by Tish Thawer
"Answer me! Are you seriously going to let your daughter control how you live your life?" She was clearly still upset but had sunken back down onto the bed and covered herself up with the sheets.
"I'm sorry if this is hard for you. But you have to understand, Rose is my life. She's my only family now, and I will always put her first." I tried to speak calmly in order to soften the blow, but I wasn't in the mood to coddle her. We were both adults and it wasn't like this was true love. I had already had that once in my life and I knew nothing else would ever come close again. "I'm going to get in the shower, and then I'm going to go pick up my daughter. You're more than welcome to wait until I leave and I'll walk you out, or you can just go and I'll call you later this week. It's up to you."
I heard her quiet sobs as I shut the bathroom door. I knew I should feel worse than I did, but the only thing I could concentrate on right now, was getting to my daughter and apologizing for being such a terrible father.
* * * * *
(Meredith)
The moment Jeremy shut the bathroom door I tried to dry my tears. I couldn't believe this was happening. After everything I had gone through to be with him, one little hissy fit from his daughter ruins everything. I just couldn't allow that.
I got dressed and gathered my things. There was no way I was going to wait around so he could walk me out, carting me to the curb like a piece of trash. Screw this! I'd leave all right, but you could damn sure bet I'd be back.
* * * * *
(Jeremy/Dad)
Meredith was gone by the time I finished my shower and got dressed. I couldn't pretend that I wasn't relieved. I really did need to get to Rose and make sure that she was okay. I noticed that I had missed a call from her, so I was hopeful that we would be able to work things out today. But for some reason, my anxiety had ratcheted up a few notches since last night. I hadn't gotten any other reports from Adrienne, so I assumed the girls were fine, but I just couldn't settle my thoughts. The urgent feeling to reach Rose was quickly climbing to an uncontrollable level.
As I rounded the corner, I saw Jillian's car in the Case's driveway. This was a good sign and definitely helped to relieve my stress. I parked and headed towards the front door. Just as I was reaching for the bell, the door opened and out walked Jillian.
"Good morning, Mr. Reynolds." She was dressed in her usual sporty attire and seemed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I had expected to see Rose following closely behind, but instead Jillian shut the door and started towards her car.
"Morning, Jillian. Where's Rose?" So much for my stress levels staying in check.
"She actually took the bus to school this morning. She said to let you know that she's not quite ready to talk and that car shopping would have to wait. She said that she'll see you at home tonight though." Her words hit me hard.
I guess I should have expected it, but the news of her heading to school to avoid me really hurt. I had been looking forward to telling her how sorry I was, and that I had called it off with Meredith, but obviously that would have to wait until tonight. "Well, thank you for the message, Jillian, I won't keep you."
I headed back to my car, wondering just what I should do to fill my day. I rarely took days off from work. I was never sick, and since Loraine died, unless Rose was home, I didn't really enjoy being in the house alone. So with the entire day to myself, I decided to head to the gym to clear my head. After pumping some iron I should be a little less stressed and then maybe I would go looking for Rose's new car anyway. Anything to pass the time.
* * * * *
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Deal with the Bad Stuff
(Rose)
Christian, Evangeline, and I were still sitting in the private room of The Rising Pit when Dax entered the room. "What's happened?"
Evie smiled at her consort and began to explain. "When Christian and Rose went to question Terrance, he didn't deny that he recognized her. He was also able to focus on Rose's mother and he admitted that he had in fact fed from her." Dax sank into the chaise opposite Christian as Evie continued. "Terrance told them that Rose's mom wasn't the demon."
"Do you believe him?" Dax asked.
"Thanks to Christian's new developing ability, yes, I do."
I hadn't had the chance to ask Christian what they were talking about yet. It sounded like a good thing and something that Evie was coming to rely on, so I decided to let it go. We definitely needed to deal with the bad stuff before we could get to the good.
"So if Rose's mother wasn't the demon, then who was? And why were they having Terrance manipulate and lie to Rose?" Dax asked.
"I'm not sure. It could be that the two things aren't even related. Terrance could have fed from this demon, and then once he started to permanently drift, the lying and manipulation just came as a natural part of him going dark." Evie stood and made her way to take a seat at the end of Dax's chaise. "This could actually be good news for everyone. Not only is Rose's mother not the demon, but now we have a chance of finding this woman alive. And, maybe that means we can still find a way to save him." She leaned down and kissed Dax's cheek.
We sat there in silence for a few moments, which allowed me to try to put all the pieces together in my head. Finally, I came to the one question that I just hadn't figured out. "I know you said that you thought my mom was the demon because of the timing of everything: Terrance's feeding from her, her death, and his drifting. But if you've seen this woman in his thoughts, then shouldn't you have known that it wasn't my mom from the beginning?"
