The Heart's Ashes (9 page)

Hmpf!
“So, what will these new laws
mean, then—what will change?”

“
Everything,” he scoffed. “See, Arthur can’t change the fact
that a human’s death means nothing to a vampire, but he at least
wants your species to be considered protected. There are too many
of these cases where vampires are losing loved ones because of
random or revenge attacks. I guess you could call it a
Human Rights
movement.”
He found that funny, but I had other things to worry
about.

“
And all this is purely to bring David back?”

“
And to prevent more cases like yours.”

“
So, if the law hasn’t passed yet, why aren’t you allowed to
kill me?”

“
While he’s running them through the Council, we’re
obliged
not to knowingly
kill a human who belongs or belonged to another vampire. So,
technically, I could kill you, if I wanted to bad
enough.”

“
Oh. So—” I touched my neck. “Do you—want to, I mean, bad
enough?”

Eric grinned
and touched his fingertip to my shoulder. “I’d planned to kill you,
yes. Right after Emily and Spence went to bed. Even asked Spence to
give us some ‘time alone’.”

My heart raced
with a sudden rush of tension. “Does Spence know what you are?”

Eric shook his
head. “He just thought I wanted to bone you.”

“
That’s so creepy.”

“
Bird’s gotta fly, vampires gotta eat.”

“
Well, you won’t be eating
me
.”

“
Imagine how disappointed I was when I realised who you
were.”

“
But you knew I had contact with vampires. Didn’t you figure I
belonged to someone already?”

He shook his
head. “You’re not Marked. If you belonged to someone, you’d be
Marked.”

“
I belonged to David.”

Eric shrugged.
“Too bad. He didn’t Mark you. Fair game.”

“
Then why didn’t you kill me.”

He shifted awkwardly. “Not because you belonged to someone
once, but more because of
who
you belonged to.”

“
You scared of David?” Two imaginary hooks pulled my lips into
a wide, sharp grin.

“
I’d be a fool if I wasn’t.”

I shut my
mouth tightly, trapping a throaty laugh. “So, you only have to stay
away from those who are Marked?”

“
At this point, yeah. It’s a courtesy to avoid ones that
aren’t.”

“
How civil of you.” I rolled my eyes. “And...what the hell is
Marking anyway?”

“
I guess it looks like what humans call a tattoo. It’s a tiny
black dot just at the side of the neck.” He ran his fingertip down
the curve of my shoulder. “It appears there, so when a vampire goes
in for the kill—he sees it.”

“
How—” I breathed, steadying my embarrassingly loud heart,
thumping for the feel of my body being touched again. “How does he
know just by seeing a dot?”

“
For you, the Mark will be pale, almost green-black, but for
us, when your blood runs warm and your body’s calling for the kill,
it glows blue.”

“
Wow.”

“
Yes, it’s magical.”

“
Yeah,” I said distractedly.

“
Hey, Amara?”

“
Mm.” The tickly sensation of his finger twirling a strand of
my hair made it impossible to concentrate.

“
If they pass this law, I’ll Mark you, okay? That way you’ll
always be safe.”

“
Okay... But, how do you place a Mark on someone?”

Eric smiled,
his eyes becoming smaller. “You bone them.”

My breath came
only on my lips—silky and short, not reaching my lungs. “Just by
bon...I mean, making love?”

He leaned in
and pressed his lips close to my ear. “Just by making love.”

I cleared my
throat. “So, does every person who’s made love to a vampire have a
Mark?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why? How?”

“
We carry a life force in our veins—” he leaned down slightly
until my averted gaze met his, “—all of our veins.”

My eyelids
fluttered with the thought of Eric being that close to me; his lips
on my neck, his hands around my waist, not one bare shred of skin
unaffected, our bodies completely touching, his life force...inside
of me. “So, your...seed leaves a Mark?”

“
No, not that, but—” He laughed, covering his smile with the
back of his hand. “Well, we don’t really know. Some have theorised
that when we orgasm—males and females—we share our life force with
our partner. I guess it’s like, well, when a human has intercourse,
they exchange fluids; you can get diseases, get pregnant, but if
you mate with a vampire, you get Marked.”

“
Gross.”

“
No, it’s not. It’s beautiful. You absorb that force, that
energy, and for some reason, it shows—like a birthmark on your
neck—right over your carotid artery.”

I shook my
head and took a deep breath. I need to bring the conversation down
a notch. “So, no one knows where David is?”

“
Nope.” Eric sighed and leaned back, squinting against the hot
sun that before now, I hadn’t noticed. “But now they know where you
are, they’ll just watch you. After all, it’s bound to be only a
matter of time before he comes by to check if you’re still
breathing.”

“
They didn’t know where I was? You told them?”

“
Of course—it’s intriguing news. We all thought you’d moved to
Perth. We’ve had scouts out there hunting for David.”

“
Hunting? Why hunting?”

“
Like I said—” Eric’s eyes narrowed and he looked away.
“Arthur wants him back.”

“
Well, it’s silly of them to think he’ll come back
here
. You said it
yourself, David won’t come back to see me.”

“
What’s this, then?” He lifted my face and looked at my pout,
half leaning away. “I thought you were so sure he
would.”

“
I never said that. But I just didn’t need you diminishing my
already shattered hopes.”

Eric blinked a
few times, as if it helped him to think. “So, you actually still
love him?”

“
I always will,” I said tugging away from him.

“
Even after he nearly got you killed?”

“
That wasn’t his fault.”

“
Yes, it was. He riled Jason up.” Eric’s voice became an
octave higher.

