Ink

Chapter 24

"Is that why Klaus-"

"Don't be ridiculous." Klaus says from the floor."I'm not evil."

"You may not think so Klaus. But in order for the virus to take affect, there has to already be a presence of malicious intent rooted in the vamp."

"That's impossible! I've never done anything malicious at all!"

"Then why are you being affected by the virus?" Caleb asks the rhetorical question before turning to me.

"Al, you've probably been wondering why the virus has had no affect on you like it has to your cohorts?"I nod slightly. He offers me a small smile before continuing."It is because you are genuinely good. I know it sounds corny, but, it's true. There was no monster inside of you for the virus to latch on to and feed off of. You really don't have a bad bone in your body." He pauses for a moment and I allow his words to sink in. The virus feeds off of negative energy. The venom that seeps through us when we choose evil over good. "You're close proximity with blue eyes allowed you to contract the virus Klaus. And now, without proper help you'll end up just like him."

"What sort of proper help can you offer me? You did this to me!" Klaus yells and returns to pulling at his chains."I'm going to kill you!"

"Technically, you did this to yourself, Klausy. I wasn't the one that made you into a monster."

"Caleb!"

"Oh come on! He totally deserved that one!"

Klaus is now fighting desperately against his chains to get at Caleb.

"Are you saying that there's nothing we can do for him?" I ask."We can't let him turn into a monster, Caleb!"

"We won't have anything to do with it, Al. You can't save someone who's already too far gone."

"He saved the both of us and now you're just going to abandon him when he needs help?" I begin angrily."What happened to protecting those who can't protect themselves? Klaus can't protect himself right now Caleb. We have to help him."

"He can't protect himself, but he can sure as hell kill anyone in his path. That's dangerous to me, Al."

"So what? You take him away and experiment on him to see how the virus affects a vampire? Or you kill him to save him the trouble of the turn?"

Caleb stays silent. He just watches me with careful eyes.

"You know what? The Resistance may spend a lot of time claiming to be the good guys, but, anyone that would unleash a deadly virus to a population without knowing all of the details can't be that good." I say."If you were a vampire would you be affected by this virus Caleb? Would you turn into a monster because of what you've done?"

His head hangs as his eyes harden. He knows that I am right.

"That doesn't matter right now." He says. "What does is that we have an infected vampire loosing control everyday. We need to deal with him now."

"I can't do that Caleb." I move to stand in front of Klaus protectively. "I can't let you kill him Caleb."

With a heavy look, Caleb takes his gun out of its holster and slowly points it at my heart.

"I don't want to hurt you, Al. Just move out of the way."

"Caleb?" I ask quietly. "What are you-"

"I can't let you set him free." He responds." He's a danger to others."

There's a snap in the background.

"That won't be a problem anymore boy." Klaus's voice tickles the back of my neck.

As Klaus lunges toward Caleb he fires his gun.

Only, it doesn't hit Klaus.

I sink to floor and grab at my chest while blood pools around me from the wound.

"Al!" Caleb yells as Klaus begins to attack him.

As I begin to fade out of reality, I hear the faint sound of glass crashing and the thudding of boots across the floor.

~
Important chapter