Page 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“So,” Theo said. “What are the rumors?”

Felicity snorted, bending low over Skeeter’s hand to brush purple glitter over her thumbnail. “You ran away together. Or you and Aaron and Kade did a murder-murder-suicide.”

“Who did what?” Skeeter asked.

“They can’t decide. Last vote is that Aaron killed Theo, so Kade killed Aaron and then himself,” Felicity said distractedly. She frowned, tidying up a shred of polish that had escaped the confines of Skeeter’s thumbnail.

Theo cocked his head, trying to hear Kade walking around outside. Then he stopped, feeling like an idiot. Kade walked silently now. He had no heartbeat to focus on. He could be anywhere, and Theo wouldn’t know until he shouted.

He turned back to the screen, where lightning flashed over a dark castle. “No one’s seen the Fletchers?”

“Nope,” Felicity said, staring at Skeeter’s nails with an intensity that meant she was pouring any conflicted feelings she might have about that into making Skeeter’s nails look nice.

“Maybe they left town,” Skeeter suggested hopefully.

Felicity laughed. “The town they’ve vowed to save? The town that’s relying on them and their destiny-laden bloodline, the last ones standing between Lock and complete destruction at the hands of the evil, evil vampires? I doubt it!” She frowned, bending lower over Skeeter’s hand. “Shit. Smudged it. Stay still.”

“I’m still,” said Skeeter, affronted. It was true: she wasn’t even breathing.

Theo’s phone vibrated. He took it out and idly glanced down from the TV screen. It was from Kade.

FINN DOING WEIRD SHIT IN THE WOODS, COME NOW.

Theo bolted up.

Felicity cursed. “Shit! You almost made me spill!”

Theo ignored her, running for his shoes. “I need to go. Kade’s following Finn, he’s doing something weird in the woods.”

Felicity put the nail polish aside and stood. “Got it. Let’s go.”

“You won’t be able to keep up.”

“You can piggyback me,” Felicity suggested.

Skeeter stood, holding her polished fingers uncertainly at her sides. “Um. Am I coming?”

“We can handle it.” Felicity leaned over her and stuffed a hand down the couch. She pulled out a small ax, tossing Theo a defiant look. “What? Come on, let’s go find out what this asshole’s up to.”

Theo paused to send a reply. Then he scooped her up and blurred toward the back door.

He heard it as soon as they left the house: digging. Heavy and scraping, Finn muttering grudgingly as he heaved.

Felicity squeezed him from behind, her chin digging into his shoulder. “What is it?”

He shushed her and took off. Felicity grunted, but otherwise stayed shockingly silent as Theo sped into the forest. He almost stumbled when he heard another noise under the digging.

“Fingers crossed,” said Carol Fairgood, her voice cool and friendly as ever.

Theo stumbled to a stop. He could see her through the trees, tapping through her phone and then looking up to scan the tree line and reply to Finn’s stupid comments.

Felicity whispered, “Is that your mom ?”

Theo didn’t reply. He hated how relieved he was. Part of her had been convinced she was dead, or Victor had done something awful to her.

Felicity leaned in. “Why the hell?—?”

Theo shushed her. There was a third noise: growling. Sharp and unmistakable. Theo had heard that same growl many times over the last few days.

Theo turned. About thirty yards away stood the love of his death. Eyes black, fangs out. Sprinting toward Finn with the narrow-minded abandon of a beast about to feed.

“Shit,” Theo whispered, and broke into a run so suddenly that Felicity gasped and gripped his shoulders.

Kade was so distracted by the blood he didn’t even notice Theo until Theo was on top of him. Theo tried to do it quietly, grabbing instead of tackling, but there was only so quiet you could be about restraining a hungry vampire.

He wrestled Kade into the dirt. Felicity climbed off him, shoving her jacket into Kade’s mouth to stifle his feral growls. But the damage was done: Finn’s voice echoed through the trees, thin and reedy.

“Hello?”

Kade growled through Felicity’s jacket.

“Shut up,” Theo whispered, shoving him harder into the dirt. Kade kept trying to snap at him, even with his mouth stuffed with fabric.

“It’s cool,” he heard Finn tell Carol. “I’ll protect us.”

“I appreciate that,” Carol said.

Finn raised his voice. “I totally have a gun! So screw off!”

Theo made a face. How did Finn sound so unthreatening when he was lying about having a gun? This was why Aaron and Theo never let him hang out with them.

