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…”
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 did nothing wrong. This is something that was done to you.”
“He bit me.” I touched my neck.
“Yes.” Mike’s eyes, with desperation hiding in the corners, met mine. “Do you remember anything else?”
I looked at David, who lifted 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 rested 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.
Mike moistened his dry lips, then wiped a palm across his mouth. “I wish I’d never let you out of my sight. Just a split second was all it 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 whispered; it was all I could 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…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, no clue we were exchanging our own private words. I looked away from Mike, and my wide eyes studied every inch of David’s face. There was no way David killed Nathan. I couldn’t believe that. I wouldn’t believe it.
David looked up, his warm eyes softening as he opened them and muttered, “Thank you,” under his breath.
“They just can’t understand why—if it was the same guy—why Nathan didn’t report an attack,” Mike said. “Ara, you shouldn’t be alive right now. Your attacker was carrying some rare tropical disease. You died!”
“I died?”
“Yes. They pronounced you brain-dead. You flat-lined, they took out the breathing tube and your heart stopped. 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, closing me in, the dry smell of dirt choking me. 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 formed 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 David 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?”
David snapped out of his stiff-lipped stare. “Yeah.”
“Don’t let her go, okay?”
He nodded and took my hand, crushing 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 hand, closed the door, and I turned to David, 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 straight. “He wanted to hurt me.”
“Why?”
“Do you not remember what he showed you?”
Rochelle?
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 his 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 detain the words that might’ve 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, and that he didn't kill Mike when he found you—”
“What? Jason was 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, going numb all over. “He told me he was going to make you watch.” I hoped he wouldn’t.