CHAPTER TWENTY TWO » BLOOD HANDS
"They're playing a long game and you can't let them win."

☽

"If you keep looking he's gonna see you," Theo hissed quietly, causing Liam to spare a glance back at the two of us. "Get back."

Liam ignored his instruction, clenching his jaw as he turned back to glance around the wall. Theo gave me a look, as if to ask me what the hell Liam was doing, to which I shrugged.

He sighed heavily. "I'm not dying out here because you want payback against some kid who kicked your ass, okay?"

Liam gave him a harsh stare, continuing to watch around the corner. Theo's gaze hardened, and he didn't waste a second before reaching out and taking Liam's wrist tightly, roughly dragging him away. "Let go!"

"Calm down!"

"I said let go!" Liam bit back, attempting to worm his way from Theo's grip again. I came to a stop, pausing as Liam's eyes flashed a golden colour, his breathing becoming ragged.

"Liam," I spoke gently, moving between them. "Relax, okay?"

"What's going on with you?" Theo snapped, his patience seeming to be growing thin. "This can't just be Nolan. Something around here's triggering you."

"I'm fine," Liam breathed out, his heart rate jumping briefly. He shifted his eyes away from both of us. Liar.

"What is it?" Theo prompted, something in his voice changing. Oddly, I even detected a hint of concern. "The hunters? You don't like cages? Scared of heights?"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Son of a–"

"They're up here!" Nolan, awkwardly armed with a crossbow, cut my exclamation off with a loud shout behind him. I began to step forwards, Theo reacting almost immediately by throwing his arm in front of me to keep me where I was. Yet, neither of us were quick enough to hold off Liam, who let out a loud roar, diving straight at Nolan.

The two of them both stumbled back, falling down a small height. I let out a breath of surprise, attempting to push Theo's arm away as I surged forwards, the both of us stumbling to a stop at the edge, where Nolan and Liam lay below.

"Come on, Liam's gonna end up killing him." Theo began to move away, only stoping when he noticed that I hadn't moved an inch – I was too busy staring angrily at Nolan. "Not you as well."

I didn't bother to put up a fight as Theo took my arm, moving me away from the edge and leading me down the steps. I could hear loud growls from Liam, as Nolan's words about having to kill him rang in my ears. Theo moved faster, eventually letting his harsh grip on my wrist fall once we located Liam, who was furiously punching the wall beside Nolan.

He pulled his bloodied knuckles away, his eyes ablaze as he opened his hands to extend his claws, fixing his gaze back on Nolan, who squirmed, squeezing his eyes shut. Liam let out another loud roar, only this one was short lived as Theo dived over to him, knocking him out cold on the ground.

Nolan froze in fear, looking up at Theo, who tilted his head to the side, his voice deepening. "Run."

Nolan didn't hesitate to scramble away, whilst I stopped beside the wall, running my palm along the roughness of the stones. All of a sudden, my mind flashed to an interaction between Gerard and Monroe in the woods – the night Brett and Lori were killed. I hadn't been there at the time, but now I was, watching as they hatched the plan to lure out Brett. Watching as Monroe bent down to pick up his phone, the last phone call I made to Brett Talbot, telling him to keep going, keep running, in the voicemail that I left him.

"Becca," I glanced up, meeting Theo's deep blue eyes, as he began to search my expression for answers. "Vision?"

I inhaled shakily, pushing away his hand, which was clasped on my forearm. My whole entire body became fuelled with some kind of burning desire, and I could feel it growing within me again, eating away at me. "I want them dead."

I barely gave Theo the chance to even process my words before I stormed past, listening out for the nearby heartbeats. "You really gonna make me knock you out too?"

"Leave me alone, Theo," I bit back, breathing in deeply as I tried to focus on my senses. I felt a hand tugging me back against my will, as I flung my arm out, attempting to break free. "Let me go!"

"Pull yourself together, Bex!"

I shrugged out of his grip, slamming my hands against his chest to push him away, yet, he barely even budged. "I don't need you to babysit me–"

"God, we don't need this right now!" He exclaimed, reaching for me again, this time grabbing my arm even tighter. "You have to get it together!"

"Fuck you." Angrily, I tried to push back again, but Theo tugged me towards him, making it even harder for me to squirm from his grip. "What is it, Theo?" I questioned darkly, leaning closer to him. "You think you have a responsibility? You think that we all trust you now?! That's why you come with us on these stupid little plans?"

"That's not what I think!" He shouted back, the roughness in his voice startling me, as his eyes flashed gold momentarily.

"Then let me go, god dammit," I snapped, barely even noticing that Liam had began to pull himself up from the ground until I heard his voice.

He appeared slightly dazed, rubbing his clearly throbbing head slightly as he glanced around at his surroundings. "Where's Nolan?"

