Dark Secrets Box Set

by Angela M Hudson

  “No way. I’m human, remember, and the one helmet you have won’t fit my head.”

  “So? You’ll love it. Come on.”

  The afternoon sun stroked the silver spider webs painted along the abdomen of his bike, and his hair almost seemed to look silver too, like he was an angel cast under a spotlight from Heaven, with the devil’s grin to make me want him.

  Going against everything my human instincts desired, I walked away from the music store and straight past Eric. “No, thanks. I’ll pass.”

  “Okay, we’ll walk.”

  “Walking, I can do.” Looking at him, I could not. When he wasn’t around, I could convince myself that he wasn’t that cute, but in his presence, I was like those pathetic girls at school that had crushed on David. I knew it was the vampire luring my human weakness, which only made me more wary of him.

  As Eric paced his steps to mine, I caught a peripheral glimpse of his shaggy hair and the indent on his right cheek—not a dimple, like David’s, but a line that pressed in when he smiled—and instantly regretted not going on his bike with him.

  “Hey, Amara?”

  The urge to look at him took over and the kindness in his chocolate brown eyes made me smile for a second.

  “That’s better,” he said, looking forward again. “I was wondering where that pretty smile was.”

  Pretty? I tried not to let that affect me, but his flattery nudged its way into my better judgment and formed a pathetic giggle, which I ate the moment it touched my lips. Damn hormones. No, damn vampires!

  I chastised myself with a stern reminder then to stop being so human and to stay on course: eternal loneliness and abstinence.

  “So, who’s the newb?” Eric asked.

  “The newb?”

  “Yeah, the guy at your house. Who is he?”

  I stopped walking. “Okay, that’s creepy. Have you been stalking me?”

  He shrugged. “Only a little.”

  “Eric?” I started walking again.

  “I’m sorry.” He stuffed his hands back in his pockets, contradicting the confident Eric with the bashful, remorseful one. “Part of it’s that I’m keeping an eye on you, and then there’s the ethereal pull of the forbidden fruit.”

  “Forbidden fruit?”

  “Yeah. I’m not allowed to kill you, so it makes me want to so much more.”

  “You want to kill me?”

  He shrugged. “Among other things.”

  “That’s… erk, whatever.” I shook that off. “But why aren’t you allowed to kill me?”

  His eyes widened. “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know. Shit’s going down at the moment. Arthur Knight’s put a warning out against killing owned humans.”

  “Is that…” I swallowed so his name wouldn’t stick in my throat. “David’s uncle?”

  “Yup. He’s on this crusade to change century-old laws, you know, bring a balance between the Two Worlds.”

  “The what now?”

  “The Two Worlds: Humans and Vampires.”

  “Of course. Shoulda known,” I said sarcastically. “So, what’s that got to do with not killing me?”

  “You started it all.”

  “Started what?”

  “Seat?”

  “I started a seat?”

  Eric, rolling his eyes, offered the park bench on the side of the road across from my car.

  “Oh. Seat. Yeah, sure,” I said sheepishly.

  The vampire waited until I sat down before positioning himself a little too close to me. I inched away; he followed. I stayed put, smirking.

  “Anyway, so… what do I have to do with Arthur changing laws?”

  “David was Arthur’s favorite; everyone’s favorite, actually. And Arthur thinks David left because he couldn’t be with you—that if these laws were in place to not only allow vampires to be with humans long-term, but also make Marks a legal form of protection, then none of this would’ve happened.”

  “Marks?”

  Eric laid his arm along the back of the bench, facing me as I stared awkwardly forward. “Yeah, Marks. They’d mean that no vampire is allowed to hurt, touch or change that human without their vampire’s approval. Ever. And if they did, the consequences would be dire.”

  “What kinds of consequences?”

  “For most things it’s usually a seven-day burial or starvation. Only serious offenses warrant torture. But Arthur wants this ruled a crime punishable by cruel and unusual methods. You know we feel pain more intensely than a human, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, try a year of torture. You never die, never get any peace.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “It’s horrible, and they know exactly how to build on the intensity, so you suffer unendingly.” He shrugged. “But how else do you make powerful, blood-hungry beings behave?” He nodded, breathing in through his teeth and rubbing the tops of his thighs. “Pain is a very good motivator.”

  “If they can catch you. Can’t you just run or hide?”

  “Ha!” Eric snorted. “They will catch you. You can only run for so long, Amara.”

  “Will they catch David?

  “Eventually. Yeah.”

  I didn’t want to think of that. “Have you ever been punished like that?”

  “No, but David has.”

  “What?” My hand flew to my lips. “Why?”

  “He never told you?”

  “No, he never really told me anything.”

  “Let me guess…” He laughed the words out. “He gave you the ‘top secret’ spiel.”

  “Yes.”

  Eric laughed louder. “It’s not true. Ideally, humans aren’t supposed to know about the Set, but we’re free to tell you if we want. It’s just on our own shoulders if you spill.”

  “What do you mean by ‘on your own shoulders’?”

  “We have to kill you.”

  “Then why wouldn’t David ever tell me anything? I would never have told anyone?”

