Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

198 - Colby

"Colby!" Jake yelled as I zipped through the house back to the red room from the kitchen—I'd gone there to double check how many blood bags we had left for the others who still had to use them. When I slid through the door, I found him holding my phone out to me, the lockscreen clearly visible for everyone to see. "Your girlfriend's texted you back."

I rolled my eyes as I snatched it away from him; there were already grins and smiles around the room. "Don't touch my shit, Jake."

"Hey, I just thought I'd let you know," he defended with his hands in the air. I didn't reply to that, sitting down to check what she'd said. Of course she had to mention that I looked young when I slept—I couldn't escape from that. But I still almost smiled when she said "love you, too" even just over texts. I loved hearing it.

Once I put my phone in my pocket, everyone started to sit up, ready for the meeting Elton'd called. When Elton called a meeting, it was never good, and by the look on Sam's face, it was going to be worse than usual. I wasn't looking forward to this and suddenly wished Rebecca was here sitting on my lap to keep me calm.

He started by talking about Julian's associates and what he'd learnt from a range of people in the vamp world. Specifically, he brought up a young man I'd vaguely heard of before who worked with Julian and didn't really like him, though that was because he'd gotten involved with a clan and he hated clans.

"He told me that Julian and Emily have always been around each other since the first day they became vampires," Elton explained, "and it's been a long time. They're close but Louis doesn't think it's the kind of relationship to die for."

"So, she matters to him but not so much that taking her would guarantee his cooperation?" Sam questioned, shifting Katrina uncomfortably on his lap: he didn't like it when she had to hear about all this vamp business.

"Yes," Elton agreed.

Reggie sighed as he rested his head back on the couch. "I can't tell if that's good or not," he admitted lowly—more to himself.

"It's good because it means they still matter to each other, but it's shit because we can't use her as a complete scapegoat. We still have to be smart about this," I explained for him then looked back to Elton, knowing there was more he wanted us to know.

"Emily's also got lots of connections in other countries. If we say the right thing, there's a chance we could get her to leave the whole state, no strings attached, rather than letting her get to us after we get rid of Julian," he said.

"We have options—options are good," Sam reasoned in a murmur, his eyes locked on his lap. He didn't look like the calm, collected Sam I was used to, nor did he look like he would be any help in coming up with a plan right now. I wasn't sure what it was that had him distracted, but I did know that he had a lot of the same sources as Elton.

As I glanced between the two of them now, I noticed they were both quite hesitant; unsure of how to tell me this next bit of information. I wasn't sure what was more annoying, both of them doing it or the intense silence of no one else telling them to spill. I wasn't going to speak up.

Another second passed before Elton drew in a breath to speak. Sam tensed beneath Katrina, who noticed his flinch immediately. She went to say something about it but was cut off by Elton, who'd finally grown a pair of balls... sort of. "The other thing I have to tell you really isn't good... and you aren't going to like it at all, Colby."

I narrowed my eyes. "I hate you dragging this out more, Elton."

"I'm cautious of your reaction. It puts a spanner in the works to say the least." I braced myself. Elton slowly shook his head, thinking over his phrasing and wording. Eventually, he met my eyes across the room. "Julian is gone, Colby. Right now, there's not a single fucking trace of him anywhere and he took his shit with him.