Turned

Chapter Eighty Nine

I knocked on Matt's door, hammering on it. It felt like hours until he answered but it was probably just minutes. I didn't want to question him, badger him but I couldn't hear him talking, I couldn't hear anything at all. I panicked, my mind enjoyed thinking about every horrible scenario to make me even more paranoid and panicked than I was. I swallowed, practically swallowing my own tongue as I watched, waiting as the handle moved. 

I had never felt more frightened than I did at that moment. Matt opened the door and looked at me with some confusion. "Jack? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, can I come in?" I asked.

"Of... of course, why, what's wrong?" he asked as he let me in. "Couldn't you walk in before?" Matt asked quickly.

"I don't know, I'm sorry... I need to tell you something"

Matt seemed to listen to me, smiling a little bit at me as I sat him down. I could tell he was worried, probably worrying about what I was about to say. I couldn't say what I wanted so he began asking me a lot of questions, a whole group of questions. I was petrified, his questions were all tough for me to answer. He wanted to know where I was, who I was with but the words, I struggled to find them... like they were there in my head, but my tongue wouldn't translate.

"Slow down, Jack, I can barely understand" Matt requested as he put his hand on my back. He looked at Nick and asked, "what's wrong with him?"

"Best if he tells you" Nick responded.

I didn't know where to begin, I tried to begin at the start but... my words just came out wrong. I was so nervous, I was shaking like a leaf. I knew it wouldn't be long before shit went from bad to worse. If Leo looked for me, if he found me there... he'd see it as a threat, me as a threat... he'd kill me, if I was lucky, if he was done trying to make me a plaything for him and his creator.

"Jack, what are you saying?" Matt asked.

"He's trying to tell you something important, about his parents" Nick helped.

"He's trying to tell you that I apparently murdered them but Matt, I didn't, not at all, instead... he bit me, he drank so much of my blood, he was crazed, out of control... I tried to stop him, I even followed him, but you see, I was powerless against him, forced outside as I heard their screams, their yelling... when I got inside... I saw them... their mangled bodies... I'm so sorry" Leo explained, running inside, leaving the door open, wide open.

Nick growled furiously. "That's not what happened, and you know it!"

"What... what is that?!" he shouted, looking at Nick.

The way he could mimic human terror... terrified me, he was so good at it, it was scary, he was scarily good at it.

"I'm a werewolf" Nick snapped.

"Nick, stop" I requested.

He backed down, but Leo still wore his mask of fear as he looked at me. He shook his head in disgust. "I had to tell him, Jack, I'm sorry"

"You're lying!" I hissed.

"Jack, please!" Matt begged.

"He started drinking again and he went crazy! I'm sure he didn't know what he was doing but I... I feared for my life!" Leo lied convincingly.

"Is it true, Jack?" Matt asked as he turned to face me. Looking into my eyes, he asked, "is it true you're back on vampire blood?"

"I..."

"Tell him!" Leo begged.

"It's not what you think, Matt, if you give me a chance to explain... please!" I begged, trying to grab at his arm. 

"Don't you dare touch me! You promised me! You swore you wouldn't!" Matt shouted.

"Matt... he killed his parents" Leo whispered, almost tearfully.

"I can't believe it, I refuse to believe it! After all this, you go back and drink?! How could you, Jack?! How could you?!" he shouted, slamming his fists into my chest, rapidly. 

"It isn't true, or what you think!" Nick jumped in.

"He has you believing it? I thought you knew better, I thought you knew what vampire blood does to him?! We spent ages trying to get him through withdrawals, all that pain I witnessed, you have the gall to sit there and believe this shit?!" 

"I didn't do it!" I snapped, practically shouting.

"There's more" Leo hastily stated.

"What? What could be worse?!"

"Lena's gone missing... I... I think she may be dead" Leo said, this time actually shedding a tear, letting it roll down his cheek.

Matt looked at me in sheer astonishment. I could see the anger and the pain in his eyes, the tears forming as he listened. I couldn't believe it, he believed Leo, of all people. Matt's nose had only just started to heal after what Leo did, his aggression and yet he believed I could hurt Lena, hurt my parents? He believed I'd willingly drink vampire blood. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, what I was seeing... I hoped beyond all hope that it was all a dream, a horrific and elaborate dream but I was completely wrong.

With tears in my eyes, I protested my innocence, even as Matt pulled a wooden stake out from under the sofa's seat. He pointed it at me, sitting it on my heart. Nick growled and tried to push me away, but I refused to move, I just stood there, like a cold, hard statue, unable to move.

"Do it, if you think I'm a killer, do it!"

"You'd be making a mistake, Matt!" Nick warned.

"Why?" Matt asked.

"He has the eyes of a killer!" Leo shouted.

"He has blue eyes!" Nick countered.

Matt cried as the stake rested on my heart, gently. He placed both hands on it as he looked at me, dead in the eyes, tears forming in them. He never thought that moment would come, that the day would come where he'd be forced to stake his best friend. I just looked him in the eye and nodded, I wasn't going to live if he thought I was a killer, simple as. 

"Do it, Matt!" I yelled in tears. "Do what you promised!"

He lowered the stake, shaking his head. "I can't, even though you're not him anymore... you're just his shell, you wear his face, which makes this all the more difficult... I can't kill you, but I can tell you to leave"

"What?" I asked.

"I want you to leave, you are no longer welcome in this house. If I find you in this city again... I will kill you, you have my word"

"You're making a mistake" Nick growled furiously as I was literally thrown from the house.