  “Wouldn’t you?” Eric arched a skeptical brow.

  “No! I mean… I thought about it. But I wouldn’t have.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe he wanted to protect you from the truth then—about himself.”

  “What truth?”

  “I dunno, his past, his job, his overall personality. Put it this way,”—he turned more to face me—“David’s done some pretty awful things, Amara. And that’s by vampire definition. I don’t know what you knew about him or how he was with you, but you seem to have this bright-eyed romantic view of him, so I’m guessing you didn’t know the real David very well.”

  “Well, who is the real David?”

  “All I can say is that, before he became the ‘new David’, he was the most ruthless punisher on the Council.”

  “Wait, he did the punishing as well?”

  “Oh yeah, he was vile. I’ve heard stories from vampires saying they’re sure they saw the white light when he was torturing them. And then there was Pepper.”

  “What did he use pepper for?”

  “Not the table seasoning, dummy. Pepper was his girlfriend.”

  “Oh.” I felt my brows pinch together. “Well… what happened to her?”

  “He never spoke of her?”

  “No. He told me once that he had a girlfriend who was taken away. Was that her?”

  “Probably.”

  “Well, what happened? Why did they take her away?”

  “They didn’t. He did.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. She broke one of our most supreme laws, and he sentenced her.”

  “Why did he do it?”

  Eric shrugged. “He was appointed judge of her hearing.”

  “And he actually did it—to someone he loved?”

  Eric cleared the laughter from his throat. “David is the law. You break it, he will punish you. Doesn’t matter who you are.”

  “Well, what law did Pepper break?”

  He leaned his elbows on his knees, his jaw jutting slightly. “She
turned a child.”

  “What? Made a vampire child?”

  “Yep.”

  “Why?”

  “Nature’s instinct to procreate—women and babies, you know—she wanted a kid, so she went and got one.”

  “Oh, my God.” I covered my mouth. “But vampires can’t die, so the kid is… it’s just…”

  “Just living out eternity.” He leaned back then and placed his arm over the chair-back. “We call them the Immortal Damned.”

  “They? There’re more of them?”

  “Hundreds, cursed to spend eternity as a child. They lose their parents, their childhood. They can never go to school or be normal. The Council keep them locked up in a cell. It’s the worst kind of hell, especially for the babies.”

  “There are babies?”

  “Mm-hm.” He nodded absently. “So, anyway, Pepper changed a young boy, and the Council found out. David was torn apart, as any boyfriend would be, but he had a duty to uphold. He looked her in the eye, and he made an example of her.”

  “What sentence did he give?”

  “Two years first grade torture followed by five hundred years imprisonment.”

  “But that’s horrible! How can he do that to someone he loved?”

  “Sentencing wasn’t the worst, Amara. He was the one that did the torturing.”

  My eyes drifted off, imagining it, thinking back to how he’d once told me that he loved blood and gore. “That doesn’t sound like the David I knew.” But then, I didn’t really know him, did I?

  “Well, the David we all knew scared the shit out of us, and that David certainly wouldn’t shirk his duties, flee his obligations because of a human.”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault he left.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “I didn’t do this. I didn’t make him leave. Everything went sour after Jason kidnapped me. David was fine before that,” I said with a certain amount of hostility.

  “No. It started before the masquerade incident. He sent a letter a few weeks earlier, saying he wasn’t returning to duty. Apparently, Arthur had to knock some sense into him.”

  “He would have returned if he could’ve brought me with him.”

  “What, as a human?” his tone rose high with incredulity.

  “Yeah.”

  “They’d have killed you on the spot.” He gave a small shake of his head, as if that were a really dumb thing to say. “No humans.”

  “Why? You’re with a human now.”

  “Not living with one, and I’m not a councilman.”

  “So?”

  “So, they have different rules.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they are the law. They lead by example.”

  “So you can hang out with but can’t live with a human?”

  “Of course we can live with humans, if we have permission from the Council. But Council members have to either turn or kill their humans after so much as dating them. Otherwise, they’d better damn-well hope no one knew that human existed.”

  “Why is it so strict for them?”

  “Because they hold all the secrets of our kind, things most vampires wouldn’t even know they didn’t know.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like… I don’t know. That’s just my point.”

  “Well, do you have an example?”

  “Um.” He tapped his fingers on his thigh. “Okay, for one, they know how our systems work; how an enemy, human or vampire, could penetrate our organization and take control. They know the secrets of our past, they… some of them even know how to turn a human to a vampire.”

  “But not all of them?”

  “No. Only two or three leaders actually know that secret, and no one even knows which leaders do. Although, we have a pretty good idea now that David does, otherwise, how else did Pepper figure it out?”

  “So they can’t be with humans because they know more stuff than you do?”

  “Right.”

  “But what if they never shared any of those secrets?”

  “Amara.” He smirked. “You’ve been with vampires. It’s nearly impossible to be around one for any length of time without putting two and two together, and it’s a fact that couples share secrets. This is the only way the Council can assure absolute confidentiality among its members.”

  “Why was David allowed to leave me alive then?”

