Scent of a White Rose (9 page)

"Evie?" Dax pleaded. "Come on honey, I know you
can do this. Come back to me. Come back to us all." Dax was a big
guy. He was muscular, had a buzz cut, and was a usually
intimidating, but right now he sounded like a little kid who had
lost his puppy. In my eyes it didn't make him any less of a man; it
actually filled me with respect for him and the love that he
carried for Evie. I felt the same way about Rose, and I knew that
if anything like this ever happened to her, I would be acting the
same way or worse.

Evie finally opened her eyes and took in Dax's
face. She reached up and stroked his cheek. "Thank you my love,"
she whispered. "How did you know that clearing my mind would
work?"

"I didn't. It was Christian's idea." Dax scooped
her up into his arms and started kissing the top of her head.

Evie stared at me with a look on her face that I
couldn't quite describe. There was a hint of gratefulness, a hint
of curiosity, and a hint of respect. I wanted to rush in and start
asking questions, but just then Dominique spoke up. "Why don't we
give these two some time alone? The sun is almost up and we'll all
be out again soon, so let's just plan to meet back here first thing
after rising. If that's okay with you, Evie?"

"Thank you Dom. That would be great. I'll see
you all after rising...and Christian, thank you."

I nodded my head and headed out the door towards
my room. I couldn't wait until I had some alone time with Evie,
because for some reason I had a feeling that there was more going
on than just what had happened between her and Terrance. As a
matter of fact, I still hadn't had the opportunity to ask her why
the hell she launched herself at me in the private room. Yeah, we
definitely needed to talk.

After making my way back to my room, exhausted
from the nights drama, I didn't even bother getting undressed. I
just laid down on the bed and thought of Rose as the darkness
claimed me.

* * * * *

(Evie)

I watched Christian walk out my door as I
relaxed into Dax's embrace. I had to figure out what all this
meant. I needed to not only get to the bottom of what was going on
with Terrance, but to truly confirm if Christian was the one being
triggered to become Sire. It certainly appeared to be the case. He
was able to hear my thoughts, and somehow he mysteriously had known
that clearing my mind would work. I was actually starting to wonder
what other traits he would start displaying. I tried to remember
back to when I was triggered to become Sire, and these traits were
definitely not things that had happened to me. But then again,
thinking back that far was like trying to access ancient
history.

Dax broke my train of thought as he twisted me
around in his lap. "Are you truly okay Evie? I was worried sick and
so mad that I almost tore Terrance limb from limb."

"I'm fine. Now that I'm awake, when I think
about what happened all I get is the image of Terrance and I locked
in our embrace. For some reason I don't see the image of that
woman. It's almost like it's now blocked from me."

"Terrance said that he isn't purposely hiding
anything from us. That when he thinks back to the woman you
mentioned things just become fuzzy."

"I don't know what's going on, but Dax, I'll
admit I was scared. But now I'm pissed. Nothing like that has ever
happened to me before. Something strange is going on and we need to
figure it out fast."

Dax hugged me tightly. "We'll figure it out
Evie. I promise."

I didn't doubt him; I never did. Dax was the
love of my life, and for a vampire, that's saying something. It had
taken 327 years for me to find the perfect man to become my
consort. It happened in 1162 A.D. when I was in Ireland. I had been
on my way to find a boat to the Americas, and that's when I had
first seen Dax.

He was working at the docks, and for the first
time since becoming a vampire, I actually felt out of control. The
pull that I felt towards him was like gravity. He was so beautiful:
his sculpted body, his buzz cut brown hair, and those sparkling
brown eyes had me postponing my trip just so I could stay and watch
him.

I followed him for three days, but after several
silent trips back and forth through the shadows, I knew this was
the man I wanted to share eternity with. He was masculine, kind,
and had a great sense of humor. But I didn't think I could bring
myself to actually kill someone and force them into a life with me
without them having any say. The next day this concern was
eliminated for me.

There was an accident on the docks. One of the
pulleys that held the ropes that were used to lift heavy containers
onto the ship broke. I watched in horror as the large wooden crate
headed straight for Dax. He didn't move fast enough and it landed
on him, crushing his legs.

I didn't take time to think, but instead used my
vampire speed and strength to toss the crate aside, scoop him up,
and run until we were safe in the woods outside of town, all of
which took about ten seconds.

Dax was of course in shock, but after explaining
what I was and how by changing him I could save his legs, he agreed
to become my vampire consort.

* * * * *

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Bad Ass

(Rose)

After bidding Jillian goodbye and thanking her
parents for having me yet again, Dad and I headed home. We had
stopped for takeout on the way, and were now sitting at home
finishing out our Saturday evening by eating Chinese food and
telling each other how our weekends had gone.

"Did you have fun with Jill this weekend?"

I wasn't sure if Jillian's parents told my dad
that we had "gone to the movies" or not, but I didn't think so. He
had always been pretty good about trusting them to watch out for
me, so I decided not to share this little tidbit. "Yeah, it was
okay, we really didn't do much Friday night, but today Jill and I
went looking at apartments."

I knew this wasn't a topic that he wanted to
ever discuss, but too bad. After Christian and my little argument
over it, I was still feeling a little jaded about the subject. It
was time I stood up for myself, even if that meant having an
argument with my dad.

Dad took a deep breath. "I know that you turn
twenty-one in April and then graduate in May. And I know I said
that you could move out once you had graduated. But Rose, don't you
think it's still a little too soon after everything that's
happened?"

