Chapter 26

Ren didn't wait for anything when the last bell rang. He bolted out of his seat and raced out the back entrance of the school as fast as he could. The last hour of school had been full of tension and anxiety. He hadn't been able to focus on anything—though neither had anyone else. They were all talking about the riot that had broken out around the school. There was talk now that it wasn't just here. There were outbreaks everywhere.

He shoved the backdoor open. He froze when he wasn't greeted by an empty lot. Standing with one foot on the curb was Regan. He had a cigarette between his lips, unlit, and he was snapping a lighter open and close. He raised a brow when Ren stumbled out the door.

"Is Darrien with you?"

Ren panted. "What? No."

Regan looked him up and down. "Hm."

Ren looked around. He didn't trust Regan to be alone. Sam and Ollie were probably hiding around the corner, waiting for Regan to signal to them that it was go time to beat Ren up again. They'd done it before. He highly doubted they had become better people in the short five years.

"Have you heard about what they've been saying?" He plucked the cigarette out of his mouth. He put it away in his pocket with the lighter.

Ren wondered if it was all for show to make him threatened. It was having the opposite affect. He couldn't think Regan seriously when he was trying to be high and mighty. It just it obvious that he needed back up to do anything.

"Vampires aren't welcome here anymore. Your disgusting kind is going to be cut out of this town like the parasites you are."

The sickness came back. Ren ground his teeth. Buried under his fear was anger and rage. It was red hot, begging for a chance to show who Regan was messing with.

Regan stepped up onto the small sidewalk that wrapped around the building. Ren held his ground. His eyes flickered to the forest, to the path that he took everyday. As much as he wanted to break out into a full on sprint, he couldn't get his legs to move. He was standing in cement, slowly sinking down. There was no connection to his legs from his brain. He was trapped in his shell of a body as Regan came closer.

Regan glared up at Ren. He was shorter, smaller, and it was a wonder how there could be so much anger trapped in such a tiny body.

"Remember what I did to you?" A smirk stretched across his face.

Ren's stomach lurched.

Regan frowned. "I should do it again. Are you still the same pussy? Are you going to fight back or are you going to curl into a ball like last time?"

He spat on the ground. The wad of spit landed on Ren's shoe. He looked down. He almost gagged.

He turned his face away, eyes staring at the still full parking lot. The chants were still going on. He hadn't been able to zone out of that. It was becoming too much all at once again. His heart was pounding in his chest. His throat was restricting and his fingers were twitching.

This time, the surge of emotions was too much. He could feel Regan's disgust and hate. He loathed Ren so much for something that Ren couldn't control. But there was a different level of hate. It was blanketed in warmth and fear that didn't make sense with anything else that Ren felt.

His eyes widened when he realized what it meant.

He looked back at Regan.

Regan was just as surprised. His brows furrowed as Ren looked at him with a hard gaze. He was seeing Regan in a different light. He now understood just why Regan had made him a target.

"I see," Ren said softly. He didn't tried to hide the hardness in his voice. "You hate yourself."

Regan flinched like Ren had slapped him. There was a change, a flicker, on his face where he wasn't hiding behind a cold mask of hate. Ren saw briefly who was under that mask and it was a scared boy that didn't know how to love himself. As cheesy as it sounded in Ren's head, that was the only way he could explain it directly to himself. The emotions that were flowing from Regan and into him were toxic. He couldn't stand them.

And just like he couldn't stand Regan for this reason, it made sense that Regan could stand Ren for the same.

For just this moment, Ren understood the turmoil that Regan was going through. He still didn't like him, still thought that he was a horrible person, but at least he had a reason for it. At least he wasn't an entire psycho for nothing.

However, Ren realized that he'd made a big mistake.

Regan's face turned dark. His lips turned down so low that it morphed his already ugly face into the most ghoulish face that Ren had ever seen.

"The fuck did you just say?" Regan spat the words out, not looking for an actual answer.

He shoved Ren back, his palms slamming hard into Ren's shoulders. Caught off guard, Ren didn't react. He felt back until he hit the brick wall. He was still reeling by Regan's emotions. They were some of the strongest that he'd ever felt. It was like he was throwing them onto Ren, forcing him to feel the pain that Regan was going through. The hate and the disgust were too much. They clogged his nose and lungs like smoke.

Like a volcano, his body was home to something much more deadly than what Regan was throwing at him. Regan's anger and hatred were no match to what was rising up inside of Ren. The thing, the beast within him, was rising to the surface.

He could smell Regan's blood. It didn't matter that he wasn't bleeding. Ren could smell it in his veins and the animal was so thirsty.

