Revved Up Soul

Chapter 5

Luke

Fifteen shots and he was already on his eighth, one for each day after. Silver tequila never was his game, but it was Able's whenever he was socializing. Luke brought the glass to his lips and tilted it back, slamming the shot down onto the bar and shaking his head. Alex, Benny and Sexton were down at the end of the bar, laughing and hollering between one another. Luke idly fingered the second half of the family rings, which was attached now to a silver chain around his neck. It was the last memento that they had from Dad, when brought together the bronze rings would spell out 'brother'.

Kayla wrapped an arm around the back of Luke's neck. Considerable care had to be taken when drunk around her, lest he tell her how he really felt. He made a poor attempt to shrug her arm off, just her touch was enough to make him want to do another shot – of course it wasn't always this way with her. Some days were good, hell some were really good.

But most of them were just a headache. Green orbs with black slits swam into Luke's mind's eye as he shut tight his lids. "You're killin' my buzz," Luke enunciated the words slowly to his 'girlfriend' – he didn't dare to think of the woman as his old lady.

"Don't be so mopey, Tiger," Kayla replied, nursing her pale ale. Like you have anything to be sad about, Luke glanced over at the woman, warmth curling against his chest in a slow simmer of anger. Your dad pays for everything, and when you're lucid enough to realize that you're not high, you go through my paper and make like a kite.

Luke shrugged the woman off of his shoulder, eliciting a nasty look.

It was then that Gabriel took a seat on the other side of him, signaling the bartender for a beer. Gabriel had medium length, rich chocolate colored hair, which cascaded to his shoulders. He turned to face Luke; his eyes like two bottomless pits they were so dark. "Nothing," he said quietly, the man had a powerful voice but spoke very softly more often than not. It was colored with a subtle bit of country, and was typically low and slick. "Someone has to have seen something," Luke put a hand to his forehead, the room was starting to spin at this point.

Eyes searching, Gabriel commented, "Maybe you should slow down."

Kayla scoffed, "Let him do him," she said and sipped her pale ale, tilting her head back further and further. "He's got to get over this shit somehow."

Gabriel shook his head, "I don't think so," he replied, "this isn't something you just get over . . ."

Exhaling a long breath, Luke had to fight back at the stinging behind his eyes. Every heartbeat feels like a wrong one without you, bro.

Finishing her beer, she sat it back down on the table. "I'm just saying," she started, "there's slack that needs picking up, and he's the only who can do it."

Gabriel nodded appreciatively at the bartender, taking his beer and having a swig. "All I'm saying is that, that there's nothing – nothing out there," the man closed his eyes a moment, "Silence from Los Demonios, Earl's clueless, Sheriff Martine has his head wayyy too far up his ass. It has to be someone right beside us, you know?" Gabriel had another drink of his beer, "too quiet to be an enemy, why make it something it's not? Why not leave your mark if you're trying to send a message."

It felt like a man had smacked him upside the head with a pillowcase full of rocks, Luke's head pounded relentlessly. "No," he managed, "nobody would do that. Not even Robert. Killing a Knight . . . there's nothing worse."

Shaking his head, Gabriel brought his hands together and rested his chin on them. "I know it's not easy to accept—"

"No. I don't accept that," Luke growled, the anger rising in his chest – he could feel the seals of his self-control buckling under the pressure now. "This was underhanded shit Gabe. You know just as well as I do when we got problems, we make it clear."

Gabriel said nothing, his eyes drifting.

"Someone murdered my brother, and we're going to find them, and when we do, everyone is going to show them what it means to cross a true Knight." Luke downed another shot before groaning and getting up from his barstool. I need to get outta here, he thought. He shook his head and muttered that he would be back, shuffling his way out of the clubhouse. He had to get away from them, from everything.

The two lights of his life, one new and one old, were gone.