The Price of Blood

Chapter 34

Dawn comes.

We have reached the end of the tunnel, and relief has still not yet flooded me. Outside, there could be one of two things; a gang of vampires who want to kill Lauren, and maybe me as well, or a gang of hunters who want to kill me, and maybe Lauren too. However those maybes are my decider. If there is a smaller probability that Lauren will not die, I have to take that chance. I owe to her, to Kenny, to everyone.

"This is it then?" She asks me, and I nod slowly.I 

grab the key from my pocket and screw my face up in concentration, almost trying to hide my stress and terror. I think she notices it, but she does not comment. Our kiss is probably still fresh in her mind, and I don't want to push anything. I try to relax and gently turn the key. The tunnel door creaks open, and a surge of cold wind chills my bones as the freshness and stillness of the outside overwhelms me. No noise or shouts though. Just terrible, terrible silence. The silence scares me more.

I grab my knife instinctively as we creep into the dark. A twig crackles underneath my feet as we venture through the forest. Then I feel a pistol at my head. My heart stops.

"Get on the ground, vamp." The guy spits, and I find myself filled with some twisted sort of relief that maybe Lauren will be okay, "don't try anything stupid, or this bullet goes straight into your messed up cranium."

I have been threatened so many times before, it is no longer surprising. I listen to the man, who is obviously from Brooklyn, and get on the ground, my hands immediately bound with rope. I almost laugh. The AAVDL still have a lot to learn.

It is then that I see Lauren being treated the exact same way, and my heart does a bellyflop into the bottom of my stomach.

"She has nothing to do with this." I say, quickly beginning to panic, "I'm the vamp, kill me."

The guy from Brooklyn shakes his head in irritation and disbelief.

"This chick isn't a vamp? She sure smells like one." he retorts, "you are a nasty piece of lying shit aren't you?"

"Language Corporel..." I hear a familiar voice drifting through the trees, "and I know this girl, we know each other."

The guy from Brooklyn shoots me an ugly look.

"Corporel." commands the familiar voice.The Corporel spits at my feet and then leaves the circle."Untie this woman." Instructs the Commander, however he points his gun at me."You'd better have a good reason for why you are here, in our territory, Mr Dean."

A gasp goes around the assembly of soldiers, who I keep noticing creeping in to hear the conversation.  "Jake?" I see one mouth, their eyes wide.

"No." The Commander replies, "his little brother. Bradley."This causes even more of a commotion. The Commander indicates for silence and allows me to reply. A million responses whirl through my head, making me sick with the adrenaline.

"Me and Lauren, we escaped." I begin, "my brother has become heartless and cruel-"

"He has been heartless and cruel for the last century." The Commander says disdainfully.

"I know, please, this is the truth." 

My reasoning is a little rusty, but then an idea strikes me, "I know you have no reason to trust me, but I am asking you to remove your MindScreen so I can show you what I mean."

The Corporel is astonished and angry, and he makes it known.

"Are you bat shit crazy?!" He yells, his face contorted with fury, "Commander, this guy is mental. Lock him up in the fucking asylum."