Blood Thirsty

Ch. 1: Who's your Favorite?

For his entire life, Anthony Ventura has been forced to share with his four siblings. Once his older brothers Dante and Nino grew out of their clothes and their toys, they would be handed down to Anthony. Then, Anthony would eventually relinquish everything to the baby of the family, Mathew. Anthony has spent his entire life being the pipeline between his older siblings to the youngest. Everything goes through Anthony, but nothing ever starts with him. Nothing ends with him either. Nothing purely belongs to Anthony.

Apparently, they even have to share fiancés.

"The wedding day remains the same. The money has already been spent," Dante was in the middle of explaining the rest of Anthony's life, but Anthony had blacked out for a second and had to come to terms that this wasn't a nightmare. This was real life. His life.

Dante noticed, asking him, "Anthony? Are you listening to me?"

Dante was behind his gigantic desk, his throne of bad news like this was any other day, like he didn't hold the power to change Anthony's life forever. Everything about Dante was perfect. His gray Italian suit was tailored precisely, his hair was neatly trimmed.

Pens were arranged neatly in a line beside his perfectly organized paperwork. The only clutter on his desk were the framed photos of the family. All the frames were mismatched but Dante never replaced their late father's choice of decor. Maybe to prove to everyone he still had a heart.

Today, Anthony would need more convincing.

"I heard you," Anthony said, trying to maintain his cool. This was a situation where he should already be screaming, throwing himself to the ground, and banging his head on the carpet and yet, Anthony stayed mature... for the most part. If he didn't sass his older brother a little, Anthony would fall over and die. He placed his hands on his hips. "I think I'm allowed an extra moment to process what you're asking me."

This morning, Anthony was thrilled to have a clear calendar. He assumed it was Dante giving him the day off. How silly that felt now.

Anthony said, pacing now.  "This is coming out of nowhere. We've never discussed in my entire life that I would have a political marriage."

Dante remained totally steady. Completely unbothered. Dante always had an answer. "I never thought this would happen either but obviously the situation has changed.

"The situation being Nino's problem," Anthony reminded him. "Nino is the one that broke off his engagement, so why is it my job to fix it?" Losing control, Anthony raised his voice.

Not Dante. He stayed firm, hands crossed and unmoving while Anthony flailed like a chicken with its head cut off. Dante stated, "I need you to do this for the family, Anthony. It has to be done for the coven. Family has to come first." Dante was just rehashing what Anthony has already heard before. It was noise compared to Anthony's thoughts.

Dante just told him he was engaged to Knox Lavigne. Nino's former fiancé. The fiancé he turned down last summer. The former fiancé that lived in another country, who was in charge of a different coven, who Anthony had never spoken to once in his life, and Dante was talking about it like it was any other job.

"No, no," Anthony finally spoke up. "I'm processing it now. I know exactly why it has to be me." Anthony stood up straight, scraping his dignity up from the bottom of the barrel. "You're letting Nino get away with murder because he's finally back home. You don't want him to run away again. You're spoiling him and I'm getting punished for his mistake."

"You're not being punished." Dante's mask cracked, slipping into his older brother mode. The king of the Ventura coven was sturdy and mature. Older brother, Dante Ventura was easily frustrated and almost always tired. "Nino and I have already come to an agreement. He's working for the family again."