by Tish Thawer
After I killed her, I had traveled to my grandmother's house to ask her about the old ways. She'd informed me that the demons of old drank human blood to not only absorb their essence, but because it actually lengthened their lifespan. Through the drinking of blood, the ancient demons had gained strength, speed, and the ability to defy death. Drinking human blood had started to make them immortal. But the transformation hadn't been completed and when they were faced with the extinction of their race, the old ways were lost. We had never consumed human blood because it was uncertain how it would affect us.
I had been the first to risk it, and now it looked like I was going to be putting the rest of the myth to the test as well. I had hoped that by drinking Loraine's blood I would start to become immortal or at least a little less destructible so when Rose "killed" me, I wouldn't really be dead. I didn't see any other way as Christian had already threatened to hunt me down from this point forward. So, honestly, what did I have to lose?
Once I had gotten Rose alone in the living room, I knew I only had a couple of seconds before Christian was going to be on us again. I may have gained in speed and strength, but I would never be as fast as a vampire.
"Rose, you wanted to know why I was so interested in your dad? It's because he's a demon too. And so are you." I felt her go limp with shock, just as Christian entered the room. "If Christian finds out, his clan will kill you both."
Christian sped around behind me and held me in place as he instructed Rose to do exactly what I wanted her to do.
Jeremy was rounding the bottom of the stairs just as Rose followed Christian's directions and grabbed the fireplace poker.
She ran back around and positioned herself in front of me, and with a rage-filled look on her face, she took aim.
* * * * *
(Rose)
I couldn't believe what Meredith had just whispered in my ear. Me and my dad were demons too? That was why she had been interested in my dad and killed my mom.
Just as I had started to scream at her in denial, Christian raced into the room and grabbed Meredith from behind. "Rose, grab the poker from the fireplace. You're going to have to kill her. And hurry, I can't hold her for much longer," I heard him say.
I could barely process what he was saying, but the malicious smile that spread across her face was enough to propel me into motion.
I was so angry that I could almost feel the heat radiating from my face. "I don't care if you're lying or not, I will not let you hurt my family anymore."
I had never thought that I would be capable of actually killing someone, but the moment that Meredith had confessed that she was the one who killed my mother all I could think about was her demise.
I slammed the poker into her stomach and watched her collapse into a bloody heap on the floor. That was when I heard my father scream.
* * * * *
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Clean Break
(Meredith)
I met Jeremy's eyes just as his daughter rammed the poker through my stomach. His eyes went wide with shock and he screamed.
I collapsed into a heap on the floor and laid as motionless as possible. The stab wound definitely hurt and I'm sure it looked fatal to everyone in the room, but I could already tell that it was starting to mend itself. I guess the theory of my demon immortality was proving true. I laid there listening to my plan fall into place as Jeremy started screaming at his daughter.
I knew she wouldn't try to explain that I was a demon, and that Christian was a vampire. So my secret was safe until I decided to share it with Jeremy. So right now it just looked like his precious Rose was guilty of attempted murder. Perfect!
"What have you done? My God Rose, what have you done? You've killed her!" Jeremy kept repeating his panicked questions as he made his way over to me.
"I...I'm sorry. I...Dad, she killed Mom." Rose had no way to prove it, so I hoped that Jeremy would blow it off as an excuse of a desperate girl who had just tried to kill her dad's girlfriend.
"I don't understand! Tell me what happened. Please, honey, tell me exactly what happened!" He was screaming by the time he knelt down next to my body.
* * * * *
(Rose)
I had no idea what to say to my dad. There was no way to explain that Meredith was a demon, and that Dad and I were, too.
I saw Christian watching me while my dad approached Meredith. I think he was trying to remain out of the way in case he needed to react in a hurry. I'm sure he was just waiting to see what I was going to do before he spoke up. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but looking at Christian an idea suddenly formed in my head. Since I was planning on becoming a vampire soon, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a clean break from my old life.
I hated the idea of leaving Dad with this image of me, but since there was no way to explain what had truly happened here, I decided that I didn't have much of a choice.
"Dad, I promise that what I did was for the best. For you, for me, and whether you believe me or not, for Mom. I hope you don't call the cops on me, but I'll understand if you feel you have to."
I saw Christian shaking his head at me trying to get my attention. When I looked at him, he licked his fangs and motioned to my dad. Oh my god, he was going to bite my dad and use his sedative. I couldn't let that happen. According to Meredith my dad was a demon and would infect Christian if he bit him. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this? My eyes widened and I shook my head "no" at Christian. I'd have to explain myself to him later, but I was thankful that he was letting me take the lead on this.
