storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter thirty-seven ; fight

Madej didn't feel good, in both a medical sense and an anxiety sense. Benedict was tense beside him.

"He's coming."

"Should we stay here?" Madej asked, looking to his big brother. He didn't want to run away, but he couldn't face Dominic, not while he was so poorly.

Benedict pressed his lips into a thin line as he thought on the choices they had. They could run, or they could fight. "I can't take him on alone, not without you. I say we run. Get backup from the Cullens. Will he dare come near you if we're surrounded by vampires?"

"Maybe. We don't know how desperate he is to see us dead. He's been idle. The threats through the mail, coming up here and trying to curse us. He's ... he's been toying with us the entire time. Either this is the real deal or another one of his fucking mind games." Madej said, then reached over and grabbed his brother's arm. "We can run. You've been learning how to teleport, of all things. Desperate times, brother."

"I can barely get myself from point A to point B without nearly splicing myself in half, let alone a terminally ill baby brother."

Madej nodded. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. "Let's go. Might as well get this over with. I fucking hate Dominic."

"Me too, Mads."

They shared a look before they decided to really leave. They couldn't just sit by and wait for Dominic. They got into Benedict's busted second-hand car, and they were off on the roads to the Cullen household. It was silent, and Madej hated it, turning the music on. It was one of Benedict's niche bands again. It helped distract him as they passed the houses of Forks, the small shops, the treeline.

Madej looked out of the windscreen, listening to the music that was playing from Benedict's speakers, trying to listen to the words but they sounded jumbled to his broken ears. Something was wrong and the boys knew it. The day wouldn't end how they'd hope it would. Something had to give.

"We're really putting all our eggs in one basket, huh?" Benedict was saying, "Dominic could be mind playing or could be legit this time."

"We can't think about that. Eyes on the road," he said, pointing a finger to the road.

They were going around a rough bend, with the sea on their left, trees surrounding everything else. There was too much coverage around them. Someone could easily watch them go past. They didn't know if Dominic had brought any friends along or not.

"We'll just get you to the Cullens' place." Benedict nodded. "Then ... we figure things out from there, make sure Mom's safe and -"

Everything happened too quick.

Benedict tried to swerve the hit, the brothers blinded by the bright light. The road was bumpy, and then their car was spinning. Madej yelped in pain, feeling something burning in his stomach, as the air felt wrong around them. There was glass breaking and shattering around him, and he did all he could to protect his face, too weak to protect anything else.

The car came to a crashing stop, rocking around before coming to a standstill. It took several long moments for Madej's head to stop spinning, for his stomach to settle down. He felt disorientated, confused as to what had caused the crash.

The airbags had come out, and Madej pushed it away, groaning as his chest ached where his seatbelt had pushed into him.

"Benny?" he asked, looking over to his brother. Benedict was unconscious, blood dripping from his forehead. "Ben," he shoved at his brother's arm, but he did nothing, just stayed there limply. Madej checked for a pulse and found a steady one. At least he was alive.