There's a New Vampire King. I Am So Screwed.

~Tyler's POV~

Darren looked up from a sleeping Allissa in his arms as our small party slipped through the window. I expected him to call in his guards to imprison me and kill the others. I was reigned to it. But he just kissed Allissa on the forehead and gently places her on the bed.

Luke, a rather possessive mate, as most werewolves seemed to be, growled with jealousy, but I was stunned silent. Darren was being gentle. Darren was accepting our presence without a fight. This wasn't normal. When I saw the way he looked at Allissa, though, I immediately understood. She changed him. Just like she changed Luke, and changed me, she eliminated out faults and brought out a side to us that none of us had known existed. The effect seemed to be more profound on Darren, with the stark contrast between before and after, but the effect had happened on all three of us.

"If you'd have waited another hour, I was planning on returning her to you as soon as she woke up," Darren spoke quietly, as if afraid to wake her up. "She's not happy here, and I want her to be happy. I'll give her to you without a fight. Just please, be quiet. She hasn't been sleeping well lately."

"Since when have you ever cared about other people?" Luke sneered. I bit my lip. This was wrong. Darren was my brother, and I could see in his mind fairly well. I could tell that he was being genuine with his promise of Allissa's return.

"Luke-"

"When did you start getting a heart?" Luke repeated, cutting me off.

"Since her," Darren replied simply. And once again, I could tell it was genuine. And once again, it only served to infuriate Luke even further.

"You don't deserve to hold her!" Luke billowed, shaking with pure rage. I looked briefly over to Allissa, but luckily she was still sound asleep. I knew if things continued like this, Luke would attack. And by the look on Darren's face, so did he.

"I know," Darren said cautiously, his hands up in surrender. "That's why I'm giving her back to you." Darren was saying all the right things, but Luke was so far gone in the fury he'd bottled up since Allissa was first taken that everything only seemed to make it worse.

"If you knew you didn't deserve her then why the hell did you take her?!"

"Luke-" I attempted again, but all in vain.

"SHUT UP! He took my Allissa... my precious Allissa. This bastard has got to die." Darren froze.

"You don't want to do that..." Darren stated slowly, punctuating each word. He looked directly at me rather than addressing Luke, as if he had some warning only I would understand. "If you kill me, you lose Allissa." He was still looking right at me. Then it all clicked. My eyes widened in horror and he nodded, knowing I understood what he meant.

"Luke! Let him be!" This time my voice was on the verge of hysteria. I think the others noticed this, as they all shifted uncomfortably, but Luke still had no control over his anger.

"Are you threatening me?" Luke growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"No! I-"

"That's the final straw. You're dead." And then Luke was on top of Darren, clawing, biting, scratching. All the while unaware that he was dooming Allissa and losing her to us, for however long the vampires decided. Most likely forever. She'd be completely at their mercy.

"Luke! Please!" I begged, but no matter what I did it was hopeless. "Think about Allissa!" He froze for a second and Darren pushed him off. The contact snapped Luke back into his frenzy, and this time nothing I did pulled him out of it. Not even when I mentioned Allissa again did he stop tearing my brother apart. Darren defended himself against the blows the best he could, but for some reason unfathomable to me , he refused to go on the offensive and strike back. He gave Luke a few scratched, but not because of any malicious movement he made. He just took it. I didn't understand why he just took it.

Finally, I managed to separate them. "He's dying. You've gotten your wish. It's done. Now leave him alone." His breathing started to even out as he collapsed in a resigned heap on the floor. He knew I was pissed. He wouldn't do anything to make it worse. I went over to my brother with another brief glare at Luke and blanched at the sight. No matter how well he healed, he wouldn't be able to survive that much blood loss. He was definitely dying. My brother, who I grew up with, argued with, hated, but ultimately loved deeply, was dying. "Why didn't you fight back?"

"I couldn't do that to her. He makes her happy. I can't hurt him because of her." I knew exactly what he meant. Allissa had a way of infiltrating people's priorities so they revolved completely around her. The worst thing was she didn't even realize it. Everything we did was because of Allissa in some way.

We all heard a soft groan and looked over to see Allissa waking up. She looked over and saw the scene. her eyes widened. Chaos broke loose. "NO! Darren... damn it, why did you have to be wrong?" She crawled over to Darren as he took in a shaky breath. His blood was everywhere. I was sure some of it was Luke's blood, but most of it was definitely Darren's. She was not negligent of that fact. A tear leaked out of her eye as she held his hand. He gave it a small squeeze. Luke's face crumbled with regret as he realized what his anger had done to Allissa. He finally realized that Darren had clearly cared about her more than Luke or I predicted. "I told you so," she whispered, smiling sadly. He laughed and nodded.

"I've never been a good listener." Even though it was addressed to her, I had a feeling that particular sentence was directed to me. It was a subtle apology for everything that had gone wrong between us. I nodded in silent recognition. He noticed and smiled a little before returning his attention completely on Allissa. "Allissa, I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen to you.

"What do you-"

"With my death, comes your doom. I'm sorry." His eyes rolled in the back of his head and his hand fell away from hers to hang limply at his side.

"Wait! What do you mean? Darren? DARREN! NO!" I was frozen for a second or two. He was gone. My little brother. Dead. Never to return. I was overcome with regret for all of those awful words we threw at each other through the years. So many years spent in bitter resentment instead of brotherly love like they should have been. Sure, he had his faults, but so did I. Why couldn't we accept each other's faults and treat each other like the family we were supposed to be? I suppose pride got in the way too much.

I snapped back into reality as I realized the vampires would smell Darren's blood and were probably on their way here now. I couldn't let them get their hands on Allissa. "Luke! We have to go NOW!!" His eyes snapped into focus and he looked over, appraising how desperate the situation was by the look I gave him. I think he got the point. He quickly scooped Allissa in his arms and bolted over to the window. He lithely jumped out and started running. Everyone else followed. Allissa was bawling her eyes out the whole time.

Luke and I were both overcome with guilt the whole way home.