Dawn of the Vampires

Chapter 21; Signs of Spring

Racing up the two flights of stairs towards the apartment on the third floor, Harley stopped abruptly when she reached the door, causing Mason to almost run into her and Julian to skid on the slippery floor as he avoided crashing into them. She inspected the door closely, and her suspicions were confirmed.

"Why have we stopped? We need to get to those vials before-" Mason began, but she was quick to interrupt.

"The catch of the door has been busted open."

"Okay, so someone has been here, and it's highly likely that it was Demitri. But that doesn't mean he's found the vials or anything, for now we should stay calm and investigate further." He attempted to reassure her. "Julian, thoughts?"

Julian pushed himself up from leaning against the wall opposite and rolled his eyes. "If Demitri has been here then he most likely was able to sniff out those vials of blood and get his hands on them." He answered. "In which case, we're all screwed. You, me, Harley, and every other clueless sod in the city."

Mason shot Julian an annoyed look, but didn't bother to provoke another argument. He stepped in front of Harley and pushed open the door that was already ajar. She glanced sideways at him, and continued into the apartment.

"Alright, Julian, stay here and keep a look out for anyone coming. We need to make this fast." Mason instructed, before following Harley inside.

She walked down the narrow hallway, as if going to her bedroom, then made a swift right turn into another room; this one much bigger than her own with walls an unsubtle shade of grey and weapons hung on them like trophies, a king sized bed in the center, a closet in the corner by the window, and a desk on the other side. Memories of the past few months flooded her mind, and she swallowed hard, taking a deep breath to recompose herself. She looked over to the desk, and her eyes widened when she saw it empty.

Mason entered not even a second later, scanning the room. He frowned and looked at Harley questioningly when he saw nothing in the room. With her heart racing, she hurried over to the closet and flung the double doors open. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she was confronted with nothing but weapons inside.

"Hmm, why do I suddenly get that uh oh feeling?"

"Come and see for yourself." She told him, gesturing for him to come over to the closet.

He walked over hesitantly, and followed the direction of her stare. Once he saw no trace of any vials, he screwed his face up and kicked the side of the closet in frustration. If they were not here, then someone had gotten hold of them already. Demitri was the name that his thoughts were screaming at him, but he didn’t want to believe that they were too late.

"Is there- is there any other place he could have hidden them? I mean, a closet just seems a bit too obvious if anyone were to break in."

Harley thought this over, and got down on her hands and knees on the floor. She crawled around the room, examining the carpet closely until she found what she was looking for; a hollow point. Gripping the edge of the carpet carefully, she attempted to pull it back, but found herself unable to do so due to her weakened state.

"Uh- can you help me get this up?" She asked, her voice strained by the struggle.

As she moved away, Mason ripped up the carpet and pulled it back without a struggle, and stepped back to allow her room. She shuffled back over to floorboards, and applied pressure on a particular spot. The rectangular plank of wood creaked heavily, but gave way. Once the other side lifted partially, she grabbed it and slid it out of its groove, but the space that it left was not empty. Inside it was a gun, and a folded up piece of paper taped onto it. She looked to Mason, wanting to say something but instead remained silent as she reached out and picked up the gun.