“So, you did erase things?”
He shook his head to himself, angling his face to look away from me, making the shadow of his nose, down the underside of his arm, longer. My thoughts flashed to the scar I had on the base of my spine—the one Eric seemed to know something about but would never tell me, and with that, came a flashback of the horrible dream that woke me last night.
“How did you see that?” he asked, startling me with the sudden panic in his tone.
“See what?”
He sat up and grabbed my face. “That dream.”
I sat confused for a second. “Oh, the one I had last night?”
“Yes.”
“I…I dreamed it, I guess,” I said sarcastically.
Jason sat back, staring into nothing.
“What?” I waved a hand in front of his face.
He shook it off—whatever it was, and smiled. “Arthur was a bit…uh, pissed-off tonight.”
I laughed, letting him slink away to the land of dark secrets concealed for another day. “Yeah. What was with him?”
A few seconds of silence passed. “I've never seen him behave like that, you know?”
“Really?”
“Mm.” He rolled onto his side, softly tracing a strand of hair that fell down my back. “I don't know what you said to him yesterday, Ara, but one thing I do know is that what you saw tonight wasn’t anger, it was heartbreak.”
“Don't say that, Jase.” I sighed. “I feel really bad as is.”
“Don't. He’s a grown man. He’ll get over it.”
“I don't know if he will.” I shook my head. “I told him it’d make me sick to have sex with him.”
“Ouch.”
“I know. I…I didn’t mean it to sound so nasty.”
“Mm, well, I wouldn’t worry. For the sake of whatever his plan is, he’ll have to force himself to get over it.” He moved forward and lifted my arm, sliding under it so his head rested in my lap. “If you think he’s gonna drop this child thing just ‘cause I'm here, you're kidding yourself.”
I gently ground my teeth together. “Well, I better hurry and fall pregnant then.”
“You need my brother here for that,” he said, inching away from me as though I was going to jump on him and steal his seed.
“Ha-ha. Jerk.” I poked his upper arm. “I know. But, can you talk to him for me—to David? I can't fall pregnant if he never comes to see me.”
“Yeah.” He smiled softly, his beautiful fangs showing under those perfect dark lips. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll threaten to impregnate you myself if he doesn't.”
“Don't do that. He might think you're serious.”
“Who says I'm not?”
I rolled my eyes. “So, when are we going to announce our imaginary pregnancy?”
“When they believe we’re in love.” His grin set my heart ablaze, those fangs showing again, and without mind for territorial boundaries, I smoothed my thumb over his lip and touched it gently to his fang.
“You okay?” he asked, removing my hand.
“It’s been so long now since I've been bitten. Mike won’t let anyone bite me, or feed from me. I'm like a golden shrine.”
“Does he let you bite?”
“No— I have to get my vamp-immunity from approved veins, and even then, only through a pre-cut slit.”
“Mm. Appetising.” He winced.
“Nah. It’s okay. I feed from Eric sometimes. And Lilithians don't crave the bite like vampires do. Well—” I looked at his mouth again, “—we’re not supposed to. I miss it, though, and I miss being bitten.”
He looked at my neck for a second too long, then let out a deep breath, focusing on the roof. “I wish we could share blood. But, before you freak out listing all the reasons we can't, just know, not only can I not do it, but I wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because there is no way I could resist going further with you.”
“Okay, so that's the why, what’s the can’t?”
“I'm not immune—I don't drink Lilithian blood.”
“Oh, right.” I whacked my own brow with the heel of my palm. “I forget you haven’t been here. Are you going to, though—be immune, I mean?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I like knowing I can escape from life.”
“Death? Why would you want death?”
He let out a breath through his nose. “It doesn't matter. Look, it’s getting late. I’ll walk you back to your room.”
“Jase?”
He stood up and appeared by his open door, not looking at me. “Come on. Mike’ll go crazy if he can’t find you.”
I laid on my belly, my forearm under my chin, one fingertip in the cool pond, watching my reflection under the backdrop of a cloudy sky. The Garden of Lilith had a kind of presence to it, as if all life, all living things gathered here to celebrate the beauty of nature. And it was peaceful. Private. Secluded.
A frog jumped up from the water, sending ripples out in circles that grew and overlapped each other, stopping on the marble edge of the pond.
“Are you a prince?” I asked him. “Would you like a kiss?”
He croaked at me and hopped back into the water, and as I sat up and looked across the reflection, I thought I saw a child on the rope swing.
I spun around quickly to look at the tree; the leaves rustled in the soft, warm breeze, and the swing rocked purposefully back and forth, but there was no child there. “Hello?”
No one answered.
When I looked at the pond again, the ripples were gone, leaving a definite image of a little girl in the reflection—swinging on the swing. But, sure enough, when I looked up, she was gone.
I got to my knees, leaning right over the water to focus on her, gasping when her eyes met mine. I jumped back, landing on my butt and hands in the grass, while a soft giggle trickled around the treetops then, following the child as she hopped off the swing and ran through the gates, out of the garden, leaving me feeling very alone.
The clouds closed in above me, bringing the night sky with them, and a cool chill settled on the pond, making plumes of fog rise up off the surface in whorls.
I got up and walked backward toward the gate, squealing when an ill-mannered crow yelled at me from the brick wall.
“What are you doing here?” I asked it.
It buried its beak in its wing, pulling something silver and long from within. I walked slowly toward it and held my hand out, looking up quickly when it dropped my silver key into my palm.