"Gone," Theo responded indifferently, causing Liam's eyes to harden, beginning to flash yellow again.

"Where?"

"Doesn't matter, he's gone," Theo responded, which obviously not the right answer for Liam, who began to growl. Theo glanced up in the air, rolling his eyes as Liam let out an angry roar. "You've got to be kidding me."

Before Liam could move anywhere else, Theo struck out his elbow again, colliding it against Liam's face, causing him to fall back to the ground with a thud.

"You had to knock him out again?" I asked, shaking my head disapprovingly at Theo.

He whipped his head back round to face me. "Listen to me–"

"No, you listen to me–"

"No!" Theo bellowed, his voice projecting around us, feeling as if it managed to snap me away from my intense rage. "I get that you're angry. I get that you're hurting. I get that you want revenge, okay? But you can't go storming over there now in this– this blind rage and try and take every single one of those men on." I rolled my eyes, beginning to push out from his grip again, but he only pulled me closer, lowering his voice. "If you want revenge, you have to do it right."

"And you'd know all about that?" I shot back, our eyes meeting with a sudden intensity.

"I don't know what you want from me, Becca," he began with a sneer. "But I'm telling this to you right now, as someone who has done bad things in the past, don't take away any of this innocence you have without a damn good reason!"

"This is a damn good reason!" I exclaimed, my voice almost cracking under strain. "Theo, they killed my best friend! They're trying to kill all of us and–"

"But are they doing that right now?" I paused, opening my mouth to respond, but I realised I wasn't sure what to say. "Exactly," he snapped. "They're playing a long game and you can't let them win," I breathed out heavily as I felt my heart rate begin to steady, beginning to realise that what Theo was saying made sense. I glanced up, meeting his gaze again. "Play your own game, Becca"

~

Nobody had spoken the whole journey home, but Theo had been looking so smug after today's horrific events, that I was certain Liam and I were going to snap sooner or later.

From the passenger seat, Liam let out a soft groan of pain, the sound filling the silence around us. I watched from the back seat as he awkwardly rubbed his jaw, whilst Theo spared a glance at him, smirking slightly.

"I had to knock you out," he told him, the tone in his voice making him sound pretty entertained by Liam's struggles.

"Yeah, how many times?"

"Five."

Liam let out a heavy sigh, as I spotted Theo grinning to himself, likely triumphant of his achievements. "I almost killed him, didn't I?"

"Almost," Theo affirmed. "But you broke your hands trying not to."

Liam scoffed quietly, mumbling to himself. "Guess that's something."

"Next time you come up with a plan like this, pick a place that doesn't trigger a murderous rage."

"I didn't know this was gonna happen," Liam defended his decision, although I could tell that he was beating himself up about it. Perhaps really deep down he would have wanted to harm Nolan, but I knew that he would never mean to do it unless he truly lost control like that again.

"Whether you meant it or not, you picked the spot," Theo pointed out. "You made the plan, you wanted Bex to help," Theo glanced over at him, and I could hear the smugness in his voice. "You wanted me to help."

"If I wanted your help for anything, it'll be so I get angry enough to kill you myself," Liam snapped back, his response seeming to amuse Theo.

"You brought me back here because that thing that came out of the wild hunt is affecting you too," Theo replied matter-of-factly. "You need to figure it out before you completely lose it."

"The Anuk-ite causes fear, it doesn't cause anger," Liam reminded, despite Theo shaking his head.

"People only feel one emotion at a time," he said. "Which is why you get angry when you're afraid." I saw him glance up into the mirror, meeting my eyes momentarily. "It's why Bex's bloodlust is so high whenever she's afraid." 

"I'm not afraid," I bit back, the chuckle coming from Theo in response almost causing my blood to boil. "I just want people to pay for what they've done," I shook my head, glancing up into the mirror. "Could start with you. Let's see how the night goes."

"Nobody's fearless, Bex."

"Being fearless isn't about the absence of fear," I shot back. "It's about being fearful and standing strong in spite of it," I continued, placing my hand on the back of Liam's seat as I leaned forwards. "It's about being willing to die in order to live."

"And that's why Liam almost tore Nolan's head off, and you did nothing to stop him?" Theo shot back, as I bit down on my tongue, feeling an angry rant ready to burst out from me.

My head spun as I began to lean back against my seat again, closing my eyes shut as thoughts began to invade my mind.

"If the Anuk-ite can do this to us, what do you think it's doing to everyone else?" Liam questioned, finally seeming to leave Theo without an answer back.

A peaceful silence fell over us, which I thought would stop my racing mind, but it only allowed the thoughts to get louder, and louder, and louder. Until I wanted to scream.

Bang.

My eyes burst open at the sudden noise, as I leaned forwards in my seat again. "What the holy hell was that?!"

