by A. M. Hudson
“Oh, Eric? He’s always late.” He leaned back in the chair and laughed. “Probably can’t stop his knees from shaking long enough to get dressed.”
Shaking? “Does he have a condition or something?” I asked.
“If you call the fear of girls a condition, yeah.”
“What did you tell him he was coming out to meet with? The queen?” Emily shook her head.
“No, I told him she’s very pretty and very nice.” Spence lowered his gaze.
“Aw, how sweet,” I said mockingly.
Something changed then—drained the warmth, the sound and the life out of the small restaurant; an eerie feeling came over me, like that tingling sensation when you know there’s something standing behind you. I looked over my shoulder—not for any reason, purely because I felt the need to check behind me—and jumped when Spence suddenly hopped up in his seat and waved. “Eric! Over here!”
When the tall, light-haired guy by the door smiled at us, I sank into my seat straight away. Em was right; he is like David. Not as much as the last time I mistook someone for him, but enough, with his overly-confident smile, that my heart fluttered. There was something else about this guy, though, something underneath the instant attraction that was off-putting.
My skin crawled with goose bumps as he stood in front of me and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Eric. Nice to meet you.”
Shake his hand, Ara—just move yours into his. They’re all looking at you. My rigid arm obeyed, and when our fingers touched, the coolness of his skin sent tingles down my elbow. “Hi,” I managed to whisper.
“I’m uh, I’m sorry I’m late,” he said slowly, without taking his chocolate eyes off me. Then, he turned his head to Spence and smiled as the moment of intensity slipped away and the room flooded with volume again. “I had to stop for a bite to eat.”
“But, you were coming to a restaurant.” Emily toyed with her bracelet as she spoke—extra enthusiastically.
“Uh, yeah.” He grinned and fell into the seat beside me with way too much confidence for the kind of guy Spence described. “Low blood sugar.”
“Oh, well, you should get on well with Ara then,” Emily said. “She’s the same.”
Eric looked at me quickly, studying me with narrowed eyes.
“Thanks, Em.” I groaned. Way to make me feel normal.
“Low blood sugar, too, huh?” Eric said, leaning a little closer.
“That’s what they tell me.” I straightened my napkin on my lap and tensed from the toes up, wishing I could stop my heart from beating. The guy smelled like leather and grease, but there was a fresh layer of spicy cologne over it that made him smell warm and manly—like I always thought guys would smell.
“Did you eat before you came, too, then?” Eric asked.
“No,” was all I said, unable to think of anything more intelligent.
Eric sat back a little and forced a smile away from his lips, but it stayed there in his eyes. I noticed then, as I took a good look at him, that his hair wasn’t short, like I first thought. It was undercut on the sides, with the top tied into a short ponytail at the back. I never liked that look, but on this guy, it actually looked pretty sexy.
I cleared my throat and carefully considered wiping the imaginary drool off my face. “So...Eric,” I started, “how do you and Spence know each other?”
“We, uh—” Eric grinned and looked at Spence. “We train at the same gym.”
“Yeah, this guy’s unbeatable in the ring,” Spence said, laughing.
“The ring?” I shifted in my chair, inching away from Eric and his slyly invading proximity.
“Yeah.” Eric turned to me. “Boxing.”
“Oh, cool.” I looked at Eric’s upper-arm just under his black fitted t-shirt. Nice arms. Melt.
“Do you like boxing?” he asked.
“Ha!” Emily and I both laughed.
“I’ll go ahead and take that as a no.”
“Sorry. Sports aren’t my thing. Aside from running.”
“Well, boxing’s fun. Maybe I could teach you a few moves sometime?” He sank back a little and a soft, almost shy half-smile masked the confidence in his eyes. “...If you want.”
I nodded. “Maybe.”
“So, what do you do for a living, Eric?” Emily asked, leaning on her elbow.
He flipped his chin toward the waitress and waved her over with his hand, then looked at Emily. “I work in a bike shop by day, and at night, play in a band.”
