I stood in the door way of Zetzu's room looking over his relaxed body knotted into a bundle in his nest. Guilt eating at my insides the entire time. Not only was I agreeing to help hurt my own brother, I was probably going to hurt Zetzu by leaving without saying anything. All because I was too weak to say no to my father and his ridiculous lust for power.
The only ability he even had was being able to implant suggestions into a person's mind. It didn't work instantly, given a long enough period of time he could make a nun murder for a chocolate bar if he tried. Just by talking. Our bloodline was packed with power, but he got the shallow end of the gene pool. Perhaps that is why he was so bitter.
My dislike for the man only grew the longer I stared at Zetzu, it was chilly in his room. Silently walking in I checked his heating blankets and flipped on the switch when I found it off. I flinched when the knock at the door downstairs reached me, glancing over my shoulder I leaned forward and brushed the scaly tail. The muscles under my hand flexed lazily as he shifted, the end of his tail wrapping around my wrist when another knock from the door made me sigh.
Standing up I carefully pulled my hand free and walked out of Zetzu's room softly closing his door and jogging down the stairs, grabbing my small bag of clothes on the way. Stuffing my phone in my pocket as I reached the door, opening it just in time for my father's knuckles to hit air.
His black eyes glaring down at me, "I shouldn't have to wait so long." Mumbling an unapologetic sorry under my breath at him I pulled my bag up higher and followed him out of the house. My eyes flicking over the cold court yard cased in the darkness of night. Only lit by the few 20 foot metal lamps with dull yellow glows at the top.
Instantly my father started to head in the opposite direction of the gate, "Where are we going?" He sighed heavily and shot a hard look at me.
"You failed to convince your brother to leave, so we will be taking him by force." Panic made my heart stutter, "T-Todd's not here. He left with his mates about a day ago... With him in the middle of a full werewolf pack we can't get to him." My voice tapered off, my mind working slower than my mouth as I frantically wondered where these words were coming from.
My anxiety was quickly rising, I didn't want to hurt my brother. If I could buy myself enough time maybe I could prevent this. Or just mess it up at the very least.
"If we can't take him then we'll make him come to us." I frowned and eyed my father as he turned and started for the gates. Quickly following him I glanced back at Zetzu's window and pressed my lips together tightly.
"How are you going to make Todd come to you?" Mumbling under my breath I crawled into he familiar blacked-out car my father drove. "Target those two wolves of his. Even though they aren't finished my copies of him are still powerful enough to take on a wolf. We'll kill them, piss Todd off and he'll hunt us down. That's when we get him." I flinched at the idea and coughed to hide the uneasy noise that left my throat.
"H-how can you be sure that he'll hunt you down? They've already mated, if you kill them it'll probably destroy him to a point he won't be able to.. f-function." I cringed as I watched my father's knuckles tighten on the steering wheel.
"You're right." I sat tense the rest of the ride, my anxiety eating away at my stomach and nerves as I watched the forest through the tinted window thicken. A phone suddenly hit the side of my face and landed in my lap. With a grunt I rubbed my cheek and look down at it, "Send a text to the number at the top of the contact list."
Doing as I was told I glanced at my father as he pulled to the side of the road, "What do I say?" He opened his door and shot me a hard look, "It doesn't matter. The text is set up to alert the copies, when they wake up they will know how to get to me. I just need one of them to do his." He got out and opened the back door pulling the back seat up to reveal his station of weapons that I usually end up cleaning for him.
Sending a blank text to the number I turned to watch him pull out one of two modified hand guns made for werewolves specifically.
I watched him close the back door and reach back quickly grabbing the other gun and checked the bullets wrinkling my nose at the strong smell of a particular plant that was laced in the metal. Making sure the safety was on I shoved it into the back of my pants glancing at my father fiddling with the gun in his hand. If this one had the wolfbane bullets then the one he held had the lethal bullets.
Stepping out of the car I leaned on the side and squinted at the forest around us, "You going to kill them still?" He hummed at me and cocked the gun, "Only one of them. You're right about Todd. I know how connected mates can be, killing both would snap his mind. I need his mental state intact."
