Chapter Thirty-Seven

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Priya crept down the corridor. The rumbling of conversation was clearer now that she was out of her room, but still not enough to hear every word, despite the nearing last night of the full moon. Sometimes she had to wonder whether she should find it odd that she already considered the room in the vampire house as hers. True, she'd been living with them for most of the past three months, she knew everyone in the house and got along well enough. But it was still a house filled with vampires, and Priya knew she shouldn't feel as comfortable as she did there.

Only an hour earlier, Carson had also returned to the house, flanked by Edeline. Priya had tried to ask him what had happened, but she had been immediately brushed aside, and Edeline had ushered Carson quickly into the room she was currently occupying, slamming the door closed behind them. It may have been Priya's imagination, or the slight scent of blood that followed them down the corridor, but Carson had looked almost manic as he'd met her gaze, staring at her a little too hard.

Coming to the top of the staircase, Priya stopped in her tracks, finding a person seated on the top step, hunched over their knees. It only took a moment to realise that it was Spencer. His short, curly hair was instantly recognisable, not to mention that she was more than familiar with the way he fidgeted and pulled at his fingers when he had gone without a fix for a while.

"Woman of the hour," he muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

"What does that mean?"

He didn't look at her.

Priya crept closer with silent footsteps. She stepped down one stair and then sat down beside him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Spencer lifted one nail-bitten hand and pointed down the stairs.

"You have a visitor."

Priya leaned closer to the bannister, but she couldn't see anybody in the hallway below. Before she could ask Spencer, however, heavy footsteps echoed from the tiled floor, and a booming voice carried up to them.

"I don't care what you think is best. You will tell me where she is."

Priya didn't need any more than that to realise that the rumbling conversation she had heard belonged, at least in part, to Kaleb. She wasn't sure whether she should be surprised. On the one hand, Kaleb rarely left the farm during the days of the full moon, he had a pack to look after. But on the other hand, it wasn't normal that she and Carson would leave either.

"No, I won't."

Priya sat up straight, her gaze flickering between Spencer and the empty space of hallway she could see through the bars of the bannister.

"Is that William?" she whispered.

Spencer nodded.

"He's been quite adamant."

"But why? Kaleb is practically family."

Getting to her feet, Priya hurried down the stairs into the hallway. Kaleb was pacing, and he'd clearly made no effort to clean his boots before leaving the farm. Muddy footprints tracked back and forth across the clean tile. He'd brought the smell of the outdoors into the house with him, and as strong as it was for Priya, she could only imagine the stench it would cause to the vampires.

William had turned to her before she even hit the bottom step. His jaw tightened in annoyance, and Priya gasped. He'd been bustled away so quickly after Dacian's visit, she'd not had a chance to see the damage that had been done to him. His vampire healing must have been doing overtime, but his face was still red and raw, like a layer or two of skin had been peeled off. There were blisters across the backs of his hands and up to his elbows. Priya winced.

Kaleb turned around when he realised he no longer had the vampire's attention.

"Priya!" He rushed across the hall with long strides, reaching for her.

Priya longed to meet him in one of the bone-crunching hugs he could give her. Instead, she stayed rooted to the spot on the second to last step of the staircase.

"Hi Kaleb."

His arms fell back to his sides, and his brief elation at seeing her vanished.

"I heard what happened," he said. "I had to come and make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine," she said. "Will got me out of there."

Kaleb glanced over his shoulder at William, standing sentry.

"What were you even doing here, Priya? You left the farm without a word. You would have been safe if you'd stayed at home."

In that moment, Priya was acutely aware of how tightly she was grasping the bannister, how her fingertips pressed into the wood, moulding to the bannister's shape, how her flesh gave way to the bannister, and not the other way around. She gulped and lifted her head.

"And what about Carson?" she asked. "Would he be safe there?"

"What has Carson got to do with it?" Kaleb demanded. "I want to keep you safe, Priya. Carson can look after himself. You'll be safe at the farm."

She had spent her entire life moulding around what others wanted of her. She had never told Kaleb about her relationship with Matthew because she had been scared of what he would think. She'd taken the job in the city to be their eyes and ears. She had let Vince drive her away from the farm, from the pack. She was done being the one to mould. She opened her mouth.

"None of you are safe at that farm."

The words that came were not Priya's. Turning to look up the stairs, it was to find Edeline looking down at them. She grasped her hands in front of her, her gaze never leaving Kaleb's as she slowly descended the steps. There was a white bandage wrapped tight around her wrist. She ran her fingers back and forth along the edge.

Spencer hovered behind her like a magnet, drawn to her, or like a dog on a leash that could never get further than she'd allow.

"You're the girl," Kaleb said quietly. "The one he took. They're holding you here, now?"

Edeline gave Kaleb a serene smile and reached back and touched Spencer's elbow.

"I'm not held here," she said. "I chose to come. Just like Priya, when she needed refuge."

Kaleb's lip pulled up in a silent snarl. His eyes narrowed, jaw tight, and he lifted onto the balls of his feet as if about to pounce. Spencer moved closer to Edeline.

