Chapter Twenty-Four
He was lost for his first week as a vampire. Being controlled and then set entirely loose messed with his head, not to mention fighting off a demon who wanted to get into the driver’s seat and took every opportunity to overwhelm Theo’s own soul. He’d killed people when the demon got his way. There was no getting around that. Yet every time he tried to find his own exit from this hellish existence, that foreign thing invaded his body and refused to allow it.
He was close to losing his grip. The demon was winning. He was going to be in complete control soon.
Theo was in a human bar, trying to convince himself not to let the demon take over, when Brody first approached him.
“Hey, you’re new around here,” he’d said, slipping into the seat next to Theo.
Theo barely glanced at him, before he went back to sipping at the beer he could barely stomach. It’d been three days since he’d fed. He was beginning to get sharp pains in his abdomen that he hoped would mean death, but wasn’t certain about.
“Look, I’m going to cut through the crap,” Brody turned his way.
Theo got ready to tell the guy to get lost. Then he spoke again, and Theo found himself stunned into silence.
“I know who you are.” He nodded as he looked him over. “And I can help you.”
“You can?” He wasn’t getting alarm bells yet, but he was sure they were coming.
“I can, but you need to stop starving yourself.”
“Okay,” Theo agreed.
“I’m Brody McIntosh.”
They shook hands.
It turned out Brody knew exactly who’d done this to him, and why. That night, they went after the men who taken the life of his girlfriend and turned him. His maker saw it coming, but he hadn’t factored in what Brody was.
“Turn on your human friend. Drain him,” the big guy ordered, as if he was flicking a nuisance insect off his shoulder. He turned away as Theo launched himself at Brody, who halted his attack with a single command.
Brody smiled at him. “Say goodnight, Blackburn.”
The stake that launched through his body appeared out of thin air. The shock on his face melted as his remains spattered the ground.
Theo breathed a sigh of relief, released from his maker’s hold.
Brody smiled at him. “What do you say we go after his brother next?”
Theo found a grin. The creep wasn’t going to know what hit him.
***
Theo awoke next to the girl who’d given him a reason to hang on to his life. He smiled as she opened her eyes and gazed at him. “You’re okay.”
“You were sleeping for a long time,” she let him know.
He blinked. “I was?”
Brody had warned him it might happen but he really hadn’t felt tired when he lay down next to her. He was energized now, though his stomach was cramping a little. Feeding regularly was going to be a requirement. He needed to be back at full strength if they were going on the run.
“I’m a vampire now,” she said, smiling wryly at him. “Apparently.”
“It was the only way.”
“I know.”
“We should probably get out of here.”
She sat up as he moved. “You sound worried. What’s going on?”
“I don’t think Brody’s father knows we survived his attack, but if we hang around he might find out.” He got up and went to the window. “It’s getting too close to dawn. We need to be somewhere else right now.”
“Where, exactly?” She didn’t think going back to her place was an option considering the dead body they’d left on her bedroom floor. She could just imagine Sian getting home from work and freaking the hell out. It would have happened by now. She wished she could have spared her the trauma, but she’d been too busy dying.
“I haven’t figured that out yet.” He shook his head. “Brody will think of something. He always does.”
“Why did he come after us, anyway?” She remembered something the creep had said to her in the kitchen, something she didn’t think he could possibly know if he wasn’t Sian’s boyfriend. The glowing eyes told her he was possessed at that point, if the threatening behavior didn’t.
“I’m not sure,” Theo said. “But he mentioned something that might mean he targeted me for something I did a few years ago. When I met Brody.”
“He mentioned something to me too,” she said.
He frowned. “What was it?”
“My perverted boss had tried to get me to agree to go on a business trip with him. I said no, but he mentioned that, said I should have done it.”
“Okay, that’s a little worrying.”
“I thought so. What was your thing about?”
“Brody helped me kill the vampire who turned me, and his family.”
“His family?”
“His brother and father. They were killers, rapists, psychos,” he elaborated quickly. “But they were rich, connected. Kind of like Brody’s dad.”
“Shit,” she said. “But wait. How long ago was that?”
“A few years.”
“Why would he suddenly care about that now?”
“Maybe he doesn’t.” Theo shook his head. “I don’t know. His MO is torturing Brody for things he decides he’s doing wrong. That usually includes hurting someone he has some kind of feelings for. Friends. Lovers.”
“So we need to get as far away from here as possible.”
He nodded. “Now.”
She looked him over. “We should get you some new clothes too. You still smell like a stoner.”