I gasped when a body suddenly landed on top of the car, my eyes snapping up to take in my little brother's look alike his curious eyes flicking to my father then me. He smiled at me, "Brother!"
Standing awkwardly as the short copy jumped down to hug me, I pushed it away from me and threw my father a gross look, "Did you have to make them with emotions? Its creepy." Without looking at me my father rolled his eyes, "Don't be a bitch about it. Where are Todd's mates?" His question was directed to the copy standing next to me. Dropping my chin into my hand I looked at the copy as its head snapped up and twitched unnaturally. Its eyelids flicked weirdly before an excited look crossed its face.
"Close! Come on!" Curling my lip at the creepily happy voice that matched my brother's I sighed and started to follow it as it started to skip into the trees. As we walked further into the tree I glanced up at the sky wondering if Zetzu was awake yet. As if on cue my phone started to buzz in my back pocket, I stopped walking and reached back pulling it out.
Guilt hit me with a raging force as I saw the picture I had taken of Zetzu hugging me from behind flash on the screen.
"Vincent keep up!" Shooting a glare at my father's back I started to walk again, my thumb shaking as I locked the screen and ignored the call. Stuffing my phone into my back pocket again, after walking for a while the copy stopped and jumped up and down waving his arm over his head and running forward.
"David! Benson!" My father cocked his gun as three wolves trotted out of the bushes a ways in front of us. The two bigger ones stared at the copy, both of them shifting as it ran over to them.
"Todd? What are you doing out here, you're suppose to be with the pack." My father took aim and I felt my heart leap into a frantic rhythm. A growl reached my ears and I looked back as one of the two gripped the copy's neck.
"David there's no connection. This isn't Todd." Jumping forward I pulled the gun out of my pants and flicked the safety off aiming the for the right side of David's chest. My father looked at me in shock, the copy laughed, and smallest of the three wolves yelped loudly running away as Benson let out a snarl.
My father moved forward and aimed at David as he looked panted and pressed on the wound in his chest. His eyes landed on me and I gave him a panicked look, "W-wait! I-if we take him alive Todd will come after him faster!" The beady eyes of the man I was related to turned on me and he gave me a hard look as the butt of his gun hit the side of my face.
The hard hit snapped my head to the side and I bit my lip as my eyes watered with the flare of pain, "Never touch my guns without my permission again." He snatched the gun from me and turned to the copy of my brother, "Immobilize him so he can't follow us. Vincent carry the mutt, we need to leave."
Still biting my lip hard I leaned down used my mind to put strength in my arms so I could pick the stunned wolf up. Throwing his arm over my shoulders I dragged him at a distance after my father listening to Benson yell after us. David tried to growl at me but I shushed him softly staring at my father's back making sure I was out of his ear shot.
"He's after Todd. I'm sorry for shooting you but if I hadn't he would have killed you and Benson. I'll try to get you free when I can." I felt the wolf staring at me, "Vincent! Move quicker than this!" I flinched at his harsh voice and felt David sag against me. Shifting his body I felt my phone slip out of my pocket and paused to pick it up. Blinking putting it in my front pocket I jogged to catch up to my dad.
"Finally! The thing I've been waiting for so long has been set into motion. What we do in the next few days child will set forth a chain of events unlike any other in this world's history. Once I get Todd nothing will stop me." I rolled my eyes at him as the car came into view, setting David in the back seat my father handed me a large pouch filled with powder. He waved his hand at the forest, "Sprinkle that all over the area. It'll scatter our scent so we can't be followed."
I frowned and did as I was told lifting the powder with my ability and moving it threw the trees letting it cling to everything as far as it would stretch before the pouch was emptied. My phone started to buzz once again and I closed my eyes, even though I didn't pick it up I could see the picture flashing in my head. Zetzu's smiling face, his arms folded over my chest, tail draped over my lap.
When the buzzing stopped I took an uneven breath and climbed into the car, tuning out as it moved, not listening to my father rant about what his success would bring him.
