Here you go Ellie! Didn't make you wait too much, did I? :D
Thank you all for the lovely support I've been getting for my story! :D I hope it will continue this way!

And I have to say this, without this person, this story would have been very very difficult. A person who often has to forgo sleep in order to help me brainstorm... Awesomeness427. You rock, buddy! And I'm sorry I kept the plot twists from you. Read on!

This chapter has dark and violent themes and scenes.

Chapter 14

FIVE YEARS AGO

Ethan adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder as he waited rather impatiently at the underground parking lot of a mall. The shopping complex was close to his their school and its parking facility, being underground provided the perfect venue for his clandestine meetings. Ethan jumped when he felt a hand slide around his waist and the person turned Ethan swiftly, planting a playful kiss in his lips. The whole thing was so fast that Ethan had barely any time to react. He just pulled into the kiss, flinging his arms around the other boy's shoulder to keep his balance. It must have been a few minutes before they broke away but to those two, it seemed only like a few glorious seconds. Ethan looked into the deep blue eyes and sighed, he was blushing and his heart was racing. The other boy chuckled.

"You look like you just ran a marathon," he laughed.

Ethan playfully punched him on the shoulder, "Stop eavesdropping on my heart, Mike!"

Mike laughed. Mike Anderson was a senior, and with his short crop blonde hair, electric blue eyes, he was bit of a heartthrob. Ethan and Mike had been dating for about a few weeks now. They were both taking it easy as Mike had a werewolf family and was afraid for Ethan's safety. And Ethan was human, as well as closeted. He didn't really have a choice. He had enough trouble as it is and had to take abuse from his foster family on a daily basis, he didn't even want to find out what would happen if he came out. So, in the bygone weeks, they had settled for parking lots and the dark windowed cars for their rendezvous. Mike and Ethan were giggling and laughing, happy to be in their little bubble when a sudden screeching sound shattered the calm. A group of boys had just come into the parking lot. They jumped helter-skelter out of the car, a rowdy bunch, yelling and cheering. There were four boys. Three of them stopped in their tracks the moment they spotted the couple. Ethan froze in his shoes. Mike moved in front of him, squaring his shoulders protectively. Jason, Jimmy and Kyle scowled. Their friend just stared at Ethan as if he was a joke.

"Isn't that the homeless kid you took in? Did you know he is a fag?" the friend snorted with laughter but the three brothers showed no signs of mirth. They were glaring daggers at the poor kid who was peering over Mike's shoulder. The only thing stopping them from attacking there and then was Mike. The three brothers were hunters and their knowledge of Mike's alpha status prevented them from doing anything. Kyle made a move towards the couple but Mike growled and Jason caught Kyle's hand. He gave Ethan a final glare and stomped back to his car. His brothers and his friend followed. The car revved up and zoomed out of the lot, leaving a terrified Ethan behind.

Ethan climbed over the vines and pushed away the boards at the window. The tiny room, which he shared with his twin and his best friend, had boarded windows, but the three kids had been able to break the boards around the edges, making it possible to remove it and replace it, without any one ever noticing it. This plan had been hatched after Ethan and Mike started dating, to enable their clandestine meets. This time, however, there was no sense of excitement or adventure when Ethan climbed through. He was terrified, he felt pure dread take over his sluggish muscles. He was trembling. Aiden rushed to his side at once.

"What happened, Ethan? Are you okay?"

Ethan felt his twin's arms around him but he still couldn't find his voice, his throat felt dry. Jenna came and sat beside them.

"Ethan? You're scaring me!" she said, coaxing.

Ethan gulped. "Jason and... Jimmy and Kyle..."

"What about them? What happened?" Aiden asked, his voice rising. Seeing the amount of terror in his brother's eyes was getting to him.

"They saw us, me and Mike! Together!" Ethan shrieked in terror. Aiden and Jenna gasped, their eye growing wide.

"What? Oh my God! What will we do?" Jenna wailed. She hugged Ethan close to her body, letting him sob into her shoulder as Aiden exchanged a long glance with her. They both knew that when the brothers got home, the scene wouldn't be pretty. Aiden desperately held them both close, trying to will his brother to stop shaking. When that didn't give any result, he pulled off his favourite red jacket and put it on Ethan. Jenna, with trembling fingers, made Ethan wear the jacket. They huddled close to each other when Aiden finally spoke.

"Let's leave!"

"What? Where will we go?" Jenna asked.

"Anywhere! We'll manage! Just... let's leave! Hurry." Ethan looked up at his twin with scared eyes. Aiden patted his head, erasing the tear tracks on Ethan's face with his sleeves.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you. Let's leave. Grab whatever you can in a backpack and we'll be gone. Fast!" he ordered, rushing about, getting three bags. Jenna hopped around grabbing whatever clothes she could find. Ethan calmed himself down enough to be able to go about gathering other essentials. They threw their things into the bag but before Ethan could remove the window-board, their door burst open. Jason, Kyle and Jimmy stood at the doorway, positively livid.

The three kids froze. Ethan, who was near the window, stood rooted to the spot, waiting for the strike. But then something happened that took them off-guard. Jason hurled himself at Aiden, who was closest to the door. He grabbed the boy by his collar and slammed him hard against the wall. Aiden saw stars dance in front of his eyes, he was dazed. He felt a slow trickling feeling at the back of head and was sure that was blood.

"You thought you could get away with all this?" Jason yelled into Aiden face.

"Leave him alone," Jenna yelled charging at Jason but Kyle punched her squarely in the jaw and her snapped to its side as she crumpled to the floor.