“No way!” Emily’s eyes widened. “That’s so cool. What instrument do you play?”
“Uh—” Eric smiled widely, looking sideways at me. “I’m the lead-singer-slash-guitarist.”
Okay, this just got more interesting. “What sort of music do you play?” I asked.
“Mostly?” He placed the wine glass the waitress handed him on the table and shifted in the chair so he fully faced me. “We play covers. Um, a bit of rock, love the alternative stuff like Muse, Thirty Seconds to Mars...”
“Oh, that’s good,” Emily jumped in, “Ara loves that stuff.”
Eric looked at me and smiled. “Well, maybe you should come watch us one night.”
“Maybe.” I washed my grin down with a sip of cola.
“Maybe?” Eric’s smile faded. “Don’t you like live music?”
“Are you kidding,” Emily said as I took a breath. “She’s a pianist. She loves music.”
“A pianist, hey?” Eric asked with a leading edge to his tone.
“Yeah. I’m teaching music right now, but eventually, when I get a piano, I wanna make a demo of my songs.”
“Well—” Eric nodded softly, “—I’d really like to hear them sometime.”
My shoulders lifted around my ears slightly and I reached for my drink again. Something about Eric was incredibly unsettling. He was so pleasant and easy going that he made me want to get to know him, tell him all my secrets, and yet, run away at the same time.
When the waiter placed our food on the table, Eric slid mine across to me, keeping his eyes on my face for a second too long. I quickly grabbed the salt that I had no intention of using and bit my teeth together when Emily and Spence exchanged those annoying we-know-what-she’s-thinking-glances. They don’t know anything. He’s nice, but dinner is as far as nice will go. I mean, sure, I like him, even though I only just met him, but he’s a guy, which means I’ll only hurt him.
“So, do you have any family, Ara?” Eric asked.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“No.” He left his food untouched, focusing on our conversation completely.
“Ur, well, yes, I do.” I looked at Emily.
“And you live alone?” Eric asked.
“I live with Emily.”
Eric looked at Emily, then, seeming to remember we weren’t alone, took a sip from his wine glass.
“Why do you ask?”
He let a breath out in a laugh and shook his head as he sipped his wine again. “No reason.”
The shudder that smile created in me was not met with the kind of caution it should have been; I merely brushed my common-sense mind aside and let my knee fall against his. He smiled down, then dropped his hand under the table and rested it on my leg. I didn’t move for the rest of the night, and added very little to the dinner banter.
“Well.” Emily stood up and shuffled out of the booth. “Must go to the little girl’s room.”
“Ur, yeah.” Spence looked at Emily. “Me too.”
“Uh, I’ll come with you.” I went to stand, but Emily spun back around and barred me, under no uncertain terms, with a wide-eyed stare of warning.
While I stood, feeling like an idiot, I could see Eric’s glare fall all over the curves of my waist and my shoulder blades. I sat back down and leaned on my hand, keeping my eyes forward, but could still see Eric’s grin.
God, he’s so cute and he knows it. I just want to crawl under the table and bite my nails.
“You know—” he shuffled closer, “—you can talk
to me. I promise I won’t bite.”
As his arm touched mine and the cool yet warm sensation—like play-doh warmed in the palm of your hand—started my heart, I froze and held my breath. I knew that feeling too well. Mix it with the eerie, skin-crawling tingle and... I stole a sideways glance at his forearm; his veins, they were clear! My eyes widened as I turned fully to make sure I saw it properly.
He followed my gaze, then looked back at my face with a tight pull across his brow. “No one’s...ever noticed that before.”
A small smile lifted my cheeks. He’s a vampire! “You might say I have previous experience.”
He glanced at my arm then; I shook my head. A silent exchange was occurring between us. I was sure he couldn’t read minds, but we both knew exactly what the other was implying. I rolled my neck to the side, prompted by his obvious confusion, and tilted my scarf.
His eyes widened slightly. “Do Spence and Em know?”
