Blood of a Red Rose (16 page)

*
* * * *

CHAPTER
THIRTY
-ONE

Questions and Confessions

(Christian)

When I woke, even though Rose was the first thing to enter my mind, she was nowhere in sight. I assumed she'd already headed upstairs to spend some of her day out in the sun. I worried about her being outside alone, but I couldn't blame her for wanting to
take advantage of it while she could. B
ecoming a vampire and never hav
ing
th
at opportunity again
was something she'd
soon be facing.

I dressed in
a
hurry and headed to meet Evie outside of the cell as planned. I
assumed she'd want me to see if I could obtain
the identity of th
e demon that Kennedy had bitten, but w
hen I rounded the corner
,
I kn
ew something major was going on and that I wouldn't be getting any info
rmation from our prisoner today...or possibly ever.

Everyone was gathered outside of the cell, including Terrance.

"What's going on? And no
offense, man...but why is Terra
nce out of his chains?"
I asked.

"Terrance has drifted back to normal and I no longer fear Meredith
'
s control over him. Plus...look at Kennedy
,
"
was Evie's deadpan response.

I glanced into the cell to find Kennedy practically foaming at the mouth and straining against his chains so hard that they were beginning to dig into his skin. He hadn't started to drift back as Evie assumed
he would
and now I suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation.

"How is it that Terrance has drifted back
b
ut Kennedy hasn't?"

"That's the questions isn't
it
? There
's
something about
what happened to Terrance that's different than what's happening to Kennedy. Terrance was never like that, even when he
drifted to his darkest point,
"
Evie replied.

She
was right. There was something special about Terrance's recover
y
that we weren't understanding. And we'd better figure it out fast, because if Kennedy didn't start to show signs of improvement soon, we'd be forced to
deliver the
true death.

"Let's all go upstairs. I have a lot of information to share with you and we need to talk this out as a group," Evie directed.

We all climbed the spiral staircase and emerged from under the stage only to find Rose sitting on the floor by the front door crying her eyes out.

I flashed to her side and wrapped her in my arms. "Baby, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No," she sobbed. "But I did something stupid and I think my dad could die because of it."

Every
body
slowly took seats at sporadic tables around the club. I
t
looked like tonight was shaping up to be full of questions and confessions. "What did you do, Rose? What's happening with your dad?"

"I went to meet him today
,
and
I
t
old
him about Meredith and the war that
'
s
coming between the demons and
vampires. I told him she killed Mom and that was the reason I
attacked her. I'd
hoped that he'd come back here with me to stay safe, but he said that he had to confront Meredith and put an end to things."

She threw herself fully into my arms and I tried to absorb the
shakes that were
now
w
racking her entire body. "Oh, Christian. What have I done? I just wanted him to come here with me to be safe, and now she's probably going to kill him when he tries to leave her. I'm so stupid. I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry."

I looked up to find everyone in the club staring at us with concerned looks on their face
s
. But the face I
most
want
ed
to see wasn't there. So I concentrated and called out with my mind
. "
Loraine?
Rose needs you."

As soon as I opened my eyes,
her
ghostly form was hovering over us and she was laying a mist
y
hand on Rose's back. "There, there
,
baby girl. Everything will be alright," I heard her say.

"Are you sure
?
Is there any way you can go make sure
Jeremy
will be
safe
?" I asked the question in my mind
,
and thankfully she seemed to hear me because she nodded and disappeared.

Her presence did the trick because Rose sat up and wiped the tears from her face, then spoke to the entire clan. "I'm very sorry for not listening to Christian and Evie's advice. I hope I haven't made things worse by telling my dad of your existence, but I didn't think there was any other way to explain what happened. I understand if you no longer wish me to be part of your clan."

Evie stood and made her way over to us.
She took Rose's hands and helped
her
to her feet.
"Rose
,
we all understand your need to keep your dad safe.
But please understand that
the safety of my clan comes first,
which I already consider you a part of.
So
w
hile I'm not mad at you, I do expect you to follow our requests. We wouldn't ask
these t
hings of you if they weren't important."

I wanted to grab Rose and speed out the club
and i
nto the night. I knew Evie had every right to say
t
hose things to her,
but I couldn'
t help
feeling like I needed to protect from the
reprimand. "Baby, we'll talk about this later. But I'm sure you're dad will be okay. Can you trust me when I tell you I
know
things will work out?"

"Yes, Christian. I trust you," Rose answered.

