Dark Secrets (53 page)

“
Ryan. Emily.” David
nodded.

“
How’s rehearsal
going?” I asked, stashing my schoolbag next to the group of
desks.

“
Eh—” Ryan shrugged.
“Haven’t started. We’ve mostly been making paper airplanes and
seeing who can hit the lighting rig.”

“
Sounds productive.”
I looked at Emily, who rolled her eyes and leaned on her
hand.

“
This might be a
little cold,” David said, sliding a tray of food in front of me,
then flashed a wildly mischievous grin. “I made it to the cafeteria
line first.”

“
Well—” I sat down
between him and Emily, digging my fingertip into the lukewarm
nachos, “—you do run really fast.”

“
So, Ara, did you get
totally busted by your dad?” Alana asked.

“
Uh, not really. Why
do you ask?”

“
I was in his next
class—saw him talking sternly with you,” she said. “Em said it was
‘cause you were all gossiping during a lecture.”

My brows rose. That
had to be the most I’d ever heard that girl say. “Um—no, he just
wanted to find out how my mythology paper was coming
along.”

“
I’m doing mine on
fairies,” Alana said in a dreamy tone. “I love fairies.”

“
Yeah, I’m doing mine
on trolls,” Ryan added. “What about you, Dave?”

David looked up from
thumbing his phone, and the words he was holding back washed across
his face; he hated being called Dave, but he’d never say it. I
smiled sympathetically at him. “I’m uh—I’m actually in Mr Adams’
class. We’re doing a different topic this semester,” he
said.

“
Yeah, me too,”
another kid added from the other end of our little rectangle of
friends.

While the conversation
continued, I excluded myself, watching David focus intently on his
phone, wondering what he was doing.

He grinned without
looking up, then inched his body closer so our shoulders touched
and his screen sat between us. “I’m tweeting.”

“
Really?” I whispered, reading the reply he’d sent to an
EricDelaR. “I didn’t know
your kind
used social media.”

He laughed once and
slipped the phone into his pocket. “How narrow-minded of
you.”

It amazed me how much
more human he was around everyone from school, and how, now I knew
what he was, I could see right through his poorly-executed
disguise. His movements were so deliberate; blinking carefully,
closing his eyelids a little too slowly, and he shifted on a
counted beat.

One, two, three—I made
it to ten and he crossed his ankle over his knee.

One, two, three—yup,
ten again and he uncrossed it.

He turned his head and
smiled, branching us away from the group conversation again.
“Problem?”

I shrugged.

“
Would you prefer an
odd count?” His smile gleamed.

I nodded, and counted
in my head. One, two, three; he ran his hand through his
hair.

One, two; he picked up
his cup.

Much
better.

“
What about you,
Ara?” I looked up, like I’d been sprung talking in class. “What’re
you doing yours on?”

“
My what?”

“
Honestly, Ara.” Emily shook her head. “Do you
ever
pay attention?” I
stared blankly at her; she smiled and said, “Your mythology paper.
What are you doing yours on?”

“
Oh,
um…vampires.”

David coughed beside
me and shot up out of his chair, dusting soda off his jeans. “Damn
it!”

“
You all right, man?”
Ryan frowned.

“
Uh—” He stood up
straight, holding a now oddly-shaped cup out from his body,
glancing over the wide stares of all the other kids at our table.
“Yeah. Swallowed the wrong way.”

Emily’s cheek
tightened on one side, and the others, not thinking anything of
David’s strange reaction, went back to their food and
conversation.

“
David?” I whispered,
mostly talking through my teeth. “What’s wrong?”

“
Can we talk?” he
asked, his eyes widening for a second.

“
Sure.” I stood up.
“Where?”

He jerked his head in
the direction of the stage. “We’ll be back,” he said to everyone
else.

“
Okay, don’t be too
long,” Emily said, “I’m gonna kick everyone’s butts soon and get
this rehearsal into swing.”

“
Of course.” David
nodded, though it looked more like a bow, then took my hand and led
me away.

Is this just an
elaborate escape plan—to get me in private
?

“
No,” David
said.

Hmph!

Chapter
Twenty

The heavy black door
creaked as I pushed it open, and David ducked under the low frame,
closing us into the musty darkness, thick with the smell of latex
and old books.

“
Ara, you can’t do
your paper on va—”

I cut his words off
with my lips, flinging my arms around his neck; he attempted
protest, laughing under the kiss, but, after a deep breath, slid
his long, elegant fingers up the sides of my face, finally letting
me have my own way.

“
Show me the
vampire,” I whispered into the hollow of his mouth.

He pulled away softly.
“Not here.”

“
Yes.” I grinned.
“Here.”

“
What if I scare
you?”

“
Then we’re in a
perfect place for me to try really hard not to scream.”

He clicked his tongue,
shaking his head. “Do you even understand what the vampire
is?”

“
A less guarded side
of you?”

“
Yes. Very much so. And he may be inclined to bite you or, at
the
least
, be
rough with you, perhaps even do things I might regret
after.”

That only made it
harder for me to breathe. I knew, deep down inside, that David
would never actually hurt me, so the thought of biting only stirred
the idea of him as a primal being, all his emotional guards
down—just David; raw, instinctual, completely exposed David. And I
wanted it bad.

I jumped up and
wrapped my legs around his waist, forcing his lips open with
mine.

“
Ara, please,” he
groaned loudly, but tucked his hands under me, beneath my dress,
and finally took control of the kiss. “You know, you really
shouldn’t wear dresses to school.”

“
Take it off me,
then.”

“
Ha!” His breath
burst from his lips in a cool gust. “Don’t say things like that. I
haven’t eaten enough for this kind of misbehaviour, my
love.”

