A V E R Y

Since I'd heard Elijah slip up and nearly call Luke 'son', I had had a feeling that something was up between them; even then, when I heard Luke himself declare that he was Mason's brother, it shocked me to the core.

Luke. Mason.

Luke and Mason were brothers.

My heart ripped apart when I saw Mason's face. The emotions playing across it were angry, confused, shocked - and then betrayal. He looked close to the boy I had first seen in the diner, beaten and bruised with a dead look in his eyes.

'What do you mean?' he rasped, 'What do you mean he's my brother? How did I not know?'

Elijah shrugged, smiling at his torment. If I wasn't beaten up, I would have slapped that smile off of his stupidly perfect face myself. Smug ass hole. 'Why would I have told you, Mason? It was nothing to do with you, and plus, wasn't this reveal so much better and dramatic than me just telling you outright?'

Both me and Mason blinked at him. How could he be making light of this situation when it wasn't funny at all? The man was literally asking to be punched.

'If I didn't think it before, now I'd definitely call you a bastard, Elijah,' I said, glowering at him. 'You have no decency at all, do you? No wonder two of your sons turned against you.'

Elijah chuckled, 'Avery, darling, if I didn't see the disgusting relationship you and Mason before, I'd be sure of it now. And I will end it.'

I scoffed. 'You can try.'

Mason tensed. I gripped my knives harder, and swallowed.

Stall.

I had to find a way to stall and pray that the pieces of my plan fell into place quick enough to get us out of here.

'I've heard so much about you, Mason.' Luke said, smiling. Mason snorted, twirling a gun in his hand as he looked his brother up and down.

'I haven't heard about you much more than the colourful vocabulary Avery uses to describe you, and I don't want to know more, anyway. You are no brother of mine.'

'Dickhead,' I hissed. Mason's mouth turned up slightly at the corners and I hid a smile to myself. 

Luke's smile fell away. Mason turned to his father with fire burning in his eyes and snarled. 'You cheated on Mum? I'd say I was surprised, Father, but at this point, you're sick enough that nothing fazes me anymore.'

'I loved your mother, Mason.'

'Enough to cheat? What a loyal dad you were. Did you even think of me and Leo? Did you care?' His voice broke on the last word and my heart went out to him. 

All Mason had wanted was to had a good dad - I knew that, and I hadn't been close to him for that long. He wanted a Father that would raise him properly, not one that pushed him into this life of violence and blood and money.

No child should have to go through that. Ever.

Elijah raised his finger in a warning sign, that cloying scent of honey drifting towards me from the metres that separated us. 'Do not make a mockery of me, Mason. I raised you to be strong and capable, like your brother Luke here. I thought you would take my place as the head of the Damnation, but it is clear that you are too weak.' He paused for dramatic effect. I rolled my eyes. 'Instead, Luke will take over.'

I laughed, ignoring the pain in my side. Mason smirked at Luke, who had the decency to look a little confused. 'I can't say that I'm jealous.'

Luke's face cleared up and he looked at his dad in happiness. 'Thank you, Father. I will not let you down. I will stand tall and fight in the face of our enemies. I will not fall.'

I yawned. 'Yeah, you will.' 

And with a wink at Mason, I flung my knife at Luke, my aim perfect. He ducked with a shout, expecting to be hit on the upper body, but my knife sailed true and sunk into his calf with a sickening thud, that for once, I enjoyed. 

He deserved it with all his egotistical words. 

'You sick sadist, Avery!' Luke screamed, shrieking at the knife embedded deep in his leg. 'What the hell is wrong with you? You want me to bleed to death?'

I grinned. 'You know, I wouldn't actually mind that.' My smile dropped, and from the look on everyone's faces except for Mason's, I knew my eyes were full of cold fury and rage. 'Whilst you bleed over there, in pain and unable to walk properly, think about what you did to all those girls. Those girls that you helped to kidnap, even indirectly, to traffic. You hurt them.' I smirked. 'So now I'm going to hurt you, too.'

Luke's face dropped. He looked away, perhaps from shame or anger, and I loosed a breath I didn't know I had been holding in. He hissed and pulled out the knife in one fluid movement, groaning as he did so.

Good. He was in pain.

Elijah's voice broke the tense atmosphere of the room as he said sharply, 'Enough, both of you. Luke, hold your tongue, and Miss Green - please control your hands. I would hate for more of your knives to go flying into any more of my men.'

'Let her go, then.' Mason said, crossing his arms defiantly. 'Let her go and we can all go home happy - she gets her sister, and you can do whatever the hell you want with GRAVITY.'

'As I explained to your little girlfriend already, I cannot do that. Though I like a bit of competition, I inevitably always win. So she either joins us or dies.' Elijah lifted his chin. 'The choice is hers.'

Beside me, Sienna had begun to shake with tremors, her face pale. She was in shock, and everybody talking about killing each other probably didn't help.

Come to think of it, neither did my stabbing people, but whatever.

