House of Wolves

Chloe’s P.O.V.

“Sorrow?!” We shouted in unison. She was tied up to a tree, blood dripping out of her mouth, and was looking very weak. I heard Jen gasp and all of our eyes turned to Bob, also tied to a tree, who was completely unconscious. Jen ran forward to Bob.

“SHADOW!” Matt barked. A gleaming white wolf leaped forward and stopped Jen in her tracks. Jen broke down and burst into tears. She stared at the wolf pleadingly. Jen’s started to make a low growling noise. The wolf, Shadow, growled back. We stared in awe as the two spoke. My gaze went from Jen to Sorrow to Matt. My god, he hadn’t changed at all.

[Seven years earlier]

I was feeding Sid when it all started. Bob, Mikey, Frank, Tater, Gerard, Matt and I had all been living in our mansion “peace” for about a decade and a half. Sid chirped happily as I opened a jar of dead flies, and fed them to him one by one. I was about to sing something to Sid, to make him come out of his cage, when Gerard walked up and jerked my shoulder around so I would face him. Dead flies spilled everywhere. “I want him out, now.” I stared at him, getting more and more pissed off by the second..

“Who, Gerard? And why, may I ask?” I capped the jar and folded my arms, waiting for him to respond.

“Matt.” Of course.

“And what’s the problem this time?” Gerard and Matt had been at each other’s throats for about a year by that time, so I was used to his complaining. It was the same thing every week. Gerard would come to me on a fucking tirade and yell this and that about Matt, and then I’d go talk to Matt and see what the hell they were arguing about and then within a few hours I would have it resolved and they’d go on with they’re lives for a little while.

“Why? That bastard…he…he…really hurt Mikey.” My eyes widened. Matt had never hurt anyone before. They’re arguments were never this serious. “Yeah, yeah I heard yelling so I knocked on Mikey’s door. No one answered but I could hear crying so I went right in. You know my stupid brother, he’s always crying, but when I walked in, Matt was beating the shit out of him. And for no good reason! So I walked over and started kicking his ass. I told Mikey to get out of the house, so he should be gone for a while…” It had really started to bug me how Gerard had referred to Mikey as his "stupid brother", but I didn’t have time to think about that. I was suddenly filled with anger and was barreling up the stairs, Gerard following behind me. I went to the dinner table, where Matt and the others, except for Mikey, were eating and laughing. I walked up and grabbed him by his shaggy hair and jerked his head back.

“What the-”

“Don’t. Speak. Look, asshole, you think it’s funny to beat up on defenseless kids, huh?” When he didn’t answer I jerked his head back harder. I saw a couple of places where Gerard had hit him, mainly where his eye was puffy and black. “You know, Mikey’s like my little brother too. You think it’s funny to mess with my little brother?”

“N-no, I don’t!”

“So why were you hitting him, huh?!”

“I-I didn’t I swear!”

“Bullshit! Why were you hitting him? Answer me, now.”

“I didn’t! I was doing just fine until this asshole,” He pointed at Gerard, “started beating me up-” I stared down at him. Ready to slit his throat with the very knife he had been eating with moments before.

“I want you to get out of this house.” I interrupted.

“B-but-”

“OUT.” I stormed out of the room, past Gerard who was oddly shocked by my anger. I wish to god that I hadn’t been so impulsive, that I had actually listened to Matt that night, but I hadn’t. Matt didn’t leave that night, but when it spread around about what he did to Mikey the group made him as miserable as possible. Matt left exactly two nights after I initially told him to, and he never returned. Mikey came back right after Matt left, but none of us spoke to him about the incident. He seemed happy and carefree, so we felt it was better just to leave it alone.

[End]

His hair was a bit shorter, but it was definitely him. I was amazed at how even after all of these years my hatred for him hadn’t changed. I still wanted to rip off his scalp and feed it to his Wolf companions. Jen and Shadow were still conversing, Jen getting more and more upset with every word. The rest of us glared at Matt, who merely stared back, smiling politely. I took a brave step forward. I didn’t know how well I could faire against an entire pack of Wolves. I could last but I wouldn’t last long. I thought Matt would immediately call his Wolf henchmen on me, but he still stood there with that dumb smile spread across his face. I took another step forward, then another. Eventually I was walking straight towards him, Gerard not to far behind, and ready to kill if needed. But still he did nothing. I reached where he was standing and stopped about three feet in front of him. He stared him up and down, thinking of what I could say to this wretch. So, I said the first thing that came to mind.

“What the hell are you doing?” He didn’t say anything, only stared. I began to get irritated. Finally he spoke, but it definitely wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was exactly what I expected.

“Getting my revenge, love.”

“For kicking you out when you deserved it?” I glared at him. “You can’t take your banishment honorably? For what you did?” I spat on the ground at his feet. He shook his head.

“No. I take my revenge for getting banished when I didn’t deserve it. Given a good reason, I can take any punishment for my actions, but you see, they weren’t my actions. I didn’t do anything. And before you spit at my feet again, I think I should point out that Gerard-” Gerard sprang forward and knocked Matt to the ground. Matt grunted and tried to throw Gerard off of him, but he held strong. As they wrestled, his Wolves began closing in. Just as they were upon us, Matt threw Gerard over and sat on top of him. I stared down, shocked, at the two men in front of me, but mainly Gerard. “Oh, so you want to tell her, you fucking lying piece of shit!” I looked at Gerard who wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. What is he hiding? “Tell her! ‘Cause if you don’t, I will!” Gerard’s face flushed and he was even whiter than usual, actually he was green almost.

“Gerard?” I asked, utterly confused. He looked up at me for a second and then looked back down.

“Matt never hurt Mikey. The thing is, I had been trying to get a hold of Gabriel for a few months, to see if I could get him to turn Mikey back into a human. I saw how miserable he was, and I really hated to see my baby brother suffer. I know I didn’t act like it, but it killed me inside when I would hear him talking to you about how much he hated his life and himself. Well, Matt had overheard one of my phone conversations with Lily, who was the closest I could get to Gabriel at the time, and he stormed into my room and told me of what a “morally wrong” thing I was doing, and how the Vampire gods would punish all of us for letting a Vampire get re-turned. He told me that any more attempts I made at getting Gabriel to turn Mikey back, he would interfere with. He went around talking to Gabriel behind my back, getting it to where there was no way I could convince him that losing Mikey was a good thing. So I had to get him out, for Mikey’s sake.” A shocked silence filled the air around us.

“See? And was it really for Mikey’s sake, Gerard? He was never re-turned?” Matt asked in a sickly sweet tone. When Gerard didn’t answer Matt punched him in the stomach, making him vomit. “Well?!” Gerard shook his head and moaned from the pain. “I’ve seen little Mikey walking down this road many times since you banished me, still in pain, still loathing the world, and still a Vampire.” Matt stood up abruptly and walked in circles around Gerard and I. “I was doing us all a favor, Chloe. Our wonderful Gods don’t deserve for their Vampires to be taken away from them. They would smite us all, and make our lives miserable. I couldn’t let Mikey be re-turned. I figured he would get over it, and learn to make the best of it, but I guess some people aren’t as gifted as I am. Without my help, you’d all be dead.” It hurt me inside to see Gerard in so much pain. I could tell he thought I was mad at him, that I would see things Matt’s way and banish him instead. But now I hated Matt more than ever, and his punishment would be far greater than mere banishment this time.