Claimed by the Dark Souls of VHA

Chapter Eighteen

ALEX

Every single moment led to this point in time where our demons have been exorcised from our bodies and minds while we stand hovering over our fathers cold dead corpse. Putting three bullets into him without offering him any last words seemed to calm the darkness in me. Victor brought this ending upon himself. Do any of us feel remorse for killing the man that contributed to our creation? Not in the least. This sh!t was bound to end sooner or later, but, it thankfully ended now.

The fact that our avenging angel took the brunt of it makes me overwhelmed with emotions, all of which I find myself falling that much in love with her again. It is not because she nearly sacrificed herself to free her sister, but the fact that she faced her fears head on, pouring every bad deed he had done to the forefront of her mind an exacting the revenge she needed for closure. Everything should be alright now. We have survived this together. We can survive anything, even our futures together.

Who was I to know that that was too much of a hopeful thought to have in that moment.

Everything happens in a matter of seconds leasing to Ryder stepping on the gas, accelerating to dangerous speeds in order for us to get to the nearest hospital. We have barreled through countless red lights and probably bypassed cops lurking in the shadows, but nothing is derailing us from getting her to our destination.

"How is she?" I swivel to look at Christian holding her in his arms while keeping pressure on the gunshot wound we failed to see from the start.

"It keeps bleeding. It won't stop. She's getting whiter." He says while simultaneously checking her pulse.

"Come on Ava. Please don't do this. We need you. I need you. Come on." He whispers and I can't help but feel a c***k slice through the heart that I thought was long dead by now. I never felt anything like this before. Sure I have had my fair share of women throughout the years, having played the good guy persona to a T. I would charm them with my personality and their eyes would widen when the clothes came off and they saw I was sporting more than what their imaginations would think.

They would somehow think that there was a connection between us afterwards, but I would let them down gently with a "it's not you, it's me" bullsh!t story. There was never any ounce of emotion towards any of them. They were just there.

I blame it on parent issues. My mother had a screw lose throughout the years courtesy of the a***e she endured by the devil himself. She swallowed her pain in whatever she could get her hands on all the while he came around and unleashed his fury onto me. I never understood why. All the constant ridicule, the t*****e, the endless nights of yelling and screaming. To grow up seeing the world like that hardened me. I vowed to never be as weak as my mother or as demented as my father but here we are now.

I took it upon myself to feast off the plan that my brothers concocted of pretending to be the rich, spoiled, handsome boy and befriend every soul within the school in order to exploit everyones deepest and darkest secrets. Nobody would ever suspect me as the sinister master mind behind their betrayals when sh!t went down.

All that changed the moment she walked into that school. The moment she walked into my classroom. Ryder and Christian sought me out to bring her down, to find out her truth, and I did, but the more time I spent with her, the more I felt a pull to her. I felt as if her soul was just as damaged as mine. She was there the whole time for the taking but my mind refused to betray her, unlike my i***t brother Ryder. He knew the consequences of unleashing her truth but he didn't care until it was too late. I think he only did it to get rid of her because he was falling just has hard as I had. Then came Christians feeling towards her. We all fell down the same hatch.

Hook. Line and sinker.

Ryder breaks me out of my misery and hits the brakes making us all jerk in our seats.

"For f!ck sakes Ryder." Christian grits out while I jump out and open the back door for him, helping to guide him out with her limp body dangling from his arms. We rush towards the entrance, me being the first one in demanding assistance immediately.

"Bed, now!" One of the orderlies yells and a nurse comes storming through with a bed, allowing Christian to place her down carefully. He is pushed to the side while nurses gather around assessing her, followed by a doctor. I pull Christian back and his body tenses. Ryder just stares.

"What happened?" One of the nurses asks.

"Bystander shooting caught in the crossfire. Bullet hit her stomach. We applied pressure immediately driving her here." I say without hesitation and he nods.

"Wheel her into surgery! No time to waste!" He shouts and they scurry off with her. We know all too well that once they go behind those doors, we are not allowed to follow. We stand watching until they can no longer be seen. I turn to walk towards the waiting room. Ryder follows but he doesn't sit. He paces back and forth while I watch Christian stare at his blood covered hands and then to his blood soaked shirt.

