Dark Secrets Box Set

by Angela M Hudson

  “Ara, will you just look!”

  One eye opened slowly at a time, blurring and then focusing on the light in the room before shifting edgily over the twisted, unmoving life form.

  And my world stopped, the blood flushing from my heart and soul at the sight of him: interlaced fingers of blackened skin made a cage around the raw, stretching flesh beneath, all of it shiny with pinkish blood and yellowing pus.

  “Oh my God.” I pushed out from Mike’s arms and knelt by the bed. “He’s bad.”

  “He’s not that bad,” Mike said.

  “He’s not as bad as I imagined.” I wiped a tear from my cheek.

  “Just worse than you wanted,” Emily added.

  “Yeah.” I looked closer at his face. His mouth was completely melted together, a section of his chin fused to his chest, and one arm stripped of the flesh—all the way down to gray bone. But it was definitely my David.

  “Was he conscious?” I looked at Mike. “You said he burned alive. Did he know what was going on?”

  “Under venom, you’re in a lockdown.” Morgaine appeared in the room. “Its sole purpose is to paralyze the body, but—”

  “Not the mind,” Mike added solemnly.

  “He knew.” I covered my mouth. “When Jason lifted him, he knew he was going to burn.”

  “Yes. But it was always a risk, Amara. He went willingly to that fate knowing he was saving your future.”

  “Saving it?”

  “So that everyone would believe he was dead, remember? So no one will look for him.” Morgaine touched David’s fingertips on his right hand—the only things on his body that weren’t charred.

  David twitched.

  I pictured how the flames fingered his skin and dissolved his face, singeing his hair until it curled and shriveled against his scalp, and all the while I sat, watched—did nothing. “How can I ever forgive myself for not helping him?”

  “It’s not your fault, baby.”

  “Of course it’s my fault.” I moved without thought then, sliding my bottom teeth across my wrist to rip the flesh open. He was alive, frozen in pain while he lay there burning. Melting. He felt that. I rested my wrist against his lips, fighting against tears and sobs to hold it steady. “Drink,” I cried. “David, drink—please?”

  “Ara.” Emily grabbed my hand. “He can’t. He’s too badly damaged. He has no way of swallowing.”

  “What?” I looked at the unrecognizable face of the man I loved. “There has to be a way to get blood into him.”

  “We’ve tried, baby.” Mike lifted me away from David and pressed his thumb firmly against the cut on my wrist. “He’s just too burned.”

  “If he can’t drink blood, how will he recover?”

  “It will happen, in time,” Morgaine said. “We’ll coat his burns with it, and eventually he’ll start to heal. It’s just going to be a long process, from the outside in.”

  I looked up from the closing cut on my wrist. “But he will recover?”

  “Yes.”

  The breath I took numbed my legs as it travelled through me. I sunk to the floor, snuggling into Mike when he squatted beside me and cupped my face to his chest.

  “I thought he was dead. I thought I killed him. I—” I glanced up at the body again: supple, still fleshy. He wasn’t burned to a stiff carcass, more melted like plastic when it’s still warm. “I’m so happy he’s alive. Is that selfish of me?”

  Emily shook her head and smiled. “He feels the same, Ara, for what it’s worth, and he’s not in too much pain right now. I know he looks bad, but I’ve injected him with horse-grade tranquilizers and a few other dangerous substances. He’s pretty high right now.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Does he know I’m here? Can he hear me?”

  “If he can, I can’t tell. He has so many other emotions and feelings going on right now. I’m not sure what’s what,” Emily said, then like the sun warming the room inch by inch, her smile spread across her face. “Okay, looks like he does know you’re here.”

  “David?” I got up on my knees again, my hand hovering over the places I wished I could touch. “I’m here. I’m here.”

  “I think he’s wondering where you’ve been,” Emily said.

  “I didn’t know you were alive,” I said to him. “I… I thought I killed you.”

