38. Don't Take Her From Me!
**Conroy**
The closest siblings ever.
That’s how I liked to refer to us as a child. We had a better relationship than most children and their older siblings. People saw how much she loved me.
When Mom or Dad scolded me, she would be the first person I would think about running to, crying. Her hugs and coaxing comforted me in the same way that a mother’s would. It felt great knowing that someone was always there for me no matter what.
Our favorite thing was going out for ice cream. She would always lick my face although I knew there was no ice cream there like she claimed. I giggled. Sometimes people give us weird looks. I didn’t mind. To me, the things my sister did were funny or simply how she expressed how much she cared about me.
But the little book I had in my hands betrayed the image I built of her. Suddenly certain events in my past made sense. And I hated the way it did. Despite me not wanting it to be true, the truth was staring me right in the face, forcing me to stare into the eyes of reality.
All those weird quirks she had such as crawling into my bed and begging me to hold her. Those “jokes” about her being the only woman I will ever love. How being near me was giving her a better feeling than her boyfriends ever did. I’ve gotten so used to it that I thought these actions were a part of her personality. After all, my amazing sister is very affectionate and likes to tease me a lot.
However, flipping through her journal made me see the darker parts of her mind that she had hidden away from me. When my parents warned me against spending time with her in my teen years after they sent her away for college, I thought they were overreacting. She can’t be so busy with studying that she can’t spare a few minutes to say “hi”. Their answers never satisfied me. Now I know what they were afraid of.
The statue of the perfect sister I thought I had cracked. The pieces fell bit by bit. Eventually, all that was left was a pile of dust made from broken happy memories.
That’s why she got upset whenever I brought up Ella. She… she got rid of her. And our parents…
All because of me?
The journal fell to the floor as both my arms spread out in order to shield Jasmine from an angered Bianca.
“She didn’t kill them,” I said. “I did. She did all of those things because of how she felt about me. It’s not entirely her fault that this was how things went down. If she didn’t have these feelings for me then she would have been normal.”
“That’s the one thing you can’t decide, Conroy!” Bianca shouted. “She doesn’t need your help, she needs to be locked in prison. You shielding her like this is only going to make things worse. Don’t you remember the things she did that you just read about?”
My voice remained stuck in my throat. How could I forget when I just saw it for myself? But I must hate myself more than I think, because despite all that…
“You’re wrong. Just hear me out.” I lowered my arms. “I’ll take responsibility for her. Just don’t tell anyone about what happened. I’ll bring her somewhere far away and you’ll never see her again. Heck, you’ll never see either of us again. We’d just be a faded memory.”
Avery couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying, are you? Come back to your senses.”
I shook my head. “I know that she has… problems. But she’s the only person I have left. You can’t take her away from me. If you do, I’ll go back to having nothing, and having no one.”
“That’s not true!” Avery tried to push against my statement, but I rushed in before he could speak another sentence.
“You don’t know what it’s like, Avery!” I spoke so loudly that my voice rang out across the construction site. “You have your family! You had plenty of opportunities to be with girls that loved you but you turned them down! You did what you felt was right for you regardless of what anybody said. So why do you have objections when I’m doing the same exact thing?”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on edge. I froze for what must have been the hundredth time tonight. My wolf told me to get out of the way. Something bad was behind us. If I don’t move now, we might get ripped to pieces.
I gingerly turned my head. Jasmine’s fangs were on full display. Her eyes glowed, adding to her sharp, furious expression. She started growing.
From what I could tell, it’s very rare for a Lycan to be born to two werewolves. Firstly those werewolves would need to be carrying the gene. Next, all you would have to do is pray to the moon gods that your family will be chosen to bring a more powerful creature than themselves into the world. When Jasmine was born, it was a pleasant surprise for my parents. Neither of them knew they had the gene. They hoped that Jasmine being a Lycan would make life a bit easier for her.
As her clothes ripped, I thought that my parents heavily underestimated the effects it would have on our lives.
“Jasmine, they will leave us alone! You don’t have to do anything-”
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you and scatter your bones!”
She sounded like a monster to me. Jasmine didn’t direct that threat at me, but at Bianca and Avery, with her vision locked onto Bianca.
Jasmine pushed me to the side with one sweep of her hand. I ended up being thrown several feet back and landed on my ass. Her hand also left claw marks on my stomach, causing me to bleed. The wound started to heal pretty quickly but the phantom pain was still there. I grapple with what just happened. Not only did she injure me, but now she was about to kill my ex-wife and best bud.
She stood over Bianca who stared her down despite being shorter in her human form. “I should've given you more poison to make sure you died,” Jasmine growled. “We can fix that.”
Jasmine raised her hand, prepared to slash Bianca in half. Avery rushed forward. I scrambled to get to my feet, but my knees wouldn’t work. Dammit! Why did they have to pick this time to be worthless?
Bianca released a calm sigh. “So this is what you’ve chosen? Sorry, but I won’t stand back and let you do whatever you want. Not this time.”
Her jaws extended. Jasmine swung her arm. She missed her target and Bianca launched into the air and bit out a chunk of her neck.