Dark Secrets (59 page)

“
That’s because
you’re still a child.”

“
Then what does that
make you?”

“
Ha! A sick-minded
hundred-year-old who has a fetish for teenage drama.”

I laughed too, and
looked out over the treetops. “There is still magic in the world,
Mr Knight. You don’t have to be a child to find it. Even my dad
believes in it, and
he
wasn’t a child when he taught me to believe—taught me how to
make wishes.”

“
How can you
teach
someone to make wishes?”

“
There’s a special
way to do it.”

“
There
is?”

“
Yes.”

“
Will you teach
me?”

I smiled and cleared
my throat as I turned to look at David, noticing the tiny silver
reflections of stars in his eyes. “Well, when you see the first
star of the evening or the last star in the early morning, close
your eyes, cross your heart and make a wish. If you keep it secret,
then it will come true, one day.”

“
And you still
believe that?”

“
Yes. I do. And no
one is going to take that away from me with borrowed philosophy
about life.” I took a breath of the cool, dawn air. “When you find
that one of your seconds has been wasted on a wish, and you think
you could’ve really used that second—really need it back—then I’ll
agree it’s wasted time wishing. But not yet.” I looked back to the
sky. “Not while I still have hope.”

“
My only hope is that
you see sense—realise that being a vampire isn’t so bad, and let me
bite you—to change you.” David sighed, closing his eyes and
crossing his heart.

“
And there’s that
evil side,” I noted with a smile.

“
Yes. But I will
never stop wishing for it, Ara. I know that’s wrong, but I can’t
control my heart’s desires.”

“
As long as you
control your teeth, then I’m fine with that.”

“
But you asked me to
drink your blood—what if I lose control?” he said
playfully.

“
I’m not having this
argument with you. I don’t want to be a vampire. I just want to be
with you. Nothing more.”

“
Okay. No more talking about it.” He kissed the top of my head
and held me to his chest. “When you’ve decided you can’t live
without me anymore,
then
we’ll talk about it.”

“
But I already
decided that.”

“
Okay, well, when you decide you don’t want to be a frail old
lady and
die
,
then we can talk about it.”

“
Not gonna happen.” I
laughed.

David breathed out
softly. “You know, I’ve never met a girl so eager to die in all my
life.”

I shook my head and
folded my arms across my chest. “No, David, I’m not eager to
die—I’m eager to
live
.” And for the first time since I lost Mum and Harry, that
was finally true. Love had given me a reason to exist, and now,
even without love, I wanted a life. We could remain in the bliss of
summer romance until winter showed, and I wouldn’t think about the
choice I had to make; I just wanted to pretend it wasn't there,
because, when the time came to make my decision, he knew, and I
knew, we’d be saying goodbye. I could only hope some miracle would
come along to save me from the choice of losing the one I love, or
killing to be with him.

Chapter
Twenty-One

“
Wake up. Wake up.”
Vicki slapped my bedcovers. “Time to go.”

I groaned, shielding
my eyes as she threw my curtains apart, blinding me with the white
glow of morning. “Vicki. It’s Saturday.”

“
Yes. I know.” She
opened my window, and the fresh scent of cut grass and rain blew in
with the light breeze. “Good to see you’ve finally started sleeping
with this closed.”

“
I didn’t. Dad must
have closed it.” Or David. I tried to remember last night, but
could only half remember falling asleep against my vampire’s chest,
which, instead of bringing a rise of anger for him closing my
window, brought only a dreamy sensation all through my
limbs.

“
Ara?” Vicki said,
staring at my face. “Are you awake?”

“
Yes.” I flopped back
on my pillow. “I don’t wanna go to school today.”

“
You know full well
where we’re going today, young lady,” Vicki said in an insistent
tone.

“
Yes, which is why
I’m staying in bed.”

“
That’s enough. Now, just humour me
and
your boyfriend, and let him
spend some money on you.”

I pulled the covers
over my head.

“
Be nice.” She ripped
my blanket away and dumped it on my chair, leaving me cold in the
nakedness of my bed. “Is it really so bad that David wants to buy
you a dress?”

“
Yes.” I pushed up on
my elbow. “I have savings, Vicki. I can buy my own
dress.”

“
Ara-Rose!” She
folded her arms. “Where are your manners?”

“
In my drawer, where
I left them.”

She shook her head,
sighing, and wandered over to find them, pulling out some jeans and
a T-shirt instead. “Get dressed. We leave in ten
minutes.”

“
Argh.
Fine.”

“
Thank
you.”

I flipped my legs over
the side of the bed and stumbled to the window. I wanted to grunt
at her, but held it in, folding my arms and resting my head on the
glass pane instead. Outside, the dull grey clouds hid the sun,
making everything under its suppressed glare seem vividly
white—lighting up the entire yard and all the garden debris. “Did
it storm last night?”

“
Yes. You didn't hear
it?” Vicki folded her arms, looking out at the clouds as they
spilled over and the soft pattering of rain filled the desolate
street below.

“
Nope. Slept like a
baby.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’m just getting over my fear of
storms.”

“
Well, lucky Dad
closed your window then.”

A pensive twist to my
lips became the first smile of the day. “Yeah. Really
lucky.”
Thanks, David
.

“
And tidy this room,”
Vicki added as she closed my door.

With a certain amount
of dread, I studied the chaos around me; clothes on every piece of
furniture, covering every scrap of carpet—looking remarkably like a
storm broke loose in
here
last night.

I got dressed, then
shook my quilt out over my bed and hid my clothes, clean and dirty,
in the laundry basket so Alana and Emily wouldn’t think I was a
total pig when they came to stay tonight.

