The Midnight Family

Chapter 13

The ride to the boardwalk was a silent one, well almost silent. Paul and Marco were asking what was going on while Dwayne, David, and I were silent. Paul started mock pouting halfway there when he realized he wasn't going to be answered anytime soon. Dwayne was probably thinking, but he cut off his connection to everyone, including me. I was a little worried about him, what Max said got to him and as a mate, I hated seeing him like this. It just wasn't him.

We parked at the boardwalk, the scent of the blood that flowed through all the people walking around seemed to put Dwayne on edge, even David, who was the master of hiding his emotions, seemed a bit put off. Paul and Marco were almost normal, they bounded through the crowds, and their energy levels still sat the same as they winked as girls that struck their fancy, which also meant the ones they wanted later. A group of girls that we passed started to giggle obnoxiously at the boys. I rolled my eyes and continued walking, grabbing onto Dwayne's hand as we passed them, smirking slightly when I saw a redhead give a small frown at the action.

"Where's Star?" I asked, looking over at Marco. He bit his nail and looked around, shrugging.

"She took Laddie to get food when we got here, so she could be anywhere." He replied. We all stopped at a nearby bench and I hopped onto the railing behind it. I watched all the people pass by, waiting to see the brown, curly hair of Star or even the small frame of Laddie. I didn't particularly like Laddie being alone with Star in a crowded place like this, he was far too small for Star to pay attention to. Especially if he pulls the stunt he did when we first met the pair.

I watched as Paul went over to some girl and started a conversation with her, making her laugh instantly. I rolled my eyes again and watched the two. Paul was always good with the ladies, except for the one time he tried to get her to go somewhere with him and she threw his drink at him. Let's just say she didn't make it out alive...That's the thing with Paul, he seemed to be cool and upbeat, but when he's mad, it's bad. Nowhere near David's ability, but close enough that it's hard to determine.

Whereas Paul was more upfront with his anger, David was more internal. He wasn't as cutthroat as Paul. Our leader focused on the mental state of the prey he played with. Always messing with their head, but that's only to people he enjoys watching them suffer. It doesn't happen often, which is a shame. It's always fun to watch.

Dwayne was more...slow with his anger. He takes note of the way a person lives first, going for the kill when he deems fit. He takes mental notes about the way a person moves, talks, lives, even eats. He did that when he first met me, even I wasn't aware until he told me. He's casual about it, which in the long run works better.

Marco is a lot like Paul, only he doesn't get mad as easily as Paul, and it's really hard to make Paul mad, so that's saying something. Both share similar traits in the way they work out their problems. They're fast with their revenge.

My gaze moved to Dwayne once I realized that the girl was falling for Paul's probably shitty pickup lines. Dwayne's jaw was locked, and he was glaring at nothing in particular. I've never seen him so mad before, this was a first in the ten years I've known him. I put my chin on his shoulder and moved my eyes to lock with his. He finally stopped glaring at something.

"Please calm down." I whispered. "I know you're mad at Max but getting mad won't help anything."

"I don't see why he wants us to go on a suicide mission. You were already hurt by him once and hell can freeze over before I let him touch you again." He replied. I sighed and moved my face away from his, not before kissing his cheek. He was never one for public displays of affection and to be honest, neither was I. Holding and a kissing his cheek were fine for me when we were out in the world. At home was a different story, just not around David, Paul, or Marco.

"I know that's not the only reason you're mad, what Max said got to you didn't it?" I took his silence as a yes. "In his defense, it was directed towards David, not you."

"He made it seem like we couldn't protect ourselves. I couldn't protect you." Dwayne said. "What good is a mate if they can't protect them?"

"We can figure this out. We can work better as a team. We can work better together as a family. This isn't a single effort." I tried to help.

"We don't know anything about this guy. He could be just as experienced as any one of us or for fucks sake, maybe even more experienced. We don't know what he's hiding. We might have power in numbers now, but he could have double our coven." He balled his fists up and looked like he was about to punch something.

"Maybe that's why Max wants us to follow his plan?" I asked.

"You're going with what he said?" Dwayne looked at me like I was crazy. "He wants us to get ourselves killed."

"You're smarter than this, Dwayne. As you said, we know nothing about Damien. This could help us with that probl-" I was cut off by Star frantically running to us. Something was wrong.

"Star." David acknowledged. She looked like she was about to cry, and she started to ramble on and on. "What happened?"

"Laddie," Just hearing his name I immediately hopped down from the rail and almost ran to her. "I just don't know what happened. A guy took him away! He said you would know him and he..." That was all it took.

"What did he look like?" I demanded.

"I didn't get that good of a look...Black hair...black eyes...I think he was in a cape?" That was all I took. I took off down in the direction Star came from. I heard yells from behind me, but they soon meshed together with the sounds of the boardwalk.