The Heart's Ashes (16 page)

“
Ara, that was beautiful.”

I touched
between my collarbones. “Emily? You scared me.”

“
Sorry. So, did you write that song?”

“
No. David did.”

“
Didn’t know he went so deep.”

“
There’s a lot you didn’t know about him, Emily,” I tried to
steal back the hostility in my voice, but it slipped out, landing
across Emily’s smile.

She stood
beside the piano, tracing her fingertip over the top. “Mike’s
teaching me to play—did you know?”

“
No, he never mentioned it.” My attempt at sounding softer was
successful this time. “That’s really awesome, though. Can you play
anything yet?”

“
Um, Somewhere Over the Rainbow? But only the notes on this
side.” She held up her right hand.

“
Well, go on then.” I moved aside for her to sit
down.

“
Okay. Don’t laugh.”

“
Em, I’d never do that.”

Her brow
suggested otherwise, but she sat and started playing anyway, a
gentle apple smell drifting around her soft blonde hair as it hung
loosely between us. Typical for Miss Perfect, she hit each note
with a kind of delicacy that made me giggle inside, envious, until
she hit the sharp instead of the flat, then took out two notes with
the one finger in a spin of nerves, overthinking her mistake.

My envious
giggle became a humoured one; she glared at me, dropping her hand
into her lap.

“
I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh.”

But even Emily
couldn’t hold back a little chuckle.

“
I’m just happy, Em. I can’t believe you’re learning to play.
And you have perfect fingers for it, too.” I took her hand and ran
my thumb over her nail. “See, they’re so long and pretty. You’ll
make a great pianist.”

“
Nah, I’m just humouring Mike. He’s kind of lonely with you
avoiding him all the time.”

“
I’m not avoiding him—much.”

“
He’s not gonna give up on you, you know? He’s not capable of
loving anyone else.”

“
He just has to. I can’t be with him, and I know that’s hard
for you to understand—it’s hard for everyone to understand. But, no
one gets what’s in here.” I touched my chest. “No one can feel what
I feel.”

“
Is it possible, Ara—” she leaned forward a little, taking
both my hands as if what she had to say held great significance,
“—that maybe
I
get it? Maybe I know what it’s like to love someone I can
never have.”

Guilt
enveloped me. Of course she would. She’s a dreamer, a romantic—her
shelves are stacked with Nicholas Sparks and Lucy Dillon, and her
heart was torn by the Knight brothers before I even knew they
existed.

But she never
had with Jason what I have—had—with David.

I leaned my
cheek on her shoulder and let out a breath. “I do love Mike, you
know. I know I hurt him, but it’s for his own good. I just want him
to be happy.”

“
Yeah, me too.” She stared out the window and rested her head
on mine.

Headed across
the street to my car, I held the keys out as though I was already
by the door, but stopped when I realised I actually was. The road
was busy for a Saturday, with cars barely taking time to stop for
those on the crosswalk—and I couldn’t remember how I actually got
across. I remembered the reason I was going to the car, but not
anything after that.

An eerie chill
crept over me. I could’ve been hit.

“
Hello, beautiful.” Eric popped up next to me.

“
I’m not talking to you.” I jammed the key in the
lock.

“
Hey? Hey? Don’t do that.” He grabbed my arm and turned me to
face him, taking my keys out of the door. “Amara, I’m sorry I
forced you to drink my blood.”

Now,
there’s
something you don’t usually hear people say. “You caused a
lot of trouble in my house the other day.”

“
Sorry. But you’re glad I did it.”

“
Was that a question or a statement?”

“
I think we both know the answer to that.”

I tried not to
smile, also tried not to look at his thumb—the one I so lavishly
sucked.

He stuffed his
hands in his pockets—saving me from blushing. “So, as an offer of
peace, I have info for you.”

“
What info?” I tilted my head, softening.

“
Promise you’ll come to my gig and I’ll tell you.”

“
I thought you said it was a peace offer, not
coercion.”

“
Call it both.”

He knew damn
well I couldn’t resist that cheeky grin, nor could I pass up any
possible info about David. “Fine.” I dropped my arms. “I’ll
come.”

“
Great. Now, sit.” He parked himself on the bench outside the
post office, appearing there faster than humanly possible. I, on
the other hand, was forced to walk the fifteen-step gap like a
dorky, slow human.

“
Okay.” I folded my bag against my lap as I sat in the niche
of Eric’s arm. “Spill.”

“
So, I talked to David’s uncle.”

“
Arthur?”

“
Yes. He said David had been to the World Council—”

“
For an eighty year leave of absence?”

“
Yes.” Eric looked puzzled.

“
Turns out Mike knows more than he let on.”

Eric sat back
a little, the static energy of confusion all around him. “Really?
How?”

“
Apparently he and David were mates while I was
dying.”

“
Hm.”

“
What’s hm?”

“
I just—it’s not like Councilman David to...
‘confide’.”

I shrugged.
“Us humans knew him better than you vampires.”

Eric seemed
satisfied with that. “Whatever. Anyway. Turns out he waltzed in
there after you were attacked as well, without an approved
meeting.”

“
Really?”
That was
dangerous
.

“
Yep. And, do you wanna know what they said?”

“
Get out!”

The vampire
laughed. “Nope. Better. They gave him approval to seek help from
the Lilithian Order.”

“
Who are they?”

“
Coffee?” Eric grinned, raising his eyebrows.

“
They’re coffee?” I asked sarcastically.

“
You know, you’re not funny, Amara—that’s just annoying.” He
grimaced.

I looked into
my lap.

“
Come on.” He stood up. “Let’s go for coffee.”

