204Chapter Eight
"He is gorgeous." One girl whispered to her friend as she eyed Masen, who was sitting alone at the bus stop. He had been riding the bus all night, trying to avoid going home for he knew what was waiting for him. He didn't want to think about what his family would say to him when he got home. It killed him to know that his family though that Ava was behind all the odd occurrences that had happened lately.
"Hi, sweetheart. Need a friend?" A hooker wearing platform heels asked Masen, standing next to the railing seductively. "I'm all ears."
"Not interested." Masen replied, turning the opposite way so he wouldn't have to look at the hooker.
She, apparently, couldn't take a hint.
"You better pay me. My pimp will come and whoop your ass." She threatened, believing she could take Masen for his money and not provide any services. Did she know who she was messing with?
"I assure you that your pimp will be more scared of me than I am of him. Back off now, and I'll leave him in tact." Masen casually threatened, standing up from the bus stop seat and turned to walk away. As he walked down the street, a burly man stepped in his path, raising his eyebrow at Masen, while chewing on a toothpick.
"You didn't pay my girl." He said, trying to use his height and build to intimidate Masen. "I don't like it when people don't pay my girls."
"Your girl offered her services, I refused, and since that happened, I'm sure that I don't have to pay. Now get out of my way." Masen said gruffly, pushing past the pimp and tried to continue walking down the street.
He didn't make it far as the pimp grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him to the ground. Masen never got into fights with humans, but he decided to let this pimp think he could push him around before he asserted his control and power.
"Give me my money!" The pimp yelled, spitting out the toothpick on Masen, who was just lying on the ground.
Masen got up slowly, brushing the dirt and debris off of his clothes and stood up, in front of the pimp. The pimp looked more than surprised to see Masen get up so easily.
"Sorry, guess that didn't hurt as much as you thought it would." Masen said sarcastically, coming to stand toe to toe with the pimp. Masen pushed the pimp and watched as he went flying across the street. The people on the street watched in awe as the pimp got up, but just barely.
Masen smirked and walked away, knowing the pimp wouldn't come after him. He heard the distinct snap of the man's tailbone when he hit the cement. For a moment, he thought his life may improve in the slightest, but it hadn't.
Quincy appeared out of the crowd and raised his eyebrows at him.
"You shouldn't have done that." He said, but Masen rolled his eyes.
"But I did, so you shouldn't worry about it now." Masen said, trying to move past him, but Quincy stopped him by touching his shoulder.
"You really need to come home. That girl is not what she says she is."
"What?" Masen asked, slightly annoyed. "My family love to overreact."
"She attacked Chrisina and nearly killed her. Your grandmother saved her."
"What? How do you know that Ava did it?" Masen asked. "In case you haven't noticed, Ava is human and Chrisina is not."
"We no longer think Ava is human and we are treating her as a threat." Quincy said calmly as he took Masen's arm. "You really need to come home.
When Masen came into his house, he was shocked by what he saw. The living room had been destroyed, with the furniture moved to the corner of the room and in the center of it was a cage with Ava in it.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Masen said, sprinting towards the cage to try to release Ava. He was stopped by both his parents, especially his mother who took him in her arms.
"She tried to kill Chrisina and has attacked your sister since." Em said, pointing to Sophie who was sitting in the corner. Ava had scratched her across the face, but quick intervention from Quincy healed them, though she still had angry red marks.
"She attacks the golden child, so we lock her in a cage?" Masen said, trying to push past his parents to get to Ava, who was smiling in the cage.
"It was worth it." Ava laughed. "I would do it again. Stupid bitch." She said, reaching her hand out through the bars to try to scratch Will. Her nails had lengthened considerably and now looked like claws.
Masen was taken aback. He stopped struggling against his parents and stood up straight. The only word you could use to describe his face was shock. Maybe awe.
"Ava?" Masen said with disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, now. I guess you could say that I've come full circle." She said, pulling her arm back into the cage and leaned against it.
Masen took a deep breath as Sophie came up to him. She took his hand and he could feel the message she was sending him.
'I'm sorry.'
Masen looked at his sister and shook his head. He left the room and went into his own, unable to comprehend what was happening. All he wanted to do was lay down, go to sleep, and hope that everything that had happened today was just a dream.
Sophie stood out in the living room, trying to control her tears. Quincy had wrapped his arms around her midsection, trying to comfort her.
"He hates me."
"No shit, goldie-locks." Ava snickered.
"What are you?" Tristan asked, stepping out of the group. "We know you're not human, so don't even try."
"I wasn't going to, but it's not so far off." Ava said callously, looking at her nails, which still had a bit of Chrisina's blood under them. "Well, I'm not completely human. I guess you could say that I'm half or so."
"Don't mess around with me, little girl." Tristan said, pressing his face close to the bars in a threatening manner. "I have the ability to destroy you with just the flick of my fingers."
"Don't you want to know what I am?" Ava answered, her voice mimicking a little girl. "You wouldn't want to hurt the girl that Masen loves, do you?"