"Refuge?" Kaleb demanded. "Priya doesn't need refuge from her own family."

"But I'm not your family, Kaleb," Priya snapped. "Vince made that clear."

The anger melted off Kaleb's face and dripped into a disappointed puddle on the floor.

"Vince?" he asked. "What does Vince have to do with it? Of course you're family, Priya. You always have been."

Priya shook her head.

"Vince made it very clear that I should go."

"But, he adores you, Priya."

"No, Kal, he doesn't."

Edeline took another step down the stairs.

"Vince isn't capable of adoring anyone," she said.

A blotchy red anger flared back up into Kaleb's face.

"Excuse me?"

Edeline twitched, then was calm again.

"Your son was already turning feral before he was changed," she said. "I saw it in him. I begged Carson not to let you turn him."

"You were kidnapped by this drainer, held captive just like my son, and you—"

"You talk as if he was a victim, Kaleb," she said quietly. "He was no victim. Vince tormented me every day he held me. Spencer may have been the one to take me, but Vince..."

Edeline shuddered.

Priya chewed on her bottom lip as she watched Kaleb. His jaw was clenched, his hands balled into fists at his side. A lifetime of being protected by him, of seeing him as an older brother and being treated like a younger sister, made her want to leap to his defence. Vince had always been family, he was pack, she should want to protect him from Edeline's claims. But it had been Vince who tormented her, who'd mocked her past and pushed her to leave the farm. Or perhaps it was the fact that Edeline stood so close to Spencer without fear, despite what he'd done, that made her claims somehow more believable.

"My son was a victim," Kaleb snarled when he finally found his voice.

"Kaleb..." Edeline whispered.

"That thing," he continued, swinging a clenched fist in Spencer's direction, "came to our home. He destroyed everything with Carson's—"

"Carson knows his mistakes," Edeline said. "He regrets what he did, deeply. He has been in pain, and instead of accepting his apologies, your pack cast him out."

"He was... he wasn't cast out."

Edeline cocked her head to the side and merely stared at him. Kaleb shifted under the weight of it, but didn't disagree again.

William stepped forwards.

"You see Priya is safe," he said. "Now, unless she would like to go with you, I believe it is time you leave."

All eyes turned on Priya. She gripped the banister, grinding her teeth. She could see the disappointment in Kaleb's eyes, but she still shook her head.

The door flung open so fast that everyone leaped back. William rocketed across the hallway into the shadows. Spencer, already out of the direct line of the light flooding across the hallway, took one look at the silhouette in the doorway and grabbed Edeline around the middle from behind, hauling her back and moving to stand in front of her.

Vince's gaze never left the pair. His eyes were wide and bright, his smile practically bursting from his face.

"Vince?" Kaleb demanded. "What are you doing here?"

His son paid him no mind.

"Well, look at that," Vince said, stepping further into the hallway. He left the door wide open and kept to the bright pool of sunlight. "Hello Eddie."

Edeline took a deep breath and straightened herself up, staring at him over Spencer's shoulder. Spencer's face hardened in a way Priya had never seen. It was a new and passionate loathing.

"What are you doing here, Vin?" he asked.

"Vince?" Kaleb demanded again, stepping forwards. Vince threw up a hand and kept his father, his alpha, at bay.

Priya felt all but forgotten. She was glad of it when she saw the way Vince's eyes widened and his mouth twitched into a snarl. She'd seen that look back at the farm, that wired fury.

"My uncle isn't enough to keep you safe, now, huh Eddie?" Vince asked. "You hide behind Spencer? What's the matter? Don't want our nights alone anymore?"

Edeline shuddered and moved closer to Spencer.

"You should leave, Vince. I know what you want. It's not going to happen."

Every eye widened as Vince cackled. He stepped towards Spencer an Edeline.

"You're messed up, Eddie," he said. "Got a death wish, letting him protect you."

"Vince!" Kaleb snapped. "What is wrong with you?"

"I tried to warn you, Kaleb," Edeline murmured.

"You don't know anything!"

Vince went to take another step towards them, but was stopped when Kaleb grabbed him by the shoulder. He lurched out of Kaleb's grasp, almost crashing into Spencer. Kaleb grabbed him again, this time around the middle, hauling him back.

"Vin!" he shouted over the scuffle.

William prowled the edges of the shadows, looking murderous.

"I will see what you see, little Eddie," Vince shouted. "All those nights letting him drink from you... Stopping me from getting what I wanted... I will get that taste. I won't stop with a few drops."

Kaleb's gaze darted between them, panicked and confused. He pulled Vince—now hollering so fast and furiously that it became a jittering snarl—towards the door.

"I'll take your head off, bitch!" Vince screamed as he was flung out of the house. From the thuds of footsteps, he tripped down most of the stairs outside the door.

Priya launched herself around the end of the stairs, slamming the door behind them. She threw the deadbolt into the latch and leaned against the door, her face frozen in surprise and fear.

She had known Vince was on a dangerous path, that he'd changed from the boy she once knew, but this was something else entirely. He was spiralling, and Edeline was right, it was a path that led straight to Feral. 


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!

Sorry, I'll just be over here... giggling. 

Chele

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