by A. M. Hudson
“It’s worth it.” He pressed his lips together, then looked up at me; I smiled—he smiled back.
But the sweet moment, where everything between us was all right, passed too quickly; it wasn’t all right, not at all. I’d still kissed Mike and I’d still dreamed about his brother, who I couldn’t get out of my head no matter how much I tried.
“So—” I leaned on the wall beside him. “How come Jason wasn’t in any of those photos?”
David’s smile faded. “That was taken after we were separated, when he became a POW. He was executed sometime in nineteen-sixteen.”
“Did they bury him?” I always wondered if the boys had to dig their way out of a coffin after feigning death.
“Yes.”
Creepy. I almost felt sorry for Jason then. “Have you ever been buried?”
David hesitated. “No.”
“Does it bother you to talk about this—to talk about Jason?” I said.
He studied me carefully; I thickened the mind blanket. “Does it bother you?”
“No.”
“It should.” He stood up off the wall and walked to the window. “It bothers me to think of him.”
“I’m sorry.” I stood beside him. “I guess we both just deal with things differently.”
“There’s a picture of him in the World War Two display,” he said, out of the blue.
“There is?” My interest peaked, maybe a little too much.
“Yes. But it’s not here. It’s in Washington.”
“Oh.”
David, keeping his eyes on the day outside, his hands in his pockets, said, “His plane was shot down during the attack on Pearl Harbour.”
My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my God. Was he hurt?”
“Burned beyond recognition.”
“What? You can burn?”
“Yeah,” he scoffed, smiling, coming back to life. “Fire is the one thing that can penetrate us without force of vampire teeth of implements driven by our hands. It won’t kill us, but it’ll melt our flesh right off.”
“Ouch. So, that would’ve really hurt, right?”
“Well, I’ve never been burned, but Jason said it was the worst six weeks of his life—trying to recover. He returned to base after that, told them he’d been lost out at sea all this time—holding onto a plank of wood to survive.”
“And they believed him?”
“Well, there was really too much else to be worrying about by that point. We were officially at war. They all but threw him back in a plane and sent him off.”
“Why did he go back? Why not just stay dead?”
David toed a raised nail in the floorboard. “My brother was the one who wanted to go to war. I merely followed to protect him. He was hell-bent on defending this great new world and would never have left his comrades a man short.”
“Sounds like a completely different guy.”
He nodded, taking great interest in something outside, a kind of focused, furrowed-brow look to him. “He never received any medals or special honours for his bravery either. Something that, to this day, I find unjust.”
“Did he fight well?”
“He fought like a man with something to die for. All he ever wanted was to be a hero.”
“I don’t get it. Why, if you lose compassion for my kind when you turn, why did he want to be named a hero, I mean, why did you even bother fighting for us in the war?”
“Well, I can’t answer that last question for myself, Ara, because you won’t like the answer. But, as for Jason and his heroic dreams; that was just him—he…” David drew a breath and let it out with a huff, “—he never lost all compassion for your kind. Well, not until…”
Until you killed Rochelle. “And what about the other question—why can’t you answer it?”
“I—” He closed his eyes. “Just drop it, okay?”
“Why?”
“Ara. Drop it.”
“Is it because you cared and you don’t want to admit it?”
“Ara?”
“Really, is that it? Because, I know you’re a vampire, David, and caring isn’t cool, but you don’t have to pretend with me, I—”
“Ara, it’s not that.”
“Then, what is it? Why won’t you tell m—”
“Because I don’t want you to hate me,” he said loudly, turning away. “You, with all of your moralistic ideals, your compassion—I don’t want you to see me for what I really am.”
“David.” I walked up and touched his arm from behind. “Don’t you know? Immoral vampire or not, I love y—”
“Do you?” He spun around with a jerk, his narrowed gaze splitting right through me. “Tell me honestly, Ara, do you love me? Am I enough for you?”
“Is that a joke? Of course I do, David, you’re everything to me.”
“What about Mike?”
I exhaled through my nose, biting my lip. “It’s intense—being around him. I don’t know how to feel. I don’t want to feel that way, and I know it hurts you, but I can get past it.” I reached across and held his fingertips gently. “However, being without you? That’s not something I can get through. I just, it’s weird.” I shook my head, trying to understand my own words. “I don’t understand it myself, but, I know I love you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“You speak the truth?”
I touched my chest. “From the bottom of my heart.”
“And, while I’m still here you’ll deal with the feelings you have for Mike, you won’t let him touch you again?”
“I promise.” I held out my pinkie.
He pushed it aside to wrap me in his arms. “That’s all I needed to know.”
“But, David?” I pushed out from his hold, sensing a change in things I wasn’t sure I wanted; safety. David feeling safe in this relationship. If he felt safe, safe that I’d always be his, he’d leave again. He was only here because he wanted to make sure I’d never forget him—never move on from him. “That doesn’t mean we can be more than friends. As long as you’re clear on that.” I studied his face with questioning eyes.
“Still gonna play this game, huh?”
“It’s no game. I’m serious.”