  “Okay, that’s enough, Ara.” Emily placed her hand on my shoulder. “You know what he’s like. What do you think him worrying about your emotional well-being is going to do for his recovery?”

  “See? This is why I didn’t want her in here,” Morgaine said. “But you don’t listen to me.”

  “Come on.” Em helped me stand. “I need to give him another blood bath. I don’t think you should be here for that. Go get some rest and a coffee, and I’ll let you come back later today.”

  “Okay.” I wanted to kiss him so badly and tell him everything would be all right. “I love you, David. Please don’t forget that. I love you, and I’m so sorry that I…” Did I say didn’t or couldn’t help you? The fact was, I didn’t know I could.

  “Ara.” Urgency slipped into Emily’s tone. “Just go. Mike?” She looked at him. “Just get her out of here, please. I think David can read her thoughts right now.”

  Mike tugged my arm, and I backed out of the room, not taking my eyes from the miracle of life in agony before them. “I love you, David.”

  The door slammed shut behind us, leaving Mike and me alone in the early-morning darkness.

  I tried to think beyond the stunned silence in my brain. “I can’t believe it, Mike.”

  “Ara.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “I don’t know what to say, baby. I’m so sorry we—”

  “He’s alive.” I stared at the empty space of everything around me. “Mike, it’s okay. I’m just so glad he’s alive.”

  “Well, I know everything’s well in the world according to Ara, but we still have the problem of Arthur.”

  “What about it?”

  “He can’t know David’s alive.”

  “Why?”

  “Remember what I said about Drake and the prophecy?”

  “Uh—”

  “Drake’s weak. He won’t attack or come after you right now; it should give us time to get you into power. But if Drake finds out David’s alive he’ll attack now. Arthur may be digging to see if David’s really dead, I mean, we have no idea what he’s up to, Ara.”

  “It could be nothing.” I leaned on the wall. “What if he genuinely wants to help?”

  “Yeah,” Mike scoffed. “And, what? Jason genuinely tried to help you?”

  Each nub in my spine tightened, making me taller.

  “Yeah, I thought you might feel that way,” he added. “So, Arthur knowing about David? No. Got it?”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “Right. Now come on, it’s still dark outside, you can get a few more hours’ sleep before the sun comes up.” He wrapped his arm over my shoulder and nudged me away from the wall.

  “Will you stay with me, Mike?” I snuggled into the heavy warmth of his arm. “I just don’t wanna be alone.”

  “Sure, kid.” He nodded. “Might get busted by Em, but—”

  “Oh. Would she really mind?”

  “Right now, I don’t know?” He shrugged. “But after what you’ve been through, and what I went through worrying about you, I don’t care.”

  * * *

  In the time it took for David and me to get married, be kidnapped and tortured, and come home again, the lake caught the scent of spring and banished the ice to another year. I perched on the park bench, tucking my knees up to my chest, looking out from the place Jason and I first talked after he saved me from evil-candy-floss-lady at Karnivale.

  The dreams I had with him—or the mind-links I experienced—kept playing in my head and showing me a side of my torturer that didn’t match what he’d done to me; a side I wished was real.

  In that world, I loved him and he
loved me, and it was okay; it held no bearing out here in reality where I loved David. And that was the worst thing about it, because while my actions in those worlds seemed separate from life, like falling in love with characters in a book, the heartbreak for Jason’s betrayal—for loving me then torturing me—was something that did extend out here. And it hurt more than the torture.

  “Amara?” A tall man walked toward me slowly, his dark suit outlined by the glow of the sun.

  “Arthur?”

  As I stood up to greet him, the short white beard and crinkled eyes I’d always imagined David’s uncle to have blurred, showing the face of man who was no older than thirty. His eyes were just like my husband’s, but blue as the sky, with a smile so similar my breath hitched.

  “My dear, sweet girl.” He cupped my hand, bowing to kiss it.

  I remembered him then—not just his voice, but his face—the one who studied me carefully at my hearing; the one who sat at the right hand of Drake.

  I pulled my hand away.

