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Chapter 18: Finally Free

We bury ourselves in each others warmth; I let him hold me, caress me and for the last time, let him remember how it's like to have me in his strong arms. In his arms, I silently cried; can I really leave him when I leave this place?

I am sorry for being so selfish.

Maybe I will regret this moment in the future; but it doesn't matter.

For now, I am in his arms.

And that is all that matters.

Horatio sent a tight slap across my face. The Donahue brothers sat quietly at their places as they watched on. They knew what I did back at the basement an hour ago.

I didn't fight back or anything; I just sat there and took it. Yes, the slap was painful. Hell, it hurts. But I stayed silent. I didn't even move an inch when Horatio slapped me again. I know he didn't put all his strength in it, or my jaw would have been dislocated by now.

When he was about to gave me another slap, Christopher grabbed his arm.

"Father, I think that's enough."

Horatio glared down at me, "Enough? My son, my daughter-in-law just slept with a dog! Shouldn't you be angry that your fiancé is no longer a virgin but touched by something as disgusting as a mutt?"

I let out a low chuckle and I know all of them heard me clearly, especially the angered Horatio. He pulled me roughly by my hair to face him and I hissed in pain. He smiled at me manically, "Do you find it funny, you foolish girl? That you're about to die?"

"Father!" Christopher protested but Horatio stopped him.

"Keep quiet!"

Christopher stared at his father wide eyed. The others said nothing but they were no longer seated; they were ready to rush to stop Horatio if he does anything irrational.

I mirrored the same menace smile, "You don't think I would not find out about your dirty little secret?"

"What dirty little secret?" Christopher asked as he stared at both Horatio and I, "Father, what secret is she talking about?"

"Dominic, you're the mind-reader, tell us what is in Adele's mind right now." Maxine turned to his younger brother.

Dominic shook his head, "I can't see it; she's imagining hitting me with a baseball bat and I do not wear pink!" My lips curved upwards a little as I tried to fight my laughter back down. Imagining Dominic in pink frilly dresses and hitting him with a baseball bat is the best cover-up.

This time it was Horatio's face that fell. His eyes harden and his grip on my hair tightens, from his look I can tell that he so wants to kill me. But he is not stupid to kill me on the spot just to cover up his secret or it would be too obvious and it will make his sons even more suspicious. So he silently hissed to me, "You fool, if you even think of it, I will--"

But I smiled in his face, "Too late."

And I turned to look at Dominic right into his eyes and mentally said; my parents killed your Ashlie.

Everything happened so quickly, I didn't even have time to blink. A moment ago I was still held by Horatio by the hair and the next moment, Dominic had pushed me out of Horatio's grip and pinning me down on the carpet, giving me rug burns. He hissed, revealing his fangs and everything fell into chaos.

Grace and Julian showed up in the room; one look at Dominic and me caused anger to abrupt in Julian and he snarled protectively, springing towards Dominic to peel him off me. Edwin or Adrian knocked Julian off from the side to prevent him from attacking Dominic and he crashed into the shelves, breaking everything under his weight. Christopher and Maxine tried to pull Dominic off me but Dominic fought them off. Horatio recovered and took this chance to pull me out from underneath Dominic and hurled me across the room. Before my body could take the impact, someone caught me and the both of us fell to the floor.

I looked up to see Sebastian groaning in annoyance and Grace pulling me up. Horatio hissed angrily when he saw my neck still not broken. Sebastian threw his father a confused look, wondering why his father was so anxious in wanting me dead. Grace pulled me behind her defensively and growled at Horatio right the same moment the other vampires rushed in.

One commanding looks from Horatio and Walter the butler and the big build driver Will lunged towards me, ready to snap my neck in half. Growling, Grace started to phase and I watched in horror as her body started to grow bigger, taller and definitely hairier. In front of me no longer stood the human Grace I knew but a human-wolf with amazing honey-caramel colored fur. She stood on her hind legs and let out a long howl.

From the horrified looks Walter and Will have on now, werewolves in their full form must be a real pain to fight with.

Grace, now in her full form somehow smirk-smiled at me before turning to the vampire attackers and this time, she pounced on them. Christopher let out a loud gasp of 'no!' when he saw Grace had phase and fighting. I was too engaged in Grace's battle with two vampires to not notice someone aiming to break my neck. Sebastian pulled me away from the attacker and she hissed angrily at her failed attack.

Sebastian hissed back protectively, "Back off, Mindy."

She chuckled, "Tell that to your father."

And she lunged at us.

Sebastian pushed me behind as he stood in a defensive stand and fought her off. She snarled, baring her fangs at him and clawed at his face several times, blood oozing out but the wounds keep healing.

I dodge right in time when Horatio aimed a punch to my gut. Thanks to Sebastian's blood donation, I am stronger and faster than normal humans. I dodged his attacks easily and I sent one punch of my own to his face and it hit straight on. Horatio was shocked at first when he stumbled a little but he glared at me and snarled.

I snickered at him, "What? Didn't think I could do that?"

