I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

I was incredibly confused once we reached the entrance to the cathedral. Why were there already people screaming inside when Shadows hasn’t even made his “grand entrance” yet? I spun around to face him and Zacky. “What have you done?” I demanded, nodding toward the door.

They each exchanged mischievous grins before Zacky said, “That’s the Rev’s business, not ours.”

“But it doesn’t matter. They’ll all go silent once they see our faces,” Shadows said, approaching the door.

I kept my feet planted, refusing to go in there, at least with them around me. “As cute as you don’t look standing still like that, we really should be going,” Zacky insisted.

“Nah, I’m good,” I replied.

Shadows growled as he grabbed onto my arm and pulled me into a tight grasp / headlock maneuver.

“I’m not going in there!” I shouted, trying my best to get away from him, even though anyone with eyes could see it was absolutely pointless. I don’t want to have to witness the fear…the suffering…the sadness that would come.

The doors creaked open and, just as Shadows predicted, the screams were silenced as people turned in their pews to see who just entered. “Nikki!” my mom gasped, standing up immediately and walking toward us. “You’re still alive,” she tried to smile, even though she knew death would probably be better than the life I’ll be forced to live.

“Hello Sheryl,” Shadows grinned, “I bet you missed your daughter.”

My mom swallowed hard as she maintained her composure. “Release my Nikki.”

Shadows paused for a moment, staring my mom down before he started running his tongue along my neck and collarbone. I knew what he was going to do. He wants everyone to think he was returning me untouched. He’s going to make it look like I wasn’t already one of them. But isn’t he stupid? A vampire has certain physical qualities that humans don’t. Surely, everyone here could see that I’m about 10x more attractive now.

“I’d like to drink to Jared’s coronation. You really deserve it, man,” Shadows smiled before lunging his fangs into my skin.

I wanted to scream at the anticipated pain, but it honestly wasn’t nearly as bad as it was when I was human. “Get your hands off my sister,” Jared said stepping forward, Shannon not too far behind him.

Shadows pulled out and smiled evilly with blood dripping from his fangs, making him look like a rabid animal. “I don’t think she really belongs to you anymore.”

Jared continued stepping forward, even though he looked rather confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I thought you’d never ask. Well, you see, Jared, you may or may not already know this, but your sis here has a long history with my clan. And when I say history, I mean to say past, present, and future,” Shadows subtly explained.

“She will have no future with the likes of you,” Shannon growled, stepping up next to Jared instead of waiting behind.

“That’s cute that you guys think I’d be the one to take her on like that, but alas that would be someone else’s job.”

Almost right on cue, the doors to the entrance were completely kicked off their hinges and sent flying into the audience, knocking a couple of unfortunate people right in the head. The smell of blood lingered in the room, and you could tell some vampires were getting antsy.

Synyster Gates came strolling in with not one single sign of blood on his clothes or seeping out of his stomach. It honestly almost made me sad to think that I was so proud of myself before and well, now I just feel like I didn’t do much at all. He can still function perfectly fine. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’d ever be able to damage any of them so badly.

“Unfortunately,” Synyster sighed, “that would be my job.”

The audience of vampires gasped dramatically. My mom began crying, knowing all too well that what had been attempted one hundred years ago, finally manifested itself. “I’m sure all of you elegant, fancy vampires can understand what this means,” Zacky added, more than willing to explicitly rub it in. “Nikki is a member of the Shadows clan now. We turned her back into her true form. And now we get to keep her.”

My dad stood up from his seat suddenly and stepped forward, past my mom, past Jared and Shannon, until he was standing right in front of Shadows and myself. “You think you can just come in here and ruin a celebratory day for my family and my species, and get away with it?” he asked.

Shadows looked at him like he was stupid. “I do believe that’s what I’m doing.”

My dad sighed desperately. “What do you want, Shadows? I’ll give it to you – just keep that thing,” he nodded toward Syn, “away from my daughter and let her stay with us until we are able to fully bring her back into our family.”

