Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (19 page)

I thought back for a minute. “It's the age when you're
finished growing…” I told him, thinking back to that
conversation.
“It's also the age that purebloods fully awaken…
Before that it was like the cells were dormant and we were
almost like normal humans, but when we turn eighteen the
cells awakens… and we change, making us stronger, faster,
better in every possible way you can imagine.”
A quick silent moment passed us as that new piece of
information circled my head. “And... when I'm eighteen I'll
awaken too,” I stated. It wasn't a question as I had
intended it to be; instead it came out as a realized
statement I simply could not change. When Eric didn't say
anything, I knew that there was more. “I've already started
the stages, which means... I've already started to awaken,
haven't I?”
I looked to Eric for confirmation and he nodded
silently, waiting for me to say something. I couldn’t
though, all my words had gotten stuck somewhere in my
throat and all I could do was look down at the covers on
the bed, playing with it as though they were the most
fascinating thing in the world.
The quiet in the room dragged on, seeming like it was
never going to end. Eric’s eyes remained trained on me,
studying me as if I had a hidden flaw he had to find. I
could feel his eyes heating my face and if he continued I
was going to snap at him. It was so silent that I could
clearly hear our hearts beating, and our pulse pumping
blood through our veins. Eric’s was calm and tranquil
while mine was like a race horse galloping at top speed.
“Jen,” Eric whispered, cutting through the tense and
breakable atmosphere between us. “I know this is a lot to
take in at once. We don’t have to do it all now… we could
take this a little at a time… so you could wrap your head
around everything.”
I thought about that for a while and though it did seem
like a good idea in theory, I would rather get all this done
with now. “No,” I shook my head, facing him. “I’m fine,”
I lied. I took another deep breath and went on to another,
easier question.
“Why do I have to marry you before I’m eighteen?
Why not after? Why can’t we wait until we’re older and
ready to be married?”
Eric remained silent for a minute and I knew at once
that I was wrong. This was going to be another one of
those hard questions. “There’s a lot of reasons Jen, too
many to name.”
“Well, give me the three most important,” I suggested.
“Okay,” he nodded. “Well the first is that by the time
you’re eighteen, you’ll most likely be a pureblood, and our
Elders will need to have a claim on you by then. Being a
pureblood means that you have certain responsibilities and
obligations that must be met. It’s easier to get us to live up
to those obligations if they have a tie to us. I’m royal by
birth and blood so your marriage to me is your tie to High
Society.
“The second is that once you’re a pureblood, your
entire life is going to change. People are going to try to
hurt you. Katalin expects that most of Thirdworld won’t
accept you as a pureblood, because you were born human.
You’ll be easier to accept when you’ve married into one of
the royal families…”
“Because even if I’m not royal by… whatever I am...
I’ll be royal by marriage?” I asked, frowning deeply at him.
Eric nodded. “If Thirdworld accepts you as royalty, no
one could deny you anything. You'll have all the protection
you need.”
“Okay that kinda makes sense,” I nodded at him still
frowning. “What’s the third reason?”
“The line of succession. Our child has to be legitimate.
In Thirdworld tradition, we can’t have children outside our
marriage, be it with other people or with each other.
Thirdworld doesn’t accept bastards as heirs or rulers…”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Tradition,” Eric shrugged. “If I were to knock you up
before we were officially married, we'd never see that
child.”
“What!” I blurted out. That was insane.
“It’s been done before Jen. Thirdworld doesn’t accept
flaws, especially when it comes to royals. It sticks to its
traditions and our kid has got to be absolutely
unquestioned and lawful.”
“Why?” I wondered. What was going to be so special
about our children?
A light smile traced Eric’s face. It was the first time
since we began this conversation that he showed any
emotion other than worry over me. “My blood is running
through your veins Jen… our child will be a pureblood like
none before - the purest there have ever been... The
strongest, which means his rise to ruling Thirdworld has to
be without bumps. You have to be accepted because if you
aren’t Thirdworld could possibly overthrow the kid under
grounds that his or her mother wasn't royalty.”
