Dark Secrets Box Set

by Angela M Hudson

  But nothing stays the same, and a soft, shadowy cloud settled cold around my shoulders when I heard the tight sobs of the man I was once going to marry. I stood so slowly, my limbs almost empty, no weight to hold me down, and practically floated to Emily’s room, crying already for what I knew I’d find there.

  “Mike.” David squatted by the bed, blocking the way enough that I couldn’t see. “Let her go—she’s gone.”

  “No!” I gasped.

  David stood and spun around to look at me, reaching for my hand as darted past him and fell to my knees in front of Mike, who had Emily wrapped so tightly in his arms I couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

  “She’s not gone,” I cried. “She’s just sleeping—”

  “I’m sorry, my love.”

  “No. Em, oh, Em, I’m so sorry.” I touched my lips, my cheeks, my lips again, unsure what to do, what to say, think, touch. I wanted to touch her, bring her back, make it better, but Mike—the way he held her, the way he guarded her, imprisoned her—warned me I had no right. Her best friend, and I had no right to touch her.

  “It’s too soon.” Mike took a raspy breath and rolled Emily out from his body, tracing her eyes with his own, as if she might open them; as if she might come back to him. “I can’t lose her. I just can’t go through this again.”

  David edged closer. “She’s already gone, brother. You need to let me take her.”

  “Emily, please,” Mike whispered into her hair. “Please don’t be gone. Please, my beautiful girl, you know how much I need you—”

  My tears stung, frozen behind my lashes, as I watched on—a helpless outsider—no longer his girl. A mix of loss and jealously spread like cement through my bones, making me heavy and stiff all over. He adopted her love more than he ever did mine, and her death would destroy more than just his heart. But she was my friend too. I loved her, and now I’d lost her, like I’d lose everyone else. David had a week left, Mike would never speak to me again, and Emily—I reached for her, my fingertips floating slowly through the space between her and me—she would be buried vertically under a tree, where no one would ever find her; another missing persons’ case, and I would be alone.

  I drew my hand away, sinking back on my shins, not wanting to feel the bitter cold of death, real death.

  The morning lit the room pale blue around us, the light dancing under her floral print curtains, reflecting off her favorite picture—one of her and Mike at the masquerade. Her room felt alive with her spirit, so full of everything Emily that it was hard to believe she was a corpse in Mike’s arms. I wondered how long he’d held her, how long she’d been gone.

  “What do we… what do we do with her now?” Mike asked, looking to David for help.

  “We bury her.” The Council leader, the vampire, the ruthless man who got things done emerged, leaving all traces of emotion out of that sentence. I cringed, imagining that would be me one day—handed over to the undertaker who was all business.

  Mike’s eyes flooded with confusion, then realization. He looked back at Emily. “Oh, God. No. Em. Wake up, please don’t let his be real.”

  “Mike—she’s gone.” I held my fingertips just above her skin, feeling the cool rise off her like energy. “She’s so cold; you need to let us take her.”

  “You get away from her!” he barked, practically spitting in my face. “You did this. You did this…” His voice broke away.

  “Mike?” I fought to stay strong. “Mike, please, I—”

  “I said leave us!”

  David took a quick step in and had me across the room before I realized I’d been lifted. He wedged himself between Mike’s gaze and me defensively. “Mike, don’t take this out on Ara.”

  “She did this.” He released a hand from Emily only to thrust a finger of blame at me.

  David pushed me back a little more, glaring down at Mike. “What was that?” he growled. “You’re gonna hurt Ara because of this?”

  “Just get her out of here,” Mike sobbed, hiding his face in Emily’s neck. “I don’t wanna hurt her, you know I don’t, but I—” He looked at me again, and the truth was there in his eyes. “I don’t wanna look at her!”

  “Mike?”

  “I said go, Ara!” he snarled like a rabid dog.

  “Right, that’s it.” David shoved me softly against the wall, shielding me completely. “One more thought like that and I’ll put you down. That’s my girl you’re thinking of there.”

