𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 - 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫

Chapter - 2

𝐈𝐈. 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒

𝓧𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓻

Lancaster 
That name had a lot of nightmares tied to it. His blood boiled underneath his skin when he looked at the girl in front of him. He should have known, he should have recognised the platinum blonde hair and those bitter brown eyes. But yet he saw no viciousness in her eyes, the look that Orion Lancaster had when he looked at him as he dragged Avery out of the bar. 

Xavier looked at Gabriel staring at the door, his jaw clenched, his grip on the beer bottle a little too tight.

"Brother-" Xavier began. "Don't, Xavier." Gabriel snapped slamming the beer bottle on the table and took his vest off. Xavier could only watch as an angry Gabriel stormed out of the bar. He didn't dare follow, Gabriel was quite scary when angry. He despised the Lancasters, more than Xavier himself, if it was possible. He had all the right to.

Lancasters were the reason for years of misery running in his family. A cycle that didn't want to break, his father made sure of it.  Xavier didn't like to think about the reason for it. But he was cursed to remember every waking moment. 

The stench of burning flesh, the blood on his hands, the blood spilled on the grass, the screams—

Xavier closed his eyes, shaking his head, refusing to think about it. He stood up, drawing a shaky breath looking at the bar stool Avery was sitting moments ago and he couldn't help but think about how innocent and pressurised she looked. But might have been a fake, The Lancasters were brilliant in faking emotions. They were snakes, ready to bite whenever they got the  chance. Avery was no different, for all he knew, he might have been here to trick him and Gabriel, for she was a new face, neither of them knew who she was, it would have been easy for her to trick them with that beautiful innocent face of hers. 

Xavier was about to go to the other side of the bar table to start his shift when suddenly the door burst open and a few familiar faces walked in. His brothers Lucius and Kieran and they were followed by Gabriel who looked much calmer than his other brothers. 

"Everyone out! Bar's closed!" Kieran shouted, like a thug here to steal money. Xavier stood calmly, trying to understand the situation as his customers walked out. He threw a glance at Gabriel who stood beside Lucius, as calm as ever. He didn't even look at him. Xavier felt a pang in his chest. This is because I brought Avery here, his mental voice spoke. 

He watched as everyone walked out leaving him alone with his brothers and some of their personal goons who had entered after the bar was empty. Lucius gestured something to them and those heavily muscled creatures spread out in the bar. Finally Kieran bothered to look at him. His face was dangerously calm, like it always was. 

Unlike Lucius and Gabriel who were heavily repulsive, Kieran was sophisticated and calm. But behind that calmness was his rage, that he masked beautifully with a slight charming smile. He was unpredictable and intelligent which neither Gabriel nor Lucius were. 

"Did you bring the Lancaster to the one place they're not supposed to enter?" He asked, his calm tone scared Xavier. "I did not know…." He stammered, feeling small and weak under his intimidating gaze. 

"Do you understand that your actions led to a chain reaction and led Orion Lancaster here?" Kieran asked. Xavier slowly nodded. 

Orion Lancaster was someone to truly be scared of. Not only was he dangerously skilled, he was vengeful, a perfect creation fed with lies by Talia Lancaster. A perfect soldier. 

"All clear boss!" One of Lucius' goons shouted, then the other said the same, all of them said the same thing All clear. No bombs or cameras were implanted, they were safe…for now. 

Lucius finally walked up to him and Kieran with Gabriel trailing behind. He glared at Xavier, "You're lucky it's clear, father would have killed you if my men found something." He spoke through gritted teeth. Xavier gulped envisioning the scene. 

Him falling on the ground, his father towering over him with a wooden stake in his hand ready to—

He shook those thoughts away and looked at his two older brothers hopefully. "You won't tell him about this though, right?" He asked. Lucius shot him another glare, but nodded anyway. "Only because you're our brother." Xavier felt a moment of peace before Kieran spoke again. "You should know I am not particularly fond of lying to my father." He warned. 

"It won't happen again, I swear." Xavier reassured. Kieran shot him a warning glance before walking away with Lucius. Gabriel watched them leave then turned to Xavier. 

"I did some research on that girl." He finally said. Xavier looked at him with plain surprise. "When?" He inquired. "Why?" He added.

Gabriel shook his head at his questions. "After I called Lucius and Kieran here and because something felt different about that girl."

"Like she was innocent?" 

"Like there was something we should know about her but didn't." Gabriel corrected, scowling towards him. Xavier cursed under his breath. He always had to say the wrong thing. 

"What did you find out?" Xavier asked, trying to cover the words that came out of his mouth moments ago. 

"Avery Lancaster is the daughter of Zachary Lancaster, Talia's first born son. You know what that means?" Gabriel explained. 

Realisation hit Xavier. Avery was the daughter of the first born son of the current leader of The Lancasters. That meant only one thing, she was the heir of Lancasters. The heir of everything now that she was eighteen. He was right about her being innocent. But after the ritual today, she won't be so innocent anymore. The thought sent a shiver down Xavier's spine. 

"Listen to me Xavier, we have to take her out. Talia didn't have an heir till now that's why there were no bloodsheds. Now when she will have one after today, she will use her sick twisted way of killing each one of us." Gabriel spoke in a low murderous tone. Xavier shot him a shocked look. 

"You want to kill her?!" He exclaimed. "I want her out of this game. I don't care if she dies in that process or just runs away from Rosendale." Gabriel snapped. "Death would be the better option." He added. 

This wasn't good. Gabriel would blow their years of peace like this. "No one's killing anyone. We're gonna do something else." Xavier spoke, trying to form an idea. "What is it that you want to do?" Gabriel asked. "Why are you showing her mercy? After everything her family has done?" He added. 

Then it clicked, the best idea to drive Avery away from hunting. Nothing works better than humiliation.