Chapter Thirty-Five
“I need the burner,” Verity mumbled against Theo’s chest.
He squeezed her a little tighter, kissing the top of her head before releasing her and fishing the phone from his pocket.
“Friends checking up on you?” he asked, handing it to her without a second thought.
Verity nodded, waiting for him to call out the half-truth but he only offered her a tight smile before going to let Dr Smythe in.
Thank Phoenar he hadn’t asked about the messages in front of Jesse.
She didn’t know what Cecilia had sent but what would she have told the brothers if they asked who she was?
“Oh, that’s just Cecilia, Harris’s source who I scared off.
” Now that Verity understood the situation better, she didn’t want to consider what Cecilia had risked to get those reports out.
It was the Stonehaven article all over again with Cecilia finding a pattern she didn’t like and sneaking sensitive information out.
Only this time she’d gone to the authorities instead of the papers.
Verity felt a pang of guilt for ever doubting her.
“I’ll be with you in a moment, Miss Harper,” Dr Smythe said as he led Theo away to examine him and Verity nodded, pulling her phone out the second they were gone.
Cecilia
You need to get out of Ashhaven
She stared at her phone. Oh Gods, what if somebody had already seen the message? What if whoever was bugging her phone now knew that Cecilia had been the one leaking information? She had to tell her. Needed to warn her.
From the bathroom, Verity could hear water running as Jesse took a shower. From the bedroom, the sound of Theo and Dr Smythe talking. If she was going to call Cecilia, she needed to do it now.
Moving to the other side of the apartment, as far from the others as she could get, she keyed in the number and hit ‘call’. On the second ring a polite voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Cecilia?” Verity whispered, trying to convey her urgency while keeping her voice down.
“Verity?”
“Yes, I think my phone’s bugged.”
A beat of silence before she spoke. “What do you mean you think your phone is bugged?” Her words came slow.
“We’ve been looking into Cliffhaven. We know what’s happening there. We know that it’s going to happen here. Theo and I…”
“What do you mean you’ve been looking into Cliffhaven?” Cecilia snapped. “I told you to stay away from it.”
“Why sneak those reports out if you didn’t want them acting on?” Verity asked.
Cecilia was silent.
“I know it was you.”
“Please don’t write about this,” Cecilia said. “It won’t…”
“I’m not writing about it,” Verity said. “I’m working with the mayor, we’re trying to get to the bottom of it, but I need to understand exactly what you know.”
She paused again before speaking. “I know that the exchange ran out of donors. It must be the illness. People aren’t healthy enough…”
“There is no illness; it’s just an excuse.” Did she seriously not know that? How could she have given Harris all of that information but still thought the flu was real? “Those articles: where did they come from?” she asked.
“They were in the Exchange archive. They’re the only reason I started looking at Cliffhaven,” Cecilia said, voice shaking. “There was no reason for them to be there. I…” She sniffed between words, and Verity realised she must be crying. “I just knew they were wrong.”
“Thank Phoenar you did,” Verity murmured. “I’m just... these are really dangerous people. We’re trying to fix it, but you might need to be careful for a while.”
“Fix it?” Cecilia laughed, though there was no humour in it. “How can you possibly fix this? If the vampires don’t want the Exchange anymore. If that’s what’s happening…”
“Well, I’ve got vampires on my side as well,” Verity said. “Trust me, I’ll take care of it. You take care of yourself.”
Voices grew louder from the bedroom as Theo walked out.
“I have to go,” Verity told her. “I’ll speak to you when I can. Just look after yourself… and use this number if you need me.”
She hung up before Cecilia could answer, knowing that if she said anything incriminating Theo would hear every word.
Guilt gnawed at her for keeping it from him.
If it were just him, she would have told him about the source already, but it was his brother she didn’t know whether she could trust. There was something about him, something wrong.
He was nice and cheerful and polite. As helpful as she’d expect any brother of Theo’s to be.
He’d insisted on making breakfast, insisted on cleaning up, did everything with a smile and a wink.
It was when he winked for the tenth time that she realised what was unsettling her so much.
His eyes. They were a blue so bright it verged on unnatural.
How much blood must he have drunk for them to be so vivid?
Who had he fed on? Was that what Theo’s would look like if he were full?
Verity didn’t want to know. What she did know, was that she didn’t want Jesse finding out about Cecilia.
Abe’s words rang through her head. You meet Jesse then tell me I’m wrong.
What would a vampire who the Blessed called dangerous do if he knew who the source was?
