Page 23

Straightening, I brush the dirt off me and look up. He’s exactly where he was when I was here last. Theo. He’s sitting in the cage again, back against the wall, one arm slung casually over his knees. His shirt’s still half-torn, and there’s dirt on his cheekbone, but it only makes him look hotter. Vampires should not be this good looking.

He raises an eyebrow, fixing me with a gaze as dark as a starless night, unblinking and still.

‘Well, look who came crawling back,’ he says, voice low and lazy. ‘Couldn’t stay away, could you?’

‘I didn’t crawl,’ I mutter, swiping my palms down my legs just to have something to do with them.

‘You fell. Again. Which, honestly, is worse.’ He grins. ‘Not a great track record, Cupcake.’

My cheeks flush. ‘Don’t call me that.’

‘The fact that you don’t like me calling you that only makes me want to do it more.’ He stands, unfolding himself with an elegant grace that only vampires possess, and walks to the edge of the bars. His fingers curl around them, and for a second I forget how to speak. My eyes track the dark tattoo swirling up his arms.

‘I didn’t think you’d be back,’ he says, more softly this time.

‘I didn’t either.’

He tilts his head, eyes travelling down the length of my body, making me flush even further. ‘So … why are you?’

I step closer to the bars. Not close enough for him to reach me, but probably closer than I should be.

‘Because no one else is telling me the truth,’ I say, voice quieter than I expected.

He nods slowly, looking thoughtful for a moment, like he’s trying his hardest to work me out. Exhaling, he sits down cross-legged near the bars and gestures to the space opposite him.

‘Sit. Let’s play twenty questions. You ask me something, I ask you something. Tit for tat.’

‘I’m not playing games.’

‘Good. I hate rules anyway.’ He pats the stone. ‘Come on, Cupcake. Enlighten me.’

Hesitating for a moment, I think about what I’m doing right now. Alone, in a dark, cave-like place with an imprisoned vampire. Rolling my lips inward, I sit. It’s cold, and the air down here is heavy.

I look at him carefully. ‘Why are you in a cage?’

He smiles faintly, but there’s no humour behind it. ‘No idea. I was carried here. Don’t know how long it’s been. They come in and jab me with things that force me to sleep.’

‘You don’t recall what you might have done in order to end up here?’

He shrugs. ‘Nope. There was nothing out of the ordinary.’

I hesitate. ‘You’re different than I expected you to be.’ ‘What, in comparison to other vampires?’

‘Yeah. I mean, I haven’t exactly spoken to many, but from what I’ve seen and heard.’

He leans back, arms braced behind him. ‘We’re not all the same, you know. Just like humans aren’t all the same.’

I consider his words. That’s a fair statement. I’ve spent my whole life thinking that these creatures are monsters who can’t even hold a conversation unless it’s to lure you into their lair. It’s surreal that the man before me seems so normal. In this light, I can barely see his dark eyes. It would be easy to convince myself that he’s just another human.

‘My turn,’ he says. ‘What’s your last name?’

I blink. ‘You don’t know?’

He shakes his head. ‘It’s probably time for you to accept that I don’t know any more than you appear to.’

‘Noted.’ I say, finally letting myself believe that he’s as clueless as he says he is. ‘St Clair.’

Theo’s brows furrow. ‘St Clair?’