Thanks for waiting, even if it wasn't patiently. I've been up to my ears in school work. I'm studying to be a vet, so I have to work really hard. Anyway, I hope you like it!
Chapter 11- The Preparation
Sydney's plane was to leave for France in an hour, and that time couldn't have been coming any faster. There was too much that she needed to accomplish within that time, and she had to do it quickly.
Her first stop would also be the most difficult. She had to talk to her father. Sydney thought about every other alternative, but every conclusion led back to the fact that she would need his help.
Of course she couldn't tell him all the details. This would be a need-to-know conversation, and Sydney was determined to make sure that her father would need to know very little. Besides, his knowing probably wouldn't be helpful in retrieving the artifact.
She approached her father's desk in SD-6 headquarters. When Jack looked up, she made a quick glance towards one of the side rooms, signaling that she needed to speak with him in private.
Jack, understanding, made a quick nod as he rose from his chair. Their private entrance into the room went unnoticed as anything conspicuous. Hopefully.
After closing the door behind them, Sydney sat across from her father and was silent until he got his pen out. The bug killer would only last for a few minutes, and hopefully that would be all the time she needed. Extra time was something she couldn't afford.
"Dad, I know I can't talk long, so you'll just have to listen. I can't tell you all the details, but I need you to just and trust me."
Her father gave her a sidelong glance, as if considering her words, but it didn't take him long to nod in agreement, although he looked quite uncomfortable doing so. He wasn't the kind of man to accept things without explanations.
"I promise that I'll explain all the details when I can, but right now I need you to help me get the artifact that Sloane wants. All I can tell you is that Vaughn's life may depend on it." Desperation riddled Sydney's voice, and her body language also clearly reflected this.
The curiosity in Jack was torturing him. Every part of his being was telling him to ask questions, but the urgency he heard in his daughter's voice held his tongue.
"I'll speak with Sloane and request to come on this mission."
Sydney let out a sigh of relief.
"I'll create some sort of diversion to give you a chance to take the artifact."
Sydney nodded as a response.
"But afterward, I expect a full explanation."
Sydney knew that that would be an interesting conversation, but right now she didn't have a choice.
"Of course."
Jack nodded. "Do you have a plan for getting the artifact without Sloane noticing or suspecting something?"
"I have an idea," Sydney answered with a small smile, "but I'm going to need your help."
Meanwhile, at the hospital, the situation in Vaughn's room remained pretty much unchanged. Vaughn was sound asleep his his hospital bed, the beeping of the heart monitor in a steady sync with his slow breathing.
Weiss on the other hand, was a little less serene.
He held a book in his hand, seemingly passing the time while waiting for word from Sydney or his superiors.
Although the book was in his hand, he had barely read more than a page. His eyes kept scanning the same couple of paragraphs over and over, clearly indicating that his mind was somewhere else. Another indicator of this was the fact that he kept glancing over at his best friend almost every other second.
A few hours passed in this quite, yet tense atmosphere, and finally Vaughn began to stir.
Weiss looked up sharply from the book he was barely reading when he saw the slight movement from Vaughn's bed. As Vaughn's eyes fluttered open, Weiss but the book behind him and stood up slowly.
"Dude, you awake?"
Vaughn looked around as if getting his bearings on where he was, but it was only a second before his eyes became wide and he sat straight up in panic.
"Whoa, whoa, dude, it's alright, calm down," Wiess said quickly, although making sure to keep a safe distance.
Vaughn relaxed a bit, but he was still breathing quickly, and staring straight ahead as the memories flooded back to him.
The feelings and emotions within him were in so much conflict that the only thing he could resign himslef to do was bury his head in his hands and let out a long moan.
It's not possible, it couldn't be happening. It's something out of a horror story. It's not possible.
But you did, he thought back to himself.
You drank human blood.
Thinking back, he knew that's what Sydney had given him to ease the excruciating pain he had been feeling. Somehow, against all logic, she had figured out what to do to help him.
He remembered what he had almost done to that nurse. He remembered the satisfaction after he had downed the glass Sydney had given him, and he remembered the look on her face right before he had slipped back into unconsciousness.
It was a face he'd rather forget.
