Dark Secrets (42 page)

“
So, it
was
you who put me into bed?”

David swallowed. “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have interfered. But, when I found you at your
dresser, I nearly fell to pieces. You looked so alone, so
destroyed
, and worse,
Ara, I did that to you. I made you sad because I never told you the
truth—that I’d be leaving. If I had, you would never have let
yourself fall so in love with me, and the worst part is, that’s
exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

“
That’s so horrible,
David. How could you be so mean?”

“
It
wasn’t my intention to be mean. I just wanted to love you. I
really,
honestly
thought things would be different—that when it came time for
me to leave, you either wouldn’t care as much as you did, or you
might—” He exhaled, rubbing his brow.

“
Might?”

“
Might come with
me.”

I sat up and dumped
the sandwich beside me. “Come with you? That’s an
option?”

He frowned. “It’s
always been an option.”

“
Well, why didn’t you
tell me?”

“
You—” His frown
deepened. “Ara, you broke up with me before I had the
chance.”

“
Yes, because you’re
leaving! If we could stay together, that changes
everything.”

“
As does coming with
me. Ara, you couldn’t—” He huffed, pursing his lips. “You couldn’t
live a normal life. You wouldn’t be able to see your family
anymore.”

“
Why?”

“
Because—remember I
told you I have secrets?”

I nodded.

“
That’s
why.”

“
Well, what’re your
secrets then?”

“
Are you ready to
hear them? Are you ready to hate me?”

“
Are you really going
to tell me or are you going to start, then say you’ll tell me
later?”

“
How does the full
truth sound?”

“
Sounds
good.”

He ran a hand through
his hair and sat on the bed beside me. “I shouldn’t be doing this
today—you’re in an emotional state.”

“
Uh-uh!” I wagged my
finger. “Don’t you dare. You are telling me, Mr Knight.”

He let out a short
laugh. “Fine. But—”

“
But?”

“
But.” He turned
slightly and grabbed both my arms, squeezing firmly. “By hearing
this, you’re—well, you’re making a verbal agreement, Ara, as am
I.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I mean…I have
obligations to fulfil, should this go bad.”

“
Which
are?”

His fingers tightened
around my arms again.

“
David,
what?”

“
I might have to kill
you.”

“
What?”

“
If…” His jaw went
tight. “Look, in the past, people have not taken this news well and
there have been instances where, some in my position, have had to
kill those they’ve told.”

My mouth hung open. I
rolled my quilt away and slowly rose to my feet.

David shuffled back,
letting me walk to the other side of my room.

“
Would you really be
capable of doing that to me?”

He looked down. “I…I
don't
want
to.
Which is one of the reasons I haven’t wanted to tell you, thus
far.”

“
You’re serious!
You’d kill me?”

“
No, Ara. But if
you—if you told anyone, if you freaked out, it would be out of my
hands.”

I nodded. “Okay, so I
won’t freak out.”

“
I hope you don’t.”
He smiled and patted the mattress. “Sit with me.”

I shook my
head.

“
Ara,
please?”

I shook it again. If
this secret was so bad he might have to kill me, there was no way I
was sitting next to him. No way!

He looked down at his
hands. “Ara, I’m a vampire.”

“
A what?”

“
A vampire—guys who
drink blood, you know—fangs, all that stuff.”

I burst out laughing,
folding over a little.

“
Stop laughing, Ara.
It's not funny.”

“
No, it's cool. Hey,
can you turn me?” I rolled my neck. “I think I'd suit
immortality.”

He rubbed the bridge
of his nose. “You know, this isn't a joke.”

I folded my arms.
“Prove it.”

“
P—” He shook his
head, wiping the incredulity from his lips. “Prove it?”

“
Yeah. If you’re
really the undead, prove it.”

“
Ara, we’re not
undead.” He stood up. “And what do you want me to do to prove it,
eat you?”

I shrugged.

He groaned.
“Fine.”

I had time only to
smile before he rushed in and wrapped his arms around my waist,
nuzzling his face into my neck. The tickly sensation of his cool
breath sent a shiver down my spine, allowing warmth to return only
once my heart skipped a beat.

“
You are a very silly
girl,” he said calmly, pressing his lips to my shoulder. “What if
I’d bitten you? What then?”

“
If you really were a
vampire, you could do a lot worse than bite me—if you wanted
to.”

“
Right. If I
wanted
to.” He stood behind me and gently swept my hair
over my shoulder, clearing way for his lips. “Remember that when
you freak out in a minute, okay?”

I laughed. “Sure
thing.”

“
Okay. Now, see that
rise of hills over there?” His finger aimed to the eastern hills
where the first rays of sunlight touched the earth each
morning.

“
Yes.”

“
There’s a garden on
the other side. Blue roses grow there. Have you seen it?” He went
back to kissing the curve of my shoulder.

“
The Applebury
Reserve?” I rolled my eyes, lost in pleasure. “Yeah, I’ve seen
it.”

“
It’s twenty miles
away. How long do you think it would take to run there?”

“
I don’t know?
Depends how fast you run. And then, calculating that would involve
math, so...”

David’s irritation
blew out in cold air through his nose. “What if?”

“
What if?” I said
back.

His arms tightened on
my waist and he pressed his cheek to mine. “What if I told you I
could do it—run there and be back before you had a chance to
blink?”

