Page 54 of Bane of Hate and Silver (Primordial Inheritance #1)

Blood-Addicts Anonymous

N ick was left in Jules’s house alone while the strange assortment of friends had gone to bury the boy.

He wandered around the house. It felt like her.

The colors she chose, the simple, chic style it was decorated in, and the books.

So many books. The one thing out of place was the putrid smell of werewolf blood.

He found the source easily once he breached a room to his right. The dried blood stung his nose and eyes but didn’t send him into a need-to-drink frenzy as human blood did.

“Well, somebody has to do it,” he said aloud to no one and then he set to work purging the boy’s blood from his sister’s home.

He pulled the covers off the sofa cushions and threw them in the washer, hoping he didn’t damage the expensive looking fabric.

On his hands and knees, he scrubbed at Jules’s carpeting.

There was no getting the smell out completely, but the death of a friend was hard enough without having to clean up after it.

Under the sofa, his hand hit something smooth and hard.

It was a phone, covered in blood. He flicked the side button and it powered to life.

The background that flickered into being was a picture of the young girl who was just here and a boy about her age.

Presumably the werewolf teenager whose blood he’d been cleaning.

But what struck him was the familiarity.

Staring back at him was a face that had recently burned itself into Nick’s subconscious.

The teenage boy who’d died here, Jules’s friend, was the boy that had run away as Nick had ripped the heart from the wolf-cop's chest.

The phone dropped to his side in a limp hand.

Jules would never forgive him for this. After a few moments, Nick came to his senses.

The only witness was now gone. So, the only one who knew this fact was him, and Nick wasn’t going to tell her.

He sighed in relief. But as he looked down at the young couple staring up at him from the phone screen, he felt something.

Was it remorse? Nick shook his head, attempting to force the thought from his mind.

Of course, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Nick was who he was, and he had never questioned it.

However, this feeling continued to nag at the back of his mind as he wiped the phone off with a clean corner of a towel, set it on the coffee table, and resumed his attempt to clean up.

He was just throwing the last of the towels in the washer when the front door opened and Jules and the werewolves returned. “You’re back,” Nick commented as he walked toward them all.

“Kyle, Hayley, this is my brother Nick,” Jules introduced flatly. Nick noted the sadness that had dripped down his twin’s face. His heart ached with her pain.

“Where are the humans?” Nick asked, noting their absence.

“Monica and Tai took Tasha home,” Jules replied.

He nodded like that meant something to him. He was honestly relieved that they had not returned. He wasn’t feeling the most in control at the moment.

Jules looked toward the living room. “I should…” Jules began.

“It’s already done,” Nick said, placing a hand on his sister’s arm.

“Thank you,” she replied.

The grief was palpable. Nick could feel it wafting off of the people who had just entered. Without a word, the werewolf couple, apparently named Kyle and Hayley, walked through the living room and out the back door. Nick assumed they might be going for a late-night stroll.

“So, Luca, tell me about yourself. Hobbies, interests, bad habits. If you’re as great as my sister seems to think, I simply must know why.” Nick said this with a smile on his face. If he was good for anything, it was to lighten a dark mood.

“Luca don’t answer any of that.” Jules elbowed Nick in the stomach as he wrapped her in a hug. “Let nosey here suffer a little longer.”

“Well, that’s just rude,” Nick said in mock horror.

Luca smiled, grabbed Jules by the hand, and pulled her away from Nick and into his own arms.

“Oh, so that’s how this is gonna be?” Nick joked.

But before anyone could respond, the front door opened again.

Nick’s attention shot toward it. The humans were back, minus one dead werewolf’s girlfriend, and looking as sad as the others had before.

Nick leaned close to his sister and whispered in her ear, excusing himself from the gathering of grieving friends.

He shut the front door behind him just as the human girl began to cry, falling into Jules’s arms.

Too many displays of turbulent emotion, mixed with the fresh, luscious smell of human blood, was overwhelming him.

So, he settled into the straight-backed, wicker chair on the front porch to wait out the grieving, and for the supposed fighting to start.

He was about to contemplate going for a walk down Jules’s darkened street when another vehicle pulled up in front of her house.

The people inside this one he recognized. It was Eileen and her snob of a husband. He waved to them as Eileen opened the passenger door. Standing, he met them halfway up the crushed-shell driveway.

