LIRA: Book I

CHAPTER TWENTY: Diary

July 1, 2051

The world dubbed it as the Plague. It wiped hundreds of people, and still no cure could be found. My advisers informed me a leader from a certain clan wanted to have a counsel with me. I had recently heard of a group of people claiming they could provide cure to this affliction we had in our hands. During desperate times, one could not help but look at all facets of solutions available at the moment no matter how comical or unconventional it may sound. This evening, I have made a scheduled meeting with someone named Magnus, who claimed to be the current King of the vampires...

Lira shut the book closed. Those vampires! They really did strike while the iron was hot. They took advantage of the situation. But then again, if it weren't for their blood, she and the rest of the people around the world wouldn't be alive today. Still, if it were not for the vampires' inherent iniquity, the people would not be at the mercy of tyrants and vampires.

She placed the journal on her desk and decided to get some sleep, hoping that sleep would help her control her rising temper against the vampires.

The following day, Lira visited Matt before heading to her class. The minute Lira stepped inside the infirmary she heard Matt's angry voice resonating inside the ward.

"I told you I don't need help, okay!" he growled.

Lira heard someone squeaked an apology. From a far she recognized Mari's outline trembling. She wanted to rescue her friend from Matt's obvious early morning grumpy disposition but she didn't want to embarrass Mari by letting her know she witnessed the commotion. So Lira hid behind a pillar when Mari, who looked like she was holding back a sob, swept past the exit. The moment Mari left Lira stormed her way to Matt's bed and smacked him in the head.

"Ouch!" Matt groaned. "What was that for?"

"You jerk! How could you do that to my friend? She was only trying to help."

"She's starting to annoy me," he said.

"Well you could have just said, 'thanks, I'm okay, I can manage' instead of hollering at her."

"Jeez. Okay! I'll do that next time."

Lira rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Matteo dela Vega. Don't make me regret saving your ungrateful life."

"You saved my life? Since when did that happen? As far as I recall, I'm the one always saving your pretty little ass."

She held her hands up and covered her ears. "I have an aversion for your choice of words; it hurts my ears. So I'd appreciate it if you'll not use those kinds of words."

Matt snorted.

"Whatever," Lira said. "Who do you think called the slayers?" She really couldn't go to the details of how exactly she saved his life.

"That's not what they told me," he said repulsively.

"What have you heard?" Did he know?

"That I am in debt to those blood-sucking bastards for killing those monsters."

Lira cringed. She knew how Matt hated the vampires. She fully understood why now that she was aware of the roles played centuries ago by both slayers and vampires. "It was my fault. If there's anyone to blame, it's me. I called Nicholas for help. I couldn't just let us both die out there."

Matt looked at her with concern. "Did those monsters hurt you?"

"The regular vampires or the Crazed ones?"

"Smart as—aleck," he grunted.

"Oh please. Those things? They couldn't even get through me," she said, waving her hand.