Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (25 page)

“I have a confession,” Eric said after an hour of
ignoring me. Ever since we’d left the house, I had been
pestering him to tell me where he was taking me. I didn’t
like secrets, and surprises usually had an annoying way of
blowing up in my face so I didn’t like those very much
either.

“You’re taking me to the Lost City of Atlantis,” I
guessed.
“What?” he asked, frowning at me as though I had just
escaped a mental facility.
“It’s possible,” I defended myself. “You're a pureblood,
so why not Atlantis?”
“Stop guessing, Jen,” he smiled, “you’re never going to
figure it out. Now do you want to hear that confession or
should I keep it to myself?” he asked looking at me.
“Fine, what is it?” I sighed, staring out the window.
Somewhere along the drive the tall, intimidating buildings
had ceased. Now we were on a lonely road that was
layered with huge trees at both sides that seemed to go on
forever.
“You never promised me a date. I lied,” he smiled
unashamed.
“What?” I snapped instantly turning to face him.
“I knew you'd give me a hard time,” he admitted.
“Take me back, Eric, right now,” I demanded turning
away from him, staring back out the window as trees
zipped past us.
“Nope,” he paused, “besides we’re almost there.” His
smile grew just as he slowed the car and pulled into a
narrow dark dirt road hidden between the thick, bulky
trees.
For a brief moment, I was pissed off at Eric. He’d
tricked me into going out on a date with him. My vision
blurred with anger and before I could stop myself, a tiny,
low growl escaped my throat. “Jen... did you just growl at
me?” Eric smiled and I shrugged nonchalantly at him.
“You know sooner or later you’re going to have to learn
how to control that… Can't have you growling at people
in public.”
I had planned to ignore him until we were wherever he
was taking me and I absolutely had to acknowledge his
existence, but my curiosity stirred awake at this, and I
turned away from the window facing him.
“How can I have... pureblood reactions... when I’m not
a pureblood...?” I asked, not sure how to phrase it. “I’m
not eighteen so...”
“But you will be in two months... And by the time
you’re eighteen you’ll have completed the three stages…”
“What’s the other two stages like?” My voice came out
as a whisper as the memories of the first stage and how
painful it was flew through my head. I could only imagine
that the other two was going to be just as or maybe more
painful.
“The second stage hits you like a fever… It can last for
days or hours, for everyone it’s a bit different because we
all receive different gifts and this stage prepares you for it.
You’ll have headaches like a bitch… When it’s over you’ll
start craving things. Your diet is going to change…”
I frowned at him deeply. “Meaning I’ll start craving
blood?” I whispered and though it was meant to be a
question, it came out as a statement. “How strong will the
cravings be?”
“Not blood… at least not yet. You’ll feel like eating
mostly red meat, lots of it, and it won’t be that much
different from hunger,” he explained and I nodded as
relief flooded me. At the very least I wasn’t going to turn
into some kind of blood thirsty animal.
“What’s the third stage?”
“It’s the most painful. It's like you're asleep… You feel
and hear everything around you. That’s when your
inheritance awakens, it’s like fire running through your
veins, burning you from the inside out…” he trailed off
and I swallowed loudly, not knowing what else to say to
that.
I nodded, sucking in a breath, mentally preparing
myself for the next question. “How do you get blood..?” I
whispered, biting down on my lower lip.
“Well…” he began, swallowing loudly. “Committed
pureblood couples usually feed on each other, it’s one of
the only times that blood sharing is allowed in
Thirdworld…”
I frowned at his answer instantly. “It sounds like you’re
not allowed to share blood?”
“We’re not,” he smiled at me and I wondered why.
“Our blood is sacred and pure, kind of like holy blood so
to speak, so it’s against our law to give it to someone that
doesn’t belong to the same bloodline…”
“So…” I wondered, “blood sharing for purebloods is
like what sex is - well supposed to be - for humans?” I
frowned at him, trying to figure it out in my head, make
sense of it somehow.
“Yeah… it’s kind of like that.”
“You know, you guys have a lot of laws,” I told him
just as something snapped inside my head. He’d said that
committed couples fed on each other, what happened to
the uncommitted ones?
“I was hoping you wouldn’t pick up on that,” Eric
sighed, locking his jaw. For a moment I just stared at him
confused, and then it finally dawned on me. He’d read my
mind. The son of a bitch, I hoped he heard that. “I did,
and it’s not very nice, Jen.”
