Chapter 3 - Veronica

My head is throbbing with one of the migraines I normally get when I'm really stressed, and I slowly open my eyes, trying to figure out where I am. There's a zinging pain above my left temple, and I gingerly bring a hand to it, worried that I might find blood.

Instead, I'm met with something cold, and I realize there's an ice pack on my forehead. I blink up at the ceiling, thinking I might recognize it. As I sit up, the ice pack falls into my lap, and I realize I'm on the couch in the Cadell's living room. Glancing around makes my head hurt worse, but I do anyway, and I discover that I'm in the room alone.

Why am I on the couch in the Cadell's living room? Why is my head positively pounding? Why have they left me here alone after something clearly happened to me?

Voices come from the hallway, and I sit up straighter, straining to hear them.

"…she's saying he tested positive. For the vampire venom."

Vampire venom?

"Oh, Gods," a male voice says, and I assume it's one of the members of Aris's team. "Poor fucking Percy. The guy can't catch a break."

At the mention of Percy, the memories come flooding back to me, one after the other, like a tidal wave I can't control. Everything, from the day I first met him in that inner-city ER to the moment just outside when I saw a wolf transform into a human man. Into Percy.

I put my head in my hands and try to think, listing the facts and examining what I know.

Four years ago, I met Percy at the hospital in New York. I'd never believed in insta-love up to that point, and hated any book or movie that contained the trope, but the moment I saw him, it was like getting hit with a ton of bricks.

I lost my breath. I stared at him, seeing stars in my eyes. It was like my entire world had narrowed to a tiny little circle, and a stranger with a bleeding arm was right in the center of it. After he spoke, it took me a second to process what he said.

Before I knew what was happening, I handed him my card, smiling at him, and watched him walk out the front doors. I had never, ever been that brazen with a man before. Especially not with my terrible history. But something about him was different.

That was evident when he picked me up the next day, taking me to the nicest restaurant I'd ever been to and treating me like a princess the whole night. As the date went on, I found myself falling more and more in love with everything about him—his floppy golden curls, his goofy demeanor, how nice he was to the serve. I caught him tipping $100 and couldn't lie to myself—it was a turn-on for a lot of reasons. First, he clearly had money, and second, he wasn't afraid to leave a generous tip.

If I was the kind of girl who did hook-ups, I might have had a rule for myself about waiting after a certain number of dates to sleep with him, but I didn't have the context for that.

Even if I'd had a rule, I'm not sure I would have followed it with Percy. I invited him inside to meet my goldfish after he told me he'd always wanted a pet. It was a thin excuse to get him in my apartment, but it worked. Minutes later, I had him completely naked on my bed. That night, he worshiped my body like he was put on the planet to please me. His boxers never even came off. I saw it as a green flag.

Then, after the next date, he let me give him a hand job, but when I tried to roll on top of him, he just pulled my hips up to his face. As we continued dating, a theme was emerging—he would not do penetration with me.

We had sex nearly every night for two weeks, and every time, he found new and creative ways to shut me down when I tried to initiate penetration. Frequently, he used his fingers, once he even brought a toy with him, claiming he just wanted to explore a bit.

Finally, one day, when we were walking back from getting ice cream together, I'd turned to him, taking a deep breath.

"Hey," I'd said, nudging his shoulder with mine. Everything about this relationship was different than anything I'd ever experienced. He was already my good friend—coming close to being my best friend. When we started talking, it felt like he had been in my life the entire time. I could open up to him about anything.

"Hey," he'd said, nudging me back.

"Are you like—" I took another deep breath. Brenna, one of my friends, had insisted that I had to talk to him about it, or it was going to put a wedge between us. All at once, I forced the words out. "Why don't you want to fuck me?"

He stopped in his tracks, and I had to turn around, a hand to my face, the ice cream melting all over my fingers.

"Oh my god," I'd said, "please, forget I said that."

"No," he'd said, reaching forward and prying my hand away from my face. I stared at him through my fingers. "I'm sorry. I knew this would probably make you curious, at the very least. I should have just been forthright with you."

"Okay," I'd said, heart hammering. "Do you have an STD?"

"What? No?"

"Performance issues?"

"No."

"A deformity?"

"Veronica," he'd said, that goofy, lopsided smile floating over his face. "You have seen my penis. You know that's not true."

"Well, I just—"

He took a deep breath and put his hands on my shoulders.

"I can't explain it to you," he'd said, "but I just—I can't. Do that. Literally anything else you want to do, I am up for. But if it…" he'd quieted, his face flushing. "If it involves me putting my penis inside of you, I can't."

I was flushing, too, and starting to think we should have had this conversation somewhere a little more private. People were streaming by us on either side of the sidewalk, and nobody was paying any attention to what we were saying, but still. It felt like our entire relationship was on view for everyone to gawk at.

"Never?"

"Never," he'd said, letting out a breath, his eyes searching mine. "Is that a deal breaker for you?"

I stood there, the warm sun pouring down on me, wondering if it was a deal-breaker for me. I had never met—or heard of—a man who didn't want to do that. I couldn't deny that there was a part of me that wanted it. Mostly once we were already in bed, and the possibility was so close, so possible, I thought that he might just decide on a whim to do it, that he might have that urge.