But in those moments, Aiden and Jenna had realized what was amiss. Jenna caught Aiden's eye as he desperately gestured to her to keep up the charade. Jenna felt his heart sink but she gave the slightest possible nod. Ethan jumped forward trying to grab Jason's hand before he hit his brother again but Jimmy apprehended him, grabbing his throat.

"Keep out of this Aiden, for your own good," he said menacingly, landed a rough punch and let him fall in a small heap on the floor.

Ethan's eyes grew wide as he too realised the goof up. He looked at his body and saw that he was still wearing Aiden's trademark red jacket. The three brothers thought that he was Aiden! Ethan opened his mouth, about to point it out, scared for his brother when Aiden, noticing this, shouted out.

"Help me, Aiden!" he called, his eyes wide, trying to tell his roommates to keep up the charade. He had promised Ethan that he would keep him safe and he was jolly well going to. Even if it meant getting beaten up for Ethan's sake. It couldn't be much worse than what they gone through for years, would it?

Ethan caught the hint, but he knew only too well that letting Aiden take his place would mean a very painful experience for his twin so he got up and was about to take another go at the three when he found Jenna cut him off. She placed herself in front of Ethan and looked straight at Aiden, yelling, "Let Ethan go!"

When Aiden saw his brother taken care of, he relaxed, trying to find a way to fend of Jason. But by then he was considerably dazed so Jason didn't have much of a difficult time in dragging him, like a rag doll, out of the room. Jenna and Ethan made a valiant effort to stop them but Kyle and Jimmy shoved them back and slammed the door shut.

They heard the brothers shouting and cheering as they took Aiden away from them. Ethan wheeled round at Jenna.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he shouted.

Jenna was crying, banging loudly against the door.

"What choice did I have? Let them take you?" she replied, sobbing. Ethan knew there was no choice; never had been. The only choice had been had been made by Aiden, who had vowed to save his brother. And he did.

Ethan and Jenna looked at each other in silence for a moment before they both simultaneously started banging on the door.

Aiden struggled against Jason's iron grip, but in vain. They dragged him to the dreaded basement. Dreaded; because every time any of them had been brought to the basement, they were returned to their room in a not –so-pretty condition. All the three knew that bad things happened in the basement. It was reserved for the worst punishments.

Jason threw Aiden on the floor, Jimmy viciously kicked his head. Aiden felt his world go dark. It must have been only a few minutes before the darkness faded and he felt cold, bone chilling water being thrown on him. Aiden gasped, splattering and jerking his head. Kyle bent down and pulled his hair painfully, a moan escaped Aiden's lips. His nose was broken, the back of his head bleeding. Kyle cruelly banged his forehead on the floor, making it bleed too. Aiden cried out in pain.

"Please stop!" he begged. Jason laughed in manic rage, landing a kick on his shins. Then another pair of heavy boots slammed into his stomach, another at his back. Aiden screamed in pain, curling into a ball, arms flailing, trying to stop the kicks from finding his body but failing miserably. Soon, Aiden could only cry helplessly because he didn't have the strength to yell or shout anymore. The kicks stopped, Jimmy flipped him on his back. Aiden was semi-conscious, head lolling listlessly from side to side.

Kyle dunked more ice water on him making him splatter, trying to get the water out of his nose and ears. The chill was setting, Aiden began to tremble. His shirt was soaked through and it was very cold. He could hear his teeth clattering. Jason bent down over him and smiled. Aiden stiffened; Jason's mad smile was never followed by anything good.

"You're cold aren't you?" he whispered sweetly, a tone that made Aiden's stomach churn, "Let's get you out of that." Jason forced Aiden to sit up, held him by the throat and pulled off the shirt. Aiden didn't protest, partly because getting rid of that wet shirt was actually a good idea and partly because he didn't have the energy to say anything. Jason let go of his throat and Aiden fell back on the cold floor, curling up into a pitiable ball. Jimmy sniggered.

"Poor baby is still cold! I bet you wish Mike was here right now!"

Aiden felt his skin crawl as the three tormentors laughed.

"Well, let's help him shall we? Let's get him warm," Jason said suddenly, grinning broadly. His brothers stopped, not sure what was going on. Jason pulled off his own shirt and unbuckled his belt. Aiden felt like he was going to puke, his brain just stopped working. Even Jimmy and Kyle seemed slightly shocked but they got over their own apprehension pretty quickly. Aiden felt his cloths being ripped off. He desperately tried to crawl away, digging into his adrenalin reserves, but crumpled to the ground when a belt connected with his bare back. It left an angry red streak in its wake. Aiden cried out in pain, more whipping followed. Then finally Jason bent close to his ear.

"Don't pretend like you don't like this, faggot!"

Then the real pain followed. Aiden clenched his eyes shut, tears streaming down his face, he cried. He screamed till he could scream no more. He heard cruel laughter, felt sheer white agony wracking his body. Every time he passed out, welcoming the darkness, he would be brought back with cold water, poured over his body. This continued for what seemed like hours. When they finally stopped, Aiden was bleeding from every orifice.

He didn't have any sense of time anymore. The entire world was bits of hazy vision and broken sounds. Aiden barely registered the door opening, someone exchanging words. Then he felt a strong grip on his arm dragging him. He felt the sharp edges of the staircase slam against him and finally a terrified scream. The familiar voice made him open his now swollen eyes a little. He saw blurred forms of Ethan and Jenna bending over him, crying, calling out to him. He saw tears roll down Ethan's eyes. Aiden didn't want Ethan to blame himself, so he found his voice and with great difficulty squeaked out, "It's okay".

Then, he finally gave in to the darkness.

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