I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

The shooting and explosions displayed on the television came to a hault as the round ended. “Did you say something?” Syn asked, sounding incredibly annoyed.

I temporarily pushed the weirdness of all that had happened out of my mind, and tried to form some words. “Yeah, why don’t you tell me what the hell just happened?”

He sighed, as if I was making him carry a hundred pounds on his back. “You’ve been turned into a vampire. Typically, it’s just like dying…where people see some of their past before their eyes. Then, your body will start to hurt a lot, or at least I’d assume so, because you’ve got fangs piercing through your gums and your body is turning immortal or some shit. I don’t know what’s happening to you, I’ve never experienced it,” he dragged on, complete with an eye roll.

“Wow are you really that inexperienced,” I asked, surprised that someone oh so ‘powerful’ wouldn’t know about something like this.

“You know, just because you’re immortal doesn’t mean I can’t beat the shit out of you still,” he threatened.

I sighed as I forced myself up off the ground and walked to an adjacent room, just wanting to be alone right now. Besides, if he’s not going to answer any of my questions, then I guess I’ll just have to do it myself. And what better place to start than the very room I ended up in – Shadows’ personal library.

For a big, bulky, stupid guy like him, I’m honestly surprised that he has this many old-fashioned books in his library. Unfortunately, I don’t exactly have time to read them right now because I’m on a mission. I need to find a book that somehow explains what’s happening to me, maybe how to stop it, and how to deal with it. I need to stay one step ahead of them if I plan on escaping.

I finally found the ‘V’ section and smirked at the vast amount of books regarding vampires. After skimming through a few, I learned a bit more about all of this. For example – vampires can feed off of humans directly, through packaged blood, or through animals. Those who chose human blood not only enhance their skills but makes it that much harder for them to be killed, even by standard methods such as the wooden stake through the heart or a silver bullet.

Each vampire, over time, acquires standard skills – agility, mind-reading, super strength, healing, immortality and sometimes mind control. Now that I have some powers, I just might stand a chance up against them. I sure as hell won’t bleed as much anymore.

A large dust cloud emerged from the shelf after I pulled more books out. This was actually kind of fascinating…and to think, I’ve spent my whole life laughing at people who claimed to be “vampires,” when all that time I’d been born into a family of them. How could they keep something like that away from me? Did they ever even plan on telling me?

Dare I say it, I think I might actually be grateful to these monsters here for at least being honest with me. Then again, I shouldn’t put it past my parents to lie to me – I mean shit, they took my immortality away from me, killing my ancestor in the most brutal way! A slight surge of anger flashed through me. Angrily, I threw the book across the room, resulting in the sound of shattering glass.

Confused, I looked over my shoulder to find that the book had flown nearly fifteen feet across the room, breaking through the glass window. Huh, I guess my super strength must be kicking in. I grinned to myself, only to be startled out of success by the sound of a door opening and slamming.

“It’s funny,” Shadows mused as I turned to face him, “I don’t remember saying you could come in here. And look at all the damage you’ve done!”

“I think even you could try to understand that I’m a very emotional person right now,” I challenged, riding on a much too high boost of confidence.

He chuckled, “I assumed just as much. In fact, I bet I know what can fire you up even more.”

I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him, waiting for him to continue. At this point, I pretty much heard all of the ‘shocking’ news I could imagine. He couldn’t have anything much worse.

*Shannon’s POV*

“Ok, boys, place your bets,” Uncle Jack said, passing around a baseball cap full of money. “Jared’s been gone for quite some time now…the question is, has he gotten himself a wife or not?”

I shook my head and laughed as I contributed a mere $10 to the collection. “Wow, you really think he found someone?” Tomo gasped.

I shrugged, “After all this shit that’s been happening, I think he could use a break. Finding a girl would take one less thing off his mind before the big day tomorrow.”

Just as all the money had been collected, the door knob jiggled and in walked Jared – with some company, and not just any company…it was a girl. Jared was smiling uncontrollably. “Guys, I’d like you to meet our future queen, Lillian!” he announced as he brought her further into the room.

The guys, all happy for Jared’s success, still couldn’t suppress a moan as the baseball cap filled with money was tossed into my lap. I didn’t even really notice it though…I was a bit pre-occupied with something else. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from this girl. I felt as if I’d seen her somewhere before…but where?! I’ve seen so many different faces over the past hundreds of years, that there’s no way I’d be able to remember.