I thought for a quick second about that, allowing it to
sink in and then I nodded. It was kinda like King Henry
and his many wives. Even though he’d married Anne
Boleyn and named their daughter Elizabeth as his true
heir, his first daughter, Mary from his first marriage with
Catherine of Aragon had gotten his throne because it was
argued that Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn wasn't real.
“Yes, it is like that,” Eric said surprising me.
“Thirdworld really needs to move on from the 1500’s.”
It took me a moment to understand. “Eric,” I said
pointedly, “get out of my head.”
“Sorry,” he breathed out effortless. “It’s just that I need
to know that you understand all of this. It’s a lot to take in
at once.”
“I understand, you’re making it easy. But you need to
stay out of my head. It's private.”
“Okay,” he nodded.
“Who is Katalin, really? I mean,” I hesitated, frowning
at him, “I know she has some power over you, and I’m
guessing the other purebloods too… but who is she and
what does she want?”
“Katalin’s father is the ruler of Thirdworld. She’s its
Princess, and one of the strongest Thirdworlder there’s
ever been…”
“So she’s a pureblood,” I guessed.
“No,” he shook his head. “Her mother was human and
father is like us, she’s mixed… The only one like her. As
for what she wants, no one knows… Katalin is… she does
things that no one understands… but somehow in the
end… it’s always for the better… As long as she is on your
side you can trust her…”
“But is she?” I swallowed. “On our side?” Eric nodded
at once.
“So you trust her then?”
He didn’t answer right away. “I trust that she will do
whatever she’s ordered to do… Now I have a question for
you. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, but
I’m curious.” He fell silent, waiting for me to urge him on.
I nodded. “What made you change your mind about us…
our marriage..?”
I bit down on my lower lip, wondering. “Your sister,” I
finally said after a second. “I made her a promise…”
“Next question?” he asked instead of replying to my
answer.
“Will I still be me... after I’ve become like you...” I
frowned. “I mean...” I trailed off not knowing how to
continue any further.
“I honestly hope so,” Eric sighed loudly, picking up on
what I wanted to say when I couldn't find the words,
either that or he was inside my head again.
“But that’s not likely, right?” I said, finishing the
sentence he couldn’t seem to be able to. “I mean every cell
in my body – essentially what I am – doesn’t change
without changing who I am as well, right?” I spat out
bitterly. Eric didn’t say anything and for a long while the
silence dragged on.
All my life I’ve thought of myself as nothing but
human - had absolutely no reason to think otherwise - and
now suddenly, in the blink of an eye I was going to be
something totally different and unfamiliar, and the price of
changing was too high to pay. I was going to lose not only
my humanity, but myself too. I was only just beginning to
find myself within all the guilt and pain, and now I was
going to lose it again.
“Why me?” I asked. Why not some other girl? What
made me so special?
“It’s because you’re sick… You have a very severe case
of aplastic anemia, and Katalin needed a newborn that
couldn’t make any type of blood cells. It could have been
any child born with the disease. You were just born at the
right time.”
I nodded. “What does my illness have to do with
anything?”
“Hmmm…” Eric frowned deeply. “First you need to
know a little about power in Thirdworld.” He stopped and
when I nodded he continued. “Right now the ruling
species are the purebloods, it wasn’t always like that
though. There was a time when the witches were in
control. Witches - or any type of magic user gains power
by numbers, but when most of them died during a
combined spell, the purebloods seized control before any
other species could. Power can shift from us back to the
witches, or shifters or any other supernatural species at any
time. So to prevent that from happening, years ago our
Elders started an experiment.”
“Who are the Elders?” I asked, interrupting him. This
was the second time he’d mentioned them.
“They’re the ruling purebloods. They consist of the two
oldest members from each of the remaining bloodlines
and Katalin. There are nine in total, including my
Grandparents.”
“So there aren’t much purebloods then?”
“No, barely one hundred and that's why power could
shift easily. But if the Elders could make purebloods then
we would always be in power. That was the problem
though - how could they create something that couldn’t be
made?
