Scent of a White Rose (7 page)

I was so shocked when it happened that without
even thinking I launched myself at him. The poor kid had probably
thought I was attacking him but I wasn't. It had been almost ninety
years since I lost my Siring ability, and if Christian was starting
to hear people's thoughts that meant that he was developing powers.
That was first sign of a vampire being triggered to become a Sire.
I realized that I had overacted, but the thought of Christian
becoming a Sire had jolted me. I just wish that I would have had
time to explain that I was ecstatic at the development–not
angry.

Could it really be Christian who was in line to
become Sire? My god, how amazing would that be? But oh, how I would
miss him when it was time for him to leave us.

All new Sires were expected to leave their
current clan in order to start a clan of their own. I would retain
my powers and control over my clan, but I would lose someone that I
loved very much. I couldn't think about that right now.

As I made the trek into the pit, I kept going
over what I had glimpsed in Rose's head. I'd seen images of
Dominique and Tori helping her at the bar, of Dax and Christian
entering the private room together, and of myself sitting in my
office. But then I had seen the image of Terrance. It had been just
a quick flash that gave me no way to pinpoint the specifics and
that was what really bothered me.

As I rounded the corner, I heard Terrance
rattling his chains. I shouldn't have been surprised that he didn't
like the idea of being alone with me. I may not look imposing or
frightening to the naked eye, but since I was the one who decided
if they lived or died, my clan couldn't help but fear me. Luckily I
had never been forced to kill anyone in my clan...yet.

I approached the cell which had no door, but
instead a large square opening that lead into the room. The walls
were composed of gray cinderblocks and had several sets of chains
mounted to them as well as to the ceiling and the floor. I realized
that this was the first time I had ever had to use them. It made me
sad. "Terrance. How are we feeling tonight?" His eyes were locked
on mine, radiating hatred. This wasn't a look I saw very often.
After all, we were family, and there was very rarely a reason for
discord among us.

"What do you want Evie?" Terrance's tone was
laced with contempt, "You already had Dax scan me, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. And I know that you're hiding
something. But I'm not here to talk about the girl in the woods.
What I want to know about is Rose." I had hoped the abruptness of
my question would shock him into revealing something right away,
but no such luck. It wasn't like I was an expert interrogator. So
instead of catching a glimpse of any new information, I only picked
up on our current conversation that was running through his
head.

"Rose, who?"

"Rose Reynolds, Christian's girlfriend."

"Oh. The curvy blonde he's been dying to take a
bite out of for months?" His tone was harsh and sarcastic.

"Christian loves her. He knows he can't feed
from the one he loves without giving himself and his secret away.
Do you love anything anymore Terrance?" I asked.

"Look at me Evie. I think you know the answer to
that question." He was referring to his now permanently darkened
appearance. It was obvious that he no longer felt love for anything
and wasn't going to drift back. He was forcing me to inflict the
true death on him. It's almost like he was asking me for it.

"Are you ready? Or would you like to see Dax one
last time?" I couldn't help the quiver in my voice. I knew I had no
choice, but Terrance was like a son to Dax. Back when I had turned
Terrance, Dax had made it a point to watch over his wife and
children, ensuring they were safe and well taken care of before we
moved on. That had sealed their friendship for centuries.

"No. What's the point? Just do it." Terrance
went slack and lowered his head.

The true death wasn't as horrific as it had been
portrayed on TV or in any of the books people had read. In reality,
it was quite simple. All I had to do was sink my fangs into
Terrance's neck and program my sedative to carry the poison of true
death into his system. Another power that resided only with the
Sire. The poison would then spread through his veins, effectively
paralyzing him as it hardened his body, eventually reaching his
heart.

While the heart of a vampire no longer "beat,"
it was still the main energy source for their afterlife. Once the
poison reached the heart, it hardened and withered, and then they
simply turned to dust. No mess, no fuss...just dust.

As I approached, I could feel the tension drain
from his body. He knew that this was the end. I gently placed my
hands on his shoulders and guided us both down onto our knees. I
looked into his eyes and then kissed him once on the cheek.

As I extended my fangs and lowered my head to
his neck, I couldn't stop the tear that ran down my cheek and
landed on Terrance's shoulder. He tensed as the evidence of my
emotions ran down his arm. I felt a slight shudder move through
him.
Finally.
When faced with the end of his existence, he
started to show some emotion...and that's when I struck.

* * * * *

CHAPTER TWELVE

Questions

(Rose)

After I dragged out my goodbye with Christian
for as long as possible, Jillian and I climbed into her car and
headed for home. "Did you end up having
any
fun tonight?"
Jillian asked.

Not really.
But I didn't want to tell her
that; she'd think it was all her fault. "Sure, it was fun being
able to hangout inside for once, and spending time with Christian
is always great." I tried to sound convincing. It didn't work.

"Then what were you guys fighting about
earlier?" She looked at me with that
don't bullshit me
look
on her face, that only a best friend could pull off.

"He wasn't thrilled when I announced that I'd be
moving out soon." My voice had gone flat. I understood that he
worried so much because he loved me, but it was imperative that I
got out of Dad's house as soon as possible. With everything that
had happened–I just couldn't handle being there anymore.

"You'd think he'd be psyched that you're getting
your own place. I mean, it's total freedom and you guys would get
to see each other all the time. What's his problem?"
See, this
is why I loved my best friend. She got me.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, but when I
told him and Evangeline, he just freaked and said that he didn't
like the idea of me being out on my own." It still chapped my ass
when I thought of him treating me like a kid. "But I know that once
I have my place, he'll chill out and realize just how brilliant it
is. We'll be together all the time. Together forever."

