Waiting for the End

[Alex]

Sophia Anderson watched the gates to the Anderson estate open as she pulled up to them. She sighed as she waited for them to open enough to pull her electric Kia into the long, winding driveway towards the garage. This was the last place she had wanted to be any night. But tonight was her best friend Kayla's graduation party, so it was even worse than usual. Normally she'd have told her mother Tonya to get bent. But her mother had been insistent. The police were there. It had to do with Sophie's missing father. They wanted to speak to her and it had to be tonight. Sophie briefly wondered why the police didn't visit her sorority house - the fucking FBI certainly had no issue paying house calls - or why they hadn't contacted her. But her mother's nagging and the worry she could wind up on the wrong side of the law won out. Sophie told Kayla she hoped she'd be able to show up later that night and set off for home.

Sophie had tried not to think about the last few weeks as she made her way over. About all the strangeness that had come over campus. About Marcus' desperate pleas for help and his creepy fucktoy Moxie. Or her missing father. But as she pulled up to the estate she was met with another strangeness. She saw her mother's car parked in the garage. But behind it was another vehicle - a white, unmarked van she had never seen before. Did the police come in this? Why would they show up the Anderson estate in a rape-mobile? She fished in her purse to make sure her pepper spray was on-hand before getting out of her car and making her way to the front of the house. She tries the door and found it locked. Why was the door locked if they had wanted her to come over? Sophie rolled her eyes and fished into her purse and pulled out her house keys. She opened the door to an empty living room.

And a blow to the back of her head. One that made her whole world suddenly go dark.

Sophie didn't know how much later she woke up. But she did so to an agonizing headache. She tried opened her eyes, but the world remained black. She tries to speak, but a gag was in her mouth. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were tied to something. She could hear the muffled sounds of moaning around her. Of sobbing and pain. One of the voices she heard was her own mother's. She could hear Tonya a few feet behind her, crying loudly. But there was no external reaction to it. Nobody came to help her. And nobody came to help Sophie. Nobody was coming at all. Sophie's mind worked through the fog. As she came to more and more, she realized that she could feel the cold air and hard wood on her body - that she had been stripped naked. She put the night's events together. Her mother had called her home to talk to the police. She walked up to the door. She blacked out. And now she was bound, gagged, blindfolded, and naked being held in a place she didn't know. Her mind raced at the unpleasant possibilities. But then she heard the voice.

Moxie's voice. Marcus. Marcus was behind this.

"The sacrifices are ready, my love," Moxie said. "Though are you...sure...about your mother?" Moxie didn't ask about Sophie. The redhead forced herself to be quiet, to try to hear over the pulsing pain in her ears and the moans of her fellow captives.

"Unfortunately it must be done," Marcus said. "We should assume my father's dead, which means my mother would be the inheritor of the estate. We can't risk her falling into the Anarchs' hands. Her sacrifice will not be in vain." Sophie heard footsteps in her own direction. She heard her mother cry even more loudly. "I'm sorry, mother," Marcus said. "I truly am. But it's the only way. I will honor your sacrifice."

Sophie heard the footsteps approach her. "Which is more than I can say for you," Marcus said. Sophie felt the gag get pulled from her mouth. She spat and coughed as Marcus continued to approach. "You've always been a disgrace to the family, Sophia," he said. "Disloyal at best. A flippant slut at worst. Thankfully you'll be good for something in death."

"What the fuck has gotten into you, Marcus?!" Sophie sputtered. "Have you lost your fucking mind?!"

"Don't you talk to my lo-" Moxie shrieked, but she stopped halfway through her declaration.

"No," Marcus said. "I've become something more than you. And I will succeed where our father fell in clearing this city of the undead who have troubled us. I don't know where he is, but I know he'd be proud."

"You fucking psychopath!" Sophie howled. "You monster! Do you think you'll get away with this!?"

"There's nobody who knows enough to stop me," Marcus said. Sophie recoiled at the feeling of her brother's hand on her cheek. "Certainly not you. The little sister. The lesser child. There's a reason father chose me for this blessing and not you. Just be glad your blood will fill the gullet of greatness." Before Sophie could reply, the gag was forced back into her mouth. Her words came out muffled and quiet.

So this was how it ended? Dying with her eyes closed? Killed by her brother in some fucked up ceremony? Their family being wiped out because her asshole father's crusade against the goddamn vampires had gone too far? It was certainly possible, but Sophie remained silent. Her crying and moans didn't join the chorus around her. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to give Marcus the satisfaction. She sat still, waiting for the end.