“But…” I rolled my face up to look at him. “That would mean coming back for me one day.”
He smiled to himself—his secret smile—and it set my heart on fire. “I like this,” he said.
“What?”
“You still blush when I look at you that way,” David hummed, slowly drawing a line along my cheek. “I love that.”
And I loved that he still loved things about me, even after all the time we’d known each other. I buried my nose in his chest, breathing deep the faded hint of his musky soap as it mixed with the dry smell of ice and cold.
“Ara?” he said my name as though I was asleep, softly and so delicately.
“Mm?”
“Would you dance with me?”
“Here?” I motioned around the frozen water.
“Here,” he said.
“Sure.”
Quiet as a whisper at first, David started singing the words to a song he once dedicated to me by this lake. We swayed softly, circling gently on the spot, and there was something so familiar and comforting about his voice that I felt almost like we’d been together for a hundred years. I was safe, warm, and though my skirt and tights weren’t really intended to be worn outside, I felt none of the cold at all in his arms. The limitless supply of blood—my blood—made him warmer than I’d ever known him to be, though the bite, the kill, was something he had to steal from the innocent while I slept.
When the song ended, we stood still on the frozen water for a while, with nothing but the distant sound of an eagle around us, calling out as he circled on an invisible current in the murky sky.
David rested his lips against my hair, just breathing warmth onto me for a while. But his grip tightened a little, waking me from my dreamy state.
“Ara? I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?”
“It’s…”
I tensed all over, too familiar with that tone.
“It’s almost time for me to leave,” he said. “And I—”
“What?” I took a long step backward. “No, it’s too soon.”
“I know.” He glided toward me. “I don’t want to leave, but I promised to stay until you were better, and you are now. I cannot stay any longer for fear of risking your life.”
“I don’t care. They can take it. I told you, it’s nothing without you!” I burst into tears, pinching the corners of my eyes to make it stop. “David, I… if you brought me here to say goodbye, then you might as well just throw me in the lak—”
“No.” He grabbed my wrists, pulling them away to look into my face. “I didn’t bring you here for that, sweetheart. I brought you here so we could talk—away from listening ears—to say…” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “To tell you that I’m sorry, that I made a big mistake when I said goodbye to you. And I’ve had to live with that mistake for longer than I could bear. I don’t want to leave you again, mon amour. I brought you here to say that we have to run away”—his strong fingers clasped my upper arms, as if to make me understand his desperation—“we have to go as far from here as we can, because I can’t leave you again. I won’t. And I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry it will mean running for the rest of our lives, but if they find you, they will kill you.”
My skin tightened with goose bumps. “David. Are you saying that…?”
“I’m saying I want to start over, Ara—someplace else—somewhere we can be together. Where none of the past matters, where you and I are all that exists in the world.”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t make my heart believe my ears.
He smiled as he wiped a line of moisture from my cheek. “Would you want that—to run away with me, even though we could never truly live in peace?”
My watery eyes flicked over his, mouth hanging open in disbelief. “How can you ask me that? You know the answer already.”
“Then…” He hesitated. “That’s a yes?”
“Yes, it’s a yes, dummy.” I flung my arms around his neck, standing on my toes to hug him tighter. “It’s an epically big yes.”
“Thank God. I was so afraid you…”
“I what?”
He placed me on the ground, shaking his head. “Never mind. It’s not important. What’s important now is discussing our next move.”
“Where will we go?”
“I have a friend. She’s going to help us. We’ll go to Paris under the protection of the Lilithians in the Ninth Order, and—”
“They can change me,” I stated, my eyes wide. “The Lilithians. Eric told me about th—”
“Uh. Stop right there.” He held his index finger up. “I’ve already thought of it, and I don’t want that for you.”
“Why?”
“Do you really want to crave my blood? If you become one of them, you won’t be the same.”
“How is that any different? I crave you now, except that I could be immortal—be with you forever.”
“Ara—” He shook his head.
“Don’t you want me for eternity? I don’t understand.” I took a step back, laying my feet down flat on the slippery ice so as not to slide.
“It’s not that, Ara.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s because they want my head on a stake—the vampires. I left them. They need to make an example of me.” He walked humanly slow to stand in front of me again. “If you’re immortal, and they catch us, they won’t just kill you. I can’t let you get hurt like that, mon amour. The tortures a human can live through are far less than what a vampire will be subjected to—for eternity.”
“Then I won’t get caught.” I brushed his hand away from my face.
“I thought you didn’t want to be immortal. I thought you wanted death one day.”
“David?” I looked him in the eye, snorting once. “You know I changed my mind. I told you that.”
“No, you were just saying that”—his neck jutted forward, his eyes wide—“because it was no longer a possibility. You were just trying to make me happy.”
“No! I meant it when I said it. I want to be immortal, with you, forever. Not just for my forever.”
“But… your mom, and Harry?”
“They’re dead, David.” I dropped my arms. “And there’s no guarantee I’ll even see them in the afterlife. But I can guarantee that I’ll have you. If I become immortal, I can guarantee that we’ll always be together.”
