The Knight Of The Rose (9 page)

butterfly to carry on her name.” David str oked my sticky, soaking hair fro m my cheeks and held

them; rolling my face upward until I looked int o his eyes. “I love you, and your spirit will go on. As

long as you have happiness, I have everything I will ever desire.”

“But what will you do? Where will you go?”

“I am the rain.” He looked up at the sky, tucking my face against his c hest. “I ex ist each

clouded day whether the butterfly flies or falls. A human life is but only a blink in the eye of eternity.

I will go on when you are gone, I wi ll have no choice.” A silent pause allowed for the hum of the

rain to become louder. “I wish I could promise to
move
on, but it would be a lie. The pain I will feel

for eternity without you is a sacrifice I am willing to make to save you from forever longing, wishing

you’d been given the chance t o live. I owe that to you. For the love I feel—I owe that to you.” He

nodded once.

“So that’s it? You’re making the decision for me?”

“I have to, Ara. I’ve been watching, waiti ng, scanning your thoughts t o find some hint of

promise for us, but you keep holding onto this—for what reason, I don’t know. You don’ t—

anywhere
in your thoughts—want to be a vampire, and yet you keep making me wait for your

answer. And stupidly, I keep waiting, even though I know the truth.”

I had nothing to say. The lonely eternity he must face broke my heart—but he mus t face it

without me. Life is just too important. I’ve seen it in action; the beauty, the magic it has to offer, and

I fear, if I give that up for immortality, I’ll never forgive myself, or worse, never forgive David. “Just

give me two weeks more. For forever, please? Just let me have the last two weeks.”

“Two more weeks?” He leaned back. “While you spend those days with another man? A man

you happen to love.”

“Please?” My tiny voice quivered. “Please?”

David looked down at the ground, keeping a centimetre of distance between our almost naked

bodies, and only one hand on my skin, against my lower back.

With a loud breath, I blew out the pain of co mprehension. “Can you just hold me then—just

for a little while longer?”

David exhaled a hard breath and let my chest fall against his as I wrapped my arms around

his neck—ignoring the small stones in the grass under my knees. His body felt cooler than it was a

moment ago, and though the rain made me shiver and the shaded canopy did not shelter us from the

icy air, my own body felt nothing of the discom fort that cold brings—only the breat htaking

perfection of David’s well-formed muscles, and his strong arms holding me so tight—like I could

float away on the breeze, or like this might be our very last embrace—ever.

“Please don’t hate me f or loving him, David. I—I loved him for such a long time before I

ever even knew you existed.”

He took a long breath and squeez ed me a little tighter, pressing his chin into the top of my

head. “I do know that. I just…I suspected it. I should have followed my gut.”

“What would you have done if you’ d asked me, and I’d told you I loved him? Would you

have left?”

“That’s the stupid thing about all of this, Ara.”

I leaned back slightly, despising the distance between our chests—and even more, t he

disconnection between our souls. “What’s stupid?”

“That, even if you
had
admitted your feelings for Mike—” he touched my cheek and smiled,

“—I’d still have stayed.”

“Then don’t leave yet. Give me the nights—for two more weeks. Please?”

He shook his head. “You don’t even need to ask. You know I will.” He smiled down at our

hips touching; the perfect combination of caramel skin against a plane of wet white—shining in the

silvery light. “How can I not savour those l ast few nights?” I melted against hi m again, then, after a

moment he added, “After all, it will be our last…won’t it?” He turned my face so I looked into his

shimmering green eyes. “I just need to hear you say it—from your own lips.”

“You mean…have I decided if I’m coming with you?”

He nodded. “More if you never will.”

I knew the answer, but I also knew that if I told him the truth, he’d see fit to just leave now—

why waste time—so I shook my head, and he groaned.

“Ara, I’m leaving for two years. I’m not sure wh en I will next come along this way. Please

stop playing these games with me. Tell me the truth.”

“That is the truth, David. My mind makes up its mi—well, my mind makes decisions all the

time—doesn’t mean I agree with them.”

