Wow. She was right. It was a year to the day I met Emily, a year to the day I started a new school, and a year to the day I met with Da—“Well, salute.” I clinked my pitcher with their glasses.
“So, Spence, where’s your friend?” Emily asked.
“Oh, Eric? He’s always late.” He leaned back in the chair. “Probably can’t stop his knees from shaking long enough to get dressed.”
“Shaking?” I said. “Does he have a medical condition or something?”
“If you call the fear of girls a condition, yeah.”
“What did you tell him he was coming out to meet with? Royalty?” Emily shook her head.
“No, I told him she’s very pretty and very nice.” Spence lowered his gaze.
“Aw, how sweet,” I said mockingly.
“And that scares him?” Emily shifted closer to Spence.
“Outwardly, no. But he’s…”
His voice drowned under my thoughts as something changed then—a kind of energy that drained the warmth, the sound, the life out of the small restaurant—and an eerie feeling came over me, like that tingling sensation when you feel something standing behind you in a supposedly empty room. I checked over my shoulder, jumping involuntarily when Spence suddenly hopped up in his seat and waved.
“Eric! Over here!”
When the tall, light-haired guy by the door smiled at us, I sank into my seat straight away. Em was right: he was like David. Not as much as the last time I mistook someone for him, but enough, with his overly confident smile and kind eyes, that my heart fluttered. There was something else about this guy, though, something underneath the instant attraction that was off-putting.
My skin crawled as he stood in front of me and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Eric.”
My rigid hand obeyed formalities and reached for his, but when our fingers touched, the unnatural cold of his skin sent tingles down to my elbow. “Hi,” I managed to whisper.
“I’m uh… I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, without taking his chocolate eyes off me, as if he could tell that I found him odd. Then he turned his head to Spence and smiled as the moment of intensity slipped away and the room flooded with volume again. “I had to stop for a bite to eat.”
“On the way to a restaurant?” Emily said, toying nervously with her bracelet.
“Uh, yeah.” He grinned and sunk into the seat beside me with way too much coolness for the kind of guy Spence described. “Low blood sugar.”
“Oh, well you should get on well with Ara, then,” Emily said. “She’s the same.”
Eric looked at me quickly.
“Thanks, Em.” I groaned. Way to make me feel normal.
“Low blood sugar too, huh?” He leaned a little closer, his volume keeping the conversation between us.
“That’s what they tell me.” I straightened my napkin on my lap to deflect the nervous energy. This guy smelled like leather and grease, but there was a fresh layer of spicy cologne over it that was warm and manly, like I always thought guys would smell.
“Did you eat before you came then?” Eric asked me.
“No,” was all I said, unable to think of anything more intelligent.
Eric sat back a little and forced the arrogant smile away from his lips, but it stayed there in his eyes, and I noticed then, as I took a good look at him, that his hair wasn’t short like I first thought. It was undercut on the sides, with the top tied into a short ponytail at the back. I never liked that look, but on this guy, it was actually pretty sexy.
I cleared my throat. “So… do you guys work together?”
“No.” Eric grinned, turning toward me, almost as if to cut Spence and Em from the conversation. “We train at the same gym.”
“Yeah, this guy’s unbeatable in the ring,” Spence said.
“The ring?” I shifted in my chair, inching away from Eric and his slyly invading proximity.
“Hm-hm.” Eric coughed into his hand, moving an inch closer. “Boxing.”
“Oh, cool.” I discreetly stole a glance at Eric’s upper-arm, all shaped and contoured under his black fitted t-shirt, then melted a little.
“Do you like boxing?” he asked.
“Ha!” Emily and I both laughed.
“I’ll go ahead and take that as a no,” he said, grinning.
“Sorry. Sports aren’t my thing. Aside from running.”
“Well, boxing’s fun. Maybe I could teach you a few moves sometime?” He sank back a little and a soft, almost shy half-smile masked the confidence in his eyes. “If you want.”
