Bloodlust

chapter twenty-three

-23-

 

I have no one left now. My parents are dead, Christopher’s dead, Drew hates me, Scarlet is running away with Jeff, and I killed my own best friend. Alex knew me better than anyone else ever has, and he never judged me for my downfalls, until recently that is, but he had his reasons. He was scared and thought that I’d died, multiple times; he was judging me because he didn’t want to show me just how scared shitless he was. He was trying to keep the strong shell for Becky.

I can feel the stakes in my jacket pocket, ready to be used. They’ll change everything. They’ll let me do what I’ve been planning since I found out we could die. They’ll let me finally kill James.

I get back to the apartment and James is standing there smirking. “So,” he starts in a nonchalant tone. “Did you have fun?”

“I killed my best friend,” I tell him in the most venomous bitter tone I can manage. “Well then,” James says as he raises his eyebrows. “That must really be taking a toll on you.”

“Yeah, it kind of is,” I reply. “You know why?” My rage flows through me, begging to be let out. James shrugs and the floodgates open. “I killed my best friend because of you! You killed my friend, you killed my parents and you made me this monster! I didn’t care when I killed Alex! I didn’t care when I found out my parents were dead and when I killed my best friend, part of me was even fucking proud! It’s sick! It’s fucking sick! I should be a depressed mess right now, but I don’t care! And it’s all your fucking fault!”

“Life is hard,” James says and I can hear the angry growl buried in his tone. “But you know what’s harder? This life, the life of a vampire. You need to stop letting your selfish wants and needs get in the way. I offered you blood, and did you take it? No, you didn’t. You know what happened when you escaped? You killed your best friend. Do you want to feel sad? Yes, you do, because people feel sad when someone they love dies. People feel normal emotions. Well guess what, Anthony. You’re not a person anymore! You’re a vampire! This life is hard and you need to grow up and fucking accept what you are!”

He turns around, but I’m not done with the argument yet. I want to yell after him but it can wait. This isn’t anywhere near over. I follow James as he heads towards the richer side of town. I make sure I stay a decent distance behind him. I have no idea if he knows I’m following him, but I have a feeling that, he doesn’t care. He stops at a house and I freeze in place. I feel a wave of rage as I look at the dark house where only one room is illuminated. It’s Scarlet’s house. James is going to kill Scarlet. The driveway only has one car in it: Scarlet’s. Her parents aren’t home. James goes inside, leaving the door open. I follow him inside and watch him go upstairs. A few seconds later I hear a shriek from Scarlet and a dull thump. I look into the main room where James drags Scarlet in by her hair. She has a look of pain and horror on her face.

“What are you doing?” she asks and I can hear the pure fear in her voice causing it to shake.

“Well if Anthony could come in, stay still, be quiet and watch, then I could tell you,” I hear James whisper and I find myself going into the room with no control over what I’m doing. I curse James in my head. He knew I was following him. He knew and he was planning on doing this. I can only stare as James throws Scarlet on the ground and into the table. Scarlet cries out in pain, her agonized scream making me feel nothing but sorry for her.

“Anthony?” she asks, the fear in her voice wavering but still not going away. Scarlet’s afraid of me right now. “What are you doing here?” I can’t answer her; I can only watch as James picks her up and grabs her chin, making her look at him. I wish I could tell Scarlet that I don’t want James to do this. I wish I could tell her that I have nothing to do with this.