The Pretty Psycho (St. Vasili’s Academy #2)

28. Vega

28

VEGA

Life passed us by when we weren't looking, when we weren't paying attention, and for most of mine, I've absolutely failed to pay attention. There was a massive difference between living and actually feeling alive, and now that I knew what it was, I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to go back to that miserable existence where I didn't care if I lived or died.

My lack of caring shaped me into the perfect soldier, but it also created a shitty human being.

Apathy was dangerous if we didn't keep it in check, and right now I actually wished I was as apathetic as I used to be.

I didn't try stopping the tears streaming down my cheeks. I didn't try to stop the scream that tore from my throat, from somewhere deep inside my soul, calling for the man I loved as the gunshot tore through the air, shattering the temporary peace we had created and destroying our little bubble.

My eyes snapped closed as I struggled to keep my soul in my body, because I knew what that gunshot meant. But the sound of a body dropping down on the ground right next to me with a groan was not what I expected to hear.

I looked to the side, seeing Dain on the ground moaning in pain. There was a millisecond of silence, then all hell broke loose.

I snapped to action, not waiting one more minute, and before Dain could react, before he could shake off whatever just happened, I jumped at him, taking a hold of the gun that was now lying right next to him.

I could hear the sounds of fighting somewhere behind me. I could hear Adrian's voice, as clear as day, strong, fierce, but I couldn't look at him, because the man in front of me deserved all my attention right now.

Dain—Tyler—whatever you wanted to call him—laid underneath me, his dark, golden eyes wide, filled with fear, while blood oozed from his shoulder—a telltale sign of a gunshot wound. I looked up, only to see Yolanda standing not too far away from us, her entire body trembling, holding the gun high in the air.

Her lips opened and closed, but no words came out.

I had no idea what just happened. I had no idea how they failed to see her, but Dain was so sure of his victory, so sure of the positive outcome for himself with his men and women, that he failed to pay attention to his surroundings.

"Vega," the man underneath me croaked, but I didn't want to hear his wretched voice. I didn't want to hear a single word coming from his filthy mouth.

He'd had enough time to poison not only my mind but the minds of those that decided to follow him. I didn't even want any answers—I didn't need to know. What I needed was revenge.

What I needed was to remove every trace of him from this world.

My hand wrapped around the hilt of the knife I'd hidden inside my boot, pulling it out swiftly before pressing it to his throat. Dain's eyebrows shot up, surprise evident on his face, because somewhere in his sick mind he actually thought I still cared about him.

Somewhere in his sick mind he thought what he did to me was okay.

"I used to love you," I bit out. "I loved you more than I had ever loved anyone else, because you were my family. You were the only person I had in my life."

"Vega," he mumbled.

"I used to dream for the days when you would come home, just so I wouldn't be alone anymore. Just to keep the monsters at bay because you were my favorite person. You were the only one I needed all those nights and days. I fucking mourned you!" I thundered just as a gunshot went off.

My head swiveled to the side, seeing Adrian standing above the guy whose name I'd completely forgotten, but it didn't even matter. He betrayed us. He decided to work with Dain instead of Gabriela and us.

Adrian breathed heavily, holding his side, but when he turned toward me, when he looked at me, I knew we would be okay. I knew we would survive all of this.

Dain tried moving away from me, but if he thought my momentary lapse of concentration meant he could run, he thought wrong.

My hand gripped his hair, pulling harder than when he had pulled mine, earning a yelp from his fucking lying lips.

"You were my brother," I gritted out, uncaring if Adrian wanted to finish the job or if we needed to keep him for questioning. "You were my family."

"V-Vega," he whimpered like a motherfucking bitch, showing me what a weak man he truly was. "Please. I didn't mean to. Please."

"You didn't mean to rape me?" I asked, laughing maniacally. "You didn't mean to chain me to a fucking wall, leaving me there to die? You didn't fucking mean to destroy what little sanity I had left with your reappearance and all those murders?" I was breathing heavily, as if I had run a marathon, but I couldn't stop.

I wouldn't fucking stop.

"I cried a thousand tears over your death. I promised myself I would destroy those who dared to harm you. Years, motherfucking years, spent in agony because I had no idea what happened to you!"

The blade of my knife dug into his skin, breaking it, letting the blood flow, and I welcomed it with open arms because we both knew where this was leading to.

"You do not deserve to live, Dain Zylla." He cried out the moment those words tumbled over my lips. "You do not deserve to breathe this air. You did not deserve the pain I felt over you." I leaned down, right toward his ear, smiling for the first time since he caught me. "I was never yours, Dain. My body, my mind, my soul." I chuckled. "They always belonged to me and me only. It is my choice who I share them with. It is my fucking choice who I give them to, and you were never even an option."

