by Tish Thawer
I didn't want to risk seeing my dad yet, so I decided to head back to the club like Evie had suggested and get some sleep. I figured that way I would be there when the clan woke up and I could inform them that my little research trip had been a complete waste of time.
I gathered up my books and headed down the hall just as the bell rang. The halls filled up with commotion, so I didn't really notice when Jillian had slid up next to me.
"Hi!" She certainly sounded like she had gotten enough sleep last night. Lucky bitch.
"Hey, how are you?"
"I'm okay. Last night was fun, huh?" The look she was giving me was freaking me out. I knew that Justin had given them some kind of cover story, but I hadn't exactly gotten all the details.
"Um, yeah...it was great!" I decided that sticking to vague answers was the way to go.
"We should road trip more often. Then that delicious dinner we had with our friends...YUM! We are so going back to that restaurant. Actually, remember Mom said that we could probably go back this weekend when you spend the night again. Anyway, I can't wait. Catch ya later!" She bounded off in a flurry of ponytail swishes and tennis shoe squeaks. I assumed that Justin had removed himself from the story last night which was fine by me. I really didn't want to have to start explaining things to Jillian too. So right now, I was utterly happy to leave her in her bubble of ignorance.
* * * * *
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Follow My Gut
(Rose)
When I arrived back at the club, I used the key that Evie had given me to let myself in. It was so odd being here during the day, knowing that everyone was below sleeping in the pit, including Christian.
It only took me a few seconds to find the button that he had used before to open the bookcase in Evie's office. I figured if I was here and was going to be getting some sleep, I wanted to be doing it in my boyfriend's bed.
Thankfully, finding Christian's room had only taken me opening one wrong door. I had found Bobby sprawled across his bed, fully clothed, thank God. The next door I opened revealed Christian. He was lying on his back in only a pair of snug fitting boxers and no shirt. The sight of him took my breath away.
I wasn't exactly sure how this would go, but since I assumed that he really did mean dead to the world, I didn't think I would disturb him as I climbed into bed.
He wasn't cold or stiff...ahem. I maneuvered him out of the way as I made room for myself and curled up next to him.
It felt so perfect to finally be resting in the arms of my boyfriend, that at this point it truly didn't even register that he was a vampire. Christian, and everyone in his clan for that matter, had always been completely nice to me, Terrance notwithstanding. They had never once made fun of me or showered me with pity because of what had happened. In truth, these vampires were nicer than most of the humans that I knew, and I couldn't wait to become part of their clan.
I let these thoughts fill my head as I started to drift off to sleep. What better way to spend my dreaming hours than imagining myself as part of Christian's life forever.
* * * * *
(Christian)
The moment I started to rise from being comatose, I knew something was different. As usual, the image that formed in my head was of Rose, since she was the last thing I had thought of before lying down. But this was different. It was like I could actually smell her.
The moment that I broke through into consciousness, I realized that Rose was actually here in my bed, snuggled up against me, sleeping softly. My God, what did I do to deserve such a reward?
This was how I wanted to wake for the rest of my existence: Rose's beautiful blonde hair, pouring over her shoulders and onto my arms. Her sweet scent filling my nose, her sexy body pressed into me just right. Damn, I had never wanted anything more than I wanted her in that moment.
I decided to follow my gut and reached around to smooth her hair away from her face. She started to stir as I kissed my way down her neck. "Good evening, angel."
"Mmmm. Good evening indeed." Her voice was sultry and smooth as honey as she started to wake. The way her body moved and curved as she twisted around to face me sent delicious shocks racing along my nerves. I was ready for her in an instant.
She must have felt my growing need. "Mmmm...this is exactly what I was just dreaming about," she said.
I was so on fire that I couldn't even reply. I continued to kiss and caress my way down Rose's body, making sure to soak up every single inch as we peeled each other out of our remaining clothes.
"Are you sure we have time for this?" Rose asked.
As I looked up and met her heavy-lidded eyes, she must have taken in my darkened appearance, because a sexy smile spread across her mouth. One that made me ache to kiss her until we were both breathless.
"And here I thought it was a bad thing when you drifted dark." She giggled between kisses, while continuing to run her hands down my back.
With the level of emotion that I was feeling right now, I was probably as dark as Terrance. But this kind of drifting had nothing to do with demons, or poison, but instead an intense desire and passion that stemmed from the love I felt for Rose.
"I love you, Rose. I love you with everything that I am, which may not be much, but it's all yours." I knew that sounded stupid and sappy the moment it left my lips, but it was the truth. In that instant I knew that I'd give her everything and anything she ever wanted. I refused to live without her.
"I love you too, Christian. And I'm yours, now, and soon to be forever."
