Dark Secrets Box Set

by Angela M Hudson

  “Can you still hear Emily?” I asked.

  His head moved once in a nod. “Ara,” he whispered, “answer… question.”

  “Oh. Um. I don’t know how to feel about Jason. I—” My lip trembled.

  “I?”

  “A part of me does feel sorry for him. A part of me is sad that he’s dead—that that was his fate. But the common-sense part of me is disgusted I can feel that way.”

  David’s eyes glistened, liquid with restrained tears.

  “Are you sad? That’s he’s dead?” I asked.

  He swallowed.

  “It’s horrible—what happened to him—the way he died.” I stared ahead.

  David nodded, scrunching a fist above his heart, the tight skin pulling over the new flesh.

  “It hurts?” I asked. “In your heart?”

  He nodded.

  “Is it true, about the blood oath?”

  “Unyielding,” David murmured, struggling to breathe as well as speak. “Didn’t know he’d done that.”

  “It hurts you that he did?”

  “My fault,” he rasped, tapping his chest. “If I’d helped him with the, with the…” He coughed, rolling up off his back a little.

  “David, just rest.” I laid him back. “We can talk later.”

  “No. Now.”

  I held his hand tight as he caught his breath, wheezing and gasping under an external calm. “You okay?”

  “Better,” he said, swallowing whatever he’d coughed up.

  “Do you need a drink?”

  “No.” His voice sounded clearer, but he still spoke slowly. “If I’d helped him with the law, he wouldn’t”—he winced in pain—“have needed to join the Council.”

  “With the law? Do you mean the human-relations law, so he could be with Emily?”

  David nodded.

  “I’m sorry, David.” I exhaled, shaking my head. “I’m sorry this all happened.”

  “Not. More. Than. I,” the whisper came from his lips, sounding like wind through a grater again.

  “Sleep.” I kissed the tip of his good finger. “We’ll talk about it when you’re better.”

  David was given no choice; his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and the loneliness of my constant isolation took hold of the room once more.

  * * *

  “Hey, there’s a face I haven’t seen for a while.” Eric grabbed my wrist and spun me onto his lap at the dining table.

  “Yeah, hi guys.” I rubbed my eye with one hand, tidying my hair with the other. “I didn’t think it was a good idea for this scary-vampire-head to come out in the daylight.”

  Mike and Morgaine rolled their eyes, but at least Eric and Emily laughed—a little.

  “How’s the man?” Eric asked.

  “He’s good. His hair’s growing back a little.”

  “Good.” Morgaine smiled. “Because we want our princess back. We need to start creating this army, Amara. I have a thousand men waiting to be bitten.”

  “A thousand?” I moaned. “Humans?”

  Eric’s thighs stiffened under me.

  “Yeah. Why? What’s wrong?” Morgaine said, and we both looked at Eric’s pale face.

  “Human blood burns Ara,” Eric muttered quietly.

  “It does?”

  “Yes.” I dropped my head onto my hands. “This is gonna be hard.”

  Morgaine looked at Mike who looked at Eric, then they all looked at me.

  “It’s okay, Ara. We can find another way.” Mike reached across the table for my hand.

  “There is no other way,” Morgaine said.

  “What about the venom I’ve been extracting for sword-tipping,” Mike said. “Can’t we just use that?”

  “Wait!” I jerked forward. “You’ve been extracting venom from yourself?”

  “Yes.” Mike looked down.

  “But. Why, Mike, it’s really painful?”

  “I’m fine, baby,” he said, but his eyes told otherwise.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Morgaine cut in. “You can’t create a vampire of any sort with a syringe of venom, it doesn’t work that way.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Try it—we don’t know. It just doesn’t.”

  “But biting them will?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  “That’s it? Just a bite?”

  “Yes, Amara. What’s your point?” Morgaine asked.

  “How come Lilithians change so easily, yet turning a human to a vampire is some great secret?”

