Claimed by the Dark Souls of VHA

Chapter Thirteen

RYDER

This girl is going to drive me absolutely crazy. Her thinking that I could want Candice is beyond me. I have constantly told that crazy b!tch that I wanted nothing to do with her. Yeah sure she might have been a way to release tension when I was bored, lonely or just so sick of sh!t with the world around me, but then Ava came and everything seemed to just click for me. What more can I do to show this girl it is her that I want? Her that I need to make the demons in my mind stay at bay? Her presence calms me in the darkest of days and the concept of her not being in it scares the sh!t out of me.

"Why the hell aren't you in class with Ava?" Alex questions me as I round the corner to get to anywhere other than that classroom I share with her.

"Because of her!" I say with annoyance at full swing. He rolls his eyes at me.

"You think it didn't piss me off that she offered all of us up to that skank?" He says while I let out a breath of exasperation.

"You think she meant it? You think she'll find someone better? Someone that could give her anything and everything she deserves? All we will bring her is more darkness. We're all severely f!cked up. Maybe we don't deserve her." I lean against the wall as does Alex.

"Do I think she meant it? Possibly. Will she act on it? Definitely not. It's the thrill of the chase with her. She wants to feel like she is in control so I'll give that to her. I'd do pretty much anything for her." Alex says without hesitation.

"So would I. If she wants our father's still beating heart served on a golden platter, I would give it to her. If she wanted to make a run for it, I'd follow her. Sh!t this girl is doing things to me that I can not for the life of me handle because I've never felt anything like this." I fist the wall beside me. Knuckles are already bloodied from the previous two punches by my classroom. Alex just eyes me with an understanding that he too is in the same predicament.

"All of us are pretty much in the same state of unknowing of what the hell this connection is between her and us. If space is what she wants then we'll give it to her. We are basically up her a*s as it is ever since finding out about our father wanting her. We'll still keep an eye on her but we'll try to make it discreet. This is just as hard on her than it is on us." He says in a more determined tone. I sigh.

"Fine. But if I see any scumbag approaching her I won't hesitate to get involved." I say through clenched teeth. The thought of her with anybody other than us makes me crazy.

"Dually noted because that's exactly what Christian and I would do too." He says with a hint of something sinister in his eye. The bell rings and before anybody comes out of their classrooms, Alex makes a beeline taking off so nobody sees us interacting. We still have a fool proof plan in place for these assholes here and Alex is our eyes and ears to everything that goes on. Nobody would suspect him to be our brother.

I calmly head to my next class and notice a flock of students all huddled in a circle. Pushing through the crowd of morons, I notice Emma on the floor holding her hands up in defensive mode, shielding herself from one of Candice's minions on top of her dishing out punches. I immediately feel my blood boiling and yank the girls ponytail making her rise off from Emma and throw her to the floor. I bend to check on Emma who is bleeding from her eyebrow and is sporting a nice shiner to her eye. She recoils immediately and I calm the storm raging inside my body and manage to softly explain to her that I am not there to hurt her. She immediately relaxes once she sees it is me and grabs my hand to pull her up.

"What the f!ck you guys still doing around here like f!cking vultures!? Get the f!ck back to class before I deem everyone here responsible. She is under our protection and if anyone lays a finger on her, you'll all live to regret it!" I yell out in a demonic tone and watch as the culprit, Mimi, I believe her name is, try to escape. I jet towards her, stepping in front of her and she squeals.

"Uh uh you miserable leech. Did Candice order an attack on her?" I ask venomously, staring her down like the maniac I am and her eyes become glazed.

"I....don't...." Before I can say anything, I see Ava bolting down the hallway eyeing the both of us with blazing fury. She is out for blood right now and I don't blame her. Emma is innocent. She has held her head down since freshman year, not drawing any attention to herself. She has always been quiet, to herself, an A student. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment.