  Mike kissed Emily’s hair, sobbing. “Just get Ara out of here.”

  All breath stopped short of my lips, leaving me light-headed, like my body was flooding with poison. “I really am sorry, Mike.”

  “Ara.” David reached for me as I pushed past him. “Don’t run,” he called. “Ara?”

  I wanted to stay, but I had to run. I had to go. My best friend was dead, my other best friend, the very friend who loved me, now wanted to kill me over the death of a girl he just fell for. It made no sense, made our entire past, everything we suffered, everything we experienced, feel like nothing. How could he be so cold?

  “Ara!” David called again from Emily’s room as I tugged the front door open and grabbed my car keys. “Ara, please. I can’t chase you—I need to…” A loud, grumbling sigh ended his sentence, and the front door slammed behind me.

  I jumped in the car, shoved the key in the ignition, turning the engine over as the pouring rain began.

  “Ara!” David appeared from nowhere and grabbed the front fender, lifting it slightly as I tried to reverse down the drive. The tires squealed over the wet ground, but David held tight, staring me down, rain saturating his dark hair.

  “Get off, David. I have to go. I can’t be here.”

  “Ara, just wait. For two seconds.”

  I looked into his caring eyes and then shoved the car into neutral, folding my arms.

  “Thank you.” He rested the front wheels back on the ground again, appearing by my door with a curled finger tapping the window. “Unlock the door.”

  I sat still, sniffling. I didn’t want to open it, but knew he’d just break it and I’d have to get it fixed if I didn’t. Begrudgingly, I lifted the lock and David yanked the door open, falling to his knees beside the car. “Don’t leave, okay. Please, I need you here.”

  “Why do you need me?”

  “Because I love you.”

  I looked at him then, softening. The rain soaked the side of my leg and turned David into a dripping artwork.

  “You can’t drive like this—you’ll have an accident.”

  “He hates me, David. I can’t be here.”

  “He’s in pain, Ara. He doesn’t mean it. I know he doesn’t. You”—he grabbed my hand—“you know he doesn’t.”

  “No, David.” I wiped my nose. “That’s the problem. He did mean it.”

  “Ara?” His hands shook so much I placed mine over his. “Please don’t run. Please? I need your help. I can’t bury her alone. She was my friend, too.”

  My heart melted. I touched his face, wiping away the pain. He was always so calm. I didn’t think he cared about Emily like we did, but I’d never seen him shake before, never seen him let tears fall so easily. “I’m sorry, David.”

  “No.” He pulled me from the car and hugged me right there on the driveway in the pouring rain. “You don’t need to be sorry, for anything, at all. This is all just a horrible, horrible mistake.”

  “But I told her about Jas—”

  “Yes, but you never meant any of this to happen.” He wrapped both hands along my cheeks, pressing his brow to mine. “She needed the truth. So did Mike.”

  I nodded. “I know. But, I just… I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never had to bury a… what do we—?”

  “Don’t worry about that part, sweetheart.” He brushed my hair from my face. “I’ll take care of that. I just need you to be there with me.”

  “I can do that.” I sniffed, wiping my face with the backs of my hands.

  “It’s going to b
e okay. Mike will—” David looked up toward the front door.

  “What?” I looked too.

  “Stay here.” He turned away slowly.

  “What is it?” I reached in and turned off the car, pulling the keys from the ignition. Then, I heard it, too: screaming. Mike!

  David bolted ahead, leaving the front door open, but by the time I made it to the hall, he’d slammed Emily’s door shut—locking me out.

  “Let me in,” I yelled, slapping it. “David! Let me in!”

  “Let me see,” I heard David say. “Shit. Just move. Move!”

  “Mike? David?” I kicked at the door, shoving it with my shoulder. “Damn it, David.”

  It flung open suddenly, leaving my fist falling through the absent air and landing hard on Mike’s chest. He barely noticed as he folded forward, his bloodied face shocking me enough to squeal.

