Page 13 of Fight for Us

Swallowing, I take a minuscule step back, keeping my eyes on him. ‘Why are you here?’

‘That’s a question I’d love to know the answer to.’

Furrowing my brows, I rake my eyes over the cell and scan the area around me. ‘Are you the only one here?’

‘No.’

Ice slithers through my veins. My eyes dart around, but there is no one else I can see, and it is eerily silent down here.

‘Who else is here?’ I whisper.

Theo shrugs. ‘I hear others, but I haven’t seen them. I’m in and out of consciousness a lot.’

‘How did you get here?’

‘Forcefully. I was shot and dragged here. Blindfolded, also. I’m rather a fan of blindfolds, but not quite in this way.’

My frown deepens. ‘Who brought you here?’

‘I was blindfolded,’ Theo says slowly, and gestures to his eyes. His next words are slow and deliberate, as if I am having trouble hearing him. ‘Me no see who it was.’

My eyes slice back to him and I give him a deadpan expression. ‘That was unnecessary.’

He smirks, and I hate the fact that he is devastatingly attractive. In a tortured, bad boy kind of way. I’d never admit out loud that I thought one of these demons could be … hot … but if I was to say one was, it would be this one. He is … annoyingly handsome. With his muscles, those tattoos, and that stylishly messy hair. But then I see those cruel black eyes, and it’s the harsh reminder I need. He is a ruthless killer, and not worth a moment of my time.

‘You’re a vampire,’ I manage, shaking my head in bewilderment, pressing my back against the wall.

He blinks. Slowly. Then gives me a long, amused once-over. ‘Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. What gave it away? The cage? Or the irresistible, otherworldly charm?’

I swallow hard. My heartbeat’s still thundering. Everything inside me screams to run, to hide, to attack. The lessons drilled into me since I was old enough to walk echo like a siren’s call. Vampires lie. They are charming. They feed. They destroy anything if it’s in their way.

Something in me flinches when I meet his eyes. He stares back. Quiet now. Less teasing.

‘Seeing as you’re here and all, do you want to let me out?’ he asks, resting his head against the bar, looking carefree and relaxed, as if we are old friends discussing the weather. ‘It’s depressing down here and I don’t enjoy the antisocialness of it all.’

I half-laugh, half-scoff. ‘Let you out? So you can kill me?’

‘Why would I kill the person who rescued me?’ he counters, shooting me a playful grin. ‘I’d buy you a drink as thanks.’

‘I don’t believe you. The second you’re free, you’d drain me of every ounce of blood in my body, discard me, and not think twice about it.’

‘That wouldn’t be very grateful of me, now, would it?’

‘Vampires don’t possess gratitude. You feed, you kill, and you cause havoc.’

‘This isn’t the eighteen-hundreds, Cupcake. We are more civilised now.’

‘What did you just call me?’ I utter in outrage.

‘Cupcake.’ He points at me. ‘The tips of your hair are teal. Like the frosting on the cupcakes my mother used to make me as a kid.’

My gaze lowers to my hair, which is flowing down my shoulders. The top part is black, and then it fades into a teal ombre. I randomly did it one day, a spontaneous decision to try and be a little less invisible in life, and it turns out I quite liked it. It’s uniquely me.

If he thinks mentioning his mother is going to make him appear more human to me, he can think again. I’m no fool, and I’ve spent years training to fight his kind. I will not be a victim.

‘Let me guess, your mother is no longer around because she was slaughtered by you.’

He gives me a horrified look. ‘Do you think I am some kind of barbarian or something?’