Rose- Feelin Thorny

by Jewels Arthur

  “Is the abominable snowman real?” I ask the room, looking up to see that only Dean is with me. He is looking at his phone in concern, like he always is these days.

  “The what?” Dean asks, a small smile creeping across his lips.

  “The abominable snowman, is he real?” I ask again, and I enjoy going back to our playful banter, if only for a moment.

  “Well, yetis are real. I believe that is what humans refer to as the abominable snowman. Is there one yeti that is the abominable snowman? No, probably not.”

  I nod slowly, trying to conceptualize how big the world really is. It really brings to the forefront that we could actually be in danger. What if something crazy is hunting us? Like if a Greek god decided to target us, or the Devil himself? It really brings a person—err, vampire down to Earth.

  “I want to go out today,” I state adamantly, staring straight at Dean as if daring him to challenge me.

  “Of course, I can accompany you anywhere, darling. Although, I must say I do not care for mountains, so if you are in the mood to see some yetis, I would suggest Finn or Sebastian,” Dean replies, as if agreeing to see yetis is the same as a trip to the mall.

  “No, I don’t want to see any yetis. Not today anyway. I just want to do something. Can I just go to Jewels? By myself?” I plead.

  “Rosalie, darling, we have been over this. It isn’t safe. I know that nothing else has happened, but we cannot let our guard down.”

  I snort in derision. “But Wes is there, and Chase. Julian. Plenty of men to keep me safe.”

  “This isn’t about men to keep you safe. I’m sure that Sapphire could keep you safe, so please do not think that this is because you are a woman. This is because you are still a young vampire and ignorant of how large the supernatural world around you is. Please do not take that as an insult because I am not trying to insult you. I would just feel much more comfortable if I knew it was I or one of my brothers with you. We would protect you with our lives, my love.” Dean’s words touch me, and I believe him. I know that they do not think of me like a piece of property, but it still stings that I am unable to just go down to the damn Cafe on my own.

  “How about this? We don’t open Vee tonight, so why don’t you see if Sapphire and Amber can come over for a girls’ night? We can ask Randal to play music for you guys, or you can just run a playlist. Seb, Finn, and I will stay upstairs, but we won’t have to worry about your safety because Reg, Landyn, and some of his other security team will be watching the building.” I am already bouncing in my seat and smiling before Dean even gets all the words out. A girls' night? Fuck yes! I haven’t had a lot of girls’ nights because I’ve never really had a lot of girlfriends. I send a quick text message to the girls in our group chat, inviting them over.

  “I texted the girls. Thank you for a wonderful idea!” I say as I jump onto his lap and press a kiss to his lips. The small contact makes my tummy warm, as I haven’t had a ton of sexy time with my men since this whole thing started. They’ve all been so wrapped up in their jobs. I can tell by the way Dean’s hand tightens on my ass and his eyes darken that he is thinking the same thing.

  “I miss you, my love,” he growls against my neck before placing some rushed kisses along the sensitive skin.

  “I miss you too. I am sorry I have been distant. I’m just frustrated with all of this,” I purr, squirming on his lap.

  He chuckles, then looks over at my phone on the arm of the couch. “It appears to me that the girls are in agreement by the amount of noise your phone is making.” I squeal in excitement and jump off his lap.

  Sapphire: Fuck yes! I will bring ice cream. Ford has some delicious new flavors.

  Amber: Love it! The guys have been weird, so I could really use a girls' night.

  Rose: Perfect! Can’t wait to see you both!

  I smile in delight and put my phone back down, unconsciously rubbing my throat.

  “When is the last time you fed, Rosalie?” Dean asks, looking at me in concern. “I wish that our pairing was similar to Sapphire’s, and that we had a shifter or human for you to feed on.”

  I quirk my lips, not particularly liking the idea but definitely understanding the positives. “I think I have enough men, thank you,” I reply with a laugh.

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to share you more than I have to. I would without question, of course, if you were to find another mate. I am just thinking out loud about the advantages of a food source on tap.” He winks at me while saying the last words.

