The Heart's Ashes (8 page)

“
Uh—” He shrugged. “Only a little.”

“
Eric?” I started walking again, melodramatically rolling my
head back.

“
I’m sorry.” He stuffed his hands back in his pockets,
contradicting the confident Eric with the bashful, remorseful one,
as he stayed on the spot for a second. “I can’t help it. You’re a
very attractive, very delicious-smelling human, and I’m not allowed
to kill you,” he finished, catching up.

“
You want to kill me?”

He shrugged.
“Among other things.”

“
That’s…erk, whatever! But, why aren’t you allowed to kill
me?”

His eyes
widened and his brows rose high above his smirk. “Oh yeah, you
wouldn’t know. Everyone’s kinda running scared.”

“
Scared? Of who?”

“
Arthur Knight.”

“
Is that...” I swallowed. “David’s uncle.”

“
Yup. He’s on this crusade to change century-old laws, you
know, bring a balance between the Two Worlds.”

“
The what now?”

“
The Two Worlds—Humans and Vampires.”

“
Of course. Shoulda known,” I said sarcastically. “So, what’s
that got to do with killing me?”

“
You started it all.”

“
What, the change?”

“
Seat?”

“
I started a seat?”

Eric, rolling
his eyes, offered me the park bench on the side of the road across
from my car.

“
Oh. Seat. Yeah, sure.”

The vampire
waited until I sat down before positioning himself a little too
close to me. I inched away; he followed. I stayed put,
smirking.

“
Anyway, so...what do I have to do with Arthur changing
laws?”

“
David was Arthur’s favourite—everyone’s favourite, actually.
And when he disappeared after he lost you, it broke Arthur’s heart.
He thinks that if these new laws were in place, none of this
would’ve happened.”

“
Well, what laws?”

Eric rested
his arm along the back of the bench, facing me as I stared forward.
“A law that protects humans so that no vampire is allowed to hurt,
touch or change the lover of another vampire. Ever. And the
consequences will be dire.”

“
What? What consequences?”

“
For most things it’s usually a seven-day burial or
starvation. Only serious offences warrant torture. But Arthur wants
touching another vampire’s mate to be ruled a crime—one punishable
by cruel and unusual methods. You know we feel pain more intensely
than a human, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Well, try a year of torture. You never die, never get any
peace.”

“
That’s awful.”

“
It’s horrible—and they know exactly how to build on the
intensity, so you suffer unendingly.” He shrugged then. “But how
else do you make blood-hungry, powerful beings behave? You hurt
them.” He nodded, breathing in through his teeth and rubbing the
tops of his thighs. “Pain is a very good motivator.”

“
If they can catch you. Can’t you just run or
hide?”

“
Ha!” Eric shook his head. “They
will
catch you. You can only run for
so long, Amara.”

“
Have you ever been punished like that?”

Eric laughed.
“No—but David has.”

“
What?” My hand flew to my lips. “Why?”

“
He never told you?” Eric’s brow pulled together.

“
No, he never really told me anything.”

“
Let me guess—he gave you the ‘top secret’ spill.”

“
Yes.”

Eric laughed
louder. “It’s not true. Ideally, humans aren’t supposed to know
about the Set, but we’re free to tell you if we want. It’s just on
our own shoulders if you spill.”

“
What do you mean by ‘on your own shoulders’?”

“
We have to kill you.”

“
Then why wouldn’t David ever tell me anything? I would never
have told anyone?”

“
Wouldn’t you?” Eric gave a sceptical brow arch.

“
No! I mean...I thought about it. But I wouldn’t
have.”

He shrugged.
“Maybe he wanted to protect you from the truth then—about
himself.”

“
What truth?”

“
I dunno; his past—his job—his overall personality. Put it
this way, David’s done some pretty awful things, Amara. And that’s
by vampire definition. I don’t know what you knew about him or how
he was with you, but before he became the ‘new David’, he was the
most ruthless punisher on the Council.”

“
Wait, he
did
the punishing as well?”

“
Oh yeah—he was vile. I’ve heard stories from vampires saying
they’re sure they saw the white light when he was torturing them.
And then there was Pepper.”

“
What did he use pepper for?”

“
Not the table seasoning, dummy. Pepper was his
girlfriend.”

“
Oh.” I looked down. “Well...what happened to her?”

“
He never spoke of her?”

“
No. He told me once that he had a girlfriend who was taken
away. Was that her?”

“
Probably. Pepper was taken away, so, I guess it could’ve
been.”

“
Well...what happened? Why did they take her away?”

“
They
didn’t. He did.”

“
What?”

“
Yeah. She broke one of our most supreme laws, and he
sentenced her.”

“
Why did
he
do it?”

Eric shrugged.
“He was appointed judge of her hearing.”

“
And he actually did it—to someone he loved?”

Eric cleared the laughter from his throat. “David
is
the law. You break
the law, he
will
punish you. Doesn’t matter who you are.”

“
Well, what law did Pepper break?”

He leaned his
elbows on his knees, his jaw jutting out slightly. “She turned a
child.”

“
What, made a vampire child?”

“
Yep.”

“
Why?”

“
Natures instinct, to procreate—women and babies, you know—she
wanted a kid, so she went and got one.”

“
Oh, my God.” I covered my mouth. “But vampires can’t die,
so...it’s just…”

“
Just living out eternity.” He leaned back then and placed his
arm over the chair. “We call them the Immortal Damned.”

