Heyy you guys. It's me again. Obviously. Just dropping in with another chapter. Reviews and the likes are extremely welcome. That's like totally a hint. I love to know what you like and that. Gives me incentive to post more of my stories that are all stored up.
Loving you and leaving you
Sam
xxx

Chapter Sixteen

Neighbours had noticed the commotion at the Poynter residence by the time we had arrived there. Broken windows, a burnt front door, even those well kept plants in their pots were turned upside down. The air was still and silent as the few people around us, watched our every move. The gate let out an unhealthy creak as we opened it, revealing the full extent of the devastation.

We were too late.

This was the aftermath.

Sheena was the first to notice us standing in the garden. She, Tom and Harry sat on the gravel of the driveway, cuts and bruises making their mark on the faces, arms, legs, their entire bodies.

"I've never been so happy to see you twts in all my life." She croaked, tears flooding down her face with ease.

"TOM!" Natalie pounced on her mate, knocking him to the floor as they kissed. "You're okay! Don't ever worry me again!" he smiled as she stroked his cheeks before licking gently at the cuts near to his lips, still dribbling with blood.

"Why are they bleeding?" I thought aloud.

"We bleed only by the blade of a hunter." Harry answered me, standing up shakily, clutching his side. I flung my arms around him, burying my head in to his chest, not caring that the shirt itself was soaked in his and others blood.

"Do you still hate me?" He asked.

"No." I shook my head honestly. "I understand, Harry."

"Where's my sister?" Dougie spoke for the first time in the half an hour since he'd learnt of Patricia's fate. "Where's Jessi?"

And as if on cue, there was the sound of movement from within the house in front of us. A familiar figure stumbled out of the open doorway. Danny. Danny holding a very limp Jessi in his tired arms.

"Someone help me." He gasped, collapsing to his knees in the driveway, everyone rushing to their already exhausted feet to off some kind of assistance. "I don't know what to do!"

"Lie her down." Harry ordered. "Where is she hurt?"

"Everywhere." Jessi whispered hoarsely as her eyes flickered open, her hands immediately pressing down hard on to her stomach where it was noticed the material of her white t-shirt was red, sodden with her own blood.

I looked over at Tom who'd observed this too. He shook his head, shuffling back with Natalie, heads bowed low. Dougie dropped to his knees at his sisters side, words failing him as he watched Jessi cough uncontrollably. She grabbed at his hand suddenly, smiling a little.

"I'm going to haunt you." She laughed the best she could manage.

"You're not going to die." He insisted, placing his hand over her wound, putting pressure on it. "I won't let you."

"Unless you can stop me bleeding, Doug, I'm a goner." With those words she gave her attention to Danny who until now had remained silent, quietly sobbing to himself. "I have the worlds biggest crush on you, Jones." She beamed up at him. "I have… Ever since you and Doug started to hang out. Even more so with our trips to the park.."

"Don't leave me." Danny sniffed, tears were free and fast flowing, left to streak dirty lines down his cheeks. "I love you."

"I don't have a choice." She blinked away her own tears, voice wavering. "I love you too."

"Doug.. Dan… I er… I have an idea." Harry interrupted.

All eyes remained on Harry. We were silent, waiting for him to speak.

"She can be blooded." He said. "But it would have to be done by someone who intends to mate with her. And she has to give full consent."

"Danny. Bite me." Jessi squeezed his hand with all the strength she had left, looking then to Dougie, wanting, seeking his approval. "Can he?"

"I don't want you to die, Jes." Dougie smiled.

"There's the small chance that it won't work." Harry spoke quietly. "She has to carry the dormant gene in her. More than likely, she had. Her dad must have carried it in order for Dougie to be born one of us." His words seemed to tear right in to Danny. Jessi, however, seemed undeterred by anything just said. "Let's just hope he passed it on."

"Well, what happens if she doesn't?" I asked.

"I'll die." Jessi answered. The three boys stared on at her dumbfounded. "What? So I read one or two of Dougie's books… Big deal."

I noticed Danny's pale complexion, now looking more hesitant about blooding the fifteen year old who seemed to be more determined than ever. His hands shook as he tried to hold them still. It wasn't hard to see that he was torn. Do nothing, and Jessi would die. Bite her and save her, or risk being the reason why she dies.

"Danny, do it." Dougie nudged his friend in the ribs with his elbow, smiling with encouragement.