  “I understand your aversion to me,” he said softly, lowering his arms. “After all, you couldn’t know how I fought for you—both before and after you were captured.”

  “It wouldn’t change things, even if I did.”

  He bowed his head.

  “And what do you mean by before?”

  “Please”—he offered the park bench—“sit with me.”

  I plonked back down, leaving enough room for Arthur to sit without invading my territorial bubble.

  “You see,” Arthur continued, resting his ankle on his knee, “when David went to the Blood Rave a few months ago, he set off a chain of events that resulted in the Council learning of your existence—”

  “Because of a Blood Rave? We were sent to our deaths because of a Blood Rave?”

  “No. You were sentenced to death for the sins of your ancestor, Amara. And David, well…” His gaze drifted to the ground. “He broke the law.”

  “By leaving the Set?”

  “No. By being with you.”

  “But he didn’t know what I was.”

  “It makes no difference. He was guilty by association.”

  “Then why wasn’t Jason?”

  “Jason didn’t try to run with you.”

  “Then why did he have passports in his bag, and hair dye and—”

  “Sorry. Allow me to rephrase that.” He cleared his throat. “Jason was not caught trying to run.”

  I let out a hard breath through my teeth. “So you knew what I was before Drake arrested me?”

  “I did.”

  “And you’ve, what, you’ve kept me a secret?”

  “I did.”

  “So you can manage that, but you couldn’t manage to save David,” I stated, glancing away when I saw my words strike agony onto his face.

  “I cannot convey to you”—his voice broke; he cleared it with a small cough—“the immeasurable grief of losing David, of losing both boys, for that matter.”

  “Imagine how I feel then.” I bit my teeth together for a second. “How sick it makes me that this even happened. That there’s no one I can go to. I can’t report this to the police, see justice served, I—”

  “I know.” He cupped my hand. “And we cannot mend the damage of things passed, Amara. However, I truly am happy to see you alive.”

  “How can you say that? You sat there in that chamber and you let them judge me, sentence me. You didn’t say a word. You didn’t help me. You didn’t stop Jason when he beat me!”

  “I had no power to, Princess.” He sat back, releasing my hand. “But, if it is any consolation at all, I was not among those who drank your blood that day.”

  “You weren’t?” I wiped a stray tear with the back of my wrist.

  “No. I could not bring myself to harm you that way, even for the sake of appearances.”

  “But you let them do it.” I slammed a fist onto the bench. “Why would you do that if you wanted to help me?”

  “What matters is that I’m helping you now,” he said and took my hand again.

  I just wanted to hit him and run away. I yanked my hand back. “Why? Why are you helping?”

  “Many reasons, one of them being a promise I made to David to always watch over you if ever he was taken away.” His mouth tightened, eyes going dark. “Of course, when I swore this, neither he nor I foresaw the possibility of his death, or that you would be Lilithian. But I assume he would still wish me to protect you.”

  “Don’t you say his name ever again.” My eyes watered, thinking of the way Jason threw him onto the fire like he was nothing, and how he was alive still, how he felt everything. Arthur knew what they would do to his nephew, and he just let it happen. He had no right to speak David’s name.

  “His mention troubles you greatly. I can see that.” Arthur touched my cheek, and his cold fingers shocked my warm skin, sending a tingle of shivers down my spine. “But for the purpose of our chat, my dear, I must mention him occasionally. May I ask your blessing for that?”

  I turned my face away. “Fine.”

  “You are most agreeable, my sweet friend,” he said, but even I could tell he was joking. I wasn’t being ‘agreeable’ at all.

  A small smile crept up in the corners of my mouth. “Great. A stiff old Council leader with a sense of humor.”

  “Yes, ’tis as refreshing as a lady with the gall to speak her mind, I would think.” He bowed his head, still smiling.

  I studied him carefully, taking in his features, his smiling eyes, his youthful face. I could tell he was being playful, but at the same time had a feeling any further mockery might not be tolerated. Kind of like calling the school principal ‘buddy’ as he passes in the hall.

