Meat

Chapter Ten

The scrape of metal echoed down the stairs with the heavy thump of the deadlock handle locking into place. Kaleb groaned and glanced at Spencer. The young vampire drummed his fingers on his thigh and continued looking around the cellar. Traipsing up the stairs, Kaleb tested the door though he already knew he wouldn't be able to budge it. The heavy cellar door had already been in place when he moved into the house, a safe place for those who didn't take well to their transformations. It had been so long since they'd had anyone become feral that they'd started storing things in the basement room.

He trudged back down the stairs to find Spencer watching him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Kaleb's breath came through his teeth in a low growl which only amused the vampire more.

"You're in trouble," he said.

"Yes, it appears I am."

Grabbing one of the barrels, Kaleb twisted and turned it on the stone, walking it closer to the vampire. With a few feet between them, he took a seat on the barrel much like Spencer had done. Though, where the vampire sprawled, the picture of ease, Kaleb crossed his arms and sat straight.

"Seeing as we're going to be here for a while, we might as well talk."

"Might as well," Spencer replied. "Seeing as I'd become a walking blister if I even tried to leave, I'm happy to stay put."

The vampire was too cheerful, Kaleb decided. He had walked willingly into his enemy's territory and been locked in a cellar. Yet there was a smile to every word past his lips, an easy grace that was probably charming to his victims. After the threats he had given to the vampires only days before, he had assumed they would be more cautious.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Only a few nights ago you threatened to pull out one of my men's intestines if they came close to you."

Spencer scruffed a hand through his hair and shrugged.

"A few nights ago you threatened August. You said you'd take me to ensure his compliance."

"And so instead you handed yourself to us willingly?"

 "Before you turned up in the city, I didn't even know that werewolves existed. August never told me. Even after you left he barely told me anything. I was curious."

Shifting on his barrel, Spencer avoided meeting his eye and stared down at his knees. He grasped his thighs and dug his fingers deep into the flesh. He licked his lips and swallowed twice. Kaleb frowned. They'd never hidden the vampires from the new members of their pack. They explained the truce that had been struck between them, the reasons behind their laws. Apparently Charles, and now August, felt it best to keep their secrets instead of sharing the responsibility for their safety on their pack. No, pack wasn't the right word. Kaleb had to admit that he never knew what to call the group of vampires living in the city.

If they had never been told about the wolves, had they been informed of the others living in the same city? Had Charles kept such a tight rein on their knowledge to keep them in line? Kaleb wasn't sure he should let Spencer off that leash, not yet.

"You were never told why you have the rules you do?" he asked. "You never asked the reason one must die for every new vampire sired?"

"Sire bonds are too dangerous. They have to be severed."

Kaleb snorted with laughter.

"Is that what they told you?"

Spencer's eyes narrowed and he mirrored Kaleb, crossing his arms over his chest. His shoulders tensed and his back straightened. The carefree man was gone in the blink of an eye. He nodded.