Page 83 of Bitten By Desire
“He is new to town,” Zoey said.
“But Bennett, I told you about him on the Ferris wheel. Why didn’t you acknowledge that you knew him?”
Bennett leaned forward and lowered his voice even more. “The guy changes his name like every couple of years. It’s a little hard to keep track of what he’s going by. And I had never heard of him going by Theo Gold before.”
“Why does he keep changing his name?” I asked.
“Because he’s a freaking criminal,” Zoey said. “He’s a murderer and a thief, right? God, this is really bad.”
Bennett didn’t reply.
“So why didn’t you tell me after you saw him in the maze?” I asked. “You knew Theo was Callum and you kept it from me. You just told me not to hang out with him one on one instead of telling me the truth.”
“Because that was the only thing that was important. I was just trying to keep you safe.”
“From what?”
He sighed. “This is where you’re going to think I’m nuts.”
I shook my head. “Just tell us.” I believed everything he was saying. It all made sense. Theo definitely seemed like he was after something. And I was a little relieved that it was an artifact and not my blood.
“Remember that pen in Titan’s office?” Bennett asked.
I nodded.
“You don’t just have to hold it. You can also just…kind of poke someone with it. To see if they have a reaction.”
“So you’re saying it actually works?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen it work.”
Okay. I got his point from earlier. This was definitely a little nuts. But of course he actually believed in the powers of the relics or he wouldn’t lock them in a vault to keep them away from evil people. He believed in powerful artifacts. I believed in vampires for a few days there. It was fine. It definitely wasn’t a deal breaker for me.
“So you saw it burn someone?” Zoey asked.
Bennett nodded. “Yeah. Theo Gold. Ten years ago. When I guess he was going by Callum Walsh.”
“Wait, what?” I said.
“Before we took the artifact back, we wanted to see what we were up against. So Titan bumped into him on that campus a few days before the party. And touched his arm with the pen. It singed his skin.”
My heart started racing. “So what does that mean exactly? That he’s…unholy?”
“It’s not about whether you’re a good or bad person. It’s more than that. You were right, Emma. Aboutall of it. I was just trying to protect you. But I can’t if you don’t know the full truth. When I said unholy I meant Theo’s actual soul is corrupt. There’s no penance for someone like him. He’s the devil walking among us. The pen would only burn someone like that.”
“Someone like what, Bennett?”
“Theo Gold is a vampire.”
Chapter 25
Monday
Zoey stared at Bennett. “Really? You’re serious? Theo Gold is a vampire?” Even though she was asking questions, she looked like she believed every word out of his mouth.
I wanted to make a snide remark about her not believing me when I told her. But I was much more concerned about the fact that I was actually right. It wasn’t possible. It just…wasn’t. “I…that can’t…”
“I wouldn’t have believed it either,” Bennett said. “But haven’t you seen him staring at your neck?”
