Smother - Sire #1 (Patreon Book)

Chapter 4 - Part 2

"The better you know your enemy the better equipped you will be to eliminate them."

Eliminate sounded better than murder but it did nothing to the dread that had uncurled in my stomach. The girl was still watching me and I couldn't meet her gaze.

"Can they kill us?" the boy with buzz cut was asking as he studied the Scav. He was asking the questions no one else seemed brave enough to ask.

Honestly he looked like the only who looked physically strong enough to pull off what was expected of us. He looked like he saw the inside of gym regularly. It also helped that he was tall. I wouldn't want to take him on. I let my gaze move over the group studying each Sire hoping to see someone who looked as lost as I felt. Although they were all quiet, none of them looked as scared as I felt.

"Yes."

I swallowed.

"Your first test will require you to kill a Scav." The sound of Silas' voice from beside me startled me. I put my hand to my chest.

How could we be expected to kill something when we had no training? Did they want us all to fail? Even buzz cut guy seemed to be daunted by the task propositioned.

"This test is not to beat the Scav in combat. The Scav will be restrained. All you need to do is eliminate them with an adrenalin shot. It works faster if you inject them directly in the heart," Silas explained walking to the centre of the glass with his gaze on the Scav on the other side of the glass. "Killing isn't for the weak. If you can't kill you can't be a Sire."

His warning was ominous.

He turned to face the group. His eyes moved to me. Fear that he would see my weakness made me shift my focus to the floor.

There was no way I could do what they asked. They might as well do away with me now but I didn't have the courage to tell them that. I was a coward.

It was only a matter of time before they discovered I wasn't someone who could kill.

"Avery," Silas said my name and I knew this was the end. They would see that I wasn't strong enough for this life.

I lifted my gaze to meet his. All eyes were on me.

"You can go first."

My eyes shifted to the Scav's gaze. Her eyes pleaded for help and I knew that this wasn't going to end well for me.

The door to the glass room opened and the Scav backed away from them. The two Vampires caught her and she struggled against them but they over powered her easily to fasten her arms to the wall before they bent down to fasten her ankles. The Scav began to cry.

"Avery," Silas said his voice louder, catching my attention away from the distraught girl. I couldn't think of her as Scav when she was so distraught and rightly so. Did she know what was to come? The thought turned my stomach.

"If you cannot take the life you will be severely punished," he warned.

"I..." I stammered, wanting to tell him I couldn't do it and agonizing of the consequences of not doing it.

He moved closer.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" The message in his eyes was clear. There was no room for failure and I did there would be severe repercussions.

I shook my head, feeling any courage I had mustered evaporate into nothing leaving me with the daunting task.

Silas moved to the door and turned to me. I took a shaky step and then another. I followed him out the room to the door to the next room. The two Vampires who had tied up the Scav stood guard on either side. They were both tall and intimidating, there was nothing warm about them at all.

I expected Silas to open the door but he didn't. He stepped to the side and ushered me forward.

My hands were sweating and my heart racing. I swallowed as my hand went to the handle even though I didn't want to go inside.

I took a breath before I opened the door. When I entered the room the girl tied the wall began to cry. "Please...please."

Her voice was familiar. The recognition stopped me mid step and I knew I wouldn't be able to go through with it. It was the girl I had heard beg when she had been dragged to the room across from me. It reminded me not of the Scav who was tied to the wall but the human girl who had been infected. She was like me except she hadn't become a Sire. That was the only difference and that to me wasn't enough.

She could have been me and that stole the air from my lungs.

I stood fixed, unable to move.

"Avery," Silas warned from behind me but even his cold cruel voice couldn't scare me into motion.

"I can't," I whispered trying to fight back the emotion the girl's tears sparked inside of me.

How could I be expected to kill someone who reminded me of my own hell. It wasn't her fault just like it hadn't been mine. I had no idea how I had been infected. I had no idea who was responsible. Not that it mattered, I couldn't go back in time and change it.

And I couldn't do this.

"You have to," Silas warned. He shoved the syringe into my hand.

I stared own at the object unable to tighten my hand around it. I looked up the girl who had the tears streaming down her face. Even though her eyes continued to shimmer a vibrant red to me she was a human girl in a situation not of her own choosing.

I squeezed my eyes shut when the panic became too much, making it more difficult to breathe.

"Do it." The warning from Silas was whispered but the impact would have been the same had he yelled it at me.

I stumbled forward trying to grip the weapon that I had to use to kill the girl but my hand shook so badly I dropped it. Hurriedly, I bent down to pick it up again.

"Please, I just want to go home..." The girl cried, shaking her head. Her tears dripping from her chin.

Home was far away from the hell I had woken up in just a few days ago.

I chanced a look back over my shoulder as I took a small tentative step toward my target. Silas was watching me intently with his arms crossed. The gold in his eyes deepened and I looked away.

"Do it," I whispered to myself, hoping I could build up enough strength to go through with it.

It was either her life or mine. I managed to get close enough to her.

"Please...just let me go...please." She pulled frantically against her restraints. The sound of chains echoed through me. "I won't hurt...anyone."

Her chest rose and fell with each agonized breath.

I held the injection tighter in my grasp, it was painful. I closed my eyes as I held my hand up to put it into her heart.

But no matter how much I chanted in my mind that I had to do this, I couldn't do it. I couldn't end her life. I wasn't human anymore but killing her would kill off any of my humanity that I still held..

To them she was the enemy, but to me she was a frightened girl who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If I killed her it would make me a murderer, not a soldier. I couldn't live with it on my conscience no matter what Silas threatened me with.

I gripped the injection tighter before I let out a deep trembling breath and I slowly turned to Silas. I walked to him and handed him the injection.

"I can't do it."

He took it for me. "Then I have no choice but to punish you."

I knew whatever they had planned was going to be bad, and I was more scared than ever.

"Take her," he called out to the guards outside.

In a flash both Vampires appeared on either side of me. I didn't fight them. There was no use. They roughly led me from the room and I hung my head unable to look anyone in the eye.

To them I was weak, but to me it was the bravest I had ever been.