Chapter 48 - A Risky Proposition

I could not stop thinking about Evan, and somehow convincing Damon to differ gassing Akbur Hills. Damon did not come back the night of, but the next day, he marched in sometime after seven pm and headed straight into the council room. I met with Maria in the foyer.

"What's happening?"

"There's another pack meeting happening," she said.

"Do you know what's it about?"

"Not yet, I'll know when I bring them some waters. Have you spoken to him at all?"

"He hasn't been home."

Luke strut inside alongside three others I recognized from the party.

"Ava," he nodded at my presence. I bowed my head and smiled.

"Hello Luke."

He disappeared into the room, the others right behind.

"That's everyone. I'm gonna go prepare the snacks and waters," Maria said and hurried off.

I waited until she had disappeared and pressed my ear up against the door.

"What do you want us to do with the human boy you had us cage?" Someone asked and I immediately understood that they were referring to Evan.
He's still alive, I thought with intense relief.

"Release him back into Akbur Hills," Damon's said," there's no point in keeping him caged."

"What about Akbur Hills, shouldn't we placed a few Emantors in there by now."

"There's an issue with the Emantors that should be fixed by later today or tomorrow. Blake from the Doll lab is working on it-"

"But the vampires, they can attack at any moment now."

"I doubt they will attack after the hybrids slaughtered every single one of them," this time it was Luke," they will, eventually, but it won't be today or tomorrow."

"Are we willing to take that risk?"

"For now, we have no choice but to wait for Blake and his team to get the Emantors back up and running. As soon as we have the okay, we'll gas Akbur Hills."

My heart sank and I jumped up at a hand on my shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Maria hissed, tray of water and snacks shaking in her one hand.

"They won't gas Akbur Hills today, the Emantors are down, they're waiting for them to be fixed-"

"Sh, sh! Go upstairs, now!"

Her face had turned red. I didn't wait to anger her further, I hurried away and back up to my room.
I needed to think about how I was going to convince Damon to differ Akbur Hills even more. The best case scenario would be that the Emantors don't get fixed in time and we're able to give Damon the potion.
Still, I had to try because I could not risk it.

Damon stumbled inside sometime after midnight, his white button up had bled because his wounds were open again. I let out a sigh and crawled out of bed to help him. He was in the bathroom now, balancing on the counter top, clearly just a little bit drunk.

"Let me help you," I took his hands off the package of bandaids and he let me. I took off his bloody shirt and tossed it aside. I began to clean the cuts again.

"Damon, these are really deep," I whispered. He flinched from my painful touch.

"Just clean them."

"But maybe you need them stitched."

"I don't," he barked and flinched again as the alcohol burned another one of his wounds.

We both remained silent while I cleaned the rest of the blood off his back. After a few moments, I finally racked up the courage to say," I know you're gassing Akbur Hills next."
He took a moment to respond," you've been eavesdropping."

"Yes," there was no point in lying.

"Because of your lover? The gardener boy? You wanted to know if he's still alive-"

"No," I immediately said. I could not risk telling the truth,"my father, he's in Akbur Hills."

I blinked back genuine tears. I was prepared for Damon to turn around and laugh in my face.

"I see. So you'd like for me to spare your father."

"Not just my father, all of Akbur Hills."

"I can't do that-"

"But you can. You don't have to kill humans to starve the vampires. Human blood becomes inedible for vampires if it's laced with just the slightest bit of werewolf blood, they cannot feed on humans if there's werewolf DNA inside-"

"That's foolish-"

"It's not. If you take werewolves blood and distribute it to all of the human villages, they can inject themselves and immediately become useless to the vampires-"

"Who told you all of this?" Damon whipped around just as I was midst covering his scars," is that what you discuss with the dolls in your stupid get togethers, you plot-"

"What, no-, I read it, in the book from the library."

"Forget this silly plan of yours," he demanded," you're banned from seeing the other dolls again without my supervision and you're banned from the library, immediately-"

"Damon, wait!"

He whipped past me and out of the room.
That could not have gone worse.
I began to clean up the bathroom, tossing away the bloody bandaids when I suddenly remembered something.
The wolf from the council that had presented the Emantor said that the gas was harmless to werewolves. Could it be because of their blood?
I eyed Damon's bloody shirt.

What if I had my father inject himself with Damon's blood, could he survive the gas then?
It would also make him immune from any vampire, and it's worth it to try.
I picked up the shirt and squeezed as much of the blood as I could into a cup. I filled it about three quarters and thought that it must at least be enough blood for four or five people.
I would give it to my father, Evan, Maria and Tessa, Tiffany, and myself.
But first, I had to find a way to get to Akbur Hills.

Damon was fast asleep by the time that I got back to the bedroom . I tip tied down the stairs and down a murky hallway until I got to Maria's bedroom. I had never seen the inside of it before. I knocked twice and she opened it.

"What's wrong?" a sleepy Maria went wide-eyed when she saw the cup in my hands," what's that?"

"I couldn't convince Damon to differ Akbur hills, but I have an idea."

She stepped aside to let me in.
"What is it?"

"The council said that the gas is harmless to werewolves. If we give werewolf blood to my father, he may be immune to the gas, all that is needed is a droplet to make him immune."

"And he would be immune from the vampires as well."

"Exactly. This is Damon's blood, I collected it from his shirt. It's enough for at least five people. You and I can be the first two."
Maria stared at me while her eyes teared.

"You want to waste it on me?"

I narrowed my eyes," waste?"

"Give it to Tessa, I don't want any. Save it for someone who needs it-"

"Maria, what are you talking about? There's enough for you and Tessa."

"No no, not me."

Maria went inside of the drawer beside her bedside table and pulled out a needle wrapped in plastic," it's better to save it for someone who has much more to offer."

"No," I demanded," we're doing this together."

"I don't want it, let's save it-"

"I can't accept that! There's plenty of blood!"

Maria took a moment to stare at me with big eyes. Finally she breathed out,"the truth is, I have three other kids who live in Akbur Hills. I'd rather one of them have it instead."
My heart sank and I finally understood.

"Maybe I can get more-"

"No," Maria unwrapped the needle and wiped the tears from her eyes," now sit, so I can do it for you."

I watched her for a moment and realized that she was set on her decision. I finally sat on her bed and let her inject me with Damon's blood.