Would he have warned her like she had? Would he have fed her to the lions, or found a way to shut her up before she could tell Vivienne what they knew? It wasn’t worth the risk.
“You okay, Angel?” Theo asked when she didn’t move, and she nodded.
“Yeah, just a few people to catch up with. Everyone’s worried, I’ve been quiet for a few days.”
“I’m sure they are. After your check-up, we’ll have to work out what to tell them, so they don’t fret.” He nodded towards the waiting doctor and Verity took the hint, shuffling into the bedroom.
“Miss Harper,” Dr Smythe greeted.
“You do know my name’s Verity, don’t you?” she said, sitting on the bed and trying to act normal.
“I like to be professional,” he told her, fitting the blood pressure cuff and reading over his notes.
“How’s Lois?” she asked.
Dr Smythe glanced up at her beneath his lashes. “She’s well.” Before continuing with his work.
While at the hospital, Verity had often wondered what the two of them were really like as a couple. What drew them together? The boring workaholic doctor and sweet pink-haired Lois made an odd pair, but opposites attracted, she supposed.
“Maybe the four of us could go out some time,” she said. “Not SubRosa though. Somewhere a little… quieter.”
“Your blood pressure is higher than I’d like,” Dr Smythe said, ignoring her.
“Is that surprising?”
“You need to be relaxing,” Dr Smythe said. “Let Chapel take care of you.”
She laughed. “Theo’s the one that was attacked, not me.”
“Yes, but he is a vampire. He can recover from these things. He’s going to be fine, just needs blood, a lot, obviously, but you’re the one that’s at risk now, not him.”
Relax. As if Verity could relax right now. Clearly, Dr Smythe had no idea what they were dealing with. It was better that way. Judging by the papers, vampires were leaving en masse. They couldn’t let all the doctors leave too.
“Whatever you’re thinking about, stop it,” Dr Smythe said, packing his things. Why even bother with the cuff if he could hear her heart racing?
Theo stood as they entered the lounge.
“He says, I’m fine,” Verity said, smiling at the doctor.
“I did not say that she is fine,” Dr Smythe said.
“Isn’t that confidential?”
“No.”
“What do you mean she’s not fine?” Theo cut in, grabbing her by the shoulders to look in her eye as though he might see into her mind to find the answer.
Despite herself, despite Cliffhaven and the attack and the feeling that everything was about to fall apart, Verity laughed. Maybe she did need to relax because once the giggles set in, she couldn’t shake them, with Theo’s look of concern only adding to her hysterics.
“She needs to rest,” Dr Smythe said, sounding utterly exasperated.
“Are we talking bed rest or...?” Theo asked, shaking her slightly when she didn’t stop laughing.
“Bed rest couldn’t hurt,” Dr Smythe said.
That shut her up. “No, no, I don’t need bed rest. I’m just a little stressed.”
“Bed. Now,” Theo said. He looked unfazed, only gesturing to the bedroom when she scowled at him, arms crossed like a petulant child.
She turned to Dr Smythe for help, and he nodded to her. “I’ll ask Lois about going out once you’re up to it,” he said, before shaking Theo’s hand and leaving.
Theo watched her expectantly.
“I don’t need bed rest,” Verity said.
“Smythe literally just said…”
“No, you said bed rest. Smythe said that it couldn’t hurt. That isn’t the same thing.”
Bigger things demanded her attention right now.
They needed a plan. They needed to know how to fix this.
Verity was about to tell Theo as much when Jesse walked in, with only a towel hiding his modesty as he bared his inked body to the room.
One hand dried his hair as he continued to text and said, “Petra’s coming for Ostara. ”
Verity gaped. Not Ostara. Please, not Ostara.
Her heart hammered. Why couldn’t she just come to see them?
Why did it need to be Ostara? She hadn’t even thought about the festival the last few nights, and now it was, what, five nights away?
It was a relief to know Petra was coming, but the idea of the ancient vampire judging her festival filled her with dread.
“That’s great,” Theo said, looking over his brother’s shoulder and peering at his phone before recoiling in disgust. “Seriously?” he swore. “I thought you said that she doesn’t like technology?”
“She doesn’t,” Jesse laughed.
“Then who the fuck are you sending topless pictures to?” Theo asked.
“Oh, one of her aides will show it to her,” Jesse said with a shrug.
Theo turned to Verity shaking his head before pointing to the bedroom. “Please,” he said, and Verity relented.
“We still need to make a plan. We need evidence. We can’t go to Petra with nothing,” she said, trudging back to bed.
“I know that,” he replied. “We’ll work it out.”