by A. M. Hudson
The surface of the lake showed itself; a glimmering entity among plaid browns and greens. I exhaled, closing my eyes; I’m home.
But when a loud splash sounded, I stopped dead, gluing myself to the tree line to watch a man emerge from the water, flipping his jet black hair from his face, beads of water rising into the air, glistening in the sun above him.
No one’s ever been out here before.
I almost felt insulted, like he was trespassing on my land. He had no picnic, that I could see, no friends or boat, only a shirt and a towel resting in the warmth on my rock.
As he swam toward the sand, I noticed a tattoo circling his upper arm; a band in black ink. He was young, from what I could tell, hiding all the way back here in the trees, maybe only as old as David. And quite possibly very good looking. But that didn’t excuse him from being in my secret place.
With my arms folded, I walked with all the intention of throwing his stuff to the ground and demanding he leave at once. Except, all that slipped away when I got closer and saw how beautifully toned his arms and chest were, and how, in the golden daylight, he seemed to look smooth and oily, like an acrylic painting. Why does being totally hot make it easier for you to get away with rude behaviour?
No, that’s even more of a reason why I should ask him to leave.
“Hey!” I said, meeting him at the edge of the lake, but as our eyes met, I froze, an instant of recognition passing through me. “Jason.”
“Ara?” He stepped up the sandy bank, beads of water gleaming across his golden flesh in the afternoon sun. “We keep meeting like this.”
“I—” I folded my arms, taking a step back. “I thought you were confined to castle duties?”
He grinned warmly, drying his hair on the towel, standing shirtless in front of me. “As far as anyone’s concerned, I’m there right now.”
My throat tightened. “What are you doing here?” I tried not to sound reproving, but hadn’t practiced my acting skills today.
“Well, I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you’re implying.” He pointed his towel at me. “You snuck up on me—remember?”
True. For both times we met recently.
“And besides, unless you’re actually married into my family, you’re the one trespassing.” He hoisted himself up on the rock and folded his arms, looking ever so much like David—the boy, the one from school; carefree and fun-loving David.
“I know. I’m sorry.” I looked down at my feet, remembering the fox’s punishment for trespassing. “I just needed to get away.”
Jason leaped off the rock, landing beside me with a gentle touch to my cheek; “Ara? What happened?” His voice was almost soothing enough to make me want to confide in him.
“Nothing. I’m fine.” The fold of my arms tightened, but so too did my brow; Jason studied my face carefully, tracing every inch with a gaze that also penetrated my thoughts, I could feel it.
“You’re not fine.”
I drew a tight breath through my nose, biting my lip. I will not cry in front of him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “Yes, I am fine. And I’m not talking to you. So you need to leave.”
“Me, leave?” He stood back, practically laughing. “I own this land. I can stay if I wish.”
“You own part of this land.”
“Yeah,” he said, stepping closer. “This part. So, if you want to be alone, you’ll have to go over there.” My gaze followed his arm to the island.
“Maybe I will then.” I started walking; he grabbed my wrist.
“Wait. I’m kidding. Okay, I’m just being playful. You don’t have to leave.”
“I don’t plan to. But I need to think, and I can’t do that around you.”
“Why?”
“Because, a; you’ll read my thoughts, and b; you just destroyed my entire life.”
“Me?” he said, pointing to his chest. “What have I done this time?”
Was he trying to deny hurting Emily, or was he trying to brush it off like it didn’t matter? “Emily! You ignorant twit. You bit Emily!”
“Oh. That.” His arms dropped to his sides.
“Yeah. That.”
“I—” The distant sound of a dog barking drew my tears back in an instant, stopping Jason from the probable confession. He smiled instead and looked over my shoulder. “Ara-Rose, I have someone I want you to meet.”
I spun around to see a great, white, fluffy canine, bolting toward me—his tongue hanging out, flying around with his stride. Jason stood beside me, swung his towel over his shoulder, then squatted down, ruffling the fur at the dog’s neck. “Petey, this is Ara.”
