Another's Demise

A Sleepless Night

Cameron

"I can't believe you would let her do something so reckless," Leo's voice was a low in the background, my eyes were bloodshot, I could feel the heaviness of my eyelids, could feel the pressure of each bone clattering in my body, each muscle clenched and taut.

"I wasn't going to let her go on her own, I'm not-" for once Mel's words died in her throat as she turned to Alara's restless figure. She was asleep but would murmur haunted gasps every half hour. But she needed sleep, more than any of us.

And I would not sleep, until I knew she was protected, that there was no threat to her left on this bleeding earth.

Thick red blood had coated my hands mere hours ago, my own blood, my father's blood. Laurier's.

He had escaped as soon as Leo stormed over to me, stopping me from killing the man who had raised me. But there was something terrible about that thought, because he had raised me to be the killer I was.

"Where is Theo?" there was a lulled hush after my question.

"Alara's brother, he's in the shadows, with what's left of the Mortellos the ones that follow him, anyways."

"Get him here," I gritted out, "I need you and Mel to destabilise the Duplicitous, make it clear and precise, so that the entire underworld knows the consequences of going after my wife."

"And Theo's the only one you trust to keep Alara safe, while we're away," Leo read my mind in the way he had learnt to. My friend since I could walk, I gazed into his worried eyes.

"Cam, what do we do with..." he trailed off.

We were in a safehouse, one that I chose specifically because it had a cellar. One primed with all the equipment needed to keep a prisoner.

"Leave the bastard to rot," Mel seethed, her gaze catching the metal enforced door that led down to the depths of the cellar.

"That's too kind a fate," I snarled, a wave of anger coursing through my veins, in a way that made my blood feel like it was on fire.

How could the blood that flowed through him be the same as mine, how could it hold so much malice, that he did not care for anyone. Did not care for anything but wealth and power.

That fucking bastard had raised me, and he would be sorry for it, because I could be just as much of a monster as he was.

"Make sure she doesn't wake up," I reached to pull open the adjourning door.

Leo stalled me, hand splayed across my chest as his eyes bore into mine, "Don't do anything you will regret."

"I won't regret killing him, I'll only regret not making it more drawn out, long and painful."

"He... he's still your father," and there was a flash of hurt in his eyes. Leo had lost his dad so long ago, but it still plagued him. The difference was, Leo's Dad was a loving father, who though part of our sordid world made sure his son grew up with someone he could rely on.

"Carlisle isn't Thompson, he'll never be your father. Your father, was the father I wished I had."

Leo's eyes sparked, his gaze trailing over to where Mel was whispering soothing words to Alara, her brow crushed with worry, her mouth open in gasp that tore through me.

"It's ok hon, I'm here, we're all here."

"She wouldn't-" Leo couldn't finish the sentence, as selfish as it was I couldn't let him, because I knew what he was going to say, I knew what words were going to tip me over the edge.