Secrets [5] Echoes: Part One (45 page)

Little did he know, we were. “I didn't know I spirit-walked back then.”

“I know.” He nodded. “But, no matter what that meant, I had no right to interfere with yours and David’s sacred bond. I mean, that whole institution has been cracked wide open for him now. He has no faith in love and commitment anymore, Ara, and that is because of me. Because I took a very naïve young girl and, through months of dreams in worlds she didn’t understand, I made her love me—confused her to the point where she didn’t know her own heart anymore and had to jump off a lighthouse to ease the pain.”

I laid my hand to his wrist to soothe him, but he shook his head.

“I acted selfishly, Ara. We both know that. If I’d just left you alone, none of this would ever have happened.”

“Jase—”

“No, let me finish.” He waved a hand. “When he sees that you’ve made the choice not to be with me, even though you’re completely free to do so, he’s gonna start thinking about things. And the more he thinks about it, the more he’s going to see that you, on your own, with no interference from me or Arthur or anyone else, would never have betrayed him. And when he realises that you are still that sweet, innocent little girl he fell in love with at school, he’s slowly going to come back to you. He won’t be able to help it, Ara. He loves y—”

“Ara?” David popped his head around the door.

Jase and I both looked up, slowly moving our hands apart. “Hey. What’s up?” I said.

“There’s a man here to see you.”

“Who?”

He looked at Jason.

“It’s him?” Jason said, slowly getting taller in his seat.

“Who?” I asked.

David hesitated. “Vampirie.”

David led the way, Jason followed, and I lagged behind in a completely numb, slightly hesitant state. This was the moment—the one we’d all been waiting for. His face would finally be revealed, so many mysteries and questions finally answered. And what if David was right? What if the man I was just about to meet really was my dad? How would I cope with that? How would I stand there in the room and not either break down and cry or throw something at him and beg him to tell me why? Why did he let this happen? Where has he been all this time? Why did he die? What was his plan all along? So many things he would have to have known. So many lies he would have to have hidden from me all along. I mean, did he know David was the boy from the contract? Did he know what would happen to me when we fled our own wedding? Could he have stopped it? Would he have stopped it?

“Ara?” David appeared like a wall in front of me, stopping me from going any further in either my thoughts or steps. “I saw him—just a glimpse, and unless your father is capable of mass overnight age reduction, it’s not him.”

“It’s not?” A thick, hot lens of tears cooled as they spilled past my lashes.

He shook his head. “Uncle Arthur was right. There are similarities, but the man I saw in the library just now is at least twenty years younger than your dad was.”

“So that’s it?” I blotted my cheeks dry with the backs of my hands. “That means my dad really did die.”

“Yes. Now stop crying and get a hold of yourself. I’m supposed to present a queen.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just…”
Just what?
“Scared. And disappointed, I guess.”

“I get that. But there’s a time and place for melodrama, Ara, and it’s not—”

“Hey, go easy on her.” Jason stepped in between us. “She’s pregnant, bro.
And
she just lost her dad—again, it seems, after being given false hope that he might be the original.”

“You think I don’t know that?” David barked. “I feel just as bad as she does. But you don't see me blubbering over it.”

“It wasn’t your father that died!” Jase yelled, the sheer volume startling David as much as it did me. “She’s grieving, and that’s hard enough without the demands of building a human life with her own blood. Do you have any idea the strain that puts on her, both emotionally and phys—”

“Just stay out of it, Jason. I can take care of my own wife.”

“But she's not your wife, is she? Because you disowned her, tell her every day how much you hate her for trying to do something to save
your
life—”

“I don’t hate her for what she did. I hate her for falling in love with
you
!”

“Yeah, well, that says more about you than it does about her, doesn't it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ever wonder
why
she fell for someone else?” He paused as if awaiting a response we all knew he wasn’t expecting. “Maybe it’s time to look in the mirror rather than blaming the rest of the world for your own inadequacies as a husband.”

David’s feet shifted, bringing him up slightly taller, but in his eyes he looked small and hollowed-out. “She didn't fall for you because I wasn’t a good husband.”

“Hey, if that’s what you gotta tell yourself to sleep at night, bro.” Jase shrugged noncommittally.