“Stop it.” He drew a back a little further. “Ara, just say it. Just tell me you’re not coming with

me.”

“No. Because that’s not what I’ve decided on.” I folded my arms.

David stood up and moved away from me. “You must make a decision either way, you know

that.”

“Okay, then…ask me on the last day of our two weeks.”

“That’s the night of the Masquerade.”

“Then…” I stood up and caref ully touched his elbow until he turned to face me, “ask me on

the last dance.”

“The last dance?” He dropped his folded arms and raised a brow. “On the last str oke of

midnight?”

I nodded, smiling. “On the last stroke of midnight sounds great.”

He grabbed me gently by the arm and pulled me unt il my chest fell against his. “I’m sorry I

yelled at you.”

“That wasn’t really yelling, David—just a harsh tone.”

He nodded. “No matter. I shouldn’t speak to you that way, despite how I feel.”

“I yell at you all the time.”

He laughed, and I looked up to see his smile. I love that sm ile. “But you’re harmless. When

you yell, it’s merely amusing.”

“Thanks. Glad to know you take me so seriously.”

He drew a breath of concentration and gent ly repositioned his ar ms around my body; the

silky, wet skin of his forearms made me shift my shoulder blades to feel him against me right where I

wanted him. “We should go.”

“No.” I gripped my fi ngers over my wrist and held my arms around his back—making a

chain of unyielding force. He will not tear me away. Not this time. “We’re staying for a little longer

today.”

“Is that so. And...” he lift ed my chin; I held fast, refusing to even look at him. He gave in.

“What exactly are you going to do if I decide to force you?”

“You won’t.”

“Hm, you’re so sure of yourself,” he said, but I heard the smile in his tone, and the fact that

he did nothing else except wrap his fingertips in th e base of my hair and hold me, proved that I was

right. My bones turned to rubber inside my flesh, loving the closeness of skin on skin—with my

vampire—and though the summer rain continued, I felt only warmth.

It was like we didn’t care about the thi ngs that others would run from, because we knew a

pain much worse than rain on cold skin.

We let it come, let it fall around us and chill us to the bone—it mattered none, for in that

moment, we existed in a world a mil lion miles away from anything that could change. We both

knew, deep down inside, that the eternity of pai n David must face alone would come, but we would

not let that fear tear us apart.

His blood had fl ooded me with warmth—like a powerful drug—and mine had fil led his

veins—giving him life, fuelling his movements.

Right now, with the awareness of our final two weeks resting on the backdrop of the moment,

we both pretended there was still hope out there, while secretly, inside, I was praying for it.

But I could not feel the fear—feel the weight of the truth that one day he’d be gone, and my

arms would fall empty to my sides, the feel of his eternal embrace gone, his body gone, his smile just

a memory, and his lips, never more a kiss that belonged to me.

But I own it now.

I smiled into his skin. Despite everything that waits, despite everything I know will happen,

for today I can say, let the darkness come—let it take away the light, for I will hold on to my forever

with David Knight.

“Ara-Rose?” Vicki called loudly from downstairs.

“Yeah?” My bed felt warm and comfy with the vampire that arrived early this morning

breathing heavily under the sound halo of sleep beside me.

There’s no way I’m getting up to see what she wants.

“Emily’s on the phone,” she said loudly.

Great. Why didn’t Emily just call my mobile or my personal line?

Ha! She was probably hoping to get my dad to answer so she could hear his voice. Gag.

David, keeping his eyes closed, grabbed my hand as I rose from under the warm comforter

and fell away from his arms. “Don’t go? Emily can call back later.”

“No—I’m up now. I won’t be long, okay?”

He groaned, dropping his hand away fr om mine, then rolled over, snuggling into the pill ow

where my body had just been. “Be quick. It’s cold here without you.”

“I will.”