I squatted too, entranced by Jason’s obvious kinship with this fluffy monstrosity, and the kindness he showed, which was obviously returned. Petey jumped to his feet after a scratch on the belly and sat looking at me expectantly.
“He wants you to say hello,” Jason said.
“Oh, um. I’m sorry. How rude of me.” I extended a hand; the dog placed his heavy, gristly paw in place. “Pleased to meet you, Petey.”
The dog whimpered, huffing heavily, his mouth turned up into what looked like a smile. His pale-blue eyes seemed almost out of place against his stark white fur, like transparent windows that showed right into his warm soul.
“What kind of dog is he?”
“Siberian Husky.” Jason stood up. “Do you like dogs?”
“I’m more of a cat person,” I said.
Jason turned back to smile at me. “You never seemed to like Skittles.”
I stood too, remaining close to Petey. “I affectionately disliked that cat.”
“Like how you feel about me.”
I huffed; Petey gave a low groan. “I actually just plain dislike you, no affection before it.”
Jason looked at the dog then and nodded. “I know. Told ya.”
“You know what?” I looked at Petey, too. “Wait, are you talking to the dog?”
“He likes you.” Jason dried the remainder of water from his dark, very messed hair, and dropped the towel on the rock. “He says my memory does your face no justice.”
“He can read your mind?”
“No.” Jason laughed. “I exchange images with him mostly—kind of give them to him.”
“Oh.” I smiled at the dog, then looked at Jason, who laughed, just once—keeping his back to me. “What’s that?” I walked closer to the vampire, feeling more comfortable, somehow, with Petey here.
“What’s what?” Jason turned around, his shirt in hand.
Without thinking about who or what I was touching, I rested a fingertip to the black band; the tattoo, two lines with an unreadable inscription in the banner. “This.”
Jason looked up from my gentle touch and threaded his thumbs through his shirt, stepping away. “It’s uh—” When he looked at Petey, the dog sneezed, shaking it off, the shiver running all the way down his body. “You know, you really shouldn’t be out here, Ara. David will be upset when he finds you were here—alone.”
“What, how do you know about Da—”
“I’ve known he was here since before he knew he was coming.”
“Then, why haven’t you turned him in?”
He sighed, almost annoyed, slipping his shirt over his head. “I may hate him, want to see him suffer, but I won’t take you down with him. If they come for him...” He left the ending to imagination.
“So, you won’t tell Arthur?”
“No. But be aware, our hunters will discover the true identity of the girl they’re following soon enough. They’re not the smartest lot, so I’d give it about two months. But, you better let him go after that, Ara. He won’t leave without your blessing. He will stick around, and he will get caught.”
“What makes you so sure he won’t leave?”
“I just know him, okay. Except, the brother I grew up with would, in no way, put up with the rubbish he does from you.”
“Rubbish?”
“Yes. You, with all your love-confusion, your morals a
nd beliefs about vampires and killing. It’s not like him to tolerate so much...emotion. Despite that, he’d have left by now if he was going to.”
“So, he needs my blessing before he’ll go?”
Jason shrugged. “Like I said, you have about two—three months tops. Get used to the idea that he’s leaving, Ara. It’ll benefit you both.”
Seems to be a repeated statement in my life.
“So? You gonna tell me what happened—why you’re so sad?” He sat on the rock again and patted his shoulder. “I’m told this is a pretty good tear-catcher.”
Despite my hatred for what he did to Emily, a bigger part of me felt so in need to talk, so in need to discuss all my problems with someone who had no stake in my heart, figuratively, that I actually considered it.
Whenever I talked with Mike or David, they would only ever advise me in the direction that would lead to me being theirs. Jason was outside of that; he already knew he’d never have my heart.