  “He’s gotten away with it for years. He never revealed himself as a vampire before, so the Council looked the other way when he chose not to kill the humans he’d befriended, but things are raw with your case. You couldn’t be turned, which means you’d legally need to be killed, and now he’s gone missing. I’m still not really sure what they plan to do about you.”

  My skin crawled. “Will they kill me?”

  “Maybe.” He laughed it off like a joke made outside a playground on a sunny Sunday morning. “But the order hasn’t been given for your death, and I’m not sure it will be.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of Arthur, for one.” He sat back. “He’s kind-of on David’s side. Not to mention, sits at the right hand of the king. While he’s in your court, Amara, you needn’t worry. It’s if David comes back that the real problems may arise.”

  “And what then?”

  “Then…” His voice trailed off. “He will be arrested, and you might be killed.”

  I swallowed the golf ball in my throat.

  “Look, kiddo, if it was an issue, you’d be dead already. It’s really not on the top of their to-do list.”

  “Should I be looking over my shoulder?”

  He pouted, his warm eyes soft, almost caring. “Why do you think I’ve been hanging around?”

  I tried not so smile.

  “There’s not much I can do if they make a ruling that sees you terminated,” he said with a shrug, “but at least I can give you a heads-up.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Two reasons: one: we’re friends,” he said, but his eyes were questioning until I nodded. “And, two: you might say I owe David a solid.”

  “What for?”

  “He’s… let’s just say he looked the other way a few times when I needed him to.”

  “Oh. So, do you think…?” I looked around. “Are they watching me—to see if I blab?”

  He shrugged, his lips turned down with thought. “Maybe.”

  “I won’t blab.”

  “I know. And I really don’t think they’ll take that kind of action against you, anyway, Amara. If you think about it, you’re the only reason David would have to return here, even if it’s fifty years from now. If they kill you, he’ll disappear forever, and justice will remain un-served.”

  I felt a little better at that idea, but it also made me wish David would never come back. Not just for my sake, but also for his. “Do you think he will? Come back, I mean?”

  “No.”

  My shoulders tightened a little. “Ever?”

  “No. He’s not that stupid. Put it this way: Council Leader is one of the highest-sought positions in our entire community. As a young vampire I could only dream of such an achievement, and if D—”

  “Why is it so great?”

  “Because they get to live.”

  “What do you mean by live?”

  “Have a life, like you do.”

  “Life? Like, family, or—”

  “No, nothing like that. Just… living. Thing is, despite our lack of interest in your kind, the lifestyle, the flare, the glamour and fun of it all is something we all crave—a trait brought over from our roots, I guess—but we’re governed by so many laws it’s almost not worth trying to live.”

  “So it’s not all just about drinking blood?”

  “Of course not. Once the bloodsucking’s done for the day, you need things to fill your life. But moving constantly, checking in once every day, having to answer to someone about who you’re interacting with gets tiresome after a few decades.”

  “And why does that make
people want to be a Council Leader?”

  “Because they live by fewer laws than we do—one of those being the right to two years complete freedom after they give two years of service.”

  I nodded, taking it all in. “So, it’s hard to get on the Council then?”

  He laughed almost nervously. “Yeah. I know I don’t have the stomach for it, but David did. And he worked really hard to achieve that at such a young vampire age. So, what I want you to understand, kiddo, is that, if he left that behind, with the deep-seated knowledge of what would be done to him if he did, and he didn’t bother to take you with him, then his defection was not for pain of the heart, but for the principle.”

  “Huh?”

  “He cares more about the failure of justice than that he couldn’t be with you.”

  I was about to protest with some ultra-witty comeback, but the possible truth beneath his words settled in, overfilling my heart with blood. “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “Actually, I do.”

  “H… how?” I said in a small voice.

  “Amara.” He laughed. “He’s gone, despite knowing damn well you’re at risk of termination. He left you unprotected. I don’t think he really cares what happens to you.”

  “I don’t believe that.” I folded my arms. “I can see the logic, and I don’t doubt that he ran away because of the failure of justice, but he thinks I’m safe, or he would have taken me with him.”

  “Wow, you’re just so sure of that, aren’t you?”

  I nodded, holding on to that surety, despite it trying to slip away on the breeze.

  “Then what do you think he’d do if they kidnaped you to make him return?” he asked conceitedly. “Do you think he’d actually come back and rescue you?”

  I thought about it for a moment, imagining all the terrors he’d face if he did. And, sadly, I felt my heart drop. “No.”

  Eric sat back, his smug smile irritating me from the soul outward.

  “But not because he doesn’t care,” I added contritely. “He’d just know that’s what I’d want.”

  “Yeah, well, David doesn’t do what others want him to do. He does what he needs to, and that’s that. If you were kidnapped and he didn’t rescue you, it wouldn’t have anything to do with what you wanted.”

  He was right. I knew that. Also knew that same fact applied to the reasons David had left me behind. Truth was, if his absence were to protest that we couldn’t be together, he’d have kidnapped me himself. And if he knew there was a risk the Set might order my death, but defected anyway, leaving me unprotected, then he obviously wasn’t too concerned about my safety. It made me feel almost like I didn’t know him at all.