[ 36 ] 2014

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"You--a--and your br-brother are my f-family. I couldn't just s-stand by and let him h-hurt you..."

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Luke Hemmings went about the rest of his day at school without a problem, being his usual self. But once the final bell rang for the afternoon, all he could hear was a voice in his head, giving him the same command over and over again. Stab Calum Hood through the heart and once you're sure he's dead, kill Harley Quinn. He didn't know where the voice came from, but he felt compelled to obey. He could not steer his thoughts away from it. He walked absently towards his car in the parking lot and was stopped by one of his friends from the popular table at lunch. Luke didn't really remember his name, he hardly knew any of his friends' names. He merely knew what they looked like. He only associated with them because they were cool enough to be around him, making him cooler in the eyes of others by association. 

If he really had to guess, he would say that he thought the boy's name was Angel, a Hispanic boy from a wealthy family who owned dozens of mattress factories across the country. But he couldn't be too sure. He only vaguely listened when the others talked about their personal lives. He was a scrawny five foot ten, sixteen year old boy, who was in the tenth grade and wasn't really popular to begin with. He dressed well, and was average looking at best, but nothing really extra special about him. He had gained the merit of being able to sit at the popular table because he was dating a cheerleader. That was how politics at the popular table worked. Dating someone from the popular crowd could earn someone a seat at the popular table.

"We're all going to Iggy's and then catching a movie tonight. You coming?" He asked Luke Hemmings who at the moment was paying more attention to his backpack where he had stored his car keys.

The blonde replied with a shake of his head. "No thanks. I have some stuff to do at home."

That statement in itself was enough to raise the boy's eyebrow in confusion. Everyone knew Luke Hemmings and his sister Cindy were practically orphans. Their father literally spent his whole time at work, and usually spent the night at a luxury apartment near the office. While their mother was out using her husband's money for shopping sprees and expensive vacations with her other rich mom friends. The last thing the Hemmings twins ever wanted was to go back home to their empty mansion. It was why they were always either going out all day, or having big parties at their parents home. 

The sixteen year old boy standing there before him nodded his head in understanding and hurried off to find the rest of their friends. Luke then climbed in his expensive, limited edition Mustang, and raced home.

He parked in the luxurious garage filled with fancy sports cars that no one even used. Luke himself, being only seventeen, already had three cars. His dad had about five more for himself. Then Cindy had one, and their mother had a limo that she was paraded around all day in. He went around the house and the vast yard to a tool shed they had near the back walls. The service quarters were nearby as well. It was a small building with a few bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Some of their employees ended up staying late, and the family had facilities for them to use on such occasions. 

He went in the shed and there was no one there. The gardeners did most of their work in the mornings. In the back was a crafting table and he grabbed a piece of wood and started carving it out into a stake. It took him about an hour to carve the stake, and another hour to make brew the chrysanthemum tea and soak the stake in it for an hour. 

When he was done, he wrapped the stake in a piece of cloth and got back in his ca, headed for Harley Quinn's house.

At Harley's house, Conrad had convinced her to spend the afternoon with her parents, and he found that he was surrounded with people he most hated. As it turned out, her mother was the daughter of Hayley Reid, who had been going out with Bobby Vega when he met her. He didn't particularly dislike her. He thought she was pretty, even. But Claire just absolutely detested her. A part of him told him that it was probably because she was jealous of her. Hayley was pretty and had a boyfriend who adored her, while Claire had been dating Ashton for the money and the one she did love had married someone else. 

Her father Arthur was Bobby's son, and in some twisted way, Conrad though about the fact that the two of them might have been siblings if things had played out differently. They had dinner with Billy and Cindy, and then they went up to Harley's room to spend some time together. Conrad looked on the clock on her nightstand as she sat on her bed, and he sat at the chair in front of her desk. 

It was nearly six and Luke Hemmings was nowhere to be found. He was starting to think he would have to just choke Harley Quinn with his own two hands and get on with it when the doorbell rang. Harley's balcony was facing the driveway and he had a clear view of who was at the door below. It was just who he was waiting for. Arthur opened the door and asked the blonde teenager if he needed something. He had never seen him around Harley, and he found it strange that he was visiting her now.

Luke explained that he was there to work on some kind of science project with her, and Harleen walked over, assuring her boyfriend that he was Cindy's brother and that he was probably looking for Harley and Calum. She let him into the house without a problem and Luke expertly made his way past them and up the stairs to find Harley's room. Cindy and Billy were out of sight, in his bedroom with him playing video games and her just laying on his bed binge watching youtube videos of her favorite beauty gurus. 

Luke walked to Harley's bedroom and stopped at her door. Harley looked up when she felt a presence in her door way, and the look on her face turned into one of confusion. 

Without warning, Luke charged at her and Conrad hurried from his place at the desk to jump in front of her. He stood in between them, thinking for a split second how this was even better than he planned it. But his happiness was short lived when he felt the piercing pain followed by intense burning  from the stake. He knew he couldn't stick around much longer, since the pain was unbearable and there was a loud sizzling sound heard through the room, accompanied by the stomach churning stench of burning flesh. Con let out a scream of pain before closing his eyes tight and making the jump out of Calum's body. Luke had fallen to his knees in front of Calum, a hand still gripping the chrysanthemum soaked stake so tight that his knuckles were stretching white over his pale skin. Harley immediately started crying at the top of her lungs, her hand instinctively going to Luke's shoulder to puch him away.

