Blood of the Enemy by Sara A. Noë

Author:Sara A. Noë
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: On The Cobblestone Road LLC
Published: 2023-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

Dinner that night, as if it hadn’t already been doomed to be tense, was off to a bad start before it even began.

Axel was fidgety and couldn’t stop bouncing his foot while drumming his fingers on the tabletop. RC, who had been staring despondently down into his lap, grimaced and dragged his hands down his face in irritation.

Vivian noticed and said, “Please stop doing that. You’re upsetting RC.”

Axel snapped back, “You think you know him well enough to say what’s upsetting him? Fuck off, Vivian. You don’t know shit.”

“Axel!” I cried at the same time Jay said, “Enough.”

RC closed his eyes and leaned forward until his forehead rested on the table. Vivian retorted, “You just say whatever you want because you think nobody’s going to stand up to you. It’s easy to pick a fight when you’re the strongest person, isn’t it? You’re nothing more than a bully.”

Jay, seeming to realize the skirmish was beyond remediation by this point, simply shook his head. The door to the kitchen swung open, and Madison cheerily announced, “I hope everyone’s hungry!”

Axel stood up and snarled, “Call me whatever the fuck you want. I don’t have to sit here and take it.” He stormed out of the dining room and phased through the front door.

My mother frowned as she set a plate topped with spaghetti and meatballs in front of Kit, whose ears pricked forward. She eagerly reached for the pasta. “Fork,” Madison reminded sternly.

Kit froze, her hand a few inches above the plate, fingers splayed apart and ready to seize a handful of the saucy noodles. Her ears fell back, but she retracted her hand and picked up the fork beside her plate.

“Thank you,” said Madison. “What was that all about? Is Axel not feeling well again?”

“Sort of,” I muttered, angry enough with my lab-brother to feel the current of hot, potent energy that had probably caused my eyes to glow green. Tonight of all nights, couldn’t he make an effort to not cause trouble? I swore he had instigated that spat on purpose just for an excuse to leave.

Madison surmised, “Then I take it he isn’t joining us for dinner tonight.” I shook my head. Vivian rose and stormed into the kitchen to help serve the meal.

Ero set his napkin down on the table and followed suit, kindly offering, “Allow me to assist you.” He followed Madison back into the kitchen.

No one said a word as the three of them worked in sync to serve everyone at the table. Vivian set my plate down in front of me with a loud clatter and more force than necessary. “Thank you,” I whispered. She locked her jaw and returned to the kitchen without answering.

I picked up the piece of garlic bread on the side of my plate and took a bite.

Wow. I closed my eyes. That intense flavor took me back to a dark alley when Jay and I were crouched over a garbage bag, eating our first meal Outside. I sat still for

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