Chapter Thirty
The drumming of Theo’s fingers on the desk matched Day-Commissioner Talbot’s racing heart as he glowered at the trembling human.
“You’re gonna have to help me understand this,” he near snarled, not bothering to tamp down his growl. “If you didn’t talk to this reporter, then why is she quoting you?”
“I don’t know, sir,” he whimpered. “I never said anything about curfews, I swear.”
“She didn’t pluck it out of thin fucking air!”
“Sir, I…”
Theo gave the human the dignity, or perhaps indignity, of averting his eyes when Talbot started wiping tears from his cheeks. After reading the article that evening, he’d had to wait hours before Talbot deigned to answer his summons. In that time his rage had only grown.
Curfews, in his city and without his permission? Not a chance.
“Well, I suggest you find out where she got the idea,” he said.
“Right, sir. I’ll… err…”
“Get the fuck out, Talbot.” If Theo had to look at the pathetic excuse for a commissioner a moment longer, he might just punch him.
Leaning on the desk, head in his hands, he listened to the door open and close. He breathed deep, willing himself to stay calm, composed. Losing it now would help no one. Deep, shaking breath, in through the nose and…
“Fuck!” He roared kicking back from the desk and away from Verity’s lingering scent.
The desk stank of her, of what they’d done. What he’d done to her. Her little lace thong still sat in his top drawer. He’d opened it without thinking and was bombarded with the scent of lust trapped within. He needed to get rid of it but didn’t know how.
“Sir?” Stella’s voice rang over the intercom.
“Not now,” he snapped, cutting the line and pacing.
Back and forth he walked, treading the threadbare path he always walked when he needed to think. He had to talk to Verity. Had to. He couldn’t give a fuck if she asked not to be contacted. She’d wanted it. No. He couldn’t think like that. That was victim blaming. But she asked. She…
“Sir?” Stella poked her head around the door, sounding uncharacteristically timid. “I’m sorry, but your brother’s on the line. He says it’s important.”
Theo rolled his eyes. What could be more important than his brooding?
“Fine,” he snapped. “Stella, find me the number for Corner Cafe. The owners called Cora.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked.
“I couldn’t care less. Just find me the number,” he told her, leaning over the desk to answer the phone. “What?”
“Why are you avoiding me?” Jesse asked.
“Just tell me what you want.”
“What’s happened?”
“Jesse.”
“Theodor.”
Theo raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t have time for games. “Verity left me. We kissed, and she reported me to the Exchange.”
Whatever had happened between them had been too much. He thought he knew what she wanted, but he was wrong. He’d taken it too far. Been too much. There would be an investigation and supervised feedings, and he found that he didn’t even care about all that. How could she report him?
“She what? I thought you two were smitten?”
“Well, obviously not. What did you want?”
The line went quiet for a moment and Theo’s thin patience ran out.
“Jesse, I’ve got enough on my plate right now…”
“Yeah. I saw the paper…”
“You’re in Havenshire?”
“Yeah, I’m on my way to you now.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s no illness in Cliffhaven.”
“What?”
“Cliffhaven. There is no Hesperian Flu. The Exchange collapsed…” Jesse carried on talking but Theo stopped hearing.
The Vital Exchange had collapsed in Cliffhaven.
Just a couple of weeks ago Theo wouldn’t have been able to imagine how such a thing could happen, but now… now he might not need to imagine it. With the rate at which donors were leaving the Exchange, it was a matter of months before it happened to Ashhaven. Maybe less.
“Theo?” His brother called. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah?”
“Just don’t mention it to anyone…”
“Don’t mention it?”
“Yes, Theo,” Jesse said, sounding tired. “I’ll be a few days…”
A thought struck him then, more like a hundred thoughts, but only one he needed answering in that moment.
“Why didn’t you call my mobile?”
“I did. I’ve been calling you all fucking night.”
Theo pulled his phone out. Not one missed call.
“I gotta go,” he told Jesse, hanging up without another word. “Stella!” he yelled, darting for the door. “You got that number?”
His last appointment of the night was waiting for him, but he ignored them, marching up to Stella’s desk. She held up a sticky note, looking bewildered.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, returning to his office.
The line was busy, someone trying to call him, but he hung up the phone and keyed in the café’s number. If Jesse couldn’t call him something was wrong with his phone. Maybe Verity wasn’t ignoring him. It wouldn’t explain why she felt it necessary to file a complaint about him, but…
“Good morning, Corner Cafe. Can I help?” chirped a female voice.
