AN: If you want more of this story, you really need to leave me a review. I'm seriously considering stopping this prematurely if people continue to read and leave, because I have had an average of 100 hits per chapter and yet I have only twenty something reviews. Once school starts, things are going to be crazy, and I'm not going to update if people don't give me something to motivate me: reviews. It's not like I'm asking for money or anything. It's just a simple little process that brings me much joy. To those who did leave a comment, thank you guys so much.

So here is the much-anticipated confrontation.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! please?

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My cup runneth over

Like blood from a stone

These stand for me

Name your God and bleed the freak

I like to see

How you all would bleed for me

When the pig runs slower

Let the arrow fly

When the sin lies bolder

I'll pluck out thine eye

If you scorn my lover

Satan got your thigh

If you steal in hunger

I will kick you when you try

"Bleed the Freak" Alice in Chains

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Chapter Seven:

Duncan was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the blonde take her father's abandoned police-issue gun, kiss Keith on the cheek, and start heading toward the street.

"Veronica, wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to help Logan. I can't believe you left your already emotionally scarred best friend alone with his psychotic, abusive father. Isn't it enough that he blamed himself for Lilly's death before he found out his dad killed her? Don't tell me that you just left him alone long enough to check on me. After you saw I was okay you could have gone back or even just told me that he was here and in trouble, but you didn't. Aaron's a murderer and I'm not going to let him kill anyone else I care about. If you really want to help, stay with my dad."

Duncan watched her figure recede into the darkness. He sighed and turned to his unconscious charge. Veronica had some lingering feelings for Logan and now she was mad at him on top of everything.

"This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."

Aaron watched his son carefully, absentmindedly spitting out some of the blood that was filling his mouth. His son had finally grown a backbone. Under normal circumstances, he would have been proud.

"So, you finally mustered up the courage to fight back, son? I was beginning to think you were a wasted cause. I did try to train you, but you resisted me. I let you associate with humans and half-breeds, hoping you would realize that you didn't belong with them. Instead you let them weaken you, not that that was much of a challenge. It must be your mother's blood in you," Aaron remarked offhandedly, and was rewarded with a growl, but Logan was not stupid enough to let his taunts enrage him, yet. He knew that if he lost his temper, he would make mistakes. Logan could not afford that and Aaron knew it.

"You are supposed to be a predator, yet you scorn your royal heritage. We are the future. Humans are our food, and our playthings, but should never be our equals. Half-breeds are a disgrace to society. Granted, Lilly was a fine piece of ass, and an extremely gifted lover, but she didn't mean anything to me, and shouldn't have to you. I didn't mean to kill her, but it doesn't matter now, in fact it should have been good for you. Of course, then you moved on to her. I didn't mind much at first, but when the nosy bitch started prying, I had to take care of her," Aaron continued as the two circled each other.

"How could you? You knew I loved Lilly and you didn't care. No, you think that the world must bow down to the great Aaron Echolls. You don't even feel for your own son. I'm your own flesh and blood. Does that mean nothing to you?" Despite the fact that Aaron had made his life miserable, his words still cut Logan to the core.

"You are nothing. You are pathetic. You can't even kill me now."

Logan couldn't stop himself from slipping into his game face and charging his dad in a blind rage. Aaron barely managed to dodge out of the way but Logan's momentum continued to propel him forward. He recovered quickly, but not fast enough to avoid his dad's fist colliding with his face. The force of the punch made him stumble but he regained his footing. Logan and Aaron carefully searched for each other's weaknesses as they took a brief moment, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Aaron grew impatient. He was sick of Logan's little game and wanted to get the hell out of there. He threw another punch, but was surprised when Logan deftly blocked it and delivered a roundhouse kick. Aaron returned the favor but was stopped with a well-aimed blow to his chest. At this point, only the occasional grunts or groans from the pain and exertion cut into the deathly silent night. They did not have the breath to snark at one another; loosing focus could prove to be fatal.

They continued to trade punches and kicks, the force of which an ordinary man might have died from, but neither gained the upper hand. Then Aaron managed to kick Logan in the most sensitive area of the male body. Logan doubled over in pain, and Aaron took this opportunity to knock him to the ground and grabbed a broken tree branch, a perfect stake. One shove through the heart and Logan Echolls would be no more.

Veronica rushed down the driveway fuming. She was mad at Duncan, Aaron, and even Logan for his stubbornness. She hated not being in control of things. In one day everything she knew and her whole world was turned upside down. She despised the idea of Aaron not going to jail like she wanted. Lilly's killer deserved to rot in jail and Aaron was getting the easy way out. This day could not get any worse, she thought. She was wrong.

She halted at the sight before her. He was about to stake Logan. Aaron could not really kill his own son. But of course he could. She had already learned what the monster before her was really capable of.

Logan couldn't die. She wasn't going to let him.

She didn't even realize she had pulled the trigger until she saw the red spreading through Aaron's shirt. He turned to look at her with a manic grin marring his face. He dropped the stake he had almost stabbed Logan with and slowly stood up. She froze. She hadn't really thought, she just had reacted. She had forgotten that Aaron wasn't human and she had just learned that bullets apparently didn't kill vampires. Unfortunately, now she was defenseless and he was after her again.

As he charged at her she squeezed off two more shots before he was upon her. She fell backwards and he came crashing down on top of her, his hands wrapped around her throat. He started to squeeze the life from her...she couldn't breathe. After all she had been through, after all she had done to get justice, she had survived the fire only to be killed by him.

Suddenly, she could breathe again. As the black spots faded from her eyesight, she saw why she had been released. A wooden branch was sticking out of the front of Aaron's shirt. He gazed at the stake protruding from his chest and slowly collapsed next to her. Logan was still staring at the spot his father had been in, taking deep breathes and looking incredibly lost. Aaron looked up at his son with a look of shock and briefly respect.

Then he exploded. Nothing was left but the dust.

TBC