Meat

Chapter Six

Jemima watched the truck as it travelled the dirt track towards the main road, a large cloud of dust glittering in the last streams of sunlight. Priya closed the gate, resting her elbows on the top as Matthew turned the truck south onto the road, off towards the city. She stayed for a moment, peering along the empty track as the dust blew off into the breeze. Pressing her fingers against her eyes, she turned away from the gate, trudging across the courtyard.

"Kaleb says Matthew is going to keep an eye on the vampires," Jemima said, falling into step beside Priya.

Priya glanced at her and nodded, tucking her hands into the pockets of her loose linen trousers. She scuffed her foot against the compacted earth.

"Carl gives him shifts at the club," she explained. "He has my keys, he can call in tomorrow."

Holding her hand up to halt Priya in her tracks, Jemima stripped off her jacket and hung it on a peg just inside the kitchen door. When she joined Priya again, the young woman was once again staring at the gate.

"Have you told Kal yet?" Jemima asked, struggling to keep the grin from spilling out.

Priya turned to her. Her thin, neat eyebrows were pulled in low above her eyes and her lips thinned to little more than a deep pink line.

"He wasn't sure about leaving a human to keep an eye on the drainers, but he agreed."

A giggle spilled forth and Jemima hooked her arm through the young woman's, pulling her in tight against her side.

"I meant about you and Matthew. Does Kal know about you two?"

Priya's burnt gold skin didn't hide the blush that came to her cheeks as her eyes widened.

"You aren't as subtle as you think, Priya," she told her.

Priya stared at the ground beneath their steps and shrugged. Her blush warmed the air around her and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Matt's worried," she admitted.

"He shouldn't be. Kal adores you and Matthew is such a good lad."

Lifting her head, Priya grasped Jemima's arm, pulling her even closer.

"Please don't tell him," she begged, her words little more than a breath on the breeze. "Matt wouldn't forgive me if Kal found out before..."

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Jemima murmured with a conspiratorial grin. "I won't say a word."

They walked in silence around the farmhouse and out towards the fields. The grass was lush and crisp under their feet and it was only a few steps before they paused to peel off their boots and socks. Jemima dangled her wellingtons at her side, looping her free arm through Priya's again. Under the shade of a collection of apple trees, the others had gathered, their bawdy and loud conversations carrying through the air, heavier than the scent of fruit.

The brothers, Darren and Jack, lazed against a thick tree trunk, their legs stretched across the grass. They had both stripped off their shirts, their pale skin and blond hair glowing in the low light. Short and stocky, the two men looked like they could have been twins, though there was three years separating them. They sat shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the collection of pack members waiting for the last of the sun to fade away.

The moon was already above the horizon, its ivory face almost indistinguishable from the pale blue sky. Warmth had already begun to spread through Jemima's body, tingling across her skin like a mid-summer day. As they clambered over the fence into the field, she could feel the heat of the rest of the pack. It rolled in waves through the air, ripples of a stone into a lake that expanded and spread. Priya moved away from her, dumping her boots into a large plastic crate. Jemima followed, placing her wellingtons into the crate, joining Priya's boots and the brothers' discarded shirts.