“
No. Jason got himself riled up.
Jason
attacked me. It was not
David’s fault.”

“
But...he left you, told you he’d never come back, left you to
die at the hands of a brother he
knew
was out to hurt
him.”

“
He didn’t know Jason would do that.”

“
Didn’t he?”

I looked at
Eric and said “I don’t think he did” then looked away, biting my
teeth together in my mouth.

“
You know, you fascinate me.” He shook his head, studying my
face; “You hate Jason for hurting you, yet
David
, who did the same to Jason’s
girl—you love? You love him unconditionally.”

“
David is nothing like Jason.” I turned so my knees faced
slightly away from him.

Eric breathed
out and shook his head, running his hands through his hair. “I just
don’t get you, girl. You make no sense. Councilman David—” he
leaned forward and dropped his voice as a couple passed on the
sidewalk, “—is the bad guy here. He ridiculed and tortured his own
brother his entire life. Rochelle was only one story.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah. In the greater scheme of things, what Jason did was
justified.”

“
Justified? Hurting me is justified?”

Eric softened.
“I’m sorry. I think it is.”

I looked away
again.

“
Amara, you know nothing about our world—you know nothing
about David. You should get your facts straight before you make
assumptions,” he said as he slumped back in the chair.

“
It’s not an assumption to think it’s wrong for someone to
kidnap and torture another.”

“
But it was okay for David to do it?”

“
I—” all my words dropped out onto the pavement in front of
me.

“
See?”

“
David didn’t torture Rochelle.”

“
Didn’t he? Did Jason show you the whole story?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Did you notice anything odd about the way she was
sitting?”

“
Rochelle?”

Eric nodded; I
wandered back through my mind, trying to find the memory Jason
shoved down my throat, but there was nothing. It was gone. “I don’t
remember.”

“
What if he did? What if David tortured that poor girl so
badly she prayed for death?”

“
Stop it. Don’t say that.”

“
Amara. Tell me. What if he had? Would you still love him?
Would you think David justified to have revenge on Jason if it were
the other way around?” He waited for my answer, clutching closed
fingers around his knee. “Look, I’m sorry you were the entity of
one man’s revenge—you just got in the middle of the wrong feud, is
all, but Jason’s not the bad guy.”

“
Or maybe they both are.”

“
But you still love David. And you still haven’t gotten up and
walked away from the very same creature that they are.”

I looked down
at my shoes. He’s right. I should leave. But I can’t. “People make
mistakes, Eric.”

“
So you forgive Jason?”

“
No.”

“
David?”

“
I love him.” I shrugged. “I can’t help how I
feel.”

“
And Jason loved Rochelle.”

“
So you’re siding with him?”

“
I don’t take sides. You’ll learn that about me very quickly,
kiddo. Neutral is safe.”

I wanted to
slap him, but the truth was...I needed him, so I smiled instead.
“Well, since you’re neutral, you’ll just have to be my informant
then.”

“
Informant on what?”

“
On what’s going on with...with these laws and
changes.”

“
Hm.” He nodded. “Want me to keep an eye for David,
huh?”

I twiddled my
fingers in my lap. “If you could.”

“
Does that mean we get to hang out?”

“
I guess so.”

“
Then it’s a deal.”

“
But only if it’s arranged—none of this stalking stuff.
Okay?”

“
Shake on it?” He extended his hand. When I placed mine in
his, a small quiver of electricity charged our touch—making me
tingle from fingernails to elbow. I dropped my hand into my
lap.

God, he makes
everything on me tingle—makes me forget everything I want or don’t
want, everything I like and dislike. I looked sideways at him,
trying not to smile at his smug grin, wondering if he might
possibly be reading my mind. “What?” I asked finally.

“
I’m sorry, it’s just that—” he took a breath and swallowed,
“David said your eyes were amazing, but I never imagined they’d
look like the sun shining on the bluest ocean. It’s a shame you
won’t love again—I’d have fun with you.”

“
Love? You?” I laughed.

“
What’s wrong with
me
?”

“
You’re a vampire.”

“
So, you loved David, he was a vampire.”

“
I didn’t know that when I fell for him.”

“
You’re falling for me.”

A moment of
silence hovered around us. “I’m not.”

“
Denial is a river in Egypt. It has no place here.”

“
Oh, shut up!”

Eric laughed
warmly when I slapped his thigh with the back of my hand. Then,
sobering himself with a wipe of his palm across his jaw, he said,
“So, you drank his blood, huh?”

“
Yes.”

“
And he drank yours?”

“
What’s your point?”

He looked at
my lips. “How was it?”

While the
memory of that day by the lake flooded my heart, I closed my eyes.
“It was—beautiful.”

Eric stared
ahead and tapped his foot. “I’ve never done it—with a willing
human. Must’ve been exhilarating for him.”

“
I wouldn’t know, and neither will you—not with me.”
Time to go
. I stood up,
folding my arms over my chest.

“
Aw, come on, Amara,” Eric called, following me across the
road. “Just do it with me once. Just once.”

“
No way. I could never trust you with my blood. I can’t get
bitten again, Eric—I might not survive.”

“
Well, what if I let you drink mine? I won’t take yours.” He
stopped on the median line.

I stopped too,
thinking about it—imagining it. “No—” shaking off the image, I
unlocked my car. “It’s too intimate. I’ll never do that again.”

“
I’ll keep trying until you say yes,” he called as I hopped in
and slammed the door.

Oh, my God. I
wrapped my fingers in a bone-white grip around the steering wheel.
I want to say yes—I want to get out of this car right now and tell
him to come home with me.