Scent of a White Rose

by Tish Thawer

  Did I say deviant before? I meant criminal. I had actually played the “My mom was killed card” with my history professor just so that I could go make out with a guy.

  After Mr. Thompson dismissed me with a sympathetic look and a feather-light warning, I made my way to the first girl’s bathroom I could find. I freshened up my makeup and changed my jeans and t-shirt out for the dark blue sundress I had stuffed in my bag. The black flats I had on were going to have to do. Since I was taller than average at 5’10”, I didn't wear heels very often anyway. Looking in the mirror, I thought I looked pretty good. The sundress hugged my curves just right, and I certainly had plenty of curves for it to hug. My light blonde hair hung just past my shoulders. I wore it straight most of the time, but today I had braided it for school. So now when I shook it out it was nice and wavy. I loved that trick.

  Taking one last glance in the mirror, I applied a final dab to my cherry flavored lipstick. “Time to go see my man!” Yep, I was giddy!

  As usual, I had arranged to borrow Jill’s car for my trip to see Christian. She’s such a good friend. She completely feels for me and the strict rules I have to live by. So whenever I can squeeze out from under my dad’s thumb, she’s totally supportive. Huh…not sure if that makes her a good friend or a bad one.

  After I parked next to Christian’s car, a ’67 Mercury Comet Caliente (Yes, it lives up to its name –it is a HOT car!), I checked my lipstick one last time before embarking on the search for my man.

  I opened the club's front door and it took my eyes and ears a minute to adjust. The lighting was dark and seductive, and the only sound present was a slow mechanical grinding.

  As I looked around, I noticed that I was alone on the main floor. Then I pinpointed the source of the noise. The stage in the middle of the room was moving. I couldn’t tell if it was going up or down, and honestly, that was of no interest to me. Instead, I was completely focused on all of the people coming out from underneath it.

  I could barely make out the circular staircase that ran around the inside wall underneath the stage, but that’s where everyone that I recognized as The Rising Pit’s staff was coming from: Bobby, the sexy, blonde DJ; Tori and Dominique, the adorable, redheaded bartenders who were sisters; the gorgeous owner, Evangeline; her muscular, right-hand man and bar manager, Dax; and Christian, head of security, and my boyfriend.

  They were all talking and joking, looking more like family than coworkers. Finally the stage had rose all the way up and locked into place with a loud bang, sending shock waves up my legs. Startled, I sucked in a quick breath.

  Everyone at the exact same instant snapped their heads in my direction. There was no point in acting shy. They all knew I was Christian’s girlfriend. So I cleared my throat, cocked my hip, and gave a little wave directed just at him.

  Christian looked surprised, happy, and wary, all at the same time. Once everyone got over their initial shock of seeing me, they dispersed, leaving only Christian and Evangeline to stare in my direction. Before moving off, Evangeline whispered something in Christian's ear. He still had his eyes pinned on mine and a sexy smile on his face, so I figured whatever she had to say to him couldn’t be all that bad. I certainly didn’t want to get him in trouble for showing up unannounced, but come on, it’s a nightclub…party central, and the front door had been open.

  Evangeline headed towards the back of the club where I assumed her office was. Christian stood there for a moment longer, not moving a muscle, and looking like a Greek God. He was eyeing me up and down, admiring my dress I guess. His sexy smile just kept growing, so I hoped that was an indication that he liked what he saw.

  He finally made his way over to me and wrapped me in his arms. “Wow, this is an amazing surprise!” he whispered in my ear as he pulled me close, nuzzling my neck at the same time.

  “Yeah, I escaped and thought I’d ditch my friends and come see you instead. This once-a-month shit is for the birds,” I said in a husky voice and reached around and grabbed his butt.

  Christian and I had made out enough that we were comfortable touching each other, but I needed to let him know it was okay if we took things all the way. As a matter of fact, I was aching for it. It’s not like I was a twenty year old virgin for Christ’s sake.

