by L. C. Davis
Victor shuffled over to us, still holding the towel over his face. "He's right, I carved him up pretty good and he was in bad shape before that. He had just been in an accident when I found him and his lip was bloody, too. He was bleeding from the mouth, so I assumed there was some sort of internal trauma as well."
"I saw the whole thing," said Clarence. "I'm the one who changed his clothes when we got back here. He was fucked up."
"Well, there's nothing," she said. "I'm no expert in hunters, but as far as I can tell he's just a human boy in good health aside from some anemia.
"Anemia?" I asked.
"He has signs of blood loss, but no wounds," she said with a shrug.
Victor, Clarence and I exchanged a worried look.
"Is there something you three would like to fill us in?" asked Ulric.
I looked back to Victor and he nodded. "Just tell him what Arthur told us."
I swallowed hard. Everyone turned to face me and Sebastian's glare made it obvious that a life might depend on what I said. "First off, let me just say that Arthur hasn't gone through transition. Right, Victor?"
He nodded.
"Okay, second, his blood smells differently than it did before," I admitted, watching Sebastian tense. "It smells like sunlight, but it's heavily diluted."
"So he's fucking turning," Sebastian snapped. "That means we kill him before he can finish the job and take us all out."
When he turned towards the room, Ulric grabbed him and shoved him back. "No one is killing anyone unless I give the order. Sit down."
To my amazement, Sebastian obeyed. Not without grumbling, but he obeyed.
"It's not the same scent as a full-fledged," I continued, "It's more like Arthur's human blood laced with a small amount of hunter's blood."
"Whose is it, then?" demanded Sebastian. "Hunters don't cannibalize each other."
"They view the very act of blood feeding as blasphemous," Ulric agreed.
I hesitated, looking to Victor. I still wasn't sure if he had intentionally kept that part of Arthur's story from Ulric.
"The Patriarch's soul cozy," Victor said wryly. His nose had finally stopped bleeding but he still sounded a bit stuffed up.
"Prentice?" Sebastian spat the name like a curse.
"He is the next in line to take Hugh's place as leader of the family," Ulric murmured thoughtfully. "He is also the Patriarch's vessel."
I waited for the shock that never came. Instead, Sebastian just snorted. "Figures. No other asshole is big enough to contain that prick."
Clara scowled in distaste. "This is all above my pay grade," she said, holding her hands up on her way out the door. "Call me if there's a patient who actually needs medical attention."
Victor hesitated. "Well, my nose --"
"Walk it off!" she snapped, disappearing up the stairs while muttering something about getting a drink.
"Is there a reason you two kept this bit of information out of your initial report?" asked Ulric. His ability to wait to jump to conclusions, even if they were the right ones, was a trait I found myself wishing I had inherited from him. Instead, I knew all too well who I had gotten my impulsiveness from.
"I wanted the chance to explain everything else first," said Victor. "It was my idea."
"Yes, encouraging your brothers to keep things from me seems to be a trend with you lately," Ulric said, looking him over. "One that needs to come to an end."
Victor held his gaze, unwavering. "Once this is all sorted out, I'll be glad to take whatever punishment you feel I deserve. Right now, there's something else you should know."
Ulric ran a hand over his face and let out a weary sigh. "Go ahead.
"I noticed something when I went into Arthur's mind," he explained. "His mind is still human or I couldn't have even gotten through the front door, but as I started peeling the layers of his consciousness away, I got down to something he was desperately trying to protect. Arthur's own defenses were nothing, but as soon as I broke through, something else took over and pushed me out. I've never seen a psychic block like that from a vampire, let alone a human boy."
"You think something else was protecting him?" Ulric asked.
"Yes. Maybe it's the same thing that chased Arthur here and possibly even what killed that family of hunters up north," he murmured. "Maybe it's something else entirely."
"Something like what?" Sebastian asked grudgingly.
"I can't be sure," Victor murmured, ever cautious. "All I know is that Arthur is aware of it and he seems to think that it's the Patriarch himself."
