The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Those memories of Jared's were only brief, like a quick flash of lightning during a thunderstorm. That storm that Jared was barely surviving through wasn't finished just yet. As the memories left him, he came back to face the storm at its highest point of power. The winds of pain whipped around him, relentlessly scratching at his already injured face. Through that howling wind, a voice sounded. At first, it was faint, but then it grew into a loud scream. Coward! Give up! Though he tried to hide it, he was still a coward at best. He put himself out to be a brave vampire that didn't give in to those that harmed him, but behind that smiling face of his was a trembling boy who only wanted one thing, to let everything go. To be brave or to let himself be a coward. Those were his two options. Being brave meant to keep struggling against the hunters. Being cowardly meant hanging his head in defeat, ending the pain altogether. He weighed his choices in his head. It seemed as though he already chose. His body started to relax, almost allowing Kai to slip the drug, X, into his mouth. The drug rested flush against his bottom lip now, threatening to fall into his mouth at any given moment. A stinging sensation hit his lip as the substance of the drug sank into the cuts on his cracked-up lip. Each bit of pain reminded him that he was nothing but a coward that would allow anyone to step on him if they pleased to do so. Whether he liked it or not, he hadn't changed one bit since the day his mother was murdered. The little boy who could only scream and cry at the sight of his mother's dead body was still inside of him, wailing, crying for him to stop. It would be wisest for him to start listening to those cries. After all, there was no use in fighting when the outcome was already predetermined. These hunters would win, and he would lose. In the end, he'd always be hurt. So what's the point in trying to keep resisting?  Nothing, not a single reason came to Jared's mind. As Kai pressed the drug to the top of Jared's tongue, something rustled inside of him. He spent all of his life letting people use him as a stepping stone. They hurt him with their words and actions, but he didn't do a thing about it. This was his chance to change that. Eighteen years of being a coward were more than enough. Now it was time to become the person that steps on those who try to harm them. He would never  bow his head to anyone again, not even Cain. With the red in his eyes, along with his will to keep going, coming back, he spitted the drug out onto the palm of Kai's hand. Blood and saliva coated Kai's palm.

"Coward or not. I'm definitely not  going to die in some shitty-ass warehouse," Jared declared quietly to himself.

"What are you mumbling?" Kai asked as he pried open Jared's mouth again.

His lack of eye contact became apparent to Jared as Kai tried to force Jared's mouth open. Instead of looking at Jared's eyes, he fixated on a cut located on Jared's cheek. Now that Jared was more than determined to get out of this alive, he finally realized the hunter's weak point. All Jared had to do was use that against him. 

"How can you be a hunter when you can't even look me in the eyes? A hunter that is afraid of their own target is no hunter at all," Jared sneered, his speech came out a little warbled due to Kai still attempting to get his mouth open.

"Fucking bullshit. You must be going senile," Kai spat.

In his fit of rage, he went a little too close to Jared, dropping his hands to his sides. The moment Kai no longer had the protection of his hands in front of him, Jared threw his head back, then quickly went forward, smashing it straight into Kai's forehead. His chair toppled to the ground from the sudden forward movement. For Jared, the pain in his forehead and the parts of his body that hit the floor were only temporary, but Kai was only a human. The force of having Jared's head ram into his skull fractured it. He wobbled backward, faltering slightly. Not realizing that Jared had seriously injured Kai, Venus laughed, thinking that Kai was just kidding around. Soon after Kai collapsed to the ground, nose bleeding profusely, Venus stopped laughing. His twin's eyes were still open, yet he was rendered motionless as if he was dead. Immediately, Venus left Jared to check on Kai, desperately tugging at Kai's limp limbs. There was no response, not even a grunt of pain came from Kai. The rage that once filled Kai was now ravaging Venus who held his twin tightly in his arms, almost on the verge of tears. This was the first time he ever felt so miserably shitty, and it was all because of some idiotic vampire. Carefully letting Kai's head fall back to the floor, Venus stood up, intending to avenge his twin. He stormed toward Jared who was still stuck on the chair that was knocked over sideways. Fighting through the urge to cry, Venus kicked Jared in the abdomen with all his might. The metal of the chair scraped against the ground as Jared was sent sliding across the floor from the kick. Jared's head smacked against the back of the chair, making his eyes flutter. Black spots danced around in his vision which was beginning to blur in and out from blood loss. For a second, his vision cleared, allowing him to see Venus. He was now kneeling down, knife in his hand. The blade glinted menacingly in the bright lights of the warehouse. It aimed straight toward its target, dying to cut into flesh and be painted with blood.