  He jumped a little as I squeezed his perfect ass with my hand, then looked around to see if anyone was watching…and they were.

  He promptly grabbed my hand, flipped off Bobby and Dax, and pulled me out the front door back into the night.

  “I’m really glad you came, but you should have called. We’re not allowed to have guests here until after 8 p.m. when the club opens,” he said as we walked to the corner of the parking lot.

  “I thought the club was open. The front door was unlocked and the outside lights were on.” I was feeling rather defensive.

  Right then, Terrance, one of Christian’s security staff, stepped out of the woods just a couple of cars down from where we stood. Christian’s eyes narrowed on him, and I could tell by the tension suddenly radiating from his body that he was pissed.

  “Terrance, is there a reason why you’re out here and the club's standing wide open?”

  Terrance looked flushed, but all he said was, “Sorry, boss. I forgot something in my car.”

  I don’t think Christian bought it, and I sure didn’t. He hadn't been in the parking lot when I pulled up.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Christian said. Terrance gave him a clipped nod and headed inside.

  “Maybe he was making out with his girlfriend in the woods,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood and steer his attention back to the “making out” part of my plans. It must have worked, because in the blink of an eye Christian’s hands were all over my body, and his mouth crushed against mine, our tongues fighting for dominance. It was amazing.

  “Wow, I guess you really like this dress,” I panted between kisses.

  “I love your dress, but I’d love it more if it was on the ground,” he growled.

  His voice was lower than I’d ever heard before, and there was an urgency in the way he kissed me. He grabbed the hem of my dress, raising it slowly as he kissed, sucked and licked at my neck.

  This is definitely what I wanted tonight…but outside, against my friend's car wasn’t exactly the sensual fantasy I had envisioned.

  Right as Christian settled himself between my legs and started reaching for his belt, the club's front door slammed open. I turned my head to find Evangeline staring right at us. “Christian,” she snapped, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to finish opening.”

  Christian’s hands went still, and he slowly raised his head from the side of my neck. He had the most serious look on his face and even though it was dark outside, in that moment, it seemed like he was darker too. His eyes were smoky and, they had lost their honey swirl. Even his hair seemed darker, like the highlights had completely disappeared. Suddenly, I wasn't too upset that Evangeline had interrupted.

  Christian quickly shook his head and kissed me one last time. He was himself again. “Sorry babe. I gotta go.”

  Feeling relieved, I smoothed my dress back into place. “No problem. I guess I should head home anyway, in case my dad comes home early. Sorry if I got you in trouble. Next time, I’ll be sure to call.”

  “That would probably be best,” he mumbled. And then he was gone, sauntering his sexy ass across the parking lot and back through the club's front door.

  Evangeline held the door open for him, but didn’t say anything as he passed. Instead, she watched me as I fumbled for the keys in my purse. I heard the door shut and felt a moment’s relief until I looked up and saw that she was walking straight towards me.

  Evangeline was beautiful. She seemed to be in her early thirties. She had silky brown hair, slate grey eyes, and a petite little frame reaching to only about 5’5”. At one time I wondered if I should be jealous of her, but Christian had told me that she and Dax were involved and had been together forever. That had made me f
eel better. But right now, I was not feeling better...I was feeling nervous.

  “Hi, Evangeline.” I tried to sound light and upbeat. “Sorry for just showing up tonight. I truly thought the club was open or else I wouldn’t have just walked on in.”

  Evangeline smiled. “Oh, that’s okay. I’m sure Christian was happy to see you, and you’re always welcome here Rose. We just aren't allowed to have any visitors before normal business hours. However, since we’re going to be open in about thirty minutes, and even though you aren’t twenty-one, I would be pleased to have you as my guest tonight if you'd like to join me.”