The boys exchanged a brief glance, before Liam turned his head to face me. "What are you talking about?" I frowned, glancing out of the back window, only to see the empty road behind us. "Rebecca?" I took a look out of the windows either side of the car, flashing my eyes to help me identify anything in the dark. Nothing. We were alone.

"You didn't heart that?" I questioned, tearing my eyes away from outside again, as Liam continued to watch me in concern.

"Hear what?"

The sudden noise of glass shattering everywhere filled my ears, the sound piercing my whole body. I squeezed my eyes shut again, forcing my hands against my ears to try and muffle the noise.

"Stop the car!"

Gunshots began to fill the air, ringing in my ears as the sound of shattering began to fade into the background. Every firing of a bullet jolted my body, over and over again. They weren't stopping, it wouldn't stop. And someone was screaming, people were screaming, I was screaming; screaming until all of the air was forced out of me, and I could no longer breathe, I could no longer feel anything anymore.

And as the sound of car tires screeching and the breaks suddenly whining took over instead, everything began to stop. It all just stopped. There was nothing.

Nothing until a shaky hand began to rise, dark blood coating their skin, the scene flashing quickly through my mind along with images of broken photographs littering the floor– the floor of my house.

"No!" I cut my own scream off with a sharp intake of breath as I reached for the car handle, yanking it quickly and pushing the door. My foot caught slightly, and I found myself dropping to my knees.

Only, Brett's body lay on the road beside me, his hand reaching out for me in desperation, like the bloodied hand that I saw in my house. But this Brett's eyes burst open, lifeless, soulless and black, as his hand gripped me harshly, wrapping around my arm, crushing me, as if he was about to snap my bones in half.

"You could have saved me."

I stumbled backwards, pulling away from his harsh death grip. This wasn't real. It wasn't.

"You could have saved me."

This wasn't real. This wasn't real. I shook my head, covering my eyes, hoping, praying, that he'd disappear.

"You could have saved me!"

"I'm sorry!" I cried out, turning my face away. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" 

"Why didn't you save us, Rebecca?" A haunting female voice rang out from a short distance away, sending chilling shivers down my spine. I pulled my hands away, a gasp leaving my lips as I watched a bloodied and bruised Lori stop beside Brett's body. "Why?"

"I couldn't!" I exclaimed, moving forwards again, only pulling back when I spotted my hands completely coated in fresh, dark, blood. "I–I–"

"Our blood is on your hands," Brett spat harshly, the venom rolling from his tongue with ease. "It's on your hands, Rebecca."

"No," I shook my head firmly as tears began to blur my vision. "No, no, no," I glanced down at my trembling blood stained hands again, trying to rub them against my jeans, but it wouldn't come off, they wouldn't become clean again. "No, no, come on!" I cried out, desperately shrugging off my jacket, running it over my hands to get rid of the blood. "What's happening to me?!"

"Why didn't you save us?" Lori spoke again, her meek voice barely above a whisper.

"I tried! I tried, I tried, I–"

"You didn't try hard enough!" Brett yelled out, as I continued to focus on my bloodied hands. Nothing would wipe them clean.

"Please!"

"You should have saved us."

I squeezed my eyes shut as hot tears began to fall down my cheeks, burning my skin.

"You should have saved us."

"I'm sorry!" My voice trembled, sounding hoarse and broken, as I began to sink to my knees on the floor, my hands held in front of me, a constant reminder of what i'd done.

"You should have saved us! And now you won't be able to save them!"

"Save who?!" I shouted back weakly, harsh cries residing in the back of my throat. "Save who?!"

"You should have saved us!"

"God, leave me alone!" I screamed, tossing my jacket to the side, as if it would shield me from them, from the memory, the reminder of what I had done, what I had caused.

"You should have saved us, Rebecca!"

I placed my hands on the ground in front of me, my nails digging into the ground as I let out a shattering scream, the feeling of it wracking through my whole body, causing my muscles to tense, my wails only becoming louder as I tried to drown out the sounds of Brett and Lori.

"Leave me alone!"

A hand grazed against my skin, and I pulled away quickly remembering the harshness, and the coldness of Brett's touch moments ago.

"Just leave me alone!" I screamed, slamming my palm down on the ground, hitting, and hitting, harder, and harder, until it began to feel numb. "Leave me alone!"

"Becca!" Someone reached for me again, this time touching my shoulder. But their touch was warm, tentative, and it felt safe; almost like home. "Becca, please!"

I shook my head, keeping my head bent down to the ground, my throat soon becoming too raw to let out any more strangled cries. "It's all my fault."

"What's your fault?" They asked softly, as I let out a deep, shaky breath. "Hey, what's your fault?"

"It's always my fault."

