REMINDER:

I'm not sure from the last chapter but I want to remind you guys that in my story, when one is changed into a vampire, the human has to drink the blood of the vampire and then has to die. 

JUST REMINDING :)

Florence + The Machine. Suits the chap and I love it 

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The pain... 

I hadn't imagined such excruciating pain. 

When Michael had bitten me it was intimate. It made me feel like I was connected to him. 

But this? 

No, this made me feel like hot searing fire was soaring through my veins. Being sucked out through my veins more like. The sounds escaping throat, they didn't sound like me but they were.

The screams I was unknowing unleashing sounded, for lack of a better metaphor, like I'd just opened the closet in a horror movie.

I was pulling, scratching, kicking to get away but she just kept going.

She kept drinking. And when she finally did stop, the pain never left. She let me fall to the ground probably like all the rest of her victims. My heart was working overtime to pump whatever was left around my body. My breaths coming out slow and shallow. 

"Oh, be quiet you two," I heard from above. "She'll be fine in a minute."

I glanced up and saw her crouched beside me. Her eyes a pitch black, her teeth razor sharp. And my blood at the corner of her mouth. 

She lifted her wrist to her mouth for a split second...

Before placing it over mine.

Now, that had Michael shouting and thrashing like mad.

I couldn't fight against it, I was too weak. I was growing less and less weaker as I had no choice but to swallow her blood however. I hadn't had this much before. She pulled it away and grabbed my forearm to help me up. 

"See? She's fine! Well, for now. Because if she dies she becomes mine. What a twist, hmm? So, Evie, can I call you Evie? Oh, what does it matter?" She lifted my slack head to face them. Michael was staring at me like I'd grown a new head. He was scared which made me even more scared. Tate's or should I say Nate's eyes had darkened beyond belief as he stared at Florence. 

Just as she had opened her mouth to speak again, Nate had used his inhuman speed to grab the fire poker and stabbed it straight through Stan's shoulder. I gasped but I don't think anyone could tell. I was breathing heavily as it was. But still, I was surprised he'd done it. Sure, on TV you see movies where people stab others with a knife but hell it wasn't real. But this? Seeing it done so effortlessly and swiftly had me cringing and shaking. Technically, it wasn't the only reason I was shaking. The shock of the bite had the adrenaline pumping through my body on overtime.

Michael was shaking his head as Ronald reprimanded Nate with ease. Stan was on the floor scrambling to pull the poker out of his shoulder without causing too much of a mess.

"Nathaniel," Florence chuckled. "You've ruined my rug. That hot temper of yours will get you in trouble. That's why I'd changed my choice. Evie, my dear," Her arm was around my waist holding me up whilst her head rested on my shoulder. "I have a new proposition. It won't be your choice anymore, it'll be theirs. If they want you to live as a human, one of them must die. But they must decide which one. Not you. If neither of them die, well, you do."

"You're crazy." I mumbled shakily.

"Oh, I know. Boys, put them in the basement for at least half an hour. Give them some time to think and give Evangeline time to rejuvenate."

Ron shoved Nate downstairs and Michael didn't leave without a growl and a bit of a fight.

"I hope they choose carefully." She whispered in my ear as they left. "Because one way or another, you're a distraction to both of them. And you will die and you will be mine. By the way, you taste absolutely delicious. At least now I can understand why Michael kept you."

I didn't even try to reply as she basically carried me downstairs.

She placed me on the ground against the wall with a wink and walked out.

And then Michael was up and next to me within seconds of the door closing. He gathered me onto his lap and cradled me to his chest. I didn't cry, although the throbbing pain in my neck was still there. I just sat there and let him stroke, touch and soothe me. He was asking me if I was okay, moving my hair from my neck to look at my wound. He'd even surprised me by ripping off a piece of his t-shirt to wipe the blood off my neck. I've never felt so tired. So, weak. Sure, her blood was healing me quicker than when Michael's did probably because of the amount I'd swallowed but still, I was weak.

But I needed to speak to both of them. 

I sat there unmoving or even able to move for fifteen, twenty minutes maybe before I glanced across the room at Nate sitting against the wall with his eyes closed. His lips were moving and from what I could see he was counting to ten.

But then I turned back to Michael. "I'm so sorry." I croaked before clearing my throat.