“Sorry,” Finn added.

“No apologies needed,” Carol said soothingly. “I know how teenage boys can be.”

Theo frowned, still holding Kade down. He never swore in front of his parents. They always said that cursing indicated an uneducated mind.

“Make sure he doesn’t spit it out,” Theo whispered to Felicity. Then he leaned up and peered through the trees.

Finn was still digging, sweating with the effort. He looked at Carol, trying to hide how hard he was panting.

“Think I found it,” he announced. He dropped the shovel and crouched down in the dirt.

Theo squinted. Finn was hauling up…a sack? It was burlap and brown. Then a chunk of dirt fell off and Theo realized it wasn’t brown, the sack had just been underground so long the dirt had melded to the fabric. It was old enough to belong to a vampire who had been underground for centuries.

“Is it the dress?” Felicity whispered. “Or the spear?”

“I can’t tell,” Theo whispered back. “It definitely doesn’t look spear shaped. Maybe it’s the dress but there’s other stuff shoved in there with it?”

“Shit,” Felicity said. “How’s your mom?”

Theo didn’t reply, his dead heart clenching in his chest. Even knowing what she’d agreed to, even after watching her do nothing while her husband slammed Theo into the floor so hard the floorboards cracked, Theo still wanted to run out of his hiding place and hug her. To shake her until she saw sense. He’s lying to you, don’t you get that? He’s using you just like he’s using me. Don’t let him. I love you, mom.

Carol stood back, letting Finn haul the bag onto the forest floor. “You’re sure they don’t suspect?”

“Nope,” Finn said confidently.

“And you’re not engaging with them. Right?”

Finn hesitated. He straightened, dusting off his hands with a nervous laugh. “You said to be normal. So…I’ve been normal. Talked to Kade a couple times. And I invited them to my birthday party, like you said!”

“Mm. Calmly?”

“I’m calm,” Finn argued. “I’m just, y’know. Excited.”

“Well, be excited quietly . We can’t have you tip them off because you let something slip. Alright? Remember what you get out of this.”

“I do,” Finn said hastily. His anxious smile slipped, and for the first time Theo saw a glimpse of something serious under his eagerness. “Really. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this—this incredible opportunity, Mrs. Fairgood. I won’t waste it.”

“You’d better not,” Carol said smoothly. She checked her watch and turned to leave. “Come on. It’s getting dark.”

“Right,” Finn said. He picked up the bag again, trying to lift with his back before almost falling over and awkwardly lifting with his knees instead. Then he picked up the shovel, hunched over with the strain.

“Anything else you need,” Finn rasped as he wobbled after her. “I can help. You have that thing coming up, right? At the Emmerson house?”

Carol stared at him. Then she laughed, stiff and tittering. It was the laugh she used when she was trying to hide how annoyed she was. “Oh, you heard that, did you? We’ll be fine. Thank you.”

They both froze as a high yelp rang through the woods.

Theo looked down.

Felicity was bleeding, clutching her wrist. Her phone lay in the dirt beside her, a text half finished. Kade had managed to spit the jacket out and had swiped a chunk of Felicity’s wrist.

“Cut it out!” Theo knelt harder on Kade’s chest, stuffing the jacket back into place.

Finn’s voice floated through the trees. “What was that?”

“No idea,” Carol said slowly. “But it sounded…hurt.”

Theo waited, gritting his teeth. He hated how thoughtful she sounded. Like she was wondering if her husband had followed her out there, eating unsuspecting high schoolers. Had he followed her out there? Was he hiding in the trees, waiting to pounce?

Theo listened, projecting further than Kade’s growls and his mother’s heartbeat. Bugs, wind, leaves. Nothing big and horrible in the undergrowth. No rasp of dry skin or flap of wings. Just footsteps, noisy and hesitant and human as Finn followed Carol out of the woods.

Theo and Felicity hunched over in tense silence, waiting it out. Kade struggled under them, growls muffled by the ruined jacket. Felicity’s bleeding arm trembled as she picked her phone up.

Theo gripped her wrist, concentrating. The smell of blood got a little more manageable.

He waited for the footsteps to fade. “You good?”

“Yeah. This sucks without venom.” Felicity pulled her hand out of his grip and examined the healed skin. “I texted my mom, she’s on her way. We need to get to the Emmerson place.”

