We pulled away from the apartment in an unfamiliar direction, and if it wasn't for David's grip on me, I was positive that I would have tumbled off the bike. The cigarette might have calmed the thirst temporarily, but it also enhanced my exhaustion. I was ready to drop dead.

"Hold on, Brenna…" David's request was soft, almost brotherly, as he tried to wrap my arms more tightly around him to keep me safe. In some sick way, I suppose he did care, but I could hardly hold myself upright even if I were trying. I still held some hope that I would tumble off the bike and be crushed beneath the wheels. Unfortunately, that probably wouldn't even do much damage.

Night had fallen fully by now, bathing the town in darkness and smothering it with a thick fog. I removed my face from where I buried it within David's coat to shield it from the wind as we rolled to a stop. I recognized the location immediately and snorted at the irony, but it somehow seemed fitting that I would return to where I began my life in Young Haven to see it come to an end. We were at my spot - the pavilion. I wondered if they knew about this place before they met me or if it was another tidbit of my life they had eavesdropped on.

When David dismounted, with nothing left to support me and no physical strength left in my body, I took a nosedive toward the pavement. David was there in the literal blink of an eye, though, to catch me. He swung one of my arms around his shoulder and I noticed Michael, on the other side of me, was mirroring the action. Together they helped me to walk toward the railing so I would have something to lean on. Michael and Marko quickly vanished, likely to do a sweep for security. David, however, stuck by my side.

With how difficult it was to support the weight of my own head, I found myself staring at my reflection in the water of the river below. In many ways, I was the same lost girl who had stood here three months ago. I was broken, defeated, lonely, confused, scared…And in that moment I felt everything I did the day I moved to Young Haven, just much more intensely and for different reasons. It had never been so painfully clear just how trivial the troubles that consumed my life were or how easy it might have been to turn things around and lead a different path. But there I was, as ready as I ever would be to meet my maker.

"Did you know you were dead from the moment you arrived here?" If there had been anyone else with us, I wouldn't have been certain that David was speaking to me. "I'm sure you thought it was the night you met Marko, but really, the decision was made at this spot." He reached down to take my bare hand in his gloved one, studying my bracelet for a moment, almost thoughtfully. I had worn it so often that I hardly even noticed it anymore, but he was calling attention to the bracelet I had found almost in the exact spot where he was standing. Abruptly, David grabbed the piece of jewelry and yanked, snapping it off of my wrist. I jumped, not expecting the sudden violence.

"It's a strange little decoration," he continued, holding it before his eyes and letting my hand drop away like a spent cigarette. The seven beads, three black, and four white glimmered in the moonlight. "Do you know your birds, Brenna?" I shook my head. "Then allow me to educate you. This charm isn't just any animal, it's a magpie. People used to consider them to be omens of things to come."

"One for sorrow," he began counting all of the beads. "Two for mirth, three for a funeral, and four for birth. Five for heaven, six for hell, seven for the devil, his own self." He chuckled to himself darkly, staring off across the river again, rubbing the avian charm between his index finger and thumb as I had so many times before. "For the previous owner, this was a bad omen. It was the same old song and dance at the bars downtown and then we ventured back here like we typically do." I started to see what he was getting at. "You know, we don't always burn our victims, Brenna. It draws too much attention. Most of the missing people of this town end up right here." He shifted his gazed down into the water and I shuddered, ripping my eyes away from the waves below. I was reminded again of my first day there when I thought I might have seen my brother's ghostly face over my shoulder. I had an awful feeling that I had seen something – well, someone – very different. "After we make a kill, we bring them here and dump them into the river. It's poetic, but its main draw is that it's a nice, quiet, secluded spot where we can clean up after ourselves. We take money, trinkets, and whatever else we like and send the rest downstream. Just like the girl whose coat you're wearing. Just like the woman whose bracelet you found."