The sun warmed the smile of the man who once tried to kill me, and he rested his arms so casually over his knees that I smiled back. He looked so human—more than David did when he was pretending to be human. I didn’t feel scared or tense around him like I should, which only made me more confused. It was like he’d shed a shell, become somebody new, somebody I could almost see myself being friends with—maybe even trust.
“You can trust me, Ara.” He ran his fingers through his hair, flipping it back as he answered my thought. “I told you, the guy who hurt you last year is gone, okay, I’m not the same.”
Swallowing my better judgement, I placed my hand in his and let him hoist me onto the rock beside him, all the while thinking, This is crazy. I’m one of those stupid girls who runs up the stairs in a horror movie. I’m the cautionary tale mothers tell their daughters. I’ve done everything wrong. I should be running away, not sitting with him.
Petey, just below my foot, licked my ankle—a voiceless reassurance, I think, and sat back on his hindquarters, looking up at me. I tugged my skirt a little further down my legs, lifting each one to rest the fabric between my skin and the sticky, gristly heat of the rock.
“You okay?” Jason said.
“Yeah, I’m just sure Petey can see up my skirt.”
Petey groaned and flopped onto the ground, resting his head on his paws, his body turned to the lake—away from the rock. Jason smiled down at the space between us—the whole two centimetres. “So, you trust me now?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. All I do know is that I hate you, Jason, but I—”
“You don’t hate me,” he stated, smiling. “You want to, but you don’t.”
“What makes you so sure?” I folded my arms, my cheeks burning with a touch of embarrassment.
“I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” He paused. “Sorry, that was distasteful, given our past.”
“Not funny.” I looked sideways at him, but we both broke into a smile. I knew he said it deliberately, but I was okay with it because I also knew he was trying to make light of the moment, make me more comfortable. Dark humour usually did that.
“So—” He bumped me softly with his elbow, resting both hands in his lap. “Mike hates you, huh?”
The anger-filled eyes of my best friend as he shook me, towered over me, told me never to talk to him again, flashed in my frontal lobes for Jason to see. I couldn’t help but to let him in. I showed him everything, breaking to tears as I ran the whole story like a film.
He looked at the lake, staying still the whole time, saying nothing until he let out a breath, turning to me. “Is it okay if I comfort you?”
No! My nose crinkled. But then again, I don’t know. I drew a breath and nodded, not really sure why I did it.
“Now,” he said, as I fell into his arms, “I want you to know something; Mike’s hurt because he’s tired of losing people he loves.” Jason’s voice hummed deeply in his chest under my ear. “When he thought Emily was dead, he lost something—died himself, in a small way. He pushed you away, because he’s scared of losing you, too.”
“I doubt Mike thinks that way. He’s just mad. Solidly mad.”
“No, sweet girl, he’s afraid. Fear is the root of anger, don’t you know?”
“Do you have psychology degree?” I asked sarcastically.
“I—” he said slowly, “Let’s just say I may have been checking in on things since I bit Emily.”
I rolled my face up to look at him; he smiled.
“He doesn’t want to lose you, okay? That’s why he’s so mad at you.”
“But now he has lost me. He hates me—said he’s leaving.”
“He won’t leave.” Jason let out a short laugh.
“How do you know?”
He just smiled, tracing his thumb over my hairline. “Because he can’t. He’s yours, Ara—he always will be. Trust me, he won’t leave.”
“Why did you do that to Emily?” I sat up a little to look at his eyes. “Jason, you’ve destroyed her life—she can never die, she’ll never have children—why would you do that?”
“I can’t expect you to understand.” He pulled his arms from me and looked into his lap.
“Do you love her? Is that why?”
“I—” He sighed, his shoulders dropping heavily. “How is she?”
“She’s a freakin’ vampire, Jason. How do you think she is?” I jumped off the rock and folded my arms, studying the flat surface of the lake. “Mike won’t talk to her—he said she’s as good as dead to him, now.” Like I am. I took a breath and let it out in one quick huff. “She stood up for you, you know?”
“No. I didn’t know that.”