* * * * *
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
New Life
(Jeremy/Dad)
After spending the rest of the afternoon car shopping for Rose, I decided that it just wouldn't be right for me to pick out her first car for her or to use it to try to smooth things over between us. I've never had to buy my daughters affection in the past, and I certainly wasn't going to start now.
So after a quick shower, I made myself a sandwich and waited for Rose to come home from school.
I thought things would go pretty smoothly after I had the chance to tell her that I had broken things off with Meredith, but I wasn't stupid. I knew she felt betrayed that I had kept my relationship a secret in the first place. And the even bigger hurdle was that I was sure she was feeling very protective of her mother's memory. Who could blame her?
I had never truly expected to start dating Meredith after Loraine's death, but while dealing with my grief she listened, consoled, made me laugh, and encouraged me to focus on Rose. I was truly grateful to her for helping me deal with the pain.
Then one night, during my overnight meeting in Masen, she had expressed her feelings for me. I remember being a little surprised, but not really. She always seemed to have that glint in her eye; the one that makes it pretty clear to any man when a woman is interested in him. She had told me that listening to me talk about Loraine and Rose had made her realize what a wonderful man I was, and that she couldn't deny that she was developing feelings for me. She also said that if I felt she was being disrespectful of Loraine's memory that she would understand if I wanted to end things.
I should have been stronger. The truth was, as much as I liked Meredith as a person, it was because she reminded me of Loraine that I fell into her bed. Thinking back now, it had been wonderful and just what I needed at that time. I know that made me sound like a terrible person, but the truth was, if I hadn't had Meredith to turn to during these past months, I probably would have just withered away, or even worse, been more obsessive about Rose's life than I already had been.
I knew Rose humored me by letting my driver take her and pick her up from school. And she was always such a sweet girl about following my insane rules when it came to her safety. If I was being honest with myself, I knew it was only a matter of time before she snapped. I'm actually pretty surprised it took this long.
But now we could clear the slate and have a fresh start. I realized that my overprotectiveness was only going to p
ush her away, so it was time I let my little girl grow up. I needed to start a new life, too. I couldn't continue to fake my way through a relationship with a woman who looked like Loraine. It was time to move on.
* * * * *
(Meredith)
I had to figure out a way to get Jeremy back. Not only to continue my pure demon bloodline, but because I had truly fallen in love with him. I had never met anyone so dedicated to his family. He was the perfect man: tall, dark, handsome...smart, sophisticated, and sexy. I absolutely refused to let him go. But how? How was I supposed to get around the fact that he was now focused on his daughter and her feelings about our relationship? What a bunch of bullshit. The girl was almost twenty-one and would very soon be staying twenty-one forever. I had to get back into Jeremy's life, because when Rose turned into a vampire, he was going to be devastated all over again, and just like before...I'd be there to pick up the pieces.
But who knew how long it would take for Rose to actually get accepted into the clan and changed, or what effect the change would have on her? Word on the street was that Evangeline couldn't sire any more new vamps and their new Sire hadn't been triggered yet. I supposed I could get rid of her the same way I did her mom. It hadn't really been all that hard when the time had come to finally do it.
Since I knew where Terrance met Rose and Loraine, I had waited in the parking lot of the swim complex until he'd finished feeding and then I had used my mind bond with him to instruct Loraine to leave her bedroom at 2 a.m. Once everyone had gone their separate ways, I followed Loraine and Rose back to their house.
I only had to wait a few hours, and then right before 2 a.m., I broke in. She was coming out of her room just as instructed. I figured that I would use the recently closed puncture wounds that Terrance had left to make it look like a vampire draining. Demons don't have fangs like vampires, but our incisors are sharp enough that if we want to drink blood like our ancestors had, we definitely had the ability. I remember when my grandmother had first told me that drinking human blood was not only the way of our demon ancestors, but that they'd believed it filled them with the essence of the person from whom they drank. I figured in this case, since I already looked enough like Loraine, it could only help me to actually ingest her essence while I eliminated her.
Once she had been drained, I remembered leaving with the feeling that I had just come home. Whether it was her essence already flowing through me or the fact that I now knew that Jeremy and I would be building a life together, it had been euphoric. Getting rid of Loraine had been the best idea I had ever had.
But getting rid of Rose was a different story. I couldn't risk biting her in order to kill her like I had her mom. Since she was a half-demon, there was a possibility that her blood would actually allow her control over me if I were to ingest it. I wasn't going to be able to control her in any way since she wasn't a vampire yet, so I had no way to infect her with my poison like I had with Terrance. I had no idea how this was going to work.
I knew she wouldn't willingly help me get back on Jeremy's good side, so I was going to have to come up with a different plan all together: one that would put me back in Jeremy's life and eliminate Rose's hold over him.