Resolved to the fact that running was my best option, I moved to hug my dad. He was still kneeling next to Meredith, shocked into silence with a panicked look on his face. I leaned down and hugged him tight. "I love you, Dad. Please don't ever forget that."
I couldn't stand to stay and hear his response. I knew he'd plead with me to stay and that we would figure everything out, but I'd made up my mind. It was time to start my life with Christian. I looked at him and nodded my head towards the front door. In an instant we were running for his car, and we peeled out as soon as we were both inside. By the time we hit the end of the block, the ambulance was already blaring down the street towards my house.
I buried my head in my hands and began to cry. I knew Christian probably thought that it was because I was leaving my father with the impression that his daughter was a murderer, but in reality, it was because deep down, I knew that Meredith was right. I was a demon, and if Christian found out, he and his clan would want to kill me.
My life was over.
* * * * *
(Meredith)
As I laid there listening to Rose break Jeremy's heart, I knew that my plan had worked. Jeremy had seen his sweet, precious daughter "kill" me, and now she and her boyfriend were on the run. I knew that Evangeline would hide them so I'd have to convince him not to press charges and just try to let her go. I already had an idea of how to do that, and if I was right it would guarantee my spot back in Jeremy's life.
I wasn't sure when or if I would reveal our shared heritage to him, but I knew that my life was about to begin with the man I loved. Today had been a good day to die.
* * * * *
(Jeremy/Dad)
As I knelt next to Meredith, I couldn't help but feel all the emotions I had once felt for her surging back to the surface. When I had heard voices downstairs, I first thought that Rose had invited her boyfriend over to pick up his car, but then I had heard Meredith's voice, and the sounds of violence.
As I raced around the corner, I took in the scene before me. Rose's boyfriend had Meredith by the arms, holding her in place while Rose stood ready to stab her with a poker.
I had screamed, and then watched in horror as my daughter pierced my ex-girlfriend through the stomach. Meredith had collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from her wound.
I raced to Meredith as I tried to process how my little girl could have done something so heinous, so crimi
nal.
"I...I'm sorry. I...Dad, she killed Mom."
I was so shocked I felt like I couldn't function. "I don't understand! Tell me what happened. Please, honey, tell me exactly what happened!" I screamed.
What she said next will haunt me until my dying days. "Dad, I promise that what I did was for the best. For you, for me, and whether you believe me or not, for Mom. I hope you don't call the cops on me, but I'll understand if you feel you have to."
I sat there completely stunned. I realized that I was truly in shock and that was why I couldn't get my brain to work. I wanted to cry out and grab her as she hugged me, but instead I felt rooted in place. In the next instant she was gone. My little girl was gone.
Suddenly, I heard a breath escape from Meredith and that kicked my brain back into gear. I jumped up and dialed 911 and then immediately returned to her side. All my attention was focused on her as she slowly opened her eyes. Thank God she wasn't dead. I tried keeping her still as she started to say something. I couldn't quite make it out so I lowered my head, straining to hear what she was whispering. "Don't report Rose. Protect her."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Here was this woman bleeding to death in my home and she wanted to protect my daughter...the person who had just tried to kill her. How did I ever think that leaving her had been the right thing to do?
Before the EMTs made their way inside, I grabbed the fireplace poker and wiped it clean, then placed Meredith's hand on the handle. I had made sure to meet Meredith's eyes as I nodded and mouthed, "Thank you."
After stabilizing Meredith's vitals, the EMTs stopped the bleeding and bandaged her wound. While loading her into the ambulance they had said the wound wasn't as bad as it looked. I climbed into the ambulance with Meredith and we headed to the hospital.
When I grabbed her hand her slight smile and the gleam in her eyes radiated love. I couldn't believe that I had almost ruined this relationship.
"I'm so sorry." I hoped that she understood that I was apologizing for everything: for keeping her a secret from Rose in the first place, for me breaking up with her, and most of all, for my daughter just attempting to kill her. I would gladly spend an eternity making it up to her if she'd let me.
"It's okay," she whispered. "I love you. It will all be okay."
Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses started an IV and the cops arrived to begin their questioning. I made sure that I was close enough to Meredith so that she could hear my responses. I figured that if we were all going to get out of this we'd better have our stories straight.
With Meredith listening, I lied and told them that we were having dinner and decided to follow it up with some dessert in front of the fireplace. We had started to move some of the fireplace equipment out of the way so that we could make ourselves more comfortable on the floor, and that's when Meredith tripped and impaled herself on the poker.
