Chapter Three
“He said you can call him Theo?” Cora squealed, dancing on the spot like a lovesick schoolgirl.
“He’s just being nice,” Verity insisted, wiping down the tables. She was definitely doing more work than Cora.
“Babe! Don’t you hold out on me! I’ve got eyes!”
“Cora!” Verity demanded. “People lose their jobs for being accused of having relations with vampires. Can you imagine the trouble I’d be in if someone heard you?”
“Yeah, but are we talking relations?” Cora wrapped her arms around herself, swaying dreamily. “Or are we talking relations?” She started thrusting towards Verity who fended her off with a tea towel.
“Seriously, woman, calm down. I’ve met the guy once. It’s just a job.”
They went back to cleaning the tables, Cora giggling. She had asked for a blow-by-blow, or bite-by-bite, rendition of every second and Verity had complied. Of course, she left out the part where she got a little hot under the collar, but Cora seemed to add that bit in herself anyway.
“I don’t believe you,” Cora snickered, before raising a finger to point at Verity. “If you’re holding out on me…”
Verity slapped her hand down as an irrational wave of fear rolled over her. “Stop it,” she demanded, but Cora only pointed with the other hand.
“If you…” Cora tried again, laughing as Verity batted her hands away, over and over, like a pair of squabbling children.
“Cora!” Verity grabbed her wrists, yanking them down. “Don’t point at me!”
“What? I’m just messing about…”
“Well, it’s not funny.” Verity glanced toward the windows, checking the street outside. “You’re gonna be the death of me. You know that?”
“Oh, come on,” Cora said, but Verity wasn’t laughing.
Every child knew not to point. Verity remembered asking her mum when a boy had been suspended from school for it.
She’d said it “wasn’t the pointing but the intent” and it was best to just not do it.
It reminded vampires of witches, and if there was one thing they were taught to fear, it was a witch.
Cora sobered slightly, dropping her hands. “Alright, alright. Gods, I didn’t realise you’d got so superstitious in your old age.”
“Just promise me you won’t do it again. You’ll never have a customer if anyone sees.”
“I’ll be good.” Cora grinned, big hazel eyes sparkling. “As long as you give me all the juice on Mr Lord Mayor. And I’ll know if you’re lying. My cousin’s a cleaner there; he gets all the gossip.”
“Phoenar save anyone who stands between you and gossip,” Verity said.
“Maybe I’ll see if Toby wants to play vampire and donor tonight,” Cora mused, snapping her teeth.
“How’s his new job going?” Verity asked, and Cora immediately clammed up.
“Don’t think he’s getting on with his colleagues,” Cora said with a sigh.
Verity resisted rolling her eyes. The guy was a flake, and Verity was sick of him scrounging off her friend. Especially with the cafe struggling.
Cleaning the tables was routine rather than necessity. They were empty and had been almost all night. A few customers visited earlier in the evening, but not enough.
As much as Verity hated to admit it, she could understand why. Since leaving for Stonehaven a decade ago, cafes and coffee shops had cropped up all over town, one after another, major chains with chic interiors and trendy menus. Cora’s wobbly tables and traditional food couldn’t compete.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the chains were cheaper too, much to Cora’s frustration.
Her costs had rocketed in recent months, and without the luxury of having customers to pass those costs on to, the cafe looked a little tired, to put it politely.
She wanted to decorate and modernise, to brighten up the colour scheme of brown on brown and replace the Corner Cafe’s two walls of windows that leaked when the rain slashed at just the right angle, but paying the gas and electric bill seemed more important.
The cafe had been her father’s, with Cora working there straight out of school and taking over a few years ago when her dad became ill. For all of her joking, Verity knew her friend, knew that the struggle to pay the rising bills weighed as heavy as her need to make her dad proud.
“Toby could always join the exchange,” Verity said, and Cora snorted.
“He wouldn’t have the balls for that.”
“Naa, doesn’t have the balls for much, does he?” Verity jabbed.
“Hey, I thought we were discussing Mr Sexy Lord Mayor,” Cora said.
Verity tossed her tea towel in the wash basket and donned her coat.
“Yes. Talking of Mr Lord Mayor, I need to get going,” she said and hugged her friend goodbye.
“Give him a bite from me,” Cora called after her as the door swung shut.
The walk to City Hall was a short one and Verity used it to run through the rules of donation, trying to calm herself.
The first appointment had been fine, far better than expected.
The only problem was that the pain, the closeness, his skin on hers and that predator’s stare, had done something to her.
Something she really didn’t want to repeat.
So, she walked, running through protocols and legislation and anything she could think of that might dampen her libido. Until she climbed the marble stairs and walked down the elegant corridors. Until she greeted Stella who told her to head straight in.
Until she knocked on the office door and Theo opened it a split second later. She had expected to be called in and stood so close to the door she almost fell on him as the door swung in.
“Good evening, Verity,” Theo said, stepping back to let her in, pretending not to notice her stumbling.
His sleeves were rolled up, strong forearms on show, fangs out along with that damn smile and dark eyes, and fuck!
“Good evening,” she smiled, slipping into the office and unbuttoning her coat.
Don’t think sexy thoughts! Don’t think sexy thoughts!
How could she not when he watched her like that? Like he was about to eat her alive. Which, of course, he was, sort of.
“How have you been?” he asked, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.
“Fine,” she said, hanging her coat by the door.
Don’t think sexy thoughts!
