Page 65 of This Blood That Binds Us

His body was fully alert, with his shoulders back. With two hands, he flung two guys into the dirt with sheer force. They flew back, knocking bystanders down in the process. When one would go to punch him in the head, he’d easily counter and shove them to the ground. He was a natural. This time, the guys didn’t come back for more. Once they’d picked themselves off the ground, they disappeared into the crowd.

Zach picked a guy up from his white collar and pulled him close to his face. “Want to tell me what the fuck happened here?”

“I don’t know! He just made me so angry, so I punched him.” The guy struggled beneath Zach’s grip, but there was no escaping the iron grip he had on his shirt.

Zach turned to Presley. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Nothing! Ellis and I were just talking outside.”

Zach’s eyes caught fire as he turned back toward the guy, who was still trying with all his might to get Zach to let go of his shirt. “Please, don’t tell me you just punched my brother because you’re a homophobic asshole, or I swear to God—”

“No, no, no, no! That’s not it. I don’t know why I did it. I just got angry.”

A guy in the back got up, bloodied from Zach’s assault. It took me a minute to recognize him as the guy from the party. Danny.

Zach dropped the other guy to the ground and met Danny face-to-face. “I should have known this was you. You better get to talking. Fast.”

Danny’s face twisted in horror. “Okay, I know what this looks like, but I didn’t mean to do this.”

A light bulb went off in my head but illuminated an empty room. Something about this was strange. Danny was terrified of Zach when Aaron and I questioned him earlier that week. There was no way he would have done this on purpose.

Zach’s expression turned sinister. A complete deadpan with a lifeless look in his eyes. “I’m in a really bad mood. So, I’m going to say this once. You hurt my brother. I will fucking kill you. I don’t care about your reason or why you did it.”

“Zach.” Luke appeared next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Let me talk to him.”

Danny’s whole body was shaking.

“What was this about?” Luke said.

Luke looked worn, but that didn’t make him look weak. He towered over Danny.

“I-I just was angry. That’s it. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t fucking good enough,” Zach spat.

“Stop.” Luke stilled Zach with his hand before turning back to Danny. “I don’t want to see you around us anymore. If I see you, we’ll have a problem. This is the final warning. Understand?”

Danny nodded and tore off into the crowd. Aaron appeared, looking freshly untouched, with only messy hair and a dirty blazer to show for his fight.

He looked worried. “Are you okay?”

“Me?! What about you?” I reached for his forearm instinctively, but I caught myself just before my fingers touched his skin.

He leaned in, whispering in my ear. “Vampire, remember?” He pulled back and winked.

Aaron’s brothers were huddled in a group, all looking mentally thrashed. The fact that there wasn’t a scratch on any of them didn’t bode well for their cover.

“I think we should go.” I tugged on Aaron’s blazer, and he nodded.

I peeked at the dance floor inside. As the night wound down, the crowd dispersed, and it was easier to see. William was nowhere to be found. My stomach felt empty, but not the lack of food. Our big experiment had come up inconclusive. If anything, there were more unanswered questions. Aaron’s answers about William didn’t add up. Nothing made sense.

Presley took a few minutes to check on Ellis, and Chelsea pulled Aaron aside to make sure he was okay.

“Hey, Kimberly, can we talk for a sec?”

Luke’s voice startled me.

I nodded and followed him to a light pole that illuminated a portion of the pine trees. The party was still going inside, but some people were stumbling back into their party buses and getting ready to leave for their after parties.