Chapter 27

And The Victory Goes To…

I never thought that someone would have to make such an atrocious choice before. Forcing a man to choose between his wife and a girl who he just risked his life to come back to save?

It was malicious and shameful. But what more could you expect from a creature of the night; an unforgiving being called a nightwalker?

Alec stepped in front of me. "As much as I love my mother, I refuse to sacrifice Ava. In fact, I'm not stupid. None of us are. You'll kill them both when you get a chance, just to make yourself feel better about us killing your brother. If you would like, you can gladly join him." He cracked his knuckles with a tightening of his fist, and I shuddered. Alec was scary when he wanted to be.

And wait, did Alec just say he wouldn't sacrifice me? I think that's been the most heart-felling thing he's said about me…ever.

Jakobi narrowed his eyes in on Alec. "I wasn't talking to you, little boy. I was talking to your father. It'll be his choice, not yours."

Alec made a snarling noise that sounded halfway between a hiss and a growl, and his muscles coiled as he leaned down a bit, ready to pounce. I did the one thing I could at that moment, and grabbed him, latching myself onto his arm. He froze and glanced my way, extremely irritated, but he didn't make a move then.

We all looked back at Claude, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. He had a torn look on his face. Poor Cassidy's face was turning pink, and she gripped onto Jakobi's wrist with white fingertips. All Jakobi would have to do is jerk his arm any way and she'd be dead. I didn't want to think about that.

As much as I despised Cassidy, I couldn't let her family suffer because of my idiocy.

Claude put his hands to his face and sank to his knees. "I-I'm so sorry Cassidy… and Ava… but… I can't choose…" he muttered into his hands, and I smelt the fresh saltiness of tears. Daywalker's could cry? I felt tears sting the lids of my eyes too. Poor Claude…

I gulped down the lump in my throat and stepped forward. That little movement I made had every nightwalker in the room tensing up or hissing. Jakobi smiled at me, and Alec and Rylan both grabbed my wrists.

"Don't you dare even think about it, idiot!" Alec hissed, his nails biting into my skin. Rylan remained an easier hold on me, but still tight enough that I wouldn't move any further.

I shook my head and looked back at Alec. He was pissed off, but the mix of emotions on his face made it hard to tell which other things he was feeling. "I got you guys into this mess…" I murmured, feeling my insides coil in annoyance that I was giving up. I had almost given up before, but Alec saved me.

Jakobi suddenly spoke, amusement filling his voice, and his next words made me freeze. "I didn't think it'd be this easy. I thought I'd have to include the death's of the others as well."

I shot my eyes to his. "The other Darquecaster's can take care of themselves! You've seen how many of your filthy things they've killed!" I exclaimed.

Jakobi gave a curt shake of his head. "Not them... Renova dear, bring the others out."

…bring the others out…

Why hadn't I envisioned this before it happened? Or was this all supposed to remain unexpected, thanks to my vision that I'd had of Jakobi nearly killing me? Was this just the end of the vision that I hadn't finished viewing?

A movement behind us had me spinning on my heel, and the shocked cry that rose in my throat got caught on my gasp for breath.

Renova and a few other nightwalker's walked through, holding Elly, Max, my foster mother and my foster father roughly by the arms as they pushed them towards our circle. They were each duct-taped at the mouth, and they frantically looked at me.

Oh. My. God.

Elly was crying, and Max was trying to fight against the male that was holding onto him. Joshua and Rebecca, though terrified, remained still.

The emotions that bubbled up inside of me were agonizing. Anger came first. We all know what happened when I got angry. Without thinking of the consequences, I pivoted and attacked Jakobi.

Out of his own bewilderment, he dropped Cassidy. Obviously he hadn't been expecting this. My body slammed into his, and we both went tumbling to the ground. He spun me over so he sat on top of me, and wrapped his hands around my throat. "You little bitch! You think you could escape me?" he laughed manically.

My move of attacking Jakobi had sent the whole room into a flurry of moving bodies and more blood. I didn't take the chance to look away from Jakobi to see if my friends and family were safe, because I knew they'd be protected by the Darquecaster's.

And so, all my concentration and the hate I had built up for Jakobi was finally released.

I pulled my fist back and slammed it into his face as hard as I could. I hit his jaw and hurt a crack, and he gave a grunt of pain and moved back just enough for me to switch our positions. I punched him again and again, and he made no move to stop me. In fact, he was laughing.

It angered me even more.

Something out of the corner of my eye shined, and I glanced over to see the knife I had obviously dropped awhile ago on my way in here. The nightwalker's and daywalker's were stepping over it and it was still several feet away, near the front door. I had to get it.

"Never look away for even a moment!" Jakobi said, and I looked back down in shock as he slashed his nails across the front of my -err, Alec's shirt. It tore through the collar and hit my chest above my breasts, and instantly blood began leaking. Dammit!

I rolled off of him quickly, dodging the oncoming feet and fighting vampires. I dove for the knife, but someone grabbed my ankle. I let out an oomph as I fell onto my side, and looked down.

Jakobi had crawled after me. Blood was dripping from his mouth, and his eyes were wild and excited. Nightwalker's were insane. Sick in the head. I let out a frustrated outcry and kicked him in the nose with my other foot. He pulled back and covered his bleeding and probably broken nose, and I took that chance to lean forward to grab the hilt of the knife.

