The Immortal Blood

Chapter 36

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"Todd! I should probably say, 'what a surprise!', but that would probably sound too theatrical." The Elder one had smiled, studying the figure that was standing on the doorstep in front of him.
"Really, Vernon? That's the best you can do?" Todd had moved aside, pointing at Dimitri's charred body behind him. "WHY?"
"Ah, that. I guess you figured out who he is, though it mustn't have been easy, given his current conditions..."
"Christ, Vernon! He didn't do anything to you."
"Didn't he? Just like you?" Foley had stepped onto the porch, the wound Adam had inflicted on his neck almost nonexistent.
"I saved your life, you asshole, the least you could have done..."
"And I gave you longevity, Todd. Don't deny it, hadn't it been for me, with your lifestyle, you would've been rotting deep underground today."
"So you think we're EVEN?" Valentine almost spit out the end of the sentence, disgusted.
"Not at all. You were denying me the source of eternal life, and for what? A good laid! The boy enticed you with his skills, you let yourself be seduced by the call of his blood, and decided to keep him only to yourself, just to be able to fuck him whenever you wished." Vernon had lunged straight at him, threatening, forcing him back onto to the lawn.
"Adam is a free man, and everything that happened has nothing to do with the Immortal blood! Did Dimitri really deserve death for this?"
"Dimitri chose to turn against me, just as you did."
"Then why am I not dead yet?" Todd had challenged him, more and more enraged by their exchange.
"There was no reason." Vernon had looked at him with ill-concealed satisfaction. "Once I had the boy, I knew you'd come looking for him."
"You bastard... what did you do to him? Where is he?" Todd had pierced him with his eyes, barely holding his anger back .
"Nothing, of course. I need him in good health." The Elder one had shrugged with an annoying grin. "Too bad the same can't be said of you at this point. Now that he's here, I'll make sure he doesn't fall into the wrong hands again."
"Wrong hands!" Valentine had hit a patio crossbar so hard that the broken beams had fallen in a thunderous crash on the floor. "There couldn't be worse hands than yours, you filthy murderer!"
"I see you still think you're better than me, Todd, but all those guys you drained and were never heard of again, had families too..."
"I know that." Todd had swallowed with difficulty, his rage turning for a moment into regret. "But unlike you, I'm not proud of it."
"You're so predictable, I really couldn't tell what I thought I saw in you the day we met." Foley had watched him with open contempt. "You were discreet in bed, but nothing exceptional, and you caused me nothing but trouble."
"Christ, Vernon, I've spent years of my life believing you, letting you and your pettiness manipulate me. But you know what? This is the last time you fuck with me."
"Why, because you've come all the way up here to try to KILL ME, maybe? You, and dear Alexandra." The older vampire had caught him off guard, with an hateful smile. "You look surprised! And yet it wasn't at all difficult to notice how she was following me down the road earlier. At last, the two of you united by a common grudge..."
Shit. They hadn't planned this, yet it was typical of Vernon to produce unexpected twists and turns.
"Don't bother denying it, but I'm sure Axel's waiting for your signal in the backyard too, am I wrong?"
"What the fuck," Valentine had let slip, his sister's plan evidently gone up in smoke.
"Yes, you should have asked me about him when we talked about Dimitri, but you were always a lousy chess player anyway. Now you're all exactly where I wanted you to be."
"Son of a bitch... It was all an act!"
"Your sister has always been a thorn in my side, difficult to eradicate: she's cunning, but given the influence she has on you, I've long quenched my thirst for revenge. It wasn't easy at all, believe me." The Elder one had confessed, bitterly. "The boy is the chance I've been waiting for a very long time to get rid of this 'coven'."
"I should have left you in that goddamn fire, God help me, I don't know what the fuck was I thinking when I chose to run back to save you!"
"It's not complicated, as much as it might disgusts you to admit it right now, you LOVE me, Todd. I gave you everything you ever dreamed of: a career, acceptance for who you were, fame, money, sex... I've been a father, a confidant, a lover. And for that, even now, in spite of Dimitri, your sister, even Adam, you still revere me."
Valentine had watched Vernon in silence, the words of his creator cutting him as deep as razor blades.
"It's hard to accept, but you know better than me that I'm telling the truth, which is why, even today, you couldn't hide your true intentions from me."
"Fuck..." Todd had closed his eyes, realizing to his horror that Vernon was right about everything.
"You can't destroy me, I'm part of you, more than your sister or the boy will ever be."
"His name is ADAM, Vernon. And I'm so sorry, but now I see you for who you really are." He'd taken a step in his direction, improvising. The plan was off, he might as well take the satisfaction of landing a few hits before being overpowered. "All the people I've killed... Where were YOU? You talk about them a lot, so you had to you know... you KNEW, didn't you?"
"What would you like to hear me say, Todd? That it's not your fault, that I'm responsible? It's all your doing, not mine."
"You could have stopped me! I didn't know what the fuck was happening to me, for Christ's sake, and you let me make a goddamn bloodbath!" Valentine had planted himself inches away from the Elder one's face, shaking with rage.
"What exactly do you want me to say?" Vernon had squared him away with ill-concealed disdain. "Sure, I could have, but to be honest, I didn't care. Your transformation had never been on the agenda, as your dear sister provided to let you know."
"Yes, you only took care of me when you realized you could use me..." Todd had felt his hands snap shut in two fists. He was about to lose his temper.
"You were out of control, the only other option would have been to kill you, and in retrospect, I should have, even though then, I would've never met ADAM."
"You fucking worm... why don't you go ahead and try?" Todd had challenged him. If he was going to fall, he was going to fall fighting, and so he did what he was supposed to do best, get into action. Letting go every pretense of civility, he hurled himself with all the force he had on Vernon, causing him to fall to the ground beyond the door frame, into the house. He had to gain time, at least to allow Alexandra and Adam to escape, everything else no longer mattered.