Catalyst

Cole directed Cassie to take everyone out through the garden and to continue onto the safe house without him. Although Cole didn't want Kahli to see Cassie, he couldn't leave her in the hallway. There were too many vamps as it was. Cassie squeezed Kahli so hard that she couldn't breathe.

"You're alive!" Cassie looked over her friend in awe.

Kahli nodded, trying pull out of Cassie's overly crushing hug. It felt good to be missed, but so much contact made her feel awkward. Cole watched as Kahli wriggled away. He said nothing. "It's good to see you, too." She smiled briefly and then became serious again, "Listen, we can catch up later." Cassie bobbed her head, nodding.

"You better get going," Cole said to Cassie. His face was stern, his voice unyielding. There was no room for debate. Cassie nodded and walked over to her brother. She gave him one last hug, and walked next to Chaucer who was waiting at the door. "Oh," Cole added, tossing Cassie a lighter. It arched across the room, and Cassie caught it. She looked at it confused and lifted her gaze to Cole, "Light them. Any downed vamps, any live vamps - all of them. I don't want to leave anything behind. The palace will be a pile of ashes after tonight. I already rigged something outside, too, something to discourage them from chasing after us. Torch the spot at the south exit after everyone is through. Got it?"

Cassie nodded, pocketing the lighter.

Kahli looked back and forth at them, wondering where this change came from. Before she left, Cassie acted like she wouldn't hurt anything, and now she was okay with torching any vampires in her way. Brows knitting together, Kahli said, "You can't be serious?"

Cole spoke over Cassie, "I'm not defending our actions to you."

"But a bunch of them are under the King's thrall. You can just light them all on fire. It's not - " By a bunch of them, she meant Will, and other Bane that were property just as much as they were. Never in her life did Kahli think she would be speaking up against slaying vampires, but Bane were different. They had no choice. They were slaves, caught between the greed and blood of the old vampire regime.

"Not what?" Cole bit off. "Humane? They aren't human, Kahli." Lifting his gaze toward Cassie, he nodded once, affirming his original order.

Cassie looked back at Kahli. Something flashed in her friend's eyes. She wasn't sure if it was uncertainty or an apology. "Will's out there," she finally said. She left him lying in a heap of dead vamps. The look on Kahli's face said everything. Cassie opened her mouth, her head tilting to the side as though she was about to say she wouldn't torch Will.

But Cole cut her off, "He's one of them."

"He is not," Kahli bit back, rounding on Cole. "He's one of us."

"How stupid are you?" Cole scolded, "Will's a vampire. He's on their side."

Kahli's voice was deep and menacing. "Will risked his life for me. He's not a vamp. He's a Bane," there were a few gasps around the room. It was a secret she was supposed to keep. Will didn't tell anyone what he was. They all assumed that he was a vampire, but he wasn't. He aged, he bled, he breathed. Kahli couldn't have Cassie drop a torch on that pile of dead vampires in the courtyard. She couldn't let them kill Will. Kahli continued, her eyes locked with Cole's, "He's half human. You can't kill him."

"Even if he is a Bane," he said, voice stern, "there's no such thing as a half-breed. If he needs blood to survive, he's one of them, he's a vampire. We can't afford to make a mistake tonight, Kahli. All vampires are evil. You know this..." Cole's voice drifted off as he stopped speaking. He acted like explaining something so remedial to Kahli was absurd. Kahli hunted and killed vamps. Just because Will was a Bane, didn't mean he didn't have blood on his hands. To Cole, Will was a vampire. End of story. Disgusted, he turned to his sister. Glancing at Cassie, he nodded, repeating, "Kill him."

Kahli's body tensed, her fingers curling to fists at her sides like she'd punch Cole if he kept talking, but Cassie started hissing at them. The forcefulness of her voice made them both look at her in surprise. "Stop fighting. Now." She glared at them. After a second she said, "We're leaving. I'm not killing Will. He helped me too many times, Cole." Cassie knew that Kahli had feelings for Will. Although they hadn't spoken of it much, she knew. Cassie nodded at Cole and slinked out the door before he had a chance to say anything else.

Tension lined Kahli's shoulders and arms. "Have you forgotten what murder is, Cole?"

He rounded on her. Using his body, he shoved Kahli hard into the wall. The movement was fast and hard. Kahli's head banged into the plaster, pieces of it flaked off into her hair on impact, "Don't assume you know crap about my life." He held his arm on her neck. If he threw his weight into his arm, it would crush her throat.

Kahli couldn't let him think he was right, "There's no justification you can give that makes it right, ever. I have blood on my hands. Vamp blood. Human blood. It was my decision." She choked the words out. Cole's arm remained in place as she spoke. "Never for one moment did I pretend that it wasn't wrong."

"But you killed them anyway," he breathed. "You hunted the Trackers and picked them off one by one. You attacked Will and tried to kill him yourself when you first got here. You're honestly telling me, given the chance again, that you wouldn't slaughter the lot of them?"

Kahli's throat burned. Cole dropped her, and stepped away. Kahli fell forward, and sucked in air, choking. Cole was dangerous, more so than she thought. When she stood, Kahli straightened her spine and walked up to Cole. Inches from his face, she said with utter conviction, "I wish they never existed. I wish they never found us, never hunted us, never needed us to survive. If I had it to do over again, I'd want to kill every last vampire, but I wouldn't..."

With a bewildered look on his face, Cole asked, "Why?"

Kahli answered, "Because some of them are as trapped as we are. Some of them are worse off than me and you. Their families were slaughtered, too. They're weak and dying, starving to death. This isn't right. The way the world works is broken, Cole. You can't kill everyone in it and start over. Life doesn't work that way." Disgusted with him, Kahli shook her head and moved toward the door.

"I don't understand you," he confessed, but it sounded like an accusation. Cole fell in step behind her and Kahli pulled the door open.

Looking at him over her shoulder, she said, "Join the club."