Ava bypasses us for the moment moving towards Emma who is leaning against the wall almost in a daze. Ava assesses her and places her hand on her cheek, whispering something to her. Emma nods and remains still while Ava drops her book bag on the floor, launching herself towards us.

"What. The. F!ck. Happened." She glares at me to serve up the answers and when I don't answer quick enough, she grabs Mimi by the throat and pins her to the wall. The intensity of it all makes my adrenaline spike. The fear is evident in Mimi's eyes. Ava takes no prisoners and my darkness is clawing to escape towards her. I will myself to remain still.

"Do you know what I could do to you right now you pathetic piece of sh!t? Tell your master that if she wants me, then she better come to me. You ever, and I mean ever, lay a hand on Emma again, you'll need the best surgeon on the planet to fix that pretty face of yours. Do you understand?" She says through gritted teeth and I watch as she tightens her hold making Mimi turn blue. I place my hand on the small of her back and I can feel the tension and tremors in her body.

"Baby, let go. You'll kill her." I say softly coming up beside her, drawing her attention to me. Her face is hardened to the point where she could care less what she could make happen right now. No hint of worry. She's full on headstrong on making her intentions come true.

"What if I want to?" She says turning her gaze back to Mimi with a sinister glare.

"Then by all means." She turns to look at me again and it is as if she can read my mind about not going through with this. She releases her throat and Mimi begins to cough hysterically. Ava grabs her chin and forces her to look at her.

"This is your one f!cking warning. I have no qualms ending your existence. F!ck with me or Emma again. I dare you." She shoves her back against the wall making her drop to the floor holding her throat. Ava rushes over to Emma and has her lean against her while she brings her to the nurses office. She nods to me and I nod back earning a small barely even there smile from her. I pull my phone out sending out a text to Christian and Alex.

Me: Damage control needed.

Alex: Already on it.

Christian: Send over whatever you got on that b!tch. She'll definitely regret getting involved.

Me: Make it a damn good payback that will haunt her for years. I'll take care of Candice.

Alex: If she is going after Emma then Ava will be out for blood. Nothing will stop her. Better get to her before Ava does.

Christian: Then let Ava deal with that obsessed psycho. Going after Emma just through her over the edge. There is no saving Candice now. It is out of our hands.

Me: Girl is f!cked.

I click my phone off and make my way to class even though I am considerably late. Once I get there, I say f!ck it and set my destination to the nurses office. I watch as Ava stands outside, pacing back and forth.

"Is she okay?" I say catching her attention.

"Define ok." She grits out.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there faster. If I had known..." I begin to feel useless but she pulls me from my thoughts by placing a hand on my forearm.

"Sorry for my short temper. This isn't your fault. It's your f!ck toys fault. I don't need to warn you about how f!cked that girl is. Her t**t will be useless once I am done with her." I smirk at her and place my hand on hers, the flow of electricity buzzing through my veins from head to toe.

"She'll be getting what she deserves." We stand there in the moment, in our little bubble, until it is popped when Emma's mom comes rushing towards us.

"Ava! Oh my god. Is she okay?!" Ava lets me go and walks towards Ms. Townsend, pulling her into a hug. They both walk into the nurses office and I remain there waiting till they all walk out. Ms. Townsend stops to look at me and walks towards me. She pulls me into a hug that I was not anticipating. She pulls back and continues to hold me.

"Thank you Ryder." She graces me with a smile and I nod back. Emma is next to draw me in for a hug. This is something that I am not used to.

"Thanks Ryder." I gulp down the unease. Emma and her mom walk away leaving me with Ava. She eyes me with concern and I shake my head. She rolls her eyes at me.

"Come on Dark Soul. You did something good. Accept it." I nod not knowing what to say. This whole feelings thing doesn't register. My grandmother tried to inflict within us that we were worthy but we were all too far gone to actually accept her words of encouragement. She takes my hand in hers and pulls me forward.

"Come on. Revenge can wait. I have somewhere to show you." Her face no longer holds animosity with fury in her eyes. It has softened and is now at a content place. We make our way through passages that I had no idea about and we come to be by the lake. She immediately plops down, lying down using her book bag as a makeshift pillow.