“
Ara. I’m going to
the car—hurry up,” Vicki called.

“
Just a sec.” I ran
to the bathroom, locking both doors, then smeared another layer of
concealer over the bruises David left when he ate me in the
auditorium closet. The leftover proof of my insanity looked mean
and ugly—like a swollen, purple infection, leaking some kind of
clear fluid. But, thanks to Vicki’s shopping obsession, another
layer of this two-hundred-dollar bottle of concealer, that could
cover up a nose if you wanted to, saw my mark disappear.

I stood back and
observed my handiwork. I’d actually healed pretty well for such a
short time, really, but a part of me wished it would leave a little
scar—a permanent mark to remind me that I was David’s and he was
mine. And as that thought entered my head, a giant hand, bearing my
name, came down across my brow.

“
Sick, Ara-Rose.
You’re sick,” I said to the girl in the mirror.

All the common sense I
once had evaporated into the background of my subconscious when it
came to David—even making me delusional enough to offer him my
blood. And in the clarity of daylight, I was glad he didn't drink
it. I could see the insanity in it now. But deep down inside, that
lust-driven human in me was screaming for him to do it.

Outside, a horn beeped
twice. I patted my pocket, slipped my shoes on, and stuffed the
last of my savings into my purse as I left my bedroom. But as I
reached the front door, a hand grabbed mine.

“
You won’t be needing
this
.”

“
Hey!” I screeched,
watching my purse leave my grip by force of David’s. “It’s for
lunch, or if I need anything else, you know, for the sleepover or,
like, girlie stuff.”

“
Nice try. If you need anything else,
I’ll
take you shopping later.” He
tucked my purse into his pocket and kissed my cheek, then, as the
front door swung open and Vicki called out again, he disappeared. A
victory grin spread across my face, though, as I slid into the car,
patting the roll of bills I’d stuffed in my pocket earlier. He
clearly didn’t see that thought, and since he didn’t check my purse
to see the grand amount of ten dollars I really put in there, he’d
never know about it.

Human: one. Vampire:
zero.

Vicki parked at the
centre of the long, outdoor strip of shops. I jumped out of the car
and looked up at the sky. Even though the sun wasn’t shining, as it
had been last time I was here, somehow, everything felt so much
brighter. The shopping strip was quiet for a Saturday, not that it
was usually very busy anyway. It reminded me of my hometown; how
there were people out and about, but scattered and far between. I
checked my watch, hoping we’d be out of here by the time Emily and
Alana came over.

By eleven o’clock,
exhausted from moaning and whining my way around the entire shop, I
decided enough was enough, but Vicki dragged me to her favourite
café and made me order lunch. I just wanted to go home. After
trying on thirty dresses, the only one I remotely liked was an
emerald-green one—like David’s eyes. But it wasn’t really grand
enough, so Vicki said. I thought it was fine.

“
So, I still have to
find some pretty new underwear and a mask.” I laid my shopping list
down on the table beside my plate.

“
Well, you can’t get
a mask until you have a dress,” Vicki said with a mouthful of
salad. “And the underwear you get will depend on the fabric of the
dress, too.”

“
Why?”

“
Because, if you get
a satin dress, you won’t want lace underwear.”

“
Oh,” I said,
swallowing a chunk of salt-coated steak. “I think I’ll just get
that green dress then—the satin one. I'm kinda done with shopping
for today.”

Vicki stopped
chewing, making her glare seem more severe. “Ara. David has given
you a
lot
more
than
that
to
spend. The green one’s pretty, but you can do better.”

“
I know. But I’m not
gonna let him buy the dress, Vicki.”

She looked up
quickly.

“
You didn’t really
think I’d just go along with this, did you?”

She took a deep
breath. “I had a feeling you’d protest at some point.”

I smirked,
thinking,
You’re not as dumb as you look,
then
.

“
Well, I guess it’s up to you, Ara-Rose. But, before we go
home, can you please just humour me and try a dress in
that
store?”

I looked behind me to
the window of glitter decorating the front of a very
expensive-looking store, with fairy-tale-perfect dresses beyond.
“Fine,” I rescinded with a huff. “I’ll be your little Barbie doll
for another half hour—but that’s it.”

“
Thank you,” she said
kindly; I rolled my eyes and finished my steak.

We stepped carefully
around the silks and tulles falling over the wooden floor as we
entered the realm of couture, and a thin girl smiled from behind
the counter before turning her attention back to her
magazine.

“
This is beautiful,”
I said, spinning slowly to take it all in.

“
Told you,” Vicki
beamed.

“
Okay.” I held my
arms out. “Dress me up.”

Turns out, you should
never say that to an old lady who never had a daughter, in a room
with a commission-based sales clerk. I unwillingly tried on every
dress in the store, like a dummy, lost in some mind-blank brought
on by constant movement and the repeated inhalation of the
manufacturer’s fabric preservatives and dyes.

But when they threw a
shimmering, sky-blue dress at me, I woke suddenly. It slid onto my
body like silk to satin, the carefully tailored lines fitting the
contours of my hips like a glove.

I stepped onto the box
in front of the four-walled mirror and smiled as Vicki and the
clerk gasped.

“
You look like a
princess.” Vicki almost started crying.

Spinning around
slowly, running my fingers over my hips, I marvelled at the soft
organza, bunched together at the waist on one side and shrouded
with little diamantes. The strapless corset bustle hugged my body
until the full, flowing drop of the skirt glided out from my hips
and over the ground—like a wedding dress, but blue. And even
better, the clerk had pulled the corset so tight my waist became a
half-size smaller and I totally looked like I was wearing a push-up
bra.