A switch was flipped inside of him. His mind turned off, becoming numb to the pain and the guilt he'd been feeling since before he could remember. All that was left to drive his body was the need to take it out on everyone. He wanted revenge. He wanted to make everyone hurt just like he'd been hurt.

Regan's eyes widened. But Ren didn't care to find out what he was surprised by.

He punched Regan.

It happened faster than he could think, but he didn't want to think. He was swirling through a mist of rage. He was blind to right and wrong. All he could feel was excitement in his veins, the power that he felt when his fist hit Regan's cheek.

The pain shot up his arm. He barely felt it. It was like a pinprick.

Regan stumbled back. He tripped down the slight slope of the sidewalk. His hand covered his left cheek. He was staring wide eyed at Ren, mouth opening and closing like he was trying to come up with any words.

He pulled his hand back, stared at his fingers. He stared at them for a long time. His eyes were no longer surprised. They were processing what had happened, but he wasn't quite there. Ren knew that feeling. He understood it.

Regan dropped his hand. He turned his cold gaze to Ren once more. Their eyes locked.

Regan bared his teeth. "You're going to fucking regret that."

He charged toward Ren. He collided with him, shoving Ren's back even more into the bricks. His head slammed back with impact. He let out a groan, but the pain wasn't as bad as it should have been.

He let out an uncontrollable laugh. The laugh wasn't his own. It was manic, high pitched, and sounded like it was coming from the pits of hell.

"That's it?"

Regan growled.

He kneed Ren in the gut.

Ren didn't try to cover up the grunt. He was still laughing through it all. It wasn't as loud of a laugh as it had been before. He gasped between the little chuckles which made it sound even more demonic.

Tears pooled in his eyes. "That's it?"

Regan's face was red now. He looked like he was about to pull a vein in his forehead. That just made Ren laugh harder.

He could take the pain. He could take whatever Regan was throwing at him and he didn't think there was anything he could do that would truly cause Ren pain. For some reason, he wasn't as blood thirsty as he first thought. The need for revenge had subsided. He wanted Regan to get angry. He wanted to feel it coursing through him and devour it. It wasn't enough compared to blood, but it was like his body still needed it.

A grin stretched across his face. It felt like someone was stretching his cheeks, pulling his skin tight, and forcing him the smile onto him. He was receding back into the cage that was his body. The dark thing inside of him was taking over him. It had full control and he was a passenger to whole thing.

Regan threw his fist. He was aiming directly at Ren's stomach, but before his fist could make its target, Ren kicked his leg out.

His foot slammed into Regan's hip, sending him back and toppling over. He sprawled out onto the ground.

He jumped to his feet in a second. He wasn't giving up. Both Ren and the dark thing were both enamored by that. Regan was a fighter that was for sure. It was only too bad that he was a shithead.

Regan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Just at that moment, when Ren thought the real fight was about to begin, someone shouted. It wasn't a shout from the marchers.

It was Darrien.

His face was flushed and by the furious look in his eyes, he wasn't happy.

"Finally," Regan spat out. "I've been looking for you."

Darrien looked between the two of them. "What is going on?"

Ren pressed his lips together. Regan gave him a side eye before he looked back at Darrien.

"What do you think is going on?"

There was something manipulative about the way he phrased the question. The hair on the back of Ren's neck stood up. He tried once more to gauge Regan's reaction to Darrien, but it was too hard to read.

Darrien tilted his head. He looked Regan up and down.

He turned his gaze to Ren. His face was calm, but he was livid on the inside. Ren had no idea what had happened for Darrien to be this pissed off.

This was definitely not good. These two hot headed people were right in front of him and with it mixing with the chanting crowd, he was about to burst because of all the negative energy.

He didn't know if it was good or bad that he didn't have control of himself. He just hoped that he didn't do something horrific. As much as he didn't like Regan, he didn't want to kill him. He didn't want to kill anyone.

"If you don't mind—"

Darrien grabbed Regan's arm and dragged him out to the parking lot.

"Let go of me!" Regan tried to pull his arm out of Darrien's grasp, but Darrien was stronger. "What the fuck?"

Ren and the dark thing were both caught off guard by what had happened. He watched as Darrien shoved Regan into his car. He said something to Regan that Ren couldn't hear, but it caused Regan to stop fighting. He was glaring daggers at Darrien though Darrien didn't seem at all bothered by it.

Ren was left confused as they drove out of the parking lot. But he was also glad that he didn't have deal with Regan anymore.

It wasn't that Regan had been relentless with his taunts and beating.

It was because Ren had been afraid that one more shove and Regan would have been dead on the asphalt.