I'll Justify My Reasons With Your Blood

As fate would have it, I ended up waiting in the meeting room with none other than Shadows, my clan leader, and Synyster, my blood mate. And though there were hardly very many ways to improve the situation, I still felt a little weird.

It’s understandable to be attracted toward my leader; I mean he has everything from looks to power. But it’s respect, not lust or anything like that.

The whole lust experience should be reserved for Synyster, but I just didn’t quite feel that for him, and I was quite sure it was a mutual feeling amongst us. If I am such a devot member of the Shadows Clan, then why don’t I have the proper feelings for my blood mate?

Shadows began pacing the room, walking back and forth with his arms behind his back. He wasn’t nervous or bored, but rather he was in thought.

We were in here waiting for everyone else – clan members and werewolves – to return so that we could figure out a way around some new development that was just discovered about the enemy clan.

They were just bitter because Shadows rightfully took the crown from them. It’s really silly that we’d have to fight them for what we already had, but I suppose I shouldn’t question his logic.

His pacing suddenly stopped, directly across from me for that matter. “Nikki, I need you to do a favor for me,” he smirked.

The expression itself should’ve sent off several flashing warning signs in my mind, but for some reason I remained blissfully ignorant.

I nodded. “Anything for you.”

*Jared’s POV*

Shannon and I temporarily went our separate ways – he left to see if our house was secure enough to return to, while I roamed the streets to assess potential human recruits.

Of course all of the beating heartbeats and harsh California sun made it difficult to get very far without feeling a thirst and hunger that could only be quenched by a human’s perfectly chilled bloodstream.

A man stood outside of a Verizon Wireless store passing out flyers for some great deal on their wannabe iPhones. “If you switch contracts now, you’ll save at least $50,” he grinned, shoving the flyer into my hand.

“You don’t say,” I smiled. “Would you mind taking a moment to further discuss this with me?”

Of course he wouldn’t mind. An interested customer would surely boost his ranks in the retail store hierarchy. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be making it past his lunchtime break today.

“Do we really need to be this far away from the store?” he asked awkwardly, eyeing the gloomy conditions of the alleyway with disgust.

“Do you have an office or some place we could discuss this? I’m a very private person.”

“There’s an office upstairs,” he confirmed, leading me into the store and up the backset of stairs, past the employee lounge, and into an unoccupied though cramped office space.

“Ah, perfect,” I exhaled.

“So, about this new deal –.”

“What deal?” I smirked, barring my fangs.

The man shrieked silently, leaping back so that the wooden desk separated us. I shrugged before slamming my fist into the cherry wood, instantly severing it across the middle. Without wasting any more time, I lunged forward and pinned the man up against the wall.

“Thank you for your sincere customer care,” I sneered before burying my fangs in his neck, sucking blood so quickly that he barely had enough consciousness to scream.

*Mai’s POV*

Alex backed away from me slowly once he confirmed that I was almost entirely healed. He sighed to himself and reached down to pick up his discarded shirt, now mostly in shreds thanks to the horrendous transformation.

“Guess we better get going. Shadows wasn’t ever a patient guy.”

I laughed sarcastically in response. “Let me get this straight. You just covered me in a coat of your sticky saliva and now you want me to ignore that detail and sit through another one of his pointless meetings?”

Alex rolled his eyes and fell back onto the mattress. “You do realize that we’ve taken up residence in a cathedral, right? There are no showers here.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do until then?” I whined.

“I don’t know, wait it out. Actually, I’ll tell you what…I’m pretty sure Shadows plans on migrating to the castle tonight, so once we get there I will make it top priority that you get that taken care of.”

“Hmm I guess that sounds acceptable. Oh, but just to be safe, I won’t go into any bathroom unless you’re with me because the last thing I need is to run into one of his pervert friends when I’m practically naked.”

“Wait, are you actually inviting me to see you naked?”

“Are you actually complaining?” I smirked.

He held his hands up in defense and laughed. “Definitely not.”

I can’t quite say whether or not I was flirting for my own intentions or for my mission to analyze every individual here to relay back to the Leto’s. Let’s face it, Alex is far from unattractive…but I don’t think that’s enough to really develop into something romantic.

And normally I have no problem stringing some guy along for my own personal interest, but something felt off this time. Maybe I felt sorry for him…I don’t know.

The last thing I wanted to do now, aside from contemplating those feelings, was sit in the same room as Shadows. On the walk to the conference room, Alex said that this is probably when I’ll find out what exactly my purpose is here. He sounded so freaking excited when he said it, too.