“It won’t make me stay, Ara-Rose.”
“It’s worth a try. And I have a date with Eric this week, so you better make your mind up.”
“Eric?”
“Yes.” Great, now I need to book a date with Eric.
“Fine.” David smiled—his secret smile. “Go ahead. Go out with de la Rose. See if I care.”
“Fine.” I folded my arms slowly. “I will.”
Chapter 13
I perched on the stool, my back to the piano, and Emily sat across from me, reading Nicholas Sparks, both of us resting our feet on the ottoman between us. But I couldn’t focus on my book, no matter how hard I tried, because the constant boom of roaring enemies lifted my mind from the plot every five seconds. “You know,” I said to her, “I think I’ve re-read the same line about six times.”
“Just tune it out, Ara,” she said in that flat, dull tone she’d used with me since the Mike and the lake-of-mistakes incident.
“I can’t. I don’t know how you can. You have better hearing than I do.”
She shrugged and went back to reading. I studied her carefully for a minute, paying close attention to her soft blonde hair, the set of her lips and the impassive look in her eyes that replaced the smile she usually wore when reading that tattered old book.
“What?” she said with a huff, her thumb holding the binding to mark the page.
“I’m sorry. I just—don’t you like romance novels anymore? You don’t seem to be getting the same kind of buzz out of it.”
“Maybe I just no longer care for the insignificant quests of the human heart.”
She went back to her book and I sat still, breathless for a moment, sitting across from the friend I knew so well, but suddenly knew nothing of at all. She really had become a vampire.
>
“Die, you wretched—Oh, damn!” Mike said loudly. “You actually killed me that time!”
“Told ya I’d get better,” David said.
“Right. That’s it!” I slammed the book down on the ottoman and stomped out to the roaring battleground—that used to be my lounge room. “Good to see you two getting along.” I grinned and sat on the arm of the sofa, next to Mike. “But, can you keep it down?”
David, beside Mike, a game controller in hand, shifted his shoulders in the direction of his thumbs. “This is harder than it looks.”
“No, you’re just a newb,” Mike said, looking relaxed beside David’s anxiousness. He glanced up at me then, making a kill without watching the screen. “I thought playing this game with a vampire might be a challenge.”
“Ha! You’re dead now, brother.” David leaned his elbows on his knees, quietly moving closer and closer to the screen.
“Not a chance.” Mike smirked, killing David again.
“Oh, you bastard.”
Mike laughed loudly—the old Mike. My carefree best friend.
“You wait, human.” David nudged him with his elbow. “I’ll get better at this eventually—then you’ll know what a real fight is.”
“Ah!” The boys both roared at the screen—dropping their controllers on the coffee table.
“Go on, Ara.” Mike handed a controller to me. “Show this vamp he’s the only one around here who sucks.”
“What, Ara can play?” David practically grunted.
“As a matter of fact, I can.”
“Prove it.” He rested his arm on the back of the couch.
“You know, she can wipe that smug grin off your face in under three minutes, mate. She’s got Brigadier ranking on Live.”
“Won’t change the fact that she’s a girl,” David scoffed, instantly shrinking behind raised palms. “I was kidding. That was a joke!”
I punched him anyway. “Not funny.”
“Sorry. I was just teasing.”
“Go on, Ara,” Mike said. “Teach him a lesson.”
I’m not one to show off, but Mike’s cheeky smile and the eager anticipation to do one thing better than David is irresistible.
Mike shifted over as I slumped down beside him, pressing the green button on the controller. “You ready for this, newb?”
“Bring it on.” David’s dimple showed as he smiled back.
The countdown on the screen started. I leaned forward a little. There was no way he could beat me. I’d spent years working on my skills while I sat next to Mike for hours, with nothing better to do than play video games.
David and Mike observed my victories with roaring protest—of different sentiments—while I smiled, displaying my rapture modestly. In the end, I took the final kill.
Game over.
David dropped his controller on the table and sat back against the lounge, wearing a playful punch in the arm from Mike. “Beaten by a girl,” Mike said.
“I resent that sexist comment.” I stood up, handing the controller back to Mike.
“Sorry. Beaten by a human.” He looked up at me. “Better?”
“Better.” I nodded and stepped over their feet, leaving David and the last remains of his pride to fester in my victory.
Emily didn’t even look up to give me a ‘Girl Power’ smile as I sat back down, knocking her foot with my own. “Oh, come on—tell me you didn’t miss all that?”
She gave me half a glance. “I might have caught it. I was rooting for the vampire, though.”
“Guess nothing’s changed then.” I sat back, delivering as much spite as she just had.
She shook her head, obviously seething. But, instead of bursting into flames or enraged fits of yelling, she exploded into tears, covering her face. Guilt washed through me.
“Em?”
Only a deep but high-pitched sob responded.
“Oh, Emily.” I landed on the couch, wrapping my arms all the way around her; she willing laid against my chest, making my shirt wet with sadness. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to be fighting with you, Ara. You’re my only friend. But I—” she looked up at me, wiping her face. “I’m so goddamn mad at you.”
