I'll Protect You (Re-Edit #2, 2016)

Why does everything seem to happen at midnight?

dedicated to Carly_C_Cipriano18 for the banner!

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Within twenty minutes, Logan and I stumbled into Elijah's kitchen, wide-eyed and completely short of breath. Elijah and Alec were hunched over a large map spread over the kitchen island. There were colorful pins stuck all over the map and Elijah was running his fingers over the surface when he snapped his glance our way.

The next thing I knew, Elijah had his arms wrapped around me, lifting me off the floor in the embrace.

"Thank the gods you're alright," Elijah sighed. "I was afraid something had happened to you as well."

"Besides the food fight, of course," Alec piped up.

Breaking apart from Elijah, I gawked at Alec, who was grinning from ear to ear. "How did you—" I started.

"Welcome to the 21st century, Sparrow," Alec cut in, "where nearly every building has some kind of surveillance system that can be easily hacked by an older brother who nearly had an aneurysm when he got the news that the Blonde Nuisance and Blackewell had been taken."

Just like that, the good humor vanished and I strode into the kitchen, heading to the island. "What the hell happened? How did you guys even find—"

At that moment, I glanced down and my stomach dropped.

Several Polaroid photos lay on the edges of the map. The subjects were Vincent and Sophia, both tied up, blood coating the sides of their faces, with cuts all over their skin and grotesque bruises covering their bodies.

Someone inhaled sharply and I turned my head to see Logan pulling at the roots of his hair as he stared at the photos, horror in his eyes.

"How did you get these?" I whispered, trailing my finger over a photo of Vincent, apprehension curling up into a tight ball in my stomach.

"A kid in a pumpkin costume was trick-or-treating at our house and right before he left, he handed me an envelope and told me the man in the scary gorilla mask said to give this to the person handing out candy in this house," answered Alec. "I showed it to Elijah and Archer. Elijah contacted XYZ while Archer hacked into the restaurant's security cameras and saw you leaving with Logan. That's when he called you. We've been trying to track them ever since."

I flipped one of the photos over and realized that there were cut out magazine letters pasted on the back. Hurriedly, I turned the rest of them over, reading the message that they spelled out:

You're next, princess. 

This is all my fault, I thought bitterly. If I hadn't fought with Sophia, none of this would've happened. The four of us could be returning to our homes right now, having finished up our dinner. All of us should've been safe and sound.

"Do we have any leads?" Logan asked as I stepped away, my hands shaking with a combination of fury and concern.

"So far, no," Elijah said. "Archer's at work upstairs and we've employed the assistance of the agents in town, but no one's found anything."

With that, Logan promptly left the kitchen and I caught sight of his phone in his hand before he vanished onto the front porch.

"I'll be right back," I said to the boys before following my bodyguard's steps out the door. He was pacing back and forth, waiting for the call to go through. I watched as his hair grew steadily messier and messier as he continued to run his fingers through the strands.

"Hey—" he started but was cut off immediately. A few seconds passed. "Look, I'm sorry, I had to go. I didn't think something like this would happen, alright? Why would they target Sophia?"