“Grapevines?”
“Yeah.” He kind of laughed. “It was a novel written by a very old vampire. The story followed a man named Greg. I don't recall the surname, but—”
“Thompson,” Jason said out of the blue. We looked up at him; he wandered over and sat beside me. “I remember it. It was Thompson.”
“Well, so…what does that mean? Was it a prophecy or just some fictional story, written by my dad, who is actually a vampire?”
David laughed. “Your dad’s not a vampire, Ara. He ages. I’ve seen it and I’ve heard his heartbeat—even read his mind. I can't read vampire minds, you know that.”
“Well, maybe he’s another breed?”
“I doubt it, but I'm looking into it. And this book, I don't remember the story—” David looked at Jason; Jason shrugged as if to say he didn't either, “—But I'm going in to Elysium to get it. I want to find out how many similarities there are.”
“Do you think, if this was Arthur’s book, maybe he knows something?”
David shook his head. “The book was of very little significance, Ara. I only thought of it because I was thinking about us and remembered when you first mentioned grapevines. It was an unassuming, unimportant thought that flittered past in a memory, and something just clicked. It probably has no relevance at all.”
I nodded. “Will you tell me? Like, if you find anything, will you tell me?”
He looked at Jason. “I will. I promise.”
I wrapped my arms around him again. “Thanks.”
“Don't mention it. Now—” He stood up, taking my hand, and pulled me into another hug. “I have to go. I need to sneak into Elysium at sunset.”
“Why?”
“Because that's when the guards change over. It’s the easiest time to get in.”
“Oh. Okay. So, why don't you take Quaid and Ryder with you—I'm really worried Arthur might be right about Drake trying to get his hands on a Pure Created, but Mike won't listen.”
David nodded, cupping a hand over my head and placing a soft kiss on my hair. “Okay. I’ll go sneak down to the barracks and see what the deal is.”
I squeezed him tighter. “Thanks, David.”
He squeezed back. “You take care, okay? I’ll hopefully have word back about this book before tomorrow.”
I nodded against his chest. “Okay.”
Jason stepped up, and David broke away from our embrace to hug his brother. “I'm glad you're alive, bro,” he said.
“Yeah.” Jason patted David's back. “Me too. And don't worry, I’ll watch over her for you.”
David nodded, studying me then Jason carefully. “The bind…it is broken now, right?”
I smiled. “Yeah. It is.”
“Okay. Just…”
“It’s fine, brother.” Jason reached across and clapped David on the shoulder. “I won't touch her. I swear.”
He nodded, satisfied, and leaned in to kiss my cheek softly before disappearing into thin air, leaving only a wispy breeze and the billowing curtain.
“Good thing this isn't Australia,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because he’d have a hard time getting in and out if there were flyscreens on all the windows.”
Jason laughed loudly.
“So, what were you thinking before?” I asked, remembering back to when David demanded he share his thoughts.
“Oh, um.” He looked at me, half smiling, kind of surprised as well. “I can't believe you picked up on that.”
“I pick up on everything,” I said, and sat down on his bed.
“Well—” He sat down, too. “David said Arthur’s notes differed to Morgaine’s deciphering of the prophecy—that he didn't seem to have scribed any possibility of a child that can cure vampirism.”
“So?”
“So, why does he want a child with you, on the premise that he wants to be free, if he doesn't believe the prophecy?”
All the blood drained from my face.
“Precisely,” Jason said, grinning. “Wanna know something else?”
“Sure, why not?”
“David had a flash of an image in his mind while we were talking; it was mostly just scribble, but I saw the dagger in there.”
“What, a picture of it, or the actual dagger?”
“Just a picture—done in charcoal. He knows what he’s looking for, but hasn't found it—and his not being here has something to do with it, so does his eagerness to be crowned.”
“Wow, and you got all that from one thought?”
“Thoughts happen very quickly, Ara. Once a neuron in your brain fires up, it sends other signals, like knocking over a line of dominoes, until the thought becomes whole. I simply grab that first thought at the flick of that switch, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me. By the time you realise you’re thinking something you don't want to share, I’ve already seen it.”
“Okay, so you think he wants to be sworn in as king for some greater purpose?”
“Yes. And I want to know what it is.”
“Maybe just to finally be king.”
He shook his head. “No. It wasn't that. I felt it—saw the look on his face. He thought it was a great idea but not for that reason. Enough of a great idea that he’s going along with you and I pretending to be together.”
“What, didn't he like that idea?”
Jason nearly laughed. “No. I think I caught a flash of him slowly rolling my entrails out through my anus.”
“Jason!” I slapped his chest. “That is really gross.”
“Sorry.” He laughed. He wasn’t sorry. “But he’s going along with it. So he either really wants to flush out the traitor by lie of a pregnancy, or really wants to be crowned.”
“Come to think of it, he agreed to us in a pretend romance awfully quick for the David I know—and that was before the idea of crowning came up.”
“Maybe he thinks you’re already pregnant and knows he’ll be forced to return if that truth comes out,” he said through a yawn, covering his mouth.
I nodded and looked down at my belly. “Surely he’d have said that—if he thought I was pregnant.”
Jason shrugged. “Who knows? Personally, I'm beat, Ara. I’ve been on a plane all night, unable to sleep, followed by a two hour run here. I need to hit the hay.” He jerked his thumb to his bed.