"Go get cleaned up Christian." His gaze locks on mine and I grimace. He is holding back a sh!t ton right now. Between f!cking up with Marissa, finding Ava missing, then finding her fighting off our father, he is about two seconds away from complete detonation. Coming back from this moment knowing he could have had more time with her instead of phasing her out this past month is not going to be easy, but we will be there for him, just like we always have been.

"Come on Christian. We have sh!t to do. Alex will be here." Christian quietly rises and turns to me, his eyes pleading with me to contact him if anything happens. I give a nod and he walks out with Ryder by his side. I lean my elbows against my knees and cradle my head with my hands, bouncing my legs up and down for what seems like hours before a hysterical voice is heard coming through the doors.

"Ava, Ava Sinclair. I need to know where she is." Ms. Townsend pleads with the nurse who can clearly care less about her freak out. She continues to pop her gum, holding one finger up while on the phone with whoever. I march on over and yank the phone from her hand and slam in onto the receiver.

"Did you or did you not hear the request from this woman." I say with distain. My patience is at an all time high right now so the smallest thing will piss me off immensely. There is a raging beast ready to claw its way out and dish out chaos. My eyes are wild I presume when the nurse begins to shake, fear in her eyes.

"What name did you s...say ag..again, mam?" She tries to say.

"Ava Sinclair." The nurse types the name in the system and then immediately locks eyes on Ms. Townsend probably ready to give the whole "unless you are related to the patient we can not disclose any information" bullsh!t. I glare daggers at her, ready to tear her a new one when another voice booms throughout the area.

"You better very well tell her every damn thing she wants to know about my niece before I have you forcefully removed from your seat." Ava's aunt says with such force. I step to the side allowing her room to take charge of the situation.

"Ms. Sinclair, yes, she is in surgery as we speak." The nurse says and the two women turn to eye me as if I am their next target. Ms. Sinclair grabs a hold of my arm and ushers me back towards the waiting room with Harold right by her side.

"What in the hell happened? I told you where she was! You were supposed to handle matters and yet here we are in a damn hospital with my niece in surgery!" She yells but in a whisper tone.

"When we had gotten there, Emma was running towards the car parked in front and we heard a gunshot. We raced up the stairs to find Ava stabbing him repeatedly until we forced her off of him and ended things ourselves. It never occurred to us that she was wounded." I say and then turn to look at Ava's biological mother, standing with tears pouring down her face.

"Is Emma ok?" I ask having it dawn on me now that Ava was there for a reason.

"I'm right here." Emma says behind me. She stands next to her mother, pulling her into a hug. She weeps into her daughters shoulder, uncontrollable tears falling at a rapid rate.

"She'll be ok mom. She has to be. She's strong. A warrior." She chokes out, barely believing her words of comfort. Even her aunt looks wary of the situation.

"Take Harold and go back there and help your brothers to clean up. I don't want any news of this. Thank god that damn building is vacant and only harbors the d**g addicts looking for their next hit." Harold begins to walk away expecting me to follow but I remain hesitant.

"Go." She says as a command and I nod. We pull up to the building and head up to the apartment. Ryder and Christian have basically cleaned up everything and look at me in shock.

"What the f!ck are you doing here?!" Christian barks making Harold come to my defense.

"On order from Ms. Sinclair to help finish cleaning up." He states in a matter of fact tone. Christian doesn't say another word but mumbles to himself. Ryder remains silent, assessing everything once again until we all leave.

"Any news?" Ryder asks after hopping into the car.

"None." I say and we all ride back to campus in silence, needing to shed out of these clothes and burn them immediately.

****************************************************

RYDER

It's been five days. Five days of waiting on pins and needles for either the best news to grace our ears, or the worst. We don't even think about the possible news of her life ending. We can't fathom it. This world would become duller without her in it. She didn't survive this whole time to only pass away now. I constantly rid the negative thoughts from my head.

We have been forced to return to school like nothing has happened to warrant our attention at the hospital. It is like her essence is everywhere. Even her damn scent lingers around our room and it drives me crazy.

