Silver's Bane

Chapter Nine Living with the Dead-2

Carson had decided to stay Kyle’s punishment because he felt Luca’s loyalty waning. He couldn’t afford to lose such a reputable Beta. Even if he was the freak who’d lost his family in a fire, he was a Cain, that meant something in pack life. He would allow this marriage to stand and grant the traitor mercy, solely to regain Luca’s obedience. “Such a waste,” he said aloud, still looking Hayley Reynolds up and down.

“You did a good thing,” Ben said, approaching Carson’s from his right. This man should be his Beta, he was loyal. However, he was also mysterious. He refused to talk about his past. All Carson had gathered is that he was old and that he hated vampires, which was enough for him.

“Did I?” Carson sneered as Kyle kissed the woman he’d had no right to claim. He’d taken her from Carson. It stung, but his pride would never allow this fact to become public knowledge. Kyle’s punishment would come one day, this slight could not go unanswered forever. However, before he could exact justice, he’d have to see Luca’s friendship with the traitor came to an end. Luca needed to fall back in line. Now.

RICKY

Ricky shifted off of a loose spring on the couch after only a few hours of sleep. The cot that had been made up for his mother had not been slept in, even though the noises of last night’s party had died down hours ago. He yanked the headphones out of his ears as the alarm on his phone continued to blare. Blinking, Ricky looked at the time. 7:00 A.M. He hadn’t remembered setting his phone alarm last night. In fact, he distinctly remembered turning off his school alarm since he obviously wouldn’t be going to Fort Miles Preparatory Academy anymore.

Hopeless that he would be able to get any more sleep, Ricky stood and began aimlessly walking through the house. He opened the front door and looked out. Most of the vehicles were gone. Just four remained. He bypassed the stairs where the bedrooms, undoubtedly, were when he heard his mother’s voice coming from the kitchen.

His mom was standing in front of the stove and the stupid Alpha’s massive arms were wrapped around her. He said something in her ear and she giggled. Just then, his mom turned to retrieve something from the refrigerator but stilled upon seeing him.

“Breakfast is almost ready sweetie,” she said, being way to cheery considering the circumstances.

“You know Dad died two nights ago right?” he asked, glaring from his mother to Carson and back.

“You’d better get dressed or you’ll be late for your new school,” his mother responded, completely ignoring that she ever had a husband apparently.

Ricky’s anger spiked. In a matter of moments, his life had been completely obliterated. His father was dead, and his mom was acting insane. Did he really have to change schools too? He liked Fort Miles Prep, he had friends that knew him for what he was. There, he knew where he fit in the scheme of things and he liked it that way.

“Carson made a call to the superintendent of Aboit High this morning, you’re all good to go.”

“You are unbelievable,” Ricky commented flatly.

“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” Carson said. Ricky thought that Carson was attempting to appear calm, but he also thought he saw something strange in the look in his eyes. Something unsettling.

“Who the hell do you think you are…” Ricky snapped.

Carson took one threatening step forward. Ricky thought Carson might just haul-off and hit him. But Demetria held up her hand and Carson chose to stay by her side.

“Ricky enough,” Demetria commanded. “This is our life now. You have to go to school here, in Aboit.”

“Fine.” Ricky turned and walked back to the family room. He heard his mother apologizing for her son’s behavior. Ricky couldn’t stand it in this dump anyway. So, he found her purse, dug out her keys, picked up his phone and charger, and walked out the noisy front door. As he was digging through their mess of belongings, Demetria joined him on the driveway.

“That was uncalled for, young man. This is our home now, and we owe this Alpha our loyalty and respect.”

Seriously, he thought but didn’t say aloud. Instead, he threw her a glare and continued digging through what was left of his old life. He found his skateboard and schoolbag buried deep in the trunk and yanked them both free.

“Do you want me to walk you? The school’s only a few blocks east of here.”

“Yes, because I’m in kindergarten,” he snapped, slammed the trunk shut, hopped on the skateboard, and pushed off.

“Check in at the front desk when you get there!” she shouted after him. “Have a good day, sweetheart!”

He raised his hand but didn’t make the effort to wave.

Rolling along the sidewalk, wind blowing through his dyed black hair, he trick-flipped his board a few times. Once he had to stomp on the back end to grab it and carry it over a broken stretch of sidewalk.

Ricky hadn’t intended to actually find the school building, but he did. Students were pouring in from the sidewalks and parking lot as he stood before the large, brick building. FM Prep, commonly known to its students as FML prep, was a fancy private school. Ricky was basically the one and only fashionably rebellious student, but he’d known those kids all his life. Here he had no idea what to expect. At least he had taken the precaution of wearing street clothes.

“Hi, you’re new here, aren’t you?” A voice said from right beside him.

His eyes grew wide when he turned. Beside him stood an attractive, edgily-dressed human girl, who looked to be about his age. She was wearing a short skirt, which Ricky quite admired, and a black, faux leather jacket. The only shred of real color she wore was coming from the rainbow of colors in her hair.

Ricky nodded, a little stunned. There were no girls like this at his old school.