“Maybe.”
“So, what do you do for a living, Eric?” Emily asked.
He flipped his chin toward the waitress and waved her over with his hand, then looked at Emily. “I’m a Grease Monkey by day, and I play in a band by night.”
“No way!” Emily’s eyes widened. “That’s so cool. What instrument do you play?”
Eric’s feet tapped under the table, his eyes flicking sideways onto me. “I’m the lead-singer-slash-guitarist.”
Okay, this just got more interesting. “What sort of music do you play?” I asked.
“Mostly?” He stopped and took a wine glass from the waitress. “And some water for the lady too, please?”
The waitress handed me a glass, poured from the pitcher on the table and walked away again.
“Uh, we play covers.” Eric poured a glass of wine for himself, holding the bottle up to anyone else who wanted it; we all shook our heads. “A bit of rock, love the alternative stuff like Muse, Thirty Seconds to Mars…”
“Oh, that’s good,” Emily jumped in, “Ara loves that stuff.”
Eric put the wine bottle down and smiled at me. “Well, maybe you should come watch us one night.”
“Maybe.” I washed my grin down with a sip of water.
Eric’s smile faded. “Not a fan of live music?”
“Are you kidding?” Emily said as I took a breath to respond. “She’s a pianist. She loves music.”
“Pianist, hey?” Eric asked with a leading edge to his tone.
“Yeah. I’m teaching music right now, but eventually, when I get a piano, I wanna make a demo of my songs.”
“Hm.” Eric nodded softly. “I’d really like to hear them sometime.”
My shoulders lifted around my ears slightly. I reached for my drink again. Something about Eric was incredibly unsettling. He was so pleasant and easy-going that he made me want to get to know him, tell him all my secrets, and yet run away at the same time. I could quite easily like him enough to fill some of that David/Mike void. But my gut was telling me not to.
I sat contentedly quiet for a bit then, while Spence and Eric reminisced old boxing tales. When the waiter placed our food on the table, Eric slid mine across to me, keeping his eyes on my face for a second long enough to make Spence and Em exchange know-it-all glances.
I quickly grabbed the salt, with no intention to use it.
“So, do you have any family, Ara?” Eric asked.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“No.” He left his food untouched, focusing on our conversation completely.
“Ur, well, yes, I do.”
“But you live alone?” he probed.
“I live with Emily.”
Eric looked at Emily, seeming to remember then that we weren’t alone.
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” he said casually, and the shudder his smile created in me was not met with the kind of caution it should have been. I merely brushed my common-sense-mind aside and let my knee fall against his. He smiled down, dropping his hand under the table to rest it on my leg. I didn’t move for the rest of the night and added very little to the dinner banter.
“Well.” Emily stood up and shuffled out of the booth. “Must go to the little girl’s room.”
“Ur, yeah.” Spence looked at Emily. “Me too.”
“Uh, I’ll come with you.” I went to stand, but Emily spun back around and barred me with a wide-eyed stare of
warning.
“We’re not in high school, Ara. I don’t need an entourage.”
I sat back down and leaned on my hand, keeping my eyes forward, feeling Eric’s shameless glare all over my body, in a good way. He was too bloody cute, and he knew it. He made me want crawl under the table and bite my nails.
“You know”—he shuffled closer—“you can talk to me. I promise I won’t bite.”
“I know.” I forced my shoulders into a relaxed position. “I’m sorry. I just don’t normally… I mean, I don’t really know what to say.”
“Why don’t we get out of here then?” he said, leaning closer. “Maybe go somewhere we don’t have to talk.”
As his hand touched my arm and I felt the cool-yet-warm sensation, like fresh play-dough warmed in the palm of your hand, I froze, holding my breath. I knew that feeling too well. Mix it with the eerie, skin-crawling tingle and—I stole a sideways glance at his forearm—clear veins, and this was no ordinary guy.
