Serum

-Twenty-Six-

I groaned. Daniel’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, THE Lana! As in, the Lana that’s your older sister that’s trying to kill you, Lana?” Daniel exclaimed incredulously.

“Yes, that’s the one.” I replied quietly.

“But I thought she was after your blood, intent upon killing you, ridding the world of your existence…” Daniel waved his arms as he expounded upon the many points. My head whipped around quickly.

“Lana’s not after me anymore, she was just here not long ago visiting.” Conner responded evasively. I frowned. So there was much more to this story

“Wha…HERE?! After the fuss you threw just because I found you? Visiting? Wait, I’m confused, LANA?” Daniel sputtered. Oh Conner was definitely going to be explaining this later.

“It’s a long story Daniel, and one that heavily involves me. Maybe one day I’ll tell you, but for now the important thing is that there might be a way to help Tara and Tod. Now when do we leave?” I diverted Daniel’s attention and Conner glanced at me gratefully.

“Now,” Conner heaved another sigh as he stood up. “Daniel you’re coming with us, but you’re going to have to cover up really well so you’re not recognized. Here, take this hat.” Conner tossed a base-ball cap at him, then a pair of sunglasses. A coat with a large fold-up collar followed, along with the fluffy scarf I had seen Conner messing with in the store that day so long ago. I let out a soft giggle as Daniel eyed the scarf with skeptical distaste.

“You expect me to wear this? Where’d you get it? From the circus?” Daniel grumbled, but was quickly silenced by a look from Conner. I laughed quietly in the background, facing the door so I wouldn’t be seen.

It felt like it took forever, but finally we were all ready to leave. I had been nervously trying to hurry the guys the entire time, twitching from foot to foot impatiently. Conner insisted that Daniel and I remain behind while he stealthily left the building to have a look around to make sure no one was waiting on us.

“All clear.” Conner called, sticking his head back in the door.

“I could have told you that.” I remarked. “All you had to do was listen very carefully, I can’t even hear the neighbors’ hearts, so even they’re still out.” Conner blushed sheepishly.

“It honestly never occurred to me.” He mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah,” I replied, a laugh trying to burst through at his sheepish look. I sobered up as I exited the building, though. Lives were in danger, and I needed to keep that in mind.

We furtively hurried down the street, Conner in the lead and Daniel behind me. I still didn’t really know the way to Lana’s house. When we left the residential areas, we all broke out in a run, racing down the street as quickly as possible. The sense of urgency once again took over, and I urged Conner and Daniel to hurry even faster.

“Wait, Adrian. Not all of us…are as fast as you.” Daniel half-gasped. “Besides, I’m exhausted.” I slowed down, looking around, confused. I hadn’t even realized I had passed Conner and Daniel up until Daniel had said that.

“How much further?” I questioned Conner.

“Not…much.” Conner responded, pausing to breathe between the words.

“How come I’m the only one not having breathing problems?” The question had popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“I told you…you’re so much more…powerful…you just didn’t…know” Conner replied, again wheezing between words.

“Then why were you so worried about me?” I demanded, unable to prevent the desire to pry.

“ADRIAN!...This is…NOT the… time for that.” Conner told me harshly.

“Ouch, excuse me! Hey! I see her car!” I yelled out gratefully, then once again sped up and left the guys in the dust.

I arrived at the doorway and waited on Conner and Daniel, bouncing in place nervously. When they caught up, Daniel doubled over and took a few deep breaths while I watched with a raised brow. Within a few seconds both of them had recovered and were breathing normally, I even listened in on their heartbeats and that was back to normal as well.

“Ready?” I asked with a grimace.

The door popped open before I could even knock.

“What are you three doing here?” Hissed Lana. “I could hear you huffing and puffing all the way down the road.” Her expression suddenly changed. The new look she wore reminded me of how a pleased scientist would look when gazing upon his or her most famous experiment. It sent an unpleasant chill down my spine. “Oh! Adrian, lovely! You finally got to come back! Took you longer than what was expected, probably your fault.” She said, giving Conner a look that clearly expressed her disapproval.

“And Daniel, what kind of trouble are you into now? And what’s with that ridiculous scarf?” Lana asked, turning on him next. Daniel angrily yanked off the scarf and glowered at Lana while Conner pushed his way inside.

“Actually Lana, that’s why we’re here.” Conner replied as he passed her on his way in. I followed cautiously behind him, and heard Daniel grumbling again about the circus scarf on his way through the door. I suppressed another giggle.

Of course Lana did not like what we had to tell her. With a forceful slam of the door she demanded again:

“WHAT!?” Rage infused the single word. Her teeth showed out from under her upper lip and I could practically hear the growl in her voice. Automatically I could feel my own body reacting to the perceived threat, my muscles tensing, and lips twitching, wanting to expose my teeth. Unconsciously I slid my feet into a more stable stance in case I needed to fight or flee.

“Just calm down will you!” Conner rolled his eyes, exasperated. “We need you to go get the twins or at least get ahold of their parents to get Tara and Tod out of school before those creeps find out where they are. We kind of snuck out here with Daniel, and he says that they were waiting on him out there where the young ones gather. If they know about or saw the rest of us, you know they’re making connections and are about ready to launch a massive hunt on a bunch of teenagers. Or at least teenage-looking vampires. And who’s to say they won’t harm some humans as well? We can’t afford this kind of attention. You know better than anyone else how long it took for us to settle into this area, and get it to where we weren’t drawing any notice.” Lana suddenly jerked, upper lip twitching.

“Don’t tell me my place, boy.” She responded viciously. “And YOU, I’m not done with you.” She shot hatefully at Daniel. Daniel flinched. I noticed he had been shrinking in on himself the entire time Lana had been glaring at us. In a blink of an eye she had disappeared from the room, although I heard her familiar voice in the next room. “Yes, that’s what I said…” Her voice faded out, and then I heard an “…all right, I’ll be right there.”

“You mean Lana actually has a telephone?” I gasped dramatically, then winked at Daniel, trying to remove some of the tension in the room. He gave a slightly nervous chuckle. Conner sighed himself onto the couch in the living room.

“Well, that didn’t go so bad now did it?” He said much too chipperly.

“Didn’t go so bad?! What are you talking about?” Daniel half-shouted. “She’s gonna kill me.” He moaned, and also collapsed on the couch. “You realize she has the power to banish me for life, or take away all of my privileges while she still rules, or turn me into an outcast, or even…” Here Daniel gulped “…rule my death would be the best solution.”

“I don’t quite think she’d be that harsh.” I protested as I sat down opposite the boys on a chair.

“You don’t know Lana…” Daniel weakly replied.

“A little better than you think, Daniel. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here today. Well, at least I wouldn’t quite be as involved, or maybe I should say the person I am today?” I mused over the problem as Daniel looked at me with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“You don’t ever make any sense do you?” Daniel asked with awe.

“No.” Conner answered firmly, for which response I quickly raced across the room and smacked him on the arm, bolting back to my seat before he could move.

“Hey, watch it! You’ve got mean little hands and sharp little finger-nails!” Conner complained. I started to respond but Lana was suddenly in front of us.

“Let’s go.” She ordered firmly, ending any further conversation on our part.