Tears of the Broken (59 page)

“
Then, let’s make the most of this now.”

David swept my hair back quickly, and the smug smile washed
from my lips like a fading shadow as the feel of his teeth in my
flesh started my heart; my blood rushed up under the grip of his
bite—sending cold shivers down my spine.

The
tendon in my neck, rising up from my shoulder, tensed, and all the
nerves under it screamed out in agony while my heart pleaded for
more. The flesh burned—a good burn—as he opened his jaw and closed
it back down again, forcing my skin harder between his
teeth.

The
warmth of his saliva, which was cool before, made my skin ice up
every time he breathed out. He kept his fangs distant, but every
now and then they brushed against me like the tip of a blade run
softly over flesh—without cutting.

His
hands searched my body wildly, travelling up under my dress,
spreading wide against my shoulder blades and my tailbone. My skin
crawled into his touch, desperate to feel him.

“
David?” I squeaked a little as he pressed me back against the
chairs stacked on the table, and the cold touched my spine. “David,
it’s hurting a little.”

He
shoved the chairs off with a quick push and rolled me onto my back
as they crashed noisily to the floor. The people outside laughed
raucously, their familiar, human sounds setting my heart on
fire.

“
David. Stop!” Pressing my palms flat to his
chest, I shoved against him, but he didn’t budge; his bite
intensified and the burning became hotter, stinging like a thousand
hot little needles under my skin. “David!” I shoved him again and
burst into tears as his hand travelled the length of my thigh,
stopping with his fingertips hooked into my underwear.
Oh, God. No. Please, don’t
.

“
Ara?” He lifted his head and looked down at me. I shoved him
off and rolled up to stand—darting across the room to the safety of
the wall.

“
Why
did you do that?” I practically yelled, hugging my arms across my
body.

“
Ara, my love?” David appeared in front of me, his eyes wide,
his pupils completely swallowing the green. “Do what?” He reached
for me; I yanked away from his touch.

“
Why
didn’t you stop?” My voice broke.

“
Oh,
God.” The energy between us turned cold; I lowered my face as I
sobbed a little harder. “Ara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise you
were frightened.”

“
I
asked you to stop.” I looked up at him. “That’s a pretty clear
indication, don’t you think?”

“
Yes. For a human, but my love, I’m not human. I—” He looked
away, clenching his fist tightly by his side. “I didn’t hear you. I
only tasted your tears.”

“
What?”

“
I was drawn in completely. Compelled by the
taste of adrenaline—the fear—it makes the hunger
unbearable
.”

“
But—” I cupped my hand to the burning on my neck. “Then, why
didn’t you bite me?”

“
Ara?” He frowned as if the suggestion insulted him. “I would
never do that. I always had control over that. I just…” he turned
away, “I couldn’t control the vampire in me.”

“
Isn’t it the same? I mean, the bite
is
the
vampire?”

“
No.” He scratched the back of his neck.
“The bite is the hunger. The lust
before
is the
vampire.”

“
Oh.” I touched my collarbone. “So, you wouldn’t have bitten
me?”

He
rushed in close and cradled my face in hands. “Not in a million
years.”

“
Then, why couldn’t you hear me?”

“
I—” he closed his eyes, “I can hear the
resonance of your voice in my head
now
, but I was so lost in your
velvet touch, I could think of nothing but…”

“
But
what?”

He
shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have done it,
anyway. Not with you.”

“
Not with
me
? What’d you mean?” I folded my
arms across my chest as he walked away. “What wouldn’t you have
done with me?”

David leaned against the table and reached his hand out. I
walked the gap hesitantly and took it. “I’m sorry I scared you. But
have no doubt, Ara, that my lips, my teeth or my touch would not
have done anything you didn’t want me to.” He pulled me against his
chest and the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt
warmed me. “From now on, if I’m in that state, use your thoughts to
reach me—it’s clearer.” I nodded against his chest. He let out a
breath and pressed each digit of his fingertips firmly over my face
and neck. “I’m so,
so
sorry I scared you.”

“
I’m
okay.” I rolled my face upward to look at him. “Well, now I know
you wouldn’t have bitten me, I’m okay.”

He
clicked his tongue and let out a long breath. “Look what I’ve done
to you.”

I
winced as David ran his thumb over my neck. “It stings.”

“
You’re bruising badly.”

“
You
were pretty rough.” I smiled, touching my hand to the mark and
holding it there.

“
I
won’t do that to you again. Ever.” He looked up from the bruising,
the promise of his words filling out the green in his eyes
again.

“
What if I want you to?”

His
jaw tightened, but his smile remained soft. “No. Not ever
again.”

“
But, I liked it.” I pulled my hand away from my neck and
gasped. “David! Blood!”

His
fingers caught my wrist before my words finished. “Shit. I was
hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”

“
What…I mean…how…?”

“
It’s okay.” He cradled my face against his chest again, and
my thigh brushed the cold patch of cola on his jeans. “It’s just
from the er…sucking. I drew your skin a little
too…eagerly.”

“
Can’t you smell it—the blood?” I drew back and held my hand
up to him.

“
Yes.”

“
Didn’t you taste it?”

He
shook his head. “It broke through as I pulled away. I was trying to
ignore it.”

“
Does it make you want to bite me?”

“
It makes me want to
taste
you—to see if you taste the
way you smell.”

Holding my hand near my nose, I sniffed. “I can’t smell
anything.”

“
That’s because you’re not a vampire.” He stiffened and leaned
back just a little.

