Angelic

Ev ~ 33

The Silent Brothers's voices never rang inside my mind, so for the whole of the time we spent in the Silent City, I was confused. It didn't exactly help that as Alec and I left near dusk, he refused to explain anything to me. He didn't even speak. And he was walking so fast it almost looked like he was trying to get away from me.

When we were outside again, I couldn't take it. He was worrying me.

"Alec!" I finally exclaimed.

He spun around, stopping right in front of me, close enough to me that I had to crane my neck all the way back to look at him in the eye. His expression wasn't kind.

"What happened?" I asked, flexing my wrist and preparing to use my whip if I needed to. "What did you see?"

"You." I didn't get a further explanation.

He kept walking, practically taking off at a run now. Half-scared and half-confused, I followed him.

I didn't stop him until we got to the institute. He walked up the steps two at a time, but before he could open the doors, I stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Tell me what's going on." I commanded.

"I was right to hate you." He said through gritted teeth, elbowing me out of the way and pushing the door open.

Wow, that hurt more than I thought it would. But I followed him inside, needing to know what the Silent Brothers had told him.

"Alec!" I called after him.

He stopped, but he didn't turn to face me.

"Whatever happened," I began, "whatever you saw, or heard, you can tell me. I can... I can help. Please. Just tell me what happened."

I was beginning to use that word a lot more lately.

Alec spun around then, walking towards me. Confusion froze me in place, and once I realized what he was doing, it was already too late. He grabbed me by the shoulders, pushing me back until I slammed into the wall. He grabbed a dagger from him belt, pressing it against my throat. My eyes widened. He was close enough that I could see my reflection in his irises, and I could also see the familiar look of boiling rage in his eyes. I had felt that anger before, that murderous rage—right before I killed every vampire in the Berlin clan on the day I avenged my parents.

"Alec!" Jace's voice.

I looked past Alec, over his shoulder, to see Jace and Izzy running towards us. Jace grabbed Alec by the arms, pulling him off of me, and Izzy put a reassuring hand on my arm.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jace asked Alec, dragging him a safe distance away from me.

Alec didn't take his gaze off of me. "I was right to hate you, Eveline Carstairs. You're nothing but a monster! And if you ever come near my family again, I won't hesitate to put this dagger through your heart."

"Alec!" Izzy exclaimed.

"No." I whispered, still massaging my throat. "It's okay." A big part of me wanted to know what he had found out in the Silent City. The other part of me was too scared, wondering if I would hate myself as much as he did if I found out. "I'll leave."

None of them stopped me as I let myself out of the institute. Jace and Izzy looked at me with rueful eyes; Alec looked as if he wanted to break every bone in my body.

I realized what Alec had seen as the doors to the New York Institute slammed shut behind me. He saw the part of me that I had always hidden away, the part of me that I didn't even let Kai see. He saw the part of me that not even I could accept.