I wasn't dragged out of my dazed thoughts of Zetzu until I felt small arms wrap around my neck and I realized one of the copies was hugging me. I stood in the cave dad used as a 'secret base' type of thing. The energy that was embedded in the rock walls gave him the energy and power he needed to create the copies of Todd. It was actually directly under the school.
Pushing the copy off of me I ignored its questions of how my day was and other non-sense as I looked at David laid on the far wall with a chain connected to a collar. My gaze traveled to the large metal cage sitting under a hole in the top of the cave that was connected to a trap door to one of the upper tunnels. Father had sealed off every possible entrance to this cave when he found it, no one could get in without knowing all the traps he set up. Even I didn't know them all.
The copy that I had been ignoring froze suddenly and his head twitched as he looked at my father standing in the middle of the cave looking all too pleased with himself.
David's gaze met mine when I glanced at him and I tensed up looking at him, he opened his mouth and I shook my head frantically putting my finger to my lips. He shut his mouth understanding my signal for him not to speak. Glancing at the copy next to me I cleared my throat catching it's attention.
"S-sooo, father put a collar on David? That's pretty funny considering he's a wolf, am I right?" David's eyebrows rose at my awkward tone, I shot him a mocking look and smiled tensely when the Todd-look-alike stared up at me and laughed. It nodded eagerly giggling slightly, "Yes it is! I find it kind of sexy though." I stared at the copy with a gross look on my face at its comment.
"Um, r-right... That's not freaky or anything... So, if y-you say... didn't think it was sexy... how would you... go about removing it?" I was pulling words from thin air, David was watching me intently as I tried to get the information I needed.
If I had been paying attention I wouldn't have to do this but I was pre-occupied with my thoughts about Zetzu because I was an idiot. "Oh father set the key on the table over there. I'd just unlock it and then maybe put him into some leather that outlines his cock nicely and let him scre-" I coughed loudly cutting it off, "That's a fantastic, wonderful little detail of my brother's love life I didn't need to know about!" I quickly walked away from the copy and shuddered, they were extremely blunt but since they were made from Todd's DNA they were also carbon copies of him and all his little quirks. So whatever he likes, so do they.
Sticking my tongue out in disgust I wandered casually over to the table and spotted the key sitting on the corner. Looking around I found the only copy awake watching dad as he gloated and bragged to it about the future.
Carefully I grabbed the key without being noticed and wandered back across the stony floor, my heart pounding in my chest as I knelt beside David and reached to unlock the collar. My eyes flicked up every few second as I pushed the key into the lock. The copy of my brother twitched suddenly and its head twisted until the eyes landed on me.
It frowned and a worried look crossed its face, "Oh no. Vince you've made a bad decision." My breathing stopped as my father turned at the sound of the copy speaking. The lock in my hand clicked open as the familiar, harsh gaze landed on me.
"I should have known you'd try something like this. Especially since you turned slut for that snake of yours." Anger filled my chest, "I should have done this long before I met Zetzu. Your stupid mission to hurt my brother, your own son made me realize just how twisted you really are."
He snorted at me, "Like you could ever disobey me. Until recently I was the only person you could get close to, your mind was mine. Obviously that's no longer the case. Todd won't be hurt, however you will be. Stop him." His voice made the copy standing before me jerk slightly and faster than I could blink it had a hand wrapped around my neck.
As my feet left the ground I gripped the arm, quickly getting light headed I used my ability and ripped the clone apart from the inside flinching as I stumbled when the thing basically exploded. Breathing a bit hard I let out gasp then three more were around me, I stared at their frowning faces when an unexpected hard kick hit the middle of my back sending me right into the three copies. Pain erupted as a knee slammed into my stomach I thrown across the cave until my body hit a wall. My vision blurred over and gave out before I even hit the ground again, I could taste the blood from the cut on my lip and faintly felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. A small smile pull at my lips.
At least Zetzu still worried enough to keep calling me. My body gave out under the throbbing from my back and stomach.