Chapter Thirty-Three
The room was dark when she woke, with only a whisper of light creeping beneath the door.
Verity sighed, breathing deep and revelling in the scent of fresh linen and Theo.
She wasn’t sure what the smell was, only that it was him.
Peeling her sticky cheek from his chest she realised he had no heartbeat, nor was he breathing.
Despite knowing he didn’t need such things, she still felt a spark of panic at the sensation of lying atop a dead man.
“Theo?” she whispered, not wanting to wake him, but also needing to know he was okay.
He groaned, squirming in the sheets before his hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her back down. Definitely not dead.
“I’m hungry,” she murmured. Phoenar only knew how long they’d slept but judging by the gurgling in her stomach it had been a while.
With another groan he squinted through his lashes to give her a half-hearted glare. His dark hair stuck up at an odd angle and a line of stitches had imprinted along his cheek from the pillow. Verity bit back her laugh.
Pulling herself up to kiss his sleep-riddled face, she asked, “Are you hungry, love?”
His eyes flicked to her neck. Not what she meant but if he needed it, she would be happy to oblige. She swept her hair out of the way and he shook his head.
“You should eat,” he croaked.
She kissed him, slow and deep, feeling the delicate scrape of his fangs on her lips.
It was everything she needed, everything she’d longed for, when he pulled her tight against him with a soft rolling growl that verged on a purr.
How long had she listened to that purr while he fed? How long had he wanted this?
When her stomachs growl joined his, Theo dragged himself off her.
“Eat,” he demanded.
With one last peck she slid from the bed, enjoying every moment as Theo’s eyes devoured her skimpy camisole and sleep shorts. They weren’t the sexiest pyjamas she owned but the look on Theo’s face was all the encouragement she needed as she sauntered to the door.
“You want some?” she asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Want some?” he echoed, brow arched.
“Yeah, breakfast?”
His head fell back to the pillow with a huff and she snorted. Theo was not a dusk person. Who knew?
Though her body still felt heavy, her mind was lighter for the sleep and the hollow ache in her chest was easing. Verity knew she wasn’t physically at her best, but neither was Theo. At least they could work through this together. They were quite the team after all.
The thought dragged her back to Theo’s revelation about Cliffhaven.
She’d lacked the capacity to take it all in when he told her, the true horror and extent of the cover-up had scrambled her mind.
It made sense she thought, padding through the kitchen and opening the fridge.
The last outbreak of Hesperian flu had been over a hundred years ago.
It had been devastating then, sweeping through Havenshire like wildfire, but they had medicine now.
Before the outbreak there hadn’t been a mention of it in the papers, and Verity couldn’t help but wonder if the few articles there were, had been published on the internet after the fact.
What about the humans who lived there? Had all the vampires left? Why would Abe go there? And the girls from SubRosa?
Too many questions, too much she needed to understand, and she wasn’t sure Theo had the answers. But first, food.
An avocado sat in the fridge, one that Verity was pretty sure she hadn’t bought, along with butter and eggs and bread. Theo had been preparing for her to stay over before everything went wrong. The thought settled in her chest, warm and homely.
“You want some toast?” she called, pulling out ingredients and setting them on the counter.
“Never one to turn down a meal,” said a jovial voice from the lounge and Verity whirled, dropping the carton of eggs on the floor.
A man stepped forward grinning, a vampire, wearing leather trousers and a tight white t-shirt that showed off his toned chest. He looked young, early twenties perhaps, and would have been perfectly angelic with his bright blue eyes and slicked-back white-blonde hair, if not for the tattoos that covered every inch of him.
Only his face was left unadorned but for a tiny flower high on his cheekbone, where a tear might fall.
Not just a flower. A Rose. Verity didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.
“Oh shit, sorry,” he said, rounding the kitchen island to pick up the eggs as Verity backed away, heart pounding.
The bedroom door creaked and then Theo was behind her, one hand on Verity’s back, the other on his heart.
“Didn’t mean to make you jump,” the blonde man said, checking on the eggs before setting them on the side and smiling at Theo like a man demented.
“Don’t come sneaking around then,” Theo snapped, rubbing his chest but relaxing his hold on Verity.
“Sneaking?” The stranger laughed, blue eyes crinkling in a way that felt familiar as he leant against the counter, perfectly at home. “I was hardly quiet. It’s not my fault you two were dead to the world.”
Theo huffed, rolling his eyes before introducing him. “Verity, this is my brother, Jesse.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Verity,” Jesse said with a wink, and she tried not to blush.
Jesse was not what she had expected. Not that she’d given Theo’s brother a great deal of thought.
All she knew was that he worked beyond the wall a lot, was good at finding out sensitive information, and Abe thought he was dangerous.
Considering the first two points, Verity was inclined to believe Abe was right.
“Don’t worry,” he went on, talking behind his hand in a stage whisper as if to hide it from Theo, “he never tells anyone about me. He thinks I’m trouble.”
“You are trouble,” Theo said before pulling his brother into a hug. “But I think we could do with a bit of trouble on our side.”