Volume 1.32: A Necessary Sacrifice

Type: Series

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: M

Characters:  Ava, Bjorn, Melissa and Sarah
Word Count: 1240

Glossary: 

Warning: none, I think

I don't know what to do

no guilt is in my heart

I don't know what to do

I'm not the reason

Self Deception-Lacuna Coil

The moment Ava walked in, Samuel knew they were in trouble.

It wasn't the smell of gunpowder clinging to her clothes and hair that gave her away. It was her contented smile.She looked very pleased with herself, happy almost, a far stretch from the gloom and doom mood she was in earlier before she set out to run errands.

"Ava, what did you do?" He asked, dreading her reply, wishing he could undo her actions, whatever they were.

"What you all couldn't do. What should have been done from the start. I took care of Cadence."

Her reply drew shocked gasps from the small group. They could all see it now, the beginning of their end, and they knew Luca and the witches would not take this lying down.

"Good Lord, are you out of your mind? What were you thinking?" Melissa panicked.

"She wasn't thinking, that’s what!" Olivia, her sister, yelled from behind the desk.

Before long they were all caught up in a heated exchange. Melissa and Olivia wanted answers, a justification of some sort from Ava.

She, in turn, stubbornly refused to explain herself, insisting she'd done the right thing by going after Cadence.

Samuel and Bjorn listened to the screaming match for a while, hoping it would boil over and everyone's tempers would simmer down, but when Ava drew out her weapon and threatened the sisters Samuel could no longer sit it out.

"Put the gun away, Ava," he told her calmly, a no nonsense approach wouldn’t work with her, especially when she was waving her gun around, ready to set it off at the slightest hint of provocation.

But Ava wasn't backing down, calm approach or not.

Her determination was one of the things he'd always admired about her, but now as he stood there, helplessly engaged in a standoff with her, he couldn't help but be afraid.

The silence in the room made it hard for Samuel to ignore the hands of time on the clock as the seconds ticked on, making the gulf between them unbearably wider.

"That’s it, I'm not sticking around for this bullshit," Melissa snapped, breaking the angry tension in the room, it was obvious Samuel no longer had control over his wife, and she wouldn’t sit around and wait for Luca and his clan to retaliate. She quickly gathered her backpack while Olivia collected a few supplies.

At the door the sisters hesitated for a brief moment or two, they couldn't leave this way, not on bad terms at least. They tried to get Samuel and Bjorn to come with them. But Samuel wouldn't leave without Ava, and she insisted on taking Luca head on. Running away would mean she'd done something wrong, and she refused to see her attack on Cadence as anything other than a necessary sacrifice for a greater good.

"You are insane!" Melissa shook her head at Ava one last time before she followed her sister out of the den.

As soon as the door banged shut, Ava lowered her weapon and sat down on the worn armchair, but the guarded look didn’t leave her eyes.

“What do we do now?” Bjorn dispelled his question in a hushed sigh.

Samuel shrugged. For the first time in twenty years he didn’t know what to do. And for once he wished for someone else to take the responsibility of being the leader, relieve him of his duties. He was exhausted, he’d really thought when the witches destroyed the Star it would be the end of it, he’d hoped they’d leave this hunting business behind them.

“You should go with Mel and Olivia  I’d feel better knowing you’re looking out for them. We’ll meet up in a couple of days,” Samuel lied. It sounded thin and unconvincing even to his own ears.

Bjorn didn’t want to go. Like Ava he didn’t want to run. But unlike her, he wanted to stay and fix things, clear up the mess she had started, talk to Luca man to man.

After much persuasion and convincing from Samuel, Bjorn agreed to go with the sisters. The plan was to meet up in Sunset Valley in a couple of days. But if Samuel and Ava didn’t show up in the said time, then Bjorn would assume the worst, and return to Twinbrook with reinforcement.

“You’ll check in every hour right?” Bjorn raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Samuel halfheartedly promised he would.

Outside, the two men shook hands briefly.

“You’re making a mistake, staying here,” Bjorn snorted grimly.

“I know, but I can’t leave her. She’s my wife, we are in this together.” Samuel explained. With a final pat on the back, he bid his friend farewell.

Alone with Ava he tried over and over to get her to see that what she had done was wrong and there was no excuse for her actions, no excuse for going after an unarmed innocent girl.

But Ava refused to feel any remorse for her actions.

Eventually, like a can of soda left open for a long time, their argument lost steam. Samuel reached for her and held her.

“I love you both very much,” he whispered through his tears as he placed a loving hand on her tummy.

“We’ll be okay, don’t worry. Luca won’t do anything to me, not when I’m pregnant.”

As soon as the words were out, Samuel saw regret in her eyes, not for what she’d said, but for slipping up and saying too much.

“You used our baby as a security blanket?” He shook his head incredulously.

“It wasn’t like that,” Ava jumped away from him then, putting a little bit of distance between them, she must have seen the murderous look in his eyes.

“What was it like then, Ava? Please explain it to me because where I’m standing it sounds like you went after Cadence thinking Luca won’t hurt you because you’re pregnant,” Samuel frowned darkly.

“I’m just saying Luca is a reasonable man. He won’t hurt me knowing that I’m pregnant. And with time, they will all come to realize that getting rid of Cadence was the right thing to do,” Ava replied.

Samuel didn’t say anything for a long time; he just stood there, staring at her, wondering about this stranger in front him.

On the outside she was still Ava, his wife, but the conniving look in her eyes belonged to someone else, someone he hardly recognized. Someone who didn’t operate within their system. Someone who’d just endangered all their lives with her rash actions and knowingly used their unborn baby to get even with a bunch of Vampires.

“Don’t you see? I did this for us. I did it for our baby. Our child would never be safe if we let Luca and his band of degenerates open that door."

“Safe from what? The witches destroyed the Star. We were there, and we saw it with our own eyes. There is no danger, and if there is, it’s just in your head! ” Samuel roared at her. He’d tried so hard to keep it together, keep his anger in check, but it was fast slipping away and he was so afraid that he if he stuck around he’d do something he’d regret.

He rapidly approached the door, and without turning around he addressed her again.

“For your sake I hope you’re right about Luca. I’d never forgive you if he harmed our baby. Never!”