“Get out of my head, you peeping Tom. Sheesh, would
you die from giving me privacy?” I snapped, slapping his
arm.
“Sorry, but I need to know that you understand these
things. I’ve never had to explain them before so I don’t
know if I’m explaining it right or not,” he defended
himself.
“So are you going to answer?”
“Do I have to?” My only response was a nod. “Well…”
he started and his voice went up a notch. “We feed from
our girlfriends… Well they're not exactly girlfriends…
more like one night stands…” he trailed off and I felt my
jaw drop.
It took me a minute to find my voice. “Eric,” I said
carefully, remembering the very first conversation I’d had
with Charde. “How many ex’s do you have?”
“Um,” he frowned, his eyes super glued to the road in
front of us, “do I have to answer that?”
“Yes,” I almost shouted at him.
“A lot,” he muttered after a long while of staring ahead.
“Oh come on Eric, it’s not going to change anything.
It’s not like I can dump you.”
“If it isn’t, why are you so interested in knowing?” he
asked in a voice that was way too defensive.
“Because I just am. I mean… you wanted to know
about Daren…” I trailed off. “So how many?”
“A lot” he said again.
“How much is a lot?” I pushed. “I’m not dropping
this.”
“I… don’t know… I lost track,” he muttered almost
silently. My jaw instantly dropped again and my eyes
bugged out. He honestly couldn’t be serious. It took a
minute for that to sink in.
“How much of them were serious? Like relationship
wise?” I asked instead of asking the question I really
wanted to.
“Um… none of them…” he cleared his throat.
I swallowed preparing myself for the question I should
have asked first, the question I knew he was dreading.
“Okay,” I nodded, “and how many of them have you had
sex with?”
“What?” he squeaked instantly, his voice going up
several notes and he’d gone paler than possible.
“You heard me.”
“…All…of them,” he muttered and I almost didn’t
hear him.
“Are you kidding me?” I burst out shocked. Charde
really wasn’t exaggerating. “Oh my God, Eric, what the
fuck?”
“I was engaged to you,” he defended himself and my
eyes bugged out again. I couldn’t believe what I was
hearing. My hands went to my head as I tried to wrap my
mind around this. I didn’t know which was hurting me
more; that he’d had sex with so many girls that he couldn’t
count, or that he did it because he was engaged to me.
“Just let me explain,” he said as I turned away from
him staring at the trees passing us again. “I hadn’t known
what you would be like. I didn’t know that I would love
you, Jen. I thought that I was destined to marry someone I
was going to hate, and I was having what I thought was
fun while I could,” he explained.
I didn’t respond, I couldn’t. I was so close to tears that
if I said anything I was going to cry. The silence dragged
on seemingly never ending. It made the rest of the ride to
wherever we were going awkward and tense. All the way I
fought back the tears. I understood what he meant, but it
still hurt like Hell.
About twenty minutes later, the road swerved and
instead of the endless trees, a huge towering hedge rose up
in front of us. A big old fashioned gate was directly in the
middle, already slowly sliding open. This was the only
building I could see, perfectly hidden around the trees.
Eric drove through the gate and we came up directly in
front of a circular fountain. At the top of the fountain was
a black widow spider with water pouring out of where its
legs should be. As soon as we were in, the gate slowly
began to close as Eric parked the car and then turned to
face me. I could feel his eyes boring into my face and
heating my skin. “Are you mad at me?” he whispered, his
voice so low that it seemed to blend into the silence
instead of shattering it.
Slowly I ripped my eyes away from the beautiful house
in front of us and turned, facing him. “No,” I whispered
back, shaking my head. “I’m not mad at you, I’m just,” I
paused, frowning at myself. “I don’t know…” I sighed and
turned away from him, about to open the door and get out
of the car.
The second my fingers connected with the door, Eric’s
hand was suddenly in front of me pinning me to the seat.
“Stay,” he ordered in a firm voice, his eyes warning me not
to disobey. At his touch, the heat in the car flared up, and
suddenly the only thought in my mind was him and how
very close he was. Before I could blink, he was standing at
the other side of me. The car door was open and he was
holding out a hand, waiting for me to take it. It took me a
moment to get my heart out of my throat and then I took
his hand, getting out of the car, looking around as he shut
the door.