He shook his head but he didn't reply. I couldn't choose. Think about it, the decision to have someone killed? To choose who you'd prefer to live? Yes, I love Michael unbelievably so and I would give my life for him. But to choose for someone to live and die is a horrible thing to do. No matter whom the people are.

"Nate," I lifted my head. 

He didn't open his eyes but he'd stopped moving his lips.

"You didn't know."

"No, I didn't." He replied. "And Michael, to set the record straight the only reason I stayed with her is because I didn't know you were alive."

"I couldn't care less." Michael growled. "All I care about is getting Evie out of this alive. She won't be Florence's."

"I figured you'd say that." Nate surprised me by chuckling. "I mean, you've been controlling the shots ever since we were younger why not now?"

"Listen-"

"No, I'd rather not. I'd rather embrace my death like the man I am." Nate flashed him a thumbs up and I blinked at him. I haven't seen this side of him since we first met.

"You've grown into an even bigger asshole than I thought. I don't understand why Evie would even consider being friends with you."

They were talking about me as if I weren't here. As if I weren't sitting on Michael's lap. As if I was that delusional right now that their words were just rolling into one. They were wasting time because we needed a plan and fast.

"Maybe she finds something in me that isn't in you. Like a damn backbone for one. You were standing up there like Florence owns everything." 

I ignored them as I started to think. I didn't have my phone on me; I left it on the table in the study. 

"Well, if you haven't bloody noticed, Nathaniel, but she does own us. Being reckless like you were upstairs will get us nowhere."

I slid Michael's phone out of his pocket and checked the signal. None. Not even a bar.

"We need a strategy, not a stake to our hearts."

Nate glanced at me and raised a brow. Oh, so he does know I'm here. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head slowly, flinching as I did so.

"Ignore me?" Michael scoffed. "Typical."

"What's your problem, brother? Am I not allowed to ask her if she's okay?"

"I'm not your brother." He growled, his hands tightening around me. "Not anymore."

Ouch. Both from the comment and by the spur of pain the sudden surged up and down my neck. Michael skimmed his thumb back and forth across my cheek. "The pain will go in a few minutes."

"That's all we've got left to remind you." Nate commented from the side. "So, just to clarify: I'm willing to give myself to her."

"What?" I swung my head toward him with a grunt. "You're going to..."

He smiled genuinely at me for the first time. "I'm willing to. You can be with Michael then. It's better if you both live together than apart, don't you think?"

"You can't just give up now. I'll turn, that way no one has to die-"

"No." Michael practically barked. "You're not going to be hers, Evie."

Nate stood up and started walking around the basement, looking through a few boxes and pulling out four stakes. One I remember we used when he taught me to use it. "Florence is older and stronger," He whispered. "So killing her would be hard but possible. She doesn't know I have these. I made them when we were practising." He said to me. "Michael knows how to use this so I'm sure he'll shield you from the young, blood thirsty bastards. Here," He handed two to Michael and he snatched them right out of his hands.

Something flickered in my mind. Shield...

 "Nate, are you still holding up that barrier that keeps our witches from seeing us?"

"I never take it down."

"Do it." I patted Michael's hands to help me up and he started to stand. I was slowly beginning to get my strength back. "If Ana can see us, John, Pam and Nicholas will be here within... Minutes. How far is this cabin from Burnaby?"

"For us, it's a ten minute run. I've never been so vulnerable."

Michael's arm wrapped around my waist to support me. "Nate if you do this then it gives them twenty minutes to get up here. If you do this you won't have to die. Please." I pleaded. 

Nate looked between Michael and me for a second before his shoulders slumped and he sighed. "It's done."

"Ana, if you see us come fast." I mumbled just before the door upstairs opened. We needed to stall for time. Fifteen minutes at least. How do we do it...?

Michael lifted my hoodie from behind and slid the sharp stake in the waistband of my jeans.

"Time's up!" She sung. "Ready to-"

"Wait," I groaned as I let go of Michael to step forward. "I want to speak to you. Alone."

Michael sighed, frustrated. "Are you trying to give me an aneurism?"

"Hmm... The heroine requires an audience. Come now, let's take a walk outside where we won't be heard." 

She took hold of my elbow to support me and smirked at Michael. "Excuse us a moment."