Danny pulled Jessi in to his arms, his eyes searching for guidance from her, finding only the want for him and the new lease of life he could be offering. He nodded slightly and bent down, holding on to Jessi's hand as he sunk his teeth in to the flesh at the base of her neck, trying to ignore her yelps of discomfort and pain.

"What happens now?" I pulled on Dougie's sleeve when Danny had removed himself from her, quickly wiping at the blood that remained on his lips and around his mouth.

"We wait for her reaction." Dougie stated, emotionless, staring down at his sister who still lay in Danny's arms, fighting for her life. I moved closer to Dougie, snaking my arms around him, placing my head on his chest. He didn't hesitate in returning my affection. It was merely moments before I felt his fingers raking through my hair, his lips pressed to the top of my head as he drew a deep breath.

"Jessi, wake up." The pair of us turned to find Danny shaking at the girls shoulders quite vigorously, her eyes closed, her body showing no sign of acknowledgment, consciousness, life. "You can't leave me!!"

He received no answer when Jessi's chest rose and fell no more. There was silence among us all. No one dared utter a word until Danny did, gasping and sighing at the same time. How very peculiar. He frantically lifted her shirt up, revealing her skin to be untouched, unbroken. No wound, no bleeding, no nothing. Her eyes shot open, she sat bolt upright, falling across Danny, knocking him to the floor below. He sighed pulling her in to his embrace as she coughed, gasping for air.

"Are you okay?" He asked when she sat up shakily, rubbing her stomach, assuming she was still feeling pain from the wounds that had healed over.

"I'm hungry." She let out a croaky chuckle. "And I'm not dead… I'm not doing too badly, thanks." She glanced at the others, her gaze lingering a little longer on Dougie and I. She turned back to Danny. "I saw stuff, Dan. I've seen what's going to happen."

"What do we do now?" Sheena asked. "They know where we are. They'll waste no time in picking us all off."

"They'll bide their time." Jessi spoke, the words rolling off her tongue with ease, her gaze fixed straight ahead of her sitting in between Danny's legs, his arms around her middle, chin resting on her shoulder. "We have time to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Natalie frowned. She wasn't the only one to be a little more than confused at Jessi's sudden knowledge.

"When they try and take Dougie and Claire again." She replied, bringing her gaze to mine. "They will try again."

I was about to question Jessi on this, confused, irritated, but most of all scared about what this all meant. I didn't want to know how she knew this. Death is a strange thing, and usually pretty damn permanent, and Jessi had been there and back in the space of ten minutes, possibly less. It wasn't too surprising that it'd done something to her, other than making her immortal like the rest of us.

"Where's Patricia?" Dougie broke the uneasy silence that had fallen upon us. His hand was still firmly clamped in mine as his eyes set fixed upon Harry, who's face showed nothing but a pure discomfort now that the subject have been brought up. He'd have to deal with the matter now. "Did you leave her inside?"

"We torched the bitch." Sheena hissed. "She didn't deserve anything else."

There was silence again. Jessi's eyes shone with tears whilst Danny simply held her tighter. Dougie's jaw dropped at the cold words being spoken, silently outraged. I remained confused. I didn't understand. Had Patricia done something wrong? What did everyone know that Dougie and myself didn't?

"Mum told them where you were, Doug." Jessi was barely audible, whispering, ashamed of the reality she was now revealing. "But they came here first. I didn't understand why these… strangers were… congratulating her for 'a job well done'. But they said she's done everything now." She began to sob. "She hunted for them, Doug. She was keeping you ready for harvest, collection. All of you."

Collection?

"I found a journal in her room. I ran up there. And I was reading all this sht about… how she could gain your trust and control us, you." Jessi stammered, blinking her tears away bitterly. "When I went back downstairs she was begging, crying. I watched them hit her, telling her she was no use to them anymore… That was when I rang Danny."

"The woman was a nut job." Sheena shrugged, flicking her long hair behind her shoulders from out of her face so she could wipe the remaining blood off of her cheeks.

"Shut the fck up about my mum!" Jessi screamed, finally snapping, breaking in to hysterical sobs instantaneously, soothed by Danny who turned her to face him, her head burying in to his chest. "She was my mum." She cried heartily in to his t-shirt.

"I know, Jes. I know." He stroked at her hair, making hushing sounds as he rocked her.