Vampires (AU)

Part 10

Please don't hate me.

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They were pushed into a corner, Zayn standing before them and holding a stake in either hand. The stakes pointed into his fists, the large handles being the weapon for now. He wouldn't kill them yet, I knew. He'd knock them out with the handles first, then tie them up and slit their throats. I'd seen it happen more times than I cared to remember. But then Zayn swivelled a stake round so its tip was at Liam's throat, directly over his birthmark. He pushed Liam back further with it, even though there was nowhere to move to, until it pierced the skin. Liam cried out again, and I saw a bead of blood.

They hadn't seen me yet - a good thing, since I was sickened and had no idea what to do without Zayn killing both Louis and Liam before my eyes. Liam's cries hurt me physically, caused an ache in my chest. Louis was begging Harry now, and that hurt too.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he was saying. "Harry! Why are you doing this?"

It took me a moment to actually find Harry himself, since he wasn't with Zayn. Instead, Harry was going through the same agony I was - sitting on the floor leaning against the shelving, eyes closed and hands over his ears. His body was shaking with wracking sobs, his knees pulled tight to his chest. I could see his mouth moving, murmuring 'sorry, sorry, sorry' over and over again. I knew how betrayed Louis would be feeling, and Harry seemed to feel powerless to do anything except say sorry. It was killing him, I could tell.

I fell to my knees, and crawled along the shelf to him. He jerked when I put a hand on his shoulder, but then his red-rimmed eyes found my face and widened.

"Niall? I...I couldn't...I tried...Zayn wouldn't stop-"

"It's okay." I whispered. "We'll sort it out Harry. It'll be okay, I promise."

"Harry? I love you." Louis was saying, the desperate tone gone and replaced by a quiet, hopeless exhaustion. I looked up, and his eyes were closed. Accepting what looked like his imminent death. "Okay?" he continued, voice barely audible. "I really fucking love you and I don't understand why you're watching him, letting him to this to me. To us."

"He wants to watch you die." Zayn said smoothly. "Don't worry, he'll get what he wants sooner or later."

Harry let out a strangled whimper, and covered his face with his hands. I could see him breaking down.

It's now or never.

I stood up, and took a couple of steps forward. "Zayn."

He spun round, the quick movement causing the stake to scrape across Liam's neck. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to bleed.

Zayn blinked at me. "Did you want to watch? Sorry, mate, I didn't think you would."

Liam's eyes found mine in the gloomy warehouse. Sad, apologetic, pained. A lump came in my throat, and the ache in my chest turned into a stab at every heartbeat. It took ever bit of self control I possessed not to run to him. If I did that, Zayn would probably kill me out of shock.

"No, Zayn, I don't want to watch." I said, my voice hoarse. "I've come to tell you to stop."

This earned me a disbelieving look from all of them. Harry's teary eyes, Liam's and Louis's pain-filled ones and Zayn's, filled with confusion, shock and, mostly, anger.

"Stop?" he repeated, his voice slowly increasing in volume until he was shouting. "Stop? They lied to you, Niall! They hurt you! They killed your fucking parents!"

"They lied to me, they hurt me, they killed my parents." I confirmed, though the words hurt to say out loud. "But they also changed my life. They taught me friendship, fun, trust, loyalty, life and death...even love, Zayn. I owe them for that. They saved me, now I'm saving them." as I spoke, I felt the pain in my heart lessen. I had done the right thing.

Not in Zayn's eyes, though - he looked at me, aghast. Then he turned to face Harry, who was still curled in a ball but was now watching us with a glimmer of hope. "Harry," Zayn addressed him. Harry flinched at his angry tone. "Tell him. Your so-called boyfriend didn't even love you. He only wanted to get to Niall. You know that. Tell him!" he urged.

"Of course Louis loved you, Harry. He still does. He's been telling you over and over, even when you let Zayn hurt him." I said. "Are you going to let Zayn hurt him? Are you going to ignore all the fun, the good memories? Just because of one mistake he made eight years ago?"

Harry looked at me, his bottom lip trembling. I could see what he was facing: one friend or another? Slayer or the vampires? He looked at Louis, then Liam, and his eyes filled with tears again. He'd made his decision. "No, I'm not." he said softly. "Zayn, let them go."

"What?" Zayn asked furiously. "No fucking way. I'd kill them first!"

Then something seemed to occur to him, and, as Harry and I stood helpless, Zayn turned the stake in his left hand so the tip was pointing forward, then plunged it into Louis' chest.

~~~

I'm sorryyyyyyy :(