"The Patriarch?" Clarence asked pointedly. "It may as well be Santa Claus or the Boogeyman."
"Or the Moon?" I chimed in, wishing I hadn't when they all turned to look at me. "None of us thought she was real, either. From what Arthur says, the hunters have us beat ten to one in terms of intelligence, strength, and logistics. If they put so much stock in this Patriarch thing, who are we to say he doesn't exist?"
Ulric sighed. "There's only one way to get the answers I need to make a proper decision about Arthur's fate. Until he wakes up, anyone who lays a hand on that boy or breathes a word of his existence to anyone outside this room answers to me. Understood?"
The question was obviously directed towards Sebastian, but we all replied affirmatively in one way or another.
"Good," he said, walking out of the room. "Sebastian, Victor, and Clarence, I want at least one of you stationed down here at all times. Come get me as soon as Arthur is conscious."
"Yes, Sir," said Victor in a muffled voice.
"And get that nose looked at," said Ulric, grimacing before he left the room.
"This isn't my mess, so you two can fight over who gets the first shift," Clarence said, leaving shortly after him. He held the door and looked back at me. "I'm gonna head upstairs, take a hot shower and find Hunter."
"You sure you've got that in the right order?" Sebastian teased. His heart wasn't in it, but if he was feeling enough like himself to give Clarence a hard time, that was a good sign.
"Shut up before I give you a broken nose to match your brother's," Clarence growled, holding the door. "You coming, Remus?"
I shook my head. "No, I think I'll stay down here."
"Suit yourself," he said, leaving the room.
I sighed, going over to pick up the kit Clara had left on the table by Arthur's bed. When I got back to Victor, bruises were already forming underneath his eyes. I opened the kit and stared helplessly at the contents. There were some cotton wipes and a small bottle of distilled water, so I started to clean the blood off.
"Stop that," Victor muttered, looking away. "I'm fine."
"You're not fine, your nose doesn't even look like it fits on your face."
"Don't worry, it never did," said Sebastian.
I turned to glare at him. "You're not helping. There's no reason for you to be down here, you know. Ulric said only one of you needs to stay down here at a time."
"No way in hell am I leaving you alone with him," he said firmly, crossing his arms. "As long as you're down here, so am I."
I sighed and turned back to my self-appointed first aid duties. "Vic, what did you mean about not knowing who was after Clarence?"
"That's a long story," he muttered.
"Give me the abridged version," I said, applying pressure in hopes of slowing the blood trickling from his nostrils.
"Clarence was a stray," Sebastian scoffed. "That's all you need to know unless he feels like telling you himself. Get out of the way," he said, gently sweeping me aside with his broad arm. He knelt down in front of Victor and got out a fresh pad of gauze. When he reached out, Victor held his hand up to stop him like he had with me. Unlike me, Sebastian struck his hand away and kept working.
"Shut up and keep your head back, idiot," Sebastian ordered, grabbing a fistful of Victor's hair to jerk his head back before he even had a chance to make the correction himself. He pinched the bridge of Victor's nose with a surprising amount of gentleness, but Victor
still let out a curse in pain. "And stop being such a pussy."
"You broke my fucking nose," Victor said in a muffled voice. To my amazement, he wasn't giving Sebastian half the resistance he had given me.
"I wouldn't have if you remembered how to block," he shot back. "Maybe when we were kids you should have spent a little less time getting stoned with Alex and a little more out in the yard with me and Billy."
Victor muttered something unintelligible and Sebastian chuckled. I watched them in bewilderment. "Why the hell is it that you two can only get along after someone gets beaten up?"
They both looked at me as if they'd forgotten I was there at all. "You wouldn't get it," said Sebastian. "Hey, go grab me some ice from the kitchen in the dungeon, will you?"
"Whatever you say, nurse," I said, leaving the room. When I returned a few moments later with a big red cup full of ice, Victor had sunk low in his chair and Sebastian was barking at him to keep his head up. The blood was flowing anew.