David closed his eyes. “I never thought I’d hear you say that.”
“You were never around for me to say it.” My voice cracked.
“And for that, I am eternally sorry.”
We stood silently then, surrounded by the chill of the afternoon, frozen by the anticipation of the future. I wanted him to say yes—to say he’d make them change me, but I was so afraid if he opened his mouth it would be for another rebuttal.
“You would really change—for me?” he asked, breaking the breathless intensity.
“Yes.”
“And be with me for ever?”
I placed my hand to my chest. “I would promise you eternity with all of my heart.”
“Then let it be so.” He smiled and lifted me into his arms, spinning me around in the middle of the ice bridge over our secret lake.
* * *
“So, when do you leave?” Mike’s breath came across the dining table warmed with the smell of coffee. He set his cup down by his hand and looked at David.
“Early spring,” I said. “David’s Set won’t return ’til then.”
“Wouldn’t it be smarter to leave now, then?” Emily said. “Get out while you can?”
I shook my head. “There’s no rush, and I need time to say goodbye to Dad and Vicki.”
“Will you ever come back?” Mike asked accusingly.
Emily slid Mike’s coffee cup aside and weaved her fingers through his.
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’ll be dangerous for us—they’ll always be after David now.”
“What if it doesn’t work
?” Mike leaned forward a little. “What if you don’t change and you go into a coma again?”
“A Lilithian transformation differs to a vampire,” David advised. “Genetics don’t come into play.”
“So, you will be immortal. There’s no question?” Mike looked at me.
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure I like it, Ara.” His serious face slipped on like a mask.
“But—”
“But it’s what you want.” He held up his index finger, offering David’s worried frown a grin after. “So, I know you don’t need it, man, but you have my blessing to kidnap my best friend and turn her into the living dead.”
“They’re not dead, Mike.” I rolled my eyes.
“I know.” He winked at me.
“And I appreciate your blessing,” David said, reaching across to shake Mike’s hand. “More than you know.”
“Just take care of her.” He cupped his other hand over David’s. “She’s pretty special to me.”
“Likewise,” David said.
Emily and I smiled at each other across the table, but when mine dropped, her face mimicked my inward concern.
“Just make sure you write,” Mike said to me. “I need to know that you’re safe—alive.”
“We’ll have to write under pseudonyms,” David said. “But I’m sure we’ll find some way to stay in touch.”
“Good,” Emily chimed, clasping her hands under her chin. “I want all the details so I can live out my romantic adventures vicariously through you two.”
My gaze settled on the table, away from Emily’s joy, because the letters we’d send would never reach her—could never reach her. Not where she was going.
“Ara, what is it?” she asked.
I sat taller. “Nothing.”
“Liar.” Her caramel eyes sparkled with a grin. “I know my best friend. You can’t hide anything from me.”
She was right. Not only could I not hide it, but I couldn’t keep it from her any longer—despite what David thought was best. “David doesn’t want to tell you this, but—”
“Ara.” He turned his head an inch and shook it; his voiceless signal not to say what I was going to say.
“I’m sorry, David. She needs to know.” I looked back at Mike, then especially at Emily. “You have to join a Set. It’s against the—”
“Ara.” She squirmed in her seat, smiling. “I’m not joining a Set—that’s crazy. I’m not one of them.”
“Bugger.” Mike’s hand covered his chin. “I forgot about that.”
“About what?” Em looked at David. “What are you saying: that I have no choice?”
“Em.” Mike reached across and took her hand again. “Ara’s right. They’ll come after you if you don’t join a Set.”
“But I’m not one of them,” she cried. “I don’t want this. I don’t want that life.”
“None of us did, Em.” David sighed, leaning back in his chair. “It’s just a part of it.”
“But…” Her glassy eyes moved from David to Mike. “But I’ll have to leave Mike. He… we won’t be able to be together, will we?”
“Not long-term. It’s against the law.” David’s face offered no emotion, the factual councilman rising to the surface.
Mike leaned back in his chair, his hands falling heavily in his lap.
“I’m sorry, Emily,” David said.
She covered her face, crying, and the song playing on the radio in the background forced too much joy into the empty moment—a song for dancing, celebrating. But Emily was torn apart inside, anyone could see that; could see the panic, the desperation to find some way to change it, to have some power. She didn’t want this life. I wanted it, and now it was a burden to her.
“Can’t we run?” Mike asked, charged by her torment. “Can’t we—”
“Can you see now?” David interjected, resting his elbows on the table, practically rubbing the flesh from his forehead. “This is why I left Ara in the first place, okay. I didn’t want this life for her either, but you two went looking for trouble”—he presented his palm to Emily—“and now you’ve got it.”
“David!” I slapped him on the arm.
“Sorry, but it’s the way things are. If you don’t like it—”
“Well, I don’t!” Emily folded her arms. “I don’t want to be a vampire.”
“And yet you have no choice!” David yelled back.