We took seats at the table with Renard and Loni
,
and waited for Evie to begin her long explanation of what we'd fou
nd out from Balam.

The conversation had
gone just as I'd expected;
everyone started yelling and arguing how we were screwed since we didn't even have a Sire to create a hybrid. I kept
watching Evie,
expecting
her
to let everyone in on our
secret but she didn't. When those arguments died down, we finally got to the part of the discussion I was currently most interested in
: t
rying to figure out how Terrance had drifted back
when
it was becoming apparent that th
is
wasn't normally how things worked.

"I have a theory about how Terrance was able to drift back after being infected," Evie announced. "
I
briefly spoke
to Terrance and Rose about it, and it's seems like the only logical
explanation
to this illogical situation."

Everyone looked back and forth
between Terrance and Rose, with confusion on their faces. Even I was wondering how the two of them had anything to do with
his ability to drift back.

"
W
hile Terrance was under Meredith's control,
he
somehow
fell
in love with Rose's mother,
Loraine
. I think that being in love
,
and still retaining access to those feelings throughout his infection
, is
the real reason he
's been
able to drift back."

Everyone's
shocked re
actions floated through the air.
O
nce again
I'd
forgotten that Terrance had admitted to being in love with Loraine.
It made perfect sense though. Love was a human emotion
:
one that kept the light in our souls alive. That light must be the key factor in beating back the demon infection. Love...I guess it really does con
q
u
e
r all.

"I don't think it's e
nough to have the demon
blood clear out of
your system alone. I think you
have
to have
that
spark of love still touching
your soul in order
to be brought back to the light," Evie finished.

Terrance smiled at Rose, and she smiled back. I'm sure it was still awkward to know that someone other than her father had been in love with her mom. But it seemed to be a good thing in the end. Loraine's influence really did touch everyone she was around, and I hoped right now she was using her ability to keep Jeremy safe.

* * * * *

CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO

Explain

(Jeremy)

Seeing Rose had been wonderful and terrible
at the same time
. I was so happy
she
was safe, but a
fter everything she'd told me
,
I was
left so confused
;
I just did
n't
know what
to do.

According to her
,
I'd
been sleeping with the woman who
killed
Loraine
, and my little girl and I were both demons. I would have never believed her story except that she knew about the red sparks that flared in my eyes whenever I got angry. I'd known all along that something strange was happening, but admitting I was a demon was a pretty big pill to swallow.

I
cancelled my business meetings and headed back towards Masen. I had to confront Meredith about all of this, even if it w
as going to be the death of me. A
t this point I truly didn't care whether I lived or died. How could I? I was so disgusted with myself for falling in love with the woman who
killed
my wife.
I knew Rose was going to be fine on her own
, so
really...what did
it
matter how any of this turned out for me?

I thought about the best way to approach the subject with Meredith all the way home, but when I reached our house
,
I didn't have to ponder any longer. There was a blue Ford truck parked in our driveway, so I decided to leave the car on the street and snuck my way into the house through the back door.

I immediately heard
noises
coming from the garage. When I opened the door just a crack I was hit with a coppery smell that made my stomach roll. It was blood
.
I was sure of it. As quietly as I could
,
I inched the door open to get a better look.

Suddenly I wished
I was at The Rising Pit with my daughter and her vampire friends, because what I saw had me scared to death. Meredith was standing behind a man with her teeth sunk deep into his neck. Blood was gushing from the wound and down the front of his shirt. His eyes were wide with shock as she
continued to gulp
down his blood.

I was frozen in place, unable to breath
e
or move. If th
is was
what being a demon meant, I wanted nothing to do with it. And I certainly wanted nothing to do with her. When I couldn't stand to look any longer, I started to retreat as silently as I could. Apparently
I
wasn't silent enough, because the door flew open and Meredith stood in front of me, blood dripping down her mouth onto the tiled kitchen floor.

"Jeremy
!
" She quickly wiped the blood from her mouth using the sleeve of her shirt. "What are you doing home? Oh my god, please Jeremy, let me explain. I can explain everything."

Here I
stood
,
scared to death, but it sounded like
Meredith was just as terrified as
I was
.

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I know everything, and I'm leaving."

"No. Please don't go. You have to let me explain."
T
ears were actually running down her face.

"Explain what? Explain that we're demons and you kept
it
from me
?
Explain that you killed my wife in order to be with me
?
Explain that you purposely ran my daughter off so you could have me all to yourself
?
What the fuck is there left to explain
,
Meredith?" I was sure my eyes were pure red, and I didn't care. I let the anger build
, for once not worrying about
what happened when it did.