Sadly, I just could not share his enthusiasm because I was almost positive that whatever Shadows had planned would not involve me doing something pleasant, especially because my talent is vampire hunting.

Everyone else was already in the room once we finally arrived. Nikki was situated between Shadows and Synyster and looked oddly comfortable. I frowned at the view as I sat down across the table from them.

What happened to her since I was last in here?

Shadows began talking once everyone was settled and, since this meeting probably involves me, that meant I couldn’t really spend too much time being distracted by my own thoughts.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s get right down to business. I think everyone has heard that Jared took an interesting turn earlier in the day. He’s decided to start feeding on humans, hoping that that would be enough to make him stronger than me,” he snickered.

Several other members of the clan, including Nikki, shared the laugh. I just couldn’t bring myself to comply.

“That being said, it’s important that we get to all other vampires before he can. If he has no allies other than his brother, then it won’t matter how strong he is, he won’t be able to fight millions of vampires!”

“We already have an extensive collection of clan members, though,” the Rev stated. “How do you think we can persuade others?”

Shadows directed his smirk toward me. “Enter our lovely vampire huntress.”

I leaned forward across the table with a pointed, stern expression. “You’re insane if you honestly think that I would ever go out there and be your recruiter.”

“You should be patient and wait for the rest of the proposal. What I was going to say was you will go out and talk to vampires. If they don’t want to join the clan, then you have permission to kill them.”

Of course my mission was to exterminate as many vampires as I possibly could, and taking on this task would kind of help me do so, I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. After all, there’s always the possibility that nine out of ten vampires will agree to join.

I bit down on my lower lip and fell back against my chair, feeling the burning stares of everyone in the room.

No, I don’t need him to kill a vampire. Therefore I don’t need his deal either. My fingers balled into fists as I glared defiantly across the table. “The answer is no.”

Shadows sighed. “I feared you would say that. Oh well, at least now I can gain even more benefit from your decision.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He turned to face Nikki. “Remember that favor I asked of you earlier? Please do so now.”

Nikki didn’t even hesitate. Her head snapped toward me as her body lunged forward. Her eyes were blackened with bloodlust and her fangs extended past her lips. Something was completely different about her, and I believe that Shadows is responsible for this.

She crouched on top of the table, though towered over me in my sitting position. “This is your last chance to change your mind,” she growled.

I forced myself to stand up suddenly, sending my chair flying back into the wall with impressive force. “What happened to you, Nikki? Have you forgotten whose side you’re on? Imagine if your brothers saw you now! They’d be so disappointed.”

“I don’t…don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered. “All I know is that I am a member of the Shadows Clan and must therefore do what my leader asks of me. This is your last chance.”

“No.”

She hesitated for the slightest moment, staring me directly in the eyes. But the hesitation was short-lived and before I could say another word, her teeth were ripping away at the thin flesh along my throat.

I cried out in pain as warm blood streamed across my recently dried though still slightly sticky flesh. I shoved my palms up against her shoulders to try and push her off, but she was solidly in stance.

Blackness began to creep across the edges of my vision. And just before I passed out entirely, Shadows snapped his fingers and Nikki stepped back just like an obedient dog. Shadows smirked yet again as his eyes followed the trails of blood that fell past my cleavage.

“Changed your mind yet?”

My body racked as I drew in breaths to control myself. It didn’t matter if I agreed to his proposal. I already knew that I was going to sneak out tonight and get to Shannon. He would know what to do to help Nikki return to her normal self. For now, I think that and getting Jared to calm down may become our top priorities.

We can’t overcome Shadows unless we’re all levelheaded.

Keeping my eyes locked on my lap, I solemnly nodded in agreement. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

*Shannon’s POV*

It’s already been a couple of hours since I arrived at the house, and still I was only working on the exterior. Missing even the slightest detail could easily spell disaster. Any portion of this house, inside or outside, could be laced with a trap or some sort of alarm that would alert Shadows to our whereabouts.

We wouldn’t be able to do much of anything useful if we become his prisoners.

Just as I was sorting some branches aside in a group of shrubs, I heard footsteps behind me. I instantly jumped to my feet and dropped my gardening tools and gloves to the ground. A familiar, though misplaced laugh from behind told me exactly who my visitor was.

“You know that this is a crucial time, and yet you find it funny to sneak up on me?”

Jared sped over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Relax, brother. You’re so uptight!”

Ah, so the intoxication takes over again. He must’ve drained a body dry to be this bad already. He walked along the concrete walkway toward the front porch.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” I asked.

