Page 23

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

Theo tore the Lexus through the sleepy streets so fast Kade was glad, for once, to be crouched over in the backseat.

He sat up just enough to see Theo’s face in the rearview mirror. Theo’s eyes were wide with fury, the steering wheel cracking under his hands.

“Heeeey,” Kade said. “You aren’t going to run up and, like…stab the guy, right?”

“I’M GOING TO RIP OUT HIS SPINE,” Theo yelled.

The Lexus lurched around a corner. Kade slammed into the car door and winced.

“Right,” Kade said, holding his twinging arm. “But he has scars. If he has scars, he can’t be a vampire! Your scars healed when you turned?—”

“HAWTHORN HAD TATTOOS,” Theo yelled. “WE DON’T KNOW HOW IT WORKS! MR. FLETCHER SAID HE HAS SCARS, MAYBE THEY’RE SPECIAL MAGIC SCARS HE’S GONNA USE IN THE RITUAL TO DESTROY THE TOWN!”

The Lexus sped around another corner. Kade cried out as he slid once more into the door, funny bone first.

“What?” Theo barked. The car slowed. “What is it? Are you hurt?”

Kade rubbed his elbow, eyes watering. “I’m fine, it’s just my arm.”

Theo sped up again. The car sailed down the road and pulled up to a shaky stop in front of the tree Kade had crashed into only days before.

Theo surged out of the car. Kade stumbled after him He considered mentioning how useless it was for him to hide in the backseat if he was going to pop out at the same time as Theo, if only to distract Theo from his relentless charge toward the man crouching next to Victor’s grave. Russel, Theo had explained on the way over. His gardener. Kade recognized the name—Theo had mentioned him a few times, always trying to sound casual but giving away his fondness.

Kade’s heart sank.

The grave was empty. Next to it, Russel rummaged in his pocket.

“Theo,” Kade said warily.

Theo ran. Human speed, mostly. He only blurred as he got closer, then grabbed Russel and jerked him up.

Russel grunted. His phone fell out of his hand onto the dirt-covered grass. One inch to the left and it would’ve tumbled straight into the empty grave.

“What did you do to my dad?” Theo demanded, clutching Russel by his collar. “What did you do ?”

Russel’s eyes were wide. He wasn’t even scrabbling at Theo’s hands. He was just staring, confused.

Kade ran up behind them. There was a cheap bouquet of roses next to the empty grave and a bad feeling in Kade’s stomach.

“Is he human?” he asked Theo.

Theo’s lip curled. “I can hear a heartbeat. Jab him with a fire eye.”

Kade dug a knot of fire eye out of his pocket, pressing the vine into Russel’s exposed arm. Nothing happened.

Kade grimaced. The guy was wearing shorts with an elastic waistband. He looked like somebody’s not-so-cool uncle, tan and fit and slightly balding.

“Theo, I don’t think?—”

Theo cut him off. “Silver? Got any silver? Any rings?”

Kade hadn’t worn jewelry with real silver since the first time Theo came over to his house.

“He’s human , Theo. It’s not him.”

Theo gave Russel another shake, teeth bared. Thankfully still blunt—for now.

“The grave is EMPTY,” he bellowed, the noise ringing over the graveyard and making both Kade and Russel flinch. “What were you DOING? ”

“I-I was about to call the police,” Russel stammered. He reached up, scarred hands shaking as they wrapped gently around Theo’s wrists. “Theo, everything’s going to be okay. I’ll call the police, they’ll find out who did this.”

Theo growled, tightening his grip on Russel’s collar.

Russel asked, “What’s wrong? I don’t understand. Are you okay?”

“Don’t ask me that,” Theo snapped. “Don’t you DARE ask me that. You—you have the scars! And you made blood jokes about the casserole! What did you do to my DAD?”

He shook Russel so hard his head snapped back.

“I…blood jokes…” Russel blinked, dazed. “Theo, what’s going on?”