“For a long time they were unsuccessful. Every human
they tried to turn died, or worse. You see, they have to be
careful and specific about the amount of blood and how
often they give it... Everything needs to be precise and
exact,” he paused making sure I was keeping up. When I
nodded he continued.
“Someone thought of something new though - what if
they could somehow have a human create pureblood cells?
That human might eventually awaken when the cells
became strong enough.
“At first they tried with mothers - injecting the fetus
with our blood. Then they tried blood transfusions. It
didn’t work. It was then that someone thought what if the
human wasn't able to make blood cells..?”
“Aplastic anemia...” I trailed off, naming my illness.
“Yes...” Eric sighed, staring at me with a sad face.
“They needed to find a child - a new born that wasn’t able
to create any type of blood cells... so that they could give
that child our blood, which in turn might make more...
“You're the first like you, Jen, making you the most
endangered human and protected one at the same time.
There has never been a human that could be made into a
true pureblood until now. If you awaken like they expect,
then the Elders would have successfully found a w ay to
create purebloods. Because of the illness you were born
with, it is possible. I didn’t know it was because you were
sick… but when you explained what you were sick with, I
pieced it together…” Eric explained watching me carefully.
So that was what I was: a science experiment. My life
had never really been my own to live, it had been the
Elders, the people who had created me. I was an
experiment. I couldn't get the thought to sink in. I was
their experiment, meant to keep them in power. I didn't
know how to react to this and when I didn't show any
signs of responding Eric said “And Jen…” he hesitated. “I
know you’re struggling to find yourself right now, but you
are someone, not something... You are the most important
person there is…” he trailed off and the only thought that
filled my mind was; sure I was important now.
“Of course I'm important, Eric” I said bitterly. “I'm the
one that survived. I had lived through your experiment
when it killed all the others.” I wondered what they would
have done if it'd been clear that I wasn't going to survive?
Would they have tried to prolong my life - even if it was
only for a minute or second? Or would they have left me
to die and moved on to the next unfortunate baby born
with aplastic anemia?
“I didn't mean the Elders,” he shook his head, his eyes
never leaving my face. “I meant you're important to me,
Jen, not because you lived, not because of what you
represent but because I love you. My family loves you and
your family and Daren... your friends back in Trinidad...
they all love you. To us you're not a science experiment...
and though that puts you in a lot of danger, I will do
everything in my power to keep you safe because... I
can't,” he paused again mid sentence, frowning at me
deeply. “I can't afford to lose you, Jenifer,” he whispered
and I was suddenly gripped by a strong urge to close the
space between us, to touch him and feel the warmth of his
skin against mine. I swallowed, wrapping my arms around
my body so I didn't get off the bed and go to him. I was
slowly melting for him, not because of what he was saying,
but because I could see the truth of his words etched into
his face. It shone in his eyes, burning intensely.
“What is this thing between us?” I asked, knowing
from the darkness of his eyes that he felt it too. “I’ve felt
lust before and it’s nothing like this... this is so much more
and intense… At my school, the day we met... I felt you
before I even knew you,” I whispered biting down on my
lower lip. I craved him in a way that was not natural. The
fire burning inside me was too strong and pressing to be
anything but natural. When he wasn’t near me I felt like an
addict in withdrawal. This was one of the reasons why I
wanted to make up with him, because without him I felt
incomplete and almost like my sanity was slipping away.
“The day we met,” he chuckled lightly, “I asked my dad
about that... he thinks it's our blood that makes us so
attuned to each other.”
“Because I have your blood in me?” Eric nodded, then
a small amused smile stretched across his face that
immediately interested me. “What?” I asked and his smile
grew wider.
“If all it takes is being under the same roof to get us
hot and bothered, imagine what sex would be like,” he
grinned and despite my not wanting to, a smile of my own
lit my face as blood warmed my cheeks.
“Great,” I said struggling to keep a straight face “You
just ruined my totally good mood, but I'm hungry anyway
so... food?”