by A. M. Hudson
“May I?” a gentle voice asked, and a boy stepped into view; tall, yet not as tall as Mike, with soft brown hair—his face hidden behind a black mask, but instantly recognisable.
David?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mike kissed my cheek and took a step backward, giving away the last dance of the evening to this stranger he’d never met. My heart raced, my breath quickening as the boy stepped into me and took my hand, but it all stopped—all the hope, all the excitement, just trickled away when his cold touch met mine with no familiarity.
It wasn’t him.
The stranger pulled me close with one sweeping touch, my hips against his, my body arching back slightly, his green eyes locked to mine.
“Moonlight Sonata,” he said in a smooth, gentle voice, gesturing toward the piano. “Your favourite piece.”
“Yes.” I squinted against the dark, trying to see him better beneath the mask. “Do I know you?”
He shook his head once and said nothing more.
The song’s harmonies set the pace to his gracefulness, while the elegance in his stance seemed adopted from another era; one hand gently under my shoulder blade, the other extending our arms out widely. He’d danced before. Perhaps on a night such as this. I dreamed of it for a moment; he and I, in another time, another place, dancing this way until sunrise. But the very idea, the very thought of having been in his arms before, came from a place—a dream-like state—somewhere deeper inside. It was as if I didn’t own the thought at all.
I looked up at the boy, his smile showing only by the dimple beside the curve of his lip, and a strange sensation saturated the air around me, a feeling like energy—closing me in, making this dance a secret from the rest of the world.
From the sideline, Mike stood watching, arms folded, leaning in, whispering to Alana and Ryan every few seconds. I wondered if he could see us; if he could see the way this boy held me—if he found it odd that he pulled me close, like he’d held me there a thousand times before. All the laws of nature said he could, but I felt invisible.
“Can you feel that?” I asked.
He turned his head an inch and looked down at me; his mysterious eyes held a depth of darkness to them that made me feel suddenly very uneasy. “I’m the one doing it.”
I looked at Mike again—having a thumb war with Spencer—and my heart hurried a little. I wanted him to come, to tap this boy on the shoulder and ask for me back, hold me safe in his arms, but the boy squeezed my hand gently, tightening his hold on my back.
“Our dance is not yet complete, my lady,” his wet lips whispered onto my brow. “It would be incredibly bad manners to leave a man in the middle of the dance floor. You wouldn’t want to be rude, would you?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,” I said softly, and something inside me screamed, wriggling about, warning me to move away. But I stayed in his arms, smiling his smile as we passed each dancer, softly nodding my head in greeting. It felt unnatural.
When the music ended, the boy stopped and clapped gently. “Thank you, my lady.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, but made no haste to move away from him. I stood, staring up at him, like a stuffed animal. “Please tell me who you are.”
Another song began; he bowed low, holding his arm across his body. “Care to dance the encore first?”
“I—” I swallowed, shaking my head as a name came to mind. “Jason?”
“Très bien, madame.” He stood taller, his lip creasing in one corner, leaving the smile to come only from behind his eyes—the way David smiled when he read my mind.
“You look so much like him.”
Jason exhaled and offered his arm; “Walk with me?”
“Where to?”
“Just to the balcony,” he said, cupping my hand into the crook of his elbow.
We passed right by Mike and my friends, who didn’t even look up as this stranger led me away from the dance floor.
“It’s a beautiful night, wouldn’t you agree?”
“A perfect night.” I leaned on the marble railing, watching the other dancers in the final act.
“Perfect for one’s last,” he said softly.
“Pardon?”
“I shall not repeat myself, girl. It’s rude not to listen.”
“I heard you. I just wondered what you meant.”
Jason smiled, seemingly to himself. “I meant that if this were your last night, it would be a grand way to spend it.”
“Yes.” I looked down at the dance floor again. “I suppose so.”
“Do you know why I’ve come?”
I shook my head. “Are you here because of David?”
“In ways.” His eyes focused on something distant, while the same malignant smile as before settled onto his dark-pink lips, sending shivers down my spine. Bad shivers.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“In pain, I suspect?”
“What do you mean by that?” I stood up straight.
Jason turned and leaned his back on the ledge. “I mean—you hurt him. Badly. I suspect he’s grieving at this time.”
“What would you know about it?”
“I know you gave him your heart, then denied him your life.”
“That’s none of your business,” I said, turning to walk away.
But his hand lashed out and caught my arm, spinning me into his chest with a breathtaking jolt. “On the contrary, my dear, it is.”
“What are you doing?” I wedged the ball of my palm into his chest. “Let go of me.”
When a few curious glances flicked our way, Jason placed his hand firmly on my lower back and forced my arms into position. “Dance with me.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“I’ll make you.” He held me firmly, spinning around to the soft piano, like we were just two masked teens in love.
“What do you want, Jason?”
“I think you already know what I want.”
“I’ve never been one for guessing games.”
“Let’s just say—” his eyes, under the cover of the black mask, became small with a smile, “—I’m not here for pleasure.”
The pulse between my collarbones seemed to shoot out backward, filling me with a sudden urge to run. I cast my eyes to the dance floor, but Mike was gone. The space he stood before—vacant. “Well,” I said, sounding amazingly calm, “if it’s not pleasure, it must be business. What business do you have here?”