“I’m Tasha,” she said, offering her black, nail polished, fingers toward him.

“Ricky.”

“Come on. I’ll walk you to the office.”

Ricky wasn’t sure why, but he followed Tasha up the stone steps and into the school building. “I saw you boarding earlier,” she continued.

Ricky sort of smiled by didn’t say anything.

“Here.” Tasha motioned to an office on their right. “Oh, and I don’t know if you’re interested but a bunch of us are working the carnival after school if you want to join.”

“Thanks, I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that then,” she responded as a smile spread across her face. Then she turned and almost trotted down the hall, leaving him to walk into the office alone.

Girls! Ricky thought as he shook his head a little and smiled to himself.

He then contemplated running back out of the school, but where would he go if he did. He’d just have to make it through the school day like he had at FML Prep; by making sarcastic comments to his teachers and thinking about how ridiculous the whole school thing really was for a werewolf.

He squared his shoulders and walked through the open door. Stopping in front of a cluttered desk, he cleared his throat and waited.

“Oh hello,” a large, dark-skinned woman in glasses greeted.

“I’m Ricky Harrison. I think you are expecting me.”

“Right,” she said and then looked at all the sticky notes attached to her workspace. “I did hear something about that.”

Ricky waited.

“Tell you what. We aren’t actually ready for you at this moment. Why don’t I walk you down to the library? I’m sure Miss Bristow could put you to work for a few hours.”

“Whatever,” Ricky replied.

JULIANA

At the start of another workday, Jules crouched at the back of the library shelving a pile of books some juniors had left in a stack on the floor.

“Jules?” Belinda, the office assistant, called.

“Back here!” Jules peaked her head around the shelf. “Be there in a second!” Jules shoved the last book into its place on the shelf, stood, and walked toward the front of the library.

“There’s a vampire in your library,” said the boy standing next to Belinda.

“You have quite an imagination young man. But in this school, our students treat our staff with respect,” Belinda scolded.

“But…”

“Sit.” She pointed to one of the tables nearby.

The boy scowled but walked over to the area she was pointing at and sat with a thud.

Jules walked behind her desk, eternally grateful that Belinda had reacted as she had. “I’m sorry about this, Jules,” Belinda began, walking behind Jules’s desk as well. “The superintendent called this morning, demanding that we find a place for this kid. We don’t have things worked out yet. Can you keep him here for a while? Get his books together maybe. I’ll email you his class list once I get him enrolled.”

“Bee, breathe.” She patted the woman on the shoulder. “Yes. We’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?” The middle-aged woman looked skeptical. Jules looked over at the werewolf boy. He looked more annoyed and prickly than scared.

“Positive.”

“Then, I should really get back.” Belinda pointed over her shoulder.

“Go. I’ve got this,” Jules assured her, yet again.

“You’re a miracle worker,” she called back as she left in a rush.

Jules gave her a few minutes to disappear back down the hall before approaching the teenager.

“Are you going to kill me?” he asked without looking at her, his hands clamped over the edge of the table.

“I wasn’t planning to. Nor would I,” Jules said honestly. She continued to stand several feet back from the seemingly skittish youth.

“How about we don’t do anything this morning Jules,” Ethan blathered as he came through the door. “Did you replace me?” he asked, noticing the other person his age sitting where he usually plopped down in the mornings.

“For today,” she said, her concerned expression softened as she looked at Monica’s little brother.

“Works for me. See ya J!” He waved once as he walked back through the door.

“Go to study hall!” she shouted after Ethan.

He turned and shrugged, smiling mischievously at her through the glass.

“So, you just… work here.” Ricky spoke again. “At a school. Like a human?”

Jules glanced out the glass door before responding. The students were already tucked into their homerooms, leaving the halls pretty much vacant. “I do. I’ve been here for three years now.” Jules tentatively sat across from the boy.

“And the students don’t die off mysteriously or anything?” He sounded skeptical.

“I don’t feed off humans. Or werewolves for that matter.”

He looked up at her for the first time since he’d sat down. He searched her eyes. Looking for what? She wasn’t sure.

“Juliana Bristow. Or Jules, as it were.” She smiled as unthreateningly as possible.

“I’m Ricky Harrison,” he said but didn’t offer his hand.

“What brings you here, Ricky?”

Ricky just looked at her, baffled.

“You’re obviously new here for some reason.”

“My father was murdered. Yesterday. By a vampire.”

Empathetically, Jules wanted to comfort the boy. And yet, if his story was true, he was probably feeling very scared, insecure, and sad right now. “You have nothing to fear from me.”

“Awesome,” he said sarcastically.

She searched for something else to say and then remembered that she was playing the part of a school librarian. “How about you help me out. You can shelve some books for me?”

Ricky yawned involuntarily, pulled his phone out of his bag, put his earbuds in his ears, and music started to blare.

“Or we can do that later,” Jules said to no one, since Ricky was obviously no longer listening. Just then, Jules’s in-house messenger dinged from her computer. She took the excuse to leave the boy alone and walked back to her desk to pull up her staff messenger. She had a message from Belinda waiting for her. “So, this kid’s transcripts just came in from his last school. He was at the top of his class. Go figure. I’ve attached his class schedule and book list. He can start tomorrow. Hope you’re doing okay with him.”

