Chapter Forty
“For the millionth time,” Theo said, sick of the sound of his own voice, “I only recognised one, his name is Kane Goodwin. I don’t remember anything after that.”
The officer nodded and wrote it down as if it were the first time Theo had told him, not the twentieth. One of the newer vampires on the force, judging by his patches. Theo didn’t recognise him, and his patience for this particular brand of officiousness was wearing thin.
“Just need to get the facts straight, sir.”
“You can ask me later,” Theo said, already turning to find Verity, when Stella appeared at his elbow.
“Speech,” she said, thrusting the pre-written pages into his hands. He levelled a look at her that few people would dare give Stella. She rolled her eyes.
“Just get it over with.”
She was right. This was Verity’s event, and if everything went to plan, the only thing people would remember of this night was the festival itself.
Theo wanted that. He wanted humans and vampires looking back on this evening with fondness, remembering the songs, the children playing, the first time in human memory they’d walked side by side. He wanted it to be perfect.
He’d make it perfect for her.
He checked his watch. Two minutes.
“Fine,” he told Stella, who hurried off to check the microphone. He straightened his suit, glanced over the speech one more time, turned back to the crowd, and found Vivienne at his side.
“Good luck with the speech,” she said, voice sickly sweet, the smile on her face never quite reaching her eyes. Something in it pulled at a cold thread deep in his chest. He scanned the crowd, the steps. There, stood in front of City Hall was Petra, Jesse, and no sign of Verity.
His heart, pointless as it was, hammered. He turned back to Vivienne.
“Make it a good one,” she said. “Light. Positive. The kind of thing people want to hear.” She paused, smiling wider. “Because if it isn’t, I don’t think you’ll be seeing that little donor of yours again.”
The words landed like a blow, all the air leaving his lungs at once. He took a step toward her.
“Where is she?”
Vivienne only smiled, hands clasped behind her back, rocking on her heels like the cat that got the cream.
“She’s fine, I’m sure, just needs to let tonight happen.
So do you.” Her tone shifted, something colder underneath the sweetness.
“There’s a natural order to these things, Theo.
The fact that you parade her around as though she could ever be one of us...
” She shook her head. “She’s nothing. She’ll be gone in the blink of an eye, and you’ll find somebody else, and somebody else after that, and so on.
Doesn’t it get boring? All this monotony, sitting in that dank little office of yours, waiting for something to happen?
No wonder the only person you could find to love you was your donor.
” She stepped closer, patting his chest once.
“Have a little fun. Live a little. What’s life without a bit of sport? ”
She tilted her head, considering him. “A couple of weeks, and all this Vital Exchange nonsense will be over. You can have a full belly again. Drink your fill.” Her smile widened. “Until then, I think I’ll keep an eye on the girl. Who knows, maybe without a donor, you’ll be the first to break.”
“If you hurt her… I’ll…”
Vivienne laughed, full and unbothered. “No, you won’t.
” She turned and walked toward City Hall, where Jesse and Petra stood watching.
Theo stared at his brother, certain terror was written plainly across his face.
Jesse moved, one step, and Petra raised her hand.
One hand. That was all it took. Jesse froze where he stood.
Of course he did. One didn’t get to choose when, or whether, to obey their maker. The impulse was beyond resistance.
Theo turned away, scanning the crowd for anyone, anything, that might help, and found only Stella, holding out a microphone.
“All yours,” she said.
The speech. He looked down at the pages in his hand and the words refused to focus. He wasn’t sure he could speak at all.
Keep it light, he told himself. Keep it light and positive, and Verity will be okay.
The words felt treacherous even inside his own head, downplaying what was happening, what was unfolding right now somewhere beyond his sight. If it were his own life on the line, he wouldn’t have cared what he said. But it wasn’t. It was hers. He couldn’t risk his Verity.
He took the microphone, ignoring Stella’s frown when his hand shook.
Just read the speech. Get it over with. Find her.
The steps felt impossibly tall as he climbed them. The stage impossibly high, crowd impossibly wide. He looked out over smiling faces, humans living in blissful ignorance, who, if Vivienne had her way, would be running for their lives within weeks as the predators among them turned.
“Good evening,” he said, raising the microphone to his lips, frowning when nothing came through.
“The button,” Stella mouthed from the wings, miming the switch on its side. A ripple of laughter went through the crowd as he found it and forced a smile.
“Good evening, everybody.” He cleared his throat. “I’d like to thank everyone for...”
He looked down at the page. Whatever was written wasn’t what came out of his mouth. He stumbled, thanked vendors, thanked the community, lost his thread entirely, and then, scanning the crowd for some kind of anchor, he saw him.
Nose ring. Freckles. The man Jesse had searched for all night. The one no one could find, pushing through the crowd not thirty feet away.
He flipped to the last page, skipping ahead, reading fast, something about unity, about humans and vampires building something together, about his love for his partner. He paused at the word. Partner. That was what she was. He looked up.
“As I’m sure many of you are aware, Verity has been the driving force behind this festival.
None of it would have been possible without her, without her vision.
A community united and a celebration of the new start Ostara brings.
Her dedication, her love for her city. She inspires me everyday, and I’d like to thank her from the bottom of my heart. ”
He thrust the microphone at Stella before the applause even started, already moving, cutting through the crowd.
If there was one thing Vivienne had been right about, it was that vampires were predators, and once the singular focus of the hunt locked into place, nothing got in the way.
He wove through the crowd, water finding the path of least resistance, ignoring people who called his name, instinct overriding every shred of decorum.
The man turned down an alley. Theo followed.
Her scent hung in the air behind him. Verity’s hair, the trace of her perfume, and underneath it, blood. Vivienne said she wouldn’t be hurt, but she already had been.
He rounded the corner and Theo nearly lost him until he came face to face with a small group of men.
The one at the front smiled. Theo knew him. Loitering outside the Exchange. Handcuffed at a protest. In a narrow street, silver in his hand. Kane. He pulled a familiar shining blade from his pocket, and Theo remembered his voice the instant he spoke.
“We meet again, Lord Chapel.” He turned the knife, catching the light. The others fanned out beside him, weapons drawn. “Guess we didn’t do a good enough job last time.”
“No,” Theo said. “I’m afraid not.” His eyes didn’t leave Kane’s. “At least this time you’ve got the balls to face me, instead of stabbing me in the back like a coward.”
Kane grinned. “We’ll see how talkative you are once you’ve had a taste of silver.”
Between the adrenaline, the hatred, the fury burning unchecked through his veins, he didn’t wait another second. Didn’t hold back. Didn’t care if these men lived or died, and he didn’t care what they’d done to him before.
They stood between him and Verity. Nothing else mattered.
This time, Theo didn’t wait for them to make the first move.