"Don't worry," Leah was the first to break the silence that had settled over us all. "I know exactly why you've been following me everywhere. So come on, Violet already made her opinion clear, so what do you two think? Do you think I killed Raven or not?"
"No." Shadow replied, not bothering to lie about it. "I don't believe you at all. I wanted to, we all did, but there is something that is seriously wrong with you and it's the only thing that makes sense."
"My sister is dead because of me!" Leah exclaimed. "I think that's a good enough reason, don't you think?!"
"You've never been close with your sister. In fact, you didn't even know that I had turned you both until a few weeks after. So don't stand there and pretend like you gave a shit about her when you don't. Not really." Shadow spoke slowly but calmly.
"Of course I gave a shit about her! She was still my family! Just like when Violet couldn't turn her dad in when she was getting beaten black and blue every fucking day, family is still family!"
"Some family member you got there," Rose suddenly said. "She wanted you dead, Leah. That's one thing I remember very well. She told Violet she had no problems with killing you."
"Oh, shut the fuck up." Leah snapped at her. "You wouldn't even be friends with Violet again if it wasn't for me."
"And how exactly do you figure that out?"
"Because if it wasn't for me pretending to be Violet, you'd still be ignoring her like a pathetic little girl." Leah retorted, rolling her eyes.
Rose kept quiet. It wasn't like she could deny it either because we all knew if it wasn't for Leah, we wouldn't be speaking right now.
"Why did you ask to meet her in the first place?" Alec asked Leah, taking a step further into the room. "It doesn't make sense, babe. Nothing you're doing lately makes sense. We're just trying to understand, that's all."
"Yeah but you don't believe me," She shook her head sadly. "I just wanted to do some good for a change. All I can think about is the moment when I killed Raven, it's all I see when I close my eyes. The guilt and the grief is killing me. I needed a distraction, something to take my mind off it. Hence why I decided to get Rose to start talking to Violet again."
"Why run when we saw you?" Shadow asked, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. He didn't appear to be convinced in the slightest. I was having a difficult time believing her intentions were purely innocent so I couldn't blame him for being the same.
"Because I knew how it looked." Leah sighed. "Look, I only had good intentions. My sister is dead and I needed something to do. That's it. What does it matter though when none of you believe me?"
"It matters when I don't know where your loyalty lies!" Shadow suddenly yelled, voice so loud it made me and Rose jump slightly. One thing that hadn't changed at all? The fact Shadow could get so angry in mere seconds. Though he had already been angry, it just seemed to burst out of him. To be honest, I was just glad it no longer scared me like it once had.
"My loyalty?!" Leah's voice rose in disbelief. "I proved my loyalty to you the second I killed my sister!"
"And how do I know that you actually did kill her?" He asked, taking a step toward her and raising an eyebrow. "How do I know you haven't been lying this whole time and aren't planning something with her?"
Leah recoiled as though she had been slapped and in that moment, I felt slightly sorry for her.
"I can't believe you'd say that to me, after everything..." She spoke so softly that I could tell she was truly hurting. She had a tendency to speak in a calm voice when she was more hurt than she wanted to let on.
"It's because of everything that I have to ask." Shadow replied, not showing any sign of letting this go. I suppose he had a good reason not to. After all, Raven did threaten to kill me and everybody else in this room. He had a right to be cautious.
Leah didn't even respond to that, choosing to remain quiet as she cast her eyes around to each of us. She could see that none of us believed her but I could also see the way that she straightened her back and planted a look on her face that could only be because she didn't want us to see what was truly going on inside her head. Whether that was to mask the hurt she was feeling or not, I had no idea.
Alec then walked over to her, pulling her into his arms and resting his head on top of hers. "I'm sorry, okay? It's just nothing was making sense."
"I know. I get it." She replied, burying her head in his chest as the rest of us just stared.
I wasn't sure what to believe now. She did seem sincere but whether that was just an act, I really didn't know. I hated not knowing because nothing would go back to normal until we knew for sure but unfortunately, Leah's word alone just wasn't going to be enough now.
I glanced over at Shadow to see he was watching Leah with a frown on his face. When he turned his head, meeting my gaze, he stared at me for a moment or two.
Then, slowly, he shook his head.
That alone made me worry because I knew what that meant. He still didn't believe her. He could always tell when somebody was lying to him, so the fact he still didn't believe Leah even after she had explained, well that was extremely bad.
The question remained, however, if she was lying, then why? What was she actually up to? Was Raven actually alive? Were they plotting something together?
For once, I really hoped that Shadow would turn out to be wrong.
***
Things were tense after that.
Nobody seemed to know what to do or what to say whenever Leah was around. Rose had taken to glaring at her whenever her back was turned, even though I'd frequently told her to stop. Pissing Leah off really wasn't the best thing to do at the moment, it would undoubtedly make things worse.