We all froze.
“David, please?” Her tone softened. “Please, take me with you when you go?”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“But what about Ara? You’re taking her. Wouldn’t it be better if we all went? We could keep each other safe.”
“And what about Mike?” I asked. “If you join a Set, you can at least see him still.”
“Yeah, until we have to move on! Or until they imprison me for being with a human.”
“Why are you yelling at me, Emily?” I pressed my fingers to my chest. “I didn’t do this!”
“Yes, you did! If you’d never—”
“Girls, girls,” Mike cut in, palms raised. “Stop arguing. We can figure this out.”
We both shut up.
“Emily?” Mike looked at her. “Ara and David are right. It’s silly to get yourself in trouble with the law for no reason. The vamps have nothing on you right now. And Ara”—he looked at me—“if Emily wants to run, that’s her decision. I support her one hundred percent, and David”—my vampire looked up—“so should you.”
We all sat silently, looking into our laps, except Emily, who smiled at Mike.
“You have until spring to make your decision, Emily,” David said. “If you plan to run, you better run far, and you better run fast.”
She clapped, bouncing in her seat. “I will. Thank you, David. You won’t regret this, I promise.”
He rubbed a finger in his ear, grimacing. “I think I’m beginning to already.”
She smiled widely and took Mike’s hand again, unable to see the pain her decision just caused him.
“Em? You know that means leaving Mike behind, right?” I said.
“No. He can run with us.”
“He’s human, Emily.” I presented him. “He won’t survive with a group of a vampires.”
“Of course he will.” She trilled. “You can change him once they change you, Ara.”
My eyes bulged, and I sunk into my seat a little more. Why didn’t I think of that?
David’s teeth showed with his beaming grin.
“David, do you think that’s possible?”
“It’s more than possible,” he said, taking my hand. “It’s extremely illegal, but then, turning you is against the law anyway.” He shrugged. “What have we got to lose?”
We all looked at Mike.
“Mike? Say something.”
He took a gulp of air and rubbed his forehead, nodding. “Okay. Yeah, sure, okay.”
Emily jumped in her seat, clapping again. “Really? You’ll do it?”
“Yeah,” he said, convincing himself as he went along. “Sounds like our only option.”
Emily flung her arms around him. “We’re gonna be so happy. All of us.”
“I hope so.” He smiled at me through Emily’s soft blonde hair as it fell around his face. “One big happy family, right?”
“Well, they say friends are family you choose,” David said.
Mike nodded, thoughtful. “Well, bro, looks like I’m gonna have to put up with you forever now.”
“And I look forward to it.” David shook Mike’s hand across the table again, and I bristled with pride watching them.
Family. My family.
“So, it’s settled then,” I said. “If you guys can stay under the radar until David and I come back from Paris, I’ll change Mike, and we’ll all run together.”
“It won’t be an ideal life,” David added, but smiled as he held my hand. “But I think I can handle forever with you guys.”
“Me too.” Emily reached for Dav
id’s hand, keeping hold of Mike’s, and the warmth of this strange little family flowed through the united hands of vampire and human alike.
At last, forever was one promise David would finally get to keep.
* * *
I watched David through the reflection, buttoning his white shirt, his shaggy hair falling in thick, dark waves onto his brow. He looked lovely in white—looked lovely just standing in my room, well, taking over my room might be a better word. My perfume bottles, hairbrush, photo frame and trinket box had been moved aside for David’s cologne, comb and a few other items he’d collected since living here. But I was okay with that. I’d never shared a space with a man before, but watching him get dressed like I wasn’t in the room gave me a new kind of appreciation for living with him. The only trouble with seeing his bare chest all the time, or watching him walk around in his underwear, or stand naked while waiting for the water to heat in the shower, was that my human hormones weren’t as easy to control as David thought they should be.
His emerald eyes moved up from his buttons and landed on me, small with humor. “Something wrong, my love?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I tucked my feet under my thighs and pressed my knees together. “Make love to me.”
His smile grew over his closed lips, his gaze going back to his shirt. “So I’m allowed to be more than a friend now, am I?”
“Now that you’re not leaving me, yes.”
He stopped buttoning his shirt and watched me in the mirror. I tilted my head against my shoulder, twisting my hair around my finger—a really poor attempt at sexy.
“Even if I was willing, we don’t have time tonight.”
“We can make time.” I offered my brightest smile, the one I knew made my eyes sparkle; the one I knew he couldn’t resist.
He took a long breath through his nose, then quickly let it out, his better judgement stepping back in to ruin my night. “Finish getting dressed. Your parents will be here any minute.”
“So?” I rolled onto my knees and crawled to the end of the bed, watching his secret smile sneak across his lips while he obviously read my thoughts. “They can talk to Emily and Mike while we—”
“Stop it.”
I saw only a shift of his weight from one foot to the other, his hands falling away from his buttons before I squealed, falling backward on the bed under him—his fingers digging into my ribs. “David!” I giggled, wriggling underneath him. “Please? Stop it!”
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