"Sit down Ryder. You can use the small moment of peace." She closes her eyes and takes small breaths in and out. I sit beside her and prop my knees up and lean my arms against them. There is so much silence surrounding us that it is such a vast contrast between here and at campus. I actually welcome the silence and close my eyes and revel in the calmness. I open them back up and turn to see Ava balancing on her elbows just staring at me.

"What?" I say with a small laugh.

"I've never seen you without a scowl on your face and so carefree. It's kind of refreshing. Surely thought that f!ck off look would remain on your face for eternity." She says with such hope.

"I should say the same about you. You wear a mask over your face when nothing is going on. I can't tell what you are thinking or how you are feeling. It's kind of scary." I say and she gasps.

"Big bad wolf Ryder with a soul as dark as the night scared of little old me?" She says with humor while she shifts over to me. I stretch my legs out and grab her book bag to lean against so she could sit on top of me. She stares into my eyes while she roams her fingers up my chest, past my cheeks, through my hair. Her touch jolts every nerve ending in my body. I take a sharp intake of breath and she notices making her giggle. Before this escalates I tamper down my desire for her and grab her wrists and hold them. She looks at me curiously.

"You do such things to me Ava. You know I won't resist you ever but you yourself need to know for sure this is what you want. Sure last time we did it, it was in the heat of the moment and I f!cking loved every moment of it. I want to hear you say that you want me and that you won't stray from me. No other girl has made me feel this way or ever will for that fact. Tell me I am yours because you sure as sh!t are mine. I need to hear you say that you won't feed into any doubt that all I want is you. We all want you. You are it for us Ava." Her eyes glaze and a single tear makes its way down her cheek. I release her wrists and my thumb wipes at the lone tear.

"My heart is a fortress Ryder. You have to understand that. I don't trust easily. My everything is heavily guarded and if I allow myself to truly want this and truly want all of you, then I will become vulnerable. You three have the capability of consuming me and if need be, break me. I won't be able to handle that because I have been broken enough in my life. You can issue every promise to always be mine and never leave but one day either you, Alex, and Christian would get sick of me, claiming I am not enough, and that there would seal my fate." She lifts herself off of me and walks closer to the lake. She wraps her arms around herself and I take that as my cue to give her some space. She senses me retreating and looks over her shoulder and quickly turns back.

I make my way back to campus and trudge up to my room where Christian is sitting back and playing Xbox.

"Eventful day huh?" He says without taking his eyes off of the screen, in the middle of an intense battle with the zombies evading his perimeter.

"It was a sh!t day." I plop down on the side of him and let out a loud sigh.

"Grab the other remote. I need backup." He knows I need to get out of my head a little bit so that's his way of offering me an out. I grab the other remote and enter myself into the game, helping him s*******r every last zombie in his path.

"F!ck yeah!" He slams the remote down in victory.

"Been trying to beat this level single handed for the past hour." He rises to his feet and grabs two bottles of water. He tosses me one and I catch it mid-air. I gulp it down and watch as he stares at the screen on his phone.

"Problem?" I ask and he gives me a grim look.

"We have a problem." He pockets his phone and gathers his keys.

"Care to elaborate or are you going to keep me hanging?"

"Mimi reported her apparent assault by Ava. Office is contacting her aunt as we speak. Of course they know it was her aunt that got her in."

"F!ck. I thought Alex erased her file from the system. What the f!ck are we going to do? She can't draw attention to herself. Any small blip of a notification to this town will f!ck with her hiding." I grab my sh!t and walk out of our room following Christian as we head over to the Principal's office to call off the face to face with Ava's aunt. We make it to the office only to hear a loud spoken woman from inside.

"Where is that belligerent, stubborn, pigheaded niece of mine!" She demands and of course all heads turn.

Here goes another sh!tshow.

In 3, 2, 1.........