  “Drinking straight from the source is better than drinking from blood bags like we have been doing,” I concede. “But it makes me squeamish asking people if I can drink from them. Like, what does Randal get from me drinking from him? Seems like I’m taking advantage.”

  Dean’s hand squeezes my knee in comfort. “Randal is happy to do it because he is your friend, but I understand your hesitancy. It’s definitely something to get used to. Even my brothers and I have had to adapt to the difference in our life. We have no interest in bringing random women up here anymore, so we too are drinking more blood from bags than we ever have. Blood from each other is partially sustainable but is mostly just sexual in nature.”

  “Ginger is supposed to be bringing a delivery later tonight, so I’ll feed on her before the girls come over. I’m always fine feeding off that bitch.” I smile evilly at the thought of the local delivery woman that is always dressed sexily and is constantly hitting on my men when she comes over. She was the first human I fed on, and although her blood is slightly tainted with the taste of cigarettes, it's still delicious.

  Rose

  Finn whines when he hears he isn’t invited to girls’ night, but says it’s only because if we are closing down the bar, then he wants it so we can have a naked dance party that ends with him licking me until I am screaming. His words, not mine. Although the thought of that has me squirming in my seat, I need a girls’ night. I need to be around people that aren’t the guys, the security team, or drunk humans and shifters. I decide to dress comfy but cute. This calls for black leggings, a cute print tee, and some comfy flats. The delivery from Ginger also included ice, so I have decided to make strawberry-blood daiquiris tonight for Saph and me. Extra blood and extra tequila. Alcohol doesn’t affect me like it once did, but I’ll still get a nice buzz from the drinks. Amber’s drinks will be minus the blood, of course. Since I’m giving Randal the night off, a playlist will serve as our music selection tonight, and I’m so excited to show off my grouping of girls’ night tunes.

  I go downstairs and get everything set up, reveling in how huge the room is without the groups of people grinding against each other. The only man allowed down here tonight is Pumpkin, and he runs in circles, chasing the little lights that dance around the room from the disco ball. When the door opens, held open by Reg as he lets Saph and Amber in, the song “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo is blasting on the speakers, and I’m already dancing my ass off. I am glad to see that Amber and Saph are also dressed in their finest comfy clothes, and I run over to greet them, feeling giddy and squealy like a teenager.

  Throwing our hips back and forth to the beat, we scream out the lyrics and pump our hands in the air to the beat, only taking breaks to do shots and refill our drinks. The dance floor is completely ours, and we use it to show off our craziest and wildest dance moves, ranging from sexy to Saph doing the robot. Sapphire and I beg Amber to let us play “Safety Dance” since we feel like it’s unrealistic to let the New Year's Eve party and Clarissa Barista have the power to ruin such an amazing song. She relents and even tries to learn how to do the crazy dance with us after she has reached the perfect level of tipsy. If I were still human, I would be sweaty, winded, and dealing with chafing in places one should never deal with chafing. As a vampire though? I could party like this all night long.

  Sapphire goes to Reg and gets him to text some guys he knows—male strippers. We die of laughter when they show up in their scantily clad outfits and put on a perso
nal show for us. Amber blushes, and I roll on the floor in hysterical laughter as Sapphire gets them all lined up for the dick measuring contest, with the winner getting their choice of ice cream.

  “Helicopters, gentlemen!” Sapphire commands, and we watch enthralled as penises start spinning in circles to the beat of “Eye of the Tiger”. Every once in a while, I see Reg’s head peek in the door as he checks on us, and I can’t tell whether he is embarrassed or enjoying our antics. The shock on his face is clear when he comes inside and sees himself dancing naked next to the strippers.

  “Amber! What the hell?” he yells at Amber, who has taken his form and is attempting to helicopter with the guys, stumbling in her drunken state.

