With a stretch and a slight yawn, I rolled onto my stomach. He was an expert at displaying impassiveness; the only real way to tell if something troubled him was to look at his morbidly furrowed brow; that’s where the truth sat. But this time his face, upturned, his eyes on the ceiling, gave no clues. I studied the curve of his jaw, the way it held strongly, well-defined under his golden skin—with a certain set that always made him look slightly amused, even when he was angry. A pair of shocking green eyes suddenly focused on me, making my heart jump.

“What?” he asked, leaning up on his elbow.

I caught my breath, smiling. “You’re beautiful, David.”

He laughed, relaxing back. “As are you, my love.”

“And...” I watched his eyes carefully, “Emily looked nice tonight, didn’t’ she?”

He shrugged noncommittally.

“Didn’t you think so?” I pressed.

He sighed and turned his head, an accusatory glare hiding in his eyes. “Get to the point.”

“What point?” I laid on my back and released his hand.

He groaned. “I don’t have feelings for her, Ara.”

“Coulda fooled me. You hold her like you do, talk to her like you do, laugh with her, have fun with her—”

“Ara. Stop this. It’s ridiculous.” He sat up a little.

“What is?”

“This jealousy. Emily’s my friend, okay. She always has been—always will be.”

“Yeah—for eternity, now.”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about that. So you can’t be mad at me for it.” He flopped back, his tone dry and flat.

I toyed with the frill on my pillow, keeping my gaze on the roof. “Will you take her with you—when you go?”

“No. She has no choice, Ara. She has to join a Set, or risk being hunted down.”

“What?” I sat up on my elbows.

“You know that—it’s the law.”

“Can’t she stay with you?”

He shook his head. “I won’t allow it. Due to my choices, I face prison and torture if they catch me. I won’t commit Emily to that. She has no idea what she’s gotten herself into.”

“But they don’t know she exists. Can’t she just keep it that way?”

“Jason knows.”

“Will he tell?”

David shrugged. “If he does, she will automatically be imprisoned for not reporting.”

“Well, can’t you ask him not to tell?”

“And how am I going to do that, Ara?” he said in a short tone. “Waltz into vampire headquarters and say Hey, bro, got a sec?. You don’t think before you speak, do you?”

I glared at him. “What is your problem tonight?”

His jaw stiffened, he blinked a few extra times. “I just—you make me mad, Ara. All this Emily business. Don’t you get it? She means nothing to me. Never has—never will.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll drop the Emily thing.” I fisted the mattress once then plonked down on my side, my elbow under my face. “But, does she really have to go away—to be with the vamps?”

“This is the way of things, Ara. You just have to live with it.”

“When are you going to tell her?”

“When I leave.”

“She won’t like it.”

“And yet she will go, because it’s the law.”

“You don’t follow the law.”

“I—” I bet he wanted to say I always do, but that was no longer true. “I’m not having this discussion tonight.”

I smiled widely, unable to hold it back.

“What?” he said.

“You’re grumpy when you’re tired.”

He rolled over to face me, smiling. “And you, my girl, are annoying—all the time.”

“But you still love me, right?”

He grunted, rolling onto his back.

“David?”

“Yes,” he said with a hint of lingering impatience.

“I love you.”

He just breathed out and said nothing else.

My computer screen flashed with the reminder of a date I’d pinned in last week—the imaginary make-David-jealous one I was supposed to have with Eric. I grabbed my phone, texted him and waltzed out to tell David I’d be leaving in ten minutes.

“Hey, Ara.” Emily passed me in the hall as I shut my bedroom door.

“Hey, where’re you off to?” I asked.

She scratched her nose and motioned down at her black attire.

“Em, you don’t need to dress like a thug to go hunting.”

“I know, I just—I feel like a criminal.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are.”

She walked off in a huff and slammed the front door behind her. I wandered into the music room and found my vampire sitting alone, watching the evening sky with a thoughtful gaze, his ankle over his knee, his skin glowing in the golden light.

“Hey,” I said, sliding over the edge of the sofa and into David’s lap. “Why don’t you hunt with Emily anymore?”

“Because you asked me not to.”

“I asked you not to kill, David. I didn’t say you couldn’t go with her—keep an eye on her.”

“It’s too hard for me—to resist.” He swallowed hard.

“Oh. Do you need some blood now? I got spare.” I held up my wrist, but he knocked it away, rising to his feet, leaving me falling onto the couch where his lap had been.

I sat up. “David? What’s wrong?”

He took a breath and shook his head. “I—I’m not coping, Ara.”

“Not coping? With what?”

“I love you, you know I love you, and I love your blood, but it’s—” his fist tightened and his shoulders rose slightly, “it’s not enough. I need the kill, I need the bite.”

I jumped up and placed a reassuring hand to his arm. “But you bite me, I—”

“Not with my fangs, and I can’t kill you.”

“David?” I darted away from him, stealing the edge of the piano as a perch to lean on. “Don’t talk like that.”

“Why not, Ara?” He thrust his hands out defensively. “I’m a vampire, and so far, with all this human company I’m keeping, I haven’t been acting like one.”