Alec was trying his best to be the supportive boyfriend to Leah but it was clear he was failing. Doubting her actions had clearly caused a rift between the two of them and I wasn't sure whether they'd ever get back to the way they used to be. I did hope that they would be able to work it out though, they were great together and it was obvious how much they loved one another.
I did try my best to speak to Leah though, even attempting to get her to understand that she can't keep everything bottled up inside but she'd just glare at me and tell me to leave her alone.
So when she came to me a week later, I was definitely surprised.
"I'm sorry, Vi," She apologised, sighing as she walked into my room and came over to sit on the bed beside me. "I know I haven't been the nicest person to be around lately. I don't mean to be so rude, it's just..."
"You're hurting." I stated simply, closing the book I had been reading and putting it on my lap. "I'm sorry that we-"
"No," She interrupted sternly. "Don't apologise. It's not like I've given you a reason to believe me, have I?"
"What makes you say that?"
"It's like you said to your dipshit of a friend," Leah said. "I spent all that time trying to talk Shadow out of killing Raven, so it's natural that you'd be wondering whether I actually did it myself. Hell, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't believe me either. But I did do it, Vi. I promise you, I did. I saw what she was capable of so I put an end to it... to her."
"What happened that day?" I asked her softly. "You left me alone, which was clearly what Raven had been expecting but happened when you got there? You never talked about it."
"I confronted her. I wanted to know why she was so intent on destroying Shadow and I wanted to know why she took your friend. We got into an argument and she said some things. You weren't kidding when you said she'd kill me because she sure tried hard enough. We obviously got into a fight and at first, I wasn't going to kill her. I fully admit that. She was still my sister, after all, so I just wanted to knock her out and then figure out what to do later but then she came at me with a stake in her hand. I think that's when I realised she really didn't care about me like I cared for her so I had no other choice. It was me or her."
"I'm sorry." I muttered, not knowing what else I could say. A family member turning against you was something I could relate to all to well but there just didn't seem to be anything that could make her feel better. It was something only she could deal with but that didn't mean she had to deal with it alone.
"I hated that I had to do it, I still do. But now on top of all the pain and the grief, I'm angry too. I'm angry that Shadow doesn't believe me when I gave up everything for him. Literally everything. I packed up what little shit I had after I was turned and I went with him. I don't know why he chose to let me tag along but refused Raven, I really don't and maybe that's part of why she wanted me dead too but to know that he doubts me when I've gone through hell just to stay by his side..." Leah chuckled bitterly before continuing, "You know, he only turned Alec because I told him to?"
I frowned; I hadn't known that. "What happened?"
"We met in Chicago and fell in love. Obviously, he didn't know about me being a vampire until later on but when he knew, it was already too late. He'd been attacked and left to die. You know, I always did wonder if that had been Raven. It was around the time when I started getting calls from her telling me that she would ruin us."
"So Shadow turned him for you?" I asked. "How did Alec take it?"
"Surprisingly well," She smiled as she looked at me. "I was fully prepared for him to tell me he hates me and wants nothing to do with me. So I was pleasantly surprised when he kissed me instead."
I smiled. "Like a romance novel."
"The closest we could get to one anyway." Leah snorted.
"I'm sorry things worked out this way," I sighed. "Do you think you and Alec will go back to normal?"
"I hope so but I really don't know."
"I'm so-"
"If you say you're sorry one more time, I might have to bitch slap you." She interrupted me, a serious tone to her voice but the smile on her face made me roll my eyes. It was times like this when I wondered whether she could truly betray her friends at all and I hated that I was so torn over the situation. I wanted to believe her, I truly did, but all the signs were pointing in the opposite direction.
"Okay, okay," I grinned, holding up my hands in mock surrender. "But seriously. You can't deal with this on your own. She might have been a psychopath hell bent on getting revenge but she was still your sister. I do get that. So if you need to talk, you know where I am."
"You know, you're really understanding about this considering it was you she was intent on murdering." She spoke with an amused look on her face. "But I'll keep that in mind. I'm trying to deal, I just haven't had to cope with something like this before. All I feel is the grief and the anger."
"Well, I'll be there to help." I spoke encouragingly. "So will the others."
Leah snorted. "Yeah because Shadow is just dying to hold my hand and tell me I can get through this."
"I'll talk to him."
"Don't bother. I'm still pissed with him."
I sighed.
"Look, don't worry. Raven is dead and she isn't coming back. You're safe." She then said, causing me to shake my head.
"About as safe as one can be living with a bunch of vampires."
Leah laughed. "Yeah, you're so screwed."
I couldn't help but laugh along with her.
In that moment, it felt like I had my friend back.