  My knees buckled under his weight, my shoulder catching him where he fell, nearly taking me down with him. “David.” Help me.

  David appeared, pressed his palms to Mike’s chest and bumped me away with his hip. “Stand back, Ara,” he said, and with the ease of lifting a pillow, flipped the limp giant over his shoulder.

  “What happened to him?” I asked. “Why’s his face bleeding?”

  David looked back at me. “Come with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Ara—” He edged between Mike and Emily’s rooms. “Just… just don’t go in there, okay.”

  I nodded, waited for him to disappear, and then stepped through Emily’s doorway anyway. “Oh my God!”

  “Ara?” Emily cried from a dark corner near her wardrobe, huddled into a ball on the floor. “What did he do to me?”

  “Ara—don’t!” David called from the other room as I flew into Emily’s arms. She grabbed my shirt, clutching for dear life, pulling her shaking body close to my chest.

  David grabbed her wrist, coming up out of nowhere. “Let go of her, now.”

  “Don’t let him touch me, Ara!” she screeched, kicking at the ground. “Please don’t let him hurt me again.”

  “What did you do to her?” I shoved his hand away.

  “I’m sorry, Em.” He squatted beside us and gently unlatched her fingers from my shirt. “I had to forcibly restrain her. She had her hands around Mike’s throat.”

  “Oh my God. Is he okay?” My pulse quickened, I looked to the door.

  “No.”

  I covered my mouth.

  “She didn’t bite him. She just…”

  “I thought he was trying to hurt me, Ara,” Emily cut in, her eyes pleading. “I scratched him.”

  “David?” I swallowed over a deep breath, making a huge lump form in my throat. “Is it bad?”

  He concentrated on untangling Emily’s fingers from my shirt. “I’ve forced him to drink some blood. It’s all I can do.”

  “Mmm—” Emily’s voice wavered nervously, her terror-widened eyes locked onto her outstretched arms. “David, what’s happening to me? Ah!” She shot back, thrashing violently into the wall, scratching at her arms.

  David slid his hands around my waist and shifted me across so he could grab her. “Ara, go, please.”

  “No. What’s happening to her?” I stood back, but everything in me screamed to run to Emily, to hold her as she writhed, belting about, tearing at her arms where the veins pulsed and wriggled under her skin. I watched as they turned bright blue then white with every scream that passed her lips.

  “Make it stop! Make it stop!”

  David clasped a firm hand across her mouth. “Emily. Shush, or the neighbors will call the police.”

  She twitched, her throat composing a long, wavering sound. “I’m trying, David. I’m trying.”

  “I know,” he said.

  “What did he do to me?” she growled in a very low, very cold voice, her gaze fixing on my vampire with hatred and something so demonic behind it that I stepped back.

  “It’s okay, Emily.” David lifted her and carried her to the bed. “You’re turning. In a few minutes, it’ll stop—then…”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  David looked back at me with urgency in his eyes, pinning Emily down with a hand on her chest. “Then, she’ll be thirsty.”

  “For blood?”

  “Ara, you better get out of here.”

  The world stopped; the only sound I heard was my own very quiet breath and the beating of my heart.

  “Ara,” David said more forcefully, wincing slightly as Emily gouged at the flesh on his forearm. “Go to Mike. He needs you.”

  “No. I’m staying with you. David, look what she’s doing to your arm.”

  He looked down. The deep gashes started to prick with blood, the skin around the edges folding outward where it was still attached. Emily kicked, screaming and wailing—attempting to toss about, but unable to move under the force of David’s strong hold.

  “I’ll be fine, Ara.”

  “You don’t look fine.” I edged forward. “She’s hurting you.”

  He held out his other hand, stopping me. “I won’t lie, okay, yes, it hurts, but not as much as losing you. Okay. Just go. Go!”

