Chapter 17 - Even Worse

"What happened?" Evaline asked when she saw me crying.
"Ask Joshua," I said.
"Joshua!" Patrick called. Joshua came down the stairs and said, "Yeah?"
"What happened to Rayne?" Joshua looked down at me and then said, "I'll explain. Come into the kitchen." Patrick followed Joshua and Evaline continued to try and stop my tears. I tried to block out Patrick's and Joshua's conversation but couldn't. I heard the worst bits of it. "She's leaving." "Hurting Daren." "Aeryk wants her to." They both stopped talking for a moment. Then I heard Patrick say, "Okay." They both walked out and towards me.
"Rayne?" I looked up to see Patrick kneeling down to my level. "Why are you leaving?" I looked up at Joshua.
"Because Aeryk wants me to," I replied weakly. Patrick sighed and said, "Sweetie, Aeryk doesn't get a say in vampire rules. You can't stay away from a relative for that long. Ben and Tanya tried. They got in a huge fight and Tanya tried to leave. I unfortunately the one who took care of Ben. He had starved himself. He would barely talk. He was so...weak. Do you want that to happen to Daren? Especially with his past?" I shook my head no.
"So you're not going?"
"What about Aeryk?"
"He has to understand vampire law. We'll try to explain to him. He might be angry at first but-" He was cut off by a booming bark from upstairs.
"Oh my, what was that?" Evaline asked.
"Aeryk," I whispered to myself. I got up and ran to the stairs. Aeryk and Daren flew out of the hallway and landed with a loud thud. Aeryk was on the ground and Daren was on top of him trying to strangle him.
"YOU STUPID DOG! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! WE CAN'T LEAVE EACH OTHER!" Daren screamed. Aeryk pushed himself up but Daren held on so they just tumbled down the stairs. I tried to get out of the way but my hand ended up being crushed by Aeryk. I shouted in pain and cradled my hand. Aeryk tried to get Daren off of him again and they came towards me. They were about to trample my whole body but Joshua lifted me out of the way. He set me down on the couch and turned back to Aeryk and Daren fighting. I looked at Patrick and Evaline. Evaline had a horrified look in her eyes. Patrick's face was serious and a little scared.
"Daren! Stop it!" Joshua yelled. They just ignored him. Joshua growled and jumped into the fight himself. The twins, Mary, and Riley rushed down then. The twins started chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"What's goin on?!" Mary yelled over the boys' shouts.
"We'll explain later!" Patrick yelled back. He got up then and went into the fight. For a moment, it was all a blur of color. The next thing I saw was Patrick holding back Daren and Joshua trying to calm down Aeryk.
"I NEED TO TEACH HIM A LESSON!" Daren screamed. He looked absolutely terrifying.
"Daren! Daren!" Patrick yelled. He was having trouble holding him back. "Daren, we'll settle this later!" Daren stopped trying to break free from him. He still looked murderous. He was breathing heavily. He swallowed. He blinked a couple of times and looked around. Joshua had been able to calm Aeryk down and he was in human form again. He was sitting on the floor looking at Daren with shock. Daren looked down at him and stared for a few moments. Patrick let go of him and said coutiously, "Daren, are you in control?" Daren's expression turned to horrified. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He stepped back a step.
"Daren?" Riley pouted. He looked at me and whispered, "I'm sorry." Then he sprinted out the door and into the street. We heard tires screech and people shouting at him to get out of the road.
"What's wrong with Daren?" Riley said, she was scared out of reality.
"I'll explain later. C'mon, sweetie," Mary said and took Riley's hand. They went bakc up the stairs. Riley gave me one last sympathetic look then disappeared upstairs.
"That was intense!" Evan said.
"Oh yeah!" Derek agreed and gave him a high five.
"Boys, this isn't funny," Evaline said.
"That's right. We need to find Daren. Joshua, you, Evan, and Derek go look for him."
"Right. Come on, you two," Joshua said and they left in the direction Daren had gone.
"Rayne, we should get your hand fixed up. Evaline?" Patrick said.
"Yes, come, sweetie. We need to get you to the hospital," Evaline said and started to take me to where they kept the cars.
"I'm coming with you," Aeryk said.
"No, you're staying here, young man. You've done enough for one day," Patrick stated. Aeryk looked at me with a pleading look and I said to him, "I'll be fine. Don't worry." He looked down for a second then looked back up and nodded. Evaline and I got in the Blakes' new Camaro and left for the hospital.



We returned home, I had a cast on my hand. I had broken my wrist. It didn't hurt at all now. We walked in the front door and saw that the house had been cleaned up.
"We're back!" Evaline called. Patrick, Mary, Riley, and Aeryk rushed out of the kitchen.
"Oh, good," Patrick said and gave Evaline a kiss on the cheek.
"Have the boys found Daren yet?"
"No, they just called though."
"Are you okay, Rayne?" Mary asked. Her white blond hair was wet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. Aeryk stepped forward and Mary got Riley well out of the way when he did. He walked so that he was right in front of me.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked. I could tell he was still a little shaken.
"Not really," I said, "See? Just this, nothing big." He looked at my cast and then closed his eyes shut.
"Why was Daren so mad?" I sighed and said, "Becau-" I was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Patrick shoved his way over to it and answered it. Ben was standing on the front porch.
"Hey, Ben," Patrick said.
"Patrick, I have horrible news," Ben said. Patrick's face turned serious. "What is it?" Ben looked past Patrick to Aeryk and me. Patrick looked back at us and said, "Come in and tell us." Ben walked in and we all sat down in the living room.
"What's going on?" Patrick asked.
"There has been reports from members visiting America. They've spotted Alexander and..."
"And who?" Evaline asked.
"And Jon Adams." Evaline gasped. "It gets worse. All of the members that have gone Red are with them, too. They're joining together to try and be able to get Rayne is what we have assumed."
"When was this reported?" Patrick asked.
"Just an hour ago," Ben replied, "Tanya's over there trying to get more information right now." Joshua and the twins walked in the door then.
"Hey, Ben," Derek said.
"No sign of Daren," Joshua said and went into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Evan asked.
"Someone has spotted Alexander, Jon Adams, and a lot of Reds together," Patrick answered.
"Oh, well, that doesn't sound good," Evan said. Joshua rushed in.
"Did I just hear you say what I think you just said?" he asked. Patrick nodded. We heard a car pull into the driveway then. After a moment or two, Tanya walked in and said, "Ben, you and Patrick need to get to Head Quarters now."
"Just a minute, Tanya," Ben said. She looked at me and smiled.
"Rayne, it's been such a long time." She walked over and gave me a hug. "Your eyes have gotten so blue." I smiled up at her. Over everything that was going on, I was happy to see her again. She was tall, pale for an African woman, long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, indigo eyes. Still the same. She looked over at Aeryk who was sitting next to me with a strange look in her eye. She looked back at me and said, "I'm sorry about Daren." Aeryk put his arm around me. He was offended by the comment. I was, too. She gave Aeryk another look and spoke to Ben.
"Ben, we need to get going," she said.
"Okay, fine. Lets go, Patrick," Ben said and they both got up. They all left and it was Aeryk, Evaline, and me in the living room still.

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