"Yes, I've lied to you. I knew from the moment I met you that you were a demon. I was
so
thrilled to have finally found someone like me that I did the unthinkable. I never expected to fall in love with you
,
but once I had, I couldn't live without you." She had fallen to her knees and tears continued to stream down her face.

"I love you so much and I'm so sorry for everything I've done, but Jeremy, please. You can't leave me."

"Watch me." I began to storm upstairs to gather my things when she said the one thing that stopped me in my tracks.

"Please, Jeremy. You
don't understand
. Y
ou
can't leave me...I'm pregnant."

* * * * *

(Meredith)

Earlier today, a
fter Jeremy left for yet another business trip, I called Damien to invite him over. I wanted
to know exactly how the rest of his evening had gone once he
'd
left
the meeting
with his cousins. I hadn't heard any suspicious new reports other than that of a missing woman, so I was optimistic the
y
hadn't gone off on a killing spree after all.

It
was
now
one o'clock in the afternoon
and
I heard
Damien's truck pull up to the house.

I invited him
in
and we sat down to enjoy the small lunch I'd prepared for us. "So, how did last night go? Any problems with your cousins?"

"No. No problems at all."

I was a little suspicious of his answer as he wouldn't look me in the eye
,
but kept his head ben
t
towards his plate. "So, no side effects or problems with aggression?"

He picked up his sandwich and took a bite,
s
hak
ing
his head
as he mumbled,
"Nope."

I wasn't buying this.
"Alright. What really happened
?
You're never this quiet when it comes to the effects
the
blood
, so s
pill. What aren't you telling me?"

I knew I'
d busted him when his shoulders dropped and he let out a
long sigh.
Dammi
t.
My morning had been going so well
,
and I didn't want anything to ruin it now. I was going to be pissed if I had t
o go clean up some horrible mess of dead bodies
somewhere
.

"We didn't do anything wrong, I swear. We just went to
an old warehouse and tested out
everyone's strength. Raú
l was able to bend the chair at the meeting but none of the others got to
demonstrate
their new abilities
,
so we just ran some tests of our own."

Phew
.
That was a relief. I could handle boys being boys, but if they started leaving a trail of bodies, I'd be putting an end to Damien and his cousins really fast.
"
Alright.
N
o more tests without me being there. And definitely no feeding on the side. I think last night went really well, and do
l
ing out the blood in small amounts seems to be the way to go."

Even though he nodded his head and smiled in agreement, the look in his eyes had me wondering if I already had a problem with my second in command.
If he was feeding on the side,
that meant he could soon be as strong as me, and that was something I couldn't allow. "When's the last time you had any blood?"

"Last night at the party. Same as the others," he responded.

I squinted and tried to focus on his pulse to see if
it was racing, which was a tell
tale sign of lying. And of course
...
it was. "Why are you lying to me?" I flew from the chair and had
m
y hands around his throat a second later.
I drug him out into the garage and threw him across it. He slammed into the metal cabinet, putting a dent in it.
Shit.
How would I explain that to Jeremy?

"What the fuck, Meredith? Why does it matter if I have a little sip on the side once in a while? Are you worried I'll become more powerful than you?"

I knew in that moment
I'd have to end Damien. Not only was he not following my directions, but it was obv
ious by his statement that
he
was planning to overthrow me.
"You'll never be as powerful as I am. Especially now that I'm pregnant with Jeremy's child."

It was true. I was officially pregnant.
I
really had
been glowing and feeling more powerful
,
so I
'd taken a test
just this morning and confirmed the reason why. I was having Jeremy's baby.

The howl
Damien
let out as he stood up from the garage floo
r
was
l
oud enough to shake the walls. "No
!
No fucking way will
I let you carry
that lame-ass demon's baby. What the fuck do you see in him
,
Meredith? He doesn't even know who he is. I'll kill him the second I see him and then you and I can be together like we should be. Two powerful demons together, ruling as one."

"
I'll kill him the second I see him
" were the
only
words ringing in my ears as I flew across the garage and landed behind Damien. I struck so fast that he had no idea what was happening. In the next second
,
I'd buried my teeth deep into his neck and began to drink him dry. I wouldn't have to worry about
a
mind bond being forged because he wouldn't be walking away from this.

No one threatens Jeremy and my happiness and lives to tell about
it
.