My head moved to say no as he softly ran his fingertip over the scar—the one Jason left. I covered it again. “They know about the scar, but not exactly what caused it.”
“Well—” Eric rested his curled fist beside his smile and leaned back, “I must say—”
“You two seem to be getting along.” Emily sat back down, smiling wildly.
“Yes.” Eric winked at me. “It seems we have quite a bit in common.”
“Oh, well, that’s great.” She raised her eyebrows in her ‘told you so’ fashion.
“Yeah, sure is.” I warmed to Eric like a rock to sun then, feeling so much more comfortable around him than before.
“In fact, I think we might have to spend a little more time together.” Eric stared at me, his mischievous smile totally disarming me. “If you like?”
I nodded. “I...yeah. I’d like that.” I totally avoided looking at Emily, not wanting to see that smug smile again.
Eric wandered beside me wearing a bashful smile, his leather jacket over his forearm. “Well, I certainly had an entertaining evening with you, Ara.”
I leaned my butt on my car and toyed with the hem of my dress. “Yeah, um. Me too.”
“I hope to see you again.” He smiled sincerely.
“Come back with us, Ric.” Spence slapped Eric on the shoulder. “We’re just going back the girls’ house to hang.”
Eric looked at me. I shrugged, and smiled. “I don’t mind.” I should—but I don’t.
“Sweet.” Eric’s eyes went soft and round then. “I’ll follow you.”
“Okay.” I turned and opened my car door, trying to wash off the thousand-spiders-made-of-cotton-crawling-up-my-skin feeling he gave me all over—that was also uniquely enticing.
The door closed and darkness consumed the heat of desire—leaving me feeling cold and vulnerable, unable to find the clutch. Get it together, Ara. He’s just a guy.
No! He’s a vampire.
Okay, this is bad. This is really bad. What am I doing? I can’t let—
“Hey.” A dull tap on my window started my mind from its reverie. I looked up at Eric, in all his black-leather-jacket and sexy-guy glory, sitting beside my car on his motorcycle. Melt. “Something wrong with your car?”
I wound my window down and started my engine. “Uh, no. I just...” forgot how to drive.
“S’like that, huh?” He laughed and winked at me before thrusting his foot down and turning the handle on his bike, a mighty roar polluting the silence.
I watched the red taillights disappear down the street before I found the familiar necessity called air again.
Oh, God. I can feel my vow of celibacy slipping.
I played it cool, leaning on the hood of my car; my arms crossed, keys in hand, and watched Eric shake out his shaggy blonde hair, resting his helmet on the seat in front of him.
Why do guys on motorcycles always have to look so sexy?
But my committed attempt at ultra-cool couldn’t save me from myself; as soon as he looked up—right into my eyes—my cheeks flushed, restoring my notion that, in my attempt to branch out and grow up, not much about me had really changed.
The vampire kicked his bike stand down then jumped off the seat, unzipping his jacket as he walked toward me with a toothy smile. And before my eyes, a wild wind swept his jacket apart, revealing his ribs and totally sexy abs, as a logo for men’s cologne came up, floating in mid-air.
Cheesy, but so deliciously cheesy.
I pressed my knees closer together and hugged myself tight.
“You might be able to keep your words to yourself, kiddo,” he said as he stepped up beside me and placed his hand on my lower back, “but you can’t hide the beating of your heart from a vampire.”
I took a deep, jagged breath. “Hm. You know, you’re nothing like Spence said you’d be.”
“Oh, really? And what exactly did he say I’d be?”
“Shy and shaky.”
Eric grinned and opened the front door for me. “He lied.”
Spencer and Emily disappeared to the bedroom after half an hour—leaving me and the vampire alone, with nothing but a low flame in the base of the open fireplace and a soft CD of piano that’d been on repeat for too long.
“Are you tired,” Eric asked, leaning up on his elbow to look at me.
I hugged my knees to my chest and shrugged, enjoying the warmth of the fire, the golden orange glow all around us and the simplicity of companionship that I’d forgotten. “I’m okay.”
