The Heart's Ashes (34 page)

“
Mike? David?” I kicked at the door, shoving it with my
shoulder.
Damn it, David.

It flung open suddenly, leaving my fist falling through the
absent air, landing hard on Mike’s chest as he folded forward, his
bloodied face a mess, unrecognisable. He fell into my shoulder,
limp, heavy; my knees buckled. “David.”
Help me.

David
appeared, pressed his palms to Mike’s chest and bumped me away with
his hip. “Stand back, Ara,” he said, and with the ease of lifting a
pillow, flipped the limp giant over his shoulder.

“
What happened to him?” I asked. “Why’s his face
bleeding?”

David looked
back at me. “Come with me.”

“
No. Why?”

“
Ara—” He edged between Mike and Emily’s rooms. “Just...just
don’t go in there, okay.”

I nodded,
waited for him to disappear into Mike’s room, then stepped through
the doorway anyway; my hand flew to my mouth. “Emily!”

“
Ara?” she cried from a dark corner near her wardrobe, huddled
into a ball on the floor. “What did he do to me?”

“
Ara—don’t!” David called from the other room as I flew into
Emily’s arms. She grabbed my shirt, clutching for dear life,
pulling her shaking body close to my chest.

“
Emily?” David grabbed her wrist, coming up out of nowhere.
“Let go of her, now.”

“
Don’t let him touch me, Ara!” she screeched, kicking at the
ground with her feet. “Please don’t let him hurt me
again.”

“
What did you do to her?” I shoved his hand away.

“
I’m sorry, Em.” He squatted beside us and gently unlatched
her fingers from my shirt. “I had to forcibly restrain her. She had
her hands around Mike’s throat.”

“
Oh my God. Mike! Is he okay?” My pulse quickened, I looked to
the door.

“
No.”

I covered my
mouth.

“
She didn’t bite him—just...”

“
I thought he was trying to hurt me, Ara,” Emily cut in, her
eyes pleading. “I scratched him.”

Scratched?
“David?” I swallowed over
a deep breath, making a huge lump form in my throat. “Is it
bad?”

He
concentrated on untangling Emily’s fingers from my shirt. “I’ve
forced him to drink some blood. It’s all I can do.”

“
Ah—” Emily’s voice wavered nervously, her terror-widened eyes
locked onto her outstretched arms. “David, what’s happening to me?
Ah!” She shot back, thrashed violently into the wall, scratching at
her arms.

David slid his
hands around my waist and shifted me across so he could grab her.
“Ara, go, please.”

“
No. What’s happening to her?” I stood back, but every-thing
in me screamed to run to Emily, to hold her as she writhed,
thrashing about, tearing at her arms where the veins pulsed and
wriggled under her skin, turning bright blue, then white, with
every scream that passed her lips.

“
Make it stop! Make it stop!”

David clasped
a firm hand across her mouth. “Emily. Shush. You’ll make the
neighbours call the police.”

“
Er—” She twitched, her throat composing a long, wavering
sound. “I’m trying, David. I’m trying.”

“
I know,” he said.

“
What did he do to me?” she growled in a very low, very cold
voice, her gaze becoming fixed on my vampire, hatred and something
so demonic behind it that I stepped back.

“
It’s okay, Emily.” David lifted her and carried her to the
bed. “You’re turning. In a few minutes, it’ll
stop—then...”

“
Then what?” I asked, restraining from placing hands of
healing on Emily. Nothing I did would make it better.

David looked
back at me with urgency in his eyes, pinning Emily down with a hand
on her chest. “Then, she’ll be thirsty.”

“
For blood?”

“
Ara, you better get out of here.”

The world
stopped; the only sound I heard was my own very quiet breath and
the beating of my heart.

“
Ara,” David said more forcefully, wincing slightly as Emily
gouged at the flesh on his forearm. “Go to Mike. He needs
you.”

“
No. I’m staying with you. David, look what she’s doing to
your arm.”