I pulled back just in time to see the craziness seeping into his eyes, and just as he opened his mouth, I pulled the knife back and stabbed him straight through the eye, relishing the sounds of agony tearing from his lungs.

I pulled the knife out of his eye socket and aimed for the other one, while my other hand held his throat, choking him, cutting off the air he never deserved to breathe. He took parts of me that weren't his to take.

He stole what little innocence I clung to, shattering everything I had. He stained my soul with his tar and I would never forgive him for that.

My arm went up and down, stabbing him, destroying the face that haunted my nightmares, when a strong pair of arms wrapped around my chest, pulling me away from him.

"No!" I screeched. "I need him gone! He needs to pay!"

"Shhhh," the voice I would recognize even in the darkest pits of hell soothed. "He's gone. He's finally gone, Bambi."

Adrian's voice felt like a balm to the wounds Dain had inflicted, but my brain still couldn't register that the threat was gone.

I fought against him, trying to get back to Dain, even though I knew, I fucking knew he was gone.

His face was completely destroyed. His chest was flat, no longer rising with breath, but I needed to make sure. I had to make sure.

Adrian turned me around, but my mind couldn't recognize him. Not yet.

My body knew who he was. My heart survived all of this for him, but my mind…

The hand that held the knife pressed it against Adrian's throat now, and instead of stopping me and overpowering me as I knew he could, he let me do it. He let me cut him, and only once I saw the blood dripping down his throat did I look up, finally realizing what I had done.

"Oh my God," I breathed out, dropping the knife and pressing my hands against the cut on his throat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I cried out. "I don't know what?—"

"Hey, hey." He wrapped his hands around my wrists, holding me in place. "It's okay. You're okay."

The darkness in his eyes didn't scare me. It felt like home, like sunshine after a decade of rain, and without waiting, I jumped up, straight into his arms, wrapping my legs around his middle and burying my face in the crook of his neck. His hands went underneath my butt, murmuring to soothe me, letting me exorcize all the demons sitting on my soul.

For the first time in my life, I wept for the little girl who was left behind by the person she thought of as family.

I wept for the loss of my innocence and all those years where I let them control me, use me, and worst of all, abuse me because I didn't know better.

I fucking cried from the fear still coursing through my veins, because for a moment there I thought I had lost him. I thought Dain had killed him.

His “I love you" felt like a goodbye, and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this man.

"I'm here. I'm okay. You are okay too."

"It's over," I whimpered. "It's finally over."

"Yeah, well," he slowly pushed back, letting me look at him, "it’s almost over. Yolanda is still standing there, baby, and she looks… Well, she looks terrified."

Fuck.

I completely forgot about Yolanda. As a matter of fact, I completely forgot about everything.

We were still under attack. We still had no idea where the rest of the teams were. We were supposed to check in with Gabriela and Ethan but I had no idea what time it was and if they were even still alive. Why weren’t they here already? I would’ve thought the gunshots would have alerted them of our whereabouts.

I had no fucking idea which people we could truly trust and if any of those in Gabriela and Ethan's groups were actually on our side.

I slowly slid down his body, turning around, only to see a pale Yolanda, still holding that gun in her hand. She kept staring at Dain's mangled body, and she was still trembling from head to toe.

I didn't want to spook her, but I had to understand what happened. Where the fuck did she learn how to shoot? I thought she had no idea how to defend herself, how to handle guns. What was I missing?

"Yolanda?" I called out, approaching her slowly as if I was confronting a wild animal. "Put the gun down, Yo," I almost whispered, trying to keep my voice calm. It was only then that I saw the blood coating her front, her white shirt almost entirely red. Her face had streaks of crimson, as did her hair, but I couldn't see if she was hurt or if it was somebody else's blood. "Yo, what the hell happened to you?"

She suddenly looked up at me, her blue eyes filled with tears.

"Babe," I said. "Put the gun down." She looked at the weapon in her hand and as if it only had registered then, she dropped it to the ground with a cry, taking a step back quickly.

Adrian swooped in, taking the gun from the ground and switching on the safety. I rushed toward her, placing my hands to her shoulders. "What happened, Yolanda? Talk to me." She started mumbling incoherently, barely making any sense. "Please, Yo. Tell me what happened."

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, before looking at me again.

"It was all my fault," she murmured, when the floodgates opened, her entire body shaking. "He's dead!" she wailed.

"Dain?" I asked, more confused than ever. "Yes, he?—"

"No," she shook her head. "Jax." Her blue eyes connected with mine. "Jax is dead."