“Jules inside?” Gabriel asked.

“Her, two humans, and three werewolves last time I checked,” Nick replied. “Which was like five minutes ago.” He added as an afterthought.

Eileen shrugged and took a few steps toward the house. Gabriel grabbed her wrist.

“Gabriel, I’m going in to give my condolences to our friend,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

“There’s three of them,” Gabriel hissed.

“And if they were going to hurt vampires, Nick wouldn’t be sitting outside avoiding the emotionally awkward situation. He’d be inside protecting Jules from them. Isn’t that right?” Eileen turned on him, looking for confirmation.

“Right. It’s pretty doom and gloom,” Nick said. “But I don’t think there is any danger in there. More like, out there somewhere probably coming for us all.” He waved his hand in some general direction away from the house.

“If you want to face the werewolves then fine, but I will not accompany you. If you decide to put yourself in that kind of danger you do so alone.” The tone of Gabriel’s voice implied that he thought his wife would cave to his wishes. Nick didn’t think it was very likely.

A few awkward moments later, Nick’s assumption was met. Eileen pulled her arm away, raised her eyebrows at him, and stood her ground.

“Fine,” Gabriel said, turned, and walked back to their car. He climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door.

Eileen watched him go but did not join him.

“Come inside with me?” Eileen asked, obviously a little more unsure than she was letting on when she’d stubbornly refused to change her mind via ultimatum.

“But, I’m uncomfortable in awkward situations with new people,” Nick said, looking at her with mock seriousness.

“Yeah, right,” she said with a laugh as they entered the house together.

Jules was surprised to see Eileen accompanying her brother back inside. She walked over to meet them.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Eileen whispered in Jules’s ear.

Jules hugged her for a long moment. “Thank you so much for coming,” Jules said. “Where is Gabriel?”

“In the car, pouting.” Eileen scowled.

Jules let out an exasperated sigh and took a step toward the door. Eileen caught her by the arm. So, she turned to look at her friend.

“Just give him some time,” Eileen suggested. “He won’t leave me and I’m not leaving you. So, I think he will come around.”

Nick looked past them both toward the rest of them. “I’m gonna go outside and pretend I care,” Nick said, playfully excusing himself and walking back out the front door.

Jules rolled her eyes but made no comment. She found herself studying him as he disappeared from view. She felt like there was more that he wasn’t saying. Jules let that thought leave her mind and said, “thank you for being here.” She smiled and motioned for Eileen to follow her.

Carson’s fury exploded from him. “Where is that insolent fool!” he yelled as he paced up and down the street in front of the Den.

Jed’s text had come through over an hour ago and he was impatiently awaiting his return.

Demetria had not returned since leaving with the Coopers.

If she betrayed him as well, her fate would be that of her son’s.

Only one wolf would be spared from the act of treason.

And he’d take what he wanted from her whether she willingly participated or not.

The thought of the mutiny this traitorous Beta had caused made his blood boil.

He had been so naive to trust the wolf on legacy alone.

Never again would he make that mistake. The thought of the vampire coven that Luca had decided to align himself with made every nerve in Carson’s body and mind unravel.

This danger, this anarchy had lasted long enough.

Carson punched the Den’s rusted, metal, mailbox in a desperate attempt to relieve some of his frustration. Leaving it bent in and unusable, he began his pacing once again just as Jed’s beater car came rattling up the road.

“So?” Carson said once the shaky, gangly wolf had parked his car in front of the Den.

“I-I found th-them,” Jed said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “A-all of them.”

“Great.” Carson’s hatred spiked. It was almost over.

“There are… c-complications,” Jed stuttered.

“What?” Carson questioned impatiently, wishing the fool could just spit out what he had to say.

“There are hu-humans with them s-sir. Two.”

Humans were indeed a complication, he didn’t want to kill any, but he would do what he must. “Anything else?” Carson gripped the man’s shirt, shoving him back against the car. “Speak damn it!”

“Lu-Luca C-Cain.”

“He’s dead,” Carson said. Kip had assured him of this.

“No… no, sir.” Jed shrunk away as he spoke. “He is the-there. Wi-with Kyle Cooper.”

Luca Cain cannot be alive! This blight had to be obliterated “The Reynolds girl?” Carson asked referencing the woman he intended to bare his pups.