  “I understand the Lilithian head of security—Mike—has plans to leave for Loslilian in a few days,” he said, breaking my reverie.

  “I—” I frowned. “Head of security?”

  “Were you not made aware?”

  I shook my head.

  “He leaves in two days to begin training the new army.”

  “Army?”

  “Yes, army.” Arthur held back a smile. “The Lilithian Knights: an elite team of vampire hunters with the capacity to paralyze in one bite. Of course, I assume”—he nodded toward me—“with your bite, you will create more like Mike.”

  “Like Mike?”

  “Yes. He’s a Class-one Created.”

  I didn’t want to wear the look of confusion again, but it filtered across my brow anyway.

  “He was bitten a by Pure Blood, which means he, like you, has the ability to end the life of a vampire.” He held a gaze infused with either anger or confusion, or maybe something else. “Tell me they at least educated you on this much.”

  “Oh, yeah, they did. Um… but I don’t know about turning an army. No one even mentioned an army, or security or…” My shoulders dropped. “Or Mike leaving.”

  “You see?” Arthur patted my knee. “I will be a great ally.”

  “We’ll see.” I moved my leg away from him, making it obvious.

  “You have no reason to trust me, my dear, not after everything you’ve been through, and I do not expect your trust.” He turned so his knees faced me. “If it’s all the same though, I will help you win this fight, overrun the Council and take your rightful place as Queen of the Three Worlds. I do not need you to trust me in order to do that.”

  “Good, because I don’t trust you,” I said coldly.

  Arthur nodded softly, pressing his lips together. “I hope, in time, that will change. But I know my honor, and I am a man of my word. I want only to help you rid the world of Drake and free all vampires from his persecution.”

  “Why does it have to be me? I mean, seriously, I’m still a teenager. I can’t be a queen.”

  “It is your birth right, Princess,” Arthur said assertively. “A position taken from Drake, originally, and given to Lilith by her father, the first vampire.”

  “Why her? Why my bloodline?”

&
nbsp; “Because Drake is a bloodthirsty, unkind creature. Power was never intended to fall back to his hands, but he took it—stole it from Lilith when he discovered she could be killed. Our existence, from as far back as the birth of Vampirie, began as a race of beings that supported human life, not destroyed it entirely.”

  “Is that what Drake does—destroys life?”

  “Not so much these days. There were many centuries where he believed humans should be farmed and stored in lots to use for our own nourishment. He did not care for discretion, or for life. It took a curse to show him the error of his ways, but when he fell in love with a Pagan named Anandene, his rule became tyrannical again, and Vampirie was forced to step in.”

  “So, Vampirie isn’t like Drake.”

  “Not at all.” Arthur laughed. “Before Drake was born, vampires lived in peace among the humans; a utopia we, who are true to the original vampire, wish to restore.”

  “You said we. Who is we?”

  “Those who have broken free of the Set: The Rebellion.”

  “So, you’re not with the Set now?”

  “For now, I am. I will remain so until you take over, Majesty. Unfortunately, I am sworn in, bound to do all bidding which benefits my people, but I must also maintain my cover in order to help you rise up slowly beneath Drake until you’re powerful enough to take over.”

  “Why would you do that? If you’re bound to do what’s best for your people, how is a Lilithian takeover beneficial?”

  “I believe a world without Drake will bring peace.” He touched a tight fist to his chest. “I am faithful to the old ways and wish to see balance restored. And it is only by the power of the prophecy that it will ever come to par.”

  “Prophecy?”

  And that was it. I’d heard that word and so many others too many times in the last few hours. I just wanted some normalcy back. I’d always been the kind of person to find prophecies and all that trash ridiculous. And now I was stuck knee-deep in it all.

  “Everything all right, my dear?”

  I sat back, resting my hands in my lap, watching some children run down to the water with buckets and spades. “This is all too big, Arthur: the first vampire, Drake, ruling the Lilithian Order—how do I do that?”