Broken Youth

Chapter 48

~ Chapter Forty-Eight ~

••Harry••

I looked across at the computer screen, projected onto the huge screen in the lounge. Zayn and Ash had spent all morning trying to work out the old technology that hadn't been used since 2015. I grinned as the pixilated image of Luke and Meg appeared, everyone in the room applauding as the two grinned.

"It's good to see you lot again." I couldn't wipe the smile of my face as Luke spoke, his accent loud through the inbuilt speakers of the room.

"I missed you, H." Meg blew a kiss and I pretended to catch it as Cal plonked down next to me, notes on a piece of paper.

"I missed you too, baby girl." She blushed.

"Right, we've got a lot to discuss, so lets get down to business." Calum directed the conversation, nodding at Louis as he cleared his throat.

"I assume you two got the news of the baby all well and good? And you understand that?" The two on the screen nodded. "Well, we need to first address how Lauren died and how to fix that. We can't bring her back to life, but we can prevent that same thing happening to anyone else."
"You mean to say, that this could happen to all of us?" Jess cuddled closer to Niall. She had a fever.

"All apart from Meg." Louis looked over at me with hard eyes. "Unless Harry changes her, and then we're all in big trouble."

"Unless we fix this mess." Calum spoke up.

"What killed her?" Luke's voice was animated and croaking.

"A sickness; the same on that turned us into what we are and killed hundreds of others in the process of becoming what we are." Luke nodded slowly at Cal's words. "Lauren died because the sickness that turned us into vampires, slowly 'wore out' and started to cause her to bleed internally, change the PH of her acids and basically try and turn her back to human form."

Louis took over. "And that's impossible to do without killing the person. Our bodies may be strong, but they cannot change form again; it killed hundreds the first time."

"Why did she die first? What's so special about her?" Megan seemed intrigued.

"She was the first vampire ever to exist. Besides Liz." Luke tensed, his eyes dropping. Ren shifted in her seat, her whole body seemly straining to be with him. I smiled over at her.

"What happened to Liz?" Meg was out the loop; she hadn't got a clue.

"She was Luke's mother. She was the first vampire ever to exist but died soon after turning into one, because her body was weak and the sickness was strong." Louis answered, smiling kindly at Luke.

"How soon?" God she was persistent.

"5 years." Luke whispered, yet it still boomed through the room.

"But we can cure the illness." Calum spoke confidently. "You may all hate me for knowing that Lauren was, one day, going to die, but she swore me to secrecy and honestly, I didn't realise it was going to be so soon. But before she died she did research. She knew as soon as she started throwing up blood after every meal, that she was sick and that she was so sick she was going to die. She was close to Liz and Liz knew the sickness existed and that it would eventually be the thing that kills all vampires. And so Lauren paid attention when Liz spoke of the illness and so knew what to do, what to read and who to tell. She told me when she knew what to do and what exactly was happening to her. There is a cure. We all must take it to save us. It's in central Australia. In the middle of nowhere. But I know where to go and what to do, so at the end of this trip that is where we are going, because I'm not going to risk another persons life for something we can stop. I loved Lauren with every bone in this body of mine, and she didn't die for nothing; she died for us."