Blood: The Third Course

Chapter Fourteen

Priya took a seat at the window table, pulling her cup of overpriced coffee closer. Ripping open three packets of sugar, she upended them into the milky concoction and stirred the tiny spoon within the white porcelain, listening to the clinking instead of the conversations going on around her. Her senses hadn't even begun to heighten with the approaching full moon, it would be another few days, yet she felt as anxious and hot as the run up to moon rise.

Staring out of the window, she chewed on her lip as Carson shifted in the driving seat of the rental car and adjusted his sunglasses. Personally, she thought he looked ridiculous, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap in the middle of winter, like a badly trained undercover cop. His patrol car was too noticeable, not to mention that Vince knew it. She'd promised that they would be alone. She could only hope that Carson would stick to the plan. If he scared Vince off, they might never get this chance again.

Priya wrapped her hands around the mug, leaning closer to inhale the steam coming off her coffee. She wanted to drink it all, small sips that gave her something to do, but she knew she could be here for a while, and she didn't want to blow her wages on buying multiple cups just so she wouldn't be kicked out.

As it turned out, she didn't need to wait long. Just as she took a sip of her coffee, the door opened sending in a blast of frozen air. He pulled off a beanie hat, unbuttoned his heavy coat.

"Hello Priya,"

Priya was half-way to standing, already reaching out to give him a hug, but Vince dragged out the chair opposite her and slumped into it without so much as a smile. Priya slid back into her seat.

"Vince, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm fantastic. What did you expect?"

Flinching back, Priya wrapped her hands around the mug again, staring at the table and chanting in her head not to look at her phone, perched precariously on the windowsill next to her chair leg. Carson had wanted to hear what was said, but there was no way they could risk him being in the coffee shop at the same time.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I've missed you, you know?"

Vince watched her for a few moments. He grabbed the mug from her hands and drank a mouthful, grimacing at the amount of sugar she'd put in it.

"You said you had a solution. A way to turn me."

Accepting back the mug, Priya took a small sip and placed it back on the table.

"You don't want to know how things are going? How your parents are doing?"

Vince raised an eyebrow.

"You stole my number from Matt. You think he hasn't used it? Tell me about this solution."

"It's not certain, Vince."

"Then why bring me here? Were you just looking to guilt me into coming back?"

He was pushing his chair back, reaching to button his coat. Priya leapt out of her seat and grasped his arm, leaning over to the table.

"Vince, please, hear me out." Sinking back into the chair, he glared at her. "It was Thomas who thought of it. Thomas is—"

"The second newest vampire. Medical intern, caused the massacre." When he noticed Priya staring at him with a raised eyebrow, he brushed it off. "Spencer told me."

"Right, well, Thomas had this idea about how we become werewolves after he learned about the gifted girl you two took, that Spencer can only use her gift for a few hours, right?"

Vince nodded. He watched her, and Priya leaned back in her chair. There wasn't an ounce of remorse in his face, no embarrassment that he'd slipped so far as to hold a girl hostage for so long. She knew she couldn't exactly chastise him against kidnapping and killing, not after what they did each month, but to see him so emotionless was creepy.