"This being your favorite spot, we would have met you here eventually. You would have seen too much and one of us would have taken care of the problem. Fortunately for you, Marko ran into you first. Even luckier, you decided to wear this very bracelet. So when he found you smelling like the kill he made just a few months before that. He was confused and intrigued, and you were marked from that day forward." His eyes began to bore into mine. "For a brief minute, you were next on the list after he finished that boy off. We even had it all planned out. We would invite you to the Halloween party, convince you to leave with us, then, poof…No more Brenna Wald. Maybe you thought you wooed us that night, or that you were just so damn clever and charming, but we meet girls like you all the time. We kill girls like you all the time."

"But, then you came with surprises and, frankly, a lot more luck or maybe even fate. I entered your dream that first night, feeling things out. It was just harmless fun. I was honestly sitting in the cave bored and decided to try it out with you on a whim, maybe figure out how you found the bracelet. And then you turned the tables on me. Only a few people had ever managed that before. You forced me out proving that you had a strong mind. So, you stayed alive as something to entertain us and bought yourself a few extra days as a fun plaything. Then in the little fun house with Marko and Paul, you moved just like us, although I'm sure you didn't know it. It was intriguing. We wondered if you might make a good fit, but we weren't sold. And we don't offer this gift to just anyone."

"And then, like it was goddamn fate herself, those amateur hunters got a hold of Jay. And what did you decide to do? You put yourself at risk for him. You let him into your home and took care of him. Not only that, but you defended us to the Darts. We were the very people who killed and ate your little friend. What was her name again? Miriam? I guess it doesn't matter now. The important thing is that, after your intervention, we knew we had to have you. Jay was the first one to bring it up, in fact. And then when Jay recognized you? Oh, that only sweetened the deal. Actual siblings. That bottle hadn't even touched your lips and yet you were already damned." I could hear the rumble of motorcycles in the distance, drawing nearer, and my palms began to sweat. "In hindsight, you might want to go easy on yourself. Your familial bond with your brother seemed to pull you toward us like a moth to a flame."

"So I wasn't dosed?" I finally felt brave enough to talk.

"Dosed?" David barked out a laugh. "I take it Max paid you a visit. No. Your resistance to our tricks was natural, and very impressive. Although Max advised Josh to dose you, he refused. Not that it mattered in the end. His very blood called out to you and not even he was aware of it. Not until he had to pin you down to keep you from having a very awkward encounter with the Dart brothers. You see, one blood bond makes it easier to influence the human in you, but now that you two share an additional bond through our maker…I can only whisper suggestions and ideas, waiting to see what, if anything, takes hold. Josh can make you do anything." He left me in silence for a moment, pondering over the implications of that word. Anything…

"One for sorrow, two for joy," David counted the beads again to break up the silence. "Three for a girl, four for a boy. Five for silver, six for gold. Seven for a secret never to be told." He stared at the bracelet a second longer before tossing it into the river, sure to be rid of it this time. "And what a secret this is…So, tell me, Brenna: what kind of omen is that bracelet going to be for you? Are you going to finish this out the easy way, or the hard way?" He paused as though expecting an answer, but quickly lunged toward me as he allowed the demon beneath his handsome face to shine through. I was too tired to flinch. "Initiation's over. Time to join the club."

It was a picturesque scene as Dwayne, Paul, and Joshua pulled in. The bells of the clock tower tolled 9 off in the distance as Paul and Dwayne each pulled a limp female frame off the bike behind them. If I hadn't already been leaning on the railing, I was positive I would have collapsed then as they led over Jordan and Colette, doll-like and vacant.

"Were you wondering why these two hadn't been around, lately?" David smiled at me. He knew the truth. I was so consumed with my own issues that I hadn't even been thinking about them

"No…" My composure was disintegrating. "Not them…" They didn't seem to be aware of anything going on, but I could feel other instincts beginning to awaken within me all over again.

"But it had to be them, Brenna," David stated, his smile growing ever larger. "If you can kill them, you will kill anyone."

"Why are you doing this to me?" I bowed my head, attempting to look anywhere aside from the delectable necks of the two girls in front of me.

"They are the last loose ends. The last people who had seen you with us. Jay and Dwayne took care of another issue tonight already."