“
I would say that you
are very talented—” my voice trailed up with humour, “—and I would
be jealous.”

“
But it would prove
I’m a vampire; you’d believe me then?”

“
Yeah.” I spun
around, hands on hips. “Let’s see what you got.”

He looked out over the
hills, then back at me. “So, you know the Applebury Reserve is the
only place that grows blue roses, right?”

“
Um, yeah—I
guess?”

“
Okay. Don’t be
scared.” He inched away, holding up his index finger. “Please don’t
scream when you see this?”

My eyes locked to
his. He smiled, standing so tall and so sure of himself. It was
hard to doubt him when he looked like that. I almost hoped
he
could
do what
he claimed. I’d hate to think he was actually insane.

He scratched his
temple for a second then held his palms out. “Nothing in my hands,
right?”

“
Right.”

He turned them over a
few times; I nodded to confirm—again. “Now, don’t move?”

“
Okay,” I started to
say as a cold rush of air blew into my eyes. I closed them, feeling
a tickle down my cheek, and the sweet, vibrant perfume of roses
filled the air around me—flavouring my breath with a walk in the
garden.

“
Look.” His hot
breath brushed right against my ear. When I opened my eyes and they
met with his, he watched expectantly, a ghost of anguish pinching
his brows.

“
Huh!” My quick gasp
made him smile. “How did you get that?”

“
I told you. I run
very fast.” He smoothed the petals of the blue rose over my cheek
again.

“
Yes. That is fast. I
am jealous.” My eyes narrowed with scepticism. “Now, tell me how
you really did it.”

David groaned in the
back of his throat and took a step away. “I can see this is going
to be a little more of a challenge than I anticipated.”

“
What is?”

“
You know, if this
was the early nineteen-hundreds, you’d already be
screaming.”

“
Oh, and you speak
from personal experience, do you?”

Without even a smile
at my joke, he placed the thornless rose in my hand and pulled me
along. “Come. Sit down.”

I plonked onto my
feather quilt and dug my toes into the carpet. David stood before
me, then looked over his shoulder—in the direction of my wardrobe.
“You ready for this?”

“
For what? A fashion
show?”

He flashed a cheeky,
lopsided grin, and vanished into thin air, appearing a second later
by my wardrobe door.

“
How…?”

“
Do you believe me
now?” He sprung up right in front of my face.

A quick, half-breath
reached my lungs as I launched for my bedroom door, but his strong
hand covered my mouth before my cry for help ever reached the ears
of its intended. I convulsed violently, wriggling to break free
from the intensifying hold.

Let me go! Get off
me!

I tried to stomp on
his toes but he moved his foot, and my heel struck the ground with
knee-jolting force—sending instant tears into my eyes. I cried out
under his iron grip.

“
Ara! Look at me!” He
shook me once, pinning the back of my skull to his chest, his
forearm firmly caging my collarbones. “Just stop struggling. Look
at me!”

Heaving lungfuls of
air came through my nose, dragging strands of my hair with it, but
with each passing breath, I managed to calm myself enough to stop
struggling, but not enough to stop shaking. David’s hold relaxed a
little, but stayed firm.

“
If I let go, will
you promise not to scream?”

I shook my head. He
was a monster. A killer. Oh, my God. How did I not see this?

“
Ara, please?” His
deep, milky voice set my heart on fire with the hurt beneath his
calm tone. I turned my head and forced my gaze upward, meeting the
painfully detached ache behind the emerald eyes I loved so
much.

“
Mm-bm-mm-nn,” I
muttered under his grasp.

He released me
instantly and air entered my lungs in a grateful gasp. I folded
over slightly, rubbing my chin.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean to hurt you.”

“
I’m not hurt, I—” I
bolted for the door again, reaching the handle as he pressed his
palm flat to it, stopping it from opening. “No!”

“
Ara,
don’t.”

“
Let me go.” I tugged
the handle, bucking him with my hip.

“
I can’t.”

“
Why?”

“
I need you to calm
down first.”

My fists tightened.
“I’m calm.”

He just smiled,
shaking his head. “You’re not calm.”

“
Er!” I growled,
shoving his chest; this time, unlike our fight on the field, he
didn’t shift—not even a little bit. “Get away from me.”

“
Make me.” He
laughed, pinning my wrists against my chest.

My eyes darted over
every inch of his face; his dark pink lips, his emerald eyes, so
kind, so loving, and his dimple—the moon shape one above his lip.
It was all David, but none of it was the boy I went to school with;
he was never real. He never even existed.

David stood back.
“Ara?”

“
No.” I shook my
head, dropping my hands to my knees.

“
Ara, let’s talk
about this.”

“
What’s to talk
about?” I stood up, pressing my spine to the door. “You—you’re
a…you have fangs, and I can think of only one thing they would
do.”

He touched his thumb
to his tooth. “Yes.”

“
Kill?” I
confirmed.

“
Yes.”

“
Oh, God!” I folded
over again, hiding my brow in my hands. “Why?”

“
For…to
survive.”

“
Isn’t that a little
selfish?”

He laughed once.
“You’re serious?”

“
Yes, I’m
serious!”

“
Uh, Ara, I don’t
have a choice but to kill.”

“
Everyone has a
choice.”

“
Not in this
instance, sweetheart.” He wandered over and sat on my bed; I wanted
to tell him not to call me sweetheart, but didn’t have the guts to
say that to a vampire.