I felt their touch on me again, their hand softly cupping the side of my face. I opened my heavy eyelids, meeting with watery, ocean blue eyes that I knew all too well. "It's okay," Liam told me gently, his thumb slowly brushing against my skin. "You're okay."

I breathed in sharply, glancing to my side, only to see Theo stood confused a short distance away. There was no Brett, no Lori. I looked down at my hands. No blood. But still guilt.

"Wh–what–" I cut off, looking up at Liam again. "How? Wh–" I shook my head, glancing back down at my hands. "The blood. Where? I–"

Liam's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What blood?"

"My hands," I prompted, but Liam's frown only deepened. "The blood on my hands."

"There's no blood on your hands, Bec," he assured softly, but concern was etched on his face.

"Th–they said–" I looked away, expecting to see Brett and Lori again. "No, no. I should have saved them," I muttered to myself, glancing around at the empty side road. "A–and now their blood is on my hands. I can't– I can't save anyone," I dropped my head down again, defeated, weighed down by everything. "I'm a monster."

"No," Liam placed his hand underneath my chin, slowly lifting my head back up. I searched his eyes, noticing they had become glassy with tears. He shook his head gently, a weak smile pulling at his lips. "You're not a monster."

"No," I said, moving away slightly. "I am. I should have saved them."

"Saved who?" Liam questioned, watching me unsurely. "Brett and Lori?"

I nodded slowly, feeling tears brimming in my eyes again. I felt weak, so weak. As if somebody had hit me, kicked me, punched me, over and over again; only for me to keep getting up. Only for me to haul my aching body up from the ground time after time. But the fight was running out. I couldn't take another hit.

"Hey, that wasn't on you," he replied quietly. "That wasn't on you."

"No, I– I should have," I paused, swallowing a thick lump in my throat. "I should have done something."

"Brett and Lori knew that you did everything you could," he assured, our eyes meeting again. "And they loved you."

I closed my eyes momentarily, breathing in deeply. "But it wasn't enough."

"You can't save everyone," he said, his hand brushing over mine. "People leave, people die, that's just how things are." I glanced down. "You can't change the past. You've just got to look to whatever's next."

I bit my lip, lowering my voice to a whisper. "What if I can't imagine a future anymore?"

"Speaking of which," Theo spoke up, taking a step forwards, despite the glares that Liam seemed to be sending his way. "What happened? Was it a vision?"

I paused, suddenly recalling back as to why we stopped out here in the first place. Something was happening, something bad.

"Oh my god, we have to go," I stated, already beginning to pull myself up from the ground.

Liam quickly stood up alongside me, a hand on my arm to keep me steady, as if he expected me to fall. "Why? What happened?"

"We have to get to my house," I said, looking over at Theo, who was watching me with a perplexed expression. "I saw– it doesn't matter. I think Scott and the others are in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Liam questioned, trailing after me as I started to make my way back to the car. "Rebecca?"

"Okay, slow down there Lady Macbeth–" Theo began, moving in front of me to block my path. I looked up at him with distaste at the nickname, but ignored it, attempting to move to the side. "Look, your head is all over the place right now."

"Yeah, I– I know," I admitted, unsure at what he was getting at. "What's your point?"

"The anuk-ite is amplifying people's fear," Theo started. "You think that's bad for regular people? It just got a hell of a lot worse for you."

I frowned, still feeling confused. "What do you mean?"

"Your visions are triggered by your emotions," Theo said, his words making me pause, feeling as if I was beginning to understand what he was getting at. "The stronger your emotions, the more painful they are–"

"The more frequent they are," I finished, turning back to look at Liam, who still seemed to be taking everything in.

"The anuk-ite is driving normal people to do crazy things," Theo continued. "And as werewolves, everything is already heightened. It's worse for us, but for you..."

Theo trailed off, as if he was unsure on how to finish. Liam stepped forwards, moving beside me. "So what does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter what it means," I said, shaking the distracting thoughts from my mind. "Doesn't change the fact that our friends are about to be in trouble." Theo and Liam shared an anxious look. "We have to go. Now."

"Rebecca," Theo started again, stopping me in my tracks. "You realise how easily you can lose control because of this?"

"Yeah."

"And you realise how dangerous that makes you?"

I nodded slowly, shifting my gaze as I swallowed a harsh lump in my throat. "Yeah. I do."

❥

A/N

(Publishing again as it doesn't appear to be working for some of you guys.)

Damn.

Becca is struggling so much trying to deal with what happened with Brett and Lori :(
And now she's having visions of past and future events too :(

I genuinely feel awful for putting her through all this.

On a lighter note, happy 2018! Thought i'd start off the first chapter of the new year with a bang.

I'm pretty proud of this one, so I hope you enjoyed it.

Big things are coming for Becca.