Chapter 68

I didn’t notice it at first, but both Mihai and Luthor are also fighting for their lives, and yet, they take time away from their own safety to coach me. They want me to survive, just as i want them to survive. I hope we do. But as of right now, i don’t have much hope, for any of us.
Sean is laughing like this is all a game to him, and i hate it, i hate the man that he has become. Or was he always like this? I'm not quite sure.
I'd like to believe he wasn’t, but all the evidence is pointing towards the opposite. He's cruel. I'm starting to think that he is the real monster here, not me.
I watch as three more hunters run into the restaurant and all i can do is watch, and hope that they don’t get into the safe room where the children are. As i watch them run inside i notice Nathanial by the broken window, watching me as though he can’t even recognise the person i have become.
Maybe he is right, maybe i have changed, but i can’t bring myself to believe that is a bad thing, it would be much worse if i turned out to be anything like him. I used to hate being different from my family, but now i am glad for it.
I should have never looked up to them to begin with, they are murderers. Plain and simple.
And Sean, he’s the worst one. He kills for the fun of it. He does it because he fucking likes it.
But that is ok, because i am going to very much like stabbing my blade through his throat, and i cannot think of anyone more deserving.
“Don’t just stand there and stare Mae.” Sean says too calmly, “Fight me.”
He wants me to fight him, because he thinks that i cannot bring myself to hurt him, and at first, i couldn’t. But not anymore. I know what i need to do.
I rush forward, dodging the window debris that he throws at me, trying to slow me down, but there is always something he can never do, and that is keep up with me. I have always been faster. Even since childhood.
And he fucking hates it. He hates that i can do something that he can’t.
I dodge the last piece of glass he throws at my head, ducking down low to the ground before i throw myself at him, using my weight to knock him off balance. Both of us crumbling into the ground.
I land on top, and i lift my blade as he tries to catch his breath, slamming it down into his shoulder, my brother screaming and thrashing under me.
I need to weaken him before i can kill him, my brother is stronger than me, much stronger. But i am more agile, and i can go for longer than he can, even wounded.
Sean wraps his hand around my throat and throws me backwards, my leg twisting awkwardly as i land on my ass a few feet away from him. But i expected him to throw me. He's using his strength, not his head.
Just like always. Stupid boy.
I catch a glance at Mihai who is fighting two hunters at once, and i see the moment that the girl makes a terrible mistake, she gets too close, and Mihai reaches out in the blink of an eye, snapping her throat like a twig.
Never get too close unless you are ready for contact. It's the most basic rule.
I turn just in time to see Sean pull the knife from his shoulder and throw it at my head, but i catch it by the handle and smile coldly at him. He's getting angrier, and that means the end for him, and victory for me.
Or so i hope.
Sean picks up and axe from the floor beside him and smirks, “I’m going to chop you into tiny pieces.” He says.
“You are going to try.” i reply, lowering my stance.
He rushes me, but he doesn’t look at my hands, and i have the blade ready to strike, the moment he gets too close to me, i strike, plunging the blade into the centre of his chest and twisting it. Just to make sure.
Sean gasps, and gags, and chokes, his eyes wide with disbelief. He really did think that i couldn’t do it.
I pull the blade out slowly and catch his body just as he falls, gently laying him on the ground, my eyes filling with tears.
“I didn’t want to do this, Sean.” I whisper, “you left me no choice.”
He looks at me, nothing but hatred in his eyes, even now, at the end. “You were never my sister, Nati.” He chokes, blood oozing from the side of his mouth.
I sigh, slowly letting go of him and moving the axe he dropped out of his reach, “I was always your sister.”
I spot Nathanial by the restaurant door, calling a retreat, but before he jumps into the truck he takes one last look at me, a look of pure disgust and hatred.
This isn’t the end. I know it isn’t. He is going to come back for revenge.
Sean watches as his father leaves him here, confusion in his hollow eyes, and then he looks back at me, tears sliding down his cheeks. “I’m sorry.” He whispers.
It's the last thing he says to me before the light goes out in his eyes, and something inside of me dies. Or shatters, i am not quite sure which.
Mihai is by my side the minute the hunters are gone, lifting me into his arms and spinning me around as he embraces me tightly.
“I’m so glad you are safe.” He tells me, kissing the top of my head as he places me back onto my feet.
He is one of the most ruthless people i have ever met, but not towards me, to me, he is my golden retriever. Not harmful at all.
I stare down at the corpse of my brother, wondering if i made the right choice. He was burdened with hate. But it wasn’t who he was. Not really.
He was the brother who comforted me when i couldn’t make my first kill. He was the one who was always there for me when i failed. Ad not once, not even when i made a big mistake did he turn on me.
It is all Nathanial. He brainwashed him into believing i was a monster, he turned his son into a weapon.
All for his own gain.
“You didn’t have a choice, love.” Mihai says, gently rubbing my back.
“I’m not so sure about that.” I murmur, my eyes fixed on the lifeless ones of my brother.
He had so much life in him, so much potential. But Nathanial is good at turning people against those that they care about.
I watch the children and their parents as they walk out of the restaurant, and whilst my heart hurts from the pain of loss, i cannot bring myself to regret what i did, because if i didn’t do it. They'd all be dead.
Enough innocents have died at the hands of the hunter council, no more.
They are finished destroying lives.
I'm going to destroy every last one of them, including the man who raised me.