by Kat Bellamy
“Thank you, sir,” Colt said, returning the handshake as he let out his first breath in what felt like an hour. He hesitated. “When you say family, you do mean this family, don’t you?”
Lochlan gave an uproarious laugh, patting Colt on the shoulder. “This is a good man, JayJay. You hold onto this one.”
Jason smiled, but the look in his eyes was all for Colt. “I plan on it.”
Chapter 17
“So, that went well,” Jason said, fastening his seatbelt once they were in the truck.
“It did,” Colt agreed, pulling out onto the road. “Other than the fact that now your dad hates me more than ever and we made your mom cry.”
“She cries about everything,” Jason mumbled. “And he already hated you as much as he can, so there wasn’t really any room to improve.”
“Comforting.”
Jason glanced over at him with a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Did you mean what you told Grandpa Loch?”
“You know I did,” Colt mumbled.
“And here I thought you weren’t good at putting things into words,” Jason said with a wistful sigh as he snuggled into Colt’s side.
“Apparently, I’m a little better at it when I’m talking to a man who’s probably killed people with his pinkie.”
“He has not,” Jason snorted, looking out the window. “His index finger, maybe.”
Colt rolled his eyes. “Wanna come back to my place, or am I dropping you off?”
“I’d love to go back with you, but I can’t. Early day.”
“Saturday morning?”
“Oh, right. I forgot, I didn’t tell you. This week has just been so crazy, it completely slipped my mind.”
“Tell me what?” Colt asked warily.
“I got the internship.”
Colt’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel. “The Sheriff’s office?”
“No. The DA.”
In one sense, Colt was relieved. That meant Jason wouldn’t be spending most of his time around Roland and who knew how many other ghouls, but on the other, he would be spending his time with a man who was hell-bent on proving they existed, which might prove equally perilous. “Congratulations,” he said, doing his best to sound sincere. “You’re gonna do great.”
“I know you’re not crazy about it, but after everything that happened, I’m more set on doing this than ever.”
Colt swallowed hard. “Is this about the werewolf thing?”
“It wasn’t a werewolf,” Jason grumbled. “I don’t know what it was, but that’s half of it. You heard what my grandpa said at dinner. This city has been plagued with ‘mysterious accidents’ and ‘animal attacks’ since he can remember. And before you say it, no, his ‘friends’ can’t be the only ones behind it. They don’t go after innocent people. This is something different.”
“Is this what you talked about in your application for the internship?”
“Of course not.” Jason folded his arms as the truck came to a stop in the parking lot outside his dorm. “But as an intern in the DA’s office, I’ll have access to records and people and all sorts of information I wouldn’t have otherwise. There’s a pattern to these deaths, I know there is. Now I can actually substantiate my theories with evidence instead of just going off my own hunches and anecdotal experience.”
“Jason, if this is about proving what you saw --”
“It isn’t.” He paused. “Okay, maybe it is a little. It’s frustrating that no one believes me, but whatever this is, it’s killing people. My brother died. We almost died.” His eyes narrowed curiously. “Why doesn’t that bother you?”
“Of course it bothers me. I just don’t know what people like us can do about it, that’s all.”
“That’s the whole point. I can’t do anything on my own, but with this internship, who knows what I can find out? And if I do find proof of...something, then I’ll be around people who can do something. Does that make any sense at all?”
Colt nodded, his hands still glued to the wheel. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.”
Jason put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “You don’t have to believe me. Soon, I’ll be able to show you.”
“Just please be careful. If there is some vast conspiracy going on, it’s been going on for a long time. If men like your grandfather don’t even know what it is, then you need to at least think about the possibility that whatever it is, it’s a hell of a lot more dangerous.”
Jason got out and leaned in through the open window. “Now you’re starting to talk like you do believe me.”
“I believe you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met,” Colt said dryly. “And I believe there are bad people in this city, whether they have anything to do with what you saw or not. I just don’t want you to get mixed up in the wrong thing because you’re too smart for your own good.”
