Silver - By Kailin Gow Page 0,30

any better ideas, they went. Briony drove, with Jake in the passenger seat and the other two in the back. Briony had left the sword at home. It wasn’t the kind of thing she could be seen carrying around town, so she would just have to rely on her cross with its hidden blade if it came to violence.

Parking in front of the diner, the four of them slipped inside. The front seemed empty. Maybe it hadn’t been such an obvious place for Pietre to go after al .

“I was so sure he’d be here,” Briony said.

Kevin put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We stil haven’t checked the back.”

Briony shook her head. “If Pietre were here, he would have heard us by now.”

Even so, they went through to the office. Briony went in after Fal on, and stopped dead in the doorway. George stood against the far wal , pinned to it by a stake and utterly stil . Briony couldn’t help wincing at the sight of her friend and former employer like that.

“I told you that we had to stake him,” Fal on said.

“But he’s not dead?”

Fal on shook his head. “If he were, then there wouldn’t be a body. He’s just weak from the lack of blood. I can’t believe Pietre just left him like this.”

“I can,” Jake said, and Briony found herself agreeing. It would be just like the master vampire to abandon someone like this if they failed him.

“Can we do anything for him?” Briony asked.

Kevin moved up beside her. “That might not be such a good idea, Briony. If we take the stake out, he’l be mad with the lack of blood. He’l be weak, but he’l be desperate.

George wil attack any potential source of blood.”

“Like me, you mean.”

Kevin nodded.

“I don’t care,” Briony said. “George deserves better than that. If you and Fal on hold him, I should be able to take the stake out without a problem.”

“And then what?” Fal on asked. “He’l stil need blood to recover.”

“I’l fetch something,” Jake said, and hurried off before Briony could say anything. What did her little brother have in mind? Briony wasn’t sure that she could take a repeat of the scene at the werewolves’ house. She would stake George properly before she al owed that to happen.

For now though, there wasn’t anything to do except try to help him. Briony stepped forward, wrapped her hand around the stake, and pul ed.

George’s head came up, and red eyes locked onto her. A feral sound escaped him. Briony pul ed harder, bracing her foot against the wal as she yanked it clear. It gave way with a suddenness that made her stumble back, but that was just as wel , because George lunged forward, straining against the grips of the two brothers as they struggled to hold him pinned. In a sudden change of tack, George jerked around to attack Kevin, forcing the werewolf back.

“Get out of here, both of you,” Fal on said, grabbing both George’s arms and pinning him once more. “I’m strong enough to hold him, but having you two around is just going to make him worse.”

Briony did not need to be told twice. She and Kevin retreated to the safety of the diner’s front, and Briony let him wrap his arms around her.

“It’s like there’s nothing human left in there,” Briony said sadly.

“We aren’t human, Briony. None of us are. But you find a way to care for us anyway.” Gently, Kevin tilted Briony’s head and kissed her. “Anyone else would have given up on George.”

“We stil might have to. What do you think Jake is going to…? ”

“I’m back!” Jake blurred through the door, holding a large box. “I stole this from the butcher. It stil has plenty of blood in it. It should help. Why are you out here?”

“The smel of our blood was too much for George,”

Kevin explained.

“Then I’d better get in there.”

Jake hurried through to the office. Thanks to the soundproofing, Briony couldn’t hear any of what was going on inside. She was more grateful for that than she could have believed, even if it meant that al she could do was sit out there and wait while Kevin held her.

Final y, Jake came back out.

“He’s ready.”

George was. When they went back into the office, he was standing, and the redness had faded from his eyes.

“Thank you,” he said. “Al of you.”

“You’re feeling better?” Briony asked.

“The hunger is stil there, but I can manage it.”

“We al have