  Everything in me said stay, but as if on cue, Mike groaned, his voice laden with so much agony that I almost didn’t even look back as I ran from the room. All I could think of was the time his appendix burst and I first saw him cry; it was the worst night of my childhood. I thought he was going to die. I’d never heard anyone cry that way. But this was a worse sound. Much, much worse.

  Almost as fast as a vampire, I made it to his side. “Mike? Are you okay?”

  “Just go.” He rolled his face to the wall.

  “No, I’m not going anywhere.” I lifted his head and shoved his pillow under it, afraid to look at his face. “Just tell me what to do, Mike, please. How can I make it better?”

  “You can’t,” he said slowly, his voice trailing off. “Not you.”

  “Mike?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Mike?” I whispered.

  His labored breathing became deep and restful quickly. I sat back against the wall, sinking my head into my hands as the morning sun lit the room. I felt unwelcome in a place I’d sat so many times, talking and joking with him. In one week I’d managed to destroy so many lives. How on earth was I so cursed that I could alienate people so fiercely, not only losing them, but making sure they would run so far from me that I’d never even see them pass on the street ever again?

  I wanted to lay with Mike, safe in his arms, but the cold floor, hard under my tailbone, and the wall, no comfort for my aching heart, reminded me that this was where I belonged. I destroyed Emily, and I broke Mike’s heart. If he could ever forgive me for that, I’d still have no hope of saving our friendship, because I knew how much Mike hated vampires, and I knew, from everything he’d ever told me, that he would not forgive me for Emily turning into one.

  I sunk my head back down on my knees, letting the restful breath of my ex-best friend take me away with exhaustion. At some point, just before I was about to fall onto my side, cool arms wrapped my body and carried me to the softness of my bed, where I stayed until morning came, safe and warm in David’s loving arms.

  13

  Some dreams belong to hope, some to summaries of the day, and others to the fears we hide from ourselves.

  Ever since Emily woke that morning to find she’d made a textbook transition from a beautiful, bubbly human to a heartless but perfect vampire, she’d been crying; she looked in the mirror, her face flawless, her eyes radiant, more vibrant than before, and cried.

  For Emily, she was living a nightmare—one that, for me, would now be a dream.

  “Don’t look so glum, my love,” David said, waltzing into my room in his usual dark shirt and best smile. “Mike will come ’round eventually.”

  “He hates me.”

  “He doesn’t hate you. Here.” He placed a pile of very neatly folded clothes on the end of my bed. “I’m not sure which drawers y
ou want these in.”

  “Just chuck them on the floor with the rest. That’s where they’ll end up anyway.”

  But he didn’t. Instead, he opened random drawers and placed the clothes in spaces they didn’t belong, and somehow, that was more annoying than not having any clean clothes at all.

  “Aren’t you supposed to magically know where all my stuff goes?” I said. “That would be so much more romantic.”

  He placed his duffle bag on the dresser and packed his clean laundry into it. “Well, I may be able to read minds, but I’m not a mind-reader, Ara.”

  “Um…” I rolled onto my side. “That makes no sense.”

  “It means”—he landed behind me, his forearm tucked under his cheek—“that I can’t be expected to know everything just because I know what you’re thinking.”

  “You could have just said that, rather than delivering some roundabout statement that needed decoding.” I turned to face him. “I’m not a mind-reader, you know.”

  “Touché.” He grinned, rolling onto his back, his hands behind his head. “Speaking of which, I have some rather interesting news…”

  “You’re a mind reader?”

  He either didn’t notice the gloom-laced sarcasm in my tone, or chose to counteract it with a radiant kind of positivity in his own. “Nope. Better.”

  I propped my head on the heel of my palm and looked down into his sparkling green eyes, brighter in the midday sun. “Okay, what’s the news?”

  “I’m not sure why, but I can still hear Emily’s thoughts.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” David seemed amused.

  “Why? I mean, is that because she’s not full strength yet?”

  He shook his head, still grinning. “It’s been two days; she’s full strength. I think it’s because my brother turned her.”