Jules looked over at Ricky, who was typing out a message of his own. This was going to be a long day.

LUCA

Luca was sleeping late due to the previous night’s celebration. If dreams were a choice, he would have chosen to dream of Jules. But instead, his subconscious haunted him with his greatest shame. Forcing him to relive his greatest pain, over and over again. Luca dreamt of a picturesque little cabin, secluded from prying eyes. It lay in the Canadian forest of Ontario. A loving family lived there; it was his family, this had been his home.

A woman stood in the cabin doorway waving at him. Jenna Cain, Luca’s mother, looked as radiant as she had on that day. His father, Bill, a strong and wise leader, clapped him on the shoulder. In the dream, Luca jumped at the unexpected contact. He looked over and saw blood pooling on his father’s forehead. Bill seemed unconcerned. Luca looked again, the blood was gone.

The dream shifted, and Luca saw a face, one he’d never been able to forget. The face of the human girl Luca had fallen in love with. Luca and Rosemary fell in love young, and they loved each other recklessly. He lived for the look she got in her eyes when they were together. That look he saw now in his sleep. For the briefest of moments her face became another’s, her hair wasn’t blonde but red, her eyes lightened, her features softened. Jules.

“Rosemary, I have to tell you something,” the teenage version of him said. The face turned back into the tall blonde. He didn’t want to have secrets from Rosemary, not even this one. “There is something about me you don’t know.”

“Really?” she asked coyly.

In his dream, adult Luca was screaming at his younger self to stay quiet. The course of events that followed this act of trust would destroy everything Luca loved.

“You’re a liar, Luca Cain,” Rosemary screamed. “Never speak to me again!”

“Wait, Rosie, I can prove it to you!” he called after her.

“How?”

Then he did the one thing he’d promised his father he never would. He showed Rosemary the truth. He turned into a wolf before her eyes.

Rosemary screamed and fell into hysterics. “You’re a monster! I’ll destroy you if you ever come near me again!” And then she ran.

Luca had ignored her threats but had tried to keep his distance. He had wanted to believe that once the shock wore off, she would come around.

He had been very wrong.

Rosemary had told her father Luca’s secret. He, in turn, had rallied the townsmen to hunt the wolves down. In a bold attempt to destroy what they didn’t understand; the unruly mob had armed themselves and had stormed Luca’s family’s home.

Luca and his father had been out in the forest. “It’ll be your responsibility someday,” Bill had said. Luca’s father liked to be out running in the forest. He had always been the freest in those moments.

The angry mob had broken into Luca’s home that night. They’d murdered everyone he loved. Not only did they shoot his mother, ten-year-old brother, older sister and her husband, but they also murdered Luca’s two young nieces.

Luca and his father had rushed toward the house, but Bill never made it inside. An athlete Luca went to school with had shot Bill between the eyes before he could save his dying family.

Luca woke when the gunshots rang in his mind. He was drenched in sweat, tangled in his sheets, and trembling from the dream. Shaking himself from the nightmare, he tried not to relive what had happened next.

Enraged, Luca had lunged at his father’s killer. In one swift movement, he killed the boy. His first murder.

As Luca had run into the cottage, he’d heard terrified screams coming from his nieces’ room. He’d made it just in time to see five-year-old Elena transform into a wolf for the first time. Rosemary’s older brother had shot little Elena out of mid-air. She’d died instantly, her sister already gone. Luca’s rage had consumed him. He’d torn the boy apart. His last murder.

When the mob found the dead boy outside, they’d taken the body and fled. In a daze, he’d tried to wake his sister and then his mother, but nothing could be done. His entire family was gone in those few terrible moments.

Luca had dragged his father’s body inside the house to lay with the rest of his family. With a mighty howl, he’d lit his family home on fire. Guilt-ridden, heartbroken, and afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from exacting his revenge on all the humans involved, including Rosemary, he’d fled Canada immediately following the start of the blaze. He lived inside the wolf for many months following these horrific events.

Luca shook the memories from his mind. He didn’t know why this dream had chosen to haunt him once again. He suspected it had something to do with telling Ricky that he understood his pain.

Luca stretched noisily and dropped one hand over the side of the bed. He shifted things around the floor until he found his phone lying under the shirt he’d worn the day before. The screen blinked to life. He’d missed one message from his Juliet. “Hope I don’t wake you, but I have a very angry werewolf boy here today. Any ideas on convincing him not to out me?”

The message was only a few minutes old. Luca held his phone above him as he typed. “Is his name Ricky Harrison?” He dropped the phone on his bed and started detangling himself from his sheets.

Jules’s response came back almost immediately. “That’s the one.”

Jules had told him that she worked at the local high school. He thought it odd that Carson seemed not to know this. Especially since werewolf kids did regularly attend Aboit High. But they were also kept out of most pack drama. The majority of them probably didn’t even realize that their school librarian was a four-hundred-year-old vampire.

“I’m on my way,” he sent back and then got up to shower and dress.