"William and Philip said hello," Dwayne confirmed, and I noticed that his lips had a redder tint than they might have before as they curled up into a cruel smile. I felt a little more of me break away and die.

"And what about Miriam? Was that why she had to die?"

"Actually," Paul chimed in stepping forward. "She would have been safe for a little while longer. But remember that bet you made? While we were stuck in the mirror maze, the lights came on and she noticed we were missing reflections. She kind of lost it. And anyway, wasn't it you who said the last person out owed the rest dinner?" Paul looked absolutely feral. "I'm real sorry we didn't share, Brenna..."

"These two are the last things tying you to your old life." David pulled my attention back to him. "And, I believe you picked the best phrase: only once we've lost everything are we free to do anything." He was talking about my tattoo which I now wanted to rip straight off of my ankle. "Now you know what we are. Now you know what you are. You'll never grow old, Brenna, and you'll never die…But you must feed."

The fight was leaving me quickly as I stared around at the boys surrounding me.

Pink Maggit – The Deftones

"I'll stick you a little…

Enough,
To take your oxygen away…

Dwayne was always stoic, but even Marko and Paul looked serious now. And both Joshua and Michael, my protectors, watched without any sympathy. David glowered down at me from over my shoulder.

"Please…" I begged anyone willing to listen, the first tears spilling onto my cheeks, my eyes landing on my brother.

Set you on fire,
'Cause I'm on fire
And I'm with you,
Alone…

"Josh, I don't think…I can't…" His gaze hardened and I attempted to swallow the knot of nerves in my throat. The darkness was closing in again. I could just let it take me. I wouldn't have to be responsible for any of this.

"How many people do you think he's listened to beg like that?" Dwayne stood beside his brothers. "It's not going to do you any good."

"Brenna…" Josh growled. "It's time. You made your choice back at the apartment. Don't make this harder than it needs to be." When it was clear I wasn't moving on my own, I felt myself being pushed by a light pressure at the base of my neck toward the two statue-like humans until I was eventually nose to nose with Jordan on the ground. The nearness began to overwhelm me. He would keep making it hard on me, I realized, if I didn't comply. He would kill me, in a way, like I had killed him. What symmetry. "Just make this easy on everyone and come home."

Be afraid
I might lose her, so forget about me…

"Home?" My bottom lip quivered. I had to admit that it sounded appealing. I hadn't had a home, a real home, in so many years... "And how do I know this isn't just another lie?"

"Brenna, we never once lied to you." David now squatted beside me. "You just didn't want to listen to what we were really saying."

"I'm so sorry…" I whispered to my blonde friend who was both there and not there. "I don't know if you can hear me, but…This isn't me. I don't want this to be me…" I shook like a leaf under the burden of restraint, tears flowing freely. I was terrified, not only of the change but also of what Michael and David had hinted at before – that I would completely lose my conscience. That I would lose an integral part of who I was.

'I am Brenna Wald' I reminded myself. If I couldn't hold out against the thirst, maybe I could hold onto some of my humanity. I didn't want to forget what they had made me do. 'I'm still Brenna Wald.' What they were forcing me to become. 'I'm still here.' It became a mantra within my head. I would break away from the boys and find another way when this was all over. I wasn't a killer.

"I'm sorry for everything. You deserved better than this. You deserved…" What was intended as a sniffle sent my eyes rolling back into my head, and I felt that I had crossed a line for the second time this night.

Because I'll stick you…

I could feel the fangs extending through my gums and I held as still as I could for as long as I could, but the compulsion was much stronger than me now. The darkness was dancing on the corners of my vision again.

'My name is Brenna Wald…My name is Brenna Wald…'

I hovered there, just on the edge, but I needed it so badly…The world around me faded until nothing existed but my hunger and her strong, healthy heartbeat.

