Reminiscence {Book Two of the Vengeance Trilogy}

Chapter Seven: Behind Enemy Lines

I stood in front of the decaying structure for a good ten minutes before I finally decided to take my first steps towards the doors. The church was blocked off by an old, rusted chain link fence, but it's gate was unlocked and I guessed that it had been forgotten about for so long that people didn't really notice others sneaking in and out of it. It was strange to think that I was going to see Tom for the first time since this past summer. When Elliot's parents had died, I stayed in the pack for, but when I left I swore to myself that I would never take another command from Tom ever again. Now, here I was standing in front of his base of operation, getting ready to take commands from him once again. Funny how life loves to trip me up like this. You would think by now I would be used to it.

Before I had the chance to knock on the large wooden door, it opened abruptly causing me to flinch a bit, preparing to attack whatever was in my way. When I saw the person standing in front of me, I let down my guard, knowing that this kid was not going to fight me. Peter probably didn't know how to throw a decent punch anyway.

"Danny! You're here! I can't believe it," Peter exclaimed. By the way the words left his mouth, you would have thought that I was his deadbeat dad who actually decided to see him on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, and?" I responded, bitterness pinching the end of every word. I raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at the fact that I had to look down in order to make eye contact with him.

"What changed your mind?" Peter asked.

"Well, I guess I did some thinking about what you said earlier. You're right, I'm sick of being looked down on for something that I can't control."

"And you ran out of options?" said an uncomfortably familiar voice from behind Peter. Tom slowly emerged from the darkness inside of the church and made his way towards Peter and I. The sight of his ugly mug alone made my stomach twist and turn in all different ways. Since Tom gave into the natural thirst, his eyes were glowing a crisp scarlet. Tom was tall and somewhere between lanky and fit. As per usual, he had his stupidly smug look on his face that naturally made me want to punch him until it was gone and possibly unrecognizable.

"You decided to join the super evil bad guy club, right? Weren't those your words?" he asked in a condescending tone.

"Yeah, something like that," I muttered. Tom threw his arm around Peter's shoulders and gave him a light peck on the cheek. What...what the actual fuck, I thought to myself, feeling like my jaw would drop to the floor at any moment.

"Good job, babe. Do me a favor and go check on a few of the newbies, would you?" Tom asked and with a beaming smile, Peter nodded and walked back into the church. I continued to stare at Tom in awe as he watched Peter with what seemed like a genuine smile. When he looked back at me, he raised an eyebrow. "Problem?"

"Not at all, I'm just wondering how this happened. I mean, no offense, but I didn't even know you were capable of having feelings. I just kind of always assumed you were empty in there," I scoffed, but instead of shooting me a wicked glare, he let out a small laugh and forced a smile.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private so we can discuss some things," he said in a calm tone, which made my anxiety spike. I didn't like this new side to Tom. He was unusually quiet and every part of it made me feel like I was stepping around landmines. As if one wrong move would set off the ticking time bomb that was his temper. Still, I nodded at him and followed him into the church, allowing the heavy wooden door to shut behind me. The only light came from the moon. Silver strands of light flowed in through the stained glass windows. The pews and altar were in shambles and a thick layer of dust and grime covered every surface.

There were vampires of all ages around the church. Some were talking in groups and others were fighting training dummies. Last time I checked, Tom's pack wasn't this big. I would be lying if I said that seeing the increase in pack members wasn't intimidating. The more vampires in the pack pledging their loyalty to Tom, the more trouble I would be in if they found out why I was really here.