This Is Where I Want To Be

163. There Is Always Another Level

Louis

"The s- had really hit the fan this time," I said out into the darkness. The rain was still coming down in buckets outside. Juliet and I had gotten to a place where our foundation was as solid as it ever could be. She gave me everything. All of her... I had broken it down again... Caleb and Kubra came in at the same time Juliet left, helping Chris back to En-gannim. There was no point in telling him we "told him so." In the end, he had done more than I had. It wasn't only Marcus that left Michael there.

The three of us were left to stare at each other in turn. There was no point in Michael telling us that we should have left him. "It seems like Caleb was right. This did change everything. And we won't be able to count on Chris to bring her back. To help her through it."

"It was inevitable," Michael said, sitting down, running his hand over his hair.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked.

"I mean... we didn't make it easy for her." Michael was nervously playing with her beard. "Can you think that her with two grown men over two hundred? Two more that are just coming into their own as creatures would be easy to handle? It had been non-stop for too long... If a person needs to accept their situation. They're going to have to set boundaries at some point."

I half fell onto the bed next to him. "We got our schedule. We got the hierarchy sorted out. Juliet where we wanted her. None of us will have to work with her and fear that the situation will blow up at any moment."

Marcus sat down in the corner. His elbows on his knees, head hung low.

"Look, the four of us... We are not the easiest of guys. It was going to be push and pull either way. A fight for dominance and that place in her heart." I continued.

"Now, none of us has her. And she doesn't have what she wanted." Marcus said softly. The emblem moved around in his fingers. "Why must it always be something so big that makes us sit down and talk."

Michael made a nervous sound. "I didn't even realize she knew... She had me fooled. I had thought she would explode and go crazy, and it would blow over." He held up a vile. "I was ready to stab her if she was going to flip."

"Anything would have been better than that. I don't like the idea that she will be handling us with her mind and not her heart from now on." The thought terrified me. At some point, she will not willingly cross a line but be pushed over it.

"How serious was she, Louis?" Marcus asked.

Juliet had looked at me and wanted to say something or think about something. She just didn't. I was locked out again.

We sat there for some time, not speaking again. When Chris came back, Marcus and I knew we had made a mistake. Our decisions had hurt someone. We were both so selfish and full-grown Vampires that we didn't count the cost. If it was Michael, she never would've forgiven us. Juliet thought that it would've been better if it was Michael. Her own subconscious thoughts had betrayed her in the heat of the moment. Juliet didn't want it to be anyone. She would've done something. Even if it cost her life and the baby's. All of us. In that regard, I didn't think Juliet would ever change. I couldn't put that on Marcus. She was so close to leaving if he didn't do what he did.

When I didn't answer, Michael ventured, "I want to say that we should take the day...."

Marcus jumped up. "We can't. Not again. No more days, Michael. Every time you say that. It creates friction... No more time! This is our life. I wanted to rest because my whole life was always something someone else wanted of me. And my complacency has cost me so much already... If I stand back now... After that! I might as well leave. Then, there was no point in sending Soren away. I have to be there."