I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

As I scanned the faces of the men before us, I couldn’t help but mentally laugh at the cruel irony of this entire situation. We left both our safety and Nikki’s safety behind to come out onto the streets to try and save people, and now because of that we’re surrounded by a bunch of morons who probably live out of their mom’s basements and Nikki’s been re-captured.

It’s hard to believe these people even consider themselves hunters, granted Mai’s appearance also took me off guard as well, but at least she knew that we weren’t the bad guys!

“Let’s pretend for just a second that you guys knew anything at all about vampires, okay? Wouldn’t that suggest that you’d end up going for the madman in charge of our entire species…for the Shadows clan?” I pointed out, hoping that it may be just enough to get them out of our way.

The man who I presumed to be the leader scoffed as he stepped forward, making a small distance between him and his crew. “Right, as if we wouldn’t know who the M. Shadows was. Did you know that there’s a five million dollar reward out between us hunters for his head on a platter?”

“That’s good for you. So, since you aren’t as lost as I pegged you to be, what sense would it make to kill my brother and I, also known as the rightful ruler of all vampires. We are aiming for the same goal here.”

“Vampires are vampires regardless of the situation,” another man spoke up. A few others cheered in accordance as they began to surround Shannon and I, torches and sharpened stakes in hand.

“Any plans?” Shannon asked nervously as they continued to close in.

It was my fault and insistence that we left Mai’s apartment in the first place, so I felt as if the only way I could remove that guilt would be to get Shannon to safety and take on these clowns by myself.

“Yeah, I do. You need to get out of here and meet up with me in oh…I’d say about half an hour tops.”

Shannon’s eyes widened and the protest began almost instantly. “You’re still injured, man. There’s no way I’m leaving you alone against a group of hunters at half your strength.”

“You need to trust me, Shannon; this is just something I have to do on my own. Besides, they’re not that big of a threat anyway. Just go to a Starbucks or something since the sun’s just about risen and I’ll meet you there.”

Shannon quickly realized the severity of my determination to do this alone and nodded. Before he left, he gripped my arm tightly, staring hard into my eyes. “If you die, Jared, I’ll kill you,” he smirked before running off, cutting through a hole the hunters left.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, boys,” I grinned, barring my fangs. This is going to be nothing more than a simple workout.

*Mai’s POV*

My body trembled as I shook myself awake, you know, after having one of those weird dreams where you feel like you’re falling then you wake up. Alex was still lying next to me, completely slouched above his pillow, snoring incessantly loud.

My cell phone was still tucked safely in my pocket, so I decided to pull it out to check the time. It was only 6:50 AM, but there was no way I’d be able to fall back asleep now. I’m still amazed I felt remotely comfortable enough to even trust sleep at this place.

Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t help but notice that I had zero new messages. I sure hope that message got to Shannon…they need to be warned of what’s happening and regardless of whether or not they can respond, I plan on continuously warning them as new developments arise.

Since I had nothing better to do other than worry, I decided to press my luck and snoop around the room a bit. Obviously, these people were only using this place as a temporary residence, which of course meant that all of Alex’s belongings weren’t here, but it wouldn’t hurt to see what he believed to be necessary enough to bring in this little backpack of his.

Out of nervous habit, I kept looking back over my shoulder, even though I already knew he was still asleep because surely he’d make a noise after getting up out of the bed anyway. I quickly unzipped the top portion of the bag and stuck my hand inside. At first I thought there was only clothes in there, but then my fingertips brushed across what felt like paper.

I pulled the piece in question out and realized that it was a set of pictures. The first picture was of a beautiful woman holding a little boy, both wearing such lively, happy smiles. The second picture, however, was an entirely different story.

Based on my best judgment it looked like there were two bodies once again, only this time completely mutilated and near impossible to identify amidst the bloody background. The picture held more red pigmentation than anything else and the bodies were ripped to shreds, body parts scattered in the pools of blood.

I was probably hallucinating at this point, but I could’ve sworn that what was left of the jaws were stuck in a screaming stance, as if the pain caused by whatever attacked them was so great that it caused them to continue screaming out, even after their bodies were horribly destroyed.