The only ones that have been gone are Emma and her mother. They basically live at the hospital, waiting. Ava's aunt has actually been more around now than probably ever before from the way Ava has talked about her past. In my opinion, her aunt has had her whole existence to be there for her and now she makes her grand entrance having everyone believe that they are close? I don't buy this sh!t for a second but whatever.

I am currently sitting at my desk, finishing homework that I really did not want to complete when a knock can be heard on our door. I watch as Christian bolts for the door and a woman's voice can be heard.

"Is there any news?" Christian instantly asks as I make my way out of the room to see Ms. Townsend standing by the door. Her face holds no vibrancy that it used to. It is like she is slipping away day by day. I wonder to myself if she even eats anymore. She makes her way to the couch and sits down, eyeing the both of us with uncertainty.

"I needed to step away from that hospital. If only for a moment. Ava's aunt is there to hold down the fort. I was going to go straight home, but, for some reason, found my way to you two." She says in monotone.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I kindly offer but she declines almost immediately.

"I...I honestly need to tell you two something. Something that will change things drastically." Christian and I immediately tense with her words.

"What might that be Ms. Townsend?" Christian says without hesitation.

"I'm taking Ava and Emma away from here." She blurts out leaving me grasping for air, feeling my lungs constrict.

"In all due respect but you have no say on whether Ava goes with you anywhere. I can understand Emma, but not Ava." Christian notes with venom laced in every word.

"She's my biological daughter and still only seventeen with no family besides her aunt but let's not beat around the bush here. That woman hasn't given two sh!ts about my daughter until sh!t hit the fan. I don't know what her angle is but she is either playing me and Ava for fools or, incredibly guilty for not doing anything sooner. Either way, Ava is coming with me." She moves to stand and sorrow can be seen in her eyes.

"Look, I know you all have gotten close to her.." She begins but Christian cuts her off.

"You don't know the half of it. She is more than just any girl to us. We each have feelings for her. We would each do anything and everything for her. Taking her away from us is not and should not be an option." He grits out. I move to stand beside him, showing that we are a united front on this situation.

"If that was your little girl lying in a coma, battling for her life, and you could somehow, someway take her away from a lifetime of only knowing misery and pain, you mean to tell me you wouldn't do the same thing? I have the chance to right a wrong for my girl and I know it comes at a cost of hurting the ones she has grown to care for, but I need to do this for her. You need to let me do this for her. Let her become accustomed to some happiness and accepting that she now has a family to care for her." She says and it sounds like the ideal move for Ava. She deserves happiness. She deserves every possible good thing to happen in her life. Christian's body visibly tenses and he begins shaking but all I can do is place my hand on his shoulder. He looks to me and sees the acceptance on my face of the situation. His face says it all.

This will wreck him.

"I'll call with any updates." She walks towards the door and opens it but before she leaves, she turns back around to say one final thing.

"If its any consolation, you guys did open her eyes on what is would feel like to have love in her life, and for that, I will be forever grateful. Don't think for one second I do not see the love you guys have for her. Allow her time to process everything and maybe fate will bring you all back together again." She leaves us with that statement and I watch as Christian storms past me, straight into his room with a slam of his door.

Alex comes by later that evening and I fill him in on everything that had happened.

"And you f!cking agree with this sh!t? Are you for real right now?" He eyes me with such contempt but who am I to keep a mother from finally getting to know her daughter?

"You think I want her taken away from us? She has a f!cking chance at a happy life with a family. An actual blood family." I say while Alex scoffs.

"Bullsh!t. Family is more than just blood. It is what we all have with her. It is about all of our souls crashing into each other and realizing we were supposed to be as one. We are her family. We took her in and promised to keep her safe. This sh!t can't be happening. Where the f!ck is Christian? I am sure he isn't supporting this option." I sigh and point towards his room.

"He's locked himself in ever since her mother left." He shakes his head and moves forward to his room, pounding on the door unrelenting.

"Get the f!ck out here Christian!" Alex continues to pound but nothing. Unbothered about what he is about to do, he kicks the door in, allowing us to see an empty room.

"What the f!ck?" We both say in unison. We are about to question where the f!ck he could have escaped to until my phone rings with his name sprawled across the screen.

Christian

I immediately answer and all he says is two words that have my heart jumping out of my chest.

"She's awake."