Tears of the Broken (50 page)

“
Uh-uh, hold it right there, missy.” He held
up a finger; I snapped my gob closed, encasing my rant. “I said I
believe in
God
,
not the bible, not the ways of the church. They are not the same
thing.”

“
How
are they not the same thing?”

“
Live as long as I, and you will see. Now…” he folded his
arms, “We’re not having a religious debate. There are more
important things to discuss at this moment.”

“
Fine.” But I don’t want to talk. I’m too mad.

“
Can
you remember anything I’ve told you so far?”

“
No.”

“
Yes, you can.” He smiled, rolling his head a little to one
side. “Recite it for me or I’ll read your mind just to check that
you were listening.”

I
looked up at him, fury turning to rage in my eyes. “Fine.” I took a
deep breath. “You’re…a…a God-fearing variation of normal human
makeup, caused by a hidden polarity in the genes that is activated
when vampire venom mixes with your blood after being bitten?” I
think I have all that right.

“
Wow! You’re a very fast learner, Ara-Rose.” His face lit with
surprise.

No,
I’m not—I just hang off your every word.

David grinned. I looked away. “Sad thing is, though,” his
words came out in a sigh, “we may be becoming extinct. Well, for
the creation of new vampires, that is.”

Good
! “Why?”

“
As
it stands, fewer and fewer humans over the years have been known to
have this gene. It seems to be breeding out. Consequently, my kind
has been forbidden to create vampires from humans that have no
extended family—children or siblings, as such, that share their
bloodline.”

“
Forbidden? By who?”

“
We
have a society. Just like you,” he said. “We live in peace, mostly,
but there are laws we must follow, and consequences. We can’t just
walk around killing whenever we please—or creating new vampires
without authorisation.”

“
Really? So, the killing’s controlled?”

“
To
a degree.”

“
Oh…” I unfolded my arms as my anger softened. Civility among
murderers? “What other laws do you have?”

“
Well—” He looked over at the window for a
second, then took a short breath, “We’re not allowed to occupy
positions of power or fame, in order to maintain cover. And,
another rule is if we’re in a situation or accident which would be
fatal to a human, we absolutely
must
be re-born.”

“
Reborn?”

“
Yes. Start a new human life.”

“
Oh,
is that why you can’t be famous or anything, ‘cause it would be
hard to hide after you ‘die’?”

“
Exactly. Especially these days with things like television
and photographs. It makes disappearing really
problematic.”

“
So,
what else? I mean…can you fly, do you still grow hair, do you sleep
upside down in a cave?”

David scoffed lightly, pressing the back of his wrist to his
nose as he smiled. “You really love your myths, don’t
you?”

I
shrugged.

“
Ur,
well, we do still grow hair, so…sorry, if you become a vampire…you
still have to shave your legs. And as for sleeping in a cave…upside
down—” He merely raised a brow to answer.

“
What about fly?”

He
hesitated. “Like I said…we can manipulate the elements. Some of us
have mastered the ability to become completely weightless and move
through the atmosphere—suspended above the earth. But not all can,
and it’s only for short distances. It takes decades of
practice.”

“
But, can you?” I prompted.

Uncertainty controlled his smile. “Yes.”

“
That is
so
cool.” It’s the only cool thing—everything else
is disgusting and infuriating, but flying is cool. “So? What else
can you do?”

“
Well, at this point I can officially inform you that we are a
secret society—so, much of the information about our laws and
abilities, I cannot divulge.” He smiled, his eyes becoming small.
“Even though I already have.”

“
But
you can reveal yourself? People can know what you are?”

“
Only on one condition.” He paused, and took
my hand. “That is why I
told
you I must leave, Ara—in the hope that it might
come to this—to you finding out once and for all about me, about
what I am. Otherwise, I would’ve just left you.”

“
Like you did all the others?”

“
I
never said that.”

“
You
move on every two years—you must’ve made friends. Am I the only one
you—?”

David looked down and sighed. “You’re the first human I’ve
ever told, yes.”

This
is all too much. I don’t know how I feel anymore. I hate what he
is, and I’m not sure if I actually might hate
him
right now, too. But I know that
some part of me doesn’t want him to go away forever. “So, you can
tell me that you’re a vampire, but you have to leave if you
do?”

“
No—” He pulled my face into his chest. “Silly girl. No. I can
tell you only if I’m sure that you’re—”

My
head whipped up to see his face when he went quiet. “I’m
what?”

“
I guess the right words are…my
significant other
.”
David almost read over his own words in front of his face, and when
he seemed happy with the terminology, looked back at me. He smiled,
pressing his finger under my chin until my teeth clinked together
as my mouth closed.

Significant other
? I don’t know how
to feel about that. If he’d said that to me three days ago, I
would’ve fallen all over myself, but today…“So—” What did he mean
by he can tell me if he’s sure? “You were going to leave me behind
because you didn’t think I was the one?” I’m not sure if I’m happy
he’s decided he loves me enough to want me with him now, or hurt
that he ever had a doubt.

“
It was never like that.” He clutched me
tight. My lungs struggled a bit to draw air under the pressure of
his hold. “I was just idiotically following the recommendation of a
well-respected elder—doing what was
expected
of me, that’s all. But I
did a lot of thinking these last few days, and—” he released his
grip and lifted my face again with his cold fingertips, “I can’t
live without you now, Ara. Despite the rules of my kind. You
are
everything
to
me. You’re my—my sunlight after a stormy night.” He grinned
mischievously.