I turned to face the rock, jumping internally when I nearly hit his chest instead.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“She said something bad must’ve happened to you—to make you do what you did to me.”
Jason’s troubled gaze fixed on the ground beside our feet. He remained close, trapping me between the edge of the lake and his broad chest. “For what it’s worth—” He paused, tapping his tongue on the inside of his cheek. “I loved her, once. And when she came to me yesterday, I—I never meant to hur—” He stopped talking again, tilting his head as a broad smile smeared across his lips. “You blame yourself for what happened to her.”
“I—” I looked down. “I never had any such thought.”
“Yes, you did. Just…very deep down.” His mouth fell open a little. “It wasn’t your fault, Ara.”
“Yes, it was. I shouldn’t have told her about you. But worse—”
“No.” He cupped his thumb to my lip, his warm green eyes searching mine. “You have to stop this self-defeating behaviour, girl. There are two people to blame for this, and that’s her—” he pressed his hand to his chest, “and me.”
“But—”
“No.” He slid both hands along my cheeks, resting his thumbs on my lips; I tugged away and wiped the eerie crawl of his touch from my skin. “If you think, or say one more thing I don’t like, Ara, you’re going in the lake.”
“You wouldn’t,” I challenged.
“Try me.” He grinned.
I shuffled my feet; the lake was barely an inch behind my heels; it’d take one shove and I’d be driving home saturated—again.
“You know what?” He shook his head softly, his grin spreading further across his cheeks. “I think I’ll do it anyway.”
“No!” I squealed, digging my elbow into his chest as he swept me off the ground and carried me—so close to him—then launched us both into the refreshingly icy liquid. “Uh, that’s freezing!” I wiped my palms over my face, pushing the beads of water over the back of my head.
“Yes, I know.”
“Why did you do that?” I screamed at him, splashing water in his face. “I didn’t do anything to you!”
He chuckled loudly and grabbed my floundering hands, pinning them to his chest as he waded closer and looked down at me. The bright su
n glared behind him, making his wet hair glow white on top and the beads of water, gathered on the ends of his lashes, sparkle. “You needed a wake-up call, Ara,” he said then released my struggling hands. “Not everything is your fault, and blaming yourself won’t take the pain away.”
“What would you know?” I called as Jason walked to the edge of the lake, leaving me behind.
“More than you might think, little girl.”
“I’m not a little girl.” I splashed my hands in the water.
“Then act like a grown-up,” he called back.
“Screw you.” I folded my arms and turned away.
“Real mature.” He appeared in front of my face, but it didn’t startle me this time. “Believe it or not, Ara-Rose, the world is not out to harm you—and there are a few insignificant people in it that happen to care for you and how you feel.”
I backed away in unison with each of his advancing steps; “I hope you don’t class yourself as one of those people?”
He stopped walking. “See? You already know the truth of that, or you wouldn’t have asked it.”
“You assume too much.” I turned away; he grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Assumptions are not my weakness, Ara.”
“No, violence is.” I shook his hand off.
“No—love is.”
Love. Pah! He stayed put as I walked out of the water. “If you knew the meaning of love, you wouldn’t have bitten Emily.”
“Really.” He stood beside me. “And if you knew what love was, you wouldn’t have a burning desire to give yourself to Mike.”
I sank back on my heels, a mighty huff escaping my lips as I folded my arms.
“Yeah, that’s right, isn’t it?” he said smugly. “That’s what all this is really about. Admit it, Ara. You don’t care that Emily’s a vampire; you don’t even care that I did it—you only care that Mike hates you and won’t give you what you want from him now.”
“What I want from him? Like what?”
“His love, attention, affection.” He came closer with each word.
“What would you know about it? You don’t know me; you don’t have any idea what I want.”
He smiled down at the water dripping from my skirt. “I’ve been watching you, Ara. You love him—and you shouldn’t. When you think about him, you get hot.” He moved closer. “Hot, in places you shouldn’t.”