Jillian remained quiet for the stretch of a few
miles. "I was hoping that we would be able to get a place together,
but it sounds like you're setting up house for just you and
Christian." Her voice was quiet and rang with disappointment.

"Oh! Well, I guess I hadn't thought much about a
roommate. And you don't graduate college for another year and a
half." Jill hadn't taken the AP courses like I had, so even though
she was older than me, she was only in the middle of her junior
year. "Plus, I thought your plan was to keep mooching off your
parents for as long as possible," I joked.

"My parents aren't as strict as your dad, and
I'm already twenty-one. If I want to move out I'm sure they will
keep paying for college and everything as longs as I keep my grades
up." She was certainly defending her case well, but with what I had
planned for my future...I really couldn't have a roommate.

"I don't know Jill. Won't it be weird to be
there while Christian and I are together?" I usually didn't mind
talking to her about this kind of stuff. I mean we talked about sex
all the time, but when it came to this, I really just wish she'd
drop it.

"Um, haven't you ever heard of setting rules and
using code? A tie on the doorknob, switching off days of the week,
a certain colored hall light? Or, we could always just look for a
place that had a great layout where the bedrooms were far apart.
I'll be having Justin over too ya know!"
Wow...she was really
picturing this happening.

Snagging the opportunity to change the subject I
said, "Tell me more about Justin. I can't believe you guys met at a
yoga class. That's just so...strange."

"Why is it strange? I found the class when I was
walking home one night after a volleyball game with Penny. We
thought it looked fun, so we stopped in to grab a brochure, and as
we were coming back out we ran into Justin."

"So he doesn't actually take the class? He just
lurks outside of it?" This just kept getting better and better.

"What is your problem with Justin? Is it because
I didn't tell you that I'd met someone new?" She was getting
defensive. "Like I said, we met about four months ago, but we've
only gone out a few times. I guess I just didn't want to say
anything until I knew how I really felt about him. And, honestly,
before tonight we hadn't even made out." Her cheeks were red and
she was breathing in small, tight huffs.

"And so, after one makeout session, you're ready
to invite him into your house and make it more official?"

"Yeah. Actually I am." The look she gave me
dared me to say anything else.

We rode the rest of the way home in silence.

* * * * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Surprise

(Christian)

After we had all fed and finished closing the
club for the night, we started to make our way down to the pit. Dax
and I told everyone what had happened with Justin and Jillian.
Their laughter and jokes weren't helping my mood.

All my vampire brothers and sisters thought it
was hilarious that after 602 years I went and fell in love with a
human. So, anything that made my situation with Rose more difficult
was like the punch line of a joke to them: totally hysterical.

They continued to tease me and laugh as we made
our way to the bottom of the stairs. The circular enclosure that
acted as the top of our pit and the dance floor to the club settled
in place with its customary boom. And that's when we all heard
Terrance scream.

Dax glanced in my direction with a panicked look
on his face. He took off in the direction of the scream and we all
rushed to follow.

With our preternatural vampire speed, we all
filled the opening outside the cell within seconds. Once there, we
shared a collective sigh.

Evie wasn't delivering the true death to
Terrance, but was instead looming over him with both of her hands
clasped on either side of his face. He screamed again, just as Evie
whipped back her head of jet black hair.

I'd never seen anything like this. I had thought
she was "making him sing," but he wasn't "singing." No words broke
his lips. Only screams.

Right as I saw Dax move forward, preparing to
enter the cell, Evie let Terrance go. He hit the ground like a
drunk who'd finally reached his limit. Dax caught Evie just as she
started to do the same.

Her hair immediately drifted back to its medium
brown. She held his eyes for a moment and whispered, "There's a
woman." Then she collapsed in his arms.

Dominique was the first to move. She helped Dax
gather Evie then followed him to their room. Bobby, Tori, and I
slowly made our way forward and could do nothing more than stare at
Terrance lying on the floor, still in chains.

"So–who the fuck is this woman?" Tori's question
broke the silence. It was laced with a bit of venom, as she and
Terrance had been known to mess around occasionally.

"I don't know," I said.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to wait until
tomorrow to find out. The sun's almost up and I'm barely going to
make it to my room as it is." Bobby waved us off as he headed down
the hall.

We were your typical vampires. When the sun
rose, we'd fall. Literally.

Even though the sun didn't burn us, once it rose
we were rendered comatose and wouldn't rise again until it set.

Imagine if we got caught in a park or were
walking along a road when the sun started to rise...you'd find tons
of
dead
people lying all over the place until they
magically
got up once the sun went down. How the fuck would
someone explain that?

So, for the protection of our species, all clans
had secured lairs like our pit. And, like good little boys and
girls, we all made sure that we were tucked in our beds before the
sun came up. No one liked waking up on a hard floor or in a ditch
somewhere.

The moment I hit the bed, I shut my eyes and
thought of Rose. This was my ritual every night. She was always the
last thing I thought about.

We didn't dream in our comatose state, but
whatever we thought of last would also be what we thought of first.
I loved that. Waking up to an image of Rose was pure heaven.
Especially the image I thought of as I settled down into bed.

* * * * *

(Rose)

When I woke up and didn't see my twinkling
stars, I panicked for a second. I always did that when I stayed
over at Jill's. It took me a few moments to realize where I
was.

After our awkward ride home last night where
Jillian was mad at me for questioning her choice of boyfriend
material, we had gotten over it as we shared our customary bowl of
ice cream before going to bed.

Today was Saturday, so we didn't have school and
I didn't think that my dad would be home before 4 p.m. So once I
prodded Jill awake, I asked her if she wanted to go look at
apartments with me. This was me trying to say I was sorry.

I still had no intention of rooming with her,
but I would drop that bomb later. Right now, I just really wanted
her with me while I scoped out my prospects. I was a little
nervous.