Luca mindlessly gazed at the scenery to distract himself from the boredom. Still, better to deal with boredom than getting infuriated by talking with Alan. Not that he could avoid it for long. He even had to use his trump card, which he had been putting off using for years.
But . . .
It would be worth it, if he could make sure Ren wouldn’t be bothered by these people again. Even if Luca could protect Ren for now, he couldn’t constantly monitor him. He couldn’t just shut Ren in the house either, or what different would that be from a prison? Not to mention, Ren would probably leave after he healed, even if he was being chased. The kid was stubborn enough to do that.
Luca wanted Ren to live freely, not live in worry of being hunted down. Wasn’t that what he desired? Freedom and independence?
And, he was making this deal with Alan McAllister. No matter how much he despised the other man, at least he always honored his promises. Of all the people in the McAllister family, Luca hated Alan the least.
They reached the mansion. Luca followed Alan through the familiar hallways and walked into Alan’s office. He leisurely took a seat.
“You surely know how to make yourself feel at home.” Alan sneered.
“Thank you.” Luca said.
“It wasn’t a compliment!”
“Really? I could hardly tell.”
“I hope you’re not here to waste my time. What do you have to offer?”
“I’ll tell you after you get me something to eat. You and your people chased us around all day, that I didn’t even have time to eat breakfast.” Luca complained.
Alan looked like he was about to combust.
“What? Don’t you know how to treat your guests?” Luca asked, mockingly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“You’re not a guest.”
“Tbe’gf gluta, P ilnfv tfgf yfobgf. P’w cb bgvlcjgs uefra, P’w jc tbcbgfv uefra.”
Cijc vlvc’a offi ilxf jguelcu klat Oemj jcswbgf. Lf ujnf lc jcv pera jrxfv atf rfgnjcar ab ufa Oemj rbwf ygfjxojra. Ktf rfgnjcar ygbeuta j qijaf bo yeaafg mbbxlfr jcv ulcufg afj. Oemj qbegfv tlwrfio j meq, jcv fcpbsfv atf wfji.
After filling his belly, Luca decided it was time to get back to business. He pulled out a small vial from his pocket. Luca always kept the thing with him, because of how valuable it was. It was filled with a precious liquid from the healing spring.
Luca came upon it when he was looking for a cure for his poison. He was overjoyed when he first found a healing spring, as many had long dried up, and the few that remained were hidden in unknown locations. However, the spring was starting to dry, and the remaining water couldn’t completely cure him. His body was corroded with poison for too long. The pills Ari made contained some of the water, which was why they were so effective.
Ari had decided to use the water sparingly, to buy them some time for finding a more permanent cure. But too much time had passed, and he was beginning to give up on finding one at all. He could only prolong his life by taking Ari’s medicine to slow the spread of the poison throughout his body.
There wasn’t much water contained inside the vial, but there was enough of it to be valuable. This amount was potent enough to heal a serious external injury. Alan would definitely find it useful.
Alan looked at the vial in Luca’s hand with wide eyes.
“Is it the real thing?” He asked.
“I wouldn’t dare give you a counterfeit.” Luca said. Alan reached out to hold it, but Luca pulled the vial away.
“So in exchange for you to stop chasing the kid, I’ll give it to you. Do we have a deal?” Luca asked.
Alan hesitated, truly looking torn.
“I can promise you that I won’t do anything to him for two years at most, but not more than that.”
“Is that kid really worth more than this vial?”
Alan laughed. “You should ask yourself that. You’re the one willing to trade such a precious treasure for him. This is the best offer I can give you, take it or leave it.”
No matter how much Luca tried to bargain with him, Alan remained adamant. Just why did the McAllisters want Ren back so much? It obviously wasn’t for any good reason.
Still, two years of peace was still worth something, even though it wasn’t ideal. Perhaps in that much time, Luca could find a way to keep the McAllisters away from Ren completely.
“. . . Fine, we have a deal.” Luca finally said, handing the vial to Alan.
Alan smiled at his success, finally in a good mood.
“I’ll be taking my leave now. Be sure to keep your end of the deal.” Luca said, grabbing his cane.
“Of course.” Alan said.
Luca walked out, and called a cab to take him back to his manor.
———————————————————————————————————————
Ren was worried about Luca before, but after hearing what Gilbert had to say, his worry had multiplied by 10. How could Luca be so careless to leave with them, and all alone too? Especially when he was in a vulnerable state during the day? Did he even realize how dangerous that was?
Even Wyatt looked perplexed.
Gilbert sighed. “I didn’t like it either, but he left before I could even try to stop him. He should be okay though, right?”
[We can only wait to find out.]
And so the three of them waited. It was long and excruciating. Every second felt longer than before. Ren tried to distract himself, but found his thoughts turning back to Luca. That vampire better come back safely.
It was unknown how long they waited, when the front door opened.
Luca found six pairs of eyes glaring at him.
“Way to make us all worry. Couldn’t you have called us to let us know how you were?” Gilbert asked.
“I already told you I’d be fine. ” Luca said, walking in.
[Maybe tell that to the kid too. He was the most anxious of us all.]
Wyatt wrote, completely exposing Ren.
Ren felt embarrassed to be named so suddenly.
“You were worried about me?” Luca asked Ren, feeling surprised.
“. . . Not really.” Ren said, avoiding Luca’s eyes. Both Wyatt and Gilbert snorted at that. Ren really wished that they weren’t there.
“But I do know what they can be capable of. They can be very extreme.” Ren continued.
Luca smiled. Ren’s expressions were really too honest.
“You don’t have to be concerned about them anymore. I made sure they won’t be bothering you for a while.” Luca said.
“What do you mean?”
“I took care of it for you.” Luca said, grinning. Ren finally realized why Luca had gone with the McAllisters. It wasn’t a momentary impulse, it was intentional.
‘So he did it for my sake.’
Ren suddenly felt very touched hearing that.
I wonder if the cure to the poison in Luca’s body will be found in Ren’s blood..
thanks for the chapter <3