“Ouch,” I said, hugging my bag.
“I’m sorry.” Eric frowned, looking carefully over the hurt on my face. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I don’t wanna see ya sad, kiddo. I really don’t. But I don’t want you pining over a waste of time, either.”
I sat thinking about everything for a second. “Do you think he’ll come back if Arthur changes the laws of how vampires interact with human-mates?”
Eric shook his head. “I think Arthur’s plan is futile. You can’t change the past, can’t restore Councilman David’s faith in the system. And new laws won’t see David acquitted or Jason punished for what he did to you.”
Hmpf! “So, what will these new laws mean then—what will change?”
“Everything,” he scoffed. “See, Arthur can’t change the fact that, aside from a human’s death meaning nothing to a vampire, you’re all really just instruments for our own guilty pleasures. But he at least wants your species to be considered protected. Well, at least just those that the vampire’s own—”
“Own?”
“Friends. Like with you and me.”
“You don’t own me.”
“According to our laws, right now, I do. And there are too many of these cases where vampires are losing loved ones because of random or revenge attacks. I guess you could call it a Human Rights movement.” He laughed, self-amused. “It’ll take some of the freedom out of the hunt and the kill, and—”
“How?”
“Well, for one, we’ll have to be vigilant when choosing a victim, because if we make a simple mistake and kill a Marked human, it’ll be the Chamber of Torture for us.”
“And all this is purely to bring David back?”
“Not really. I think it’s a way for Arthur Knight to express his grief, like, maybe he thinks if he changes what is it will undo what was.”
“So he’s desperate to fix the past by altering the future?” I said. “That doesn’t work.”
“I know. They’ve had discussions about this movement since the sixteen hundreds, though, and Arthur was always an advocate, but no one else as high-ranking as him ever fought for it until now. Guess this just prompted action.”
“So if the law hasn’t passed yet, why aren’t you allowed to kill me?”
“While he’s running them through the Council, we’re obliged not to knowingly kill a human who belongs or belonged to another vampire. So, technically, I could kill you if I wanted to bad enough.”
“Oh. So”—I touched my neck—“do you want to, I mean, bad enough?”
Eric grinned and touched his fingertip to my shoulder. “I’d planned to kill you, yes. Right after Emily and Spence went to bed. Even asked Spence to give us some ‘time alone’.”
My heart raced with a sudden rush of tension. “Does Spence know what you are?”
Eric shook his head. “He just thought I wanted to bone you.”
It didn't escape me how hauntingly close I’d come to death that night, and it all could have been Spencer’s fault. “That’s so creepy.”
“Bird’s gotta fly; vampire’s gotta eat.”
“Well, you won’t be eating me.”
“Imagine how disappointed I was when I realized who you were.”
“But you knew I had contact with vampires. Didn’t you figure I belonged to someone already?”
He shook his head. “You’re not Marked. If you belonged to someone, you’d be Marked.”
“I belonged to David.”
Eric shrugged. “Too bad. He didn’t Mark you. Fair game.”
“Then why didn’t you kill me?”
He shifted awkwardly. “Not because you belonged to someone once, but more because of who you belonged to.”
“You’re scared of David?” Two imaginary hooks pulled my lips into a wide, sharp grin.
“I’d be a fool if I wasn’t.”
I shut my mouth tightly, trapping a throaty laugh. “So, you only have to stay away from those who are Marked?”
“At this point, yeah. As I said, it’s a courtesy to avoid owned humans that aren’t.”
“How civil of you.” I rolled my eyes. “But why Mark them? I mean, why own a human if you can’t be with them?”
“Some vampires really care about their humans—want them protected for life, even if they can never see them.”
“Oh. And… what the hell is Marking, anyway?”
“I guess it looks like what humans call a tattoo. To the naked eye, it looks like a tiny black dot just at the side of the neck. But under a microscope, they recently discovered that it’s a rune.”
“A rune?”
“Yeah, a symbol in the ancient language that represents possession.” He ran his fingertip down the curve of my shoulder, making all my hairs rise pleasantly. “It appears there, so when a vampire goes in for the kill, he sees it.”
“How—” I breathed, steadying my embarrassingly loud heart, thumping for the feel of being touched again. “How does he know it’s not just a dot?”
“For you, the Mark will be pale, almost green-black, but for us, when your blood runs warm and your body’s calling for the kill, it glows blue.”
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible?”
“How is immortality possible?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Ever heard of bioluminescent algae?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s like that, I guess. It’s what some people call Nature’s Magic. But that’s all I know. It freaks me out a bit.”
“Weird,” I said distractedly.
“Hey, Amara?”
“Mm.” The tickly sensation of his finger twirling a strand of my hair made it impossible to concentrate.
“If they pass this law, I’ll Mark you, okay? That way you’ll always be safe.”
“Even if the Set decide they want me dead?”
“I would hope so. There’d be great protest if the new law only applied to some.”
