Chapter 4 #2
"Fine. I like getting digits in my account, it's fun to see them get bigger and bigger, but the meetings bore me."
Thano dipped his head in acknowledgment. "Maybe you can find another way to make money. The wolves used to work for a construction company. Maybe they'd be willing to hire a bear."
Tuur shrugged his massive shoulders.
"Right." Thano looked at Conal again. "I suggest Conal stays on the board. He has a good sense of what's going on and understands the consequences of the humans' decisions." Conal's eyes widened, then he nodded in agreement.
"We'll have to have regular meetings again, so you can report about what's going on." There were several nods around the clearing.
"What about Eli?" Ciar frowned.
"What about him?" Thano believed Eli would be fine. The people in Last Hope needed him.
"We should warn him beforehand, so he knows what's going on. He's the only one who does business with breed. If all breed apart from Conal withdraws, he should know about it."
A sliver of unease worked its way through Thano. Were they putting Eli at risk by withdrawing from the board? No one had caused any problems for him as far as Thano was aware, but was it because they hadn't dared to since the board was made up by breed?
"I'll talk to Eli."
Ciar nodded and turned to walk toward Romeo's house, effectively ending the meeting.
* * * *
Eli closed the chicken coop and the rabbit pen. It wasn't often predators came into Last Hope, at least not the kind who couldn't take any other form, but they had foxes on occasion, and he couldn't afford to lose any of his animals.
The night was eerily quiet. Maybe it always was.
He looked up and down the street. Nothing.
The last time the others had raided the town at night, he hadn't noticed a thing.
He'd woken in the morning only to learn the board had been killed, but should the purpose be to decrease the population, he wasn't sure it would happen as swiftly or as quietly.
With a sigh, he walked up the stairs and stepped inside.
His house wasn't big, but it was his. It was where he'd grown up, and when his mother had passed away, he'd inherited it.
If he hadn't, he never could've afforded the shop.
There wasn't much left when everything was paid, and if he'd had to pay rent, he wouldn't have been able to live on the salary he gave himself.
Walking into the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator. Eggs. He was sick of eggs, but it was what he had. Maybe he should butcher a rabbit for some variation, but he didn't want to. He had eight, and he wanted to keep them in case of a real emergency.
He cracked two eggs in a skillet and seasoned them with salt and pepper when there was a knock at the door.
His entire being froze. No one ever came here. There had to be an emergency. Icicles formed in his veins. Had the culling started?
He went to open the door and took a stumbling step back when he found Thano on his doorstep. Thano watched him with his dark impassive eyes. Fuck. This was it. Maybe he should be glad it was Thano and not someone with claws.
"Let me turn off the stove." It would be a shame if the house burned down. He had things the living could have use for. He stepped into the house and noticed Thano following.
He looked around with a curious glint in his eyes. Eli had never seen anything but a blank mask or confusion before. "You have things."
Eli hovered with his fingers on the knob. "What?"
"I've only ever been in Romeo's and Maria's houses. Romeo has all the lion's things, and Maria has next to no things at all, but you have things."
Maria was Romeo's mother. She was a kind woman, and while he hadn't spoken a lot to her, he was always glad to see her when she came to the shop. They wouldn't kill Romeo's family, would they? "Is she okay?"
"Maria?" Thano turned to him after having studied a whisk among the kitchen utensils he kept in a chipped jug on the counter.
"Yes. I assume she will be spared."
Thano looked confused. "Spared?"
"Aren't you here to kill me?"
For a second, all Thano did was stare at Eli, then he smiled. It stole Eli's breath away for two reasons. One, Thano was fucking hot. Scary, but hot. Two, he had fangs, and they showed when he smiled. The hot and cold clashing inside of him was confusing. Maybe it was fear.
"No. I'm not here to kill you."
Eli's legs turned to rubber, and he pulled out a chair and sat. "You're not?" What was he doing here then?
"No. We had a meeting today."
"The board. Yes, I know."
"No." Thano smiled again, and Eli stared at his mouth. "At the ranch. We decided Conal is to stay on the board, and the rest of us will withdraw."
What? Eli couldn't describe the feeling washing over him. Disappointment? Something similar at least. To think Thano wouldn't be on the board anymore. He'd been there for years and was the token other in the village.
"Why?" It wasn't more than a whisper.
"All this talk about tolls and taxes. It has nothing to do with us, so we figured we'd step back, allow you to run your coven as you see fit."
"Coven?"
"Pack, pride, murder, unkindness, whatever you call it."
Population. Eli nodded. "Is that smart?"
Thano was quiet for some time. "I don't know.
The crows are fine with it, as is Raven.
Armelle doesn't care one way or the other since she never comes into town, Ciar and Draven only care about you staying alive, so they have someone to do business with, and the vampires didn't want us on the board in the first place.
Conal didn't like it, which is part of the reason he'll be the one remaining. "
Eli tried to switch gears in his brain, but going from believing you'd be killed to trying to analyze what it would mean to have Last Hope run by humans was hard.
"And Romeo?" Romeo was the easiest one to talk to.
"Romeo wasn't at the meeting. I'm sure Ciar has talked to him by now, though. What's this?" Thano held up a potato masher.
"To mash potatoes or other veggies you want to turn into...mash."
His eyes narrowed. "I don't think Romeo has one."
Eli shrugged. He had no idea if a potato masher was something most people had.
It had always been in the kitchen. "I don't use it often, but sometimes it's good to have one.
" He remembered his eggs and got up. He put them on a plate and grabbed a knife and fork.
If he was going to live, he might as well eat before they turned rubbery.
Thano watched him, which was a bit unnerving. He wasn't used to having anyone in his kitchen, much less a vampire.
"Do you like eggs?"
Eli shrugged. "It's...eh...something I have. Since I have my chickens, and they lay a lot of eggs this time of year."
"But you don't like them?"
Smiling, Eli took another bite. "They're a good source of protein. When the first eggs come after the darkest of winter, I do enjoy them, but eggs are something you grow tired of pretty fast if you have to eat them every day."
"And you do?"
Eli gestured around. "I don't have much."
"I think you have a lot."
"Edible. I don't have a lot that's edible, and I don't have a lot of money to buy things. Despite the shop being essential for people's survival, I can hardly make it go around."
Thano watched him as he ate another bite.
"But if you made cupcakes, maybe you'd like the eggs better."