I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

I stared at him, with such a burning combination of hatred and fear as my back met the wall for support. He stood there all proud and strong with his typical malicious smirk. There wasn’t a single wound on his body, and that fact killed me because my parents were dead and my brothers were beat to hell just yesterday.

Maybe it was that detail that gave me enough encouragement to regain my footing and charge at him with a shard of broken glass that had been resting on the kitchen floor.

“I’m going to kill you!” I declared, tears brimming my eyes as so many terrible thoughts rushed through my mind.

He remained in the same position, shaking his head and laughing at how feeble I must look. “Your stupidity is just another of the many things I did not miss about you,” he said, calmly reaching out and stopping my thrust with his own hand.

The clear shard sank deep into his palm, causing a thick stream of blood to begin pooling out. He sighed in annoyance, as he ripped the piece of glass out and tossed it haphazardly onto the floor. Seconds later – there wasn’t a single sign of his blood.

I growled deeply, which I believe may have surprised both of us. “Fine,” I spat, “if I can’t kill you right now, then the least I could do is make sure you can’t take me back!”

I quickly turned and headed for the guest bedroom, locking the door behind me and shoving a dresser in front of the door, just in case. I backed away from the wall blocking me from him and headed toward the window. There was a very small balcony outside, but I could tell it definitely wasn’t meant for what I was about to do.

I opened the window and carefully stepped out onto the thin strip of pavement held behind a decorative iron railing. Heights never were my specialty, as Shadows’ clan easily discovered, and that definitely wasn’t helping me right now.

Syn busted down the door and cabinetry with a few swift punches, leaving a splintered mess behind him as he stepped into the room. A small gasp made its way past my lips as I clung to the railing for dear life (even though I was immortal). Judging by the stern look on his face, I’d say he probably wasn’t in much of a joking, laid back kind of mood anymore.

“Are there any other stupid stunts you’d like to fail at some more tonight? We have places to be, and unfortunately, we have to be there together,” he complained.

For just a moment, I forgot where I was standing and uttered the single question that had been bothering me since I first heard news of the whole blood mate scenario. “If you hate me so fucking much, then why do you bother keeping up this façade? You didn’t treat me any different before so why bother starting now?” I demanded.

He rolled his eyes and took a few strides forward. “Given the high level of your stupidity, I wouldn’t expect you to understand how this society works, which I suppose is something we’ll have to explain to you once we get back because I can’t handle listening to your questions all day.”

I glared at him so hard, I could’ve sworn my forehead was about to explode from the intensity. He didn’t seem too fazed. In fact, he seemed relatively calm, compared to how he was a moment ago, and that was just enough to remind my nervousness to return.

“Maybe a nice fall will do you some good,” he smirked, roughly shoving his hands forward and pushing me off the awkward railing.

I screamed as I fell three stories completely unbalanced and met concrete, face down I may add. The way my throat was burning, I was almost positive that my scream had been loud enough to echo across a few blocks, but that wasn’t the case. There were so many shrieks and screams filling the air, that my own was totally blocked.

Syn jumped out of the same window and landed gracefully on the concrete next to me. He tightly gripped one of my arms and dragged me along the pavement like a young girl may drag her doll absentmindedly behind her. He had assumed that the shock and impact of the fall would’ve been enough to knock me unconscious – but that was the problem.

I survived the fall. And I felt every single jagged edge of the cement, slicing away layers of skin along all eight blocks back to the cathedral.

*Lillian’s POV*

A harsh light filtered into the dirty cell I’d been locked up in. I could tell that Shadows had been too lazy to move us to the new ‘castle,’ which meant I was somewhere in the depths of the ground below the church.

I quickly surveyed the area I was locked in. The walls were made of a crumbling stone material, mostly stained in blood, which honestly surprised me, given the location. The floor was simply dirt and there was a small cot in the far corner.

I held a hand up to my eyes to shield the light. My brother entered the room, locking the door behind him. “Do you realize your errors, or do you need another reminder?” he asked, eyeing the deep gash in my shoulder.

I wasn’t sure what to do at this point. I had no idea of what was actually going on outside the walls…I had no idea if Jared was safe. Obviously, the best way to find out is to renew my loyalty to the clan and attend Shadows’ meetings to get the dirt on what he plans to do.

Forgive me, Jared, but I’m doing this for the sake of you and I. “I understand what I did wrong and…and I never plan to do it again, brother,” I said quietly.

Jimmy crouched down and stared me directly into the eyes, so deeply that it almost felt as if he was piercing my soul to its very core. His hand suddenly lurched forward and his fingers wrapped tightly around my neck. He pushed me forcefully up against the rough wall.

“Don’t you dare make me regret taking your word, Lillian. I’ll rip your heart out and not think anything of it,” he snarled in my ear before releasing me. “Let’s go. Shadows is waiting.”

