Damnation (OLD AND DISCONTINUED, PLEASE READ NEWER VERSION)

CHAPTER 23

I just stood there, shocked by what he said. His name was really Leonard? The whole Joseph thing was really a facade? I turned my gaze to Zack. He was completely losing it. His breaths quivered and his pupils twitched. His hands were shaking and it looked like he could collapse any second. It must've stung to know that the person who you thought were your friend wasn't. That the person was actually using you to hurt other. That your actual friend was right. I clenched my fists. I hated what Leonard did to Zack. He didn't deserve to be manipulated.

"You're a monster! How could you do that to him?! He trusted you. He believed you were his friend!" I spat at him. Leonard rolled his eyes.

"That's the thing about people. We were created to use or be used. He is merely what this society calls, 'idiotic scum'," he responded. I froze. It was like a huge blade stabbed my heart and broke it into pieces. Idiotic scum. Each word was deadly on its own, but together they packed a powerful punch. And that was what he used to describe my best friend. My breathing quickened. My anger was boiling past its limit. I needed to explode. I could feel the power surging within me as my hair changed from brown to dark blond. My eyes went from green to orange and horns shoved their way past the surface of my hair. Evil began to take place in my heart. That was it; I'd lost all the humility I'd carried with me thus far. It was now that I truly became the demon I was destined to be.

"Aw," Leonard cooed. "Gina's getting a little feisty." I hugged myself as the rest of the transformation took place. I let out a growl that was neither human nor vampiric.

"You're dead!" After bat wings sprouted from my back and opened up, I flew at supersonic speeds right at Leonard. He took off his long coat and threw it elsewhere.

"Yes, this is what I've been waiting for!" Before I could attack him in anyway, he elbowed my back. I immediately fell to the grass. Once I did, Leonard kicked me in the side repetitively.

"What's wrong, Gina? I thought you were angry. I thought you hated me. Well? Where's that hatred?!" I grabbed his leg and pulled so he fell to the ground. I stood up right after and stuffed my foot in Leonard's face. I didn't hesitate to put as much force as possible.

"I do hate you. I hate you with all of my gut. I've hated you the moment I saw you kill that little boy, and I will always hate you till the day you die." Taking my foot off him, I picked him up by the collar and glowered at him. "Which will be by my own hands." Leonard broke out in laughter.

"If you think you, an idiotic and disgusting rat of a creature, can beat me," he began. "You have another thing coming." He grabbed my face and gripped it as hard as he could muster. In pain, I released my hold on him and stumbled to the ground. Leonard took my hair and lifted me up by it. I yelped in pain. "That's right, Gina. I want you to suffer. I want you to cry in pain while I destroy you bit by bit." Leonard kicked me in the stomach. I flew back until I hit a rock wall. All the air was knocked out of my lungs and I was left weakened. He rushed over to me and wrapped his hands around my throat. Leonard didn't even wait a second before he started to strangle me. I kicked him and flailed my arms at him, but his grasp didn't budge. I coughed. I was running out of air. Leonard smirked. My vision was blurring and I could feel my lungs contracting. I was becoming weaker by the second. It was only a matter of time before I would die.

"Leave her alone!" someone yelled. I looked behind Leonard to see Zack running at us. But before he could figure out what was happening, Leonard was knocked to the ground by a log Zack carried with him. I sat against the rocks, gasping for air. Leonard slowly stood up and faced his new opponent.

"Zack, my man," he snarled. "You shouldn't have done that." Zack rushed him again, swinging the log around as if it was a baseball bat. Leonard was battered by a few of the hits, but then he started dodging the rest of them. I could only watch, as I was still recovering from the near-death experience.

Right when we thought Zack was winning, Leonard caught one of his swings. Leonard yanked the log from Zack's hold and threw it into the pond. It sank in the water almost instantly. With no other weapon, Zack began punching and kicking. But to his disadvantage, Leonard was a whole lot better in hand-to-hand combat. He dodged almost all of Zack's attacks and then blocked the other ones. Zack was about to deliver a power punch when Leonard caught it. He twisted his wrist, and Zack hollered in pain. He fell to the ground and was completely defenseless to Leonard's foot. He was bludgeoned by it over and over again. I struggled to move, but my body wouldn't allow me.