“The concluding of an age-old quarrel among brothers—one you, so unfortunately, have found yourself recompense of.”
“What?”
Jason’s head moved at a fraction of an inch, the green in his eyes occupying the corners. “Someone is looking for you.”
I followed his sideways gaze to see Mike running through the crowd—panicked, touching the shoulders of various individuals—obviously desperate to find me.
Look up, Mike, look up.
“I’ll kill him, Ara. If he comes for you—he will die.”
“Why?” I gasped. “What do you want with me?”
“It’s nothing personal, really.” He tilted his head. “Then again, perhaps it is.”
“Huh?”
He sighed. “I’m going to hurt you to hurt my brother.”
My mouth fell open with a huff. “Don’t you dare touch me.”
“Oh, I’m going to do worse than touch you.”
“No!” I sunk my knees down, slipping free from his hold, but he grabbed my arm, hoisting me to my feet and started walking toward the dark chamber gardens. “Let me go, Jason,” I ordered, “I’ll scream.”
He just smiled wickedly, keeping his eyes on our destination. “You won’t scream. Because I’ll kill them—all of them, Ara. I will take every last life that resides in this miserable gathering, and I will save you until the end, so you may watch as I tear apart each one of your friends and eviscerate your replacement lover.”
“No. You have no right to do that.” I tugged hard against
him. “I won’t let you hurt them.”
“Then come quietly.”
“No.” I scratched at his hand, trying to unwind his fingers from my arm, but they tightened—his nails digging in to my flesh. “Let me go!”
He laughed. “Um, no.”
As we neared the step, my darting gaze of desperation flicked around the room, passing over the smiles of distracted couples. But each face was unfamiliar. No one knew me. No one knew I was being kidnapped. And not one of the faces was David. He was supposed to be here. He was supposed to come. The last dance on the hour of midnight. That was the deal.
The haunting piano stopped below us, and the gentle clicking of applause filled the air as Jason pulled me along—attempting discretion—and to my amazement, succeeding.
We stopped by the stairs, waiting as a few couples emerged from the darkness, straightening their clothes, looking a little flushed. Jason smiled at them knowingly, pulling me in to conceal his tight grip within the closeness of our bodies. I tried to push my hips away from his, but he hooked his foot around my ankle, leaning closer to whisper against my brow. “If you bring attention to yourself, young lady, I will dig my fingertip into your skin and cut your bone in half.”
I stopped struggling, taking shallow breaths to suppress the deep urge to fight, and when I saw my hand against the lapels of Jason’s jacket, my ruby ring standing out like midnight blood, Mike’s face, the way he smiled when I accepted his proposal, came to mind. All those things that were lost filled my heart with regret. I wanted Mike to come—wanted him to save me. And a part of me didn't care about anyone else in the room; a part of me just wanted to scream out while I still had the chance. But if I even indulged in the idea, I’d be risking Mike’s life too.
“Mike can’t help you now, anyway, Ara. He’s only human.”
David could help me—if he were here. I know he’d...
“David will not help you, either. He’s not coming back for you.” Jason’s eyes flooded with amusement as he looked down at the cold liquid running from my nose and eyes, trickling past my quivering lip. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
I nodded, closing my eyes tight.
“It’s quite the poetic ending, really, that you despised him, lost him because you could not become the beast he is, and yet, in dying, your beautiful face and body will be marred beyond recognition, crafting you, essentially, into an eternal beast.”
“No!” The fright left my lips in an uncontrolled wail, and several other cries came from nearby, couples parting, nearly toppling over the railing as a bulk figure burst through them on the stairs. Jason slowly looked over his shoulder, his gaze meeting Mike’s for a split second, a lifetime of comprehension passing the invisible barrier between them. And Mike started running.
Panic overruled my fear. I wriggled in Jason’s arms, torn between reality and paranormal. I couldn't let my world touch Mike’s—couldn’t let him die for me. “Jason!” I gasped in a low voice. “Run!”
“As you wish,” he said, and in that moment, as he reached down and swept me off the ground, Mike knew. I closed my eyes and prayed as the darkness closed me in, seeing Mike’s face, seeing all hope slip for that one heartbeat when he knew, when he realised for the first time, that he would never see me again.
A rush of wind and the feel of speed beneath my feet ended suddenly. I opened my eyes again to kaleidoscope shadows of leaves on my hands and dress. Jason spun me at the shoulders, facing me in the other direction, and pointed past the border of the forest to the top of the stairs.
Mike grasped the railing and leaned into the night—searching the darkness frantically, as my name echoed off the emptiness, his voice breaking to tears beneath the panic.
“He won’t give up, you know,” I said.
“Then he’ll die.”
I looked back at Jason and, seeing the seriousness in his eyes, slowly looked upon my Zorro one last time. Mike’s hands flew into his hair, gripping tightly as he sunk down onto the step, his head between his knees.
“That’s quite a warrior you have there,” Jason said. “Perhaps I should oblige him to a duel?”
“You came here for me. You leave him out of this,” I warned, clenching my fists.
