Fear and Blood

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Outside Ly's room Val sighed and leaned against the door. Damon gave him a concerned look, but said nothing.

“We're in trouble,” Val said slowly, fixing Damon with his steady gaze. The other vampire only nodded waiting for the doctor to continue. “Ly's in serious danger, of that I'm sure, but I don't know where it's going to come from.”

“What do you mean 'where it's going to come from'?” Damon asked, confused. “I would think it's obvious. The vampire hunters that went after Lord Tristan will come after Lord Ly. But this time they'll have to come through me first.”

Val ignored his friends last statement, choosing to focus on the matter at hand. “If you think about it for a moment, doesn't it seem strange that a vampire hunter was able to discover the whereabouts of this countries most powerful vampire when even most of our kind didn't know where he was.”

Damon nodded, looking uncomfortable. “I may not be the smartest vampire around,” he said slowly, lowering his deep voice slightly, just in case anyone else was around to here them. “But I know when something isn't right. I know that the hunter must have had inside help, but who would do such a thing? I can't believe that anyone around here would want to hurt Lord Tristan. Lord Ly has a lot more enemies and he would be easier to get to. If I wanted to make some trouble I would go after Lord Ly first, that would have seriously gotten to Lord Tristan.”

“Maybe whoever it was was thinking that Lord Ly would make enough trouble on his own if his brother was out of the picture,” Val replied thoughtfully. He was thinking about what Ly had said only moments before about getting blamed for Matthew Scott's murder. “That, or maybe they thought they could pin these latest vampire attacks on Lord Ly more easily if Lord Tristan wasn't around. Look how easy it was for him to take the blame for Scott's murder.”

“So you don't think he did it?” the taller vampire said, eyes narrowed, as if waiting for Val to say something against Ly.

Val only shook his head. “No, I'm almost certain it wasn't him, and he seems sure that it was Nicator, but we don't really have the time to speculate right now.”

“You're right,” Damon said. “What matters is that Lord Ly is safe. He's the last of the Aleron bloodline so his protection is all that matters right now. Would I be right in guessing that you brought that girl here because you're going to try and get Lord Ly out?”

The doctor nodded before explaining about the note that was left for Rome. He was still wondering why he felt that they could trust it. It might just be a trick to try and get Ly out in the open, away from the protection the vampire community offered.

“All right, I'll help,” Damon said shortly, after Val was finished with his explanation. “What do you need me to do.”

“Stand still while I hit you,” Val replied, keeping his face completely straight even though his words sounded ridiculous. “I want to make it look like Ly got away himself. You'll tell the people who find you that I left with the girl, sometime after that Ly opened the door. You tried to get him to go back inside but he managed to knock you out. Got it.”

Damon just nodded. To an outsider it would seem ridiculous that an injured vampire like Ly could overpower someone like Damon, but Damon was among the few who knew how powerful the Aleron family really was. Even injured, Ly could still kill him.

Val hesitated slightly before asking his next question. “Would you also do me a personal favour Damon?” he asked slowly, looking nervous. “After you come round and no-one's monitoring, will you please go to my house and tell my wife to take Asta and go visit my parents for a while. I have a feeling I don't want my family around for this.”