“
Here.” I held my hand up in front of his lips. “Taste
it.”

“
Ara, don’t!” he scolded, leaving a cool, empty space between
me and the wall.

“
David?” I spun around a few times until my eyes found him
leaning against a stack of chairs across the room. “What’s
wrong?”

“
I—”
he inched away from me as I approached, “I can’t do that. One taste
could be enough to make me lose control.”

My
nose crinkled and I looked down at the tiny speck on my hand, then
lifted it to my lips and pressed my tongue to it. Erk! Tastes like
I just stuck a coin on my tongue. “Gross. How can you drink this
stuff? I taste like metal.”

David laughed softly. “You silly girl, of course you won’t
like it.” With a deep, heavy sigh, he reached across and wiped his
thumb over the bleeding bruise.

“
David, what are you doing?”

Inspecting the drop of crimson on his fingertip, his
shoulders lifted with one deep breath, then he popped his thumb
into his mouth, closing his eyes as he rolled his head
back.

“
David?” I said with a shaky, nervous voice, and took one step
back.

His
eyes flashed open; I jumped inside. “Just like I thought.” He
smiled warmly. “Vanilla and honey. Kinda like a
cupcake.”

“
Are
you…” I took another step away. “Are you okay?”

His
lips turned down as thought washed across his face, then he
shrugged. “Actually, I’m fine. No sudden urge to kill
you.”

“
Really?”

He
rolled his head to one side and studied me quizzically. “Strangely,
the vampire is screaming for me to attack, but the human in me
wants to kiss you and tell you how much I love you.”

“
Well, I always have liked the human in you.” I smiled and
wrapped myself in his arms.

“
Then, the human me will be here to stay.”

“
David?” I said carefully. “You were scary
as a vampire—but only because I didn’t know what you were capable
of. But now I’ve seen it—” I smiled at the memory of him losing
control, “—I
liked
it.”

“
You’re not serious, are you?” He whipped me out from his body
and held my shoulders. “Ara, are you joking? Please? Because, I
can’t take that kind of a joke.”

I
frowned, shaking my head. “No. Why would I joke about
that?”

“
Oh
God,” he said in a gust of air, dropping his head a little. “Ara.
You don’t know what that means to me.”

“
Is
that…a good thing?”

“
It’s amazing, that’s what it is. You—” he
held my face and dropped a quick kiss on my lips, “—are amazing.”
Before I could come up with any clever response, he stole my words
with his lips again, and drew a long, deep breath. “Do you have any
idea how sweet and how precious you are to me? I—” He swallowed and
closed his eyes for a second. “I never knew such a creature could
exist, and now I’ve found you…I have
no
idea how I’m going to let you
go.”

“
Same way you stopped yourself from biting me, I guess,” I
said, pulling his hand away from my face and holding it
tightly.

He
nodded once. “This is a first for me, you know. I’ve never had to
control myself before. It took everything in me not to rip your
throat open and drink your blood, and even more not to entice you
with the spell of lust.”

“
The
what?”

“
It’s what we do.” He brushed his curled fingers over my
cheek. “It’s how we kill. We seduce you into trusting
us.”

“
So…do you only kill girls, then—or do you seduce men,
too?”

“
No.
I’ve never seduced a man.” He laughed. “And I’ve not killed any
girls since we met. I use an attack kill, now—and only on men. It’s
more brutal, more painful for the human, but I can’t bear the
thought killing girls since I fou…” he looked up as, above us, the
loud thunder of footsteps sent vibrations through the walls. “We
better get back out there—lunch will be over soon.”

“
Okay.” I breathed out. “But, what will we
tell everyone?” They all saw us walk in here. I don’t even
wanna
imagine
what they’ll think.

“
Ara, what do you think they will think? We’re teenagers. Let
them think what they want. They’ll never guess the
truth.”

Well, at least that part’s true. No one would guess that I
led a vampire under the stage and let him bite me. Or even more
so—that I bit
him
.

It
doesn’t matter what they think, anyway—I’m so damn hungry that if I
don’t go eat,
David
will become the next victim of the ogre. Then, he won’t need
to worry about me becoming a people-eater, because he’ll be in my
stomach.

David shook his head, laughing softly. It isn’t really funny,
this whole situation, but then, it kind of is. I let myself laugh,
too, even though, deep inside, the truth of my heart is that
I
want
to—bite
him—and I want him to bite me—for real. Maybe even drink my
blood.

Man,
what has happened to me? I can’t believe I just provoked a vampire
into biting me. I need therapy.

David covered his mouth with his fist and cleared his throat.
“You said it first.”

“
Hey!” I put my hands on my hips. “I’ll
give
you
therapy
in a minute if you don’t stop reading my mind.”

He
chuckled, and I watched him walk across the other side of the room
to grab his jacket. I love it when he laughs. It makes him seem so
normal—so human.

“
Except, there is
nothing
human about what we just
did,” David joked.

“
Stay out of my head!” I headed for the door in a stormy
huff.

“
Wait?” He grabbed my arm and held up his jacket. “You might
want to put this on.”

I
frowned at him; he pointed to my neck. Oh crap! The bite! If it
looks as bad it burns, people will think David did something really
horrible to me. He held his jacket out, then pulled it closed
around my chest and kissed my brow after I slipped my arms into
it.

“
What about you? I bit you.”

“
I’ll be healed by the time I cross the room. But you—” he
laughed at the skin on my shoulder and ran his finger over it
again, “—you may take a little longer.”