  “We’re a different species. Lilithians are pure of heart and soul. But vampires?” She shrugged at Eric. “They’re parasites. It’s nature’s pest control, I guess.”

  “It’s nature’s way of keeping only the best in a small class. We wouldn’t be special if there were thousands of us,” Eric countered. “Like there will be of your kind, once you’ve sunk your teeth into the issue at hand, no pun intended.”

  I sighed. “A thousand is a big army, Morgaine. I can’t bite them all in one day. I’ll need time.”

  “Well, then with all due respect, Majesty, we need to get a move on. Drake will make plans to attack while we’re weak. We need to get to him first.”

  “He thinks I’m dead, doesn’t he? Why would he attack?” I stole my hand from Mike’s and left it on the table.

  “This time, it’s not you he’s after. It’s us—the Lilithian people. We dared to go against him, and now we have to pay. Plus, he wants Loslilian Manor back.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the forest surrounding it guards the Stone of Truth.”

  “Guards it?”

  “It’s said to be”—Mike cleared his throat, trying not to laugh—“enchanted.”

  “The forest or the stone?”

  “Both.”

  “The stone apparently holds real power, Ara,” Mike said. “Some ancient form of what we might refer to as magic.”

  “The same kind of magic you might say was used to create all life on earth,” Morgaine added. “And the forest is there to protect it.”

  Frankly, I wasn’t surprised. I mean, vampirism had to be a sort of magic too, right? “Okay, so what’s the plan—how do we evade attack?”

  “With an army,” Morgaine said. “We’re already training them. We just need them changed. They’ve been suited up, and—”

  “Suited up?” I interrupted.

  “Yeah, uniforms.” Mike grinned, raising his brows a few times.

  “They have uniforms?”

  “Have done for the last few thousand years,” Morgaine said.

  “Cool. Sorry.” I smiled sheepishly. “Continue.”

  “So, the army awaits transformation, and once that’s been done—”

  “The real training begins.” Mike’s face lit with a wide, eager grin.

  “What then? When they’re ready, what do we do about Drake?”

  “Well, the only thing we can do. Since Lilith’s venom apparently couldn’t kill her own blood, and yours isn’t likely to either—”

  “Can’t kill her own blood?”

  “Drake can’t die by Lilithian venom, far as we know,” Mike said. “There are all these rumors and tales, and I don’t think anyone really knows anything—”

  “But King Drake’s been alive since the earliest days of man, from what I know,” Eric added. “He can’t be killed, otherwise he’d have died when he waged war on Lilith—”

  “But it’s like I said the other day,” Morgaine cut in, “the only possible way to kill him is with this prophesied catalyst—”

  “So what do we do?”

  “Turn his people against him one by one, then invade La Château de la Mort, capture him and hold him prisoner until the catalyst arrives.”

  “And… by catalyst, just to be clear, you mean my super-baby?”

  “Yes.”

  I looked around at all of them, wondering sometimes if they even realized they hadn’t filled me in on the whole story. I felt like I was constantly scamper
ing for pieces of information and gluing them together haphazardly, always the last to know.

  “I’m not ready for a baby.”

  “Amara. A baby is the least of your worries right now,” Morgaine said. “We have to remove Drake from the World Council or he’ll exterminate every one of us. You can’t just sit by and let that happen. We have to fight.”

  “We will fight.” I got up from Eric’s lap, feeling a bit uncomfortable there. “I’m not backing down, okay? I just don’t think it’s a very good plan. I mean, Arthur said this child can make vampires human again. So does it make Drake human, and then we kill him, or do we expect a baby to kill a man? And when can it do that? When will it be powerful enough?”

  “We don’t know.” Morgaine shook her head. “We can’t properly interpret the scrolls, because all the old-world translators were killed in the war on Lilith, and most of the scrolls were destroyed when the vampires invaded Loslilian.”

  “Scrolls?” Another piece of information they hadn’t given me.

  “The scrolls are ancient parchments predicting the future.”