After a deep breath, he reached across the rug and rested his fingertips to my scar-covering scarf. “May I?”
“Sure.” I nodded.
He sat up in front of me and untied the scarf, leaving a soft tickle in its wake. “Why do you hide it?”
I shrugged, letting him angle my face this way and that, not the least bit nervous with the way he studied me. “People don’t understand—they stare.”
“They stare because you’re beautiful.”
A smile flooded my face. I reluctantly pulled his hand away.
“So, are you going to tell me how it happened? You know I’ve been dying to know.”
“Only if you tell me where you’re from—which Set.”
Eric leaned slightly back and his eyes scrunched into a confused smile. “How do you kno—”
“I had a boyfriend—he was a vampire.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “So he did this?” he asked, motioning to my scar.
“No.” I shook my head and left it at that, smiling when Eric rolled his hand in the air, a non-verbal prompt for elaboration. “Nope. You first.”
“You cheeky little thing.” He pointed at me. “Fine—I’ll share first. What do you wanna know?”
“How long have you been a vampire—was it only recent?”
“No, I was born Éric Mason de la Rose, in Paris, nineteen-thirty-eight. I became a vampire at the age of twenty-five when I saw fit to start a fight with an old man in the street after getting drunk at the local tavern. I woke up the next morning with a headache and a hankering for blood.” He took a slow breath and paused for a second. “Why would you wonder if it were recent?”
“Wondered if you might know about the other Sets.”
“Giving info about the Set can have consequences. What did you want to know?”
I shrugged. “I’m kind of looking for...someone.”
“Even if I knew them, it’s not my place to give their information, Ara. We have laws against that to protect each other. Who were you looking for?”
“David Knight.”
Eric’s mouth dropped open, his face paling. “He’s one of my councilmen—you’re Amara?” He pointed at me.
“You’ve heard of me?” I crossed my legs and tucked my hands in my lap like a pre-schooler.
“Oh boy—” He shook his head. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble in the vampire world.”
“Me?”
“Well, at least now I know how you got that.” He nodded at the scar.
I touched my neck. “So you know it was—”
“Don’t say that name.” I looked into my lap.
“Why?” Eric knelt in front of me, then gave a knowing smile. “Oh, so you think he’s the bad guy, huh?”
“What? Eric, he is the bad guy!”
“Matter of opinion.” He shook his head, studying me more carefully. “I was at the hearing.”
“Hearing?”
Eric looked to one side and laughed. “Yeah. The hearing. Did you think David was gonna just let Jason get away with trying to kill his girlfriend?” His voice pitched like a prosecutor in a courtroom. “He went through every vampire law book ever written—trying to find a way to make Jason pay. But Jason’s defence was iron clad. It’s the biggest case in the history of vampires.”
I looked up at him. “Where is he now—David?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Defected.” While all hope slithered out of my smile, Eric ran his fingers slowly over the side of my face and under my chin, then lifted it until our eyes met. “The rumours were true. I should’ve realised when I saw you in the restaurant.” His voice softened and he sat lower on his knees—his breath touching my face. “You are the prettiest little human I’ve ever seen. I can see why he did what he did.”
“Who?”
“Jason.”
“Oh, my God!” I pulled away from him. “There is no justification for what he did to me.”
“No, Amara, I didn’t mean for hurting you. I meant that he left you alive.”
“He left me to become a vampire—which I’m pretty sure is illegal under your laws, if unapproved by the Council.”
“There’s no proof that he tried to change you.”
“What? You have to be able to prove it?”
“That’s the way it is.” Eric laughed then. “Jason was really clever, actually, taking revenge the way he did. There was nothing even a high councillor like David could do have him reprimanded.”
I stared ahead then, running everything over in my mind.
“Ah, you see now, don’t you?” Eric asked.
“But, that’s not fair.”
“Neither is what David did to Rochelle. But at least Jason left you alive.”
“David didn’t mean to kill Rochelle—he didn’t know she was pregnant.”