“Well, until you've put your claim forward to the Upper House, in writing, my inadequacies are
her
eternal regret, so stay out of i—”

“Guys!” I clapped my hands once loudly to get their attention. “Stop fighting.”

David scowled at Jason then, and in one smooth move, drew me into him as if he actually cared. I wanted to pull away, knowing damn well he was just using me to make a point to his brother, but as I folded into his warmth and closed my eyes, a cloud of calm surrounded me, and not a supernatural calm either—one forced by his inhuman abilities. It was just his touch—just the way he always made me feel. So I stayed put to soak up the affection for just a moment. And Jase gave me a soft, knowing smile.

“I’m sorry for being so harsh, Ara,” David said, rubbing my back firmly. “But you don’t need to be upset or scared, sweetheart, because the fact is,
that man
is a guest in
our
house. He is welcome here only if you say so. If you don’t want to talk with him, you can leave the room at any time. Okay?”

I nodded.

He squeezed me tight and let go. “Come on then. Let’s go see what the Almighty Original has to say for himself.”

The corridors turned into miles beneath my feet as we descended the stairs and rounded the corner to the second floor. I could almost feel the presence of the new vampire just steps away—could feel his energy and his life-force, and it all felt strangely familiar. I got the deep sense, as we reached the library door, that I had, at least, met the
man on the other side before.

“Ara.” Jason ran his fingertips down my ponytail and leaned in to whisper that he’d have to wait outside.

“Why?” I asked.

He gestured to the room. “Arthur just asked me to.”

“Arthur’s in there?”

Jase nodded, and I felt better knowing Arthur would be there too. I even managed a little smile.

“See?” Jase said, cupping my shoulder. “Told you it’d be okay.”

I squeezed his wrist once and turned to face the door, my heart coming to life on the back of my tongue, making a new home there where the blood pooled and gathered, restricting my throat. “I’m ready.”

David knocked loudly and a familiar voice permitted us to enter. I felt like a stranger in my own home, somehow, like
we
were intruding.

“Uncle,” David said, opening one side of the double doors.

“Bring her in, son.”

He reached back behind the closed portion of the door and took my hand, cupping it securely in his before giving a gentle tug. And as I stepped into the room and the door closed behind us, golden autumn sunlight shone down through the windows beyond the fireplace, making silhouettes of the two men standing in front of it. I could tell only that the man beside Arthur was a half a head taller, his youthful shoulders straight and sharp in a white shirt that dropped down his arms, ending in a rolled sleeve just below his elbow. In my mind I’d expected a cloak-wearing ancient, maybe even to get the kind of feel from him that I got from Drake—that Lordly, almost dangerous feel. But as my eyes adjusted to the light and took in his short brown hair and round but thin face, he really just seemed kinda human. His shirt was tucked in to beige pleated-front slacks, his hands resting loosely in his pockets. He waited there while I took him in, not saying anything, not moving; trying, I think, to make me more comfortable.

I tightened my hold on David’s hand for a second, remembering to breathe when he squeezed back.

“Amara,” Arthur said, taking a step forward and offering his hand. “I’d like you to meet a very old and very dear friend of mine.”

David walked me the twenty paces toward his uncle and handed me over.

“Vampirie?” Arthur said his name with a thick, sort of French sound on the first ‘i’, making it sound like he said Vampi-airy, and tucking my hand under his elbow, drew me closer. “This, as you know, is our beautiful young queen.”

Vampirie bowed.

I gave a very small bow in return, and as he stood tall again and Arthur led me to the space in the shadows of the afternoon light, I saw his eyes, set kindly into a face so familiar I gasped loudly.

“Ara,” Vampirie said kindly. And even the way the word left his mouth was so familiar it was like hearing a story told by an old TV personality you heard growing up.

I couldn't speak, couldn't get the words out past the shaking down my throat—couldn't say “You look exactly like him.”

“I’ve tried my best to prepare you for this moment,” Vampirie said, reaching for me, but I broke away from Arthur to cover my mouth, getting as much distance as my two steps would allow.

