Page 57 of V for Vindictive

You name it, we did it.

Even knowing one word from me, our safe word, would stop it all, I didn’t dare utter it. I couldn’t. Because as much as I complained and tried to flee, I loved the way he never let me go. Not for a single second.

Chapter 21

Let’s Talk a Little Chaos

“So, you come in looking like a felon to my actual Biology class and only now decide to dress like a real scientist when no one’s watching?”

“You’re watching,” Phillip corrected, and I swallowed the uncomfortable lump in my throat, far too aware of that fact myself.

The other Hunter explained earlier that he was creating a reverse serum for what they used on me, shortly after Phil stabbed my arm with a needle to take my blood. Lux would need time to regroup, seeing how we took all his scientists, including the sister who helped me escape, and burned his operation to the ground, leaving nothing but rubble to prove it was ever there.

But Phillip was finally telling me everything, like the fact that there were whispers of Eros being on the hunt again. Which was such great news when our encounter nearly killed Phillip the last time.

But a part of me wanted the Dark Fae asshole to come at me so I could test this new control I seemed to have over my power. Or really, to put an end to a terrible reign of a Dark Fae with sadistic serial killer tendencies for anyone Phillip remotely cared about.

Of course, the snarky elite bastard presently playing scientist with my blood wasn’t convinced I truly had any control at all over my power. Butwhen I was in Lux’s lab, something was different. I couldn’t explain how I knew. I just did.

Since Grams was back in the picture, I was confident Phillip would get annoyingly careful around me. From the way he explained it, while we were on the run, Sloan, Kris, Grams, and a few other Hunters on the Organization’s hit list were gathering troops.

So, my only mission was to stay alive.

Imagine that. A teenage vampire hunter, turned enigma, turned every top-level bad guy’s favorite target, turned the Organization’s Most Wanted only had to survive long enough to lead the march on the bastards who created us.

No big deal.

Phillip also regaled the tale of his little frolic with Cash. It was evident Cassius was ready to flee this realm for his. But for some reason, Phillip had the Dark Fae on a tight leash—leashes being our new thing and all—and Cassius wouldn’t be far away wherever we went.

Which begged another question, why?

Phillip looked up from his work, which I’d watched with nothing short of captivated interest for the last few hours. The usual smirk hung on his lips as his hands worked so quickly a human eye couldn’t follow. “Believe it or not, I much prefer that felon look,” the other Hunter added with a gleam in his eye that said he was on a naughty train of thought and I better be careful with what I said next.

The way the pale-eyed Austrian easily got my heart going was a talent all on its own.

“Yeah. No one here is surprised you’d say that.”

“You’re the only one here though, mein Schatz,” was his quick, entirely too sensual retort, and my pulse thrummed loudly in my ears.

It always felt like I was one word short of jumping his bones, but we had more important work to do, so I changed the subject instead. “What did Donna mean when she said I was a Chaos Fae?”

It was the first time in hours Phillip paused in his work. “She mentioned that?”

“You knew?” I countered, throat tight. “What is it?”

Phillip’s luminescent ocean eyes fell away from mine, and then he clicked his tongue and removed his latex gloves. “It’s complicated,” he finally muttered.

I’d never seen Phillip look the way he did when he uttered those words, and it was hardly confidence inducing.

Fidgeting, I circled the desk, which was over encumbered with the mad scientist’s current experiments, and took my place by the other Hunter’s side. When I looked up at him, the Austrian’s eyes finally wandered over to mine. “You’re going to have to start trusting me, Phil. I deserve to know everything there is to know, same as you. I’m a Hunter first, and I doubt it could get worse than it already has.”

Turning, Phillip took my face in his hands and our foreheads met. “Why must you pry into everything? Why can’t we just stay here in our little bubble and live out our lives together?”

“Um, first of all, you’d literally lose your mind if you couldn’t stab something with that lame-named sword.” Signs that the other Hunter found me amusing tilted his mouth, and I couldn’t help but smile as well. “Second, you’re not the ‘live simple’ kind of person and neither am I,” I rebuked, trying to smother out the anxiety taking hold of my body. “So,what is it about Chaos Faes that’s giving you that heart-wrenching look, dear Phillip?”

Clicking his tongue but smiling like a little boy, Phillip pinched my cheeks. “Don’t patronize me, V.”

“Oh, what, because that’s your job?”

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