I swallowed. “I know. Em, I know. And I’m so sorry that happened with Mike, I—”
“That’s not why I’m mad.” She stopped crying.
“It’s not?”
She looked toward the front of the house. “No.”
“Then—” I sat across from her on the ottoman, leaning close to whisper. “Why are you mad?”
“Because I don’t get it. Do you have, like, magic pheromones that those guys can’t resist, or something? You’re not even that pretty!” She doubled back. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
It felt like a flower had been opened out, upside down in my chest, spilling dread onto the floor.
“I didn’t mean that,” she said. “It’s just—what have you got that I don’t? Why does he love you so much?”
“We’re soul mates,” I said, wanting to cry. Is it so hard to believe he could love me?
“I thought David was your soul mate?”
“That’s what I just said.”
“Well, I was talking about Mike, dummy!” She looked at me with severe eyes, slapping my knee.
“Oh. Mike? You’re sulking over Mike?” I almost couldn’t believe it.
“Who else?”
“I—sorry. Um, okay, this is weird.”
She sat back a little, huffing quietly. “I don’t like David that way, Ara.”
I nodded; doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. “But, how can you still care what Mike wants? I thought you’d lose that with all your compassion for humans.”
She covered her face, her voice breaking, “Not if you love one of them.”
I shuffled forward a little more, peeling her hand from her face. “So, you really love him? Like, love-him-love-him?”
Her glassy eyes sparkled. “Is that so hard to believe? Ara, he’s wonderful. You know that.”
“I do.” I glanced back at the archway to the front door. “And...for what it’s worth, I also know he loved you.”
“Yeah—the girl, the human.”
“Right. So there’s no reason he can’t love the vampire. I mean, you’re so much prettier now,” I said, raising my brows over a smirk.
She smiled. “I’m sorry I said that about you—that you’re not pretty. I didn’t mean it to come out the way it sounded.”
“It’s okay. You’re right. There’s no reason for both those guys to be chasing after me. I’m not even that nice.”
“Mike can’t help it,” she said. “He’s talked to me about it—about you and how he feels. Says one’s first love will always be in their heart. Hard to move past, apparently.”
“I know what he means.” I thought of David, but Jason’s face popped up in there for a second, startling me.
“He was my first love,” she said.
“Who? Jason?”
“No.” She scowled. “Mike. Why would you think I meant Jason?”
Because I thought you were reading my mind. “Oh, um, just...because you said you loved him—you know, that summer by the lake and all.”
She shook her head. “Now that I’ve fallen for Mike, I know the difference between love and childhood lust.”
We sat quiet for a while before I said softly, “He just needs time, Emily.”
“No.” She sniffled, wiping her nose and chin. “He just needs you.”
My face dropped against my fingertips. She’s half right; he does want me, but he did love her, when she was human—he admitted that. Why not now? If he’d even look at her, he might see her for the girl he fell for—the girl he thinks he lost.
I’ve got it! “Come on.” I grabbed her hand.
“Where are we going?”
“To remind Mike why he fell in love with you.”
As the evening sky darkened and the house grew quiet, E
mily and I put our plan into action.
David, in his suit, stood by the hip-height wall in the music room, his hands clasped in front of him, waiting for Emily. He watched her glide across the room toward him, as effortlessly delicate as she was when she was human.
Ryan and Alana, who had received their formal invitation via text late this afternoon, gently circled the space where the couch had been shifted away to make room for a dance floor.
In my red dress, I sat by the piano, reciting the music from the masquerade last year, and looked away when Emily took David’s waiting hand. I knew he’d kiss her, softly brushing his lips across her knuckles, but I didn’t need to see that.
“Emily,” he said, “you are a picture of beauty.”
“Merci.” I imagined she even went as far as to curtsy.
“May I have this dance?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
And it would be my pleasure to throw up on your shoes. This plan better work, that’s all I can say.
“Sure you don’t want me to play, Ara?” Ryan asked; I smiled up at him.
“I’m fine. It’s been a while since I played. I think I could use the distraction.”
“Well, let me know.” He waltzed away with the beautiful Alana.
I watched them carefully. It was so good to see them again. Even though they’d come here to have drinks shortly after we moved in, it felt like months since I’d seen either of them.
My eyes strayed across the room to Emily and David, sashaying over the floor with the grace of a gentle breeze. He stood so tall, his shoulders straight and his head held so high I almost believed we’d gone back to the eighteen-hundreds, when his mother and father would have danced just like this, at a dinner party or some other gathering. And Emily looked so effortlessly lovely in his arms, like she belonged there; her hair being the colour of his mother’s, her slight frame so glamorous and so feminine against him. She glowed, and with the blood of the immortal flowing through her veins, she belonged in his life.
They were two petals from the same stem.
Each time they swept past the piano, the sweet scent of Emily’s rose perfume and the deliciously irresistible flavour of David followed, making it hard to play. I’d smelled her scent mixed with those I loved before, and thinking how it would be if it had been David I walked in on with her that night, I...
