Bad Taste (Part II) // Colby Brock

255 - Rebecca

My first reaction was to growl—and rightfully so. My second reaction, however, was to grab Colby's hand so I didn't jump down there and kill her right away. And then, finally, I looked at Jax.

He was watching me carefully for my reaction, prepared to help Colby stop me if I launched myself over the railing too soon. But when he saw that I was still, he slowly smiled and muttered, "We've had her for a little while but it never seemed right to bring you to her."

"Who knew?" I demanded without even half a second to think about it. Jax glanced over my shoulder at Colby, but I didn't follow his gaze. "The one person I can't be mad at," I grumbled, huffing. Colby's arm slid around my waist.

"I figured it'd be best. And he's kinda a master at knowing how to keep things from you... not saying that's a good thing but-"

"He knows what's okay to keep from me and what isn't." I turned to Colby to kiss his cheek before I pulled out of his grip and walked to the railing. My hands closed around rusty metal bars, almost crushing them immediately. I felt Jax move up beside me while Colby jumped down with the others.

We didn't say anything, we just stared down at Blair, who was now curiously watching me. I could see an element of fear in her eyes, though the thing that struck me most was that she still seemed amused. She was surrounded by the people she'd kidnapped once, and yet she still looked smug about it as she looked up at me.

I hesitated to go down there. I didn't want to do something I'd regret before I really talked to her, as I understood now that what I did before wasn't right. I was a horrible boss—a horrible person, really. Blair had been affected by the change to vampirism, desperate to let it happen to her in the first place. And all I did was get mad at her instead of thinking about how all this could change the way her mind worked.

Sighing, I hopped over the railing with Jax by my side, and we landed in the middle of the circle just in front of Blair. He moved back but only a step, and Blair stood up straight from the floor to face me. She was still taller but it was clear who had the most power.

In my peripheral, I noticed a figure I didn't recognise in the crowd. Just one standing between who I was certain was Danielle and Thomas. I wanted to look, to meet this new person—Mark, I recalled—before I tore Blair to shreds and showed everybody how powerful I could be, but I just couldn't take my eyes away from her.

She had been my first real bad guy. The first person to do something about their feelings for me—hatred or obsession. Her change had driven her to a point of evilness that I'd never expected from her, and for all she'd done, I couldn't forgive her... but she shouldn't forgive me, either. That wasn't something I could ask of her right now, sort of like I couldn't look at the only human in the room and become friends with her again. Not right now, at least. Both I had wronged, only one while I wasn't totally myself. I had no excuse for Blair. No change affecting my brain chemistry, no damaging change in my life, even. I was just a fucking bitch.

Blair had completed her assessment of me quite quickly, had figured that I was a vampire now rather than human and the reason I was stood before her was to exact my revenge on her for kidnapping me a while ago. A big while ago.

So I tried to find the shred of calm left inside of me as I stood up straight and placed my hands particularly behind my back. I used every ounce of strength in my body to look as I would if I were hanging out with my friends in the kitchen, or in the red room, or with Angela.

"Blair," I said. The silence of the room shattered at the same time that everyone braced themselves for my next move. I clutched my wrist slightly tighter. "You may have had the wrong execution, but the reason you attacked me wasn't so wrong, you know."