DEAD SEED (AKA "Vampires Don't Exist")

THIRTEEN: Death of the Undead

"What the hell happened in here?" Aimeric said from the doorway, eyeing Morgan.

Aralyn's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. She tried hard not to think of the events from earlier. Instead, she imagined herself in the bath in case Aimeric was prying.

"I'm not sure. I came out and found him like this," she lied.

Aimeric looked at her skeptically as he closed the bedroom door. "How long had you been in the bath?"

"I don't know, less than an hour, maybe?"

"I asked you to go back to resting, why are you only now getting back into bed?" He was taking slow deliberate steps. She hated when he did that; it was terrifying.

"I tried," she said, the lies coming quickly, "I couldn't go back to sleep with him in here."

"Why is that?"

"To be honest, he makes my skin crawl." At least that wasn't a lie.

Aimeric chuckled. "Indeed. He is rather repugnant, isn't he? Tell me one more thing, my sweet." He stood in front of her now and, without warning, grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, his upper lip curling so that his fangs were bared and threatening. "Why do you seem so nervous?"

She thought she had been doing a good job of being calm. Apparently not. She winced at the pain of his fingers in her shoulders.

"I um ... I was worried...." She glanced at Morgan, trying to think of something.

"About him? A creature you so loathe?"

"I hate him, but I don't want to see him hurt," she lied quietly, trying to avoid Aimeric's threatening glare. Truth was, she didn't care about Morgan's wellbeing in the least. But she couldn't tell Aimeric she was nervous because she was scared he might find out what she had just done with Virgil.

He scrutinized her, trying to pry into her mind. She focused on thinking of her bath.

"You're not planning anything are you, Aralyn?" He finally asked after a moment.

"No, of course not," she whispered, eyes beginning to water.

His grip loosened but he still held onto her. "Good. That's very good because if you were, that would be extremely foolish. I don't think I have to remind you of the consequences, do I?"

She shook her head quickly.

He let her arms drop then and turned to face Morgan next. Aralyn let out a breath of relief. She watched him carefully as he leaned down and grabbed the sleeping vampire by his shirt, jerking him from the floor and growling a rude awakening.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Morgan jerked awake, eyes shooting open; terror spreading across his face.

"I, uh ... what's going on?

Aralyn's heart dropped as she realized he was no longer drunk. How had the alcohol worn off already? Now he would be able to tell Aimeric what Aralyn had done to him.

"What's going on?" Aimeric mocked. "You decided to have a little nap on duty. What were you thinking?" He dropped the confused vampire back to the floor.

Morgan stood on shaking legs and pointed a finger at Aralyn. "No, she tried to kill me!"

Aimeric laughed as if the idea were preposterous. "Aralyn is a human, I doubt she could overpower even you."

"It's true," Morgan gasped, "dropped a knife right into my heart."

"Not a knife, scissors," Aralyn interrupted.