Since David closed my curtains when he came through my window earlier, I didn’t notice the

grey day until I stepped into t he fresh, cool air of the hallway. The windows all around the house

were open, same as every weekend, and the soft lemon scent of Vicki’s bathroom cleaner, mixed

with the moist weight of freshly cut grass, dried the back of my thr oat as I drew a deep breath. I

tucked my hands under my arms, wishing Id’ put on a sweater to come down. “Morning, Dad.”

Dad smiled over his newspaper. “Morning, honey.”

“Any good news?” I asked as I hurried past him to the phone on the wall.

“You know what I always say,” he moaned rhetorically, lowering his nose i nto the paper

again.

“Thanks, Vicki.” Vicki went back to the kitchen sink after handing me the phone. “Hey, Em.”

“Hey, Ara. What are you two doing today?”

By ‘you two’, I assumed she was referring to David and I. “Lazing around. Why?”

“Everyone’s going bowling tonight. You guys wanna come?”

Hmm. Leaning against the wall, feeling the weight of a deep sleep still lifting off my body, I

folded my arms and thought for a second. Bowling versus bed with David. “Well, I guess we can, but

I’ll have to check with David.”

“Okay. When will you see him?”

“When I hang up the phone.” I gri nned, watching Vicki. She had no clue what I was talking

about, thank God.

“Oh, my Gosh, Ara. You rebel. Did he stay last night?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Just...early,” I hinted, hoping she’d catch my dr ift—and couldn’t

help smiling suggestively.

“Oh. Okay. So, like, sneak through the window sort of thing?”

“You got it.” I giggled; Vicki looked at me with a raised brow.

“You two are so in love, aren’t you?” Emily asked.

“Mm-hm. So what time are you going bowling?”

“About six.”

“Okay, well, I’d say David will be in. So, I’ll just say yes for now. If plans change, I’ll call.”

“Okay, see you then.”

“Yup. See ya.” The phone clinked, and suddenly I was back in the kitchen with my parents.

“What did Emily want?” Vicki asked.

“They’re going bowling tonight.”

“Are you and David going?”

“Yeah, so far. I’ll have to check if he wants to—but I’d say we pr obably will.” I shrugged.

All I want is to get upstairs and climb back in next to David.

“What time is David coming over today?”

He’s already here. “Don’t know. But I’m going to get some more sleep before he does.”

“Sleep? It’s nine in the morning, Ara,” Vicki stated in a high-pitched tone.

“So?” I shrugged. “I’m a teenager. Aren’t we supposed to hibernate all the time?”

The only other sound Vicki made as I walked away was a loud sigh. What can she say,

really? This is what she wanted—a normal, messed-up teenage girl.

A soft strumming guitar lulled the hallway with an easy-going air as I stomped back up to my

room. When I pushed my door open, expecting to see the outline of a vampire in my bed, my smile

dropped as the bright yellow light of morning shone through my open curtains—onto my empty bed.

My eyes darted quickly to the iPod, in its dock, with a song playing at a reasonable volume—

a volume my dad would app-rove of.

Thanks a lot, Emily. You just spoiled my sleep-in.

As I watched the rain spatter on the glass of my window, blur ring my vision of the outsi de

world, I listened to the words of the song, gathering that my vampire meant them as a musical sticky-

note saying,
My love, I’ll shall return soon
.

Not that that’s what the words of the song were, but that’s how David would say it.

I distracted myself from the loneliness of an empty room by twisting the ends of my hair

between my fingers, then grimaced. I really need to wash it. And don’t even get me started on how

badly I need to…wel l…I need to pee. I hate going to the bathroom when David’s here—convinced

he can hear me or something.

I took a moment to be human, then jumped in to the wel coming, enveloping heat of the

shower, washed my hair quickly and jumped out, wrapping the towel around my chest and tucking it

under my arm.

As I stepped back into my room, a sudden br eeze swept through my window and knocked all

the papers off my desk. “Damn it, David,” I said to myself, squatting down to pick them up. I’m sure

that was closed a second ago.

“It was. I opened it.”