When Darkness Falls

E I G H T E E N

Justin's p.o.v

I changed into a pair of slacks and a nice button up shirt. I'm not exactly sure why I had taken Jason's orders. I didn't even want to go to some stupid dinner where Caroline would act all high and mighty in front of people she wanted to kill.

I finished buttoning the buttons to my shirt and scanned over myself in the floor-length mirror. The room I had been staying in, was directly across from Caroline's. Both rooms were located on the third floor of the modernized mansion. My bedroom was way to big for one person and it made me feel as if I was missing something.

I ran my fingers through my hair and let out a sigh. I opened up the door and found a couple of gaurds dressed in all black standing outside my room. They stood still until I closed the door behind me. They immediately began trailing behind me as I walked towards the stairs.

I stepped down each step carefully and once I reached the bottom, I was met with Jason. His eyes were deep red and I wondered why. He seemed angry.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

Jason shook his head."Caroline thought it would be nice to invite a few friends of yours. A reminder of your little girlfriend." He grumbled.

I stood there, taken aback."What?" I said, confused.

"Jason." I heard a voice say from behind me and then they spoke again." Justin." I turned to find Caroline walking towards us in a emerald green dress. It trailed behind her several feet. A few of her newborns stood behind her with bright red eyes that clearly indicated that they needed blood.

I nodded towards her. Jason stayed silent too.

"Dinner is about to be served. Let's get a move on." She let out a giggle. She grabbed ahold of my bicep and gave Jason a look to walk ahead of us. I mentally rolled my eyes.

The gaurds who had followed me down, opened up the double doors and Jason walked inside along with Caroline's newborns.

I led the way towards the long table that seated twenty. Two chairs at the end of the table were empty as everyone had already taken their seats and sipped on their glasses of water. I pulled out Caroline's chair and let her get comfortable before sitting in my own chair.

A couple of waiters and maids went around the table to fill glasses full of fresh blood. I sat and watched as everyone conversed with each other. My mind drifted off into another place. But was soon interrupted with the sound of clanking glasses. My ears perked up at the ringing sound that bounced off the walls.

Caroline now stood beside me with her glass of blood and a butter knife in hand. She smiled as everyone turned towards her and left the knife on the table beside her fork. She let out a breath before continuing.

"I would love to thank you all for coming. I have a wonderful evening planned out for you all. As the new queen of the council, I would like to give you all a chance to speak for yourselves and why I should add you to our growing list of council members." She said, kindly.

I furrowed my brows. Why did she want to add more vampires to the council when there was more than enough? It's like she was growing an army...

I stayed quiet as she continued to talk.

"...I would love to introduce you all to a couple of our new council members, Mr. and Mrs. McCall." Her voice now sounding a little too high-pitched. After her announcement, she began clapping frantically. My stomach dropped and I immediately stood to my feet, my chair pushing back behind me. As the new vampire couple strolled in, hand-in-hand, I grabbed Caroline's arm and leaned down to whisper into her ear.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I growled.

She turned to me," I'm inducting my new members into the council, Justin." She batted her long eyelashes at me.

My jaw clenched and I knew I had to get out of here.

I met Jason's eyes and I knew he knew how much anger was built up inside of me in that moment.

I contained the anger and put a lid on it. I sat back down and watched as the couple sat at the other end of the table. They must hate me. I killed them both and fell in love with their daughter.

"Let the feast begin, shall we?" Caroline spoke aloud. I huffed and sat back. My hunger had disappeared.

I watched as the help quickly filled people's plates with different raw meats and side dishes. I watched as Mr. and Mrs. McCall stared at me with blank expressions.

My heart raced as they whispered into each other's ears.

It was too loud to hear what they were saying and it made me uncomfortable.

Caroline turned to me. She placed her fork on her plate and smirked at me." What's wrong, sweetheart?"

I looked at her. Her smirk slowly fading as she realized that this wasn't a joke. I was furious.

I gulped back my spit and slammed my fists on the table, causing everyone to turn their attention towards me. It was quiet and I took it as my chance to leave. My shoes clicked against the granite floor as I walked to the open double doors.

I heard the sound of Caroline apologizing to the dinner guests and her chair screeching against the floor.

I ran up the stairs and when I reached the third floor, I trudged to my room. I stepped inside and shut the door. I let out a sigh of relief but felt another presence in the room. I slowly turned to meet Caroline spread out on my king bed.

"What are you doing here?" I spat.

She brushed out her dress and licked her red lips.

"I hope bringing them here didn't rock the boat too much." She said. I knew she was trying to get under my skin.

I chuckled darkly." Are you kidding me? You brought my girlfriend's parents here to rule within the council whom I killed and you brought them back as killing machines."

"You act like I care about Anastasia. I promised you I wouldn't kill her but right now I'm starting to rethink everything." She stated. I scoffed.

"I fucking dare you, Caroline." I replied.

Her eyes narrowed at me and she smirked.

  

* * *

Anastasia's p.o.v

"Like this?" I asked as I grabbed the stake from Alec's hand and focused on jabbing it through his chest. He quickly caught my wrist and nodded.

"Very good. Now I want you to try to it with this..." he handed me a knife that was made of silver. He said it would burn the vampires enough to stop them until I could stake them. Unfortunately, as a human, I couldn't exactly kill vampires like Alec and Lucille could.

As I came close to Alec's chest, Lucille stepped into the room.

Alec grabbed my hand to stop me from piercing his chest. Lucille finished typing the message on her phone and looked up at us." We're ready. Our flight leaves in a couple of hours."

I nodded and Lucille disappeared again. Alec slipped his arm around me in a friendly manner.

"You sure you can do this?" He asked.

I huffed out a breath and looked at him." I've never been more sure in my life."

He nodded and smiled.

"Let's get something to eat, I'm starving."