampires' only sanctuary.
Darren thought of the promise he made to his father before he left. He had said he would return for the next Council. The Festival of the Undead was two years away. Darren was sure that they would have this whole thing sorted by the time two years have passed…