Jason watched again for a second as Emily landed beside Mike, her hand on his shoulder, her head whipping up to search the gardens before she took off up the stairs, running. Mike rolled back, looking up at the sky, then reached into his pocket, his phone lighting his face blue a second later.
“My dad. He’s calling my dad.”
“No,” Jason said. “He’s calling the police.”
The severity of the situation hit me then. I drew a shaky breath, feeling the frosty, pine-scented wind tighten my chest. “You won’t get away with this.”
“That was never the plan.”
My shoulders slowly inched closer to my jaw. “I…I don’t want you to hurt me.”
“Of course you don’t,” he said, amused. “It wouldn’t be any fun if you did.”
“Fun? So that’s what this is really about? Fun?”
He turned to me, slowly laying widespread fingers to his mask and drew it away, revealing a face that stole my breath. “To a degree.”
“You’re sick, Jason.” I looked away from the kind eyes of my David, offensive on this vile man.
“I’m not the sick one. Your beloved vampire ex is.”
“David?” I scoffed. “At least he would never take an innocent life for revenge.”
Jason’s sudden burst of laughter was revoltingly boyish and sincere; a different kind of laugh to his brother’s. “Oh, that’s right. You think he’s kind—and compassionate.”
“I don’t think. I know.”
He spun around about a foot away and bowed with humour, crossing his hands over his stomach. “My dear, young lady, you have been kept in the dark, haven’t you?”
“Not as far as I’m concerned.” I wedged my hands onto my hips.
“As far as you’re concerned? As far as you are concerned, my sweet girl, he is a vile, disgusting vampire who kills people with his teeth; not good enough for you to love eternally. Is it any surprise he might have done something terrible in his past that, perhaps, hurt others?”
“Like what?”
“Like killing a girl I was in love with!” Jason’s cold breath infected the side of my face as he sprung up suddenly in front of me, whispering his words into my skin. “And I intend to repay him the favour.”
I jerked away, shoving him. “Go ahead, Jason. If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.”
He laughed. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I wiped my lip, standing taller. “I’m tired of this. In fact, since you obviously want to taint his honour with your little story about how evil David is, why not break into a little bad-guy monologue?” I challenged. “Maybe you can even get stuck in it just long enough for me to escape.”
Jason’s hand moved, and every muscle in my throat seized up, the blood filling my head above the cage of fingers. “Do not speak to me with such contempt, you haughty little bitch.” He thrust his arm downward, slamming me to the floor.
I coughed out, falling to my side, clenching the grass in a small fist as I tried to catch my breath—half suffocating under the rattling of my heart.
“Have we learned our lesson now?” The predator towered over me.
“Just leave me alone.” I sniffled, rolling onto my knees, tearing the mask from my face.
“Leave you alone?” He knelt beside me, taking the mask. “Why would I go and do a thing like that? Especially now you’re crying.”
“What’s that got to do with it?” I asked, dabbing a finger under my lashes.
“She cried. She begged him to stop.” He turned my jaw until it faced him; I wouldn’t look into his eyes, though. “You, my dear, have only reached phase one of your torture.”
“Then what’s phase two?” I asked through my teeth, scrunching the grass tightly. “If
you’re going to kill me, I’d rather not drag this out playing guessing games.”
“Oh, but my lovely girl, games are half the fun—they’re what will climax the ending when I show him the way I hurt you,” he said in a kind voice, like he was talking to a child. “Finally, he will get to see how it feels to watch someone he loves die at the hands of someone he’s trusted his whole life.”
“You saw him kill her—this girl you loved?” My whisper came out ragged.
“I did—in his memories.” He seemed to choke. “You cannot fathom the debasing things he did to her, Ara—you cannot comprehend what she suffered in those last moments.”
“So you’re going to be the one to make me understand?” I said sarcastically.
Jason thumbed a tear away from my chin. “Yes, but first, by making you see.”
When his hand came up fast, I cowered, shielding my cheek, but he shoved my wrist away, gripping both sides of my face to pull me closer.
“What’re you doing?” I asked, nose to nose with this man who meant to hurt me.
“Blessing you with the gift of insight.” He squeezed my face tighter as I fought him. “Sit still.”
“No. I don’t want you to touch me.”
“You need to see this,” he said, breathless. “You need to know what you’re dying for.”
“Why?”
“Why?” His voice broke, tears coating his eyes. “Because it matters.”
And a small part of me actually felt a pang of pity for him then. I held my breath, listening for the voices in the distance calling my name. All I wanted was to run to them, to get away, but I exhaled slowly and looked deep into the eyes of my captor. “Let it go, Jason.”
He pressed his thumbs under my eyes, holding me in place; the indentation of his grip suggesting that movement might result in a cracked skull. “Take a deep breath, Ara.”
“Please—don’t.” As his icy touch sent a stinging jolt through my cheek, I jerked back, wriggling like a fish on a hook; I pushed my wrists down on his forearms, merely making his grip tighter. “Get off me, it hurts.”
“I know.”
“Please—” I tugged at his thumbs. “Please stop.”
“Close your eyes,” he ordered. “It will hurt less.”
