“There’s a fire hazard and the building’s being emptied.”
A grumbling chef and the surrounding help reluctantly filed out of the room.
Theodore watched me the entire time, giving me the creeps. I got the distinct impression he was taking note of my actions so that he’d have evidence when he turned me in.
“Why don’t we check upstairs?” Theodore asked.
“Sure,” I said, even though I knew Oliver and Leanne had probably evacuated them by now.
We peered into the first room. Empty. As we walked down the next, unease pooled in my stomach. Why hadn’t Theodore brought me to Andre by now if he was going to turn me in, like he had the first time I met him? He followed me into the next room, a guest bedroom, which was also empty.
I turned to Theodore. “I think we should probably evacuate as well now,” I said, hiding the unease from my voice. Unfortunately, I was still mostly human, so I couldn’t hide the fear that slowly oozed from my pores.
Theodore closed the door, trapping us together in the room. He slung an arm around my shoulders and leaned in close. “What were you thinking? Coming here, making up lies about a nonexistent fire?”
“They are not lies.” I tried to pull away from his loose embrace.
Theodore pushed me forward. I fell to my knees and scrambled backwards, away from him. “How much do you know?” he asked.
I shook my head. “About what?”
Theodore stared intensely at me, trying to read my thoughts, and then he did. “You believe Andre is going to kill you.” His voice held a note of disbelief.
I kept quiet. Theodore was still scrutinizing me. I had never seen the animalistic side of a vampire until Theodore turned those inquisitive, predatory eyes on me. Now I felt like lunch.
I saw a flicker of understanding pass across his eyes. “That was why you ran away from Andre in the banquet room.” he said. He began to laugh hysterically. “You think he’s after you?” My eyes widened. “Oh Gabrielle, you sweet, stupid girl. Do you realize you just initiated your own death?”
My breath caught in my throat as an awful thought was beginning to take shape.
“Ahhhh, you’re finally getting it,” he said. “Andre is not the one you need to fear. By the way, thank you for evacuating the entire building. No pesky witnesses or tragic heroes will hold this up.”
Oh God. I’d misunderstood everything. Andre was innocent, and I was so scared of trusting him that I jumped to my hasty conclusion. Looking at Theodore now, I saw a guilty man.
He was right. I had put the final nail in my coffin—so to speak. And now I was cornered in a windowless room, and the only way out was through the door Theodore guarded.
“Why?” I asked. That’s what it really all came down to at this point. Answers.
Theodore curled his lip and stared at me. “Your parents took you to a seer when you were an infant,” he said. “The seer looked into your future and predicted what you would become—a vampire.
“The problem is that she also saw something else—I assume you have heard of soulmates?”
I rolled my eyes. I was not that dumb.
Theodore continued. “The seer saw that you had a soulmate. She saw Andre.”
Chapter 23
Andre and I, soulmates. My heart fluttered, and then regret filled me. I’d pushed him away. And now I might die before I got the chance to apologize and try to fix things between us.
Theodore continued. “She also foresaw that, after your transition, you became queen, and under your reign, leagues of vampires were exterminated.”
“What?” I would go on to commit genocide? The thought made me nauseous. Of course vampires did not exactly have clean consciences, but that I could be behind something so evil made my skin crawl. “That’s impossible.”
Before I could blink, Theodore had closed the space between us. I didn’t see his fist move, but I heard my jaw crack as it connected with my face. Intense pain blossomed along my jawline, and I fell backwards. “Don’t tell me what’s impossible!” he yelled, his eyes wild.
His extreme mood swing was more startling than the sharp pain spreading across my face. And then, like flipping a light switch, his emotions were under control again.
“Why … my father …” It was hard to form words, and my jaw screamed as I spoke, but I had to know.
He smiled. “Not just your father. Your mother too.”
I felt sick to my stomach. How poorly I misjudged the situation. He was responsible for my parents’ deaths.
“And why? Because they knew. They knew and they protected you anyway. Them and Andre. But as you might already know, I can’t exactly kill Andre if I’m trying to prevent the deaths of countless vampires. Killing him would mean killing all vampires. Well, all of them but one—you.”