  “Like Nostradamus or some bull crap?”

  “Exactly.”

  “They’re predictions written down in an ancient language that no modern eye can really read,” Mike added. “And frankly, I don’t place much stock in them, Ar. I’m happy to imprison Drake for the rest of his days if it means we all get to be happy.”

  “So, if you don’t know what the prophecy actually says, then I may not even be meant to have a child with David.”

  Morgaine laughed and waved her hand. “That much is translatable. It’s the section regarding the child we can’t decipher, because that part doesn’t exist anymore. We only know that she brings the change which will see Drake destroyed, and that she will have great power.”

  “So, we’re gonna go in there, catch ourselves a nice juicy vampire, store him in a cell for fifteen or so years until my child, who is not even conceived, or known to be possible to conceive, is born, then we’re gonna thaw him out and kill him?”

  Everyone looked at their hands.

  “That’s the plan.” Morgaine winced.

  “Then we need a better plan.” I slammed the palm of irritation onto the table.

  “Amara, all that matters is destroying Drake. How ever we do that. Child or not.”

  “Can’t we reason with him?”

  They all looked at me and burst out laughing, including Eric, who at least covered his mouth first.

  “A reasonable Council member?” Morgaine chortled.

  “Yeah, maybe we can have them over for a cuppa,” Mike added. “Ask his mummy to tell him not pick on us anymore.”

  “Fine.” I stood up. “Laugh, all of you, but you’ll see. I’m going to find a way to win this war. Not every conflict needs to end in destruction.” The smiles dropped from their faces.

  “It does when you’re dealing with guys like Drake,” Mike said.

  “How do you know? Has anyone tried talking it out with him—ever?”

  “Princess Amara, he’s evil. There is no talking to him.”

  “You don’t know that, Morgaine. Maybe he just needs to learn that kindness can win more hearts than cruelty.” I turned and stormed out of the house, leaving my small council with their mouths gaping.

  My temper trailed behind me like steam, forming a cloud of hopelessness as I stopped by the lake across the road. It was cool out here, with the night air gently resting on the scent of roses and wet grass, while the crickets chirped a sort-of lonely song. I rolled my face upward, casting my somber gaze to the stars. So many times I’d wished on them, so many times I’d cried for my dreams failing, but I finally had the one thing I asked for, well, the two things: immortality and David.

  But it wasn’t supposed to be like this. How could a girl who was fresh out of high school become a queen? I couldn’t even keep my room tidy, now they wanted me to capture and kill a man who could rip a human in half with his bare hands. It was all just too much.

  A high-pitched whimper snapped me from my bubble of reflection. I looked down to the fluffy lifeform by my leg. “Hey, boy.”

  Petey nudged me with the brow of his nose.

  “Yeah, I’m sad.” I squatted down and ruffled my fingers between his ears. “I just don’t think any of them get it. I’ve never been one for the whole murder thing, so I don’t know… maybe I’m wrong, but killing Drake doesn’t seem to make us any better than he is, right? I mean, where do we draw the line?”

  “What was that all about?”

  I jumped to my feet, swiping the tears from my cheeks as Mike stormed across the road. He was so much bigger now, his shirts tight across his chest, his body growing with the strength of immortality. I’d be scared of him if I didn’t know he was such a marshmallow.

  “What was what all about?”

  Petey leaned against my leg, half sitting on my foot.

  “That little speech about kindness winning hearts?”

  I turned away from him.

  “Is this about Jason?”

  “Leave Jason out of this.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t catch on, Ara?”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “I’m not stupid, baby.” The heat came off his body as he stood right behind me. “I know you have some messed-up delusion that he was good deep down inside or some bullshit like that.”

  “So what if I do?” I pushed past and headed for the house.

  “No.” Mike grabbed my arm. “I’m not doing this with you again. You forgave him once. You trusted him and look what he did to you.”

  I jerked out of his grip. “How I feel is none of your business.”