“
When did you last
eat?”

“
Monday morning—right
before I brought you the pastry.”

“
That’s two days. You
should be fine.”

“
Ara.” He set me down
on the ground, and my toes tingled with prickling pins. “This isn’t
a game.”

“
Who says I’m
playing?”

“
Ara, be
sensible.”

I chewed the tip of my
finger for a second, attempting control, but it was just too
much—his skin, his warmth, his chest under my breath; I slid my
fingers into the neckline of his jacket and pushed it away from his
shoulders.

“
You don’t know how
to take no for an answer, do you?” he said, casting the jacket
across the room.

“
That wasn’t a no,” I
teased, moving closer. “So, you gonna show me this vampire, or
what?”

“
Why, Ara?” He took a
small step back. “What’s with the sudden change of
heart?”

“
It’s not sudden—not
for me. I just…I like you.” I walked forward and linked my fingers
together behind his neck. “And I’ve kinda come to terms with this
vampirism thing, I think.”

“
You think?” he said
through a smile.

“
Yeah. I guess…I guess I’m ready to know
all
of you.”

“
No matter what—even
if it scares you again?”

“
I don’t know if it
would, David. I…can’t you tell?” I touched a hand to my chest. “I
trust you.”

He took a breath and
cast a long glance to the darkest corner of the closet. “That’s a
pretty convincing argument, I must admit.”

I grinned at him. “So
you’ll do it? You’ll bite me?”

“
Even if I show you
the vampire, Ara, I can’t actually bite you.”

“
Why?”

“
Because if my fangs
break your skin, you’ll be injected with venom.”

“
So?”

“
So, if you’re
injected with venom, you’ll…it’s just a bad idea.”

“
Oh.” We stared into
each other, both of us clearly thinking it all through, and in the
dim light of the room, his eyes almost looked black, as if the
pupils had flooded the green, like dark desires overshadowing
sensibility.

He unlatched my hands
from around his neck. “We should get back out to
rehearsal.”

“
Wait.” I grabbed his
sleeve. “What if…I mean, when humans bite playfully, we don’t
actually break the skin.” I looked at his neck. “Can’t you do it
like that?”

“
I—” He frowned,
thoughtful. “I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this with
a human before.”

“
Well, here.” I
leaned closer. “Let me show you how it’s done.” Before he could
stop me, I pushed his jaw to one side, rising onto my toes as my
teeth glided over his flesh, coming closed again with a mouthful of
David between them. Under the moisture of my tongue, his sweet
scent became his flavour—the lovely orange-chocolate replacing the
gritty, salty taste I’d expected.

I bit down harder
then, with every ounce of force I could muster, catching the tendon
in his neck, feeling his jaw stiffen, his arms tense, his ear move
away from my cheek as he opened himself up to me, and I loved
it.

“
Oh, Ara, you have
the sweetest little bite.” He placed his fingers loosely around my
face, but they went tight suddenly and he pushed me away.
“Ouch!”

“
What’s wrong?” I
wiped my mouth dry with the back of my arm. “Did I hurt
you?”

“
Yes, you little
leech.” He cupped his hand over the bite then looked at it. “I may
not have a heartbeat, but I still feel pain.”

“
You’re bruising.” I
squinted through the dull light to see his neck.

“
I know. I can feel
that.”

“
I’m
sorry.”

“
Are you kidding me?” He laughed, scooping his hands under my
bottom, lifting me so my legs wrapped around him. “That felt
amazing. It hurt, but
damn
it was hard to control myself.”

“
Control
yourself?”

“
Yes.” He looked down to where the apex of my thighs met his
stomach. “I wanted to do…
things
to you.”

“
What kinds
of…things?”

He reached up slowly
and slipped the shoestring strap of my dress down my shoulder.
“Very bad things.”

“
Show me, then?” I
closed my eyes and tilted my chin up—exposing my throat. “I’m not
scared.”

“
I know,” he said.
“Which is a very big turn-on.”

I giggled.

“
Urgh.” He rolled his
head back. “Don’t do that adorable giggle. You’ve no idea how crazy
it makes me.”

I did it again,
laughing louder when his upper lip and nose pressed into the
sensitive hollow of skin between my collarbones, the stubble on his
chin scratching my chest. “That tickles.”

He grazed his teeth
playfully along my flesh; they felt sharp, like the edge of a
blade. I knew the control he would’ve used to stop them cutting,
but for some reason, a deep part of me, a part that rose too close
to the surface, really didn’t care if he cut me. I wanted to be cut
by him.

“
David?”

“
Yes.”

“
Is it normal for me
to think this way?”

He laughed into my
skin, kissing but not biting. “Yes.”

“
But, you won’t,
right—you won’t cut me?”

“
No. I won’t. But I
am going to feel your flesh against my teeth.” He turned us to the
side and placed me on the table, stepping in closer until his hips
once again rested between my thighs. “Do not scream,” he warned.
“It will only excite the monster.”

“
Is that not a good
idea?”

His hands flew up and
tangled in my hair, his thumbs on my cheeks, holding my face in
front of his. “If you do…you will die.”

I held my breath,
lost in the intensity of his penetrating gaze. But something inside
told me not to worry. Maybe it was the way he held me, his hands so
tight around my face, or maybe it was the concern in his own eyes
that made me sure he would never let himself destroy me. My jaw
jutted forward a little, my bottom lip catching his in a delicate
kiss—a wordless reassurance. He kissed back, his eyes closed, his
lips soft, moist, cold, like the lips of a person who just ate ice.
And as it intensified, as his hands slipped beneath my dress again,
finding my hips, bare and waiting, I grinned playfully, resting
back on my hands.
Undress
me
.