“Bad? It’s already bad. People are dying, Jason.” I gasped as his name slipped from my mouth.

He let go of me and smiled, but dropped it quickly when he looked behind me, waving a hand past my head; I ducked, confused as hell that the popcorn stand behind me burst into a spread of glass and corn all over the ground.

“Stay back, Meredith. This one’s mine,” Jason ordered.

“I’ll fight you for it.” She jumped to her feet, dusting off popcorn, her snarling face barely recognisable as the candyfloss woman.

Jason merely gave an arched brow. The woman backed off, melting into the shadows until she turned and bolted away.

We both looked up then as, everywhere, the sound of tearing flesh and blood-curdling cries overtook—the same screams I heard every night in my sleep, over and over again, after I survived Jason’s attack.

Tears spilled like warm water over my cheeks, coming so easily under the fear that shook my body. I just couldn’t go through that again. I’d die. I’d die if ever I had to even imagine it.

Jason’s eyes held the softness that confused me the night he tried to kill me. “Ara?”

“I just wanna go home.”

“Shh,” he said, and cradled a very willing me into his chest. “I’ve got you.”

He placed a wide palm over my face, blocking my ears, and I felt safe. Strangely safe. The only sound remaining under his hold was the whispering wind and the beating of my own heart, like a soundtrack playing through headphones in my ears. I breathed against his black cotton shirt and relaxed, waiting for the end.

“You’re okay now.” He stepped away from me.

I kept my eyes closed, reaching for the safety of his arms until I felt a cool breeze. Everything was so dark and quiet, but the familiar smell of moss and rainwater sprinklers made me look at my surroundings.

“Where are we?”

“Home.” He nodded across the road to a small house with a white picket fence and the homely glow of a porch light calling me to its embrace.

I burst into tears, covering my face. “How do you know where I live?”

“I’ve always known.”

Through my hands, I looked over at my house again, knowing Mike would be in there—that he’d be so afraid to know I was right across the road, standing with the man who stole my life.

Slowly, I dropped my hands beside me and took a cautious step back. “How do you know?”

“Ara, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have.”

“You need to leave. Now.” My finger pointed, but I wasn’t brave enough to direct it at him. I aimed at the floor.

Jason nodded, his eyes looking to nothing, and my heart tore for how much he looked like his brother. I wanted to hold my locket—but I gave it away. Left it behind in the life I was supposed to forget.

“Can I just say something before I go?” he asked.

“No.” The strong girl in me folded her arms and walked past him to her house, but the one in control right now, the weak one, just looked down at the ground—afraid to move.

“Ara. Please. I need to explain something to you.”

“Why did you save me?” I demanded.

“I—”

“It doesn’t make sense,” I continued, not letting him speak. “You wanted me dead. You hate me!”

“Will you let me explain?” he asked softly, extending a downward palm.

“Why should you have the satisfaction of an eased conscience?”

“Not for my benefit, Ara. For yours.”

I wiped a tear from my cheek, considering things. “Fine. I’m listening.”

“Can I sit?” he asked, motioning to the park bench.

I think I nodded.

His lips turned up softly.

“Don’t smile like that.” My voice shook and I felt taller. “That’s David’s smile. Don’t do that.”

He did it again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just...sorry.” The man of my nightmares leaned on the backrest of the bench and studied me for a second, looking so human, so...not evil. “Ara. I’m a monster. I know you know that. But you have to understand something.”

Feeling weak and shaky, I sat on the moist grass with my legs crossed, but stared him down. “No. I only want you to tell me why you saved me after you tried to kill me!”

“I never wanted you dead. Not really.” He let his breath out heavily. “If you died, if Eric killed you, what do you think David would’ve done?”

Knowing what I know now about David; “I’m not sure.”

“He would rip apart everyone Eric loves. Destroy his entire bloodline, then torture him slowly.” Jason cast a gaze to the moon. “I loved Rochelle—the way David loves you. I can’t breathe, Ara. I can’t think. I can’t even feel anymore. Well, at least—I couldn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Try.”

“I...well, when we become vampires, a lot of human nature is burned up. We don’t typically feel for humans. Unless we love one. It’s deemed repulsive to love them, yet so many of us do. When I fell for Rochelle, it was as if the world had opened up and turned on a light I never knew existed.” His eyes watched the lake, full of wonder, which washed away quickly as he closed them for a second. “But I only got to hold her for a short time, Ara, because David killed her. He killed her, and I can never see her again.”

I gagged on the pity I felt inside

Jason leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at the grass between his legs. “The pain haunts me, tears me apart. I was in agony for fifty years, burning to the core—unable to make it stop. Nothing but hate and pain and the prospect of revenge.” Jason clenched his hands together. “When my brother fell for a vampire girl, I convinced her to change a child. She did. And he hated her for it; he sent her to be tortured. But I didn’t feel satisfied. My fuel for vengeance ran bone deep. So, I waited. Then, he found you.”

My heart picked up a little.

Jason drew a deep breath, unable to look at me. “I came to your room when he’d go hunting. I watched you while you slept—all the while planning how I’d hurt you. I hated you. I wanted you to feel everything I felt. I wanted to hurt you more than any girl could possibly hurt. So I plotted my revenge.”