My eyes widened as I turned fully to make sure I saw it properly.
He followed my gaze, a tightness pulling his brow. “No one’s ever noticed that before.”
A small smile lifted my cheeks. “You might say I have previous experience.”
He glanced at my arm. I shook my head, rolling it to the side and lowering my scarf, prompted by his obvious confusion.
His eyes widened. “Do Spence and Em know?”
“No.” I covered the scar. “I mean, they know about the scar, but not exactly what did it.”
“Well.” Eric rested a curled fist beside his smile and leaned back. “I—”
“You two seem to be getting along.” Emily sat back down, smiling wildly.
“Yes.” Eric winked at me. “It seems we have quite a bit in common.”
“Oh, that’s great.” She raised her eyebrows in her ‘told you so’ fashion.
“Yeah, sure is,” I said, warming to Eric like a rock to sun, feeling so much more comfortable around him than before.
“In fact, I think we might have to spend a little more time together. If you like?”
“I… yeah,” I stammered, Eric’s mischievous grin disarming me. “I’d like that.”
I avoided looking at Emily for the rest of the evening then, not wanting to see her smug smile.
* * *
Eric stuffed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, the buckles on his boots clinking as he stopped by my car, while his cocky grin did things to my brain that would make me blush in the daylight. “Well, I certainly had an entertaining evening with you, Ara.”
I leaned my butt on my car, toying with the hem of my skirt. “Yeah, um. Me too.”
“I hope to see you again.”
“Come back with us, Ric.” Spence clapped Eric on the shoulder. “We’re just going back the girls’ house to hang.”
Eric looked at me.
I shrugged and smiled. “I don’t mind.” I should, but I didn’t.
“Sweet.” Eric winked at me. “I’ll follow you.”
“Okay.” I turned and opened my door, trying to shake off the crawling feeling he gave me all over that was also uniquely enticing, and as the door closed, darkness cooled the heat of my desire, leaving me numb and vulnerable, unable to find the clutch. My mind kept telling me to get it together, but this guy was for real—a real freakin’ vampire. Except, this time, I couldn’t even try to react with fear, like I did when David confessed. I was just too happy to be a part of that world again. But I needed to pull myself together so I could start the car and drive home.
“Hey.” A dull window tap started my heart. I looked up at Eric, in all his black-leather-jacket and sexy-guy glory, sitting beside my car on his motorcycle. Melt. “Something wrong with your car?”
I wound my window down and started my engine. “Uh, no. I just…” forgot how to drive.
“S’like that, huh?” He winked, thrusting his foot down as he turned the handle on his bike. A mighty roar polluted the silence as he drove away, taking every ounce of self-control I had left.
The red taillights disappeared before I found the familiar necessity called air again. I drove home a little faster than usual, pulling up in the driveway and yanking the handbrake on as I jumped out. Even though the eagerness was coming off me in waves of fluorescent heat, I played it cool, leaning on the hood of my car, and watched Eric shake his shaggy blonde hair out as he rested his helmet on the seat in front of him.
But my committed attempt at ultra-cool couldn’t save me from myself; as soon as he looked up—right into my eyes—I started imagining all the ways I wanted to be bad with him.
The vampire kicked his bike stand down then jumped off the seat, unzipping his jacket as he walked toward me with a toothy smile. And before my eyes, a wild wind swept his jacket apart, revealing imaginary ribs and totally sexy abs, as a logo for men’s cologne came up, floating mid-air.
Cheesy, but so deliciously cheesy.
I pressed my knees closer together and hugged myself tight.
“You might be able to keep your words to yourself, kiddo,” he said as he stepped up beside me, nodding suggestively at my nether region, “but you can’t hide that from a vampire.”
I took a jagged, composure-restoring breath. “You know, you’re nothing like Spence said you’d be.”
“Oh, really? And what exactly did he say I’d be?”
“Shy and shaky.”
Eric grinned, walking up the drive. “That’s just my human persona.”