“This is our house, isn’t it?”

I laughed, shaking my head with strong disappointment and followed him toward the porch. “I don’t know if the interior portion is safe yet. I’m still testing the outside of the house.”

Jared snickered. “It’s taken you this long just to do the outside? Here, allow me to relieve you of your duties inside.” He made a move to turn the handle.

“You can’t go in there yet! There could be hundreds of traps in there. I’ve already found several out here.”

He smirked as he twisted the handle entirely and shoved the door open. “Oh would you look at that. I opened the door and alas, I’m still alive! Honestly, Shannon, you give them far too much credit.”

He stepped further inside and was about to make it upstairs until I chucked a handheld hoe in his direction. The gardening tool just barely missed his head and landed between the thin layers of drywall inches away from him.

Jared didn’t take too kindly to the attack. He sped out the door in under a second and wrapped his fingers around my throat.

“You fucking traitor! How could you attack your own brother?”

I sent my elbows flying outward to try and remove his chokehold, but he was undoubtedly stronger. So instead I tried to reply through my gasping. “I told you…not…to go in there…it’s d-dangerous.”

“I think I know what I’m doing. Which one of us is oldest? Which one of us was destined to be the vampire king?”

I glared at him, silently, which he didn’t really care for. He continued to increase the amount of pressure on my neck until I bitterly spat the answer he was looking for. “You are.”

He released me and allowed to me to fall to the ground in a heap at his feet. “That’s right. So, I believe that makes me the one in charge. I think I know what’s right and wrong.”

This new person he’s become is only going to delay our advance toward victory, contrary to his belief that he’s doing the right thing in sacrificing everything he once stood for. And he needed to know that.

I waited until the bruises along my neck healed before speaking. “You want to know the truth, Jared? You’re nothing more than a scared hypocrite who has become so desperate that your best defense is copying off of your enemy.”

And with that, I got back up on my feet and walked away. The frustration and fear were mounting now and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep them under control much longer. I did all that I could for him. If he gets caught, if he drinks himself to “death,” then that’s on his shoulders now; I’m done with this.

I sped off into the evening air, swearing that the next person I see would surely feel my pent up wrath.

*Normal POV*

Once Shadows finished up his agenda, the meeting was dismissed. Mai was probably the first one out the door, not too surprisingly. I could still taste her blood on my teeth, but for some reason it didn’t seem as satisfactory as it should have.

I shrugged off the feeling and made my way down the halls. Shadows said that early in the morning we will be moving into the castle, so I had plenty of time to kill.

As I traveled along what I think was the third floor, I got the feeling that someone was following me. I spun around and found a startled Lillian just a few steps behind me. “Why are you stalking me?” I demanded, slightly confused.

“Look, Nikki, now that we’re on the same team I guess I should get this apology out of the way before the real battle begins. I’m sorry for attacking you and betraying your brother. I’ve been so mixed up between both sides that I just don’t know what to do anymore…”

I glared at her, which caused her to look at me with confusion. “What are you apologizing for? Jared is the enemy! It shouldn’t be betrayal in the first place, it should be natural that you go against him.”

“I’ll be damned. Shadows actually pulled it off,” she murmured.

“Pulled what off?”

“Of course,” she smirked, “you wouldn’t have a clue what’s happened.”

I growled, lunging forward and knocking her over onto the ground, using my body to keep her down. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t give a shit about the Leto’s. My loyalty is solely with Shadows’ Clan.”

As soon as my words registered in her mind, rage rapidly overcame her facial features. With a grunt she pushed forward and somehow switched positions with me so that she was the one pinning me down on the cold stone floor.

“You listen here, you arrogant bitch. You are not a true member of this clan. You are not a sinner like the rest of us so I suggest you break free of whatever mind control Shadows has you under, or else you’ll have to deal with me.”

She gripped my throat and propelled me across the hall into one of the large columns. I cried out in pain as I slipped to the ground losing consciousness. What the hell was she talking about?

About an hour or two later, I would assume, I regained consciousness though the burning pain from my collision still remained. I blinked several times to clear my vision, alarmed to find someone standing in front of me.

“S-Synyster, what are you doing?” I asked, holding a hand to my head to ease the dizziness.

He rolled his eyes and gently kicked my leg. “Just get up already, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m supposed to watch you the rest of the night until the migration.”

This…this was perfect. Surely Synyster Gates, one of the highest ranked vampires in the clan, and my blood mate no less, would have the answers I was looking for because this confusion and unexplained loyalty was really starting to get to me.