"What did you do to him?" I demanded, rushing over.
"I set his nose and he's being a little bitch about it, as always," said Sebastian.
So that explained the moaning I had heard on my way back to the room. Victor was obviously making an effort to mask his distress in front of me, but that didn't stop him from writhing in his chair. It was hard to feel that much sympathy for him when I knew he had done much worse to Arthur only hours before.
"Here," I said, handing the cup of ice to Sebastian. He took it and poured it into an empty ice pack from Clara's kit.
"Probably should have done this first," he admitted, holding the cloth pack against Victor's swollen nose.
"You fucking think?" Victor snapped.
Sebastian smirked. "Hey, I haven't had to clean your ugly mug up in a while. I'm rusty."
Victor took the ice pack and turned away from us both somewhat dramatically. I was beginning to understand why Clara refused to treat him. "Is he going to be okay?"
"Oh, yeah. He's been like this ever since we were kids. You should see him when he gets the flu," Sebastian said with a snort.
"You could have driven the cartilage into my brain, you Neanderthal."
Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Assuming there's anything left of it after all the wolfsbane you took."
"I don't think that's what he was doing this time," I admitted, looking Victor over. I knew what he was like after a night of drinking and the man before me might have been disheveled, but he seemed sober enough. "And Victor, you did punch Sebastian just last week."
"Since when are you the referee between us?" Victor asked snippily.
"You're just pissy that he doesn't take your side by default anymore," said Sebastian.
"Anymore?" I echoed, placing my hands on my hips. "Okay, enough with the cryptic comments. Why are you two suddenly keeping secrets like two preteen girls at a slumber party?"
Victor shot him a dangerous look, shutting down any chances I had of getting an answer. "It's nothing," muttered Sebastian, wiping away a fresh stream of blood trickling down Victor's face.
As I watched them, I was torn between two emotions. The first was relief that they were finally getting along, even if it was only thanks to some unspoken truce precipitated by an excess of testosterone. The second emotion was dread as I realized that if they were difficult enough to deal with one-on-one, they would be absolutely impossible as a team.
Chapter 9
REMUS
"What's gotten into them?" asked Maverick, looking up from the sheets of Steven's eulogy that he had spread across the kitchen table. I had promised to help him since he thought an incomplete college degree somehow made me qualified for the task, but we were both distracted by the commotion in the kitchen. Victor was at the center of attention as he attempted to tie a cherry stem with his tongue after Sebastian and Victor had bet him that he couldn't. Brendan and Jason were egging them on, of course.
"Let's just say the bromance is literal," I muttered. Maverick must have caught wind of my disdain because he gave me a strange look.
"Don't you want them to get along?"
"Get along, yes. Unite against me? Not so much."
Maverick giggled softly, running a black pen through another line of his eulogy. "I think it's cute."
"You don't have to live with them." As part of their odd truce, the twins had decided to turn one of the empty cell blocks in the dungeon into an apartment for the three of us to share. It was an admittedly practical decision, considering that one of them always had to be with Arthur when Clarence was off duty, but that basement had become my own unlikely version of hell.
One of the cells had been turned into a bedroom where I slept with whichever one of them was off duty that night. That is, when they weren't both immersed in some video game or a movie out in the common area they had furnished with a couch and a big screen television. There had been talk of a Foosball table, but I immediately put my foot down on that.
I should have been thrilled that I was finally getting my wish for them to act like brothers, but the closer they got, the tighter lipped Sebastian became. He had become wary of even being alone with me, and I knew it could only be Victor's influence. For the first time, I wanted to come between them and I didn't stand a chance.
"Dudes. Sebastian totally just fit the entire jar of cherries in his mouth," Brendan said, walking over to us.
"I'm sure Sebastian can fit a lot of things in his mouth," I muttered with only the teensiest hint of bitterness.
