Page 19 of This Blood That Breaks Us

Luke nodded. He needed to loosen up, and one of the only perks of being a vampire was there was no hangover. Can’t poison a body that’s basically dead.

A few of the guys were recognizable, but I had never really paid attention before. We went along with whatever Ezra wanted us to do. I blamed it on my brain not being fully developed yet.

Luke and I were in a different class now. It was easy to tell because we’d been members of each at one point or another. The first rung was the humans. Which we used to be. It was easy work. We’d had little jobs like collecting money for Ezra or running pickpocket schemes in the city. We were high schoolers and made games out of it. I don’t think either of us took it that seriously. It wasn’t until senior year that we started to realize we were in deep. We wanted to move up even though we didn’t fully understand what that meant. Because while Ashley and Sarah were applying to colleges, we were too busy playing the role of criminals in the city.

Once we turned, we were above all who we used to consider peers. And we trained. That’s where I learned what my new body could do. Getting turned and not understanding was scary at first, but that wasn’t the part of The Family I hated. It was the best part. A new body that could move in new deadly ways. Plus, immortality didn’t suck.

I’d always known things were different for Luke and me. No one ever let us forget it, with their long scowls and their whispering. Now I understood why. We were set apart for Her.

“We’ve awaited your return, sir.” A familiar voice made me turn.

“Henderson.” I threw back my shot.

Henderson leaned against the bar with a drink in his hand. His head hit the low-hanging light as he nodded to us. He was bigger than Luke in height and rivaled him in build.

“Good to see you.” Luke smiled and held out his hand to shake.

Henderson licked his unusually sharp canines. “Sorry. Can’t, sir. There are rules about that sort of thing now.”

“Right.” Luke swished his beer.

“It’s nice to have you here finally. What took you two so long?”

Henderson didn’t like us. It had to do with the fact that he was at least eighty years old and jealous as fuck he wasn’t a “chosen one.” He looked young with no wrinkles on his smooth tan skin. He’d told me his age back before I realized he only liked to keep tabs on us.

“We like to annoy you.”

I downed my other drink and motioned for Luke to take his shot. The pain in my chest was finally subsiding, and I could function normally again.

“Did you see Connery?”

I saw Connery back in Blackheart when he plunged a knife into his chest. They had been attached at the hip like Luke and me. Not related, from what I remembered, but great friends. Luke was in no condition to break bad news to him, and I didn’t give a fuck if he knew Connery was dead or not.

I took the lead. “Yeah. He seemed . . . happy.”

I mean, hedidlook happy with his decision to plunge that knife into his chest.

“He told me he was handpicked by Akira to go. A huge honor. When he didn’t come back with you, I figured it might have been something that kept him in America.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“How are you?” Luke’s voice was softer. “In this place?”

He was being genuine.The fucking teddy bear.

“Ireland is amazing. The countryside. The people. I prefer it to America. I hope to never go back. You’ll both come to love it, I’m sure.”

I raised my glass to my lips and let the comfort of the alcohol burn my throat. A guy could hope.

“You can’t help yourself, can you?” I smiled as Henderson left.

“I really can’t.”

We watched the others play pool and readied ourselves to join. Most were friendly, but I felt their eyes on me when I wasn’t looking. This would be different from before. Being part of The Guard was different.

I should have cared more about being forced to be in The Guard, but all I could think about was that there wasn’t anything they could force me to do that I wouldn’t do for my brother. If we were trapped, he needed me to make this easier for him. I wasn’t sure what that would look like, but I knew I could.

I’d never imagined more for myself than here. Hell, drinking and hanging around with a bunch of assholes sounded fun to me.