Bloodbath (The New Order 1)

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Candice's POV

I ate the last piece of vegetable on the plate before siding my hunger onto the meat resting and waiting to be devoured. The twins glared at me while I ate dinner in front of them. Something was running in their heads and I couldn't understand what it was. One of them, Knox, prepared a small meal for me to finish up so I wouldn't die out of starvation.

"Do you want more?" Knox asked, hovering over me with a pan of freshly cooked vegetables in his hold. He wanted me to feed.

I moved my eyes away from the pan and glanced at the twins. "What? Am I getting sacrificed?" I questioned out of curiosity as it seemed like I was a lamb that was being fed before a great sacrifice. My stomach felt full since I had been chewing on food over the past ten minutes. It was either they wanted thick flesh or they were on a mission.

"Maybe." Knox whispered before setting the pan down on the counter. When he returned to me, he sat and placed his elbow over the table. "We have important matters to discuss."

"Important matters?" I stopped eating and set my fork aside. The truth was finally coming into light to why they were taking care of me so well suddenly. Something evil was in their minds and their eyes.

"Eat first." He moved the plate near to me, making me continue.

I sliced a large chunk of the steak and shoved it in my mouth. "Tell me now."

"Swallow."

I frowned and bit into the piece of meat a few times before swallowing it up and washing it down with a large gulp of water. "I'm not taking another bite until you tell me what's going on." My heart began beating fast in fear of the unknown.

I had risked my life by staying here and not going home with Natalie. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make and I didn't want to regret it. Never.

"Fine. A question first—" He trailed off. "When you encountered with the dark creature, what did you feel? And how near did it get to you before it realized it couldn't kill you?" He questioned out of nowhere. I never expected for Knox to bring up such a thing. What this going on in his head?

My expression hardened and my body turned cold before shivers went down my spine. I looked over his shoulders and found Cain, waiting for my answer just as his Brother was. "It was a man, not a creature. He looked into my eyes and I looked back. He didn't have a soul, just death and evil in him. I have no idea why he didn't kill me. I wasn't fast, not faster than him." I explained and an icy feeling gripped me from all sides. Suddenly, I was uncomfortable about it all.

"Do you know why it didn't kill you?" Knox leaned inward.

"No." My eyes pierced into his. He knew the answer but wasn't willing to give it out easily.

He was silent for long but when his lips parted and the word left his mouth, he said the truth, "The gem you stole from me earlier that day was what kept you protected from the dark creature. It was an old family gem I had found in my Father's things."

"A gem?" My heart thudded.

"Yes."

"How is that possible?" I let out a laugh while shaking my head.

"The dark creature fears the gem that holds enough power to end him. It's an ancient gem, passed onto us by our forefathers and it's the only other thing that is keeping this town safe from him. The lights gives us enough protection but when the darkness falls upon us, it's the gem that keeps us alive." Knox explained quickly while he shifted side to side, occasionally peering at his brother as if he wanted some assurance from him.

My jaw fell to the ground.

This was the secret?

"So, that's why?" My mouth widened along with my eyes as I came into terms. There was always something about this town that I was eager to know about. I knew the sun couldn't protect these pack wolves for long. Something else was here and it was the gem.

"Yes."

I wanted to know more.

Cain stood up and sucked in a lungful of air before leaning over me. "The gem needs power and it can only take power from a few things—nature, it's events and the dark creature himself. Once the power of the gem has been restored, it will be used to bring a weapon to life—a weapon that can end all this chaos for once and for all." He spoke in a low voice, barely enough to reach me.

The hair over my neck rose and a strange sensation spread inside me while the twins continued watching me from a small distance. "So, why are you telling me this?" I quirked a brow at them. They had spilled their greatest secret to me—a vampire—someone who fed on them and their kind. Why would they do that?

"We want something from you." Knox confessed.

"What?" I drew in a warm breath and tried to make up things—things they could take from me. Nothing. I possessed nothing except for a weak heart. Maybe there was some goodness between my legs but they were already getting most of it. What else did they want?

"You are the only person that has faced the dark creature without getting killed. You looked into his eyes and he looked into your soul yet he couldn't kill you. It could've simply been you or the gem you held—" I continued listening to Knox while my body turned cold in fright at the remembrance of that evening. I never wanted to experience that again. Never. "Ever since you had returned and I had retrieved my gem from you, I've found most of it's power restored, a fairly large amount of it." Wrinkles appeared over his forehead and he stopped.

Bells went off in my head. "No!"

"Yes," He took my hand. "We need a bit more—just enough to bring the weapon to life and once that's done, the dark creature will be gone for good. We would get rid of him."

"I'm not meeting with him again!" I yelled before tugging my hand away from Knox's hold and standing up straight. There wasn't a chance to leave as the doors of the kitchen had been locked and I was surrounded with both of the twins. They weren't going to let me go. "No chance in hell! I hated it. I got nightmares for days and my heart still shudders at the thought of seeing his face. I don't want to go out into the dark again nor I ever want to see him." I blinked at them both while my eyes began to water slowly.

"You will not be harmed." Cain came forward.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll get killed." I threw my hands in the air out of frustration. "I was so near to death and I'm not doing that again." My voice was crisper, louder than ever. It was stupid and I was never going to agree to it. I didn't care about saving the world—I just cared about saving myself and being alive for as long as I could be.

Not that I had a long life anyway.

"You won't. You have our word. You will not be killed, Candice." Cain tried to convince me in every way possible while Knox watched from the side with his arms folded across his chest. "I know you're afraid but just imagine, you'll have to face him a few more times before this all will be over. You will be then free from one thing that's holding you back from enjoying your life." He really tried.

"No." I stayed stern on my decision.

"Candice—"

"No. It's a no. I don't want to be traumatized again or getting killed accidentally because you two lunatics—barely thirty—thought it would be a nice idea to send me into the arms of the dark creature just because of a stupid gem that protected me once. What if it wasn't even the gem? What if it was something else?" I was enraged and I wasn't stopping anytime soon.

"You're blabbering now." Knox grabbed my elbow and silenced me down. I opened my mouth to speak again but he grabbed my face and forced me to look into his eyes. "You'll get anything and everything you want if you do this little thing for us and we will give you our word that you will not be harmed. Think about it. We aren't in a hurry." His voice caressed my ear as he lowered his mouth to my neck. "Anything, Candice."

Well.