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CHAPTER

TWENTY-NINE

Twenty days after Theo Fairgood died, he met Kade Renfield in the woods.

Kade didn’t notice him at first. Theo stood for a while, watching Kade smoke and pick at the dark blue polish on his thumbnail. It made him strangely calm. Like wandering in a foreign land and spotting someone from home through a crowd.

Theo had come home the night of the ruined basketball game with a puppy (dubbed Sparky, due to her fiery eyes) and a horrible flu that meant he was staying in bed for the next few days. His parents had given him disappointed looks and stocked up on his least favorite soup and cheap dog food. Theo had been eating local wildlife and doing the homework Felicity emailed him and googling how to look after a dog. Every night he’d checked the tears in his chest, and every night they were thinner. Yesterday they were still scabbing. Today they were lines of raised skin. Tomorrow, hopefully, they would be nothing. No reminder of Hawthorn’s claws ripping him open. Theo was looking forward to it.

Next to him, Sparky barked.

Kade whipped around, cigarette falling out of his hand. He stomped it into the dirt, swearing.

“Shit! Walk louder!”

“Get better ears.” Theo grinned. “How are you?”

“Hydrated.” Kade slapped his neck, breaking into an endearing smile when Sparky bounded over. He bent down and rubbed frantically at Sparky’s ears. “Hi, girl! How’s my favorite satan spawn? You look so good, yes you do!”

“We should bring her into school,” Theo said. “Your badass rep would be gone in five seconds once they see you cooing at her.”

“Yeah, let’s not.” Kade straightened, looking Theo up and down. “You look better. Back to school soon?”

“Guess so.”

Kade nodded. He picked at his wrist cuff. There were a few of them, bracelets stacked on top, covering him halfway up to his elbow. Was he hiding a bruise?

Theo frowned, sniffing the air. “Has Aaron been bothering you?”

“Nope.” Kade’s lips smacked around the p . “Think you really freaked him out. He won’t even look at me now.”

“Good,” Theo said firmly. They hadn’t talked about Kade and Aaron yet. Theo had tried to bring it up the first time they met after that night, only for Kade’s face to immediately close down. He’d let Theo feed on him and then walked off the moment Theo healed him. Theo hadn’t dared ask a second time.

Kade scuffed a platform boot against the grass. “Parents forgiven you yet?”

“They’ll forgive me when the town forgives me,” Theo said. “So, no, never. No rescheduling this time, we just lost. Our team’s got no chance without me. Not against the Wayside Hawks.”

“Assholes,” Kade said mildly. Theo didn’t know if he was talking about the Wayside Hawks or his parents.

Theo pushed away the looming knowledge of his parents' punishment, yet to come.

“Still no word on the bodies?”

“Nooope.” Kade’s teeth tug into his chapped lower lip, muffling the word. “They got substitute teachers in. The cops are looking. Don’t think they’ll find anything. I mean, if we can’t—and we know where they died. So.”

He sat down, beckoning Sparky back over. Theo followed.

Kade’s gaze flickered up as Theo sat down, Sparky wriggling on the grass between them.

“Everything okay today?” Theo asked.

“Always.” Kade ruffled Sparky’s thin fur, a reluctant smile creeping in when Sparky licked his hand. “Aunt Sundance knows something’s up. Just doesn’t know what. She won’t shut up about you coming over for dinner again.”

“You and the Fletchers, man. I love pretending to eat.”

Sparky rolled onto her back. Kade rubbed her stomach, making soft cooing noises he couldn’t seem to hold back. His hand roved her furry belly. Theo reached out, careful to keep his hand on her chest.

Kade’s petting slowed, growing more careful. The burn he’d gotten during Sparky’s introduction was still vivid on his wrist. Theo had offered to heal it and Kade had called him an idiot, waving at Theo’s injuries.

I can deal with a little burn, he’d told him.

Kade rubbed his face. He had bags under his eyes again, and he was paler than usual.

“You look tired.”

“Bad dreams.” Kade smiled crookedly. “So, you burning me is part of some big vampire plan.”

“Apparently.”

“And we have a year to figure out how to stop it.”