I'd already decided that infecting another vampire was too much trouble at this point, so the only option I had left was to threaten Rose and turn her father against her. I had thought about simply killing her in a more modern way, like shooting her, or a random stabbing at her college, but as much as I wanted her gone so I could build a life with Jeremy, I didn't want to risk starting a war with the vampires. I knew that Rose's death would put them on the hunt, and with Terrance still alive, it would only be a matter of time before they found me out.
* * * * *
CHAPTER FORTY
Fire in My Veins
(Rose)
After reveling in the best experience of my life, Christian and I laid in his bed, kissing and snuggling like two newlyweds.
"I wish we could stay like this all night and do that over and over." I nipped little kisses along his jaw line. God, I just couldn't keep my hands or lips off of him. "You are the most delicious thing I have ever tasted."
He laughed. "That's something the vampire should be saying to you, not the other way around."
The smile on his face kept the comment light, but the reality of it hit me right away. "Do you want to feed from me?"
He started drifting the moment the words left my mouth. His hair got darker and his eyes started to lose their caramel swirl, and since everything I had learned about vampires had been completely wrong, I didn't know if I should start to panic or not. But then my heart caught up with my head and I realized that Christian would never do anything to hurt me.
"I assume since you're drifting that it means you're hungry?" I wasn't sure if I was making a mistake by talking about it so openly, but what the hell...I was tired of keeping secrets, especially if I was going to become a vampire soon, too.
"Yes, I'm hungry. Horny, too! The thought of feeding from you is a most delectable idea and it's playing havoc with my brain as well as other parts of my body." He sat up and scooted closer to me. "Before you knew that I was a vampire, it was forbidden for me to feed from you because I was in love with you. When a vampire feeds from the one he loves, there is no sedative that can make you forget. So if I were to have fed from you, you would have immediately known I was a vampire, and revealing ourselves is something that no clan permits."
"I guess it's a good thing that I figured it out all on my own then, huh?" I smiled as he leaned in to kiss me. "So now that everything is out in the open you can feed from me without getting in trouble?"
"Yes." His voice was low and steady, but I could tell that he was actually straining for control.
I loved having this much power over him. To know that it was me he loved and craved in so many ways was definitely a turn-on. So with a surge of excitement burning like fire in my veins, I let the sheet drop back onto the bed, revealing my breasts as I tilted my head." So go on then...feed."
* * * * *
(Christian)
It was taking every ounce of will power I had to stop myself from launching at Rose. With her beautiful breasts, the memory of what we had just done etched in my brain, and the pumping of blood just below her beautiful neck...this was excruciating!
But the moment I started to consider her offer, my "new ability" must have kicked in. Because not only did I know that this wouldn't be the right time, but that it would in fact be a huge mistake. I didn't know why, and I didn't know how I was going to explain it to Rose, but I knew, completely one hundred percent knew, that I shouldn't feed from my girlfriend.
"Rose, I can't tell you how tempting you are right now, but we really don't have time for me to feed. I can hear Evie and the others starting to gather, and they know you are here. They're very anxious to hear what you found out. I'm sorry." I peeled myself from the bed and dressed in a flash of vampire speed. Now who was the one hiding things?
As we made our way up into the club, Rose had seemed quiet. I'm sure it was because of my rejection, but there was just nothing else I could do. I also knew that I was going to have to tell Evie what had happened.
When we reached the top of the stairs and exited from under the stage, the smiles that greeted us were a good sign that everyone would be accepting Rose into the clan. "Look what the cat drug in," Tori teased.
Rose smiled and scooted tighter against my body. "Hi, everyone."
Evie moved towards us and reached out to hug Rose. "I can't tell you how it does my heart good to see you wake with Christian. And hopefully soon, we can make that a permanent thing."
Everyone gave their whoops and cat calls in agreement. I was so proud to have Rose on my arm.
"So, Rose, what did you find out about Meredith?" Evie motioned for all us to take a seat.
"Unfortunately, nothing. I found out her last name and that her family was originally from the southern part of New Mexico, but I don't see how
either of those things is going to help us in any way."
I could tell Rose felt bad for not having more valuable information to share.
"Well, that's okay. I think that we definitely need to keep an eye on her though, so I'm going to send for Renard and Loni. They are traveling in Europe at the moment, but I know they will be more than willing to cut their honeymoon short once they find out about the situation that we're facing." Evie finished by telling Rose she could use the key to the club she'd given her whenever she wanted, and now that she knew of our existence, she could join us when the club was open as well. Since we no longer had to hide our true selves from her, it would be easy to bite and sedate any law enforcement that would question her presence in the club.