It sure seemed like it. Like Percy was holding himself back, especially when he had his hips slotted between mine. He'd have to grit his teeth and look up to the ceiling, like it was painful for him to resist.

But if he never would, would I be okay with it? He was the sweetest, most kind person I had ever met in my life. Funny, rich, emotionally-centered, reliable, sweet.

The only thing I was halfway unsure about was his job, which he alluded was something with the military, but apparently wasn't allowed to speak about much.

"Well, with the effects of the wolfsbane serum—" someone says, bringing me back to the present, and I realize with a start that I'm not back there in New York with Percy. I'm here, now, with the Cadells, and realizing that Linnea must have put something in my drink. It's the only thing that could possibly explain what has happened tonight. Linnea put something in my drink, and this is some sort of weird cult that pretends that werewolves and vampires exist.

I get to my feet shakily, trying to figure out how to get out when the voices in the hall get a little louder.

"…worst of the paranormals. Blood-sucking assholes. I had an uncle who would kill any vamp on sight."

"If you rely on someone else's blood to be powerful, then you're not really that powerful at all, are you?"

They keep talking about vampires and Percy and what might happen to him, and I run my hands along the wall, making my way out of the back of the room and toward the back porch, which I'm sure I remember seeing.

The voices on the other side of the hallway get quieter and quieter as I make my way down the hallway, and when I step into the cool air, some of the pain of my migraine recedes, and I feel like I can breathe again.

When I get to the parking lot, I find a vehicle with the keys still in the ignition, apparently left in their haste to dive out and run up to the house. I climb inside, adjusting the mirrors and shifting it into neutral, letting it roll partially down the hill before starting it, with the hopes that they won't see the headlights and get alerted that I'm trying to leave.

In town, I run into the underground compound, heart racing. I know that the Cadells could so easily revoke my access to this place, or lock me inside, but I have to get my things. I run through the hallways, and when I get to my room, I let out a sigh of relief that I've managed to make it this far.

After packing my bag faster than ever, I sling it onto my back and race back to my stolen truck, hopping inside and gunning it out of town. I just need to get some space between myself and these people, and I silently curse myself for ever getting this close to them in the first place.

I should have known something was wrong with them when I saw the way they defended Percy, even going so far as to influence the local police department and all the victims not to press charges. And somehow, just like everyone else, I fell for it.

The truck winds through the roads leading out of Rosecreek, and about an hour later, I pull over into another small town, finding a little motel and hopping out of the truck. In my backpack, I have cash, so I pay for a single night and find my room.

Once the door is locked behind me, I sit on the bed and try to figure out what I'm doing next. Is it still safe for me to go to California? Would Linnea help them figure out where I'd escaped to with the information I told her?

I worry my bottom lip and glance at the duvet, trying to decide if it's worth the risk of sleeping on the top of the blanket. I could get lice, but I'm also so, so tired.

And thirsty, I realize. Before relaxing back on the bed, I force myself to stand, grabbing a few one dollar bills and heading down the dark balcony to the vending machine I'm sure I saw at the side of the building.

I'm standing outside the machine, trying to get it to take my dollar, when I hear a noise behind me. The slightest swish of clothing indicates there's someone here with me. I turn around, clutching the dollar to my chest, heart racing.

When there's nothing there, I start to head back down the way I came, head down, just wanting to get to my room. That's when an icy hand clasps around my wrist, tugging me backward. I rip away from it, catapulting into a broad chest.

Aris, and his entire team, have appeared as though from out of nowhere. They're all breathing hard and brandishing weapons, and at first, I think they're here for me, until they start fighting with the man who grabbed at me.

Turning, I realize there's more than one—and, in fact, more than six—of them, all pale and gaunt, fighting against the team. It's mesmerizing to watch them trade blows and duck under potential hits.

But I can't stay. Clearly, these people only bring trouble.

As I turn to go back to my motel room, I feel a cool hand again, this time pulling me in close. Like in an old-fashioned horror movie, the man lowers his mouth to my neck and bites me. Hard.

I cry out, meeting the eyes of a short man with black hair. His eyes widen, and he races toward me, striking the man who just bit me before turning and catching me in his arms.

My vision fades in and out, stars dancing over the backs of my eyelids.

"—what?"

"She was bitten," someone says, their voice too fuzzy and far away for me to understand.

"Oh, Gods."

"We should just put her out of her misery."

"Oh, yeah, are you the one going to do that?"

There's silence, and my heart hammers away in my ears, blocking out sounds and rocking my entire body.

"—she could turn into a vampire. For humans, it's a fate worse than death."

"It is death," another voice says, moving closer to me.

"Maybe she won't turn. Maybe they didn't quite get her. Ado, what did you see?"

"Spare her," someone says, and I think it might be the man who caught me.

I pray they all agree with this directive, because once again, I am losing consciousness, the world fading away as I listen to lunatics, who think I've been bitten by a vampire, try to decide whether they should "put me out of my misery."