Secrets [5] Echoes: Part One by A.M Hudson Read Free Book Online Page B

me.” I laughed.
    “Fine.” He scratched his eye, clearly stalling. “The human has to have a mix of blood and vampire venom in their system in order to turn. It’s not enough just to bite them, they have to drink it as well.”
    I swallowed, thinking back to the night of the masquerade, when Jason’s lips touched mine and he spat copious amounts of what I thought was saliva and my own blood into my mouth while I was dying, the confusion I felt—the thoughts I went over repeatedly after that night—all surfacing for a moment.
    “Please don’t do that.” He put his hands on the sides of my head gently. “I can’t stand to see those memories, Ar.”
    “Sorry. It’s just…”
    “Yes, that’s what I did to you,” he said. “I made it look like a kiss so David wouldn’t know I tried to turn you.”
    “Wow.” I stared at nothing for a second, reliving it. “You know, you tried to turn me to save me, right?”
    He nodded. I was looking down at the page now, so I didn’t see it, but I knew he nodded.
    “But, I couldn't be turned because I was Lilithian?” I added.
    “Yes.”
    “Well, technically, by spitting your own blood into my mouth, you gave me a real fighting chance to survive,” I said, and felt the energy in the room change. “If a Lilithian gets hurt, what’s the first thing you give them?”
    “Vampire blood,” he said, and I heard the smile in his tone.
    “See?” I turned my head with a flick and grinned at him. “You saved my life that night, Jase.”
    “I also nearly took it.”
    “Details.” I waved a hand and signed the dotted line.
    Jase laughed, scooping the document up. “Thanks, Ara.”
    “No worries.”
    “Hey, before you go.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back toward him. “I wanna say hello to my baby.”
    “ Your baby?” I said, looking down as he knelt and lifted my top.
    “Yes.” He kissed my belly so softly I barely felt his lips. “I told you, I’m claiming her.”
    “And what if David suddenly decides to come back and play daddy again?”
    “He can be Dad Number Two. I—” He stopped talking and looked up quickly with a twinkling grin. “Did you feel that?”
    “What?” And then I felt it. It was a sharp, quick tap from inside me—like a bubble had popped right next to my skin. “It kicked.”
    “Hello, baby,” he said, his hot breath wetting my skin. “Hi.”
    “She kicked,” I said to myself. “I can’t believe it.”
    “You haven't felt one yet?”
    I shook my head.
    “So …” His hands froze an inch away from my skin. “No one else has then?”
    I shook my head again.
    “Oh.” He stood up, drawing my top back down. “Might not wanna mention that to David.”
    “No,” I said, running my hands down the bump. “Could be cause for another sore spot when it comes to you.”
    Jase laughed softly. “Well, on the bright side, I think our baby approves of me.”
    “Scientists,” I scoffed playfully, turning away. “Altering facts to fit their own theories since time began.”
     
    ***
     
    The last time I saw David was as he disappeared behind a slammed door. We never talked again after that argument we had outside his room and, frankly, I didn’t much want to. Over the past three weeks, everything he said or did to hurt me had boiled up like a hurricane inside me and, now, the only thing I felt for him was a kind of stormy rage. I didn’t want him to come home next week. I didn’t want him in my life anymore, and while that didn’t mean I was ready to move on with Jason, I sure as hell did not want David back. Not even my heart could convince me otherwise. The thing about time for reflection is that it gives you perspective. I cried my eyes out the day David left for Paris, but after a few days I realised that the only change with him being gone was that I didn’t feel so scared, like I was gonna run into him and he’d say something to hurt me again. I was glad he was gone. I could handle his absence better than seeing