"Well no, Rose. Actually it was quite the opposite. When you were explaining everything that had happened and when you described your mother's appearance, it made perfect sense. The woman I saw in Terrance's thoughts was just as you described: tall, thin, and with long, blonde hair."
It took me a moment to process what Evie had said. Tall, thin, and with long, blonde hair. Holy shit! "I can't believe this. I know who the demon is!" I jumped up and reached for my cell phone. I had to call my dad and warn him that the bitch he was seeing was actually a demon. "I just met my dad's new girlfriend, and you wouldn't believe how much she looks just like my mom." I was going to nail that bitch to the wall.
"Rose, come here." Christian grabbed my hand and guided me back down on the couch next to him. "Think about this for a minute. The only reason that we thought it was your mother was because of all the other coincidences. This woman you are referring to could just be another person with blonde hair. It's most likely that she has nothing to do with it."
I knew that he was making sense. I mean, it wasn't like my mom and Meredith were the only two women in the world with long blonde hair and tall thin bodies. But for some reason I really thought I was on to something. "I don't know, Christian. It just seems to be too much of a coincidence that she came into my dad's life right after my mom was killed and around the same time as when Terrance had drifted dark. I really do think there's a connection."
"We can't afford not to check it out," Evie said. "Rose, it's almost sunrise, so why don't you borrow Christian's car and head to school? See if you can use the library at the college to dig up anything on this Meredith woman. I had Justin take Jillian home and use his sedative to convince her and her parents to give your dad a cover story. And if I were you, I would probably avoid seeing your dad until we get this figured out. I'll leave a key to the club for you with Dominique. Pick it up on your way out. That way you can come straight back here afterwards."
Evie stood and walked towards me. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you and Christian finally have things out in the open. Normally, he would have been required to keep our secret from you until the new Sire is chosen, but since you came to us, there are no rules that have been broken. I'm very happy for the two of you." She kissed my cheek and then headed for the door with Dax following closely behind.
I never expected for Evie to be so gracious in welcoming me. As a matter of fact, I had thought she was going to rip my head off the second she heard I knew va
mpires existed.
I sat back down next to Christian on the couch. His hair and eyes started to drift as soon as I scooted close. I wasn't one hundred percent sure how this drifting thing worked yet, so I wasn't sure if this was a good sign or a bad one. "What is it?"
"It just makes me so angry that all of Terrance's lies have left you with such a violent and completely distorted vision of us." He ran his hand down the side of my arm.
"I know it will take some time for me to sort through all the lies, but I'm really glad that I finally told you the truth, but this also means that I won't be surprising you by becoming a vampire any time soon." I reached up and touched his cheek. I couldn't wait to start my forever life with him and it almost brought me to tears to think that there was no way to make that happen sooner.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Christian's response had me confused but filled with hope at the same time.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you remember when Evie and I were talking about my 'new developing ability'? Well, Evie thinks I'm showing signs of being triggered. Which, if it's true, means that I'm in line to become the next Sire."
I about fell off the couch at Christian's revelation. Holy shit! My boyfriend was going to be the next Sire, and that meant...he could be the one to change me. The coming morning had just started to look a whole lot brighter.
* * * * *
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Digging for Dirt
(Rose)
I was so tired after being up for twenty-four hours, but there was no way that I could sleep with the idea that my dad's new girlfriend was the demon that had infected Terrance running through my head. So, instead of heading home to catch a few hours of sleep, I went straight to the school like Evie had suggested.
Once I'd gotten there, I was happy to see that Mr. Thompson had assigned open study time for his class today. He was notorious for doing that when it was so close to graduation in order to give any of the slackers time to ask questions and really buckle down on their papers. Luckily I was not one of the slackers and was way ahead of the game when it came to my thesis, but Mr. Thompson didn't need to know that.
"Mr. Thompson, may I have a pass to the library for the rest of the day? I've really fallen behind and there are quite a few points that I need to double check." Thank goodness the only problem I had ever caused in his class was one that I had recently created myself.
"Of course. I wouldn't want one of my best students to not have her thesis completed on time." Mr. Thompson wrote me the pass, so I was set to hang in the library for the rest of the day. Now I just hoped that it wasn't going to be a huge waste of time. I really did think that Meredith was the one we were looking for and if I had to spend an entire day digging for dirt on her, then that's exactly what I would do.
* * * * *
(Meredith)
The moment I crossed the bridge back into Masen, I headed straight for my apartment. I couldn't believe that Jeremy had kicked me out and called things off between us.
There was no way that I was letting that half-breed daughter of his ruin everything that I had gone through to get to him.