"You are not the girl my grandson loved. I'm convinced you were always like this and just fooled us." Tristan continued, before he began to walk over to the linen closet and grabbed a sheet to throw over the cage. "Hope this keeps you warm." Tristan sneered as he threw the sheet over.
The sun was beginning to rise as the family separated to go into their bedrooms.
Braden walked into his room to see Chrisina brushing her long, blonde hair. Ever since she took some of Marina's blood to live, she had become iridescent, glowing before him. Braden walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, softly massaging them.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked, bending down so he could rest his head on her shoulder. He watched as Chrisina smiled softly and nodded.
"My body hurts a lot, but overall, I feel better." She said. "I can't believe a human girl did that to me."
"We're all in agreement that what she is not human." Braden said, backing away when Chrisina stood up and went to their bed. "Tell me what happened. What's the first thing you remember?"
"Pain." Chrisina replied grimly. "I felt a lot of pain."
Chrisina had been exhausted from the incident with the necklace. Braden had put her to bed, telling her that the family was going to talk to the council and that Ava was in the other room if she needed help.
"Please don't leave me with her." Chrisina cried. She was so tired. "There's something wrong with her."
"Ava is a young girl. Even in your state now, you could still kill her. I'll lock the door behind me. No one will be able to come in without the key. Will that make you feel better?" Braden asked, brushing the hair out of her face. Chrisina nodded and Braden smiled. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I love you."
"I know." Chrisina replied, snuggling further into the sheets as Braden pulled the comforter over her small body. "I guess I love you, too."
"Thanks for the sentiment." Braden replied, tucking her into the bed. "Just go to sleep and I'll be back before you know it."
Chrisina nodded and shut her eyes, letting Braden's soft hands lull her to sleep.
She didn't know how long she had been asleep until she heard the doorhandle turn and the door open. Chrisina turned to her side to block out the light from the hallway. She could hear footsteps come into the room, but didn't pay them any attention as she brought the comforter over her head.
"Braden." Chrisina moaned. "Shut the door."
She heard a giggle and felt something sharp plunge into her side.
"Oww." Chrisina cried as she turned over and looked up. Through bleary eyes, she saw it was Ava, holding a long and bloodied knife. "What are you doing?"
"Having fun." Ava replied before stabbing her again. Chrisina cried out again and pushed hard against Ava's body, throwing the girl up against the wall. Chrisina crawled out of the bed and out into the hallway.
"Braden. Help me." She sobbed and pulled herself to try to stand. It was difficult to keep her balance with the slow ooze of blood coming out of two open wounds. Chrisina fell to the floor, slamming her hand on the wall to make the fall less painful.
Chrisina, on the floor, began to shimmy, using her hands to pull her body closer to the front door. She felt two more sharp pains in her back, before Ava grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back into the bedroom.
Ava picked up Chrisina like she weighed less than a feather and threw her on the bed before jumping on her lap, plunging the knife into her three more times. Ava only stopped when she heard the backdoor open and Braden rushed in...
"I'm so sorry." Braden said, lifting up Chrisina's shirt to see the healed scars. He placed kisses on each of the old wounds. "Please forgive me."
"You couldn't have known. We all thought she was human." Chrisina said, bringing her hand to his hair and massaged his scalp.
"You didn't. Why?" Braden asked.
"I just had a feeling. When she was around, it just reminded me of someone. Someone who is dead."
"Ludivine." Braden said softly. "Ludivine is dead. We know this."
"Do we?" Chrisina pondered, sitting up in the bed and looked at Braden. "That necklace belonged to her. She wasn't wearing when she died, though."
"That doesn't mean that she came back from the dead just to deliver the necklace, Chrisina." Braden said, taking her hand. "Go to bed, love. You've had a long couple of days."
Chrisina leaned back into the sheets, but kept her eyes open.
"Believe me when I tell you that something more is wrong with that girl. It's like she's evil." Chrisina explained, but was silenced by Braden pressing his lips against hers.
"Right now, she is locked in a cage and my beautiful girl is looking quite stunning to me right now." He said, pulling on the fabric of her shirt and pulled it over her head. "She's locked in a cage and you're safe now. You have your big bad vampire here to protect you."
Chrisina smiled before leaning in and kissing Braden again. All was well until they heard a loud bang and a scream. Braden pulled away from Chrisina and watched in horror as their door began to strain and break.
Chrisina was still too weak to defend herself, so Braden picked her up and placed her behind him, putting his arms on either side of her.
The door stopped straining for a second, before it was knocked down completely. There, standing on the other side was Ava, blood covering her hands. Breaking down the door had mangled her hands, so Braden had seen.
"Am I interrupting something?" She asked, lunging for them but was met with Braden. Ava had yet to truly fight a full-fledged vampire and Braden pushed her out with minimal effort.
When he pushed her out into the hallway, she was met with the others in the house.
"I'm ready." She said.
Cliffhanger! Review please!