“That used to be my wife and son,” Alex spoke suddenly from directly behind me.

I gasped and accidentally dropped the photos back into the backpack. “W-what happened?” I whispered, fearing that I already knew the answer, based on the bloody photo.

“I attacked them one night,” he answered bluntly, with only the faintest look of sadness trapped in his eyes.

It all made sense, now…he must’ve lost control and attacked the people closest to him at that time. After all, there really weren’t many things that could’ve done so much damage. A werewolf’s vicious attack would definitely fit the bill. But, there was still one thing that didn’t make sense.

“Why do you carry around the photo of the attack?”

“To remind me just what kind of monster I truly am.”

I wasn’t really sure what to say. By all means, I had taken a bit of a liking to him compared to anyone else in Shadows’ troop, and I didn’t want him putting himself down too badly. “I…I don’t think you’re that much of a monster.”

He shook his head and laughed mirthlessly. “You don’t even know me,” he spat, grabbing the backpack out of my hands and throwing it back onto the bed.

“I’m like a prisoner here and still you haven’t attacked me.”

“Well maybe I need to show you exactly how wrong you are.”

I rolled my eyes, “Guess I’ll have to take a rain check on that then, because it’s morning now Fido.”

He smirked, “Do you understand why I’m the leader of the pack? I’m different than the other wolves. I don’t need the fucking full moon to transform and that is why I’m a monster.”

*Lillian’s POV*

Synyster stood above Nikki, keeping his hands firmly planted on her shoulders to keep her down in the chair. Obviously, this was going to be the scene where they all punish her for running away with her brothers…but what did that have to do with me? In the back of my head, I honestly think I knew the answer, but I was so sincerely hoping that it wasn’t going to be the case.

“You do realize that what you did was a crime, right?” Shadows asked, standing across the table from Nikki.

“‘Crime’ is a strange word for someone of your standing to use, considering your everyday routine is a crime in itself,” she spat.

Shadows rolled his eyes. “Syn, you know what to do.”

I didn’t notice until just now, but he was wearing leather gloves. He grabbed a stake that had been dipped in some sort of liquid, presumably holy water. Nikki didn’t turn to see what was behind her, which was what made it even harder to watch once he slammed the stake through her shoulder blade.

I turned away from the scene…I just couldn’t help it. I had feelings now and it hurt to watch her be tortured.

“What do you think you’re doing?” my brother whispered harshly into my ear so I alone could hear him.

“I-I’m sorry,” I mumbled, obviously unable to explain my actions.

“Lillian,” Shadows said suddenly turning to face me with that sickly sweet smile of his, “why don’t you have the next turn. I mean, you are upset that she betrayed our clan, aren’t you?”

I knew from the look in Shadows' eyes that he could just as easily direct the statement to me because by all means I’m pretty sure that what I did was far worse than Nikki’s crimes. I was actually born into the family, which holds so much more weight than just being turned into it.

So this was what it came down to, wasn’t it? This was what would determine whether or not I’d be forgiven. They weren’t out to kill Nikki, so it couldn’t be that bad to just do this and be done, right? She’ll forgive me…I hope.

After swallowing the lump that had developed in my throat while my thoughts built up, I finally gave him the answer he wanted. “Y-yes, of course I am…as w-we all should be.” Okay, so maybe it didn’t come out as strong as I would’ve preferred, but it’s the thought that counts.

Shadows’ smile broadened and Jimmy’s tense hold on my arm loosened dramatically. “That’s right, Lillian. Now, I think Nikki’s just about learned her lesson. Why don’t you switch places with Syn and give her one last hit, for old times sake.”

I smiled as believably as possible while walking slowly around the table over to where Nikki was covered in her own blood and gasping from the pain. Steam was gently rolling off her body from where Syn had gotten her so badly that her skin was burnt. Syn tossed his pair of gloves at me, which I almost didn’t catch.

I’d feel so much better if there was a way to let Nikki no that I really did not want to do this. But of course that’d just go against my entire reasoning for doing this in the first place. There’s no point in dwelling now, so let’s just get this over with.

