Blood of a Red Rose (17 page)

* * * * *

CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE

Blood Bond

(Meredith)

As I stood there sucking the blood from Damien's neck, I heard a small noise at the door. I look
ed up to see Jeremy slowly turning away.
Oh God, no!

I ran to the door. "Jeremy!"
I wiped t
he blood from my mouth in a desperate attempt to salvage
an appearance of n
ormalcy
,
then pleaded
, "What are you doing home? Oh my god, please Jeremy, let me explain. I can explain everything."

He stood frozen in place for only a moment then said the words that unhinged my heart.
"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."
The tears had started to pour and I fell to the floor as I listened to him yell at me.

"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 t
here left to explain
,
Meredith?"

I wanted to crawl to him, hold onto him and never let go
. B
ut I didn't want to risk him running away before I could explain
,
so
instead,
I remained shudd
ering on the floor.

"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.
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."
He turned to go upstairs and my panic reached its peak.

"Please, Jeremy. You don't understand
. Y
ou can't leave me...I'm pregnant."
I knew it was a long shot he'd give a damn about a demon baby he didn't ask for and probably wouldn't want, but it was my only shot at
stopping
him from racing upstairs and then straight out of my life.

So while he remained in place with his back to me,
I told him about the baby
. T
hen I told him a lie.
"
I'm pregnant
, Jeremy
,
and o
nce the baby wa
s
conceived
,
it
started to draw on the life force of each of us.
It
's a blood bond
they need to survive. If
you leave and
the baby doesn't
have both his parents to draw from
...it could die.
Please, Jeremy. I know you
'
ll never love me again, but please don't kill our baby by walking away from me now."

I
knew he'd have no
clue
as to
whether
or not
I was
telling to truth, but I hoped
the idea of hurting an innocent child would be enough of a reason to make him stay. He was such a wonderful man who would never hurt anyone, so I thought I had a good chance
at
making this work. But as he stood unmoving, still facing away from me, his next words brought that dream to a
screeching hal
t.

"Meredith. You're a demon, a liar, and a murderer. You killed my wife and framed my daughter. How can you possibly think I would give a damn about you and that baby?"

Dam
mit!
He was leaving me with no
choice.
As he started to turn around
,
I grabbed the pan from the kitchen counter. Scaling back my strength so I wouldn't kill him, I smack
ed
Jeremy in the head, knocking him unconscious. I just needed some time to think.
I loved him with all my heart
,
and I wasn't ready to give up on my happily ever after just yet.

It didn't take me
long to decide what to do.
Honestly, it
was the only thing I could do if I wanted to keep him here with me, and never have to worry about him leaving again. I
dragged
him across the kitchen floor and
lean
ed
him against the wall
, then
grabbed
a knife
f
rom the drawer
and used it
to nick my wrist.
After lightly patting his cheeks
,
he started to move just enough to indicate he was coming to. That's when I placed my wrist to his mouth and smiled as he began to swallow
my blood
.

* * * * *

(
Loraine
)

I materialized into a room full of vampires and Rose crying in Christian's arms. I ran my hand down her back
,
trying to comfort her as I was filled with the knowledge of why she was in
such
pain. "There, there
,
baby girl. Everything will be alright."

"Are you sure? Is there any way you can go make sure Jeremy will be safe?" I knew Christian was speaking into my mind and was worried that Rose was right. Jeremy could be walking
straight
to his
death. I nodded "yes" and
in the next moment
disappeared.

At first I was excited because I thought I'd figured
out
how to
go
wherever I wanted, but instead, it turned out that Jeremy's anger and fear levels were what had called me to his side once more. When my
body
reformed
,
I was
in
Jeremy and Meredith's
townhome
.

He was
pee
king through the door that led from the kitchen into the garage. Suddenly I had a mental picture of everything that was happenin
g on the other side of the door. I'd never wanted anything more in my entire
life than to be able to help my h
usband escape this evil woman.

I hovered over Jeremy as Meredith came bursting into the kitchen, and then in a flurry of blood and tears proceeded to tell Jeremy that she loved
him
,
and that she could
n't
lose him now because she was pregnant.

I wasn't sure if ghosts could pass out, but I must've disappeared when my anger
took complete
control of me. That was the only time my calming ability didn't work...when
I
was the one who needed it most.

W
hen I
finally
re
materialized
,
I found Jeremy sitting on the edge of his bed with Meredith lying next to him.
He was holding his cell phone in his
hand
,
and
I knew in that second he was
preparing to break
the news to Rose.

* * * * *

CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR

Revelation

(Christian)

After Evie's announcement about love being the necessary ingredient to turn a dark
-
drifted vampire back to normal, everyone dispersed and went
downstairs to feed. Evie still wouldn't risk us accidentally feeding on a demon
,
so we were stuck with
bag
ged
blood for the time being.

As the rest of the gang headed towards the stairs, Evie motioned for me to join her in her office instead. I took Rose's hand a
nd
let Evie lead the way.

"I think we're going to have to deliver the true death to K
ennedy. With what we know now, if he hasn't drifted back already, I don't think he will
."

I knew Evie wanted me to be the one to do it. Even though she still carried the poison of true death, this
was her way of letting me
take
charge
of
the clan
, even if it was just between us.

I didn't want to let her down.
"Let's wait until the others are done feeding and we'll go down while they open the club. Rose, you don't have
to
be there with us. You can wait in our room if you'd like
,
or stay up here with Dax and the others
."
I didn't want her bearing
witness to
any more death than she already had.

