Book One: The Bite Of The Elder

Seven: The Funeral

Sawyer's funeral was both beautiful and tragic. A light fall of snow fell as they lowered the casket to the ground. Almost all of Veniko High School showed up. Evan had cried silent tears as Sawyer's older brother gave a speech about his brother's life and all the abstained possibilities they had due to life, but they would once see each other one day in Heaven. Evan, knowing that Heaven was real, made him feel a little better about his friend being in a better place. Nova had cried silently into his shoulder while Kane sat quietly on Evan's other side, staring down at his closed fists on his lap. The blonde couldn't help but feel resentment towards the Grosvenor family. Through the mahogany casket on Sawyer's body, Evan could smell traces of silver. Kane's family were the ones responsible for his death, not Akela, who couldn't go against the curse the Europeans brought with them from their homeland. If what Kane exhibited was remorse, Evan was glad it was eating him up inside. After his insightful conversation with Midnight, the jock was less considerate when it came to other hunters like the Grosvenor's. They killed Sawyer without even giving him an opportunity. The werewolf curse could have saved him despite how many injuries he had sustained but no. Once you were bitten, you were permanently a monstrosity in their eyes that needed to be exterminated.

All the football games had been postponed for the next week along with football practices. The school had languished a heartbreaking loss and needed time to recover. Midnight was one of the very few who hadn't attended the funeral but not out of choice. If Kane had spotted Midnight in the crowd, there would have been an argument, and that was the last thing anyone wanted on that day.

Evan buried his head in Nova's hair even though the artificial smell of her perfume gave him a cluster headache. However, the softness of the strands made up for the awful aroma. It hadn't been justified that Evan had survived, but Sawyer hadn't. If Midnight hadn't shown up when he did, then Evan would also be having his own funeral. It was a somber yet brutally authentic solicitude that plagued his mind. The ones around him didn't help his grieving process, even though it was understandable. Evan had his own way of dealing with loss, but those around him intervened, prompting his emotions to become uncontrolled. The main benefactor of it all was Kane. That week alone, they had gotten into various arguments about what could have been done differently that night. Whether it was the placement of the firewood or the location of the party, the end of the week leading up to the funeral had been the worst. Their discrepancy had gotten so critical that they stopped discoursing to each other until the very morning of the ceremony. They had forgiven each other, bursting into tears and embracing each other tightly. Their friends and families watched sympathetically as the two friends grieved over their loss.