I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

I scoffed, staring intently at him, watching the heat rise in his eyes. “No werewolf can transform without the full moon. That’s how the story goes. Why would you be any exception?”

A small, but audible growl grumbled within his chest. Before speaking, he sped forward, tightly gripping my wrists and shoving me up against the wall, making a dent in the process. Dust from the broken plaster and dry wall coated us.

“I strongly suggest that you just shut the hell up before you regret it,” he seethed, his irises now a fiery red.

I really don’t know why I had this desire to provoke him so badly. Maybe it was because I wasn’t into werewolves – they just didn’t scare me. Or maybe, in some twisted way, I cared for him and wanted to prove that he wasn’t a monster, despite what those photos suggested.

I squirmed around a little, testing to see if my wrists could slide out of his grasp, but found no such luck. I resigned quickly and matched his heated glare. “Look, Alex, just because you made a mistake doesn’t make you a monster. If I had to take a stab at it, I’d say that that probably happened just after you turned, which means that you weren’t familiar with your capabilities…”

His eyes narrowed into dangerously thin slits. I’m guessing he didn’t take that the way I meant for him too. “Just stop with your fucking assumptions,” he spat, unleashing a noticeably higher amount of fury and strength onto my left wrist. Now, I was feeling slightly nervous.

“They…they were my world. I could never bear to tell them about my secret. But that didn’t change the fact that I was selected to be leader of the pack. Every time I was out late, she would ask where I was. Of course I couldn’t tell her the truth. Her suspicion escalated, as my rage increased. It wasn’t a very good match. I finally lost all control…and right before she died, there was this look in her eyes, almost like she realized that she was wrong. She knew that this was why I was never home.”

The way he was speaking, I almost believed that he was telling the story more to himself than to me. His eyes were glazed over, like his mind was elsewhere. But, his grip was still here and very much alive. I put greater effort into breaking his grip, but it was like his fingers were made of steel.

“ALEX, LET GO!” I shouted desperately, feeling the small fragile bones in my wrist reaching their limits.

He blinked suddenly, giving me a confused look just as the snap of the bones filled the still air. I stared down at my wrist in slight disbelief and anger. What the hell was the point in breaking my wrist? It was so on now.

“Get the hell off of me,” I growled, kicking his knee. He taken by surprise and lost his balance just long enough for me to pry his fingers off.

I cradled my wrist gently, angered that my never-broken-a-single-bone bragging rights had finally been removed. I glanced up at him, stumbled onto the floor. For the briefest moment his eyes held a look of bewilderment and surprise, but it vanished soon enough.

“Don’t you fucking get it?” I spat. “What happened to your family is incredibly tragic, there’s no denying that. But it wasn’t your wolf side that killed them…it was your human side. You were too scared to tell them the truth, when in reality if you’d just been honest, your wife wouldn’t have suspected anything else.”

The glare returned. “If I was human, then I wouldn’t have had the strength or brutality to rip them to shreds. Tell me something, have you ever seen a werewolf up close, in action, Mai?”

It angered me to have to admit this, but I was curious to see where he was taking this. “I’m a vampire hunter. I’ve never had the need to interact with the dogs before.”

“I figured. Well, if that’s the case, then maybe what you need is a chance to experience a real werewolf’s attack. Then maybe you’ll understand that no fucking human would be capable of what I’ve done.”

*Jared’s POV*

I licked some of the excess blood off my fangs before entering the coffee shop where Shannon was waiting. He was nervously tapping his fingers rapidly against the table while holding onto a latte with the other hand. I was feeling way too energetic and pleased than I probably should be in this situation, but I ignored it.

I patted him on the back, watching with amusement as fear quickly crept across his face. Now, it was replaced with concern…confusion. I took the open seat across from him and grabbed the latte out of his hand, downing a few sips.

“H-how did it go?” he asked, eyeing the blood still smeared on my clothes.

I shrugged, “It was no biggie, really. They won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Shannon’s expression hardened drastically. “Jared, what did you do?”

Shannon was always so fucking self-righteous, but if he wanted to know the truth, then that’s what he’ll get. “I killed them all, drank until they were completely drained. The bodies are still piled up in the middle of the street if you’d like to go see. I’m sure anyone with knowledge of the vampire hierarchy will believe that to be the work of Shadows, so we’re cool.”

“’We’re cool?’” he asked incredulously, “There were twelve men there. Do you know how much blood that is?”

