The Knight Of The Rose (44 page)

“Get the nurse,” Mike ordered David, moving a pillow out from under my head.

“No!” I held my hand out, taking deeper, more controlled breaths. “No, I’m okay. I’m okay.”

“Ara, you’re as white as a ghost.” Mike folded himself around me, and the warm smell of

home reminded me that I was safe, that was okay now and the darkness was gone—Jason was gone.

I rested my chin in the curve of his neck while I looked at David.

David?

He looked at me, his emerald-green eyes shining from under his low-pulled brow.

Did he find me, David? Did Mike find me?
I clutched Mike’s shoulder tight ly, studying

David’s face for proof of a lie, tr ying to feel my heart beating—to steady it—but after months of

sensory deprivation, everything was so loud and so bright. I couldn’t feel it beating anymore.

David closed his eyes, nodding, and looked away.

I knew what Mike would’ve seen, I knew what David would’ve seen in Mike’s head—even

he
couldn’t look at me. “I’m sorry, Mike,” I cried. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”

Mike let out a gust of air and his sad gaze drew me in as he pulled back. Tears streamed over

his cheeks, his eyes falling stunned into the silence that stopped on his lips. “Ar, I...I...”

My cheeks flushed with heat; I turned my face away.

“No.” Mike took my chin in his fingers and made me look at him. “No, Ara, You have

nothing
to be sorry for. You di d nothing wrong. This is something that was done to you.” Mi ke

sighed and looked down for a second. “He didn’t do anything else, Ara. The man who took you. He

didn’t—” Mike couldn’t even say the words.

“He was going to do it.” I looked at David; he closed his eyes.

“I know, baby. But...I think we scared him off. That’s what the cops are saying.”

“He bit me.” I touched my neck.

“Yes.” Mike’s eyes, with desperat ion hiding in the corner s, met mi ne. “Do you remember

anything else?”

I looked at David, who lif ted his head when he read my thought;
He bit me, does that mean

I’m a...?

He shook his head.

I’m not a vampire?

He closed his eyes and shook his head again.

My breathing slowed entirely; I lowered my head and r ested my hand across my lips .
Why?

Why aren’t I dead, then? He bit me. I should be dead, right?

Our gazes locked again; David nodded.

“You were strong, Ara,” Mike started, “I found you—in the dark.” He stared into the distance

as his face contorted with the obvious imagery in his mind.

Reflexively, I looked at the jagged pink scar littering my skin from the base of my palm up

half the length of my forearm.

“Do you remember who at tacked you?” Mike asked, looking at the bite-slash-tear, then at

David. My eyes fell on David’s face, too. It was so good to finally see him again. All I wanted was

for him to hold me—to make all of this better.
What do I tell him, David?

“If you remember, Ara, you can tell us,” David said, though his eyes said the opposite.

I shook my head. “I don’t remember anything.”

Mike moistened his dry lips, th en wiped a palm across his mouth. “I wish I’d never let you

out of my si ght—just a split second was all i t took. I just—I was watching you. I was right there

and...” He bit his knuckle for a second. “I tried to get to you—but he was gone.”

“It’s not your fault, Mike,” I whis pered; it was all I coul d do to console him. My throat hurt

and the muscles under my jaw felt strained.

“I should’ve protected you. It was my job, Ara.” Mike looked at David for a second. “They

say you have the same mark on your neck as that kid who died—Nathan?”

What? He died from a vampire bite?

David nodded.

A vampire? Not you? David? You didn’t do it, did you?

He closed his eyes. Mike studied the both of us exchanging our private words. I looked away

from Mike, and my wide eyes studied every inch of David’ s face. There’s no way Davi d killed

Nathan. I can’t believe that. I
won’t
believe it.

David looked up and smiled; his warm eyes softened as he opened them and muttered,

“Thank you,” under his breath.

“They just can’t understand why—i f it was the same guy—why Nathan didn’t report an

attack. Ara, you shouldn’t be alive right now. Your attacker was carrying some rare tropical disease.

You died!”

“I died?”

