Fear and Blood

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

How could I have been so stupid? Rome thought angrily. She was still sitting on her lounge in her apartment, looking in the direction of the television, but not really seeing it. It was so obvious, all the signs were there and she couldn't believe she missed them. The reason why all his classes were at night, the reason he felt so strongly about the vampire human issue, the reason people hated and feared him, the way he lost control. Why didn't I see it before?

No, she thought suddenly, there still might be a chance I'm wrong. This could all be a coincidence. There might be other reasons. There were definitely other people named Tristan in the world. Maybe he wasn't a vampire. Maybe...

She didn't want to believe it, even thought she knew it was true. She didn't want to believe that the man she had spent so much time with could be a vampire. Not because she hated their kind, but because she knew that tthey would never truly befriend humans. Live in peace, yes, as equals, maybe, as friends, never. Once people found out what he was their relationship would never be what she hoped for.

People were afraid of vampires. That was the heart and soul of the problem. People were afraid and most would never see vampires as any more than a predator, something that meant them harm. People were afraid even when they didn't know vampires were around. Rome's father had called it primal fear, a survival instinct.

Maybe that's why I never suspected him, Rome thought sadly. I was never really afraid of him, nervous, but not afraid, but then, I wasn't afraid of Val either. Maybe there's just something wrong with me.

Rome frowned and forced herself to think about the point she had been avoiding. What did this new information mean to her? Did she feel any differently about Ly now that she knew that he was a vampire? Did this change anything?

She shook her head as tears came to her eyes. No, Ly was still the person she had first run into, the person who tutored her, the person who went with her to the formal just because she wanted him to. She still felt the same, nothing had really changed.

Except now she knew what kind of trouble he was really in.

* * *

Inspector Milo Peters turned off the evening news and sighed. Sitting in his office in the cities largest police station, he could feel the tension in the air. All of the officers around him were on edge, made uneasy by the unfolding hostilities.

First the two security guards at Marcus Taylor's political rally had been killed, then a number of high ranking politicians and now the leader of the countries vampires. Something huge was starting and he couldn't help the feeling that he was going to be more involved than he liked.

“Inspector?” An officer entered Milo's office, placing a large stack of paperwork on his desk. “We just got back from Matthew Scott's place.”

“And?” Milo said, draining his cup of coffee before slamming the mug down on his desk. “Did he confess to the murder? Did he enlighten you as to why a vampire hunter killed the most important vampire in this country? Did he tell you what the hell is going on!?”

“No Inspector,” the officer said, looking a little startled by his superiors questions. “He said he didn't know what the vampires where talking about and that he was home the night of the murder.”

“Of course he was,” Milo said, shaking his head. “You didn't find anything incriminating at all?”

“Well there's not much we can do, without having spoken to the vampire witnesses we don't have enough evidence to warrant a search on his home. We can bring him in for questioning, but I doubt he'll give us anything. Considering his political ties we probably shouldn't even waist our time.”