"Were you born before the last war?" I asked Adrian

He turned around to face me. "Yes. Actually, in human age, I was around 19 years old when the war started."

"Did you know a lot of vampires back then?"

"Kind of, yes. You see, at that time people would basically only socialize with those of their kind. It's weird to say this, but the war created the peace. If it wasn't for the war the hunters would still hunt us and the Mythicals would still fight each other."

"I've never thought of that. Do you still talk to those vampires?

"Some of them, yes."

"Do you know if they got sick from the war? If they suffered any health effects of the war?"

"No, not that I know of. I've never heard of a vampire sick with any radioactive disease. Why?"

"I've just been thinking. Would you mind giving me your blood?" I burst out.

Smooth Lisa, now you just sound like a psycho.

"What? Why?"

"Like you, I've never heard of a vampire infected with one of the radioactive diseases. Actually, I've never heard of a vampire being sick," I started. "So, I was thinking that maybe there's something in your blood or genetics that makes you resistant, and if that's the case, maybe the solution for our problems and the answer to our questions lies within it."

"I've never thought of that."

"Yeah, me neither until now."

"I wonder why anyone hasn't thought about that before."

"Maybe they did and figured out that it didn't work," I eventually said, feeling suddenly depressed.

"Or maybe not, and you are actually a genius who's going to save lives," he said, trying to cheer me up. "Just give it a try, there's nothing to lose."

"Yeah." I smiled. "So can you give me your blood? In exchange, I'll help you and the Brotherhood."

"You'll help us investigate your company and co-workers?"

I nodded, "Yes! I promise. I have access to every information and results of every research that is conducted in the company. Well, almost every information, there are some research programs that are classified and only researchers of the program and their superiors have access to it, but I can try and I'm sure I can at least access the classified research programs of my department if I ask Eleonor. She will give me the access code, I'm sure of it."

"Great, we have a deal." He extended his hand to me.

I shook it, "Deal." I smiled, looking him in the eyes. "I was still going to help you even if you didn't give me your blood."

"Well, I was still going to give you my blood even if you didn't help me." He grinned.

I threw a cushion in his face and started to laugh when I saw the surprised look on his face. Clearly, he wasn't expecting that, otherwise, he would have easily dodged the cushion.

We spent the rest of the night, or should I say dawn, talking about everything and anything. We talked about how life was before the war, how he started his company, how he created the Brotherhood and recruited its members, and what kind of 'jobs' they do.

Apparently, what he had told me, the night of my mission with Levy, and what I found during my research, was only the soft part of what they really do. The Brotherhood was not only stealing from unethical companies and exposing the truth about them, but also actively attacking certain sites and people physically.

"That's why we cross paths with the Hunters Order's officers a few times, just like tonight with those mysterious creatures," he added.

"I call them Weirdos, for practical reasons."

He chuckled. "Weirdos? Well, I guess they are indeed weird, but you could have thought of a better name."

"Sorry, Zombie was already taken," I said dryly. "How come the Order never arrested anyone from the Brotherhood when you crossed paths?"

"They did once or twice, but the members of the Brotherhood are loyal." He smiled proudly. "Besides, most of the times we are fighting the same enemy so it's better for both sides to focus on the main target than to fight each other. When you think about it, the Brotherhood and the Hunters Order are quite similar, the only difference being the methodology, and the level of corruption of course."

"Why don't just capture the bad guys and deliver them to the Order instead of killing them?"

"We used to do that, at first, but when you start seeing people getting out of trouble and walk away freely after they destroyed innocent lives just because they have money and power, you tend to stop trusting the system. Killing them becomes literally the only way to stop them. I know it seems bad, and who are we to judge right? But trust me when I say that in some cases, it's the only way."

At this point, I didn't know what to think anymore. I always thought that killing was killing, no matter the reason behind it, well, except of course in self-defense or by accident. In this case, they were killing criminals, yes, but they were still killing someone. 

I know that the way I think goes against the ideology of a hunter that kills to protect his people, but I believe there are other ways to punish criminals, especially now that all creatures live, 'officially', in peace.

"You don't agree with our actions?" He asked, probably because of my thoughtful silence.

"I don't know, there is a part of me that understands and another that reminds me that it goes against what I believe. Like, if you kill a killer you become yourself a killer, so you're no better than the person you killed," I stated.

"However, history has shown us that sometimes you need to become a killer to save millions of lives. I wonder how justified your killings are. Even if our justice system is corrupted, there might be another solution than killing," I finished.

"I understand, and I agree with you to some extent, but just so you'd know, we just act on those that justice lets go and repeat their crimes."

After a few seconds in silence, he continued, "We rarely kill anyone, most of the criminals are imprisoned in our Headquarters' dungeons, but I can't lie to you, sometimes they don't go down without a fight and when it comes to killing or be killed the choice is easy."

He was right, if I was in that situation, I would kill or at least try instead of being killed.

After that, our conversation changed to more cheerful subjects. Oddly enough, I didn't feel tired and didn't even realized that the sun came out until Adrian told me that he should take me back home to rest.

This time I gave him my address. When we arrived, he got out of the car and opened the door on my side before I could even react. 

He offered me a hand to help me out of the car which I did not need but took anyway as I didn't want to be rude or anything. Once I was out of the car he closed the door and we stood there for a while looking at each other, which eventually started to make me feel uncomfortable.

Awkward.

"Well, thank you so much. For everything." I smiled.

He let go of my hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "No problem. You should go now and get some rest, I'll be able to get and bring you what you need within the next few days."

"Oh yeah, thank you. I'll talk to Eleonor tomorrow and I'll tell you as soon as I have some news."

"Thank you." he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well, we should exchange numbers then, so we can communicate with each other, I mean so I can warn you when I have the stuff and hear from you if you find something."

"Of course, yes. I don't even know what I was thinking." I chuckled.

We exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. As soon as I laid on my bed, I felt my eyes heavy.

Guess I'm tired after all.  

Hi guys!

So were your theories right?

I will try to write the next chapter quickly so you can have some real action soon 😉

Thank you again for all the support, comments and votes, it means the world to me!