'Do it, Bren…'

It was the little push that I needed to force the daggers in my mouth through the flesh of her tender neck, digging in painfully, I was certain, and sending the life blood gushing down my throat, thick and rich. The more I had, the more that I needed like I had been starved of it for my entire life. I wanted to take it all in to fill in the void that had been opened within me, growing ever since the night I drank from David's bottle. And as I drank, I hardly noticed the little details of my humanity slipping away. Bits of my childhood, of parents, of school, of friends, of my very self. I tugged her closer to my body if only to drive the fangs in deeper.

'My name is…My name…Is…'

They were not clean deaths. I was hell bent on destroying them beyond all repair, not content until there was nothing left recognizable. As I ruthlessly attacked the brunette, I realized she had been snapped out of the catatonic state she was in. The female was struggling, feebly, against me as I mashed her face into the pavement to stop her screaming. With a sharp jerk of her neck, she was limp and quiet again, and I ripped the skin away from her jugular with my bare hands to speed the flow of blood into my mouth. The remainder of my humanity, whatever was left by that point, faded with her heartbeat until the girls I used to call friends became strange, cold corpses before my very eyes, resembling nothing more than pulp of a finished meal. Someone's missing person flier.

I panted, eyes ablaze, wiping some of the blood from my mouth and licking my hands clean with a blissful sigh. I looked up to find five smiling faces. My brothers. And this, right here, might not have been all that ever was, but it was the only thing that mattered as they chanted my name. It wasn't that the memories of my humanity no longer existed. I just didn't care. Before tonight, I was a walking, talking blood bag. Now my life had a purpose, and I couldn't remember why I resisted for so long in the furst place. This was where I belonged and it had never been so clear.

"Come on, Brenna." David extended a hand to help lift me, gently, guiding me in the direction of his bike while Dwayne and Jay took care of the bodies. With his ungloved hand, he removed some speck of blood that I had missed at the corner of my mouth with his thumb. He made a move to take it for himself, but I grabbed his wrist, stopping him and enveloping my lips around his finger to suck it off. He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at me as though this was something unexpected, butnot unwanted. I realized David still had a hold of my arm and I slipped his grasp easily while he was distracted.

"I'm a big girl," I purred over my shoulder, adjusting my leather jacket to fit more snugly. "I can walk myself." He continued to smile his mysterious smile, something undeterminable in his eyes. As I strolled over to David's bike, I surveyed the rest of the pack. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, including Michael. On the other hand my brother - my blood brother - seemed…Conflicted? The emotion, whatever it was, vanished in a flash.

"It's good to have you back." He nodded at me and I returned the gesture.

Before out of range, I decided it might be smart to make certain there wasn't any blood staining my clothes or my face. I cast a final glance at the river to evaluate my appearance. I was also curious to see if it had it changed at all. Unfortunately, I realized everything had become a little blurry. Odd. I took off my glasses to clean them only to realized that they were the source of the problem. I could see perfectly! Without another thought, I snapped the frames in two before tossing them into the water where I also noticed, as the surface calmed, that I had lost my reflection entirely.

When I turned around, I noticed David was already on his bike, clearly waiting for me. I decided to slide in behind him, wrapping my arms around his torso tightly, resting my chin on his shoulder, a satisfied smile playing across my face. Although I wasn't aware, it matched his own perfectly. He glanced back at me over his shoulder.

"I could really get used to you back there."

"I hope you don't. I want my own."

"I think that can be arranged." He smiled wider. "Boys," he called out to the rest of the group. "I think it's time for a little road trip. Maybe California?" David kicked his bike into life nearly drowning out the hoots and hollers of my brothers. And with them surrounding me, I realized that it didn't matter where we ended up – in caves or basements of motels. I wasn't lost anymore. I had finally come home. And God, did it feel good...

The End is the Beginning Is the End – The Smashing Pumpkins

"The sewers belch me up.
The heavens spit me out.
From ethers tragic I am born again.
And now I'm with you, now,
Inside your world of wow,
To move in desires made of deadly pretends,
Till the end times begin.
Is it bright where you are?
Have the people changed?
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
And in your darkest hour,
I hold secrets' flame,
You can watch the world devoured in its pain….
Strange…"