Jason smirked. “Careful. Now you’re starting to sound like grandpa.”
Colt sighed. “Get some sleep and good luck in the morning.”
“I’ll call and tell you how it goes,” Jason promised, waving to Colt as he headed up the walk to the dormitory.
Colt watched until he made it safely inside before shaking his head and pulling away. However it went, the only way it would be good news was if Jason called and told him he’d decided to take up maritime law, after all.
Chapter 18
Colt found himself relieved to be short-staffed on Friday morning. It meant he could actually work outside with the crew as opposed to spending most of his day in the on-site trailer. He didn’t exactly have a corner office, but sitting inside while everyone else was doing the backbreaking labor outside of his window had never sat well with him.
The crew had finally started to relax after the visit from Wilbur and Colt had just received the call that morning announcing that they were in the top two selections for the new highrise condominium project. The fact that it was a bug up Raymond Jones’ ass was just icing on the cake.
“Hey, Colt,” Jeremy called from the next bench over. “You know that kid? He’s been starin’ at you for a solid minute.”
Colt looked up and across the street, spotting Ronnie outside a row of outdoor shops. “Yeah, I know him. Thanks, Jer,” he said, slipping his measure back into his belt before waving Ronnie over. The younger ghoul reluctantly crossed the street.
“Hey, Ronnie. What’s up?”
“Hey. I was just in the area and thought I’d say...y’know, hey.” He glanced up at the skeletal building. “That thing’s going up fast.”
Colt smiled. “That’s the idea. Since you’re here, how about a tour?”
Ronnie eyed the building. “I don’t usually go in buildings where I can see through the walls.”
Colt laughed, putting a hand on Ronnie’s shoulder to lead him toward the soon-to-be bank. “The opaque stuff is usually just drywall. Everything that holds her up is already in place.”
“If you say so.”
“So what brings you to the ‘area,’ anyway?”
“School. It’s a few blocks from here,” he said, nodding towards the downtown district.
“Oh, yeah. What’re you majoring in?”
“Depends on the week,” Ronnie snorted, kicking a bit of gravel out of his path as Colt led him through the maze of lumber. “You sure I can be here?”
“Why, planning on filing a complaint?”
Ronnie rolled his eyes. “Haven’t seen you at the house much since the camping trip.”
“Yeah, between work and helping Jason through shit, I haven’t had that much time. Or reason to bug your parents. Think I’m finally starting to settle into the whole ghoul thing, for better or for worse.”
“That makes one of us,” Ronnie mumbled.
Colt stopped to watch him, realizing that it wasn’t just the fact that Ronnie was willingly out in the sunlight that seemed off. “C’mere. You’ll like this,” he said, striding around to the other side of the building.
“What?” Ronnie asked
warily.
Colt came to a stop in front of the utility ladder that led up to a scaffolding on the side of the building and patted the railing. “You like sitting on rooftops. This is a bit of an upgrade from outside your bedroom window.”
Ronnie’s nose wrinkled as he looked up. “I dunno.”
“Come on. You’re practically immortal. Live a little.”
“Not yet, I’m not!” Ronnie cried, reluctantly following him up the ladder. “If I fall from this height, I’m gonna end up in traction at the very least.”
“Relax. That almost never happens.”
Ronnie gave him the side eye when he reached the top of the ladder, as if he wasn’t quite sure whether Colt was joking or not.
“Kidding,” Colt laughed, offering a hand to help him up the rest of the way. “Mostly.”
Ronnie stared at his hand for a second before taking it. When he reached the top, he stumbled a little, righting himself on the railing. “Shit,” he breathed as he looked out over the city street below. “This is higher than it looks.”
