Dark Secrets (71 page)

“
Da-v-id—” She moved
her hand to reach for him, her soft gaze suddenly slipping past him
to a white look of terror. Like a tidal wave preparing itself for
slaughter, the silence drew in around them, then cracked apart,
like a shattering vile of terror; the woman clutched her belly and
rolled upward, screeching for all the pain Hell had
summoned.

“
Aunty? What can I
do?” The boy’s voice trembled with helplessness. “Tell me what to
do, and I’ll do it.”

“
Save him! Save my
baby!” She rolled away, covering her stomach in a tight, protective
embrace.

The memory faded out
to white dots around the edges of the film, and the birds in the
tree above us sang a melody I had no mind for a moment ago, but was
completely aware of.

I lifted my eyelids,
blinking against the grey day, and turned my head to look at
David—the grown up David. “You found her?”

“
I delivered her
baby.”

I covered my mouth.
“But you were just a child. How did you do that?”

He swallowed a hard
lump. “I was simply there to hold her as she was born. I did little
else, and there was nothing I could do to help my aunt.” His fists
clenched. “No one came to the sound of her screaming. No one called
for a doctor. She was a woman scorned for her sins, and they let
her die like a dog.” His lip stiffened and anger flooded his voice,
a kind of anger I’d never, ever seen in him. “I wrapped the child
in my jacket and laid in my aunt’s arms until nightfall.

“
By
the time I heard footsteps on the porch outside, I was
numb—
completely
numb. I simply stood, held the baby out to my uncle as he
burst through the door, and told him, “I lost
her.”

“
Arthur took the
child from my arms and, though I knew nothing of the world, I saw a
piece of his soul die then; he closed her eyelids and covered her
face delicately with my jacket.

“
I will never truly
understand what my uncle lost that night and, at the time, I
thought nothing of the fact that he fell to the floor beside
Arietta, with his child crushed against his chest, and laid there
until the dawn. Only now do I see it for the madness it stirred
within him.”

“
Did he ever
recover?”

“
Can
someone recover from that?”
David asked rhetorically. “He went on with normal life, like any
wise vampire on the World Council would, but he never spoke of her.
Even now, the mention of children sends his eyes soulless.” David
reached over and wiped a warm tear from my cheek, then smiled
softly. “The police came; they took Victor and charged him with
aggravated assault. He was jailed for a month, then released with a
warning, since the evidence was inconclusive.”

“
That’s it? He killed
her and he got a month?” I almost rocketed forward in
protest.

David nodded and
clapped his hands together, letting his elbows fall loosely over
his knees. “And life went on. Uncle Arthur left town for a while,
promising to return when he had made arrangements for Jason and I.”
He brushed his palm across the headstone behind him and nodded
toward it. “We buried her on a warm spring day, with her baby in
her arms, where she will lay evermore.”

“
David, that’s so
sad,” I whispered, feeling the rise of little bumps over my cold
skin.

“
Hers has been a loss
I have never moved past.” He inclined his head to his position on
her grave. “And this is where I’ll sit one day, feeling the grief
for another—with no hope of ever holding her again. Only…the name
will read a different story; it will be one of true love, lost
tragically to eternal sadness.” He looked down at the ground. “For
me, Ara, your death will be only but a breath away; a second in
time and you will be gone. You have your whole life ahead of you,
but for a vampire...it’s nothing but a heartbeat.”

“
I’m sorry, David. I
wish with all of my heart it were different.”

“
I know. But you will
never feel the pain of it as I will.” He sniffed once, nodded, then
looked at me. “When you die, I will never see you again. Can you
comprehend what that feels like for me?”

His words were almost
enough to make me change my mind in that breath—to save him from
this horrible reality. It all just seemed so hopeless.

“
Come on.” He stood
in front of me, his hand outstretched. “I heard the ogre
complaining about ten minutes ago. Let’s get some food.”

“
Okay.” Gravity
bequeathed me with excess weight as I rose to my feet and followed
David, stealing a glance back to the hill where Arietta would stay.
Once, she had been promised immortality and now, she was in the
ground—never to know her child’s name. I could see myself sitting
up there beside her; my feet led me away, but my heart remained
where, one day, my body would return to meet it. And that idea
scared me to the point of shaking—the idea of death. It never used
to, but seeing those graves painted the truth on a canvas of
reality—textured in rough strokes of dark grey, blue, and
black.

It was real. Death was
real, and it was coming for me—a little closer every
day.

But it was normal—the
way things were supposed to be.

Sitting by those
graves made me see how deep David’s pain would go. He would lose me
one day, and I wasn’t sure I could live with the fact that he’d
mourn me forever. It felt wrong, like I was being selfish. But I
couldn’t lose the hope of seeing Mum and Harry again, or just
switch off the desire to have a child, and I wouldn’t give away the
magic of life for an eternity of blood—even if that same fate meant
saving David from eternal agony.

Emily cursed, fumbling
with the tray, nearly dropping the whole thing as she placed it on
the counter in front of our designated lane at the bowl. She
straightened the cups, then held up the list of orders. “Okay,
fries and shake?”

“
Mine.” I put my hand
up.

“
Burger with
egg?”

Spence put his hand
up.

Like a game of popping
weasels, hands shot up, claiming various orders down the line of
teens. David took his nachos and smiled at Emily, but the smile
faded quickly to the seclusion of thoughts distracting him like a
theatre show in his head.

Ryan and Alana slid
into the seats next to me and pointed out some of the other kids
from school, already playing on lanes further down the alley. It
seemed this was the thing to do in this town on a Sunday night; in
fact, I was pretty sure the student body of Evergreen High made up
most of the customers here tonight.

