Page 22 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Monday

Zoey ran after me. “Please no. Anywhere but the attic.”

We had to check the attic. This wasn’t up for negotiation.

“And if he’s not hiding something in the attic, we’ll have to break into those locked rooms. Because there’s definitely something in those.

And then the garage.” I shivered at the thought of finding bloody tools or something in Theo’s garage.

The attic was a much safer place to explore.

I wasn’t sure why Zoey was freaking out so much.

The worst part about attics were mice. Or maybe bats.

And hopefully lots of secrets to uncover.

“Or maybe all the locked rooms are empty and he doesn’t want to have to clean them and you’ve lost your damn mind!” she said as I pulled down the stepladder to the attic.

“You don’t have to come up, Zoey. I’ve got this. Just stay here stand guard.”

“And what am I supposed to do if Theo shows up?”

“Distract him.”

“How?”

“Like you always do with men. Show him your tits or something.”

She laughed. “You want me to flash Theo? I thought you had a crush on him? That would be very counterproductive. ”

I didn’t have a crush on Theo. I hated him. “Just do whatever’s necessary.”

“Like a blowjob?”

I didn’t have time to tell her what a terrible idea that was.

Because Theo could be back any minute. Or second.

Or maybe he was already in the attic lurking around like the creeper he was.

I climbed up the ladder and slowly poked my head through the cutout in the ceiling.

I smiled. It was filled with boxes. “This is it!” I called down to her.

I climbed into the attic and opened the closest box.

I coughed as I opened the lid. It was filled with moth balls.

And…weird cloaks? Okay, that wasn’t what I was looking for.

But at least there weren’t any mice jumping out at me.

I ran my hand over the velvety material.

Seriously, why did he have so many of these fancy cloaks?

I closed the box and opened the next one.

It had a bunch of strange, dusty hats and more moth balls.

He must have been a fan of roleplaying in addition to handcuffing women to his bed.

The next box was filled with leathers. I cringed as I lifted up a leather strap. What the hell was this used for? Probably some kind of weird BDSM to go with his roleplaying. But as I explored the box more, nothing really resembled a whip or anything. And the leather seemed really worn.

I reached down farther and my hand wrapped around something metal. I shifted it through the box of leathers and looked down at…a stirrup. Was all this stuff for a saddle? I didn’t take Theo for a horse lover. Or a lover of anything really. Although he did seem to love messing with me .

I dropped the stirrup back in the box and a cloud of dust puffed up around me.

I coughed and moved to the next box. As soon as I lifted the flap and saw all the feathers, I fell backward and covered my face, waiting to be mauled by a huge bird.

But…nothing happened. There wasn’t even a squawk of anger.

I slowly opened my eyes and peered back at the box.

It wasn’t moving. I inched forward and lifted the flap again.

It wasn’t a bird at all. I breathed a sigh of relief as I picked up one of the feathers.

It was just a box full of loose feathers.

Why? What on earth was Theo doing with a bunch of feathers?

Was he secretly into arts and crafts? I dropped the feather back in the box and reached in further to see if there was anything else.

My hand collided with a glass jar. It was filled with black liquid.

I looked back at the feathers. Most of them just looked like they’d been plucked right from some huge bird.

But a few had black on the very tips. I tilted the glass jar and the thick black liquid slowly moved with it.

Ink. The box was full of old-fashioned feathered quill pens.

Honestly, that was probably weirder than if he had them for arts and crafts.

I moved to the next box. It was filled with unused candles. And not the fun scented kind. Just normal, boring white candlesticks. I closed the flap on the box and froze. Wait. Candlesticks. Like I’d seen in the windows of his creepy Gothic mansion.

The strange hats. The cloaks. The horse stuff. The feathered quill pens. The candlesticks. He wasn’t playing dress-up. He’d used these things. Ages ago. God, I was right. He was a vampire. He’d been alive for decades. Centuries, even .

“I was right!” I called down to Zoey. “He’s definitely a vampire!

That portrait at that mansion had to have been him!

He’s been alive since at least the 1700s!

” I remembered the portrait of Sir William Evans so clearly.

The golden eyes. The same golden eyes as Callum Walsh.

As Theo Gold. They were all the same person. I freaking knew it!

Zoey didn’t respond. She was probably playing with his handcuffs or something. Or eating a cucumber out of her purse as she stood watch. I went back and took pictures of the contents of all the boxes I’d opened. This was definitely evidence.

I opened another box. And another. There were more weird clothes.

And newspaper articles from a long time ago.

There was even a box full of all sorts of weird old phones.

Not just old rotary phones either. One had separate parts to talk through and listen through.

It looked ancient. There was a box filled with just a bunch of old tin cans.

He wasn’t just a vampire, he was a hoarder.

I took pictures of all of it, even if I wasn’t exactly sure what I was taking pictures of.

I opened another box. There was a Wildcats sweatshirt lying on top. Son of a bitch! I knew it!

“Zoey!” I called. “He’s Callum Walsh! I have proof now!” I knew it. I freaking knew it! Once a snake, always a snake, Callum freaking Walsh!

I tucked the Wildcats sweatshirt under my arm to show Zoey. A picture wasn’t enough. I needed the actual thing. Because for just a little bit there, I was worried I might have actually lost it. But I wasn’t crazy. Theo Gold was just messing with my head.

I took a deep breath as I opened another dusty old box. My phone buzzed but I ignored it. I’d call Bennett and apologize later. I’d let Theo get in my head. But Bennett wasn’t the bad guy here. Theo was. Or Callum. Or Sir William Evans.

Ten years I’d wasted on him. Ten years dreaming of a one-night stand.

When I should have been celebrating not getting my blood sucked.

I was lucky that I wasn’t stuffed in one of these boxes.

He seemed to keep everything. And I bet one of these boxes was full of his victims’ possessions.

Or maybe several boxes. I shuddered at the thought.

There was nothing up here that actually pointed to the fact that he was a vampire.

But it was the only rational conclusion I could draw.

“I expected you to scream. Not moan my name.” That’s what he’d said to me that night ten years ago.

That’s why he looked at my neck in the maze.

That’s why he kept trying to get me to stay away from Bennett.

Because he knew Bennett would protect me.

I looked around at all the boxes I hadn’t explored yet.

I knew I was running out of time, but I didn’t see anything that could be hiding the old portraits.

But this sweatshirt was enough proof. And I didn’t want to be up here when Theo got back.

I needed to do some research about garlic and wooden stakes.

And couldn’t a vampire not come into Zoey’s house unless invited in? We’d go home and be safe.

I walked back toward the ladder, but stopped when I saw a cloth covering something in the far corner.

I ignored my buzzing phone and walked over to the cloth.

I lifted the corner and smiled. The golden eyes of Sir William Evans were staring back at me.

I lifted my camera and took a photo. I checked the display to make sure I’d actually taken the photo this time.

And it was there as clear as day. Finally.

I’d been haunted by this photo for ten years. Or more accurately, haunted by its absence from my camera’s memory card. But now I had it. And I knew without a doubt who this portrait was of.

“He’s definitely Callum Walsh!” I called down to Zoey.

“I found the portrait from his mansion! The Wildcats memorabilia plus the portraits? We’ve got Theo just where we want him.

” And the contacts case. Zoey didn’t think that was enough proof, but all of these breadcrumbs combined?

Theo Gold was Callum Walsh. I’d never been so certain of something in my entire life.

I stared at the portrait. It was a shame that he was the devil. Because he really was beautiful. My phone buzzed again, but I ignored it. For just a moment I stood there staring at the portrait. His golden eyes were completely captivating. And haunting.

A hand covered my mouth, and I was pulled backward.