Someone's foot landed on my wrist. And let me tell you, it was a heeled foot too. With stiletto boots. I gritted my teeth when the person dug the heel into my skin and I glared upwards. Renova smirked down at me.

Before I could shove her off of me, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my calf. I cried out and looked down once more. Jakobi had slammed a large piece of glass from a broken window into my leg. I watched as blood began slowly oozing out, and he grinned and leaned down to lick it.

I instantly felt sick to my stomach.

"Get the fuck off her you stupid asshole!" Elly's voice screamed through the room. Nobody except us paid attention, and suddenly a broken chair leg came out of no where and slammed into Jakobi's face. I wasn't sure how much more his screwed up face could take now.

Renova let go of my foot and snarled at Elly, who, in the midst of the battle had escaped the hold of the nightwalker and ripped the duct tape off her mouth. Now she stood like a warrior with a…chair leg.

Jakobi was still alive, too. He groaned and writhed on the ground, attempting to stand back up. As Renova dived towards Elly, I shot forward and grabbed the knife.

Then I flipped onto my knees and grabbed Renova's leg. She fell forward, and I raised the knife above my head to stab her. Her eyes widened and she yelled. "No! I'm sorry! Please spare me!" she begged, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Even nightwalker's can cry…" I murmured and stabbed the knife into her until she stopped moving. I looked away from the gruesome scene and tried not to feel bad.

"You…little…bitch! I have had enough of you!" Jakobi screamed from beside us. He'd managed to get up to his hands and knees and if only looks could kill…

I'd be slaughtered.

His scream silenced the room, and all the movement around us blurred as he came at me. Oh dear lord, I was going to die. I hadn't been prepared for this at all.

I couldn't move my leg because the shard of glass had struck a muscle I was sure, and I was took shocked to move out of the way as he used his ignorant speed to wrap his hands around my neck and shove me to the floor.

My head hit the carpet and whatever was underneath it. It was a hard landing, and the back of my head slammed into it with a sickening thud. Stars sparkled in my vision, and blackness shrouded the corners of my eyes.

And then suddenly, the force around my neck let up, and Jakobi collapsed on top of me. I stared ahead of us at the ceiling in wonder. Why had he stopped? I felt cold liquid seeping onto me and drenching Alec's pretty white shirt.

"Avanni?" Rebecca's voice asked, shaking in fear. I looked over at her, and blinked. Her eyes went down to the body of Jakobi laying on top of me. "I-I think you killed him…"

With a weak shove against his body, he turned over onto his back, and I leaned over on my side to look at him.

The knife that I had been holding had still been in my hands when he attacked me. It had sank into his stomach to the hilt, and blood had spurted from the wound. I stared down at his bloodied, beat up face emotionlessly. I'd killed him. All my worries were done for now, right?

"Ava?" Joshua's cautious voice sounded from behind me. I slowly looked around the room to see everybody; my friends, my family, the Darquecaster's, looking at me in wonder and amazement and pride. Dead bodies of our enemies lay scattered everywhere.

But we were okay. Alec came forward first, whilst everyone else was scared to come near me. Of course, I was now a daywalker, a blood-sucking vampire, and Alec had created me. He leaned down, not looking into my face, and grabbed the glass from my leg. I winced when he yanked it out.

Instantly, the wound began its healing process. He took my wrist and studied the already healing stiletto wound. Finally, he dropped it and looked at me. Just when I thought he was going to be a sweetheart and applaud me for being awesome and totally kickass, he opened his mouth and all good thoughts about him fled.

"You must really have an issue with your brain. What stupid moron dives into a fight without thinking first?" He flicked me in the forehead, non-too-gently of course. I glared at him and sat up.

"What else would you expect I should have done?" I said angrily.

"Sat back and let us do the hard work!"

"Oh, so now you think us females have to step back and let the males do the big stuff? Did you see what Elly did?" I exclaimed, motioning towards my best friend.

Wait…

Both Alec and I paused, stared at each other for a short second, and looked up to Elly. She stood a couple of feet away from us, glancing between us in confusion. Max stood next to her, but his eyes were glued to my healing wounds. I suddenly felt an inexplicable thirst fall over me. I swallowed, but my mouth was cotton dry. Alec seemed to sense this.

"We need to get you cleaned up and fed." he said. Fed? As in human blood? This was going to take some getting used to...

"What the hell? You're a vampire?" Joshua gasped. I finally looked back at my foster parents and my eyes widened.

"You guys are okay!" I cried out happily.

They both smiled, dismissing the vampire comment, and hugged me. It was true, neither of them had a bloody wound. Maybe a couple scratches here and there and bruise every now and then, but they were fine.

"I gotta congratulate you, honey. You did amazing." Rebecca murmured into my hair. I smiled and pulled back after a few moments. Everyone suddenly closed in on me and asked if I was okay. None of them seemed to care I was covered in blood.

Brent hugged me tightly first and apologized a million times. Lukas kept his lips and hands to himself and hugged me, telling me he missed me. Claude apologized a lot as well, and Cassidy remained at the back of the group, but watched me with a small smile on her face.

Did this mean I was accepted?

"Alright, I think we should take this all somewhere else." Joshua announced suddenly. "We're going to need to clean this place up and burn the bodies."

Elly's eyes suddenly lit up from her place next to me. She'd absolutely ignored Alec, which surprised me. She raised a hand and exclaimed joyfully, "Does this mean we get to have a bonfire?"