Page 83 of Twisted

“Yeah, for sure.”I curl my teeth over my lips, debating on bringing up that I saw Vivian and Marco at the nightclub.Were they in the city because of the succubus?Or were they there to look into the demon deaths and catch wind of theotherdemons too?

Only Mabel knows what really happened in the club, and she kept it from Theo for a reason.Maybe I should keep it quiet too…for now.

“Hang on.”He pulls out his phone and fires off a text.“I’ll let you know if I hear back.”

“Thanks,” I tell him and he puts his phone down, face up so he can wait for a text.Awkward silence fills the table, and if it weren’t for the music and the chatter of people around us, you could hear a pin drop.

“So, kill anything interesting lately?”I ask.

“Who are you asking, me or him?”Antonio deadpans and Xavier laughs.

“I like him,” he tells me.“I believe she was asking you.”

“We handled a few scrapper demons in Houston not too long ago,” Antonio tells me.“You would have enjoyed it.”

“They are fun to kill,” I agree.“They’re called scrapper demons because they often follow along behind a bigger, more powerful demon and eat the leftovers,” I explain, not sure if Xavier knew.The waitress comes back and takes the rest of the orders and we go back to sitting in silence again.A few rapid-fire texts from Larissa pop up on Leo’s phone.When he ignores them, she calls.And when he silences her call, she calls Antonio.

“You should answer,” I say.“She’ll keep calling until you do.”

Antonio gives me a look and then gets up to answer the phone, going toward the front of the restaurant so he can go outside and talk in peace.

“Let me see your ring.”Gia holds out her hand.“Holy shit.”

“Don’t swear,” Leo and I tell her at the same time.

Gia eyes Xavier.“You have good taste.What’s the clarity on this thing?”

“I would only put a flawless diamond on my wife’s hand,” he replies.

“Do you, like, bite her?”

“That’s enough questions,” Leo tells Gia.

She rolls her eyes at him.“I’ve never seen a vampire before in real life!Only on TV.”

“Am I living up to your expectations?”Xavier asks her and I find myself smiling at him.

“I guess.You just seem normal,” she replies with a shrug.“Like a person almost.”

“I’m not a person,” he tells her, echoing what he has just told me.“Not anymore.I was killed a long time ago.”

“Killed?”She wrinkles her nose and looks at me, confused.

“Most vampires didn’t want to be vampires,” I say and can feel Leo almost wince.It’s another topic that’s pushed out of sight and out of mind by the Order.

“You didn’t?”Gia asks Xavier, eyes wide once again.

“I did not.I had a human family and a human life I didn’t want to leave,” he replies.“But then the Black Plague hit Europe and I got sick.My maker had taken a liking to me when I was human and didn’t want to let me go.”

He had told me the same story, but hearing him say it again makes me feel for him even more.The whole situation is hard to fathom.

“Everything okay?”Antonio comes back to the table.

“I feel like we should be asking you that,” I say.“Liss has to be pissed.”

“She can deal with it.”He sighs and looks at all of us.

“Did you know most vampires didn’t want to be vampires?”Gia asks him.