He hissed in annoyance, "You little brat, you think you're better than me?"

I merely missed his fist and I sent him a lower kick to the abdomen, "Yes, I do think I am better than you. After all, I am a vampire hunter's daughter."

I know the others heard me perfectly well because they were barely moving anymore and staring at the both of us as we sent each other punches and dodging each others attacks. Even Julian and Grace, who have phased back, looked surprised. I smirked even more when Horatio hissed in pure annoyance once he realized that his little secret is leaked. "I bet you didn't think my parents would train me on karate lessons now, do you?" I was suddenly grateful that my parents did push me into taking self-defense lessons since I was little. Who knew I would need to use it now?

"What are you talking about?" Adrian asked, before turning to his father, "Father, what is she talking about? What vampire hunters?"

Horatio stopped and glared at me full with hatred but he didn't say anything. I fake smiled at him, "Are you not going to answer that, dear father-in-law?"

"You knew," Dominic's voice was barely a whisper as he stared at his father, his face showed pure horror, "you were hiding this from us all along…you knew she was the daughter of those vampire hunters yet…what is your motive for this, huh, father?"

"Dominic, what vampire hunters are you talking…you don't mean the ones we met back at--" Edwin asked and from Dominic's look he immediately tensed, "why…"

Maxine stared at me and I stared back at him, "I told you already, didn't I? How 'bout you ask him now, Maxine, if you're so curious?"

"What? What did she told you?" Horatio looked panicked for a while; if he is thinking of getting out of his dirty little secret clean, he is so wrong. No way am I letting him out of this easily, even if I will end up dying; revenge is a bitch, after all.

"What is she talking about, brother? Ask what?" Christopher looked at Maxine before turning to look at me.

"I…" he continues to stare at me for a moment before turning to his father, "you asked Reina to kill me, didn't you?" When Horatio didn't answer, Maxine continued; his expression harder each minute. "Ashlie's death, was it you too?"

I stood there watching Horatio's expression; it was unfathomable. Could he really have planned his only daughter's murder? Julian had come up behind me and held me by my waist protectively. Dominic gave off a low growl and I looked at him one eyebrow raised, what was that for?

Grace stood next to Christopher, one hand on his arm. Christopher's immediately relaxed and he smiled at her, as if she was his sunshine. Horatio and the rest of course saw it and from their harden expression, something tells me they didn't like it one bit. Julian tensed beside me and I placed a reassuring hand on his chest. He looked down at me for a moment before heaving out a sigh.

Horatio did something I didn't expect him to; he laughed, "Ah, so you all have caught me."

"Wha-How could you do this? How could you fucking do this! For the love of God, Ashlie is your daughter! We're your children!" Dominic roared at him, his eyes turning red and his fangs revealed. But Horatio just stared at him calmly, with a sarcastic smirk plastered on.

"Why? I want to know why." Maxine said through gritted teeth.

"Do you know how your mother died?" Horatio suddenly asked.

Whoa, that was sudden. Now that I thought about it, I have never heard them talk about their mother or how she passed away before; so why now?

Dominic hissed angrily, "What does that have to with anything?"

"You know, your mother wasn't really human when she died." Horatio smiled with menace. "I wanted her to share her immortality with me but you know what she said? She said 'NO'! What a foolish woman, she even tried to stop me when I went for another plan to achieve immortality and guess what happened to her? She DIED!"

I felt a shiver run down my spine; he is insane, from the very beginning!

Sebastian who was standing next to me, paled with horror, "What are you talking about?"

Horatio laughed a little, "Yes, yes, no doubt the rest of you didn't notice it. Your mother, after she gave birth to you," he pointed at Dominic, "was changed by a vampire a few months later. It was an accident, the vampire didn't plan to make her into one of their kind but it was too late by then. She had forever to live on. She was a vampire, like us too!"

"And you wanted immortality, but when she didn't want to grant your wish, you killed her?" Sebastian hissed; his fist clenched tightly.

"Wait, wait, I am not there yet! Don't be so impatient like always, my lovely son!" Horatio let out a high giggle like a drunkard. Yes, he giggled. I could only imagine how his sons are feeling right now, even I felt like punching that sick bastard. He is making me real sick.

"I am not your son." Sebastian hissed at him.

Horatio stopped giggling and stared at him, his voice suddenly serious, "Unfortunately, you are. And I am disappointed, to have such useless sons."

"Useless? Why, because we're not as disgusting and cruel as you are?"

Horatio smirked, "Cruel? Disgusting? The world is cruel, foolish son. But as I was saying, your mother wouldn't give me her share of immortality so as I had said earlier, I had to find it somewhere else. And guess where I was able to find it? It was in that little old abandoned house I think you all know of. Oh, you know? The place where Reina lives?"

Reina? That means Horatio knew her before they do? No way, that means Reina was in this all along too?

"What…how is Reina related to mother's death!"

Horatio smiled at Maxine, "Easy, I just had her kill your mother like I asked her to kill you."