I rubbed a hand over her arm and clasped her hand, my grip tight. She swallowed and gave me a shaky smile, her eyes wide.

I needed to get her out of here.

Where the hell was Sophie?

I forced myself to school my features into a smirk. 'Well, Elijah, it seems to me that we're all standing here doing fuck all, so let's speed it up a little.' I cleared my throat. I had to get this out fast - my head was heavy and aching, and I was starting to feel like I'd pass out. 'Let us go, and I swear to you, I will stop hunting for you. I will leave you to do whatever the hell you want, if only you do the same for us.'

Elijah clenched his jaw. For a moment, I thought he'd agree, for the sake of Mason, but he scowled instead. 'You already have my answer, Avery. Take it or leave it.'

I sighed. Pulling up the rest of the strength I had left, I stood up a little straighter, pushing Sienna behind me. The only thing I could do now was fight.

But Elijah didn't have to know about that.

'I accept your offer.' I said, 'I will join your ranks if you honour our agreement.'

Mason breathed out a sigh of disbelief and started to speak, but I shook my head at him, wincing a little when I saw the heartbroken expression on his face.

Elijah tipped his head in response, and I turned away to speak to Sienna. I gripped her by the shoulders, forcing her to look into my eyes. 'Listen to me. I need to you to get out of here. Get out of here, go to the top floor, and Maddie or the twins will be there. Tell them I told you to get out. They'll take you home.'

My sister's eyes blazed with indignation. 'No! I will not leave you, Avery. You're my baby sister. I'll stay and fight.'

My patience was wearing away as I spoke. 'With what?' I snapped, 'You have no idea what this situation is, or how to defend yourself. Get the hell out of here before they kill you, Sienna.'

She blanched at that, and stepped away towards the door. I breathed a sigh of relief. 'I'll go, but I want to see you in one piece - safe. You promise you'll get out, too.'

'Promise. Now go!'

It wasn't the first lie I had told my sister, so I didn't feel any guilt. She never would've stayed if I told her the truth. She scuttled out of the room without a backwards glance, and my chest lightened a little.

At least she was safe.

I began to walk towards Elijah, my focus entirely on him. I paused, stopping a few metres away from him, and glared. 

'I will not join your ranks. That is never going to happen. So bring it on, Elijah.' I bent my knees a little and flexed my fingers. 'Try and kill me.'

Elijah chuckled. 'I have to admit, Miss Green, you have a lot of nerve, challenging me like this.'

'You think I'm scared of you, old man?' 

His face hardened. 'Who are you calling old man?'

'Stop it, Father. Please. Don't do this.' Mason begged, pointing his finger at his dad in warning. 'I will never forgive you if you do.'

Elijah's lip curled up in a sneer. 'You think I care, son?'

Luke sneered from the floor. I fought the urge to kick him.

Jesus. High-stress situations really brought out the violence in me.

'Leave it, Mason. He will not listen to reason now.' I turned to Elijah. 'Bring it on.'

I planted my feet firmly on the ground and breathed in through my nose. All of my lessons spent training and fighting and defending lead up to this. This moment. 

Elijah unbuttoned his suit jacket with a savage grin and let it fall into the arms of one of his men. He pulled out the various guns strapped to him and dropped them. 'No weapons. We make this fair.'

I swallowed. Nodded. Already I was at a disadvantage. 'Fine.' I let my hands loosen and didn't look to see where mine had landed. Not only was he perfectly fine and I was injured, but he also had more energy - I'd been fighting for hours, almost ready to give up, whereas he had probably been sitting on his ass all day.

We walked towards each other slowly. I watched his every step, every movement that his hands made, every blink. We stopped a few feet away from each other.

'To the death?' He asked. 'You leave no other choice, Miss Green.'

Mason growled. 'Let me take her place.'

I snapped my head towards him. 'No.'

Elijah smiled, shaking his head. 'This battle is between the girl and I, Mason. Shut your mouth or leave.'

I swallowed. I could do this. In fact, I still had a few tricks up my sleeve anyway. 

We nodded at each other, and suddenly he was lunging for my neck, faster than I could've anticipated. I dodged, slamming my fist into his stomach and moving behind him. Elijah snarled, coughing a little.

This time I went in first, kicking out with one heel towards his groin. Elijah sneered and moved out of the way, knocking my leg aside with a slap of his hand. 

I pushed on the offensive, and just as I was about to land a hard punch to his jaw, a piercing sound of something crashing came from above. I scrambled back and shielded my face as glass rained down on us.

This was either salvation - or my damnation.

***

Yesss another chapter! Tensions are rising... 

Speaking of tension, who could've predicted that Luke and Mason were brothers?! I mean, even I didn't think of it until awhile ago.

Avery's story is a few chapters away from being over, and I, for one, am sorry to see it go. I loved the plot and the idea, but me being a little older now - I hate the way I wrote most of it. So the best I can do is write a decent ending 😚

See you soon!

-M