My God, what was I doing? I hope this worked, because if it didn't, not only would my daughter go to jail for attempted murder, but I would be right behind her for conspiracy. I couldn't believe this was happening. One wrong move and my life was over.
After running Meredith's fingerprints to verify my story, the cops ruled it an accident and thanked us for our time.
By that time Meredith had started to drop into unconsciousness from the pain medication in her IV drip. Before she fell asleep, I quickly leaned in and whispered, "I love you, too."
As I settled in the chair of Meredith's hospital room, I tried to come up with a plan to go after Rose. Now that I knew she was still seeing Christian, obviously that was where I needed to start. It stung to know that Rose had kept seeing him behind my back. If I hadn't been so crazed with keeping her safe I might actually know more about this guy, like where he lived or who he really was. But instead, I knew nothing about the boy who just stole my daughter from me.
That was something that I was going to change very soon.
* * * * *
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Our New Life
(Rose)
By the time we reached The Rising Pit, my eyes were dry. I literally couldn't cry anymore. Just a few hours ago, everything had been so perfect. My dad had broken up with that demon bitch, I had finally gained back my freedom, and we were going to go buy me a new car the following day.
But in a flash, everything had changed. I found out that my mom had been murdered by a demon who was after my father because apparently he was a demon, too. And not only was I a demon as well, but now...I was also a murderer.
I hadn't thought twice about killing Meredith when Christian told me to do it. Not only had I wanted revenge for my mother, but also I had to keep her from telling Christian that I was a demon.
I had no idea how I knew it, but when Meredith had admitted to killing my mother, I had felt the rage inside of me rise to the point that something physically had changed within me. It was like I had almost felt my DNA shifting. So when she told me that my father and I were demons, I knew that she was telling the truth. I also knew she was telling the truth about Christian's clan wanting to kill me if they found out.
I had no idea how I was going to keep this secret, but then again, I had always been able to keep my thoughts hidden. My God, that was it! After learning about the effects of Meredith's blood on Terrance and how it kept his thoughts protected and fuzzy, it all made sense. No wonder I never had a problem hiding my thoughts from Evie...it was because of my demon blood.
"Rose? Are you going to be okay?" Christian's question startled me out of my inner turmoil. With everything racing around in my head, all I could do was nod in response.
"I know that what happened is something that is going to take some time to process. But you have to realize that you didn't have a choice. She killed your mom and could have hurt you or your dad. She infected Terrance and there was no way I could let her threaten anyone else in my family. Killing her was the right thing to do."
He shifted in his seat and took both of my hands in his. "We need to get you inside and tell Evie everything that happened, but first I need to ask you a question. You know that you can no longer go back to your old life, right? I'm sorry, but I won't let you be placed in a situation where you could be taken from me. I love you and I never want to live without you." He swallowed hard and cupped my cheek in his palm. "I will soon become the new Sire, and when I am I want you to be my consort. If you agree, I'm sure Evie will let you stay here with us from now on. We can start our new life together right away."
Oh my God. This was what I had been dreaming of for so long, but how was this going to work? I was a demon and Christian wanted me to become his consort. It was going to kill me to have to tell him that I couldn't become a vampire anymore. That I could never be his consort.
I was so scared and I knew that I would never be able to go home again. Staying with the clan seemed like the best way to stay protected. They could bite and use their sedative on anyone that came looking for me. It was the obvious choice, even if it wasn't for the same reasons as Christian thought. "Yes. I would love to stay with you and the clan. Thank you, Christian. You are truly saving my life."
"You are my life Rose, and I'll gladly spend an eternity proving that to you." He leaned over and kissed me. It was soft, tender, and filled with emotion.
The pain in my heart left me feeling like I was the one with a poker through my chest. How could I live with the man I loved while planning to lie to him every single day?
I guess I was about to learn exactly how to break a vampire's heart...
Roses & Thorns
(A Rose Trilogy Short-Story)
* * * * *
CHAPTER ONE
Best Concert Ever
(Rose)
"Oh my god, that was the best concert EVER!" Penny yelled.
"I know, right? I've never screamed and danced so much in my life," said Jillian.
My friends and I had just left the Nine Inch Nails concert in Masen and were being driven home in one of my dad's
company limos. It was Friday night and since we'd be off from school Monday as well, this was the perfect start to a long weekend. We didn't have a curfew, but since some of us still weren't twenty-one, and since there really wasn't anything fun to do at two in the morning, we were headed back to Jillian's where we'd all be spending the night.
Suddenly, Jillian announced, "I've got to pee."