Ace looked at Leonard's disheveled appearance. He pushed back his glass.
"Alexander requested something of you."
Ace raised a brow. What would Alexander need from him,
"What is it?" He asked.
"Alexander needs you to make blood pills out of his blood."
Ace frowned,
"Why would he want to do something as risky as that? Why didn't you try to talk him out of it?"
Leonard sighed like a worried old man. Ace made it sound like he didn't try at all. He had spent half the journey back trying to sway the guy, but he didn't change his mind.
"I tried, but you know how Alexander is when he makes up his mind. "
The frown on Ace's face still remained. He would need a lot of Alexander's blood to make only a few pills. Not to mention taking blood from Alexander posed a serious threat to his life and those around him.
Al went on a rampage because Alexander loss too much blood. Leo had tried getting Alexander to tell him how he lost so much blood, but it was futile. Alexander was surprisingly tight lipped if he needed to.
"Alright. I'll make preparations."
Leonard turned to leave, but he stopped suddenly,
"How is Terra?" he asked without looking back.
Even though Ace couldn't see Leonard's face, he could guess he was guilty. His sister had trusted Cody's safety in Leonard's hands.
Ace pushed his glasses back,
"She's managing. You don't have to blame yourself."
Leonard clenched his fist, his knuckles turned white.
"Then who is to blame? Tell me!"
Ace kept quiet. Seeing that Ace had nothing to say, Leonard walked away. Ace heaved an inaudible sigh. He went back into the infirmary.
The end of Ace's white coat swayed as he made his way to Cody's room. He was about to enter, but he stopped when he saw his sister had fallen asleep be Cody's bed. His heart ached for her.
Was brought back unconscious without showing any signs of waking up soon. Being a medical student, if was still a wonder how Cody was still alive, despite destroying half of his heart. Deciding not to disturb them, Ace quietly closed the door and left.
Hiva walked over. She knocked the door to Cody's room. After knocking again and receiving no reply, she pushed the door open.
She sniffed the air, "Ace must have been here not long ago. " She smiled before she frowned when she noticed that Terra had fallen asleep by Cody's bed.
She had expected this. Ever since Cody was brought in, Terra hadn't left his side. She probably hadn't eaten too.
Hiva had prepared, she held a few cans of blood in her arms. She placed them on a table before gently tapping Terra's arm.
"Hiva?" Terra said, her voice was a little rough, probably because she hadn't drunk any water in a while.
"You haven't left his side have you?"
Terra slowly shook her head.
"You haven't eaten either?"
Terra shook her head once again. Hiva sighed out loud. She facepalmed,
"If you keep this up, you are gonna end up in his place. I brought these." Hiva gestured to the cans on the table.
"Oh, thank you." Terre said when Hiva handed her a can. She took a sip, the chilled blood flowing down her throat.
Some vampires preferred their blood warm, but some had gotten used to drinking from cans which were usually preserved by freezing.
"You know, he wouldn't want you to starve yourself. Even if it was for his sake."
"What do I care what he wants? Did he care about what I wanted? All I wanted was for him to return safely." Terra sobbed.
Hiva hit the table with her fist, startling Terra,
"Why are you acting like he's already dead?"
Terra remained silent as Hiva continued,"The Terra I know would be looking for a solution." Hiva stood up to leave.
She stopped at the door,"Your brother was here a few minutes before I came. He probably didn't want to disturb your sleep." She informed before walking away.
Terra stared at Cody who was hooked up to so many machines her heart ached. She cleaned her tear filled face with her handkerchief.
She stood up, Hiva was right. She couldn't change Cody's situation even if she cried an entire ocean. She had to help her brother wake Cody up.
Terra walked passed a nurse before she stopped. She turned to the nurse,
"Where's my brother?"
"Doctor Ace is in the infirmary's library. He seems to be searching for something."
Terra thanked the maid before she headed to the library. Hiva was right, her brother had already started searching for a way to wake Cody up.
"Ter, is that you?" Terra turned towards the caller. There were only two people in CMU that called her 'Ter'. The first person was Cody while the second was...
"Brother!"
Ace smile, a huge book in his hand. There was a tower of books on his table.
"I thought you were sleeping. I came to see you, but decided not to disturb you."
"Hiva told me."
'Hiva?' Ace thought before he smiled. The girl's sense of smell was too much.
"Can I help you, brother?" Terra asked. She took a seat opposite her brother.
"If you could find out if any of the books here have any information relating darkened hearts. We might be able to find some clues from them." Ace explained. He pushed the book in front of him aside. It held no information he needed.
"I'm already done with these. You could take some more from the racks over there."
Terra stared at the tower of books her brother said he had completed reading before she turned to the bookrack he had pointed.
Each book that was on the rack was especially thick and heavy. She stacked a few books. She was about to add a few more books when she heard her brother chuckle.
"You won't be able to see if you stack the books so high."
"I can manage." Terra said stubbornly. She carried the books to the table before she began to go through them one by one.
She pulled out a book that looked ancient. A good layer if dust covered its cover. She wiped the dust of the cover with her hands, revealing the title,
'Mystries of the Dark'
Terra blinked, the first page was blank, and so was the rest of the pages.
'That was a let down.' She sighed before closing the book. She was about to push it aside when she noticed the words under the title.
It read,'blood of the pure'
Terra wondered what it could mean.
"Blood of the poor." She muttered.
"What are you muttering?" Ace asked. He pushed the book he held aside.
"Nothing, I am just trying to figure out what the blood of the pure meant."
"Try a virgin's blood then. They are said to be pure." He said ever so seriously.
Terra bit her thumb with her fang and smeared the blood on the first page of the book.
Her blood moved like it had a mind of its own, it slowly turned to words, forming the first paragraph of of the page.
It appeares she would need a lot of blood before she could read the entire book.
Terra passed her hand on the page, it felt smooth and even. The handwriting on the page was hers. She wondered if it was because it was her blood that had created the words
Ace smelled the blood in the air, he asked,"Which book is that?"
He leaned closer. Her noticed the lone paragraph of the page.
'The world as you know it is null. What you know and don't know are only separated by a thin viel. The dark is everything you do not know. It is what you yearn to know, what you desire but cannot acquire. It is the reality of this world.'
Terra blinked twice. She understood every sentence perfectly, but she didn't know what it meant. Ace stood up and sat beside Terra. The book had piqued his interest.
Terra held out her hand, a pocket knife in hand. If she continued biting her fingers, she would never be able to finish the book. She winced slightly as she made a cut to her wrist.
Red blood sipped out of the wound before it landed on the book. The same thing happened again. Her blood moved around for a while before forming words. This time, the entire page was filled this time.
She read the second paragraph out loud,'The only true passage to this world is the heart. The numerous versions of oneself shares this passage. The darker the heart is, the wider this passage become.'
Terra looked at Ace,"I think we found something related to what we were looking for."
Ace nodded in agreement. She was right, this book seemed to have some connections with darkened hearts.