“
They? There’re more of them?”

“
Hundreds—cursed to spend eternity as a child. They lose their
parents, their childhood. They can never go to school or be normal.
The Council keep them locked up in a cell. It’s the worst kind of
hell—especially for the babies.”

“
Babies?”

“
Mm-hm.” He shrugged. “So anyway, Pepper changed a young boy,
and the Council found out. David was torn apart—as any boyfriend
would be—but he had a duty to uphold. He looked her in the eye, and
he made an example of her.”

“
What sentence did he give?”

“
Two years first grade torture followed by five hundred years
imprisonment.”

“
But that’s horrible! How can he do that to someone he
loved?”

“
Sentencing wasn’t the worst, Amara. He was the one that did
the torturing.”

I covered my
mouth with a shaky hand. “That doesn’t sound like the David I
knew.”

“
Well, the David
we
all knew wouldn’t shirk his duties because of a
human.”

“
Well, it’s not my fault he loved me.”

“
Isn’t it? Things were going well for Councilman David. His
uncle expected him to go far—until
you
came along and ruined his life
with feelings.”

“
What’s so bad about feelings?” I said with a certain amount
of insult.

“
Nothing. We all have ‘em. But it’s the feelings for
you
that caused the
trouble.”

“
Why, because I was kidnapped by his brother and he couldn’t
get revenge?”

“
No. It started before that. Apparently, Arthur had a hard
time even making David return to duty. Had to knock some sense into
him.”

“
He would have returned if he could’ve brought me with
him.”

“
What, as a human?” his tone rose high with
incredulity.

“
Yeah.”

“
They’d have killed you on the spot.” He gave a small shake of
his head, as if that were a really dumb thing to say. “No
humans.”

“
Why? You’re with a human now.”

“
Not living with one, and I’m not a councilman.”

“
So?”

“
So, they have different rules.”

“
Why?”

“
You know, if I tell you this, and you blab, I do have to kill
you. It’s no joke.”

I nodded.

“
Okay, fine. Your funeral. So, you want a background
narrative, or shall I just answer that one question?”

I laughed.
“Umm…narrative.”

His eyes
narrowed to thought. “Okay…narrative. Here we go. So, once upon a
time.” He stopped and laughed. “Nah, I’m kidding. We’re too dark
for fairy-tale beginnings. Um, where to start? Okay. Well, see,
vampires on the Council live distinguished lives. They have, in
some ways, fewer rules than us minions, but their rules are
stricter and more enforced. They’re expected to maintain the Set
for two years, which is intense, laboured work—no human contact. At
all. Ever. Aside from food. But when that time’s over, they can
take two years to be human—live wherever they want, do whatever and
eat whomever they want. Even though we don’t care much for humans,
the human lifestyle, all the glamour and fun, is something we all
desire. A trait we carry on from our roots, I guess. Being on the
Council offers you the most freedom. It’s a much respected, very
sought after position that takes vile and disgusting acts to get in
to. David had to work hard to earn his place there.”

“
So—do the ‘minions’ have limits on how long they can be with
a human?”

“
Not an actual limit. If they hear about a vampire and a human
being together too long though, the Council usually steps in. But,
really, who’d want to be with a human? Your species don’t really
fascinate us. We use you for our own guilty pleasures, but that’s
about it.”

“
David didn’t do that.”

“
Whatever. I don’t care either way.”

“
I do.”

“
You need to get over that. He’s not coming back for
you.”

“
You don’t know that.”

“
Don’t I?” He glared at me. I hated the look of cocky
certainty in his eye. “Amara, if Councilman David comes back, he
faces...well, it doesn’t matter. He won’t come back here—not for a
human. You’re just not worth it.”

“
Then
I’ll
just have to find
him
.”

“
Right, and, if the World Council can’t find him, what makes
you think you will? Look, I don’t mean to sound harsh, but...get
over him.”

“
I can’t.”

“
You just have to.”

“
No, I don’t.”

Eric groaned.
“Stubborn, aren’t ya?”

“
So I’ve been told.” I hugged my bag and stared
forward.

“
Okay, I’m telling you this for your own good,
girl.”

I cringed at
the tone he used. “Please don’t.”

“
I am anyway, okay?”

My shoulders
tightened a little.

“
Thing is...David is, at the very least, a strong man. When he
makes up his mind...” Eric shook his head. “If you only knew what
it took for him to gain his position on the council—how much he had
to sacrifice—then you’d understand that him throwing that in, just
because the law prevented justice for him, is no small
feat.”

“
So?”

“
So, if he left that behind, with the deep-seated knowledge of
what would happen if he did, and he didn’t bother to take you with
him, then his defection was not for pain of the heart, but for the
principle.”

“
Huh?”

“
He cares more about the failure of justice than that he
couldn’t be with you.”

“
Oh.”

“
Do you understand now, that he’ll never return for
you?”

“
I always understood that, Eric. I just don’t want to believe
it.” I sat thinking about everything for a second. “Do you think
he’ll come back if Arthur changes the laws of how vampires interact
with human-mates?”

Eric shook his
head. “I think Arthur’s plan is futile. You can’t change the past,
can’t restore Councilman David’s faith in the system. And new laws
won’t see Jason punished for what he did to you.”

“
It should,” I scoffed.

“
Why?” Eric jostled about with a curt chuckle. “It was a taste
of David’s own medicine, if you ask me.”