I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

The minute the clock struck midnight, nothing in this town would ever be the same.

Members of the Shadows Clan lined up outside the ruins of the cathedral. The scent of blood lingered in the air, which made it the perfect place for the vampires to really feel their hunger. To really want to find the nearest human being and rip into their flesh.

Of course, only about one hundred of my clan members were present below me because this was just the start of things. We had roughly 5-6 hours before dawn and within that timeframe we needed to send out a message. These humans aren’t the ones running the show any more.

*Mai’s POV*

“If you’re as supernatural as you claim to be, why the hell are we walking to where ever you think you’re taking me?” I asked, struggling every now and then to rip my elbow out from his grip.

It was already bad enough that I just finished saving a few fugitive vampires, sprinting half way across town…now I have to do just as much walking again? I don’t think so.

Just as we reached an intersection, I took advantage of his cautious approach to on coming traffic and jerked my arm out from between his fingers and took off running back in the opposite direction. No, I didn’t have the energy to just be taking a random midnight stroll with a guy who thinks he’s a werewolf, but I do have just enough to make a run for it.

Unfortunately, Alex wasn’t as slow as I pegged him to be. An arm wrapped around my waist within seconds and then we were off the ground. A simple flex of the knees and then we were up off the ground and on the rooftops. He jumped from one to the next as if he were playing a simple game of hopscotch. The wind was cooler up here and blew my hair in all directions, whipping at my face, but I didn’t really seem to mind.

“To answer your question, you are new to town and I figured you might want to get used to your new surroundings,” he explained with a quick flash of a smile.

Wait…was he flirting with me? I just smirked and let him carry me through the sky. Maybe he won’t try to hurt me after all. Otherwise, I’d have to take a mega crash course in werewolf hunting.

My eyebrows scrunched in confusion as we landed in the back parking lot of the cathedral from earlier. Alex led me up a set of sketchy stairs and into what looked like a makeshift meeting room.

“You must be Mai. Nice of you to join us. The name’s Shadows. And I believe you’ve already met the Rev,” the man at the head of the table said, nodding toward the skinny man from earlier.

“What do you want?” I demanded, skipping any pleasantries that he was trying to dish out.

“I think you could be a valuable member of my clan, not necessarily as a vampire per say.”

A low laugh rumbled in my chest. “You do realize that I hunt hunks of shit like you on a regular basis, right?”

He grinned, showing a set of shiny grills and fangs. “I don’t think you’ve ever hunted anything like me before.”

I rolled my eyes and made myself comfortable in the padded chair. “Whatever. Your day will come, Shadows. And in the meantime, there’s no way in hell I’d hunt any other vampires. Especially not the Letos.”

“We already know where the Letos are, so don’t worry yourself too much. Once our existence is known, you’ll have your role to play.”

There was something about this man that really unnerved me. I couldn’t look him straight in the eye without feeling my body freeze right to the very core. This guy was the epitome of evil, a perfect personification.

And for some reason I found myself wanting Alex, of all people, to take me somewhere else.

*Synyster’s POV*

Alex seemed to have been successful in retrieving the vampire huntress wanna be, which was good news for me. That meant that the Letos were the only others in that apartment room.

Zacky, Johnny, and I were told to watch the troops until Shadows gave the signal. I presume right now he was speaking with our new guest.

“You look a little tense, man…and something tells me it has nothing to do with bloodlust,” Zacky laughed, nudging my side.

“What are you implying?” I asked, my eyes flicking away from the troops and over at Zacky.

He shrugged, not really caring for my serious attitude. “You’re just dying to be able to hold Nikki in your arms again,” he said dramatically.

“Keep talking, then you’ll get to find out what the pavement tastes like,” I muttered.

“Chill, dude, I’m just messing with you.”

“Shadows says it’s time,” Johnny interrupted, showing us the text displayed on the phone’s screen.

I stepped forward closer to the edge of the roof and held my arms out, silencing the crowd. “This is it, this is what we’ve been craving for a hundred fucking years! Let’s show these humans that we really exist. Let’s make them fear us. Let’s have a feast,” I shouted, grinning as the vampires cheered and eagerly took off running.

I turned for the stairs and headed down to the ground level. It wouldn’t hurt to get a bit of blood myself before visiting a certain apartment downtown.

Lights flashed on in several buildings, homes, and apartments as the humans confronted their intruders. Screams filled the night’s air in beautiful orchestration. Blood splashed onto alley walls and across the windows.

I could only imagine the bloodbath that took place inside the buildings – blood leaking out of the body and onto the floor, blood squirting from the pierced vein or artery, spraying onto the painted or wallpapered walls.