I am
to him, what he had been to me—when he was
human
to me. Now, he’s a killer, and
I’m confused and empty—afraid of so many different things, all at
once. “David?” My head rocked from side to side. “I’m glad you told
me about this. But I don’t know about eternity?”

He
swallowed hard. “You don’t love me enough?” The question was soft,
uncertain.

“
Of course I do, David. But you
kill
people in order to
live,” a hint of hysteria touched my tone. “I don’t know if I can
be a part of that. Not as your friend, not as your lover and
certainly not as a vampire.”

David froze in place, like a stone carving. The expression of
confusion seemed eternally placed within his eyes, and his chest
stopped moving as if he’d given up breathing. He looked up at
me—his shattered soul projecting through his gaze. “Believe it or
not, Ara—it is kinder to kill them.”

“
Er!” My lip twisted up in disgust. “I don’t want to hear
anymore, David. Kinder? I—I just can’t even conceive of the
idea.”

“
Perhaps…you have heard enough, then. I shall leave you now.”
A slight nod moved his head, but his face stayed frozen into a
permanent frown; the smile I love completely blanketed by
pain.

“
Wait, don’t go yet?”

He
stopped, but didn’t look at me.

“
I
just—I just need some time to think. Do you think you can give me
that?”

“
All
I have is eternity.” He snapped out of his intensely deep stare,
shrugging his shoulders, and kissed the top of my head.

“
I
won’t need that long. But, David?” I said as he stood up and a cold
rush of air filled the space between us.

“
Yes, my love.”

“
Are
you in any danger? Because you told me?” I rested my cheek on my
knee to watch him by my window. “Like, will they be mad with
you?”

“
That depends.”

“
On
what?”

“
On
what you decide to do.”

Oh
no—no way! I can’t be responsible for that. That isn’t playing
fair. I looked down at my clenched fists, and my toes dug into the
carpet under me.

A
soft, wispy breeze brushed my cheeks and I turned back to look at
David, finding only an empty room.

Chapter
Eighteen

“
Ara, come down and have some dinner, please,” Vicki called
from the bottom of the stairs. Again.

“
Not
hungry.”

“
Don’t care,” she responded, borrowing my tone.

“
Argh!” I slammed my diary down on my bed
and stomped into the hall. It just doesn’t seem right to go
downstairs and eat dinner with the family—like a
normal
person. Nothing
is normal now. I mean, I should probably be telling my dad that I
may have gone crazy, because I’m pretty sure my boyfriend just told
me he’s a vampire. I smiled, stopping halfway down the stairs. That
would be pretty funny—to see the look on their faces if I said
that.

“
Ara?” Vicki rolled her head forward, raising a brow. “Your
dinner’s going cold—move it.”

“
Oh,
sorry.” I started down the stairs again. “I’m just
tired.”

“
Well, that’s to be expected.” She walked into the dining room
and sat beside Dad.

“
Feeling better?” Dad asked.

“
Mm-hm.” I forced a smile as I sat down.

“
Well, Emily rang while you were resting—” Vicki said. “She
wants to come see you—”

Oh
no! “What did you tell her—about why I fainted?” Everything around
me seemed to rock, then grow larger and wider, before rapidly
shrinking back in.

“
Ara, it’s okay,” Dad assured. “We told Emily you have low
blood-sugar—that you hadn’t eaten. No one knows anything about your
mum.”

My
shoulders dropped; I let out a breath of tension, and drew back
relief. “So, David caught me, huh?”

Dad
nodded. “Yes.”

“
Did you
see
him catch me?”

“
No.
That’s the weird thing. I wasn’t really paying attention.” Dad set
the bowl of peas on the table and looked at me. “All I saw was
David by the er—well, David was a few feet away. I heard everyone
gasp, so I looked over at you, then David was there—lifting you off
the ground.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah. He should join the track team,” Dad said.

“
Yeah. He is really fast.” But he’s a vampire. When I think of
him, I can’t see it, though. All I feel is love—a feeling, like
opening an oven door on a cold day, and revelling in the
warmth.

But
David was wrong about love, when he said it’s blind because you can
love someone no matter what; love is blind because it makes you see
things that were never really there, or blind to the things you
really
should’ve
seen. I may love him, but love can’t change what he is—or
what he does.

“
What’s the matter, Ara?” Dad asked, obviously noticing my
gloom.

“
I’m
fine. I’m just really tired.”

“
Honey, you can fool some of the people all of the time—but
you can never fool your dad.” He grinned.

“
I
know. It’s just—David.”

“
David? What’s he done?” Dad’s tone trickled with panic and
the warm blue of his eyes turned to ice.

“
Dad—nothing.” Hm, maybe David was right about Dad not
trusting us in the bedroom—alone. “He just. He has to go away soon.
I’m going to miss him, that’s all.”

“
Go
away? Where?” His tall posture seemed to shrink back down a
little.

“
It
doesn’t matter. I don’t wanna talk about it, okay.”

“
Okay,” Dad said slowly, then looked at Vicki.

With
a sigh, I stood up and forced another pleasant smile. “I’m going to
bed—I’m tired.”

“
But
you didn’t eat anything,” Dad said.

“
I’m
not really hungry.”

“
Okay, that’s fine, Ara.” Vicki held a plate of food out to
me. “But at least take some food up with you. You look
skinny.”

Stifling the urge to scowl at her and tell her to mind her
own business, I looked up from my bony hips and nodded, taking the
plate. “Thanks.”