“
Well, that’s one way
to eat fries.” David grimaced at my French fry, dripping in
chocolate shake over my cup.

I shoved the chip into
my mouth and muttered, “It’s yummy.”

“
Yeah, don’t knock it
‘til you try it,” Ryan interjected, grabbing one of my fries and
helping himself to a dip in my shake.

David smiled
inquisitively, reaching over to help himself as well.

“
Well, what d’ya
think?” I asked.

He frowned at first,
then his face lit up. “It’s good—salt and sugar.” He nodded, then
looked away quickly.

“
David, are you
okay?”

He leaned closer,
keeping his eyes forward. “I feel like I just want to force you to
come with me.”

I frowned, slowly
turning back to the front.

“
I’m sorry.” He
looked down at his plate. “It’s just…being at my aunt’s grave today
really put things into perspective for me; I don’t want to miss you
like that, Ara.”

Warm blood flooded my
heart, a wave of sympathy almost forcing me to splutter out the
words,
Let’s go now. Take me to the
bathroom and turn me
—but I stopped myself.
“David. I’m sorry, but look, I’ll see you for the last dance at the
ball, and who knows what I might decide in that time?”

“
You can’t come with
me if he loves you, Ara.” David sat up straight. “Mike can give you
a life—he’s better for you. You know that.”

“
He doesn’t love me.
So it won’t be an issue.” I rolled my eyes.

“
We’ll see.” David
pushed his nachos away and walked over to our lane, slipping into
the human role as I sat back, watching him. He blended himself
among Em, Spence, Ryan, and Alana rather well, laughing and
talking, but his soul was dark beyond those eyes, and no one but me
seemed to notice. Even Emily, who paid attention to pretty much
everything he did, was blinded by the foggy spectacles of her new
romance.

David looked at me
then and jerked his head quickly, reaching out as he
did.

I let my lip pout for
a second.

I’m
okay
, he mouthed, a smile proving
it.

So I hopped down off
the stool, strolled over, and took his hand.

“
You know, bowling
shoes make your feet look big,” he said, looking down at
them.

My toes curled.
“Arrogant comments make your mouth look big. Besides—” I nodded
down at his shoes, “—you look like you just stepped out of a
circus.”

“
I think bowling
shoes are a good look.” Emily popped up beside us and tapped her
toe in the circle of our conversation. We looked down at her feet,
and my blood boiled. How could her feet look perfectly dainty in
those shoes? She wore the same size as me!

“
Dave, man. Your
turn,” Ryan called.

David dropped my hand
and walked away, laughing.

“
What?” Emily
shrugged at me.

“
I hate you,” I said
affectionately and headed over to the lane.

She laughed behind
me.

Bowling had never been
my forte, and even though David rolled a perfect strike every time,
with the exception of one, because I shot him an inappropriate
thought which put him off his game, we still lost. Ryan and Alana
took home the win; a giant, stuffed bowling pin—purchased by all
the losers.

“
I’ll see you guys at
school.” Emily waved as we headed out the door.

“
Don’t stay out too
late, kids,” Ryan joked from behind the stupid, stuffed
pin.

“
We won’t,” I said.
“But I’m not sure if I’ll be at school tomorrow,
anyway.”

“
Why not?” Emily
stopped walking beside Spencer.

“
Um—”

“
I have to go away,”
David jumped in. “My uncle is taking me on holiday, so tomorrow is
my last day.”

“
Oh no—Ara’s going to
be so lost,” Emily said.

My cheeks went hot;
David grinned when I turned my face away. “Well, I hope so,” he
beamed, “then I can be sure she won’t give her heart away to
someone else while I’m gone.”

“
Not a chance of
that, David. I think you might be stuck with this one.” Emily
winked at me.

Cool, strong arms
wrapped my waist and pulled me close to a firm, tight chest. “I
hope so.”

“
What about the
concert and the ball?” Alana stepped around the giant toy and her
wide, jet-black eyes reflected the neon lights behind
me.

“
I can come back for
the concert, but as for the ball—well, I may make the last dance.”
He snuggled his cheek against mine.

“
Well, good luck,
David. I hope you make it home safe,” Emily said, her tone holding
way too much gravity.

David tightened his
grip around me.

“
O…kay. See ya,
guys.” I waved again and dragged David toward the car.

He opened the door and
grabbed my wrist as I bent to climb in. “What is it, Ara? What are
you thinking?”

“
Didn’t you hear
me?”

“
Not clearly. You had
about four different thoughts at once.”

“
Oh, um…well, I was wondering why you didn’t tell them
you’re
never
coming back.”

David smiled. “We
never do that. That’s why telling you about leaving in the first
place was such a big deal.”

“
Really? So you just
disappear?”

“
Yes. Mostly. We send
letters to people in positions of authority, like schools or
employers, once we’re safely away, but if there had been any
suspicions surrounding our stay, announcing plans to leave could
create unrest.”

“
Oh.” I traced the
rubber seal along the base of the window. “But, there’s no
suspicion this time, so why not just tell them?”

“
There’s no way of
knowing that. People mostly keep their suspicions to themselves,
and besides—” he pulled my finger away as I peeled the rubber back,
“—it’s the way we do things. We’re consistent in our
behaviours.”

“
But you told
me
you were leaving.” I smiled sheepishly, forcing down a rising
yawn.

“
Which is rare, mon
amour, like I said. Now, come on—” he offered the seat in the car,
“—let’s get you home before you fall asleep where you
stand.”