Page 65 of Love Bleeds
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ineeded to find a way to kill Nicolai. It was our only viable option.
Even though I had never ever thought about killing anyone, the idea didn’t disturb me. Not when it was Nicolai. Which didn’t mean that it was going to be easy.
My dad had taught me there were several ways to kill a vampire if one needed to, but that it was best never to engage.You don't play the hero, you run,he used to tell me, and I'd nodded dutifully every time.
Mostly because I hadn't believed in vampires.
Now I was in love with one.
I was pretty sure there was something in Murphy's Law about that, but never mind that now.
I needed to brush up on my vampire knowledge. Forget about studying for college while all of this was going on. The only books I needed right now were my dad's old journals.
Luckily, my siblings had already organized them for me. All the books were stacked up on one of the shelves in the living room. Ten journals, some smaller notebooks and five differently colored folders, one for each of us. My siblings had stuck little post-it notes on the backs of the journals, describing their contents. I pulled the book that said 'Defense against Vampires'.
It was then that I noticed one of the folders was missing. Remy's folder. Idly, I wondered if he'd taken it up to his room with him, but I couldn't allocate too much mental energy to the thought.
I had a quest, after all.
Taking the notebook, I sat down on the couch and flipped it open in my lap. There was something almost painfully nostalgic about seeing Dad's handwriting. In most of my memories, he was scribbling away in one notebook or another, always jotting his thoughts down.
Now they were all that remained of him.
I paged through the notebook, wondering if Dad had really been scared all his life. That one day vampires might come after us the way they did now. It was a tragic thought. He'd spent all his time trying to prepare us for the worst and then when it came to pass, we'd been lost anyway. We hadn't believed him.
But how could we have?
"I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered, as if there was any way he could hear me. It was too late for apologies, though. Now, the only thing I could do to make up for past mistakes was to prepare myself.
I flipped back to the beginning of the journal and started reading. After a few minutes, I stopped to pull out my phone so I could make notes. My siblings had already done some of the work for me, marking relevant passages.
Vampires were photosensitive. The sun didn't necessarily burn the older ones unless they suffered long exposure, but their eyes remained weak to bright lights. It wouldn't kill them, but it might give one enough time to run away.
Useful information to know, but not good enough. I didn't need time to run away, I needed to kill a vampire.
I turned a few more pages and found some more interesting sections. A stake to the heart wasn't the only way to get rid of a vampire. They also didn't survive having their heads chopped off.
Picturing myself with a machete, I shuddered.
Hadn't Aldrich taken that one vampire's head off with a blade during the attack when Damian was taken?
He’d made it look so easy.
I made a note on my phone, even though I wasn't sure this was a good option for me. I wasn't a walking encyclopedia on vampires, but I knew a few things. Like that they were way faster and stronger than regular humans--even humans who weren't nerds. I wouldn't stand a chance at landing a physical blow.
My brother had roasted a vampire with his magic, but I had no idea how he'd donethat. He told me he wasn't even sure himself. So, while magic death-beams were a great idea, they weren't reliable.
I looked at the notebook again. My dad had listed dead man's blood as poisonous to vampires, but also noted that it would take great quantities to be lethal. Mostly it only stripped a vampire of their magic for a short time.
The last option Dad had jotted down as 'effective but hard to control' was fire. Vampires could burn.
I mulled that over in my head.
Taken by themselves, none of these options sounded great, but maybe if I put a few of them together...
Discarding the notebook, I jumped up from the couch and made my way over to the dining room were some of my siblings were having breakfast. Remy, Elena and Jared all turned to look at me when I strode in.