  “Yes, it is, Ara,” he yelled, then softened. “You too easily forgive. It’s your greatest quality but could also be your downfall. It’s my job, as your friend, to save you from yourself. You have to let this go.”

  “I am letting it go, Mike.” I folded my arms over my chest. “But Jason wasn’t bad. He just got hurt, made a few wrong choices and lost his life for it.”

  “We all make choices, Ara,” he reasoned, “and it’s what we choose to do in those moments that defines us.”

  “You don’t know anything.” I turned away again.

  “Yes, I do. I heard Arthur.” He spun me around. “I heard about the blood oath. Ara, who cares? He hurt you, and it can only take a monster to do that to a sweet, beautiful thing like you. If you forgive every person that walks in with a good reason to hurt you, you could be jeopardizing many lives, baby. You have the responsibility of a nation in your hands now.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “Not now—soon. But not now.”

  “Do you see any other queens around here?” Mike yelled, looking around. “Do you see anyone making decisions for our people?”

  I rolled my chin to my chest with a soft sigh.

  “The time is now, Amara.” He stepped into me and thrust my chin up with his finger. “You have to take your place as queen, and you have to start thinking like one.”

  “Amara?” I smiled, trying not to laugh.

  “Sorry.” He backed off a little, smiling sheepishly. “That’s what they all call you. Guess it’s rubbing off.”

  “Mike, don’t worry about me, okay?” I exhaled. “I’ll do what they want me to do. I’ll be their queen, and I’m not going to forgive and befriend every monster that kicks me. But when it comes to Jason?” I searched my mind for the words. “He’s complicated.”

  “It’s not complicated, Ara. He hurt you—you don’t forgive that.”

  “If only it were that simple.” I turned away, ashamed of my own feelings.

  “It is.” Mike placed his hands on my arms from behind. “You use the memory of that pain to change the way you feel.”

  “No. It doesn’t change things, and it doesn’t change the fact that, while I’m trying to deal with all of this in my mind, there’s something worse out there—waiting to destroy everyone I love.”
>
  “You don’t need to be scared baby.” He squeezed me tighter, then gently turned my shoulders until I faced him. “You know I’ll protect you.”

  “I know.” I smiled. “But I’m not afraid of getting hurt. I’m afraid of failing—of not being the queen the Lilithians need.”

  “Aw.” Mike hugged me tightly. “Baby, the fact that you feel that way just shows that you won’t let them down, because it matters to you; it’s your obligation and your hope to serve them well.”

  “I hope you’re right, Mike,” I said with a sigh. “Like you said, I have the responsibility of a nation in my hands.”

  “I know. And knowing you like I do—still seeing you as the girl I grew up with—that is a very scary thing.”

  We both laughed.

  31

  Petey sat by the front door, a few steps away from an irritated Mike.

  “Petey,” Mike said, shaking the leash. “You have to wear this. It’s against the law to walk a dog without a lead.”

  Petey shook his head, followed by the rest of his body, and sat down again with his pink tongue hanging out.

  “Petey?” I played the stern cop, hand on hips, staring down at the dog. “Do you want to go for a run with Mike?”

  He yawned, a high-pitched whine seeping out as he slumped down and flopped onto his side.

  “Fine.” Mike put the leash on the table by the door. “I’ll go by myself.”

  “Are you running human style, or—?”

  “Depends.” He looked back at me with a glint in his eye. “Will you come with me if I run Lilithian style?”

  “You know what, I just might.” I looked down. “These shoes’ll do for running, yeah?”

  “Meh.” Mike shrugged. “They’ll do. Just keep those laces done up.”

  “Oh, right.” I squatted down to tie the lace, and as I stood up again, Petey cocked his head, sitting by the door with his leash in mouth. “Petey.” I took the leather cord away. “You can’t run as fast as we can. You have to stay here.”

  He whined and dropped to his front paws, his hind legs following.

  “Too late, mate, you had your chance.” Mike pointed at him, sounding very Australian all of a sudden.