He looked
down; the deep gashes started to prick with blood, the skin around
the edges folding outward where it was still attached.

Emily kicked,
screaming and wailing—attempting to toss about, but unable to move
under the force of David’s strong hold.

“
I’ll be fine, Ara.”

“
You don’t look fine.” I edged forward. “She’s hurting
you.”

He held out
his other hand, stopping me. “I won’t lie, okay, yes, it hurts, but
not as much as loosing you. Okay. Just go. Go!”

Everything in
me said stay, but, as if on cue, Mike groaned, his voice laden with
so much agony that I almost didn’t even look back as I ran from the
room. All I could think of was the time his appendix burst and I
first saw him cry; it was the worst night of my childhood. I
thought he was going to die. I’d never heard anyone cry that way.
But this was worse. Much, much worse.

Almost as fast
as a vampire, I made it to his side. “Mike? Are you okay?”

“
Oh. God. Just go.” He rolled his face to the wall.

“
No, I’m not going anywhere.” I lifted his head and shoved his
pillow under it—afraid to look at his face. “Just tell me what to
do, Mike, please. How can I make it better?”

“
You
can’t,” he said slowly, his
voice trailing off. “Not you.”

“
Mike?”

He didn’t
answer.

“
Mike?” I whispered.

His laboured
breathing became deep and restful; I sat back against the wall,
sinking my head into my hands as the morning sun lit the room. I
felt unwelcome, in a place I’d sat so many times, talking and
joking with him. In one week of my life, I’d managed to destroy so
many lives. How on earth was I so cursed that I could alienate
people so fiercely, not only losing them, but making sure they
would run so far from me that I’d never even see them pass on the
street, ever again?

I wanted to
lay with Mike, safe in his arms, safe, knowing he loved me. But the
cold floor, hard under my tailbone, and the wall, no comfort for my
aching heart, reminded me that this is where I belonged. Love,
warmth, they belonged to people who deserved them. But I destroyed
Emily, and I broke Mike’s heart. If he could ever forgive me for
that, I’d still have no hope of saving our friendship, because I
knew how much Mike hated vampires, and I knew, from everything he’d
ever told me, that he would not forgive me for turning the girl he
loves into one.

When the
morning comes, I don’t know what I’ll do. What will my life mean,
what will anything mean if I have no one left?

I sunk my head
back down on my knees, letting the restful breath of my ex-best
friend take me away with exhaustion.

At some point,
just before I was about to fall onto my side, cool arms wrapped my
body and carried me to the softness of my bed, where I stayed until
morning came, safe and warm, in David’s loving arms.

Chapter
11

Some dreams
belong to hope, some to summaries of the day, and others to the
fears we hide from ourselves.

Ever since
Emily woke that morning to find she’d made a textbook transition
from a beautiful, bubbly human, to a heartless but perfect vampire,
she’s been crying; she looked in the mirror, her face flawless, her
eyes radiant, more vibrant than before, and cried.

For Emily,
she’s living a nightmare, one that, for me, would now be a
dream.

“
Here.” David placed a pile of very neatly folded clothes on
the end of my bed. “I’m not sure which drawers you want these
in.”

“
Just chuck them on the floor with the rest—that’s where
they’ll end up, anyway.”

But he didn’t.
Instead, he opened random drawers and placed the clothes in spaces
they didn’t belong, and somehow, that was more annoying than the
fact that he’d done my washing in the first place.

“
Aren’t you supposed to magically know where all my stuff
goes? That would be so much more romantic.”

“
Hm.” He placed his duffle bag on the dresser and packed his
clean laundry into it—despite me telling him yesterday to take a
few of my drawers for himself. “You’re right. I should pry through
your stuff more often.”

“
Yes.” I rolled onto my side. “You should.”

“
Very well. I shall begin prying this afternoon.” He landed
beside me, his forearm tucked under his cheek. “Mike’s looking
better. He won’t scar at least.”

“
That’s good,” I muttered.