  I thought about her offer. It would be cool to finally enter the club and actually hang out, and to be the owner’s guest would be great, but…“Thank you for the offer, but unfortunately I have to be getting back home.” Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling the love. Evangeline seemed nice and pretty sincere with her offer, but I could tell she didn’t really want me there. And I truly did have to beat Dad home. This wasn’t like one of his overnight trips; he was actually coming home tonight, and I didn't even want to think about what would happen if I wasn’t there when he arrived.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Christian

  (Christian)

  With the smell of blood in the air, and Rose's sexy body under my hands, I just couldn’t help but nuzzle her neck a little more. She moaned a little as I started to lift her skirt, and that's when I heard, “Christian. I’m sorry to interrupt but we need to finish opening.”

  Really Evie…right now? Her voice carried the command that my brain needed to hear in order to stop where this was headed. I lifted my head and looked at Rose. She was flushed, and even though she tried to hide it, I caught the look of uncertainty that had flashed across her face. I'm sure she was questioning my darkening appearance, so I quickly tried to shake it off. I kissed her and headed for the club before she could notice too much…I hoped.

  That was one of the things that sucked about being a vampire…no pun intended. When you started to “drift” from light to dark, your physical appearance actually showed traces of it. It’s in our nature for us to drift from light to dark when we feed, when we’re sexually aroused, or angry. Most of the time when the deeds are done and the emotions pass, we drift back to our natural state pretty quickly. These appearance traits made it easy to tell who was in control and who wasn't, but when they drifted in correspondence to our cravings, it could be a real pain in the ass.

  As I rushed through the door, I almost ran straight into Terrance, who was being held in place by Dax and Bobby. He was on his knees, arms held out to his side, unable to move. I assumed Evie had commanded him to stay put before she made her way outside to get me.

  “What the fuck did you think you were doing leaving this club to go feed in the woods?” I demanded. I had known exactly what he’d been doing the second I saw him. Terrance had come out of the woods with black hair and dark eyes. His usual coloring was a medium to dark brown. Because he was naturally darker we did tend to keep an eye on him, but apparently he had risen before the rest of us tonight so he could sneak out and have a bite. This is why Rose was able to get into the club. He could have grabbed Rose tonight instead of whomever it was he'd just left bleeding in the woods.

  Now I was pissed. “Answer me, you asshole. You left this club wide open, and by doing so, you put us and our maker at risk. What if guests had shown up early tonight? They could have just waltzed right in and saw where all of us sleep.”

  “Like Rose did?” Evie asked as she came through the front door, her tone smooth as ice.

  I had known I was going to have this conversation with her soon, but I had hoped it could wait until after we had dealt with Terrance.

  “Rose didn’t say anything about the stage." As a matter of fact, when we had first started dating, I bit one of her friends and used my sedative to convince him to describe it to her as a dance floor that moved on hydraulics, nothing more. "Evie, don’t worry, she doesn’t know a thing. She’s innocent and if she had questioned it, she would have asked me and she didn’t.”

  “I believe you Christian. I had a little talk with Rose this evening and I did a quick scan of her and you’re right, she doesn’t suspect a thing. But that doesn’t change the fact that we could have had a serious problem if anyone other than Rose had showed up early tonight.” Evie's gaze narrowed on Terrance.

  Terrance tensed as he sensed the change in her voice. She was preparing to issue a command that he knew none of us would be able to resist.

  “Dax, Bobby…escort Terrance back into the rising pit and chain him up in the cell. I will decide what to do with him after closing tonight. Oh, and Dax…make him sing.”

  Terrance visibly slumped when he heard her command. "Make him sing" were not words you ever wanted to hear her say.

  Evangeline is our clan’s Sire; Dax is her consort. They are the only two vampires in our clan that possess the ability to “scan” or invade someone’s mind. They could choose to gently read your mind, barely probing your current thoughts, like she had done with Rose. Or, they could “make you sing.” When they forcibly pulled thoughts from your head, it was not only excruciating, but you were forced to “sing” every detail of whatever it was that you were thinking without a choice. There was no way to hide your intentions or lie about what you had done. Terrance was screwed.