I remembered the day that Jeremy Reynolds had walked into my office over a year ago. Tall, confident, and gorgeous as hell. I had sensed right off that he was a demon, but after spending a few hours in his presence, it was clear that he had no idea.
I knew there were other demon bloodlines out there besides my family, but Jeremy was the first one that I had ever run across, which had meant that I'd have a shot at continuing a pure demon bloodline. The only thing I needed to do was get Mr. Reynolds into my bed.
After a few business meetings that I had manipulated, Jeremy became the head of all of our marketing campaigns. That meant that he would be spending a lot of time here in Masen and a lot more time with me. And time was exactly what I needed if I was going to figure out a plan to get him to cheat on his wife.
Everything had been going great during our business meetings. I had gotten to know him over long phone calls, video conference calls, and of course the monthly, overnight meetings here in Masen. But the one thing that I had learned from all this time spent together was that he loved his wife with all his heart. She was a swim instructor and they enjoyed a simple life, raising their daughter in their family home. How picture perfect. Too bad none of them knew the truth about themselves or the world around them.
It hadn't taken me long to find a vampire clan close to Jeremy's home. So once I had visited The Rising Pit and chose the vampire that I wanted to do my dirty work, I offered myself to be his visitor for the night. Terrance had been more than willing to escort me to one of the private rooms.
Once he had set his fangs in my neck and began taking long draws of my blood, I could sense right when my demon blood had started to infect him. I had gone back a few times after that, knowing that my blood would have caused his memories of me to be hazy. So we repeated the processes again and again, making sure that he was well on his way to drifting dark.
I had learned of the old stories and demon histories from my mother, as she had learned them from her mother, who had learned them from her mother as well. But I wasn't completely sure this would work since there hadn't been a record of it in over 100,000 years. It was actually pretty rare that there was anyone left who truly knew that the demon/human bloodline even existed.
There were cases every now and again in the bigger clans where a vampire had accidentally bitten a demon while feeding and had drifted dark, but the cases were few and far between and the vampires had no idea what had caused the odd events. And since they could never figure out why it happened, their "rule" was to deliver the true death to any vampires that had drifted permanently dark. It was so convenient. By killing their infected vampires, the clans were helping to keep our race hidden from the world without even knowing it.
I had thought that I would be able to control Terrance since he'd been infected with my blood. All I would've had to do was give him suggestions through the mind bond we shared and he would do anything I asked. The poison would then conveniently wipe it from his memory.
I had never imagined that Terrance would have fallen in love with Loraine. I guess I should have known something was off when he first reported that her blood tasted different to him. He'd been more than willing to continue to feed from her and keep her occupied while I'd arranged late night meetings with Jeremy. When Rose discovered him, the easiest thing to do was to have him continue to keep both of them occupied by lying and feeding her fantasies of becoming a vampire. It had given me plenty of time to continue to lure Jeremy into my bed.
At first, I really didn't have any desire to actually kill Loraine, but once I noticed that Terrance was close to completely drifting dark, I knew it was only a matter of time before his Sire delivered the true death. So, unless I got Jeremy to sleep with me before that happened, I was going to be forced to find another vampire to continue this charade. And now that Rose had gotten involved, I knew it would be easier to just get rid of Loraine altogether. Besides, I had really grown fond of Jeremy and could see myself building a life with him instead of just a one night stand. Plus, I wasn't even sure that I would get pregnant during our first encounter, and who knew if I'd ever convince him to sleep with me again. No, getting rid of Loraine was the only thing that I could do.
At the time I had thought that Terrance would of course be the one to do it. It could've easily been a "side-effect" of his drifting dark. He would just happen to lose control while feeding from her, but with his emotions so deeply involved, I wasn't completely sure that my mind bond would be strong enough to actually force him to kill the woman that he loved. Plus, there was the problem of dealing with Rose. My initial thought had been for Terrance to just bite her and use his sedative to make her forget, but then I had remembered she was half-demon. I had no idea if Rose's blood contained enough poison to give her control over Terrance, but I wasn't willing to risk it. No, it had turned out that I would have
to be the one to take care of things myself.
* * * * *
(Rose)
After digging for the first three hours, I had found nothing incriminating on Meredith Karver. I had at least found out what her last name was. It had been easy enough as I knew she worked for a company in Masen that was one of my dad's clients.
Since my initial discovery however, I hadn't run across anything else of use. I traced her family back to the southern area of New Mexico, but if what Evie had told me held true, the demon families would have scattered across the world throughout history, so knowing where she came from really wasn't going to make much of a difference.
Now that I was completely out of ideas as to what the hell I should be looking for, combined with the fact that I'd been up for over twenty-four hours straight, exhaustion was really starting to set in.