"Evie-"

"Sh, now Michael." Florence chuckled. She led me up the steps and out the door. I didn't have a clue what time it was but it was pitch black outside. There were clouds above, covering the moon so there was absolutely no light. "What is it you wish to discuss?"

"You." I said without thinking. "Why you want Michael, why you came here, why you made Nate do all of this."

"Oh, Evie." She sighed out a breath and it lingered in the air as we walked. "Well, let's start with why I came here. Before Michael left me, we'd travel. And after he abounded me, I started to see just how lonely I was. You see, when a vampire changes a human, it deepens the relationship; they become a son or daughter or if it were yours and Michael's case, or someone in a relationship, they become each others. It's a thing us vampires can't shake unless they release them. I miss Michael. Which brings me to why I want Michael back."

"You have Ronald why would you want Michael?"

"Oh, Ronald my love. Yes, I love him and will remain to for as long as I exist. But you see, I loved Michael first."

My heart just about leapt into my throat. 

"Before you go ahead and have a heart attack, he never returned that love. He resented me,"

I could understand why, the woman was mad.

"Michael is a loyal man. And he's stubborn just like Nathaniel. It made me wonder how the two could have been friends they are nothing alike apart for their stubbornness. Is that why you find them both attractive?"

I shook my head briskly when she squeezed my arm in a weird sense of reassurance. "I don't find Nate attractive."

She raised a brow like any normal female would. "I hope you're joking. Or slightly blind maybe. Well, I suppose you have to be. Nate is different to Michael. From the years I'd been with them I could truly see that. But you, it's a mystery. You seem to be an odd compromise between the two. It's like you stand in between. I suppose I should move on to Nathaniel's story. After the boy changed he had nowhere to go and no one to go to. He's smart and sneaky; he knew what he was doing. My comment at the table about men from the navy was mostly to get a rise from you. Now Nate, he didn't know what I was planning, hasn't for years now. You're probably aware of the attacks that happen around the same time every year?"

I nodded.

"Well, Nathaniel, Ronald and I used to visit Burnaby every year for the past six years. I'd kept an eye on Michael, although Nate wasn't aware of it. I was trying to figure out ways to approach him. And then you came along and my plans changed. I had to get Nate involved. I had to change the ways we fed. Nate was getting suspicious as to why we'd prolonged our stay here so I asked him to follow you. It wasn't until I made you crash that night at Michael's house that Nate realised it was Michael we were here for. Of course, I apologise for that. I was angry and so was Nate. So after that I commanded Nate to watch you. Even before this whole 'you and Michael' thing I'd grated his last nerve. This whole thing just pushed him further."

I was surprised she was telling me everything but I was damn well grateful I was getting an explanation to half of the things that have happened in the past four months.

"Nate has been drinking human blood since I turned him. Of course, I'm aware he tried to change his ways once but I found it stupid. You've seen the bite mark on his shoulder?"

My nose flared.

She only smiled. "That's a yes. Well, there's no need for me to explain it, now is there?" Florence sighed. "Now he's drinking that vile blood again. I know you convinced him to but I'm over it."

The moon had come out now. Middle of the sky. Probably around midnight.

"You'd be lovely to have, Evie. You seem like the female companionship I'd been deprived of."

How long had it been? I'm running out of things to say...  

We stared ahead, nothing but the various sounds of wildlife and bugs. I was surprised by how long it felt before she spoke again. It felt like an eternity.

"Have you thought about turning?"

"Not by your hand." I mumbled.

"It would be the same either way, my dear."

I shook my head. "I'd be Michael's."

"He'd release you within minutes. He hasn't been a maker before it's like taking the responsibility of a parent for the first few years. I'd take care of you."

"I don't want to be yours." I finally snapped as a gust of wind whipped my hair around my shoulders. My legs were starting to shake; I was still slightly lightheaded and my neck was still burning like it'd been exposed to an open flame. 

"Well, apparently you have no choice." She laughed slightly manically. "We've strayed quite far from the cabin. Let's get back."

"How long have we been gone?" I couldn't help but ask. 

She shrugged as she squeezed my elbow to nudge me forward forcefully. "Around twenty minutes. I hope those men have made a decision."