Harley only watched in horror as the scene unfolded before her. Her trembling hands reached for the stake lodged in his heart, but she couldn't bring herself to pull it out. She feared she would only do him more harm. There was Calum, in her arms, slain. And someone had jumped out of his body. She soon realized that other person was Conrad Hood. He didn't even give her a chance to react before he shot her a smirk and jumped into the mirror. Harley's eyes were filled with tears and she continued screaming, alerting the other people in the house that something was wrong.

Billy and Cindy burst through the door first, and Cindy started screaming once she saw her brother on his knees defeated on the floor. "What the fuck are you doing, Luke?" She shrieked in horror. At the same time, Billy looked from one teenager to the other. He was almost frozen, not knowing what to do. But there they saw Calum with a stake in his heart, unconscious and slowly bleeding to death in Harley's arms. Then there was Luke on the floor, shoulders slumped and head down, no doubt the culprit.

It was only moments before Harleen and Arthur raced up the steps to see what was happening. Harleen let out a scream of terror and Arthur only looked on with shock. Calum was like a son to him after all.

"Call an ambulance!" Harley screamed a command at the four people who were frozen in the doorway.

Billy snapped out of his trance first and got his cellphone out of his pocket. He immediately dialed emergency services and stepped out onto the hallway. The other three only snapped out of their daze when Luke moved abruptly. Startling Harley, he looked up, his hand simultaneously reaching up to grab the stake lodged inside Calum's heart. Without mercy, he yanked it out and rose to his feet. His eyes were focused on Harley Quinn now. Eyes black with a hatred Harley had never seen in him, he charged at her once more. Only this time, she rose a hand and the force of her powers sent him flying back against the back wall of her bedroom, the stake falling at his side. No sooner did that happen that Arthur sprung into action and moved to restrain him. 

"Calum..." Harley cried, cradling her boyfriend's body to her chest. 

At the moment, Cindy had stepped in and was checking him for a pulse, since Harley was too distraught to do anything of the sort. She looked back to her brother with worry, but Arthur was holding him back.

But still weak from his previous injuries, Luke managed to get free. With a determination, he picked up the stake once more and charged at Harley Quinn. Only this time he was met with his twin sister Cindy Hemmings. She had stood up from where she had been sitting on the bed, checking on Calum, and she stepped in between Luke and them. The speed in which he was going didn't let him stop in time and he found himself colliding head first with his sister, the stake driving itself into her abdomen.

It was as if the entire room went still in that moment. Cindy Hemmings' blue eyes widened in pain and shock as she felt the pointy side of the stake lodge itself in her body. Luke Hemmings gasped, eyes widening in horror as well. Cindy's hands flew down to grip the stake, which was about one and a half inches in diameter, as she fell to her knees. Luke fell with her, as the sheer thought of what he'd done sunk in for him and he snapped out of his trance. 

"Cindy!" He shouted, catching her as her body started falling forward in slow motion. 

From outside, Billy heard the commotion and heard her name being called, and he feared the worst. From the doorway, he peeked inside the room, and saw her on the ground with a stake in her abdomen. He instantly dropped his phone to the ground, mid call with the ambulance dispatchers and he raced to her side. 

Even Harley left Calum's side for a moment and dropped to Cindy's side, pushing Luke aside and taking her into her arms. Arthur had then crawled over and subdued Luke Hemmings, but he no longer had it in him to continue with the mission given to him. He had hurt the one person he loved most, the last person he had left in this world. Harley scolded Cindy through her tears. "Why would you do something like that?"

At the same time, Billy was crying and shouting, horrified.

It hurt to even suck in a breath, and it hurt even more to speak. "You--a--and your br-brother are my f-family. I couldn't just s-stand by and let him h-hurt you..." As she finished, her eyes started closing and Harley felt her heart drop. Billy was sobbing, Harleen was hysterical and Arthur was holding Luke in a death grip until the authorities could arrive. Harley let Cindy rest in her brother's arms and returned to Calum, waiting for the paramedics to arrive. She knew she could call Jack and have him heal Calum, but as she had once learned from Jack himself, it only worked if the person was still alive and breathing.

Calum was growing colder by the second and he had no pulse. The stake alone had been enough to kill him, but she knew it was laced with chrysanthemum due to the burning flesh smell and the sizzling sound they heard. The poison had probably coursed through his body and eliminated any possibility that he would ever survive.

Outside, she heard the faint sound of sirens that only got louder as they approached the house. But it was likely too late.

Calum Hood was dead, and so was Cindy Hemmings.

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damn guys. 

that last part of this chapter was sooo dramatic. but fear not, there it more to come with the remaining fourteen chapters of this story. thank you all so much for your love and support. 

it means the entire world to me. since i have about three hours before i go to bed tonight, i will try my hardest to write a new chapter. please let me know what you think in the comments. as of now, both cindy and calum have died. or have they? continue reading to find out my beautiful people.

-clary