to stanch the bleeding.
The movie is about vampires and—what else—werewolves. It stars either Bill Nighy or Bill Nye. Even I can no longer tell the difference.
“…first Clan of Werewolves: A Vicious and Infectious Breed, unable to take Human Form ever again…Until he was born.”
Poul wipes his nose with his hand, wipes his hand on his arm, then looms over me until my knee meets his balls.
Not sure how he got to be Alpha if a seated man can best him without spilling his iced tea.
“Is that your answer then? You will not come with me, so you want me to stay here for you? Like this? Like an animal?”
Poul stomps off to the Deemer, who is in the process of shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. He speaks quickly and Silver holds up one finger, chewing carefully before taking a swig of water and saying a word or two. She turns back to the popcorn. Poul shuffles around so that he’s in front of her again, his mouth moving more, his finger pointed toward me. I can’t hear what’s being said, but judging from her expression, the Deemer does not seem to think that who sits next to the popular girl at movie night is a matter for the law.
Poul makes a mistake and jabs an accusing finger first toward Tiberius, then toward Silver. She looks at it coldly, puts her popcorn on the table, and lunges forward, biting him hard with her fanged and salty teeth.
She takes her popcorn back. Tiberius repeatedly smooths his mustache and cropped beard.
Now Poul stands holding his finger, his face bright red and furious. There are no longer two seats together. He thumps back, banging harder against my legs and the skull of the wolf in front of him, who growls, but Poul shows teeth and the wolf lowers his head.
He sucks at his wounded finger, staring at the door until Evie finally arrives. She’s trying to do it quietly so as not to disturb the movie, but when she turns away from the snack table, with a sweet potato puck and a glass of iced tea, her expression changes. All her wolves are watching her. Even the pups have stopped fighting. I doubt they understand the middle-school dynamics of the moment, but they recognize the possibility of a fight when they smell it.
“Alpha.” Poul stands, blocking me from her view. “I saved you a seat.”
I stare straight ahead, still pretending to watch the movie.
“You are a credit to your race. Do you know how to remain so? Keep your eyes on the ground…!”
“Alpha?” Poul says again. “He knows he has to move for you.”
“There’s plenty of room on the floor,” she says. Lowering herself gracefully, she props her head on the hip of a wolf lying like a comma. Another wolf props her head on the Alpha’s chest, her eyes slowly rising and lowering in time with her dominant’s breath.
Poul limps toward me, nose swelling, sucking on his finger.
“You know she only tolerates you because you look like John,” he says without bothering to disguise his voice.
“How would you know, Poul?” comes a voice from the back of the room.
“Elijah told Esme who told Joelle who told me.”
Elijah doesn’t have the words to confirm or deny but when Thea says, “I told you not to say anything,” he drops a paw over his eyes.
Evie looks straight ahead, the iced tea raised to her mouth, her face stony. I focus on the condensation dripping to her lower lip.
“But you’re not John,” Poul continues. “I am the Alpha of the 10th Echelon of the Great North Pack and you… You. Are. Nothing.”
I press my palm against my fingers, and one by one, they crack.
“I know who you are. You are the man who plotted with the noseless dog to give the Great North’s pups to August. To give your Pack and your Alpha to hunters,” I say, my eyes glued to the screen, where interestingly enough wolves are in retreat from a Shifter. “I am the man who stopped it.”
The room freezes. Poul doesn’t breathe, and everyone in the room looks somewhere that isn’t at us.
Evie stands stiffly, her palm extended as though she was hoping to shake hands with someone who has disappeared. Everyone, even the pups, has gone quiet, making the movie so horribly loud.
“The accused has committed high treason against this covenant.
“She has consorted with animals.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch her. She puts her iced tea