“Okay… but, how do you place a Mark on someone?”
Eric smiled, his eyes becoming smaller. “You bone them.”
The air came only to my lips, silky and stale, not reaching my lungs. “Just by bon… I mean, making love?”
He leaned in and pressed his lips close to my ear. “Just by making love.”
I cleared my throat. “So, does every person who’s made love to a vampire have a Mark?”
“Yes.”
“Why? How?”
“We carry a life force in our veins”—he leaned down slightly until my averted gaze met his—“all of our veins.”
My eyelids fluttered with the thought of Eric being that close to me; his lips on my neck, his hands around my waist, not one bare shred of skin unaffected as our bodies completely touched, and his life force went… inside of me. “So, your seed leaves a Mark?”
“No, not that, but…” He laughed, covering his smile with the back of his hand. “Well, we don’t really know. Some have theorized that when we orgasm—males and females—we share our life force with our partner. I guess it’s like, well, when a human has intercourse, they exchange fluids; you can get diseases, get pregnant, but if you mate with a vampire, you get Marked.”
“Gross.”
“It’s not. It’s beautiful. You absorb that force, that energy, and for some reason, it shows, like a birthmark on your neck, right over your carotid artery.”
I shook my head and took a deep breath. I needed to bring the conversation down a notch.
“Do you still get Marked if you wear a condom?”
“Far as I know, yeah.”
“Then it’s not bodily fluids that cause it.” I thought about that for a moment, going back to a theory in a book I read once, where they said that murder could split one’s soul. I wondered if the impact of loving a vampire that way, of giving yourselves over, caused some kind of fraction in the universe that bonded you to them.
Then, I thought about what it would mean if I did that with Eric.
“You’re not worried David might object to you and me sleeping together?”
“What’s he gonna do?” He held his hands out. “Arrest me?”
“I’d be more worried about what he’d do outside the limits of the law.”
Eric blinked a few times, as if it hadn’t occurred to him. “Are you trying to convince me not to want you?”
I lifted my shoulders up then dropped them.
“I think you just need time.” He cupped my knee. “You’ll forget him after a few months with me, and you’ll wonder why he was ever such a big deal.”
“I will never forget what he meant to me,” I said, shoving his hand off me.
“You will eventually. Your brain is only human.”
“But my love is eternal.”
“Really?” He grinned. “So you still love him, even after everything you’ve learned about him?”
“I always will.”
“Even after he nearly got you killed?”
“That wasn’t his fault.”
“Yes, it was. He riled Jason up.” Eric’s voice rose an octave higher.
“No. Jason got himself riled up. Jason attacked me. It was not David’s fault.”
“But he knew Jason was out to hurt him. Why do you think he tried to keep you such a secret?”
“He didn’t know Jason would do that.”
“Didn’t he?”
I looked at Eric and said “I don’t think he did” then looked away, biting my teeth together in my mouth.
“You know, you fascinate me.”
I looked at him again. “Why?”
He shook his head, leaning around to study my face. “You hate Jason for hurting you, yet David—who did the same to Jason’s girl—you love him? You love him unconditionally.”
“David is nothing like Jason.” I turned so my knees faced slightly away from him.
Eric exhaled loudly, running his hands through his hair. “I just don’t get you, girl. You make no sense. Councilman David”—he leaned forward and dropped his voice as a couple passed on the sidewalk—“is the bad guy here. He ridiculed and tortured his own brother his entire life. Rochelle was only one story.”
“What do you mean?”
“You say David was nice to you, which just makes you the exception. But he’s cruel, Amara. And not even his own brother was immune.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. So in the greater scheme of things, what Jason did was justified.”
“Justified? Hurting me is justified?”
Eric softened. “I’m sorry. I think it is.”
I looked away again.
“Amara, you know nothing about our world; you know nothing about David. You should get your facts straight before you make assumptions,” he said as he slumped back in the chair.
“It’s not an assumption to think it’s wrong for someone to kidnap and torture another.”
“But it was okay for David to do it?”
“I—” all my words dropped out onto the pavement in front of me.
“See?”
“David didn’t torture Rochelle.”
“Didn’t he? Because I heard in the court case that Jason showed you what David did to her. So how can you say David didn't mean to kill her, or that he didn't torture her?”
“I don’t…”
“Did you notice anything odd about the way she was sitting?”
“Rochelle?”
Eric nodded.
I wandered back through my mind, trying to find the memory Jason shoved down my throat, but there was nothing. It was gone. I’d never noticed until now that it was gone. Like I never even saw it. “I don’t remember.”
“What if he did? What if David tortured that poor girl so badly she prayed for death?”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“Amara. Tell me. What if he had? Would you still love him? Would you think David justified to have revenge on Jason if it were the other way around?” He waited for my answer, folding his fingers around his knee. “Look, I’m sorry you were the entity of one man’s revenge; you just got in the middle of the wrong feud, is all, but Jason’s not the bad guy.”
