Blood: The Third Course

Chapter Thirty-Nine

They made the journey in silence. The few times August tried to make conversation, to quietly tell Spencer that it would be okay, the younger vampire curled further in on himself, staring sombrely at his knees. In the end, August stopped trying. He stared at the inside walls of the van William had organised and listened to the dregs of the radio that filtered back from the sectioned off cab.

He'd much rather have left the wolves back at the house and keep them out of it completely, but that would have meant leaving after sundown or driving on the freeway with blacked out windows and windscreen, neither of which were a good idea. If they could at least speak to Kaleb beforehand, they might be able to stop this before it came to violence. Still, August was not hopeful.

The road changed unexpectedly, going from a smooth vibration to a bouncing rumble through the van. Edeline lifted her head as the van slowed.

"We're coming up to the gate," she said.

Moments later, the van pulled to a stop, the engine idling quietly. One of the doors of the cab opened, and there was a crunch of gravel underfoot as someone jumped out. August guessed that it was Priya. Carson was still under the influence of Edeline's blood, something he'd been told was a necessity to get the wolf away from Dacian Arneson. Necessity or not, August didn't like the number of unpredictable variables in this plan.

A gate scraped against the gravel, squealing on its hinges, before the door of the cab was snapped shut and the van pulled onto the farm courtyard. They came to another stop, and this time, not long after the cab door opened, the back door was unlocked and drew open. August jumped to his feet and retreated further from the door.

Priya peered into the back of the van. The doors to the back of the van were shaded from the weak winter sun by a large tree, but most of the leaves were gone, leaving the protection from the sun patchy, latticed by the criss-crossing of branches. Still, inside the van they were safe.

"Everyone okay back here?"

William gave her a reassuring nod and waved her off.

"Go, find Kaleb," he said.

Priya nodded, and vanished around the side of the van, leaving the doors open to the weave of shadows.

They sat in the same silence as they'd made the trip. August paced in the small space available to him, head bowed under the low hanging roof. He expected that, should William try to stand, he would be bent like the hunchback of Notre Dame. August almost wanted to suggest it to see if he was right.

With a gasp, Edeline sat up straight, her hand shooting to find purchase against the closest thing available, Spencer's thigh. Her fingers dug visibly into the flesh, earning a hiss from Spencer, whose attention followed Edeline's. August turned and stared out of the back doors. What had previously been a view of gravel and a fence to fields, a barn jutting out into the corner of their limited vision, now held a different sight: Vincent Leary staring wide-eyed into the back of the van, his gaze fixed on the shadowed shape of Edeline against the wall.

August had to admit that, despite Edeline's accusations, and Spencer's confirmations, he'd been unsure of the threat posed by Vincent. He thought maybe the girl was overestimating the risk, making it into more than it was. However, seeing the deranged smile that curved the boy's features, the wild look in his eyes, August knew that nothing had been exaggerated. For the wolf to be able to pick her out in the deep shadows, he had to be locked onto her scent. He was further to feral than August had seen in a long time. Even the wolf they'd killed to turn the boy into what he was hadn't been this far gone. Perhaps he was hiding it better, or his parents were truly in denial, but there was no going back.