“Is that Cora?” he asked.
“It is,” Cora replied.
“Is Verity there?”
A brief pause before she asked, “Who’s asking?”
“It’s Theo… Chapel…” He realised that he was not sure what he planned to say to Verity. Was he sorry? Had he never meant for it to go that far? Would he make it up to her if she allowed it?
“You’ve got some fucking nerve,” the woman spat. “How dare you call here after what you did!”
Oh gods, she’d told Cora.
“Cora, please. I just want to talk to her. Just ask her.”
“Now you want to talk to her?” she shouted. It was rare for a human’s ire to make Theo cringe, but Cora managed it. “She’s way too good for you, you know?”
“So, I’ve been told,” Theo mumbled.
“You ignore her calls all night but now you want to talk? After reporting her? You can go fuck yourself!”
Reporting her? What was she talking about?
“What do you…”
“Abandoning her like that…”
“Cora, stop, please. She reported me!”
“What?”
Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. If Verity believed that he had reported her, if she were upset enough to tell her friend about them, then his letter was fake. Someone was trying to split them up.
“Let me talk to her,” he demanded.
“But… she…” the woman began to flounder, her rage dying.
“Cora, I am worried about her,” he said, far calmer than he felt. “I’ve been trying to call for hours.”
“She isn’t here. She left ages ago.”
Theo cursed, checking the time. “Is her phone working?”
“I think so. She texted me a minute ago.”
Twenty minutes to sunrise. He had time.
“Good. Call her and get her to come back. I’ll pick her up from you.”
The woman tried to protest but Theo ignored her, hanging up the phone and grabbing his jacket. Whatever was going on, he couldn’t think about it until he had Verity. Until he knew she was safe.
Stella jumped to her feet as he burst from the office.
“I’ve got to go,” he said, sparing a quick, “sorry,” for the man sat waiting for him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Stella asked, running down the corridor after him. “The letter said.”
“Verity didn’t send the letter, she got one too. She’s been trying to call,” he told her. “Talk to Harris. Find out who sent those fucking letters.”
As head of the Vital Exchange, if anyone knew what was happening it was him.
After Theo had finally convinced him he had no idea who his source was so he couldn’t have possibly spooked them, the two of them spoke for hours.
His donor, Sienna, had taken on the role of “entertaining” Abe while he was in town, and Harris couldn’t have been angrier.
It might have been the first time they had spoken about something that wasn’t work related.
Hopefully their relationship had improved to a point where he might be willingly helpful.
If it were only the complaint letters, Theo might have written it off as a mistake, but with his phone being cut off too, there was more to it.
Running down the stairs to the carpark, he willed his heart to stop beating. The erratic thrum was only distracting him and driving his panic. He raced towards his car, pulling out his keys and pressing the button to open it.
Nothing happened.
He shoved the key in the door, turning the lock and jumping in. The hope that the key was broken vanished when he put it into the ignition and nothing happened. Nothing. It was flat.
Cursing, he looked around the carpark. He was alone, he was sure of it. No time to get a jumpstart, no time to call a breakdown service. He needed to get to Verity now.
Fifteen minutes to sunrise. The cafe was a ten-minute walk at most. He had time. Still, he grabbed his rarely used hat from the back seat, along with the coat and gloves and donned them as he raced for the exit.
The market square was quiet, a few humans milling about but no vampires would be out in the open so close to dawn.
He made his way across the cobblestones, tipping his hat against the lightening indigo sky to the east. Once he got to the cafe, once he had Verity, he’d call a cab and take her home.
He didn’t even care if she wanted to go, she was staying with him.
At least until he found out what the fuck was going on.
He turned down a side street, a road he wouldn’t have known so well if not for dropping Verity off so often. Four turns and he’d be there, five minutes at most.
“Lord Chapel?” a voice called from behind, and Theo turned to see a group of humans, people he’d never seen before.
“Sorry, I’m in a rush,” he replied, not slowing down.
“It’ll only take a second,” the man promised, jogging to catch up.
Theo turned his head again before saying, “Just call my office.”
When he turned back another man stood in the path, one he had seen before. This man liked to lurk outside the Exchange, shouting slurs and insults at the donors.
“But we’ve got something for you,” the sneering man said, smiling like it was Yule morning.
Something glimmered in his hand, golden streetlights shining off bright white metal. No, not white. Silver.
“We’ll be quick, I promise,” the man grinned.
Theo heard movement behind him, and then all he knew was pain.