Kelly POV
I pick up the pan filled with fresh garlic and silver nitrate mace, carrying it over to the bucket to fill the canister Papa holds in a set of tongs. He puts in the funnel and I slowly pour in the solution. "Your hand is getting steadier kid," he praises softly, holding in a cough.
"It has to Papa, otherwise I won't be able to help," I mumble, focused on the pouring. I stop when there's half an inch left to allow for the nozzle to fit without it overflowing, letting him put it on the table so he can cough and take a swig of Jim Beam straight from the bottle. I finish putting it together, testing it to fill the pipe and make sure it works properly without clogging it up.
"What is that?" Karen asks from behind, and I glance over my shoulder to find Papa glaring at her.
I pick it up and shake the mace before handing it to her. "Fresh vampire mace," I inform her easily. "You know about them now, and you need to be able to protect yourself if one of them comes to silence you."
"They'd do that?" she asks, tentatively accepting it.
I nod easily, turning to pick up the next canister. "They'll know because Quinn knows he didn't kill you, and they pay a lot of people to know about who lives and who dies." I make sure I don't look at her again. "Do yourself a favor and get out of the city. The clans don't usually talk to one another, so you'll be safer if you're in another city. It means you'll be in someone else's territory, and they don't like it when they have intruders arriving for official business like this."
"How do I get out so fast? I don't even own a car," she asks Papa.
"That's not our problem," he informs her easily, taking the tongs and moving back to the bucket. "But the trains work, they hate rail travel. You can use the ATM safely to get cash for a ticket, but you gotta be quick." He pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. "Do yourself a favor Karen. Buy yourself a gun. If you start getting thirsty and nothing helps, and develop a sensitivity for sunlight… do yourself a favor, and use it on yourself. It's better than the alternative."
I pick up the pan and fill the second canister as Blade pulls Karen away to his car. "Do you think she'll work for bait?" I ask quietly once I hear tires squealing against the concrete.
"Oh yeah, you know how Frost works. He'll have a cop familiar try taking her out by four at her place," he comments easily. "He's probably already got someone watching her place, maybe a familiar or two dressed up as normal people. Maybe got Mercury on it."
"I hate her," I grumble, pouring the last of the mace into the can.
"I know you do, after last time," he responds softly, taking the warm can and capping it himself to test it. "Blade said you had a replacement plan for his knife."
I nod quickly. "It's got a few features for additions in the future in the hilt if you can figure it out, he liked those."
"Go fetch it, I'll take a look at it. And bring that etching solution."
Papa pushes me towards my room. "Go clean up, then go to bed Kelly, I'm going out to join Blade and maybe Karen. They've got something big on Frost this time."
I nod and cover a yawn as I stumble away to the bathroom for a shower. "Have fun Papa," I call back, going to grab my pajamas and towel.
The water is cold when I set it going, but I'm so used to it that I don't even notice or care. We've got water for a scrub, and if I want hot water I can go heat it and hope it lasts long enough for a shower or until after I'm done to warm up after getting rid of the soap. That's the only problem with living in abandoned warehouses, but all we really need is space and functioning plumbing. The rest doesn't matter.
I walk downstairs to find Karen and Papa pulling a bunch of machines and boxes from the back of a truck. "What's going on Papa?" I ask, confused that Karen is still even here.
He looks down at me with a frown. "The good doctor here needed some of her fancy tools. She's a hematologist, she might be able to help find a cure for Blade."
I perk up at that. "Really?"
Karen hums as she takes the next box from him, passing it to me when I hold out my arms for the clearly light box. "There's glass in there, she informs me, taking the next box that looks a lot heavier. "I've looked at a sample of Quinn's blood, when I was at the hospital before he bit me. It's biconvex, which isn't possible for a healthy human. I might be able to work with that and find a cure for myself, then adapt it into a cure for Blade if I've got these tools and time to study his blood."
"Cool," I comment, wide-eyed as I set down the box.
She opens it to pull out a jar of a blue solution. "Can you empty this box and set up the microscope for me Kelly?" she asks hopefully.
I nod. "I can do that. Could you teach me about what you're doing?"
She pauses, looking at me in amazement as Papa chuckles. "She's a smart kid, learns quick and doesn't miss a trick. Good with her hands."
Karen nods with a small smile, carrying another machine over to another table. "Alright then. I'll start with the characteristics of human blood…"
"What's all this?" Blade asks, coming out of his workshop with something in his hand. It looks like paper, or maybe really old parchment.
Karen turns to him with a start as she takes the last box from Papa before he climbs down and closes the truck up. "I took a trip to the hospital last night to borrow some equipment."
He hands Papa the parchment after inspecting the setup, where I've started plugging in some machines. "I took this from the archives last night."
An inhale, and I laugh at the cough. "Smells like a vampire wiped his ass with this."
"It's from the Book of Erebus," Blade informs him, and I swear I can almost hear him smirking.
Papa hums in thought. "That explains it then."
I look at them in thought. "Isn't that the vampire version of the Bible? The story of Dracula?"
Karen stops in shock. "Why am I not surprised he's real?"
"Because you thought vampires weren't real a couple days ago too," Blade answers cheekily, but in that even growl he always hides behind. He returns his focus to Papa as I crawl under a table. "What does it say?"
"It's written in blood. Something about the Spirits of the Twelve, and some vampire god called La Magra… I can't make out the rest of what this shit says," Papa answers steadily.
Blade passes something over as I crawl back out, some kind of cartridge. "Maybe this'll help."
"Maybe," Papa mutters, sticking it into a slot on the computer before turning to us. "I need to look at the pawn shops. Need more silver and old knives."
"I'm making a run downtown for more serum now," Blade informs us.
"Wait," Karen calls as she grabs something from another box. "I need a sample of your blood."
He shakes his head in the negative. "It can wait."
As he goes to head to his car, Papa stops him with a hand on his chest. "No kid, this is important. It'll only take a few minutes." He limps away to the storage area where we keep all the cash and valuable stuff we take from the vampires for these kinds of trips.
Blade takes off his jacket as I move to open the program on the computer, listening to Papa's harsh coughing from across the warehouse. "Is he sick?" she asks softly.
"Cancer," Blade answers softly, and I fight not to cringe at the words being spoken so easily.
"You must care about him a lot, you and Kelly," she murmurs soothingly, and it makes me feel better.
Blade looks up at Karen for a long moment. "He's all we got."
She removes the needle easily, the vial full of blood. "My mom always used to say, 'a cold heart's a dead heart.' Maybe that's what happened for you."
So, because so many people have been demanding updates for this story more than any others, and because I decided to spend today watching Blade 1 a dozen times before moving to Blade 2, I decided to crank this out. You got lucky that this update is as long as it is, it almost got left at under 1000 words. I'm already working on the next chapter, it'll be the transition into Blade 2, or at least some flashes in the end of Blade 1 and the time between to the start of Blade 2.
Have a good night, hope you enjoyed, and please leave a comment!