I felt my eyes squint into what may closely resemble a glare. “Why are you criticizing me? I did what needed to be done. And you want to know something else, brother? I’ve never felt better. All my wounds are healed!” I declared, tugging on my clothes to show the healed flesh.

He sighed loudly, taking a large gulp of coffee. “Jared, these are going to be dangerous, violent times. But that doesn’t mean that you have to follow the crowd.”

I rolled my eyes; I should’ve expected this from him. “In case you haven’t noticed, logic and hope aren’t going to be enough to defeat Shadows. In fact, that gives me a brilliant idea.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask what it is,” he muttered.

I grinned proudly, pleased with this sudden idea that sprouted in my mind. “We need to turn some humans into vampires so that we can have a whole army on our side. After all, Shadows did eliminate a fairly large chunk of what used to be our army at the reception.”

Shannon stared at me with a look of mixed betrayal and hatred. “What’s happened to you?”

*Normal POV*

Shadows and I endured what felt like a painfully long stare down as I contemplated my words carefully. My loyalty would never be to this clan, despite the blood mate and blood ties that were involved in my turning. I love my brothers with all my heart, and I know that no matter what he says or does, that’ll always overcome whatever control they think they’ll have.

And that’s what gave me the confidence needed to finally respond. “Go to hell,” I grinned, triumphantly crossing my arms over my chest.

Then he did the last thing that I ever would’ve expected. He started laughing. I mean shit, Syn was over in the corner glaring daggers at me, Rev was restraining his sister, the little bitch traitor, and Shadows was laughing like a maniac.

“And just what the hell is so funny over there, chuckles?”

He shook his head and finished his cackle. “You’re so naïve…that’s what’s funny,” he finally replied.

He strolled causally around the large table until he was standing right before me. He reached forward suddenly, gripping my hair and tilting my head backwards at a rather uncomfortable angle.

“Let me tell you a little secret, Nikki. Each of us head vampires have varying degrees of power. However, in order to solidify and increase the strength of said powers, the vampire needs to undergo a specific process, which I have yet to do. But, if the power hasn’t been used in strenuously large amounts, then it can be used a single time and retain full power, just once.”

I wasn’t really following the course of this conversation. “Try and guess what my power is,” he smirked.

The confidence I felt still remained. “Uh, super stupidity?” I snickered.

Darkness flashed across Shadows’ face before he said, “Try mind control, you little ungrateful bitch.”

He straddled me on the small chair, getting right in my face, which undoubtedly made me very uncomfortable. He was staring me directly in the eyes, with an intense fierceness. “Nicole Elizabeth Leto, from this moment on you will obey every command that comes from me. Your loyalty will be solely with this clan. You shall feel nothing for your brothers.”

His words entered my mind and fought viciously against my will and determination. My mind felt weak suddenly as it succumbed to those evil words. Tears welled in my eyes as the new mindset began taking over.

And I wondered why I had been crying as I stared up at my leader with admiration.

*Mai’s POV*

Despite his strong words, I still wasn’t scared of Alex. Sure, I was incredibly frustrated with the unnecessary pain in my wrist, but that was about it.

“You know, just because I’ve never encountered one of your kind before doesn’t mean that I don’t know your weaknesses,” I smirked.

“Good for you, Mai. But need I remind you; I’m not your average werewolf. I have my own set of unique weaknesses.”

He smirked back at me with a noticeable fierceness before growling. His eyes glowed bright red as he crouched down on all fours. Fur grew like wild weeds out of his flesh as his face shifted into that of a wolf’s. Large, canine teeth formed in his mouth as saliva dripped onto the floor. Sharp black claws grew from his newly formed claws as he eyed me with malice.

An animalistic growl reverberated off the walls as he lunged forward, all ten of his claws digging deep into my shoulders as he pounced and shoved me to the ground. I cried out as the pain began to surface, but forced myself to try and look strong on the outside.

This needed to be done. I know he won’t kill me because his buddy Shadows claims to need me for something. I need to be strong so he can realize something, even though it’ll come at my expense.

He ripped one of his paws out of my shoulder and raised it into the air before bringing it down across my face, creating five long, stinging bloody trails across half of my face. My eyes watered as the blood boiled to the surface as leaked down my face, coating it in the sticky, warm substance.

I knew that he probably had many other ways of inflicting pain, but he was interrupted. Brandon came rushing into the door, definitely not expecting the sight before him. I stared up at him at an upside-down angle and watched him twitch with an urge to join Alex for the taste of flesh. But he remained human.