“Yes. They pronounced you dead. You flat-lined, they took out the breathing apparatus, and

you died. But then, the monitor—” he looked at the small screen behind me, “it started beeping

again—you kept going. Somehow, you found a way.”

The memory of the darkness filled my mind; the air became thick and hard to inhale as I tried

to escape the nightmare infecting my thoughts again. I looked down at my hand. “My ring?”

“It’s here.” Mike pulled it from his pocket and held it up; it looked so small and fragile in his

broad, strong fingers.

“I thought I’d lost it. All this time, in the darkness, I thought I’d lost it.” My voice quivered as

the reality of being alive set in.

David closed his eyes and looked away when Mike slipped the ring back onto my finger. I

had no time to stop him—it just happened, and the hurt on David’s face tore my heart as it dropped

into my stomach.

“They wouldn’t let you keep it on,” Mike said softly. “But I kept it close to me every day.”

Like a habit that had been fo rmed over years, I twisted the ring around on my finger and

studied the shimmering red of the ruby, regretting having asked Mike about it. “Where’s Vicki? My

Dad?”

“They went for coffee,” Mike said. “They stayed for a while, but your dad needed a break—

he’s not doing so well.”

“Can you call them?” I asked Mike , but looked at Davi d quickly.
I need him to go, David—I

need to talk to you.

“Sure.” Mike nodded. “Sure, kid. I’ll be right back. David, man?” Mike stood and looked at

him. David snapped out of his stiff-lipped stare. “Yeah.”

“Don’t let her go, okay?”

He nodded and took my hand, cr ushing the ring against my finger as he squeezed it. “Don’t

worry, I’ll take care of her
for you
.”

Mike paused a second, ignoring the resentment we all heard in David’s tone, then, with his

phone in his hand, cl osed the door, and I t urned to Davi d, trying to stop my lip from

quivering.

“I know,” he said, “ I know where you’ve been. I tried to bring you back, but I just couldn’t

reach you.”

“Why? Why did he do that to me?”

David’s face crumpled, but he stiffened immediately and held s traight. “He wanted to hurt

me.”

“Why?”

“Do you not remember what he showed you?”

Rochelle? So it was true?

He looked away. “He’s never forgiven me. I thought we’d moved past it. But he was just

biding his time until
I
fell in love.”

“But, that was fifty years ago, wasn’t it?”

David nodded, stroking my cheek with the back of one finger. “I’m sorry, Ara. There are no

words...” He shook his head. “
No
words I can offer you to make this all right.”

I grabbed his hand and held it to my cheek. “It’s okay. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

“No. What matters is that you’re alive, and that this will never, ever happen to you again.”

“So...he won’t...I mean, he won’t come back for me?”

David shook his head, seeming to hold the words in that might have accompanied the action.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he left you alive, Ara. For what reason, I do not know, but the fact that you’re still

here—that he gave you the chance to survive—that he didn’t kill Mike when
he
found you—”

“What? Jason was still there when Mike found me!” I pushed myself up to sit.

David nodded, pressing my chest until I laid back down.

“How do you know?”

“I saw it all.” He rolled his chin toward his chest.

I looked away. “He told me he was going to make you watch.” I hoped he wouldn’t.

“It wasn’t like that, Ara. He wouldn’t show me—” His fists clenched. “I all but ripped it from

his mind. When I saw you here, saw the tearing on your throat—I knew. There is only
one
person in

this world who would do that to a girl everyone
knew
belonged to me.” He took off across the room,

stopping by the window, w ith the dayl ight reminding us both th at the real world still exist ed out

there. “I went straight to him—
forced
him to show me. Only...I wish I hadn’t.”

“I’m sorry, David. I should never’ve went with—”

“No, Ara.” He appeared beside me, taking my hand. “None of this is your fault. None of it. I

left you. I did this. Not you. You should hate
me
.”

That’s not possible, David. It’s not your fault—Jason did this, no one else.

He sniffed once and stayed silent for a while, looking down at my ruby r ing. “I will never

understand why he didn’t finish what he started—but I am eternally grateful that he didn’t.”