The place was amazing. Beautiful didn’t even begin to
describe it. There were flowers everywhere, barely leaving
enough room for the gravel path that led to the front door.
I was beginning to realize that Eric was like a fairy tale, or
at least the places he took me to were.
“Where are we?” I asked as he wrapped his hand
around my waist and began leading me to the front door.
He opened the door and pulled me into a bright room.
Amber lights hung from the ceiling and walls making the
room feel homey and warm. As far as I could tell the entire
house was made ofwood. The walls and floors were a dark
brown wooden color that seemed to sparkle in the light.
Looking down I could make out my reflection in it.
Everything was bright and almost dreamlike - it was so
beautiful that it didn't feel real to me. In my head, I was
having a hard time convincing myself that it all was. “This
is the family’s lake house. Would you like to eat first?”
I shook my head. “Eric,” I said, fully turning to face
him. “I would have been happy with a simple movie and a
big bucket of popcorn with a shitload of butter,” I said.
“All of this,” I gestured to the house, “is unnecessary and
you didn’t have to do any of it,” I paused for a second
staring up at his face, wondering. “You know that, right?”
“I know,” he said and a smile spread across his face as
he walked over to a door that was right under a huge
staircase and got out two thick, heavy coats. I opened my
mouth to ask what they were for, the sun was out and the
place was warm. Before I could, he cut me off. “Jen, you’re
one of those girls that likes simple things, and really
unhealthy food,” he chuckled as he grabbed my hand and
began leading me through the house. “But you deserve to
be fussed over. I’m only giving you what you deserve…”
he grinned excitedly, pushing a door open to reveal what I
assumed was the back of the house - he was blocking so I
couldn't see anything but his back.
Just as I thought that, air whipped around me and
somehow Eric was now standing behind me, his front
pressing up to my back and his hands covering my eyes.
“Eric,” I began, raising my hand to my face.
“Just… trust me, Jen,” he breathed out and after a long
hesitant minute, I dropped my hand. Seconds later I felt
myself moving forward.
The walk was slow. Not once had Eric let me walk into
something or fall. I hadn’t even stumbled. Then finally,
after what felt like we’d been walking forever, we stopped.
“I’m going to move my hands now, but you have to keep
your eyes closed, okay?” I swallowed, nodding. “No
peeking,” he warned, slowly removing his hands away
from my face. I kept my eyes shut.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and at my sides, I
felt my hands shaking. My stomach was in knots. I could
barely think straight. In my short life, never have I ever
been this nervous. I felt like I was a debuting performer
about to go on stage. It was a heart-wrenching feeling to
the point where I could almost feel physical pain circling
my chest and stomach.
I felt Eric’s hand wrap around my waist from behind
me and I jumped at the unexpected contact. Then I felt his
head rest on my shoulder, making the knots in my
stomach pull tighter than I would have thought possible. I
opened my mouth to ask him what was happening but
somehow my voice had vanished. Seconds later Eric and I
started moving again. Only this time I wasn’t walking
anymore. Instead it was like I was sliding. The movement
felt out of control and I didn’t like it. Despite still feeling
the warm afternoon sun on my skin, cold air whipped past
me, and against it I shivered. Eric must have felt it because
he instantly tightened his arms around my waist pulling me
closer.
“Open your eyes, Jen,” Eric whispered in my ear, and
hesitantly I did, blinking against the brightness. When my
eyes finally adjusted, I sucked in cool air, completely and
utterly amazed at what I was seeing.
This couldn’t be real. Things like this weren’t possible,
at least not in my world. Eric and I were standing in the
middle of a huge lake that had somehow been frozen solid.
Around us were giant trees standing tall and protective
around the lake. I literally couldn’t speak. My voice had
either shut down or gotten lost in the amazement, and for
a long moment all I could do was stare at the heavenly
sight around me. Then finally after I had found my voice, I
turned to Eric, gaping.
“Eric…” I began but didn’t know how to continue. I
decided to try again. “How… What…? Oh my God…” I
shook my head, turning to face him, commanding my
voice to work.
“Perks of knowing a few witches,” he explained
grinning.
“Eric,” I whispered looking up at his face. “This is
amazing,” I laughed and began turning around gesturing to
the frozen lake under us. “I love-” suddenly my foot
slipped and I was instantly falling, which made me
annoyed with myself. I had just been given the most
amazing, romantic date of what was sure to be my life, and
I was going to start bleeding all over it.