David rushed in behind me and cupped my shoulders, holding me up when my knees went weak, the tears streaming so fiercely down my face it was futile to wipe them away. My cheeks, lips and under my nose felt cold and itchy with moisture.

“I knew this would be hard for you, no matter how I went about it.” The man moved a step closer.

I tilted my head up as if I could look at him, but my eyes were glazed and focused on nothing.

“Ara, say something,” he said, waiting at length for my attention. “Ara?”

“You … you look just like him.”

Vampirie laughed; so did Arthur.

“My dear,” Arthur said, clapping the vampire’s back. “This man does not just closely resemble your father.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It can’t be.”

“Ara, honey,” Vampirie said, and I didn’t hear any more. I took a giant gulp of air and threw my arms around his waist, breathing only to absorb every tiny aspect of him—his scent, his warmth, the familiar wrap of his arms around me, and the place my head rested just under his collarbones. That much hadn’t changed. His face was younger, so much younger, and his eyes had lost that sparkling crinkle they’d adopted these last yen years, but everything else about him was exactly the same.

“I’m so sorry, honey.” He rubbed my back, up and down softly, like he did when I was little. “I wish there’d been a better way to break this to you—or perhaps a better time. If I could’ve told you in my living, human state, I know the news would've been easier to bear, but—” He held me out from him by my upper arms. “There are reasons I had to wait.”

I leaned back, wiping my nose on my wrist. “I … buried you. I—”

“I know, and if that could have been avoided—”

“I’m sorry.” I backed away, my hands marking an invisible wall to block them out. “I can’t do this. I just need a minute.”

“Ara,” Arthur called, but I heard the strange man tell him to let me go—his voice sounding so like my father’s again that I was taken back, as I reached the library doors and threw them open, to so many nights growing up where I ran for the safety of my room in just the same way.

***

I thought I’d cry, maybe curl into a ball and sob myself to sleep, but once I reached my room, yanked my hair out of its ponytail and could finally breathe again, I just sat on the bed, staring out the window, watching the orange orb of light fall closer and closer to the earth before blending with the treetops and vanishing into a thick, smoggy grey.

None of what just happened was sinking in and yet, at the same time, didn't need to, because it all just made so much sense—so much that I wondered how I hadn't been certain of it all along. And with that clarity came lines and lines of questions, each one escaping me as I made my own conclusions and found myself grasping for the next one.

Dad was alive.

No, Dad was a vampire—had been a vampire my whole life, and I never knew. But if he was the Original, then he knew who I was—knew about the contract. Knew what David was to me. Knew what really happened to me at the masquerade. Probably even knew who did it.

How could he not have done anything—said anything? How could he have watched me heal after I woke from the coma and not give me
one
word of comfort? Doesn’t he know how much pain he could have spared me by just talking to me about it? By just saying that he knew what happened to me—that I wasn’t carrying that secret alone. And then there’s the question of David: so many questions about David—about what Dad knew or didn’t know. What he
wanted
.

“Ara.” David entered without knocking, his voice soft and melodic—calm, as though he was sure I’d have gone nuts in my ten minutes alone.

I looked up and gave him a quick smile.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said to the view out the window. “I just needed a moment to process.”

David laughed lightly, closing the door. “I don’t blame you.”

I shifted over a bit on the bed and let him sit beside me, noting in the back of my mind how strange it was that he never seemed to make the mattress dip—which wasn't just a vampire thing, because every other vampire had enough gravity to squish a pillow. It was just a David thing.

“I’m sorry I told you it wasn’t him,” he said. “I didn’t know, Ara—”

“It’s okay.” I reached across blindly to pat his leg but missed and got the bed instead. “You couldn't have known.”

“He just…” He exhaled. “How can he look so young? I’ve used disguises before—you’ve seen them, and there is
no
way your dad’s was some Hollywood face mask all this time. No way.”

“Maybe he’s got witchcraft in his blood, like Morgana and Drake.”

“What, like maybe his aged face was a spell?”

I shrugged.

“I’m
dead
curious,” he said, pausing only a second before asking, “Do you think you’re ready to talk to him now?”

“Kinda. I just need to get all my questions straight in my head and…” I didn't want to elaborate.