“
And I have some interesting news.” He either didn’t notice
the gloom in my tone, or chose to counteract it with a radiant kind
of positivity in his own.

I propped my
head on the ball of my palm and looked down into his sparkling
green eyes, brighter in the midday sun. “Okay, what’s the
news?”

“
I’m not sure why, but I can still hear Emily’s
thoughts.”

“
Really? I bet she’s peeved off.”

“
Yes.” David seemed to be laughing—to himself.

“
Is that because she’s not full strength yet?”

He shook his
head, still grinning. “It’s been two days; she’s full strength. I
think it’s because, when a vampire changes a human, they have a
connection. Maybe because Jason and I are twins—”

“
How did he do it? Change her, I mean.” I sat up and tugged my
floral-print skirt down over my legs where it rode up while I was
laying. “I thought it wasn’t as simple as just biting? Like, I
mean, what did he do different to her that hasn’t worked on other
people you’ve tried to change?”

“
Other people? Or do you mean
you
?” he asked, with a soft
smile.

I
shrugged.

“
Sweetheart.” David sat up, too. “I wish I knew, but being on
the council doesn’t give you automatic rights to that
knowledge.”

“
But you must have some idea, I mean, you tried to change
Rochelle?”

“
Yes. I thought I knew what I was doing, and there’s no saying
I did it wrong. She died because she was with child, Ara, but I’m
not willing to test my theories on you.”

Of course not. Why risk anything for me?
“So, how did Jason get the knowledge then, if even a council
member couldn’t?”

“
I’m not sure.”

I dropped my
head, my whole posture slumping.

“
Are you wondering if there might still be hope—if maybe he
got something wrong when he tried to turn you?”

One shoulder
pulled to my ear and I half smiled.

“
Look, Ara, I know how this feels.” David delicately tilted my
chin until I looked into his eyes. “I know you always wondered why
Emily and I never fell in love, and now she’s immortal, it makes
you feel more alone—cements your already ludicrous notion that
Emily would’ve been better for me.”

“
So you can read my mind today, huh?”

“
No, sweetheart. I just know you too well.”

I smiled,
wrapping my fingers around his to pull them from my cheek. “I like
it that you know what I’m thinking—without me having to think
it.”

“
Me too.”

“
David?” Emily popped her head in the door.

“
Yeah, Em?” He drew his eyes away from me slowly, not in any
real hurry to look at her.

“
Um, I think Mike might be packing. I heard his suitcase being
zipped up.”

David looked
at me; my lip quivered and my nose stung with the rise of tears in
my eyes. “Okay, thanks, Em. I’ll go see to him.”

She wandered
away without another word.

“
He hasn’t seen her yet, has he?” I asked.

“
No.”

“
Is he...is he still mad with me?”

After a deep
breath, swallowing the words he was going to say, he nodded. “He’s
just tired, sweetheart.”

“
No.” My voice broke. “He hates me.”

“
No, he hates vampires. He’s hurting, Ara. Give it time,
he—”

I shook my
head and leaped off the bed. “I have to talk to him.”

“
Wait.” David grabbed my wrist before I made it to the door.
“You can’t go in there yet.”

“
Why?”

“
He might—” His fingers tightened around my wrist. “He might
hurt you.”

“
David?” I looked at him, disgusted. “It’s
Mike
—he’d never hurt me.”

With his eyes
closed tight, he dropped his face into the breath he exhaled. “I’m
not so sure about that anymore, Ara.”

“
I can handle myself.” I broke from his grip and walked
away.

“
Your stubbornness will get you in trouble one day,” he
called; I ignored him, walking a little faster in case he saw fit
to stop me. But how could there be any danger in talking to my best
friend, my Mike, the man who loves me no matter what I
do?

He may be mad,
but surely he wouldn’t go as far as to actually hurt me.

Leave and
never come back, maybe, but not hurt me.

“
Mike?” I softly tapped on his door, pushing it open. “You
awake?”