I followed him through the dark corridors, silently glaring at his back and occasionally making stupid, mocking faces just to release some of my steam. Of course, at this point, I’d need some blood or a real good kill to release all my anger, but I couldn’t do that right now.

My only goal for now has to be learning all of Shadows’ plans and trying to find a way to relay them to Jared without my brother finding out.

Two large wooden doors opened before us, revealing Syn and Nikki. Syn looked annoyed, as usual, while holding a fairly scraped and bloody Nikki in his arms. They followed us down another hallway and into a large meeting room.

Everyone’s heads turned instantly toward the door due to the smell of her blood. It took everything I had inside of me to resist sending a sympathetic look in her direction. I don’t think Syn noticed, but she wasn’t unconscious. Her eyes were just barely opened.

“Now that everyone’s together, why don’t we get this shit started?” Shadows suggested, taking his seat at the head of the table. “How many total kills did we make today?”

Zacky leaned forward with a clipboard in hand. “Well, it would seem that within the past 24 hours, there have been 1,020 corpses, both human and vampire.”

Nikki looked like she was about to cry…I bet she realized that that number included her parents.

“Shadows, I know I’ve been out of the circle for a little bit, but do you mind explaining what you plan on doing as king? Surely, it can’t be seeing how many humans you can kill in a day,” I inquired, hoping that didn’t sound too suspicious.

“I’m glad you asked, Lillian, because that brings me to my next point. Johnny, I need you to contact our allies across the country and tell them of the news. Make sure they understand that now is the time to strike – to make their existence known and feared.”

“And once that’s done?” I asked, confused.

He grinned, evilly. “And once that’s done, all the vampires will live in one central location, using the humans as our slaves. At this rate, in a few short years, we may even have enough power to overtake the entire world!” Shadows always was one for typical, over-the-top diabolical schemes.

Well, at least I knew some information that can help. Jared just needs to gather what’s left of his clan and…

“Lillian, would you and your brother mind staying behind?” Shadows asked sweetly.

I had zoned out moments ago, so I didn’t even notice that he asked for the others to leave. All that was left now were Shadows, Syn, Nikki, my brother, and myself. I suddenly felt as though I was going to be sick.

*Mai’s POV*

This Shadows guy is sicker than I thought! And stupid too. What makes him think that all the vampires in the US would be willing to live under his command? I sure as hell know that the ones I fought back in Chicago wouldn’t agree to his terms.

But more importantly, I needed to contact Shannon and fast. The fact that they have his sister back means that they must’ve left the house for some reason, and I really hope it wasn’t to come find me.

Alex was still glued to my side, mumbling about some long story regarding how his family came into the business of…being a werewolves. “I’m really tired,” I said, not caring whether or not I interrupted him.

“Well,” he said thoughtfully, “Shadows didn’t say anything about using the cells downstairs, so I guess you can come with me to my room.”

“Great,” I smiled, following him toward a hall filled with doors.

Hopefully he’ll fall asleep quickly. All I need to do is send out a single text message that’s only a couple words long. I gripped the phone tightly in my pocket before stepping into his room for the evening. Of course, there was only one bed.

I sighed as I crawled onto the mattress, sticking tightly to the edge. Alex took his shirt off, offering a rather tempting sight, but I had to ignore it – for now. He laid down on the opposite side of the bed, with his back turned to me.

A heavy amount of moonlight was flooding through the decorative window, which actually really helped because it would make the white light from my cell phone’s screen look slightly less conspicuous. I waited until I heard a bit of snoring before whipping out my phone and searching for Shannon’s number, which really sucked given that his name started with an ‘S.’

I scrolled rapidly through my contacts and clicked his name. My fingers flew across the keys, desperate to get this message sent. “Shannon – Shadows has Nikki captured again. Syn must’ve gotten to her. I’ve been taken by Alex. We need help from you and Jared. We’re still at the church!” I texted.

I finally breathed out as I saw the ‘Message Sent’ image appear on the screen. I deleted the record of having sent the text and tucked the phone safely into my pocket, allowing myself to fall asleep somehow in this insane situation, foolishly believing that things would work out in the morning.

*Jared’s POV*

By the time we made it out onto the streets, the carnage was already present. It was hard to believe that Shadows managed to do so much damage within such a short amount of time.

“Jared, we have a problem,” Shannon said urgently, shoving his cell phone in my face. I backed away from the harsh light out of surprise, but quickly regained myself, reading the message.

“SHIT! Fuck what are the chances?” I growled, angrily shoving my fist into a nearby brick building. A single punch brought the entire building down.

“We have to do something,” he insisted, worry clearly evident in his features.

He was probably worried about both Nikki and Mai. If only he knew how I felt. It was my stupid idea that brought us out here in the first place – leaving to save people who were already far too screwed to be saved.

“Why, look at what we have here boys, it’s the Leto brothers!” a man said from behind us.

“Uh, something tells me we have our own problem to deal with first,” I muttered, glaring at the set of vampire hunters that had encircled us.