Rapid heel clicks echoed off the buildings ahead of me, drawing my attention to a young woman, about 23 years old, ahead of me. Panic was written all over her face. Her eyes lit up when she saw that someone else was on the street. She ran over to me, gasping for air. I could hear her heart beating constantly in my head, making it very hard to even mess around with her before going in for the kill.

“Please, you have to help me! A bunch of…of killers is on the loose. Oh, God it was awful!” she cried, clinging onto me as if I’d protect her.

“What are you doing out this late? You’d be perfectly safe if you stayed home,” I replied, wrapping an arm around her.

“But you’re outside, too. Isn’t that hypocritical?” she sniffled.

“I can protect myself against anything,” I smirked, “sadly, I don’t think you’re that strong.”

Her eyes had just enough time to blink with slight confusion before my fangs poked out of my gums and entered her soft, welcoming skin. I pierced an artery on my first assault and gladly welcomed the blood flow. Blood always tasted better with a hint of fear.

Once her heartbeat ceased to exist, I dropped the body onto the pavement, letting the remainder of the blood drain into the sewage opening nearby. Bet people are gonna just die at that sight in the morning.

By the time I made it to the girl’s apartment, almost all of the lights were on in her room. I crouched behind a trashcan in an alley across the street as the revolving doors spun, revealing Jared and Shannon sprinting onto the sidewalk. I’m guessing the screams were too much for their poor, innocent souls to handle.

I waited until they were clear out of sight before I crossed the street and headed for the third floor.

*Jared’s POV*

I didn’t hear any other noises from the other rooms in Mai’s apartment, so I guess it’s safe to say that she’s already asleep. Shannon, Nikki, and I stared at the king sized bed in the guest room, trying to determine which would be the best way to go about handling this.

In all honesty, I don’t think any of us were really going to get a good night’s sleep tonight, but at the same time we needed to at least lay down and rest. Nikki walked over to the bed and sat down on the far right.

“You’re not sleeping closest to the door!” Shannon gasped, feeling paranoid in this new setting.

Nikki sighed and rolled over to the far left. “I think it would be best if you slept in the middle, Nik,” I suggested.

“Oh, come on guys! You know I roll around in my sleep. If I slept in the middle…I could end up waking up on top of one of you. Can anyone say awkward?”

“I think that’s the least threatening issue we have right now,” I laughed, shoving her toward the center of the bed.

My eyelids grew heavy as I stared up at the dark ceiling. A small amount of light crept through the blinds on the window, not that I needed that to see in the dark. Just as I was dozing off a bit, a series of screams sounded off outside, in near perfect unison; Nikki had long since fallen asleep, leaving Shannon and I alone as we listened to the horrible noises.

“They’re attacking the humans for no reason,” Shannon whispered.

“We can’t let them do this,” I sighed.

Shannon sat up and leaned against the headboard. “What can we do, man? We aren’t as strong as an entire army of hungry vampires.”

“We have to try,” I protested, “I can’t stand this feeling of guilt pressuring me. I need to make up for my mistakes. Mom and Dad are dead because of me. All these humans dying tonight, every single one of them, they’re dying because of me!”

Shannon knew how I felt, I could easily understand that much. But he was still hesitant. “We can’t leave Nikki alone again. We just got her back, Jared.”

“Mai’s here too. It’s different this time,” I reasoned.

Reluctantly, Shannon got out of bed with me and put his pants on. We both knew we weren’t as strong as we needed to be to get this done, but I can’t just sit around and watch it happen.

Shadows will not succeed so long as I am alive.

*Normal POV*

Pure exhaustion had taken over me the moment my head hit the pillow. All of the troubles and all of the horror from earlier completely melted away. Yet, even though my body felt as relaxed as it possibly could be in this situation, I still found myself tossing and turning.

A loud noise from beside the other side of the door caused me to jump out of sleep. Both sides of the bed were empty. Surely, that had to mean that Jared and Shannon were out in the living room, right?

Foolishly, I got up out of bed, and cracked the door open. “Jared? Shannon? Are you guys out there?” I asked.

Neither responded, so I took a small step out of the bedroom to scan the hallway and living room. “Mai, are you out there?” I whispered, taking a couple more steps forward.

Glass plates were broken into hundreds of pointy, jagged pieces across the kitchen floor. But no one seemed to be standing in either the kitchen or living room. Where did everyone go?

It was clear that wherever they went, no one was in these two rooms. That didn’t quite explain the broken china, but my body was too tired to honestly care. I yawned before turning around and heading back toward the bedroom. As my eyes opened, a figure stood before me.

“Jared…Shannon?” I asked, still unable to determine the identity of the man before me, even with my vampire night vision.

The figured took a few strides forward into a more lit section of the hall. Tears began instantly blurring my vision as I choked back a sob, stumbling backwards and clinging onto the wall for support. “Not you,” I cried.

“You couldn’t possibly think that I could live without my blood mate, could you?”