My eyes widened at the horrors of that proposal. Ok, no I’d be more than ecstatic to get out of this deal with Syn and to be a member of my own family, but not at the price of “whatever Shadows wants.” He’d just be handing the kingdom to Shadows on a platter at my expense, and I don’t appreciate that.

“Dad, you can’t do that. You and I both know it wouldn’t end up as well as you’d hope,” I pleaded.

“You need to stay out of this and let the adults talk,” Shadows said, throwing me into Synyster’s arms.

“Ooh sorry, didn’t mean to be slammed into your stomach wound,” I sneered, even though I knew it was 95% healed already.

He kept his eyes up ahead but still spoke to me. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll get you back for it once this stupid crown-stealing is over with,” he whispered.

I laughed quietly, “So you don’t want your leader to be the king?”

“That’s not what I said. I just meant Shadows is gonna draw this out when he doesn’t need to. He likes his drama.”

“What a woman.”

Now, vampires have super sensitive hearing, so I knew he heard my comment. His shoulders twitched slightly before he continued his conversation with my father. “To be blunt, James, you aren’t the king anymore. I have no interest in anything you have to say,” Shadows spat.

“Then it’s me you should be addressing,” Jared announced.

Shadows shook his head, “I could never give you the proper amount of authority that you think you deserve. So it looks like we’ve got a bit of a dilemma here.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think of me, Shadows. I’m not offering you any deal. I’m telling you to get out and leave Nikki here.”

Shadows stumbled in a fit of mad laughter. “Are you insane? I could easily break you in half and take that crown of yours.”

“Get out of my cathedral, or I’ll send the army after you,” Jared threatened.

“I think I’m just a step ahead of you there, your majesty. The Rev and Johnny are waiting outside with a pack of visitors. I don’t think you’ll be able to handle it,” Shadows smirked.

Jared and Shadows continued to debate back and forth about essentially starting war right in the middle of a church. Beyond them, Lillian was finishing up some snacks on bodies that seem to have been hurled through the stained glass.

I couldn’t help but feel some sort of strange gratitude toward her. If it had not been for her, I’d still hate my parents and completely misunderstand everything about my family’s history. I just hope that Synyster doesn’t tell anyone about what he walked in on.

“Why would you want to protect her? She was going to kill Jared,” he whispered in my ear. Fuck, I forgot they read thoughts.

“She hasn’t yet, has she?” I remarked.

“Don’t worry, once the Rev finds out, he’ll take care of her.”

I spun around to face him, which was ridiculously hard to do in such confined space. “Please don’t get her in trouble. There’s no reason to cause more anguish than what’s already surely destined to take place,” I said.

He shrugged, “She’s the Rev’s sister not mine. She’s not my responsibility, like you are.”

I grinned, “So if I did something wrong, you’d be punished?”

“No, more like I’m the one who would have to punish you.”

“That’s stupid,” I muttered.

“By the way, I’m afraid it’s too late for your friend Lillian now.”

I glanced up to find a look of fear on her face. The Rev walked up next to Syn and me. “Thanks for informing me,” he said, before walking forward, a stone cold look of anger and distaste clouding over his eyes.

Angrily, I rammed the back of my foot into Syn’s dick before running forward and slamming my foot into the back of Shadows’ knees, sending him stumbling down, completely caught off guard. I jumped over his body and ran into Jared and Shannon’s arms.

“I missed you guys so much,” I cried.

“We’re so glad to see you’re alive,” Shannon said.

“And we’ll work on a blood transfer for you right away,” Jared added.

The hug was broken quickly as soon as I remembered what was about to happen to Lillian. I didn’t have the time to move from where I was standing though, no one was really able to move, not once Shadows shouted, “I DECLARE WAR!” The ground rumbled beneath us. No one in the Leto clan was ready for it.