“The darkness? He wanted me to be lost in there?” I concluded.

“No.” David shook his head. “No. He sai d something—as he left you there. Something that

just didn’t fit.”

“What did he say?” My brow creased; it felt so weird to use those muscles again.

“He kissed you on the cheek and touched your hair—but he di d it so gently.” David almost

absentmindedly copied the action of his brother. “He touched you the way
I
would. Then he said,
You

don’t know how special you are. I can break your body, but I’ll never break this.
” David placed his

hand over my heart. I looked up from my chest and into the confusion on his face. “It just does n’t

make any sense. I
know
him; I know what he’s capable of. Wh atever changed his mi nd, you don’t

know how lucky you are—how lucky
Mike
is. Ara, he was going t o—” David st opped dead and

closed his eyes.

An involuntary shudder edged up my spi ne. We both breathed heavily in the sil ence for a

second.

“But he bit me. Why didn’t I change?”

David drew a breath, masking the shaking in his chest. “I’m sorry, Ara. You—”

“I don’t have the gene?” Hot tears fi lled my eyes again. I felt mysel f being pull ed

backward—like I’d stayed put in the crowded lounge of an airport, and watched myself leave. David

looked away. “But...I...I changed my mind.”

“I know.” David nodded. “You just—it’s just not in your blood, Ara.”

My whole body became motionless, my eyes closing tightly around hot, salty liquid. “I don’t

want to die anymore, David. I can’t be without you again.”

“I know. I know, my love.” He stroked my hai r, holding my face to his chest—but ther e was

nothing he could say. “You can neve r be a vampire, Ara. The promise of eternity was never mine to

give.” The emptiness of stolen dreams consumed me, and something died within my soul; all hope

fell away to the darkness of my nightmares—like a rose, falling through eternity to a marbled ground

of nowhere—laying lifeless and spoiled with a single drop of crimson on her pretty, white petal. The

only colour she would ever see again.

David rested his forehead to mine and tucked my hair behind my ear.

“How can that be?” My breath touched his lips. “How can it be over now I’ve made up my

mind?” His jaw tightened, and he closed his eyes. “Sometimes, Ara, life is cruel.”

“I can’t do this, David. I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself that I’ll never get back—this can’t

be the end.”

“You’re marrying
him
,” David’s voice quavered as he nodded toward the hall—to where

Mike went to call my dad. “That’s as concluded as things get.”

“But you told me to. You wanted me to.”

David’s fingers tightened around my face. “I’m no saint, Ara. I want what’s best for you, but

at the same time...” he let out a heavy breath, “I coul dn’t care less if being with me meant the end of

your future.”

“Then don’t let me go.” Hope filled my voice. “Stay with me—run away with me, I’ll—”

“Ara...” his tone rose a lit tle on the end, “Ara, I can’t. You know I can’t. I have things I need

to deal with—things I must return and take care of, and running away....” he looked down at my face,

“it’s not the answer. Okay?
Life
is the answer and loneliness is the solution.” I went to prot est, but

David shook his head and pressed hi s thumbs firmly into my cheekb ones, gently pressuring me to

silence. “You
will
have a good life with him. I know now, that I’m leaving you in good hands.” We

both looked to t he hall—to Mike, to my best friend and fiancé, pr actically bouncing around the

corridor, smiling with more joy radiating from his heart than I had ever seen. When I looked back at

David, he was already looking at me—his lips twitching as if words rested there—maybe words I

wanted to hear him say.

“I don’t want to have a life anymore. I want to be with you.” The sobs broke out with a

torrent of tears. “I had a lot of time to think in

the dar kness, and none of it matters to me now,

David.” I sniffled and wiped the liquid away from my nose with the back of my wrist. “Love? True

love—that’s all that matters.”

David shook his head. “You can never be immortal, Ara. I sat here, by your side, all this time,

and I
watched
you die. I was helpless, unable to save you— forced to watch you fade away a lit tle

more every day,” his voice broke to a whisper. “You disappeared into nothing, until every trace of