Reminiscence {Book Two of the Vengeance Trilogy}

Chapter Twenty Four: The Edge of the World

"Fuck," I swore under my breath as I finally broke away from Elliot and grabbed Peter by the shoulders, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew that he was lost to Tom. Since Tom was still his alpha, he had control over Peter. He had Peter like he was a puppet on strings. I slowly backed away, but his lifeless eyes stayed on me. I glanced back at Elliot and I could see his chest rising and falling, but he wasn't moving anymore.

"See Peter, you don't know Danny like I do," Tom said as he walked closer and threw his arms around Peter's shoulders. "I've known him since he was a boy and I can tell you that he is still the same lying—"

"Peter, please," I said softly, holding my shaking hands out in front of me and hoping that I wouldn't have to defend myself.

"cheating,"

"Peter."

"good for nothing asshole as he was when he was a kid," Tom finally finished.

"You don't have to do this!" I shouted, but Peter didn't even blink.

"Attack."

I quickly turned around to scoop Elliot into my arms and run away, but before I had a chance to get him out of the snow, I felt one of Peter's thorn vines reach out from the earth and wrap tightly around my ankle, causing me to trip and fall over onto Elliot. He let out a cry in pain as the vine slipped away from my ankle and wrapped around my torso, lifting me up into the air and then slamming me into a nearby tree. As all of the snow dislodged from the branches, I could hear Caroline whispering to Melanie and Collin, telling them to do something.

Tom walked over to me as I struggled against the thorns growing around me, pricking against the surface of my skin. At first, I ignored the pain, trying to focus only on saving Elliot and Peter, but it wasn't long before sound escaped from my vocal chords. The thorns were digging in deeper and deeper as my eyes were shut tight. I could feel tears stinging the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall, but I wouldn't let them. Tom stared at me with the smug smile I knew all too well. He thought that he had won this battle already.

"You know what, Danny? I'm going to let you live past tonight just because you've been such a good sport. I mean, it's also because I know that I can't let you off the hook with something as simple as death. No, that would be an easy way out for you, right?" Tom said as I cried out, begging for Peter to stop. Instead, he stared ahead, his eyes dead.

"Peter," I struggled to say, but Tom let out a dark chuckle before I could finish.

"Everyone else here will be dead except for you and then I will dedicate the rest of my life to clearing the Allen name and making sure that you never see a glimpse of happiness ever again," Tom continued. As bewildered I was about Tom talking about clearing his family's name, I couldn't help but focus on putting off the pain I was feeling now. I looked back at Peter and although I knew he wasn't himself right now, I tried to memorize all the small details about him. Like when he smiled, or when the way his eyes would light up when he was hopeful. How when he would just look at me, I would be reminded that I was still good. That even though I did so many shitty things in my useless life, I had a bit of good left in me.

"HEY ASSHOLE," I heard Caroline shout from behind Peter. She swiftly threw a snowball right into the center of Peter's back, causing him to stumble over. His vines quickly wilted and my body fell hard into the snow. I could feel all of the small wounds from the thorns healing over as I forced myself onto my hands and knees. Tom turned to face Caroline, rage radiating off of him.

"Amazing, even with no memory you still manage to be a pain in my side," Tom said as he began advancing towards her.

"I don't need memories to see what a monster you are," she growled as she picked up more snow from the ground and packed it into a tight snowball. I could see her entire body trembling, but her expression continued to stay strong, like she was ready to win a fight if she had to. Melanie and Collin had rushed over to help Elliot, a trail of venom staining the snow where they had dragged him away from everything that was happening here.