"Maxine, wait!" I was right enough to stand in front of him, preventing him from attacking his own father. Maxine hissed angrily and I glared back at him, "You can kill him later, but now; I want to know how Ashlie and my parents get involved. I think Dominic might want to know that too." I turned to look at Horatio, "You're still wearing my father's ring."

Horatio looked down at the ring on his finger and laughed, "Oh, yes! Sorry, do you want it back?" I glared at him and his smile widen, "Yes, you want to know how your parents got involve with this, don't you? You see, Ashlie found out my little plan and I know she will end up telling Dominic, purposely or accidentally, so I had to find a way to shut her up. And the only way is to make her bring that secret with her to the grave."

Dominic made a disgusted face and Horatio snickered at him, "Oh please, you think I am a sick disgusting bastard? Well, who was the one that was sleeping with his own sister?" Dominic winced at those words and anger flared in me.

"Oh please," I mimicked Horatio, "who was the one that was sleeping with his son's lover?"

True enough, there were gasps.

"Father and Reina?" Adrian looked at me questioningly and Edwin made a disgusted face.

Horatio was shooting daggers at my direction and I mirrored the same menace smile he had on a while ago, "Oh, sorry; was it supposed to be a secret? Oh, never mind, it's a confession session anyway. Come on; tell us another secret we do not know."

Horatio gritted his teeth, "Like how I killed you parents?" I tensed immediately and he saw it. He smiled, showing his little pearly whites, "It was easy; all I had to do was look for a drunk driver, kill him and make sure the both of your cars crash together to make it look like it was an accident."

"Then why save me?" I asked him, "So you could use me later in the future to kill one of your sons?"

He laughed, "No, if I want my sons dead, they would have already been dead."

The Donahue brothers winced, and Horatio smiled even more, "No, I just want you here so I can--" and he lunged at me, "—kill you myself!"

"No!"

I heard Julian shout as he tried to move forward to pull me away, but he didn't get the chance as Will attacked him from the front. I am quick, with vampire's blood in me, but not quick enough to avoid Horatio's sudden attack. He was too fast; his hands aiming for the heart in my living body. I want to run but my legs went weak and before I could even move an inch, I fell.

My legs, so clumsy at a time like this…

I fell backwards and everything went in slow motion…

I couldn't do anything now, can I? I already am falling on my back and Horatio is now just seconds away from me. What should I do? Should I try to run? Or should I just let him kill me? I looked at Horatio's crazed face and I silently smiled, this sick bastard is the source of all this hatred and pain. If I die, Julian will kill him as revenge and Grace might help him. This way, he won't cause anyone else pain, isn't this for the better?

I closed my eyes; yeah, this is for the better. I do not regret meeting them; the Donahue's, Grace and Julian...At least, I will go peacefully, even if I have to die a horrible death in the hands of a ravenous killer. I will have no regrets…

Then I felt it.

Wet, slimy, warm liquid splashing all over me.

I opened my eyes immediately and let out a long shriek.

I couldn't see the face but I recognize the curly blonde hair.

"Maxine!!"

"Oh hey, we're in this situation, again." He smiled a cheesy smile, his mouth dripping with blood, "Except that this time it is me who is all bloody."

"Maxine, are you ok?" I asked him and he smiled his crooked sexy smile, still so charming and dazzling. Then I remembered blood pouring down on me, "Wait, where are you hur--"

I looked down and I saw it.

Horatio's hand sticking through his chest.

"Maxine!" I don't know who shouted but I was guessing it was one of the brothers.

Horatio looked as shocked as I am, but he quickly recovered and pulled out his hand in a swift moment. Maxine coughed out blood and even more blood gushed out from his chest onto my body. He was bleeding too fast and too much, but he will heal, right? He is a vampire after all.

Right?

I heard a loud crash and from the corner of my eyes, I saw Christopher holding Horatio by his neck, screaming in his face. Horatio didn't seem to want to fight back; he was just staying limp there, letting Christopher punch him over and over again. Will, Walter and Mindy were too busy preventing the other Donahue brothers from joining Christopher in beating the crap out of Horatio.

Maxine was lying on top of me; he sure is heavy, but it didn't matter. I was already choking on my sobs, "What-what the heck was that for—huh? And why isn't your wound healing! What's your body's problem?!"

Maxine let out a choked laugh, "Silly Adele," he used his blood soaked right hand and touched my face, "I owe you one, really…Reina…I really loved her, you know…geez, that old man only took half of my heart and now 'til the very end I still have to wait to die… why does everyone likes to make me wait?...well, at least for once he was right when he said that the world is cruel…"

"God looked down on your body,
So tired from hanging on,
From a life that was overwhelming you,
And wanted back His son.
So he took away the air you breathe,
And gave you what was best,
A place to be at peace,
A final place to rest."

Maxine looked at me with the saddest eyes I could've ever seen and he smiled sadly, "That's beautiful…"

"I know."

"Smile, Adele…"He chuckled and he lifted his hand to wipe off the falling tear, "I am finally free…"

And all that was left was just ashes.

"Yeah…" I smiled slightly, "Finally free."

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