Beautiful Venom: A Dark Hockey Romance (Vipers Book 1)

This isn’t the first, the second, or even the hundredth time I’ve faced such a scene.

It won’t be the last either.

But it never manages to penetrate me. Not the screams, the gurgling of blood, the stench of fear mingled with the absolute realization that they’ve fucked up.

And that it’s the final time they’ll ever fuck up.

“Listen…listen…please hear me out…” the vice-chancellor, Fred, begs on his knees, his belly bulging from between his shirt’s ripped buttons, his ugly purple tie tight, turning his face red.

Jude, Preston, and I asked Fred to join us for a ride after school.

He smiled with delight, thinking we were presenting him with an opportunity. It’s not every day that a mere vice-chancellor gets a private meeting with three Senior Vencor members who’ll become de facto Founder members as soon as they graduate.

And Fred, like any Vencor member, knows that only we who are born into the four founding families are granted the Founder position. So we’ve always held monopoly on the power balance on campus, even if we’re still just Senior members. A position Fred will never reach.

Because instead of the opportunity-filled meeting he expected, we drove him to a warehouse owned by my family, located so far out of town, no one would hear him scream.

My father’s cronies are stationed outside, waiting for us to finish with our fun so they can clean up.

Though, truly, it’s more fun for Jude and Preston than me. I’m only here to finish a ‘decapitation’ mission. Meaning, cut the head off a snake that’s starting to consider biting its master.

Vencor’s power, aside from strong business relations between the four founding families, is all about control. If there’s an opportunity, not only do we seize it, but we also eliminate anyone who forms any type of obstacle.

It’s a secret society that’s highly dependent on its Founder members and their connections. But unlike any other society, it’s not exactly a brotherhood, and internal fighting among the four founding families to snatch the upper hand is common.

Senior members, the highest position any outsider can reach, are more primed to take upper positions in society like senators, leaders of political parties, or controllers of military and financial complexes. Their job is to grow Vencor’s connections and serve its goals. They usually have Members catering to them, doing their bidding, and keeping an eye on them in case they go awry.

It’s not unheard of for a Member to become a Senior for disclosing the betrayal of a previous Senior he worked for.

Since it’s impossible for anyone not born to a founding family to achieve a higher rank, Preston, Jude, and I are anomalies on campus. We hold power over the team, and everyone at Graystone University bows down to us.

Today’s mission is one I handpicked for myself, so the other two didn’t need to join, but then again, Jude has developed a pesky addiction to killing, and Preston suffers from an incurable case of bloodlust.

As Senior members, we’re actually the ones who assign those lower than us in rank with these types of missions, and our role is to supervise from the shadows, only intervening if things spiral.

But I’ve always liked being hands-on. I don’t trust anyone else to finish the job as efficiently as I do.

“Hear what exactly?” I lean back in a metal chair across from Fred, leisurely wiping my gun with a cloth and making sure it’s in his field of vision the whole time. “That you’re dealing drugs on campus behind our backs?”noveldrama

“It was only a one-time thing…please…I have a family,” he begs, droplets of sweat gathering on his upper lip and oily nose.

“Then you should’ve thought of that family before you crossed us.” I stand up. “No one crosses Vencor. You’re only a little tool to be used. It’s bad form when you start believing you have agency. We do the thinking, not you.”

“I promise I’ll never do it again if you give me another chance.”

“Don’t be naïve. There are no second chances. One mistake and you’re out.”

“Especially when you thought you could get away with it.” Jude slides behind Fred, grabs his tie, and tugs him so far back, I’m surprised his neck doesn’t snap.

“The audacity is sending me.” Preston kneels in front of Freddie, rolling the handle of his knife between his fingers. “News flash. Nothing escapes us. You can hide, but you can’t run.”

“It’s you can run, but you can’t hide,” Jude tells him.

“Well, I meant it the other way around.” Preston presses the knife close to Fred’s neck, and the man holds his breath. Whether it’s due to Preston’s knife or the way Jude is strangling him, I can’t tell.

“That’s not how it works. Don’t be an idiot.”

“Ha. The pan calling the kettle black.”

“The pot calling the kettle black, not pan.”

“Same fucking meaning.” Preston throws his hands back, slashing Fred’s throat in the process. Blood gushes out like a fountain, spraying both of them with red. Their faces, hair, clothes.

Everywhere.

It even splashes my jeans and shoes.

What a drag.

Fred’s mouth is open, his eyes staring at nowhere as he bleeds out in seconds.

“Argh…look what the fuck you’ve done, Jude!” Preston rises to his full height. “I didn’t have the chance to watch him die.”

“Me? You’re the one who killed him, motherfucker. We didn’t even get to torture him.”

Preston squares up to him. “It was because you were being a smart-ass trying to correct me.”

“I wouldn’t have to correct you if you were right, now, would I?”

“I’m always right. Not my fault a peasant like you can’t recognize a superior being.”

“More like a superior pain in the ass.”

“The fuck you just call me?”

Jude steps closer. “Pain.” He taps his shoulder. “In. The. Ass.” He hits him upside the head. “That clear enough for you?”

Preston grabs him by the collar. “I’m so gonna drown you in Freddie’s blood.”

They’re about to start wrestling while bickering as usual, so I sheath my gun in my belt and say, “Just so you know, if you start fighting, I’m not breaking it up. I’m not getting stained by that filthy blood any more than I already am.”

“Oh yeah?” Preston grins, and the motion looks manic with rivulets of crimson cascading down his face. Then he releases Jude’s collar, all aggression disappearing, and places a brotherly arm around his shoulders. “Big man, is it just me or does it seem like Kane is looking down on us?”

“No, you’re right. He has that holier-than-thou thing going on. It’s revolting.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I think we should do something about it.”

“Don’t you fucking dare—” Before I can manage to escape, they jump me.

Jude and especially Preston get the blood all over me. And while I try to throw them off, these two are actually the perfect fucking team and they overpower me.

They’ve always done this, since we were in boarding school. They’d be bickering and I try to break it up, so they gang up on me just because.

I only manage to shove them off of me after Fred’s blood is covering me from head to toe.

Preston laughs and Jude watches with a satisfied expression as I walk out of the warehouse to talk to my father’s men.

Fucking children.

Doesn’t matter how Fred died. It only matters that he died and won’t be betraying Vencor anymore.

The upper echelon, aka the Founders, will pick a replacement for him soon enough. That is, if they haven’t already.

My mission as the Vipers’ captain is to make sure the campus is under control and fulfills its role as one of Vencor’s multiple tentacles.

Since this town is obsessed with hockey to the point of considering it a religion, it makes sense to use the most popular team as our base, through which we keep an eye on Graystone University and even recruit those we deem worthy.

Though, the vetting process only allows us to invite high-ranking members of society.

Usually, that is.

Because as I slide into my car, I’m thinking about the exception to that rule.

The fake fan who claims she wanted to be offered a chance to be on the inside. A chance I’m granting not because I sympathize, but because I want to see her on her knees.

Literally.

Figuratively.

I hit the gas. Time to get to the highlight of my evening.

Here’s to hoping she doesn’t disappoint me. If she does, I might have to drive her to one of our warehouses.

And it’d be a shame to turn those bright hazel eyes red.