"What crawled up his ass?" Brendan asked, leaning on the back of my chair to address Maverick.
Maverick giggled. "He's just mad that he's not the center of attention anymore."
"Mav," I cried at his betrayal, halfheartedly lobbing a pen at him.
He caught it and gave me a mischievous grin. "I'm just teasing."
Brendan glanced back at them. "They are both in an unusually good mood. I don't think I've seen them get along this well in years. You burnin' the candle at both ends, Remus?"
"No," I hissed.
He raised his hands and backed away from my chair, sliding into the booth on Maverick's side where it was safer. "Bloodsucker's in a mood today," he said, leaning in towards Maverick like I couldn't hear him. He eyed the papers on the table. "What'cha workin' on?"
"My Master's eulogy," Maverick said brightly.
Brendan's mood deflated and he gave me a wary look. I shrugged subtly. I had learned not to question Maverick's strange behavior where Steven's death was concerned. Victor was sure that he would be better off after the service, and now Victor was actually here to make sure that it went well.
"Um, Victor?" Mav called in a sweet, hesitant voice. The kitchen antics ceased immediately and all eyes were on my friend. He gulped and looked like he might shrivel away under the attention. Brendan put a supportive hand on his shoulder. It had taken weeks just to get Maverick to call the Wolves by their first names rather than Sir, which got confusing fast in a house full of doms.
"Yes, Maverick?" he answered, returning to his usual calm-but-serious demeanor as he wandered over to us."
"Sorry to bother you," Maverick said quickly. "I was just wondering if we were still going to be able to leave for the ceremony tomorrow since the hunters might be back."
"It's no bother at all," Victor said gently. Everyone in the Lodge made it a point to be especially gentle with Maverick, even Jason. "As far as we know, the hunters have only attacked other hunters. The plan is still to head to the sanctuary tomorrow for the ceremony, but if anything changes you'll be the first one to know."
It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie, either. We did know that the hunters were back, but what Victor couldn't tell the others was that if they were going to try another attack at all, it would be against the Lodge. After all, we had something the Patriarch himself wanted.
Maverick smiled and his shoulders sagged with relief. "Thank you, Victor."
Victor smiled back. "Anytime, Maverick." He glanced at me. "
I should go relieve Clarence from his post. Would you like to join me, Remus?"
It sounded like an invitation, but I knew it was an order. I stood from my chair and cast an apologetic glance at Maverick. "Is it okay if we finish this later, Mav?"
He nodded enthusiastically, so I followed Victor out of the kitchen.
"Wait," called Jason. "When are we gonna get to see this mystery prisoner, anyway?"
Victor grinned. "When we can count on you to go out on a successful milk run, then we'll see about giving you access to high-clearance information."
"Hey, leave me out of it," Brendan muttered. "I don't want the responsibility or the eight-hour shifts that come with it."
It was more like sixteen since Sebastian and Victor had been doubling their shifts often enough so they could hang out.
"Yeah, you just stick to boning the bloodsucker, Fabio," Sebastian said, violently tousling Jason's blond locks.
Jason glared. "I haven't even seen Sarah in days."
His words twisted like a knife in my gut. Had I really hurt her that much? What if she had left the Lodge entirely?
Before I could wonder too much, Victor pulled me out of the room and Sebastian followed close on our heels.
"Do you two do everything in tandem now?" I muttered, shuffling along faster to avoid getting mowed down. Sometimes I felt like Sebastian should have been a werebull instead of a werewolf.
"Well, not everything."
I grimaced. "You're such a guttermind."
He grinned proudly as we followed Victor down the stairs.
Once we made it to the renovated cell block, Clarence closed the book he had been reading and leaped to his feet. "You're late."
"Sorry about that. Sebastian was putting things in his mouth and Victor was impressing the boys with his tongue," I said wryly.
Clarence grimaced. "I don't need to know what you freaks do," he said, brushing past us. "I've got a date with Hunter."
"A date?" I really was out of the loop.