Her feet clicked across the polished wood floor, and she made a conscious effort not to trip on the huge area rug that the desk and chairs stood on, not wanting to look any clumsier.
As she looked down, she noticed perhaps the first imperfection in the timeless room.
The rug was threadbare. Not terribly, but patches here and there, the backing just visible through the carpet fibres.
The edge closest to the door and under the seat she sat in.
It was probably worse behind the desk where Theo worked.
Now that, was an unsexy thought.
“Nothing exciting to tell me since our last appointment?” he asked, pouring a glass of water.
“It’s only been two days.”
“Well, a lot can happen in two days,” he said, setting the glass down and turning his seat to face her before sitting.
The fabric of his trousers grazed her knee when he scooted a fraction closer, but she resisted shuffling away.
“On Monday I never would have guessed I’d be having my second appointment with a new donor by Friday. ”
“Really? She just left?”
“He seemed fine, but apparently, a new opportunity came up, and he didn’t have time to donate anymore.” He shrugged. “It happens.”
“That’s a shame,” Verity said, though she wasn’t sure she meant it.
“It is,” Theo said, with a smile. “But it’s just a job at the end of the day, right?”
Verity narrowed her eyes. He was right, it was just a job, but it also felt cruel. A donor could drop him as if he were nothing, but he needed the blood to survive.
Good gods! One and a half appointments and she was a sympathiser already.
“That feels like a trick question,” she said.
Theo barked a laugh. “Damn, you caught me.” He offered a hand out for her wrist. “Any issues after our last meeting?”
“Nope,” she said, resting her hand in his.
The second their skin touched, she felt something curl in her core. Sharp and hot and wicked. He ran a practiced finger over the healed bite mark, which only wound the coil tighter.
Not sexy! She reminded herself.
“No dizziness or discomfort?” he asked.
“Nope.” She looked away, as he started massaging her palm. Were there pressure points she didn’t know about? There must be a reason he did it, but she wasn’t sure she trusted her voice to ask.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“Are you sure?”
She looked up to find him watching her, concern etched on his handsome face. It was an effort not to snap, not to tell him to get on with it so she could go home and die of embarrassment in peace.
Instead, she said, “I’m fine, really.” Her voice was a little high, but at least it didn’t shake like it had their last appointment. She took a breath. This was ridiculous.
“Promise?” he asked, head tilted, lip curling in a fangless smile.
“Promise.”
“May I?”
She nodded and he raised her wrist to his mouth.
Cool breath ghosted over her skin, then his lips, then teeth, and throughout it all she felt his eyes, always watching. Dilated and endless. She winced at the sharp pain, a tiny squeak escaping her before his teeth withdrew and he started drinking.
At least she knew what to expect this time, but her reaction was just as bad. Worse even.
Don’t think sexy thoughts! Don’t think sexy thoughts!
She stole a glance at him and immediately regretted it. His stare cut straight through her, straight to her burning soul.
Turning her gaze to the worn carpet beneath her feet, she mentally listed as many cities as she could.
Ashhaven
Stonehaven
His tongue moved against her, lapping and sucking.
Highhaven
Rookhaven
Lips, firm but soft, moulded to her flesh.
Salthaven
Briarhaven
Cool breath, hot mouth.
Duskhaven
Bloodhaven
Gentle vibrations and a humming.
No, not humming, growling?
A growl that sparked need between her thighs.
Don’t think sexy thoughts!
She looked back and he blinked, nostrils flaring. The growling stopped abruptly and he pulled back, clearing his throat. Turning his gaze to her wrist, he started licking, soothing the two little wounds.
“You’re very good at this,” he said.
“Oh please. All I do is sit here.”
He smirked, stroking over the forming scars.
“I’ve had enough donors to know who has what it takes. You have a calmness it often takes months to achieve, and an honesty that most shy away from. It’s a gift.”
Calm? If he considered her racing heart, which he was no doubt well aware of, to be calm, she wondered how other people reacted to being bitten. Probably less turned on, for one thing…
Verity hummed. “I don’t know. My honesty hasn’t done me many favours.”
“No?” he asked, finally releasing her hand.
She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I’d rather have the ugly truth than a pretty lie any day.” Theo smiled as Verity rose from her seat, and he helped her put her coat on. “On that topic, are you going to group tomorrow? You can moan about me and my ungentlemanly growling.”
Fucking Phoenar, did it make it better or worse if he acknowledged it? She’d rather they pretend it hadn’t happened, or was that a regular occurrence that she needed to get used to?
“What group?” she asked.
“The donor support group at the Exchange, they run a few, but Mike always went on Saturdays. They should have told you at induction.” He pulled a face, a rather human looking pout that Verity tried not to laugh at. “I don’t think you have to, but it can’t hurt.”
“I’ll check it out,” Verity said, heading out. “See you Monday.”
She had barely stepped out of the door when an angry vampire pushed past. The same one as the other day.
“Good evening, Harris,” Theo greeted him, but there was no warmth in his tone. Harris launched into a rant, moaning about numbers being down or something.
She turned to catch Theo rolling his eyes before smirking at her and closing the door.
Then, nothing. Not a whisper escaping through the thick, wooden door.
She smiled at Stella at the reception desk. “Well, isn’t he just a ray of moonlight?”
“Don’t get me started,” the vampire muttered, fingers clattering across her keyboard before freezing. Her nostrils flared as she gave Verity a pointed, wide-eyed look.
Oh, for fuck sake!
She scurried away without another word.