Dawn of the Vampires

Chapter 21; Signs of Spring

"Harley, that's not- that's just another one of his weapons."

"No, it's not." She disagreed. "Zander wasn't just collecting vials of my blood for nothing…"

"What are you saying?"

"He was experimenting with them, trying to make a weapon that could wipe out vampires in one shot. I never thought that he would succeed but… I guess he did."

"Well, thank God we got to it before anyone else did." He smiled, relieved that they'd managed to find it before anyone else.

"Yeah." She sighed. "But this won't be any good if we don't find those vials of blood."

Mason's smile all but disappeared as he remembered the reason why they'd come to the apartment in the first place. He thought for a second, and clicked his fingers when he had an idea.

"But what if whoever broke in here didn't find them. What if Zander had hidden them before last night?"

"Too bad we can't raise his ghost and ask him." She said, rolling her eyes.

"No! I mean the note that's taped to the gun. Check the note."

"Oh." She mouthed, and peeled the note off of the gun and unfolding it.

"Well, what's it say?"

Harley waved a hand, dismissing his question for a second as her eyes scanned the paper. He watched her expression change multiple times as she read whatever was written. A firm line was replaced by a frown, and then an O shape, and then her taking her lower lip in between her teeth. It was only when she made a noise that sounded like a whimper that he knew something was up.

"Harley?" He questioned. "What's it say?"

She stood up and turned to face him, screwing the note up and shoving it into the pocket of her jeans, and the gun in her belt. "Nothing useful, but I think we should keep hold of the gun just in case."

Although he wasn't convinced, he didn't chance pushing further and instead nodded, allowing her to lead the way out of the room and apartment, back into the hall where Julian was waiting for them, still leaning against the wall.

"Ooh, would you look at that? No vials! See, I told you. We're all screwed."

"Actually, we did find something. Not the vials, but it could be related. We won't know until we've tested it."

"Great. Can we go now?"

Mason shook his head, ignoring Julian's sour mood, and taking the lead as they left the apartment block. None of them bothered to speak on their way back to the house; Julian and Mason were still mad at each other, and he was afraid to push Harley too hard over whatever she'd read in the note. The awkward silence remained until they got through the front door, and Mason slammed it shut behind them. Julian continued into the front room while Harley stopped in her tracks, only moving when both vampires were seated.

"Okay, enough! Clearly there are things that we all need to get off of our chests, so I'm just gonna go ahead and get the ball rolling." He snapped, grabbing both their attention.

"This should be good." Julian commented under his breath.

"Julian, look I'm sorry. Okay? During our conversation last night things got a little heated, and I admit that I could have handled it better." He huffed. "And Harley… whatever happened to you trying to be more open with me? I just- I thought that we had made progress."

"I am trying, Mason… and we are."

"Then prove it to me. Show me the note."

"Why? What does it matter? There was nothing important on it anyway!"