“You get used to it.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Ronnie stared out at the people walking back and forth across the street. Colt couldn’t help but wonder if the young ghoul ever struggled with seeing his classmates as food, despite his aversion to meat, and if it bothered Ronnie the same way it bothered him. He might have just come out and asked if he hadn’t gotten the feeling that there was already something weighing heavily on Ronnie’s mind.
“You doing okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Every word that came out of the guy’s mouth seemed defensive.
Colt shrugged. “Just a question.”
“Sorry. Guess I haven’t been sleeping all that well since my uncle showed up.”
“What, does he play his Zeppelin records too loud?” Colt teased.
Ronnie cracked a half-smile, but the fact that he’d bothered was a sure sign that something was wrong. “No. He just has a way of bringing trouble with him.”
“More than me? That’s saying something.”
“Maybe not more,” Ronnie said with a smirk, leaning back against the brick wall supporting the scaffolding. “Just a different kind.”
“Ghoul drama or family drama?”
“You say that like they’re separate things.”
“You know, you don’t have to talk about it, but I’m here if you want to. Might help to have someone to vent to who’s outside of all of it. At least, as outside of it as I can be without being human.”
Ronnie stared down at his shoes and seemed to be thinking about it. “You know how my parents are. They’ve built a whole life around being normal, blending in, staying out of trouble. Until you, at least. No offense.”
“None taken. I’m guessing your uncle isn’t the type to blend in?”
“Not even close. The Moreaus have an oligarchy going in this region, but they still have their enemies. Ghouls that think a single family of Alphas having that much power is a dangerous thing.”
Colt was inclined to agree with them. “Your uncle is one of them?”
Ronnie nodded. “He’s been trying to get my dad to join the cause for years, even though he’s too much of a coward to do anything himself.”
“The cause?”
“You’d probably call them a resistance. To me, they’re just more people who want control.”
“That’s not very punk of you. I thought kids these days were supposed to be all about rebellion and ‘stickin’ it to the man?’”
Ronnie rolled his eyes. “I got that shit out of my system during my Freshman world politics seminar. Head down, resigned to mediocrity. That’s what all the cool kids are doing now.”
Colt laughed. “You know, if you ever need a place to crash or your uncle’s just driving you nuts, I live like two blocks from here.”
For a second, the surprise on Ronnie’s face made Colt wonder if he’d taken the offer the wrong way. He finally mumbled, “Thanks. That’s...nice of you to offer, but I’m good. I should probably get back home. My prof just gave out a shitload of homework over the weekend.”
“That’s brutal. Good luck,” Colt said, following him back down the ladder. He watched as Ronnie disappeared across the street, cutting a corner at the last moment to head in the opposite direction of where he lived. Sometimes Colt worried about that kid.
Chapter 19
Colt went twenty minutes out of his way that night to stop at the Browns’ house just to check and see if Ronnie had made it back. His light was off upstairs, but there was a flashy white sports car Colt had never seen before in the driveway, so he rang the doorbell. When Miles answered the doorbell shirtless and with a bottle of Stan’s craft beer in his hand, Colt could see why Ronnie avoided him. Miles wasn’t someone who knew how to make himself scarce.
“Hey, Colt. You here for a peek at the blonde?” Miles asked with a gold-studded grin.
“Sorry, who?”
Before Miles could answer, Susan came out of the kitchen with a half-empty wine glass in her hand. Judging from the way her usually perfect hair had been mussed up, Colt guessed it was far from her first. The sweet aroma of blood was enough to tell him that it wasn’t wine, either.
“Colt,” she said, her voice pleasantly slurred. “What a nice surprise. We were just talking about you.”
“You were? Should I be concerned?”
“Of course not,” she snorted, slipping her arm into his as she led him toward the kitchen. “You remember how I was telling you I used to hang out with Evelyn Leiton?”
“Yeah, kind of hard to forget the bitch who --” Colt swallowed the rest of that thought as Susan breezed them into the kitchen and he found himself face-to-face with the ghoul who’d killed Chuck. “--you used to be friends with.”