  “Do more people!” I call out as Saph and I begin naming people in town for Amber to change into and dance as with the strippers. Violet the librarian, April June the dildo witch, Randal, Miss Devlin the witch who teaches drama at the local high school, and even one of the humans in the town named Trent Knight. The strippers are good-natured—as I suppose you’d have to be with that profession—and dance with each of the members of the town that appear beside them, all wearing Amber’s leggings and an orange shirt that says ‘I don’t carrot all’ with a cartoon carrot wearing sunglasses below the words. A present from Chase, she explains.

  Next, we send a text to the real dildo witch, then sit back and eat ice cream as April June comes in and showcases her magical sex toys. Saph owns most of them, but Amber and I buy enough to start a small shop of our own. We all give Juniper hugs before she leaves with her suitcase of magical dildos, cock rings, and vibrators. We end the night laying in a makeshift bed in the center of the room, drinking, eating, and talking about our men. Amber expresses her annoyance with still being stuck in an annoying shifting loop whenever her men make her angry or embarrassed, and Sapphire tells us about marketing at Ford’s ice cream shop and how she wants to incorporate cocks into the menu. Oh, and dancing snow cocks at Ford’s parents’ party.

  When the girls leave, my heart feels light and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. I walk up the stairs and crawl into our bed, snuggling up to Finn, who has already fallen asleep. I am barely awake when I feel the bed sink in as Sebastian and Dean join us.

  Rose

  I wake up to the sound of banging on the loft’s door. I squint at the clock on the wall and groan at seeing that it has only been a couple of hours since the girls left. I swing my arm and hit the body next to me.

  “Answer the door,” I groan, smacking the man beside me. I’m not sure who it is, and I honestly don’t even care that much. I just want the noise to stop. I hear Dean groan beside me and feel the bed shift.

  “You guys, answer the door, damnit!” I hear yelled from the other side of the door. Reggie. That worries me a bit because he would never disturb us unless it was something important.

  I jump up from the bed and rush through the living room to the front door, swinging it open and finding a very worried Reg. I look back as Dean, Seb, and Finn join me at the door, feeling comforted by their presence.

  “What’s going on, Reg?” Seb asks, his voice still scratchy with sleep.

  “I don’t know how it happened, how it could have happened. I sent Landyn to walk Amber and Sapphire home, so it was mostly just me. A few of the security team was around, but I let most of them go home since it seemed like a slow night with the nightclub closed,” Reg explains, sounding nervous.

  “What happened?” I ask, fear coursing through my veins and constricting in my chest.

  “One of the new guys found him. He was doing his rounds, walking the interior of the club and then checking the security cameras in the office, when he saw—” He pauses, his face scrunched in nervous sadness. “When he saw Pumpkin. I’m so sorry, Rose.”

  My world drops, and my heart is suddenly beating somewhere near my toes. Is it beating? Do vampire hearts still beat? I think not. I feel a sick daze flood my system as I walk down the stairs into the nightclub. I pushed past Reg right as he said the words, I’m so sorry, Rose, making my way into the room that had just brought me so much joy. Near the makeshift bed that Amber, Saph, and I had made lies my cat. My beautiful orange tabby, who had been one of my only best friends for years, lies on the floor in a pool of blood.

  “Oh my god. What the fuck?” I hear Finn say from beside me, but it’s like I’m in a haze, hearing someone through water, when all I can do is stare at my cat. My cat, who was clearly murdered. I feel a bite at my knees as my skin hits the hard floor, and I realize I have fallen. That I’ve dropped to my knees. Sobs wrack my body, and I clutch at my chest, unable to believe that any of this could be real. It has to be a dream, all of it. I’m still in that fucking house with Jason, and he must have drugged me. I never got away, I was never turned into a vampire, and the guys never found me. Which means that they never loved me. I gasp loudly as another sob shakes me to my core.

  “It’s not real, none of it’s real. It’s not real. It’s not real.” I repeat the mantra like it’s my only hold on life. The thread that holds the fabric of my sanity together.

  “Rose, baby, you are scaring me. Look at me, Rose.”

  I hear Sebastian’s voice within my daze. Sebastian. Sweet, tender, beautiful Sebastian. Is any of it real? Is the man I have grown to love, to care for, real?

