Page 68 of This Blood That Binds Us

Zach scoffed. “I think as far as moral dilemmas go, I’ve got bigger problems. But go ahead and add litterbug to the list.”

Anxiety buzzed in my body. We picked up the pace and went completely silent. I hated that hunting people was so easy. It was easy to hide the sound of my footsteps. Easy to move out of the way when they looked behind them. It was too easy.

Kill.Kill.Kill.

That voice stopped me in my tracks. Luke stopped up ahead and motioned for me to come. I walked in closer, trailing the back.

Blood.We need blood.

With every step, the voice got louder and louder.

It happened, like we had planned. Zach went first, taking out the lead and blocking the way in case any others tried to run. They were too drunk to run. Luke grabbed two and pushed one in Presley’s direction and the other to me.

Kill him.

It was impossible to drown out. I grabbed the guy by the collar and shoved him up against the wall. He was blackout drunk. There was no struggle, and he was easy to overpower. I just needed to drink a little blood. That was it. I brought my lips to his neck, the blood pulsing along the jugular vein so close I could almost taste it.

We need to drink him dry.You need more than that.Kill him.Kill him NOW.

I pushed him away, knocking the guy into a pile of trash. He groaned, flailing on the ground. I couldn’t do it. I was going to kill him by drinking his blood.

“Aaron, what’s wrong?”

Luke was next to me, his face already clean, the scent of blood smeared across his forearm. My eyes focused on the red, and my body shook. I was about to lose it. My control was slipping.

“I’m fine. I’m done. Can we just go?” I sprinted out of the alleyway and toward the nearest streetlight. I hunched over, feeling winded.

“What the hell happened?”

Zach was hot on my tail and was the first to reach me. If it wasn’t for his speed, I would have kept running.

All three of them waited for me to speak, watching me with worried eyes. I thought the feeling would stop, but a boiling rage was coming to the surface. Whether it was the Thing inside me screaming for attention or my own emotion, I couldn’t tell anymore.

“I’m going home. I’m done.”

I stepped toward the carnival, but Zach grabbed my jacket from behind. I thrust him off me, tearing my sleeve in the process.

“We can’t go yet. . . we still have to hunt more.”

Presley was right. Because we hadn’t killed our victims, one wasn’t enough blood to sustain us for a month. I knew the consequences of that too well. I was living it.

“No, fuck this! Fuck all of you and your ability to be okay with this!”

The words spilled out and I couldn’t stop them. This time, I wanted to hurt them. Every one of them.

“Not this again.” Zach sighed.

“Fuck you. You want to talk about me staying in line and being a good brother, when you’re the one who betrayed me?! You did this to me, and you didn’t tell me! You didn’t prepare me. I’m fucked because of you and your selfishness!”

Zach grabbed me by the collar and forced me back against the light pole. “You are such a prick. What would you know about sacrifice!? What do you know about being selfless?! Absolutely fucking nothing because all you do is sit around and bitch and moan.”

“Zach,” Luke cautioned.

“No, he needs to hear this.” He turned back to me, our faces deathly close. “I’ve sacrificed everything I’ve ever wanted for you! So you could fucking live and have a decent life. I’m not perfect, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit here and let you call me selfish.”

I pushed him off me, my mind spinning. I wanted to stop talking, but the rage poured out of me. “Well, it was all for nothing. This is your fault. You ruined our lives.”

“Eh, don’t bring me into this.” Presley had his arms crossed and looked to be inching farther and farther from our group.