My heart immediately sank. Twenty minutes and nothing. Maybe they couldn't find us. So that was it. 

"Don't worry too much. Once I turn you, all you have to do is turn your emotions off. Then you won't feel a thing."

I wouldn't ever turn them off. I'd live with it. Feel it everyday just to remind myself. It'd take another ten minutes to get back. Ten minutes was enough to at least try and accept the fact my friend was going to die and I wouldn't be human anymore...

As we walked, or should I say dragged me, back to the house I noticed her start to slow. The cabin came into view, there were no lights on anymore and the atmosphere around it seemed oddly still. 

"Why are the lights off...?" I heard her mutter to herself. Even the fire that was in the living room was out. To a passerby, the cabin looked deserted. But why...

I jumped when there was a blood curdling scream of pain and a smash. 

Florence shouted in what sounded like pain as well and she left me there to run inside. 

What if it was Michael? Or Nate even? 

I started to walk toward the cabin but an arm shot out, wrapped around my waist and started dragging me away.

Of course, my first instinct was to kick, scream and run but the voice beside my ear told me otherwise. "Evie, dammit stop."

I turned around in his arm and practically threw myself at him. "Thank God," I kissed his cheek. "I'm so happy you're here."

John laughed and hugged me back. "This is the happiest I've ever seen you greet me. But right now, I need you to-" He paused. "Oh, Evie..." He dropped me onto my feet and looked at my neck. "She bit you."

"I'm fine, it's fine. She gave me her blood."

His eyes darkened. "We'll talk about that later. Come on," He took my hand. "Hide over here."

"Of course." I mumbled.

"Rather be safe than sorry. With that vampire's blood in your system we can't be too careful." He simply replied.

He led me to a thick tree stump, where Katherine greeted me with a wide hug, and sat me behind it just as the door to the cabin crashed open. More shouts, scurrying feet, the sound of whooshing wind and then silence.

I leaned around the stump.

And then Florence's screams were all I could hear. "How dare you!"

Pam, Nicholas and John were all lined up in front of the cabin. Where was Nate? 

"This was your own fault Florence," Michael said as he stepped out of the house. John's hand was on Michael's arm, holding him back. "Why would you come back, I'm happy."

"But I wasn't!" She yelled as she helped Jonah up. "You-"

"Give it a rest." Someone said. Everyone turned in time to watch Nate stroll out of the cabin. "It's over, Florence."

She was shaking her head briskly. "No, it's not over until I say so."

Nate circled around Pam and Nick to face her. "Your plan from the beginning wasn't going to work. Michael would have never joined you, not when he has Evie. You knew that, I told you that last month and yet you ignored me."

Ronald looked between Florence and Nate and sighed. Where was Stan? "Florence-"

"No!" She screamed at him. "It's not over."

Ronald clenched his jaw. "I do what you do."

"Evie, we have to go." Katherine whispered in my ear. "I took the car. It took like half hour for me to get here."

"Not yet," I mumbled not moving my eyes away form the scene.

She grabbed my jaw for me to face her and I flinched. "Look at me. They are going to fight like animals on drugs and we need to get out of here before it becomes a blood bath."

My eyes widened. "Can you see-?"

A shout, a scream and a curse was all I heard. Katherine let go of my jaw and I turned in time to watch Stan collide into Nate from behind. I went to stand up but Kate held onto my hips and yanked me down. 

It was frenzied from there. Michael and Pam on Florence and Ronald; Nick and John on Jonah.

I pulled out the stake from my jeans and handed it to Kate. She shook her head. "I have strict instructions to keep you from going out there, Evie."

"Can't you do anything?" I pleaded.

"I can do a lot but not with that."

"Then do something." I almost screeched. "Anything."

She shrugged and I scowled at her angrily.

I watched the fast movements. The fast swings, kicks, ducks and the amount of strategy they all surprisingly had. Nate ducked from a lazy swing and football tackled Stan right through the cabin wall like it was paper. Nate straddled him from what I could see in the shadows of the cabin, pulled something out from behind him and-

"Stan!" Jonah yelled.

Nate had stabbed the stake right into his heart. I couldn't see what happened, but the body underneath Nate went slack and the hand that was visible turned to dull grey.

Pam turned her back for no more than five seconds before Ronald had her pressed to a tree.