“What is it?” Alex demanded.

“Things have changed. Shadows supposedly got the Leto girl to cooperate and Jared was seen mauling a group of vampire hunters. Shadows wants to meet to discuss new plans.”

Alex nodded and shifted to human form in under a minute flat. He was covered in my blood, which was something I hadn’t noticed before…I’m guessing it was embedded in his fur.

“We’ll be down in a minute,” he told Brandon. Brandon nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. I forced myself up to my feet and limped over to the bed. I needed some band aids or something, but of course I didn’t see any sign of them.

“What are you doing?” he asked, approaching me.

“You’re slightly insane if you think I’d follow you into a meeting with a bunch of vampires while I’m covered in blood.”

“Don’t you think that should be the last of your concerns? I just attacked you. Why aren’t you lashing back or something?”

I spun around and stared pointedly at him. “I’m not attacking you because I’m trying to make a point. You aren’t who you make yourself out to be, and so long as I’m here, I’m going to prove that to you.”

I eyed a pair of scissors on the desk across the room and went to retrieve them. I cut the sheets into strips and used them in an attempt to cover the bloody mess that Alex had made.

Alex sighed loudly as he sat next to me on the bed and unwrapped all my handiwork. “What the hell man?”

“Just chill out, Mai. Werewolf saliva can be used as a healer for humans.”

And then he licked across my face and chest. He seemed to have forgotten about my wrist, but that didn’t really matter because I was oddly turned on by the experience, and it was freaking me out.

*Lillian’s POV*

Now that Shadows received a good portion of what he wanted within one day, my brother and I decided that we could leave the meeting room and take a break. The sun was rising now and a nap sounded more than perfect.

“You heard that your former lover boy turned evil vamp today, right?” Rev asked as we walked down the halls.

I nearly stopped in my tracks. “What? There’s no way.”

He nodded, “We got it on camera.”

I wasn’t shocked because I was concerned that Jared was giving up on his morals. I was shocked because I could only imagine how fucking sexy that must’ve been. “I want to see it,” I demanded, knowing that the temporary surveillance room was on the way back to our room.

No one was in the camera room, which made it incredibly convenient. Rev rewound the tape until we saw the fight scene. It was amazing, really. Jared took down twelve hunters all on his own. And he didn’t show them any mercy either…he bit them everywhere, not just conventionally on the easy-way-out location of the neck.

“Wow,” I whispered, really wishing that I could’ve been there.

I turned to face my brother, knowing that he’d be the only one to give me the satisfaction I’d need right now. In my mind, he’d be Jared, covered in those men’s blood.

My brother recognized the longing stare and, much to my surprise, acted on it immediately. He backed me up against the wall of TVs and viciously attacked my lips with his own. The hunger between us was intense…and slightly disturbing. But like I said…it was Jared in my mind.

Our tongues battled it out as his fingers tangled themselves in my hair and his other hand roamed my body. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close.

Ever since I was brought back here and had to torture Nikki, my emotions have been all over the place and it’s really getting to me. My feelings for Jared are still present, especially now after seeing this new side of him, but I also feel my old habits and lust for danger and torture returning.

Rev bit down on my lip and began sucking the blood out. I ran my long fingernails down his back, cutting through the thin material of his t-shirt and feeling his blood bubble below my nails.

“You know I still don’t condone you having feelings for Leto just because he killed a couple of humans,” he breathed out.

I smirked as I looked into his icy eyes. “No worries, my dear brother, you’re the only one on my mind right now.” Ah, how my talented deceit never ceases to amaze me.

*Shannon’s POV*

“You know I’m right, Shannon. What, do you need things to grow so desperate before you’ll finally be able to see the truth?” Jared asked.

I gave him a wary stare. It didn’t matter whether he was right or wrong in this case. I knew he wasn’t thinking clearly, and that’s what was bothering me.

You see, vampires need to be on a consistent diet. They can drink human blood and any other sort of supplement blood, but it has to be in even amounts. If a vampire who doesn’t drink solely human blood decides to do what Jared just did, then he becomes “drunk,” as the humans would say. His system isn’t used to that kind of power, so he becomes incredibly intoxicated.

Depending on whether or not he continues to drink from humans determine what happens to the vampire. The reality of the situation was clear. In his self-inflicted condition, he’s going to have to continue to maintain a high dosage of human blood intake.

And unfortunately, upon realizing this, that’s why my own words didn’t surprise me as much as they should have. “You’re right, Jared.”