“
Coffee? Or are you going to force me to drink your blood
again?”

“
Coffee, and I don’t have to force you—I can see your mouth
watering.” He laughed and bit his lip, studying mine.

“
Fine. My house. Ten minutes.”

“
For coffee, or...?”

I stood up, deciding then and there that I really needed to
get some new friends as I said, “
Or
.”

I felt his
elation bearing down on me with his stare. The addiction was
rearing up in me like smoke from a flame, and I couldn’t douse it.
Couldn’t even want to douse it. It was as if I could smell it in
him, pulsing through his veins like liquid drugs.

In my mind, I
hadn’t decided I was going to drink his blood, but apparently, my
body had.

He stood with
his hands in his pockets, laughing, while I hopped in my car and
started the engine.

“
See you soon, Amara.”

Trying not to
laugh at him laughing at me, I shook my head, pulled out of the
parking spot without checking for traffic and sped home—above the
speed limit.

“
Mike?” I called, but stopped in my haste to get to the
privacy of my bedroom, and slowly, wishing I’d not made my presence
known, wandered into the dining area and watched the two by the
window; Emily, with a sheepish grin, sat beside Mike, who played a
song
we
used to
play together—slamming the notes with a kind of raw passion that
wasn’t taught in a music class. The very feel in the whole room
made me miss him, miss being the way we used to be. I smiled,
leaning on the wall.

“
And...” he said, slowing the song down, leaning forward with
each high note he struck. “That’s how we play the
outro.”

Emily clapped
softly, angling her whole body to face him.

“
Did you have fun, baby?” Mike said to me before turning
around, closing the piano cover as he did.

“
Yeah, but I’ve got a few things to take care of for my
students next week, so I’ll just be in my room making some calls.
Okay?”

“
Kay.” He shrugged then lifted the cover again. “Hey, Em,
wanna learn Heart and Soul?”

My own soul
raced backward on a time machine, taking me to the first day I met
David, when he challenged me to a duet in the music room at
school—so, so long ago. It felt like a decade, even though it’d
barely been a year and a half.

I left Emily
and Mike to their piano lessons and practically snuck into my room,
happy I’d used the diversion of a phone call as the reason they
might hear voices in there.

Before my door
even closed, Eric appeared, stretched out across the foot of my
bed. “Eric—you scared me. And stop looking so sexy.” I slapped his
feet off my quilt.

“
Sorry.” He sat up and leaned his elbows on his
knees.

“
So? What is a Lilithian order?” I asked, plonking down, right
beside him.

“
It’s a group of vampires—well, sort of.”

“
Okay. That makes no sense.”

He smiled down
at my leg against his and placed a gentle hand to my knee. “Why
don’t I tell you after?”

“
After what?”

With a quirk
of his mouth on the corner, his smile suggested it all.

Be strong, Ara-Rose. Be strong.
“Info first. Then blood.”

He tugged his
sleeve up and held his wrist in front of my watering mouth. “Are
you sure?”

No, I’m not.
“Yes. I’m sure. Now,
spill...” I paused. “Er, I mean, spill info, not blood.”

“
Fine.” He rolled his sleeve back down. “Lilithians are a race
of vampires spawned by one who had been bitten by the direct
descendant of the original vampire.”

“
Huh?”

“
Okay. Cane and Lilith had a child who thirsted blood and was
immortal. Vampirie.”

“
Vampirie?”

“
Yes. Vampirie. I don’t make up the names, Amara, I’m just
telling the story.”

“
Okay, fine. Ridiculous, but whatever.”

“
Anyway. He left a woman alive one day after he bit her, and
she became like him—the first
created
vampire.”

“
Okay.” I nodded.

“
Then, she went on to bite a man, who fell in love with a
human.” Eric smiled. “Are you with me so far?”

“
Uh, I think so. So, the second created vampire, the man, fell
in love with a human woman?”

“
Right. And he had a child with her—a girl. The first
half-blood-mortal.”

“
Like what David told me—about male vampires still being able
to make babies?”

“
Exactly. So, this half-human-half-vampire grew up, and guess
who she fell for.”

“
No clue.”

“
The original vampire.”

“
Vampirie?”

“
Yep. So, they then had a baby, Drake, a noble and powerful
immortal. Then, Vampirie went on to have a child with a completely
human girl as well. That baby was named Lilith—after Vampirie’s
mother. But she was different. More human than vampire. She was the
only female vampire ever to bear children.”

“
How?”

“
We don’t know. Might be something to do with her
heartbeat.”

“
What? Heartbeat? In a vampire?”

“
Yeah, well, a
sort
-of vampire.” His tone carried
an awful lot of insult. “So, Lilith’s heartbeat remained, even
after immortality took place in her early twenties.”

“
But not Drake’s?”

“
No.”

“
Is that because she was part human—a bit like the
half-bloods?”

“
Yeah, I mean, that’s the extent of my theorising. Jason
Knight’s studied it in depth. Guess he’d know more than I. But,
anyway, the Lilithians possess most vampire super-traits. Like
speed and immortality—well, theirs is partial
immortality.”

“
Partial?”

“
Yeah, immortal—to a degree.”

“
Elaborate?” I waved my hand around in a prompting
circle.

“
Lilithians were a weak, faulted species. See, we have
vulnerabilities, but, bone-deep, we’re indestructible. The
Lilithians weren’t. If you cut off their heads, they’d die.” I
covered my mouth; Eric laughed. “Also, they had a selective
menu.”

“
Being?”

“
Vampires.”

“
Huh?”

“
They fed on vampires.”

“
You’re kidding.”