Kade tugged Theo’s jacket. “Okay, let’s go. Let’s go , I don’t want to bury another body.”

“What?” Russel squeaked.

“Nothing,” Kade said hastily. He pulled Theo’s jacket harder. “Come on, mate.”

“No,” Theo snarled, voice breaking. “It has to be him. He has to be involved. He’s HERE. I won’t let him get away!”

“It’s not him,” Kade insisted. He took a careful step closer, so he was right at Theo’s side. If Kade could, he would have twisted Theo’s face toward him. As it was, Kade just stood there, touching his shirt.

“You said you could feel it when you saw your sire again,” Kade reminded him. “Can you feel anything now?”

Theo’s eyes were glassy, black liquid gathering at the corners. His chin trembled. He wore a deep, desperate anger Kade knew far too well and wished he didn’t. The kind of anger that was so big you didn’t realize it was something else until you’d already ruined everything.

Kade had ruined a lot of things. He didn’t want to help Theo do the same.

He stepped even closer. Hoping, for once, that Theo could hear his thundering heartbeat. Hoping that it drowned out the anger surging through Theo’s cold body. That it brought him back here, to Kade.

“Theo,” he said. “Can you feel anything?”

Theo jerked his head. Just a little bit. The smallest, most devastated shake.

“No,” he croaked. Black tears gleamed in the corners of his eyes. He blinked hard and they were gone. He let go of Russel, shoving him with such force he almost stumbled back into the grave.

Theo stormed off to the car.

Kade gave Russel an apologetic look.

“Please don’t tell the cops about this part,” he said awkwardly, and ran off after Theo.

Theo drove them to the woods. Then he pulled over and stumbled out, leaving the driver’s door hanging open .

Kade got out after him, calling into the trees. “Theo! Hey!”

Theo shuddered to a stop, shoulders trembling. Kade waited for him to pummel chunks out of a tree, like he’d done last week. But he just stood there, shaking.

Then he screamed. A strange, guttural scream that turned inhuman at the end, so high and wailing that Kade had to cover his ears. He’d never heard a more anguished noise. It sounded like something you’d hear in a ghost story right before you died. It made something instinctual prickle deep inside of him, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. A deer sensing the hunter in the bushes.

Run , whispered the prey animal behind Kade’s ribs.

But it was Theo. Kade hadn’t run when Theo was in bloody ribbons on the forest floor, Hawthorn looming huge and terrifying over him. He wasn’t going to start now.

He slunk forward, leaves crunching under his boots. “Do…do you want a cigarette?”

Theo growled. “No, I don’t want a cigarette, Kade! God !”

“Well excuse the hell out of me to find SOMETHING to calm you down,” Kade snapped. He didn’t mean for it to come out angry. But anger had been Kade’s go-to armor for a long time. He knew there was something underneath it, dark and quivering, but anger was always easier. Always waiting to strike out, defend, hide the thing underneath it.

Kade took a deep breath. “What would you have done to that guy if I wasn’t there, huh, blood boy?”

Theo shook his head. He turned, and Kade was relieved and devastated to see he still wasn’t crying. Worst week of his life and he hadn’t cried yet. Kade had seen him cry last year over the stress of the prophecy, a few stressed tears after being told he was destined to bring so much destruction to their hometown, and now his dad was dead and as far as Kade knew, he hadn’t shed one black tear over it.

“You need to stop,” Kade begged. “Just—just sit down, watch some shitty TV and breathe for five seconds.”

“I DON’T NEED TO brEATHE,” Theo yelled. “I need to find my sire and kill him. It’s the only thing I can think about!”

His breathing hitched. Huge, gulping breaths he didn’t need: muscle memory from being alive taking over.

“I failed,” Theo rasped. “I—shit, Kade, I failed. Dad asked me to watch over his body. I should’ve—how could I let him down like that? My mom’s gonna hate me.’