“One thing at a time.” Theo wiped his bloody hand clean on Felicity’s shirt and tapped Kade’s shirt. “Kade. Hey! Look at me. Time to come back.”

Kade writhed, bucking up against Theo’s hold.

Theo sighed. “Liss, do you want to step away a second? Might be better without…”

He gestured at her stained clothes, blood already congealing under her nails.

Felicity frowned at Kade and started tiptoeing through the trees.

Theo turned back to Kade, bending close. “Kade. Babe. Come back already. You’re missing out on Rocky Horror .”

Slowly, Kade’s growls quietened. He blinked hard, the black draining out of his eyes. His mouth went slack.

Theo pulled the jacket away. “Kade?”

“Bloody hell,” Kade croaked. He smacked his lips, staring at Theo and the spit-covered jacket in confusion. “What happened to Finn? And your mom? Did I?—?”

Theo cut him off. “They didn’t see you.”

“How’s your mom? What was in the hole?”

“She’s fine. He got a bag out of the hole, we don’t know what was in it.”

Kade groaned and sagged back against the dirt. Then he stopped, tongue moving in his cheeks.

“Did I bite Liss?”

“I’m fine,” Felicity said, emerging through the trees with her fingers flying over her phone screen. “Snacky little jackass. I fed you yesterday .”

She said it lightly, but Kade’s face twisted up in that same anguished expression he got when he started thinking about the prophecy. Or his parents. Or anything that added to his bone-deep belief that he was doomed, had been doomed all along, even before he was born. That his story was an unhappy one and Theo was a sweet, naive fool for thinking it could be anything else.

“It’s fine,” Theo told him. “Everybody’s okay.”

“Not for long,” Felicity said, looking up from her phone. “Mom! Over here!”

Theo and Kade turned to watch Beverly Sloan jog up, a duffel bag thrown over her shoulder and a wicked knife in her belt. She had a shockingly light step—from her childhood as a ballerina, Felicity told him once.

Beverly came to a graceful stop, tensing her jaw when she noticed the blood streaking all three teens. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” said Felicity and Theo.

“Me,” said Kade bitterly. He was slurring, fangs still not completely gone. His claws flexed in his jeans, boring new holes in the denim.

“Everybody’s okay,” Theo repeated. “Whose car are we taking?”

Beverly sighed. She looked at Felicity pointedly, the two of them having a silent stare-off with a lot of eyebrow work until Felicity finally gave in.

“You’re not coming,” she told them. “If Kade still can’t keep his monster down?—”

“Hey, he’s doing great ,” Theo snapped.

Beverly gave him an unreadable look. The one she gave Kade was much easier to interpret: wariness. A little bit of pity, enough to make Kade hunch into his shoulders. I’d rather be punched than pitied , he had told Theo last year. Theo had agreed wholeheartedly.

“This isn’t an argument,” Felicity said. She stalked up to join her mother, in sync in a way Theo had only seen when they were training together. “There’s a reason we don’t bring Sparky along to this stuff, right? I’d die for that dog, but bringing her to a battle is like giving the enemy an extra fighter!”

“That’s not the same,” Theo tried.

Felicity laughed, holding up her ripped, bloody sleeve. “Like hell it isn’t! If Victor shows up, we don’t have time to fight Kade off if I get a papercut! Kade, go home. Theo, make sure he doesn’t eat his aunt.”

“I don’t need babysitting,” Kade said quietly. But it sounded uncertain, like he was only saying it because he thought he should, not because he believed it. He had that doomed look again, deep and troubled and breaking Theo’s goddamn heart.

He opened his mouth to argue his boyfriend’s defense. To say they were wasting time, they needed to leave. But Beverly cut him off.

“Theo,” she said. “Take him home. Get some rest. You’ve had…a tiring night.”

The pity was aimed at him now. Theo’s fists clenched. No need to ask whether Felicity had mentioned his mom in her texts.

“Call us if there’s any trouble,” he said.

They nodded. Theo watched them head back through the trees, Beverly reaching into her duffel bag to hand her daughter a silver crossbow.

He looked at Kade, who was standing so close Theo could reach out and touch his hand. Kade’s teeth were finally blunt again, and his expression was so far away that for a moment Theo worried he’d fallen into a dead boy’s memory again.

“Kade,” he said. “You okay?”

“What?” Kade blinked hard, the smallest shudder working through him. “Yeah. Let’s…let’s go rest .”