“Or maybe they both are.”
“But you still love David. And you still haven’t gotten up and walked away from the very same creature that they are.”
I looked down at my shoes. He was right. I should leave. But I couldn’t. “People make mistakes, Eric.”
“So you forgive Jason?”
“No.”
“David?”
“I love him.” I pinched my thumb, ashamed of that. “I can’t help how I feel.”
“And Jason loved Rochelle.”
“So you’re siding with him?”
“I don’t take sides. You’ll learn that about me very quickly, kiddo. Neutral is safe.”
I wanted to get up and walk away from him, but the truth was, I needed him, so I smiled instead. “Well, since you’re neutral, you’ll just have to be my informant then.”
“Informant on what?”
“On what’s going on with… these laws and changes.”
“Hm.” He flashed an enigmatic grin. “Want me to keep an eye out for David, huh?”
I twiddled my fingers in my lap. “If you could.”
“Does that mean we get to hang out?”
“I guess so.”
“Then, it’s a deal.”
“But only if it’s arranged. None of this stalking stuff. Okay?”
“Shake on it?” He extended his hand. When I placed mine in his, a small quiver of electricity charged our touch, making me tingle from my fingernails to my elbow. I dropped my hand into my lap.
He made everything on me tingle, made me forget everything I wanted or didn’t want, everything I liked and disliked. I looked sideways at him, trying not to smile at his smug grin, wondering if he might possibly be reading my mind.
“What?” I asked finally.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that”—he took a breath and swallowed hard—“David said your eyes were amazing, but I never imagined they’d look like the sun shining on the bluest ocean. It’s a shame you’re so closed off. I’d have fun with you.”
“Closed off?” I laughed. “From what?”
“I dunno. Sex, a relationship. Love, maybe.”
“Love? What, with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You’re a vampire.”
“So? You loved David, he was a vampire.”
“I didn’t know that when I fell for him. And I didn't know all the complications it would come with.”
“You’re falling for me.”
A moment of silence hovered around us. “I’m not.”
“Denial is a river in Egypt.”
“Oh, shut up!”
Eric laughed warmly when I slapped his thigh with the back of my hand. Then, sobering himself with a wipe of his palm across his jaw, he said, “So, you drank his blood, huh?”
“Yes.”
“And he drank yours?”
“What’s your point?”
He looked at my lips. “How was it?”
While the memory of that day by the lake flooded my heart, I closed my eyes. “It was… beautiful.”
Eric tapped his foot, drumming his fingers on his knee. “I’ve never done it… with a willing human. Must’ve been exhilarating for him.”
“I wouldn’t know, and neither will you—not with me.” Time to go. I stood up, folding my arms over my chest.
“Aw, come on, Amara,” Eric called, following me across the road. “Just do it with me once. Just once.”
“No way. I could never trust you with my blood. I can’t get bitten again, Eric. I might not survive.”
“Well, what if I let you drink mine? I won’t take yours.” He stopped on the median line.
I stopped too, thinking about it—imagining it.
“No!” I unlocked my car. “It’s too intimate. I’ll never do that again.”
“I’ll keep trying until you say yes,” he called as I hopped in and slammed the door, wrapping my fingers in a bone-white grip around the steering wheel. I wanted to say yes; wanted to get out of this car right now and tell him to come home with me.
I watched him in my rear-view mirror, walking down the street toward the music shop, then shook my head and flipped the mirror so I could see my own face.
“If we’d been alone, then…” I said, touching my cheek.
I would’ve done it. I knew myself. I definitely would have. When I drank David’s blood, it made me feel so good. It energized me; I felt light and yet kind of powerful. The life force in their bodies must seep out through their blood as well as their, er… seed, and I was sure it had healing properties, too, because after that my bruises healed a little faster than normal, and even the slit where he took my blood healed within the week.
But it wore off so quickly, leaving me craving and bitter inside. And with the way I’d felt lately: tired, so tried, so lost, depressed, crying all the time and sometimes thinking I’d rather be dead, I really didn't need to exacerbate that.
I decided right then that I should stay away from Eric unless he had some info on David. Besides, if he kept pressuring me to drink his blood, I would—by force of pure addiction—I’d do it. And I knew too well that blood led to sex. Not that I had a problem with sex, but I knew David would never forgive me if I did it with a vampire.
5
When the weekend finally arrived, I slammed the front door on the Friday behind me and called into the house to see if anyone was home.
“In here, baby.”
As I came through the archway into a room filled with laughter, Emily wiped tears from her very red, smiling cheeks.
“Mike’s been filling me in on all your quirky little habits, Ara.”
“Mike!” I dumped my purse onto the hall-stand.
“What?” He shrugged. “You’re funny.”
Emily stifled another giggle. “According to Mike, you were a real pain in the ass.”
“Well, I have a few funny tales of my own.”
Dark Secrets Box Set Page 75