Truth is, I was furious with Larten! I was pacing around room cursing my-…the vampire's name.
"Calm down, Layla," Evra said soothingly, "It might not have been him."
"Then who was it?" I asked, unconvinced. The snake-boy silently looked at his feet while I continued my rant.
"What are you going to do?" my friend demanded, "Kill him?" The very thought made my heart drop into my stomach. I couldn't kill Larten even if I knew he was the killer.
"Let's say Mr. Crepsley is the killer…" Evra said carefully, "Why would he do it? Killing isn't his style; you and I both know that." I had to agree. I've never seen Larten kill someone. Then I remembered what Gavner Purl had said; he might've been sick of all the killing. I explained this to Evra and he seemed uncertain.
"Maybe these six people were vampires and he had to kill them," he argued.
"He gave up being a General long ago," I said, shaking my head.
"Maybe he joined again."
"There's a lot of 'what if's and 'maybe's," I sighed.
"Exactly," the snake-boy pointed out, "We can't kill him on a hunch. If we chop off his head and figure out we're wrong we can't glue it back on and say 'Our mistake, no hard feelings'." I had to agree with my friend, but I didn't want to kill Larten whether we were right or wrong.
"So what do we do?" I asked. After a few minutes of careful thinking Evra got an idea.
"We follow him when he goes out and find out if it's ordinary people he's killing; if he's the killer," he explained.
"Sounds good to me," I agreed. We agreed that it had to be a unanimous decision, one of us couldn't kill him if the other had doubts. In my heart I hoped and prayed that we were wrong and this was just a huge misunderstanding. I didn't want Larten to die and if he had to, I don't think I'll be able to.
Following Larten wasn't as easy as I thought at first, he was quick and quiet. He mostly stuck to the rooftops and I'd follow him while Evra stayed on the ground and we communicated by way of walkie-talkie. It was lucky for me that he had no idea he was being followed. If he had, he would go a lot faster and it'd be impossible to keep up. He would normally stand in one spot, watching the people below, possibly picking his next victim. Sometimes he'd move around a lot; he didn't have any set routes and there was no way to anticipate his next move. He could unbelievably crafty sometimes. I slept most of the day, in the same bed as Larten so he didn't become suspicious. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. Evra didn't think it was a good idea, though.
"What if he kills you," he panicked, "I can't do this without you."
"If he was going to kill me he would've done it by now," I argued. I haven't seen Debbie since that night I went over to her house. I felt really bad, but tracking Larten was difficult. Evra and I would be out all night and we had to make sure that we got back to the hotel before Larten. We followed him for weeks until he found his target. It took a while for me to figure out that he was actually following someone. I realized after he stopped a few times and looking down on the streets was the same fat man that I've seen multiple times before. I told Evra about it and he followed the fat man from afar. We followed both men to a large building; it looked like a warehouse of some sort. After scanning all sides of the building he sat down on the edge of the rooftop and waited.
"He's just sitting there," I whispered into the walkie-talkie, "It looks like he's waiting for something."
"What kind of building is it?" my friend asked. I could smell the disgusting stench of old animal blood and it was obvious what this building was from the start.
"It's a slaughterhouse," I replied. Evra didn't say anything; it was like he was thinking of an excuse why Larten was there. Apparently I was right.
"Maybe he's looking for animal blood?" he suggested after a while. I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn't see.
"So the man he followed just happened to work at a slaughterhouse?" I asked dubiously, "and that was exactly what he was looking for? He can't be waiting until it closes because it doesn't." I heard the snake-boy give a frustrated sigh.
"Don't move," he ordered, "I'm coming up." I was going to move if Larten moved whether Evra was up there or not. Evra came up a few minutes later and my head spun between the smell of old animal blood and my friend's breath, "Where is he?" I pointed toward the vampire and told the snake-boy to be really quiet. Evra's teeth started to chatter because of the cold, I felt bad for him and gave him my army jacket. All of the sudden, Larten started moving again, but, this time, toward us! I motioned to Evra to not make a sound. I would've signed it, but I didn't teach him because I never thought I'd be in this situation. Larten walked slowly across the icy rooftop in his sandals with his eyes fixed on the human. He walked right past us without notice and disappeared into the night.
"I thought we were done for," Evra said letting out the breath he had been holding.
"Me too," I admitted. I checked to see where the vampire was going and spotted him on the next rooftop trailing the fat man. I told Evra to pursue from the street and, after losing a brief argument, he complied. Larten followed the man to his apartment building, up the elevator and hid behind the corner of the hall to the man's room. When the human shut the door behind him I expected Larten to pick the lock and enter with ease; however, he simply checked each window and door. After he was done, he spun around and headed back to the elevator. I ran down the fire escape and met up with Evra to tell him what happened.
"Why didn't he go in?" he asked, "What was he waiting for?"
"If I knew the answer, then we wouldn't be out here following him," I laughed. We started to walk back to the hotel when I stopped suddenly and pulled Evra back to avoid detection. Larten was bent over a woman in a dark alleyway with his mouth connected to the crook of her neck.
"Layla…" the snakeboy whispered putting a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry…"
No," I shook my head, "he's just feeding." I laughed weakly and hoped that it was the case. Thankfully, I was. We went to check after he had moved on and she was unconscious, but very much alive with a small cut on her neck.
"Come on," I said, "we have to get back to the hotel before Larten does." Evra nodded and we broke out into a sprint. Even though I knew he was only feeding, the way he was over that woman boiled my blood.
I was lying on the couch, unable to sleep. Evra went to sleep as soon as we got back, but I couldn't. Minutes later, I heard the door creak open and shut quietly, then an audible sigh as Larten spotted me on the couch thinking I was trying to wait for him again. He walked over to me to take me to the bedroom like he's done many times before, but he was taken off-guard when he saw that I was awake.
"Layla?" he asked, surprised, "What are you doing awake?"
"I couldn't sleep," I replied numbly; it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth. I sat up and looked into his soft golden-brown eyes that I loved so much. "Do you have any idea how worried I am about you?" I wanted him to know how I feel and if there's one thing I'm good at; it's guilt trips.
"Please, Layla, not now," he said annoyed, "I am exhausted."
"What makes you stay out all night?" I asked, sounding heartbroken, "Are you cheating on me?" I could see in his eyes that there was a struggle within him to tell me something or not, but he simply sat on the couch and held my hands in his.
"Layla Shan," he said tenderly, "there is not a woman in this world that I could love more than I love you." He pressed his lips to mine and lifted me off of the couch and carried me to the bed. The guilt made me feel physically sick. I hated that I was going behind his back and following him. I only wish I could confront him without him thinking I don't trust him. Do I trust him? My head told me no, but my heart told me yes. I was torn between my love for Larten and my judgment about anything against him. I only hoped that no one is going to be hurt because of my inability to go against the man I loved.
Suddenly, I started wishing that I was a platypus again…