* * *
Spencer and Emily disappeared to the bedroom after half an hour, leaving me and the vampire alone on the plush rug, with nothing but a low flame on the singular candle burning in the base of the fireplace, and a soft CD of piano that’d been on repeat for too long.
“Are you tired?” Eric asked, leaning up on his elbow to look at me.
I hugged my knees to my chest and shrugged, enjoying the simplicity of companionship that I’d forgotten. I was tired. I was always tired. But I didn't want him to leave. “I’m okay.”
“I guess, what I was asking is…” He sat up. “Do you want me to go?”
I chewed my spreading grin. “Not yet.”
“Good. Because now that we’re alone, I have some questions for you.” He reached across and poised his fingertips at my scarf. “May I?”
I nodded.
“Why do you hide it?” He untied the scarf, leaving a soft tickle in its wake.
I shrugged, letting him angle my face this way and that, not the least bit nervous with the way he studied me. “People don’t understand. They stare.”
“They stare because you’re beautiful.”
A smile slipped out for a moment before I reluctantly pulled his hand away.
“So, are you going to tell me how it happened?” he asked. “You know I’ve been dying to know.”
“Only if you tell me where you’re from—which Set.”
Eric leaned slightly back, his eyes narrowing around a hundred puzzle pieces. “How do you know about Sets?”
“I had a boyfriend. He was a vampire.”
He nodded thoughtfully, motioning to my scar. “So he did this?”
“No.” I shook my head and left it at that, smiling when Eric rolled his hand in the air, a non-verbal prompt for elaboration. “Nope,” I said. “You first.”
“Very slick, kid.” He pointed at me, winking. “Fine. I’ll share first. What did you wanna know?”
“Sets. Which Set are you from?”
“Ah, so you don’t know as much as I thought.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked delicately.
“Because, that question itself is an indication that you don’t shit about how we operate.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean”—he laid his elbows loosely over his knees—“I live in America, which means there are only two Sets I could belong to, and since I’m here in the region of sunny New England right now, that narrows it down to one.”
; “Oh.” I bit my lip. “Well, how long have you been a vampire? Was it only recent?”
“No.”
“When were you turned?”
“Nineteen-thirty-eight.”
“Wow.” He was turned after David. “How did it happen? I mean, what’s your story?”
“My story?”
“Yeah. Who were you before you were”—I waved my hand at him—“this guy?”
“I was born in Paris as Éric Mason de la Rose. I became a vampire at the age of twenty-five, when I saw fit to start a fight with an old man in the street after getting drunk at the local tavern. So you can imagine what kind of idiotic fool I was back then.” We both laughed. “I lost the fight and woke up the next morning with a headache and a hankering for blood.”
“How did you end up in America?”
He took a slow breath and paused for a second. “I get the feeling you’re leading to something with these questions.”
“I am, I guess,” I confessed sheepishly.
“Giving info about vampires or the Set can have consequences. What did you want to know specifically?”
I shrugged. “I’m kind of looking for someone.”
“Even if I knew them, it’s not my place to give their information, Ara. We have laws against that to protect each other. Who were you looking for?”
“David Knight.”
Eric’s grin dropped. “He’s one of my Council leaders. You’re Amara!”
“You’ve heard of me?” I crossed my legs and tucked my hands into my lap.
“Oh boy.” He shook his head. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble in the vampire world.”
“Me?”
“Well, at least now I know how you got that.” He nodded at the scar.
I touched my neck. “So you know it was—”
“Jason Knight.”
“Don’t say that name.”
“Why?” Eric knelt in front of me, his mouth moving into a knowing smile as he lifted my chin so I’d look at him. “Oh, so you think he’s the bad guy, huh?”
“Eric, he is the bad guy!”
“Matter of opinion.” He studied me more carefully. “I was on David’s side until I attended the hearing.”
Dark Secrets Box Set Page 72