"Don't hurt him!" I yelled. But it was masked by Zack's screams. Soon enough, he was terribly injured. I watched as he tried to move but was stopped by Leonard's foot on his back. Leonard grabbed his wrist.

"Oh, I've been waiting for this moment," Leonard stated. He dug into his vest pocket until he pulled out a syringe. It was the same syringe that he tried to inject into Mom, filled with the green, translucent liquid. I sat up.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Zack stared at Leonard with an equal mixture of confusion and betrayal. I watched as the syringe got closer and closer to the target area. I wanted to go and stop it, but I couldn't move. I could only watch.

"Zack!" I screamed. But it was already too late. Leonard stabbed the syringe into Zack's neck and injected the liquid. Zack's body clenched up. His mouth was agape and his eyes were pure white. When Leonard released him, he curled up into a ball and hollered in agony. Dark veins scattered across Zack's neck. Leonard looked behind to see me shudder against the rock wall. He slowly walked up to me and bent down.

"You'll never get away with this," I growled. He chuckled.

"Oh, Gina. I already have." Leonard placed his hand on my head and knocked it against the rocks. My vision was cloudy. The world started to blur, and as I blacked out I watched my best friend turned into my very enemy.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was met with darkness. I sat up immediately. Where was I? The air had a damp and musty scent to it and I found myself gagging. I felt around until my hands came upon a coarse wall. It must've been made out of cobblestone or something like it. I shifted my body so I was directly in front of the wall and then I leaned back. It felt slimy against my back, but I chose to ignore it. I ran my fingers through my hair. It was slightly muddy and unkempt, but I couldn't remember why. I drew my knees up to my chest. "Why am I here?" I groaned.

"Easy, because you're a vampire. That's why we're all here." I jumped up from where I sat. Who said that? The darkness made it hard to see anything but vague shapes. I pressed myself against the wall.

"Hello? Who's there?" I asked. I waited for an answer, but there was only silence. I sighed.

"Maybe it was just my imagination," I muttered under my breath. I was about to sit down when something lifted me up and pinned me against the wall. My breathing hastened. I trembled in fear. The thing in front of me chuckled.

"Oh lookie. They put another rabbit in the lion's den," a man's gruff voice cooed. "And this one's a juicy one." I heard some rustling and fumbling around. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. What was happening? Then, suddenly, a flame lit up in the darkness. As it flickered, I could just make out the thing's features. It was a man who seemed like he was in his late 50's. He wasn't too buff, but the scowl on his face showed he meant no funny business. Although barely, I could tell the man had a dark complexion. His head was shaved and left with tiny bristles. A long, jagged scar ran down his left eye, making it white and clouded. He rubbed his square, densely bearded chin.

"Please, don't eat me! You can't!" I pleaded. The man raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah? And why can't I?" he demanded. I bit my lip. My heart pounded in my chest. The last thing I needed was to be this guy's next meal. I squirmed around in his grip.

"Because I have a life to live!" Grabbing onto his arms, I lifted myself up and kicked him right in the gut. When he stumbled to the ground, the fire extinguished and everything was dark. Immediately activating vampire mode, I leapt over the man and ran off. I didn't know where, but it needed to be as far away from him as possible. But when I thought I was in the home stretch, I couldn't go any further. I ran my fingertips over the cold, cylindrical metal. "Where... am I?" I murmured. I tried tugging on the bars, but they remained where they were. How did I get here? When did I get here? All of a sudden, I heard shuffling from behind me. I turned around and, with the help of my now heightened vision, found the man standing up. White eyes piercing through the darkness, he gave me a smirk.

"This," he stated while motioning to the entire room. "Is our Hell."