"Vaughn..."
"Stay away," he begged. He didn't want to hurt someone, especially someone he cared about. He could still feel whatever it was inside, and it was getting closer to the surface as Vaughn's panic increased.
Weiss stayed a couple feet away, ready to move if he had to.
"Look, man. I know something happened last night. I don't know what. Sydney wouldn't tell me, but since I don't see any corpses laying around, it couldn't be that bad, right?" Weiss's attempt at humor was a crash and burn. He saw Vaughn's body stiffen.
"Ok, ok," Weiss started quickly, putting a hand out in front of him, giving another attempt at the whole calming down thing. "Sydney's out trying to do something, and your best bud's here, so just take a deep breath and relax."
Vaughn took his advice and took a long, deep breath, willing himself to clam down.
It was working. His panic, as well as whatever it was, started to recede.
"Okay," Vaughn gasped. He slowly took his hands off his head. "Okay," he repeated, making sure it was true.
"You good, man?" Weiss asked, still not moving from his current position.
"Yeah," Vaughn answered in a shaky voice, "Yeah, I think so." Vaughn seemed under control, but Weiss could see that he was still shaking, either from memories or...something else.
Either way, Weiss pulled up a chair next to Vaughn's hospital bed, ready to try and cheer his friend up.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Vaughn broke it.
"Weiss, I don't know what to say." He sounded defeated.
"I know," Weiss answered, "What do you say when something impossible happens, and I don't mean highly improbably. I mean absolutely one-hundred percent impossible."
"You mean impossible like a man from five hundred years ago predicting events that are happening today?"
"Well, uh, yeah."
Vaughn turned to look at him, but then his quick glance turned into an angry glare.
"What?" Weiss asked, taking a defensive posture, "What did I do?"
Weiss then noticed that Vaughn wasn't looking at him, but right behind him. Wiess turned his head around to see what he was looking at. It was the book that was still on the chair behind Weiss.
Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Weiss turned his head to look back at Vaughn, who was still staring at the book. Weiss began to scoot his chair over to hide the book from Vaughn's view, but with this act he was quite conspicuous.
"Informational reading?" Vaughn asked coldly.
"Um, well, you see, I kinda, uh..."
Vaughn raised one eyebrow.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Weiss finally said, waiting to be ridiculed, or possible have his throat torn out.
But instead of taking Weiss's head off, Vaughn started showing hints of a smile at the corners of his mouth, and soon, he started laughing.
It was now Weiss's turn to raise an eyebrow, was Vaughn also starting to loose his mind as well?
Vaughn stopped laughing after a minute, as if the reality of it began to come back to him.
"Yeah, okay, bad idea. It's just that, well, everything that's happening is so..."
"Crazy?" Vaughn finished.
Weiss nodded.
Vaughn lay his head back on his pillow and looked up at the incredibly unremarkable ceiling tiles.
"Tell me about it," Vaughn added.
An uncomfortable silence followed, as if neither knew what the best next thing to say should be, which was probably the truth.
The still state of the room was changed when Vaughn began to grimace. Weiss thought that at first he just had a headache, but then he knew it was something more serious when Vaughn grabbed his head and grunted.
Weiss jumped up from his chair and didn't know whether to move towards his friend or away from him. He seemed frozen as he debated what to do. Should he call for a nurse? No, bad idea. He would have to help Vaughn himself.
"Dude, talk to me," he tried waiting for a response, but Vaughn still had his head down, taking slow, ragged gasps.
Weiss reached over to put his hand on Vaughn's shoulder, but at that moment, Vaughn's head snapped up.
Weiss jumped back in surprise, but his shock was nothing compared to what he felt when he looked at Vaughn.
He didn't understand it when Sydney had described it to him, didn't quite get it when she tried to impress what it looked like.
Deep black eyes stared back at Weiss, and Vaughn spoke in a low voice.
"Sydney's in trouble."
I thank my the people who have read my story and who have reviewed it. If you're wondering why it's taking such a long time, it's because I'm losing motivation. There are less and less reviews, and it would really help to receive feedback from people, either good or bad. So please help motivate me! I really hope to post the next chapter soon.