  “Fuck. Someone grab her and take her upstairs.”

  Another voice breaks into the haze. Finn. His voice is rough, like he spent the whole night screaming. My Finn.

  “NO!” I scream as I claw at the ground, trying to get closer to my cat. “We have to do something. What can we do?” I look around the room, my vision blurred with tears, trying to find Dean. Fuck it, whether this is real or fake, I need to do something.

  “Dean?” I ask, unable to pick him out of the group of males. He will help me; he will know what to do. “What do we do, Dean? We have to save him.”

  “Rosalie, I don’t think there is anything we can do,” Dean says softly, his hand rubbing my back.

  “We have to do something,” I sob. “He’s my best friend.” The truth of those words lances at my heart. Before Amber, Sapphire, and the guys, he was all I had. My cat, my baby boy.

  “He’s still breathing,” Reggie says, his hand touching Pumpkin’s soft belly. “Just barely, but his chest is definitely moving.”

  I scramble to get closer, to see the movement for myself. “Change him, change him, Dean.” I continue to sob, my words coming out hysterically.

  “Rosalie. Baby, we can’t change a cat,” Finn persuades, looking at me with sadness and fear. “You can’t make a cat a vampire.” He looks to Dean, who nods solemnly.

  “Why not? Can we just try? Please, for me. Just try.” The words come out as a moan as I plead with these men.

  “Okay,” Sebastian says, kneeling down next to me.

  “Okay? Seb, you can’t be serious. You can’t make a bloody cat a vampire,” Finn yells.

  Reg looks at me, really looks at me, then sighs. “Let’s just try.”

  “Jesus Christ, not you too, Reg. Dean, tell them this is fucking insane. It’ll never work.” Finn stares at Dean, pleading for reason.

  Dean frowns but never takes his eyes off me. “Rose, I want you to know that I do not believe this will work. I’ve never heard of anyone successfully changing an animal, but for you? I would do anything.”

  “What the flying fuck? Fine. We will try this, but it’s just getting her hopes up, and it will hurt even more when she is let down. When she feels like it was her that failed him,” Finn growls, stomping over to join us with the cat.

  “All of us. It will make it stronger,” I say, not knowing if the words I say are true or just complete bullshit. One by one, we each bite our own wrists, and the room fills with the smell of vampire blood. I lean forward, grab Pumpkin’s limp body, and hold him in my lap. Then I place my dripping wrist above his open mouth and allow the liquid to spill down his throat. I look up at Dean, who does the same, allowing a good amount
of blood to fill the cat's mouth, then Seb and Reg do the same. When it gets to Finn, he shakes his head but complies, a frown etched deeply into his mouth.

  “There, it’s done. There is nothing else we can do,” Finn says shortly afterward. “Now let’s take him upstairs and wait. I’ll clean this up.”

  “I got it. You all go upstairs,” Reg says solemnly. “I’m so sorry, Rose. I feel like I failed you again.”

  My eyes fill with tears again, and they sting against my sore eyes. “You have never failed me, Reg.” Finn and Dean help me to my feet, as I refuse to put Pumpkin down, and I walk over and squeeze Reg’s arm. “Thank you for humoring me with all this.” My voice cracks on the words. Without another word, I turn and walk towards the stairs that will take me back to our apartment.

  Rose

  “Go to sleep, Rose,” Finn tries to convince me, again. We came upstairs, and I put Pumpkin in his bed, then sat on the couch. I’ve been sitting here staring at him since. Waiting. Waiting for what? I have no idea.

  “I’m not tired,” I answer back, feeling tired to my very soul. Both physically and emotionally exhausted.

  “Right, of course, you aren’t,” Finn replies sarcastically.

  “Why don’t you take a bath?” Sebastian suggests, tightening his arm around me. His eyes are sad, and they just keep getting sadder. I look back over at Pumpkin and sigh. I’m going to have to let him go, and that means accepting that this didn’t work. That I couldn’t save him. That I was the reason he was killed.