Evelyn folded her arms to boost her cleavage and smirked.
“Hello again, Colt. I hope there are no hard feelings between us.”
“None at all,” he gritted out. The woman was damn lucky he had six reasons not to rip her throat out, and two of them happened to be standing between them at the moment.
“I’m glad we finally get to meet in a civilized setting,” she said in a sultry tone, extending her hand. “What do you say we start over?”
Colt made eye contact with Stan for an instant, and even though the older ghoul was good at keeping his emotions in check, Colt could tell he was worried about his reaction. In the interest of repaying the Browns for their kindness and keeping his own loved ones off the Moreau family shit list, he reluctantly took Evelyn’s hand and kissed it.
“My, such a gentleman,” she fawned. “I see you’ve been teaching him the ways of our world, Susie.”
“He’s a fast learner,” Susan said, leaning into her husband’s side.
“But you haven’t introduced him to the Assembly yet?”
“Not officially,” said Stan. “Given the circumstances, we thought it would be better to take things as gradually as possible.”
“A wise decision,” Evelyn said, taking her hand back. Her fingertips brushed invitingly over her bare collarbone as she sipped her blood and eyed Colt over the rim of the glass. “The politics of it all can be a bit overwhelming.”
“We’ve been discussing the incident with Chuck,” Stan said pointedly. “Evelyn has been gracious enough to assure us she understands the situation.”
“I see,” Colt said, picking up on the fact that Stan was trying to warn him that Evelyn didn’t know about his other incident. Not that he would have volunteered that information anyway, but he would have at least appreciated a warning from Susan. To be fair, she probably had more of a stranger’s blood in her system than her own by that point.
“It’s all in the past,” Evelyn said, sidling up a bit closer. She leaned in, walking her black-tipped fingers up Colt’s chest. They were already filed to sharp points that resembled the claws they became when she was in predator mode. “Besides, it’s sweet in a strange way. A ghoul raised among hum
ans, sympathetic enough to their plight to grieve when one gets picked off from the herd. I just adore a sensitive male.”
“I’m sure his boyfriend feels the same way,” Susan said in a wry tone.
To Colt’s relief, Evelyn shrank away before he had to push her off. She let out a dramatic sigh. “I guess it’s true what they say about the sweet ones. Oh, well.” She tucked a strand of wavy gold behind her ear and smiled. “He’s still a gem and I wouldn’t dream of causing trouble for my darling Susie. But do be careful,” she said, her tone growing severe. “This city isn’t the safe haven for our kind it once was.”
“What do you mean?” asked Stan.
“Haven’t you heard?” Evelyn cocked her head. “Although, I suppose you wouldn’t have. The Levitts are keeping it very hush-hush, but their son, Trace has been missing for weeks.”
Susan’s eyes betrayed her panic even though Stan remained calm. Colt wasn’t sure whose lead to follow. “Who are the Levitts?”
“One of the founding families,” Evelyn replied. “Lovely people. It’s a shame about Trace’s addiction,” she said with another heavy sigh, shaking her head. “Poor Lorna. He’s gone off on benders before, but this is the first time he’s been gone this long.”
Susan awkwardly set aside her glass. “Some vices are the same, human or ghoul. It’s...difficult for some of us to abstain from blood on a raw diet.”
“Some people just don’t know the meaning of moderation,” Evelyn said before swallowing another mouthful of blood. She put her glass down and smoothed out her formfitting black dress. “Well, it’s been fun catching up, but I should be getting back. You know how Vince worries.”
“It was wonderful to see you again, love,” Susan said, kissing Evelyn’s cheek at the door. “Come by more often.”
Evelyn cast a mischievous glance back at Colt. “I just might. It was a pleasure meeting you, Colt. Officially.”
Colt managed a stiff smile that fell the moment the door shut.
“Thank God,” Stan muttered. “I can only take so much of that woman in one night.”