I tightly gripped the soaked stake and held it just above her arm, almost like a doctor about to administer the shot from hell. My eyes squinted shut as my arms allowed the final plunge to occur. I’m pretty sure it was just my guilty mind, but I could’ve sworn that Nikki screamed louder that time than ever before…and it did something to me.

My fingers remained locked around the stake as her blood dribbled down toward me. The sticky substance crept between my fingers and clung to my skin in an all too familiar feeling. That’s when the shit hit the fan. Everything I’d worked so hard on preserving after spending time with Jared, everything that made me good just flew out the window with those simple droplets of blood.

I ripped the stake out of her flesh and began stabbing her over and over again. If Jimmy wouldn’t have stopped me…

*Jared’s POV*

Apparently growing guilt and a raging variety of emotions wasn’t quite enough to fuel me through my pre-inflicted wounds to fend off these losers. There were at least twelve of them and one of me, which suddenly made it seem as though I’d made a very stupid move.

So far they had managed to stab, slash, burn, and kick me to hell and back and I’d hardly made a single drop of their blood fall.

“Man, maybe it’s a good thing that Shadows overtook your kingdom because you’ve gotta be the worst candidate for a leader I’ve ever seen,” one of them spat before slicing off more skin with their wooden-based tools.

I was sincerely about to consider just fleeing the fight and going back into hiding, but then I had one of those mental connection moments with Nikki. It felt as though she was in just as much pain, if not more so, as myself.

Then, one thing led to another and the guilt for letting her slip past me again rapidly turned into an escalating rage that made it more than clear what needed to be done. If I’m going to fight an army of barbarians, then maybe, just maybe, one way to win is to simply become one of them.

I didn’t like the idea at all because my family preached avoiding the human vein for centuries now…but this is different now. I smirked to myself as I finally let my bloodlust take over and felt my fangs grow past my lip.

“Let’s see who’s so pathetic now,” I growled, attacking the man who had just insulted me seconds ago.

My teeth sunk into his neck with ease, draining him in under a minute. His body dropped to my feet, sending a wave of fear through his remaining eleven comrades. They tried, oh how they tried, to run away from me, but it wasn’t gonna happen. Now that I had human blood in my veins that meant that my healing process had returned to full speed, as did my actual vampiric speed.

Other men’s blood drenched my clothes as I savagely bit into each of their flesh and mercilessly drained them dry as if they were completely valueless. Soon, all that was left was the leader of the gang. I had something special for him.

I bit down hard into his gut, and chewed my way around his waist until his upper and lower halves of his body were utterly detached. Of course, I drank the rest of the blood that was more than willing to spill out.

But the worst part was…I didn’t scare myself enough to want to stop.

*Normal POV*

I knew I was going to be ‘punished’ for leaving with my brothers, but I never would’ve expected any of what actually happened. For being someone who is supposedly immortal, the things being done to me were hurting too terribly to even begin to understand.

Syn showed no signs of empathy, which of course was to be expected. But it hurt so much more once Lillian was given a chance. Something strange happened in the course of her turn…at first I could tell that she was hesitant, for obvious reasons I’d presume.

But then she lost absolute control…she wouldn’t stop hitting me with the stake. I couldn’t make any sense of it. By the time the Rev had pulled her off of me, I was covered in a thick layer of dried blood, my eyes had disposed of as many tears as it could offer, and my will to live any longer was just about nonexistent.

I wished so bad that Jared would come and save me, but I knew that was far from even remotely possible. Him and Shannon left the apartment for a reason, and I can respect that, but still…this is all slightly their fault.

“Now that all of our business is taken care of, this is one more matter we need to discuss,” Shadows announced, leaning casually against the wall.

I didn’t want to waste any more energy by answering him, so I just settled for glaring instead.

“You have to decide whether or not your loyalty is with this clan.”

The answer seemed so clear – of course I’d say no, but that was before I knew that Shadows wouldn’t give me a choice. I didn’t know he had many horrible ways of making people more…obedient.