“She won’t hate you! She doesn’t even know!”

“She’ll find out,” Theo said, a terrible faraway look on her face, years of being raised in that house mounting up behind him. “They always find out. Dad found out I was dead and Mom is GOING to know, she always knows. She’ll find out I failed, and she’s gonna hate me.”

“YOUR MOM IS AN ASSHOLE,” Kade screamed.

Later, he would rethink this conversation, go over what he wished he’d said. This was the second biggest thing he wished he could take back. This was the pivotal point where Kade ruined everything, as usual.

“And your dad isn’t around to say shit,” Kade continued. “He wasn’t even nice to you!”

“My dad was great ,” Theo snarled.

Kade laughed, the noise echoing around the trees. The branches were empty, leaves dead at their feet. The birds had flown off when Theo screamed.

“Your dad threatened to rip your hair out in front of the entire SCHOOL,” Kade cried. “I heard the rumors, okay? Every time you lost a game or didn’t grade well on a test or some stupid shit everybody does, you’d come to school exhausted the next day because he’d keep you up all night and punish you if you fell asleep.”

Theo stared at him. Kade had never seen him so scared before. Not with Hawthorn, not with Mr. Fletcher choking to death on Kade’s grimy carpet.

It took Theo a long time to speak. “Where did you hear that?”

Kade had the bizarre urge to hug him. Carefully, the way he always had to be careful when he touched Theo. As if Kade was a creature made for comfort. As if Theo was made to accept it. As if they weren’t made to destroy each other.

“I get it,” Kade tried. “I love my mum, but she was screwed up! One time she got so drunk she didn’t recognize me when I came home from school. I had to sleep outside.”

“Well—” Theo swallowed. The fear was draining from his face, replaced with a steely sharpness. “Well, my dad wasn’t like your wino mom. My dad was good . So what if he was a little rough on me? He wanted me to be the best .”

“He wanted you to be VICIOUS,” Kade yelled. “Jesus. I don’t know why he didn’t team up with your sire!”

“Shut up,” Theo snarled, so harsh and sharp that Kade did.

He’d screwed up. He could already feel it in his stomach, that heavy sinking feeling he got when he knew he’d regret it but he was doing it anyway. He just wanted Theo to understand , wanted to grip those beautiful curls and stare into those big brown eyes and bleed memory into him: every time he stuck up for his mum after she forgot to pack him lunch or locked him out or got her license suspended, again ; every time he insisted his dad was great, really , he had cool clothes and a big important job and took a lot of business trips and he didn’t drink in front of Kade unless it was a birthday or Christmas or he had a really bad day at work. It didn’t matter that he slapped Kade around, because he took him to theme parks sometimes and taught him how to play darts and let Kade watch whatever he wanted on TV even when it gave him nightmares. He’s a good person , he told the cops the last time they brought him in. He probably didn’t know the car parts were stolen, he just made a mistake.

He’d been such an idiot. And now Theo was looking at him with those same big, betrayed eyes Kade gave everyone who dared suggest there was a chance his parents were maybe, possibly , not the best people.

Kade sucked in a breath. “I just?—”

“Don’t,” Theo growled.

Kade shrank back. His prey-animal instincts were starting up again, screaming at him to run. Theo’s shoulders were braced and his mouth was set in a sneer, like he was the jock Kade used to avoid in the hallways. Like they’d never traded two words that weren’t sharp, never saved each other from a monster, never studied together or buried a body or walked through the woods while Theo pointed out native weeds, telling Kade how they were misunderstood and actually very beautiful and people should stop killing them.

Theo turned around and stalked into the trees.

Kade cleared his throat. There was a lump in it. “Where are you going?”

“For a run.”

“What about your car? ”

“Don’t touch it,” Theo snarled. “And don’t…don’t text me. Okay? Just stay the hell away from me, Kade.”

Then he streaked off, tossing up rotting leaves in his wake.