  Dax and Bobby escorted Terrance back down to our actual "rising" pit. This was the area where we all slept during the day. It was located far underground, beneath the club, and only had two entrances. One was under the circular dance floor, and the other was hidden behind a bookcase in Evangeline's office. I started to follow Dax and Bobby towards the pit, but just then Evangeline nodded her head in my direction. I guess we weren’t done talking about Rose’s appearance tonight after all. I followed her into her office and shut the door behind us.

  “I like Rose very much,” Evie started, “but I’m concerned that she is witnessing too much for her own good.”

  “You just said that you scanned her. If she had any questions or suspicions about me or The Rising Pit, you would have heard them then.”

  I wasn’t about to let Evie ruin the best thing that had ever happened to me. Rose was the sweetest, most caring, and sexiest person I had ever met. The first night that I saw her leaning out of that limo and smelled her scent drifting on the breeze, I thought I’d died again. I recall writing her some cheesy poem in hopes of capturing her attention, but what I truly remember about that night was her scent. She smelled of innocence and sweetness: like fresh cotton and sweet tarts, and sunshine and rain, all mixed together. I was immediately in love with her.

  “While doing my quick scan, I could sense something just below the surface: a wariness or apprehension of some kind. I’m just concerned that we may be the source of that,” Evangeline stated.

  “Or maybe it’s because her mother was killed six months ago. And it probably didn't help that she was worried she'd gotten me in trouble, and then here comes the owner of the club making a trip across the parking lot to talk to her about it. Honestly, with everything she has gone through, I’d be surprised if she doesn't spend the rest of her life wary and apprehensive.” I was feeling a little pissed and crossed my arms in defiance.

  Evie cocked her head and took in my frustrated tone and stance. A smile slowly spread across her face. “You’re in love with her.”

  “Damn straight.” I was not embarrassed to express my feelings for Rose in front of Evie. She and Dax had a wonderful relationship that made the rest of us long to have someone in our lives that we too could share eternity with. With Rose, eternity wasn’t going to happen, but I didn’t care. A lifetime with her was something that would sustain me until my true death. Yeah…I loved her that much.

  “I haven’t received any signs of the new Sire emerging, but when they do, you could always petition them to change Rose for you,” Evie said.

  I had never thought about Rose actually becom
ing a vampire. Mainly because I couldn’t change her, and at this point neither could Evie.

  When the Sire of a clan reached a certain age, their ability to share the life blood required for the change disappeared. A new Sire within the line was eventually triggered to take their place, but sometimes that could take hundreds of years to happen. It had been eighty-five years since Evie last created a new vampire, and we hadn't had any signs of who the new Sire could be. Honestly, I thought we all had forgotten about it as our little family was pretty content.

  “I hadn’t even thought about it, but I guess when the time does come, I could petition the new Sire to change Rose.” Hope was blooming in my chest.

  Evie smiled, “Well it’s certainly something to think about. I, for one, would welcome Rose with open arms. I’ve never seen anyone make you so happy and she does seem to be as sweet as you say. I think she would make a wonderful light vampire, and it would please me for you to be able to spend eternity with the person you love, just like me and Dax. ”

  “That would be amazing.” I dreamily started to fantasize about an eternity with Rose.

  Evie snapped my attention back to the present. “Now what should we do about Terrance?”

  The air left my lungs. “Honestly, I don’t know. He has always been a little darker than the rest of us, and even though we’ve monitored him successfully in the past, I really don’t see him changing back this time. When he stepped out of the woods, his hair was black and his eyes were almost as dark, and I could smell and hear the woman he had left behind in the woods. She was bleeding, frightened, and whimpering. I could tell that Terrance had not made their interaction a pleasant one.”

  "Is that why you were drifting, because of the effect the woman in the woods was having on you?"