But one thing was for sure…she was a newly turned vampire…and it wasn’t Jared who turned her. The bite marks were still present, but they almost looked too perfectly placed. Judging by their appearance, it looked like she was turned just last night, probably around the same time Jared left the house to begin his search. That just seems far too convenient to me.

Ok, honestly, the last thing we need is some sneaky bitch ruining this too on top of whatever Shadows may be planning. I kept a fake smile on my face as Jared continued talking about her endlessly, almost as if he was under her spell already.

*Normal POV*

“I bet you’re wondering when I’m going to go after the rest of your family…or even why I’m going after them in the first place?” he asked, smirking as he already knew the answer. I didn’t bother answering.

“You’re family stole the throne from mine years ago, and I want it back. Your family is nothing but a bunch of noble cowards that disgrace the noble vampire name and protect the worthless humans. Humans exist to feed us, not exist among us as equals. So, tomorrow is the grand initiation, in which your brother will be crowned king. That’s when we kill him,” he grinned maliciously.

The anger – it was building up inside of me once again, only much more powerful this time. I could feel my eyes dilate rapidly and my teeth shifting. A burst of energy flowed through my veins as I glared at Shadows.

“You can do whatever you want to my parents. After what they’ve done to me, they no longer mean anything to me. But you will not hurt my brothers. And that means you can’t take your stupid throne back. You lost it, that’s your fault. Do you hear me?!” I growled.

Then something possessed me. I didn’t wait to hear his response – I just lunged forward with fearful speed and felt my fangs extend out of my mouth, digging into his skin. Blood began entering my mouth, and a newer feeling arose inside of me. My stomach began burning as each drop dripped into it. This taste – it was like nothing I had ever tasted before. And I couldn’t get enough of it. I lapped the blood out of the two small wounds, well until he finally managed to get me off of him.

In the blink of an eye, his fingers were wrapped tightly around my throat and my back had been shoved up against the nearby bookshelf. “You’re lucky I still need you otherwise you’d be so fucking dead right now,” he whispered menacingly before letting me drop to the ground, under an avalanche of books.

By all means, he was asking for that to happen…provoking me like that. It didn’t matter to me though, because in a matter of 2 minutes, all the pain was gone, and it was like nothing ever happened. I really could get used to this vampire thing.

But I can’t waste time thinking about that now…I’ve gotta figure out what this ‘initiation’ is about and how to stop them from ruining it. Little did I know…that was going to be incredibly hard with no knowledge of the event or the rules of the vampires.

*Jared’s POV*

All of the guys really seemed to like Lillian already, which was a great sign. I just wish that Nikki were here to see this. She’s the one whose approval I wanted the most. And now the chances of getting to her before tomorrow are nearly impossible. If I didn’t have Lillian, then I would be such a wreck right now. I mean she’s not making me forget Nikki or anything like that, she’s just…distracting me from her, I guess.

“Drinks for everyone. This kind of deserves a celebration!” Matt cheered, running over to the wine cellar.

“What does he mean ‘kind of’ deserves a celebration?” Lillian questioned, sounding offended.

I sighed, not exactly wanting to have to talk about it all at this time. “My sister has been kidnapped and we haven’t been able to find her yet. She’s been missing for a good week or so now.”

“Oh my God, that’s terrible,” she said, gently giving me a hug. “I’m sure you will find her soon enough.”

After an hour of taking a break from ‘work’ and getting slightly drunk, I heard footsteps upstairs and doors opening and shutting. “Someone’s here,” Tomo said, pointing out the obvious.

The footsteps continued down the stairs to the room where we were all sitting. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when we saw it was just our parents. “Boys, you were having a party and you didn’t even tell me my own brother was going to be here?!” my dad laughed as he went over and greeted Jack.

My mom gave Shannon a hug, greeted the guys, and then came over to meet up with Lillian and I, with a beaming smile on her face. “And this must be your beautiful future bride,” she stated, still smiling with great approval.

“Yes, mom, this is Lillian,” I said introducing them. After my mom and Lillian talked for a little bit, my mom finally came back over to me and asked, “Well, where is Nikki? I can’t believe she’d pass up an opportunity to party.”

The room fell silent. That’s right…I forgot…they didn’t know.

“Uh, well…you see…she was…kidnapped,” I mumbled.

“What?! Who took my baby?!” she screeched.

This part was even harder to tell her. “It was Shadows.” I could see the tears already filling her eyes.

“No, this can’t be happening to us again,” she cried.