Katherine was up within seconds walking toward the scene like nothing was happening. Both Nicholas and John glanced at Pam and tried going to her but Jonah grabbed them by the backs of their shirts and pulled them down to the ground.

I watched Katherine move toward Pam and Ronald. Her lips were moving but barely. A slight breeze licked the floor beneath her feet and suddenly Ronald dropped to the ground in a screaming heap; his hands gripping his head like someone was blowing a whistle right beside his ear.

Pam shouted something to Michael, he and Pamela swapped places within a blink and he drove a stake right through his chest. Ronald's face went blank before his skin turned a deathly grey and the black veins that usually came up before they fed outlined his whole face.

"NO!!" Florence screeched echoing off the trees. 

The next thing happened so fast I didn't even have time to comprehend how it even happened. Nate caught Pam before she dropped to the floor, Katherine was on her back trying to get up, Nicholas and John were on the ground on top of one and other and I was pinned up against a tree, my feet dangling and the air struggling to move in and out of my lungs. 

I clawed at Florence's hand gripping my neck but she barely noticed. She looked manic. Her eyes were dark, tears were rolling down her cheek, her lips were curled back over her sharp teeth in a menacing snarl that had me flinching and grimacing. 

Her ragged breathing touched my cheeks and I shuddered in disgust.

"Ronald is dead." She glanced to the side and a loud, sob escaped her lips. "You'll be mine now." She growled. "If I can't have Michael, I'll have you."

She snatched the stake out of my hand.

"Florence!!" I heard Michael yell but it was too late.

The stake wasn't thick in width, it wasn't too long either. The sharp side was more like a large knife and even when it was in the back of my jeans, it still poked into my back. 

A cold feeling swept through me. Shock and pain were my first feelings. White hot fire coursed through my veins, even toward the large wound that now resided just above my hip bone.

Of course my vision blurred, of course my breathing turned erratic and my entire body felt like jelly especially when she dropped me onto my back.

I just about heard what she said: "You'll be mine now." She repeated. "Jonah, lets go now! I'll be back for her." 

A whoosh of air. My hand went to the gaping wound and I touched it. I looked at my hand and barely stifled the cry of pain at the sight of my own blood. There was still shock, I couldn't feel all of the pain just yet, but the realisation that I could die hit me hard. The realisation I would become a vampire hit me harder. And the worst part is that I wouldn't be Michael's...

Voices suddenly surrounded me. I couldn't distinguish one from the other at first, but it wasn't hard.

"No..."

"Michael-"

"No. I won't let it happen."

"You need to decide fast," Kate said quickly. "You can let her become a vampire. I can't see her future it's blurry and I don't know why."

I opened my heavy lids and looked at the circle of people around me.

Nate and Michael were who caught my eye.

Someone was gripping my hand tightly but I didn't know who. 

"Hurry," Nate said painfully. "Her heart is becoming weaker. Give her your blood or she'll start the transition. Please." Nate looked down at me and the pain in my heart grew stronger.

Michael was shaking his head briskly. "I can't risk her becoming a vampire, not yet. If she dies-"

"Michael!" Katherine shouted. "Stop panicking! You need to give her your blood or she will be a vampire and she sure as hell won't be yours, will she? She'll be hers!! Do it now!"

"What if she turns?" Another male voice said and I assumed it was John. "If she has both Michael and Florence's blood in her system and she does die, who's will she be?"

Silence. 

"I don't know." Kate sighed. 

"Stop it, and give it to her!" Nate yelled. "Or I will!"

I grunted as my entire body started burning. What was this feeling? 

I felt the touch of lips to my forehead and heard him whisper the words, "I love you," Before a wrist covered my mouth and that sweet liquid poured straight down my throat. Michael's blood. I remembered the taste.

I started to see spots. It was odd because I didn't even feel my body starting relax. It was so sudden, so normal. Although the blood was still pouring into my mouth, I barely noticed.

The calm feeling that over took my body had my eyes closing involuntarily. The hand holding mine squeezed but my finger tips were numb. That dull burning inside of me suddenly stopped and I blinked. The voices beside my ears all drowned out as if I were underwater...

Is this what it felt like?

To die that is. 

To get that sudden serene feeling? 

To feel... nothing?

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