This Is Where I Want To Be

143. Conquering The Third

Michael

Marcus was already sending Brylee communications. Nicholas and the general were in a very defensive stance, waiting for our next move. The werewolf on the ground started chuckling. It was a mistake. My patience was zero... "How do we get the net off?" I asked. Juliet took the gun I had pressed into my pants. She turned it around and demagnetized the clasps. My arm stretched out to grab hold of Brylee's husband. "No. Michael!" Juliet halted me. My head snapped at her. I was already a vampire... Juliet stepped in between the wolf and me. Challenging eyes dared me to do something.

"Juliet, stop it!" Louis snapped at her.

"Make me." She was using my own words against me. "We need to know what you will do. And if you kill me... Honey. I'd like to know when it's going to happen... I don't want to sleep next to you, and you strangle me in my during the night."

My manifestation didn't want to go, and the wolf kept laughing... I pierced him with a predatory gaze. He growled and, in a low voice, said, "You know... There is so much you don't know about the brandings. The more people you kill, the more you lot are left in the dark. Why don't you get it over with? Kill Juliet! We can all see what you want." His laughing eyes mocked me. "You're all a bunch of children... Brylee played it just right. Confusing the situation... In the end, the three of you will die."

The problem was the need to prove myself as a werewolf, yet on the other hand, I wanted to take over and rule everyone as a vampire. In my Riphath form, I couldn't care less about who died. I didn't trust Brylee or her husband. It could be a ploy, and I would kill her and also die, so I traveled back to Palmyra. If I couldn't kill Juliet, I would kill Brylee and be one step closer... I went back to where I left Mateo, in his father's room. Brylee was livid, screaming at him. Mateo was on his knees, head tilted up to his mother. It seemed that he was waiting... I was debating with myself whether to help... It happened so fast. Brylee lifted a hand, and the wolves around him stabbed into him. One at the base of the neck. One into his heart. The other sliced his throat. I recoiled at the site. Even in my vampire state... It went against my nature to kill your own child... So cruelly... It was one thing having your own moral code and fighting to the death for it... But having none... I took the opportunity... Brylee wasn't expecting it and had walked off to the side. The guards were busy with cleaning.

I put Brylee down with her husband. The one thing he shouldn't have said was Brylee had used me as a weapon... The other thing was Juliet being afraid to sleep next to me... I should never have done it... I was the wrong choice. Why did Chris not want to do it? I didn't want to think about hurting her anymore.

The rest didn't expect me back. I exchanged Brylee for Juliet. She didn't struggle and threw her arms around me. Chris and Louis tried to stop me. They didn't trust me, but it seemed she did. I took her to Chris's house, where it was quiet and I could think. Into his room where we sat that one day when it was only the two of us... I didn't like my vampire face... She was right. I needed to test myself. Not avoid her more... She joined me on the bed. "Are you going to kill me?"

I shook my head, remembering what Louis told me to do. Juliet had eaten once a week, maybe even two or three times initially. She was so desperate. How could I have thought that I would be different? To my body, it was even worse. "I had PTSD symptoms." She seemed surprised that I was sharing. "It was unexpected. My mind is a mess again... Fear completely took over. Human freaking emotions...."

"Can I touch you?"

I turned and opened my arms. Juliet rested her head on my shoulder. "Do you really feel I'm not doing enough?" I asked softly.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry I said that. You did so much for so long. I should be doing everything for the next seventeen years."

A victory cry came from outside. Juliet and I stepped out. Riphaths were traveling back from the west in droves... Shumaan had won. "Michael, we have to go back. Please... I have a bad feeling."