“Looks like,” Theo said. He tried to think of something cool to say, something fun and witty, but he was tired after days of healing on nothing but deer blood, and he was never good at this. Not like Kade was. He wanted to tell Kade how scared he was. How terrifying it was to lie in his bed at night, not sleeping, not knowing who was out there and when they would come for him. For him and Kade. Knowing they were doomed, the clock ticking down, with no idea how to climb off this path strangers had forced them on.

“Milly texted me,” he said instead. “She wants us to come to the bookshop tomorrow. She has something to show us.”

“A cure-all for our doom, I hope.” Kade fondled Sparky’s big paw, pressing on his black toe beans. “You know what I figured out?”

“What?”

“Stories are only fun afterward. When you’re living them, they scare you shitless.” Kade shot him a smile. Only a hint of sharp. The rest of it was all soft. Afternoon light filtered through the trees, washing Kade in pale gold, and Theo wanted to kiss him so much he could taste it. It made him think back to the last time they were in this forest. Standing there, surrounded by blood and death, Theo would have given anything to kiss Kade and not hurt him.

But that wasn’t how this went. Your story was never going to end well, Hawthorn had snarled, slurring around all those terrible teeth. You were always going to kill him.

Kade sighed, stretching out his legs until he was one long line of pale skin and ripped black clothing. Today’s shirt was a flowy black blouse that exposed his collarbones, that pale blue vein fluttering under his skin like a siren’s song.

“I know that look.” Kade stood with a flourish. He waited until Theo followed him up, then extended his neck .

Theo sighed, hands on his hips. “Have you eaten enough?”

“Big meal, all the water in the world.” Kade jerked his head. “Go for it, blood boy.”

“Call me Theo.”

Kade paused. A sly look passed over his face.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You sure we’re there yet?”

“You’re growing on me,” Theo admitted. “Like a fungus.”

Kade’s teasing smile turned delighted. “Holy shit. Mushroom boy.”

“No,” Theo tried, but Kade was already laughing, face creasing with it. “Alright, calm down.”

Kade wiped his eyes, still chuckling. He tilted sideways, neck bared. “Okay. Seriously, go on. We need to get you healed up for school.”

Theo leaned in. He paused for a moment, letting himself enjoy the warmth emanating from Kade’s skin. Then he bit down, and the world narrowed.

Kade’s grip slackened as Theo sucked. His hands shifted to grip the small of Theo’s back, a hot, shaky press.

Like we’re slow dancing, Theo thought muzzily. He brought his arms up to circle Kade’s shoulders. They stayed there as Theo pulled back, the sizzle of skin fading into silence.

Kade groped at his healed neck, the way he did sometimes, like he was checking it was smooth skin. He swayed against Theo .

Theo thought once more of dancing, then stepped back. “Can I try something? I just…”

Kade gave him a bleary look. “Depends what it is.”

Theo pulled out a pair of knitted gloves.

Kade laughed. “I hope you know how embarrassing this is,” he said as Theo slid them on. “They’re so bad . Like , so … ”

He trailed off, smile falling as Theo lifted a hand and touched Kade’s cheek. Slowly, gingerly, feeling the bone with his thumb. He made sure not to press too hard, so his skin stayed behind the thin wool barrier.

“I just wanted to see if this would work,” Theo admitted.

Kade stared at him, chapped lips parted in a surprise Theo wanted to swallow. Then he jerked back, sucking in a breath. “When you come back to school…do we…”

Theo hesitated.

Kade twisted out of his grip. “Great. Fine. I’ll just go.”

“Aaron’s involved,” Theo told him. “But I don’t think he knows it. I…I should stick close. Maybe I can make him see there’s another choice that isn’t following his family into hunting, uh, me.”

“Right. One less person aiming silver arrows at you when the time comes. Can’t talk him into the light side with Monster hanging around.” Kade’s thin smile wobbled. There was no sharpness, just bitter resignation .

He gave Sparky one last scratch and turned away. “See you at the bookshop after school?”

Theo wanted to drag him back. Wanted to tell him he’d burn all his bridges to walk hand in gloved hand with him in the halls. Do something to prove they weren’t doomed.

“See you tomorrow,” he said instead.

He watched Kade walk away until his shape vanished through the trees, too far for even a newborn vampire to see. He walked home, Sparky ambling at his side.

Then he lay on his bed with the bundled gloves under his nose, breathing in Kade’s soft, metallic scent until it finally faded.