"Okay. I'll ju
st stay up here with the others.
"
She squeezed my hand and smiled at me with reassurance in her eyes. She knew I was nervous
without me even needing to say
so
.
God, I love her.

We sat
in Evie's office and continued to talk about
all the recent events
while
we waited
for everyone to re-emerge from the pit: Terrance being in love and drifting back; Balam's and the elders
'
assumption that creating a hybrid was the answer to our demon problem; Meredith's reasons for creating her army
;
and everything else that had come up latel
y.

Finally
,
we heard the stage lock
i
nto place, indicating that everyone was once again
upstairs and starting to o
pen the club. Rose stood up, kissed me
,
hugged me tight,
and
then walked out of the office without saying another word.
I think she was just as nervous about this as I was.

"Are you ready?" Evie asked.

"Yes." And I was. I'd
finally
star
t
ed to
trust and enjoy my new abilities. I knew without a doubt how to deliver the true death
,
even though I'd never done it before. I
also
knew w
ithout a doubt that we had no choice. Kennedy wasn't going to drift back.

I walked to Evie's bookcase and pushed the button to open the door to her secret entrance into the pit. We remained silent as she followed me down the stairs.

Once we reached the cell
,
we found Kennedy crouched on the floor finishing off the remainder of his blood bag. I didn't hesitate or try to make conversation
.
I just flew into the cell and grabbed the vampire by the throat and struck.

As I sank my fangs into Kennedy's neck
,
I released the poison of true death into his system. I pulled away as the poison began to spread through his veins.
As I backed out of the cell to stand next to Evie, I
watched as the dark green poison crept across his skin, paralyzing him while turning his body to stone.
When I reached her side s
he said nothing
,
but
instead
took my hand a
s
we
continued to
stare
a
t
t
he green tendrils
that were making their way to his
heart.

O
nce the poison reached
and solidified
his
heart
,
he
s
imply turned to dust. The chains clattered to the ground and Kennedy was gone.

"He didn't suffer, Christian. Once the poison takes hold
,
it paralyzes them and they don't feel anything." Evie was trying to pull me away from the cell, but I wasn't ready to go just yet.

"I know, Evie. Thank you. But can you please just give me a moment
?
I'll be up shortly."

She hugged me and left me alone. Or what I thought was alone.

"So, you're officially the new Sire now?" Terrance ca
me
sauntering down the hall from the direction of the supply room. I guess not everyone had finished feeding and returned to the club.
Damn.

"
I suppose th
e evidence speaks for itself." I pointed to the dust pile that used to be Kennedy. I hoped Evie was right about Terrance, and
he no longer retained
any connection to Meredith through that fucking mind bond. I really didn't want to have to kill him too.

"That's good. I'm glad. You'll make a great Sire, Christian."

His response caught me off-
guard. I thought he'd
be
an asshole about it, but then I
realized this
new
Terrance must be
coming
from the calming effect
Loraine
had
on him.

My god, t
hat's it!
T
hat explains why he was able to fall in love with her despite Meredi
th's
manipulations
.
Loraine's ability allowed Terrance to retain that connection to his soul
,
and
therefore fall in love with her. He must've always felt at peace when he was near her
,
which led to him developing feelings for her.
In spite of everything, it was a blessing
that Loraine had been the one
Terrance had targeted. If it'd been anyone else
,
w
e would have lost him for sure.

I smiled and
thanked
him for his kind remarks, and silently sent a thank you to Loraine as well.

"Evie wants to keep it under wraps though, so we can use it to our advantage against the demons.
I need you to not say anything to the rest of the clan.
"

"No problem, but if you want to use your command to guarantee it, I'm okay with that." Again, his response wasn't something
I
expected, but
it seemed genuine
so I decided not to use my Sire abilities to guarantee his silence. Besides, this could
be
the test
that p
rove
d whether h
e was still under Meredith's influence or not.

As he f
ollowed me up into Evie's office
,
I began to wonder why Loraine wasn't here with Terrance now. She said that she always appeared when someone was specifically thinking of her, so I figured that's
why
she
'd been
drawn to Terrance so much lately. He was probably always thinking about her.

As
I shut the bookcase behind us
,
I
suddenly got the overwhelming feeling that
something terrible had
just
happened.
A
s we emerged from Evie's office into the club, I noticed Rose was standing in the middle of the room while everyone else was busy doing their usual prep work.

She was speaking on her cell phone
,
and in the next moment Loraine appeared above her with a terrified look on her face. Rose
threw her
phone
a
cross the room and
it
smashed
to
pieces against the far wall. Then she let o
ut a scream that was so loud, it had everyone frozen in
shock
.

I watched in horror as
the
love of my life started throwing chairs and upending tables in a fit of rage I never
thought her
capable of. "Rose, my god, what's wrong?"

When she spun in my direction
,
my heart dropped into my stomach
.
Her eyes were glowing
a
fi
ery
red
.

Time stood still as
Loraine explained
to me
that yes, Rose and Jeremy were both demons
,
but that they
'
d only found out recently, and that
'
s why Rose
had been p
ulling away. She
wanted to protect me and my clan by leaving. She continued to fill me in on why Rose's anger had finally been released
;
Jeremy was choosing to stay with Meredith because she was pregnant with his child.
Their demon child.

The next bit of divine knowledge I received was from my own psychic abilities. I knew
unequivocally
that turning Rose was the only thing I could do. To save her, to save us, to save her dad.

Without a moment's hesitation
,
I flew across the room and sunk my teeth into her neck. Everything started to become hazy as I heard Evie scream in the background. "Christian, NO!!!"