"I don't think so, Dad. I'm a responsible girl,
and I know Mom would want us to move on with our lives and that is
exactly what I'm trying to do." I set my fork down, shifted in my
chair, and met Dad's gaze. "I could have easily given up on
everything when she died. And there were times when I thought I
wanted to, but I didn't. Instead, I kept getting out of bed every
morning, I kept going to school every day, and I kept getting good
grades so I could get a good job after college even though I don't
need to. I want to live my life Dad, and that involves me growing
up and moving out."

The more I thought about Christian and my dad
having a problem with this, the quicker my temper continued to
rise. "And if I can be honest here, I'm feeling really stifled with
how protective you've become. You just said it yourself; I'm going
to be twenty-one soon, and I really don't feel like I should be
forced to have a sleepover every time you head out of town." I
shoved the chair back from the table and stood up, continuing my
rant as I cleared the dishes away. "As a matter of fact, I want to
buy a car. I'm sick of being driven around by your guard dog for
hire, or having to bum a ride with Jillian." I was on a roll. I
wasn't sure where this newfound strength was coming from, but I was
happy to have found it. It felt good to get all this off my chest.
Dad, on the other hand, was looking at me like I'd just lost my
mind.

He sat there stunned for a few moments while I
leaned back on the counter. I had almost sounded like a badass; now
I was trying to look the part. It didn't work.

"You know that I've always been proud of how you
pulled yourself together after what happened. And I'm even prouder
that you want to get a job after you graduate instead of living off
of your settlement money. But that doesn't mean I will ever stop
being your father, and with that comes the right to not only
protect you from others, but to protect you from yourself. I just
don't think you're ready to be out on your own yet." He finished
with a very stern voice, stood up and dropped his plate in the sink
with a loud crash.

My dad wasn't someone who showed anger very
often, but I could tell that my little speech had pissed him off.
"I can't believe you are coming at me with this kind of attitude.
We haven't even had a single conversation about me buying you a
car, or you moving out, and the first time you want to talk about
it, you act like this? Not the brightest move, Rose."

"It looks like we are having a conversation
about it right now! And I'm sorry if I have an attitude. I'm just
trying to talk to you about my future, but for some reason you
refuse to acknowledge that I have one! Plus, I don't need you to
buy me a car, I can buy it myself!" Now I was the one who was
pissed. "I'm so sick of being the sweet little girl who does just
what Daddy says."

Dad opened his mouth as if he was about to yell
back at me, then shook his head, took a deep breath, and slowly
walked in my direction. "Rose, I'm sorry," he started as he placed
both hands on my shoulders, "I just don't think I'll ever get past
seeing you as my little girl. And you're right; you've been dealing
with the brunt of the fear that I've been fighting since your
mother's death, and it's not fair to you. How about on Monday I
pick you up from school and we go car shopping? Then we can talk
about this apartment idea of yours."

Wow. That was quite a turnaround. Not that I
wasn't grateful for the change in his perspective, but I had a
feeling things weren't going to go as smoothly as he was making
them sound. "Okay. That sounds great actually." I tried to keep my
voice steady and strong, when really, I was so excited about the
idea of getting a new car that I wanted to squeak and squeal.

Dad hugged me and moved off to put away his left
over Chinese food. I started to do the same when I heard a knock at
the front door. Dad's head snapped up from the table. "Are you
expecting someone?"

"No, are you?"

"No, I'm not. Get upstairs right now and don't
come out of your room, no matter what you hear." Dad's voice was
clipped, serious, and panicked. So much for making progress on his
over protectiveness. For all we knew, it could just be a couple of
Jehovah's witnesses, but he was acting like Satan was knocking at
our front door.

* * * * *

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Complications

(Christian)

It seemed like everyone had risen at the same
time today. We had all gotten up and moved through our usual
routines fairly quickly and arrived outside Evie's door at
practically the same time. I thought it was pretty obvious that we
were all still concerned over what had happened and wanted to see
if Evie had indeed risen tonight without any further
complications.

As we greeted each other with head nods, or
slight shoulder bumps, we heard Evie and Dax talking from within.
Thank God she was awake.

"Hey! Quit messing around in there. You've got a
crowd of concerned people waiting out here." Tori announced.

"Okay. Give us just a minute and then we'll meet
you guys upstairs," Evie called out.

Bobby wagged his eyebrows. "I bet it takes them
more than a minute if you know what I mean."

Everyone started laughing as we headed down the
hall. Finding Evie awake and okay had definitely lifted our
spirits. As we filed past Terrance's cell, we found him sitting on
the floor, back resting against the wall. He gave us all a weak
smile, then said, "I take it Evie woke up?"

Everyone stopped and looked at me. I guess since
I was the first vampire Evie had sired after Dax, it kind of put me
"higher up" in our ranks, even though we didn't really have
ranks.

I gestured for everyone to head on up while I
took a moment to answer Terrance and maybe ask a few questions of
my own. "Yes, she woke up. We're heading upstairs to have a meeting
about what happened."

"Would it be too much to ask for you to let me
know how the meeting goes?" Terrance sounded calm and collected. I
supposed I would too if I was trying to get information out of
someone.

"Yeah, I don't know about that. Plus, you know
that's something only Evie can decide."

It only took him a second to launch himself at
me, rattling the chains until they pulled tight. His eyes were
glued to mine and he squinted slightly. I thought he was trying to
attack me, so I landed a kick to his chest that sent him flying
back into the cinderblock wall. "What the fuck do you think you're
doing?" Every time I got near this guy he did something else to
piss me off.

He took a moment to right himself and stood with
his back against the wall. "Huh. I guess I was wrong."

I started to stomp into the cell. "What are you
talking about? Wrong about what?" I was so over this asshole. All I
wanted to do was land a few more punches before he answered, but
his next statement stopped me in my tracks.

"Wrong about the fact that you're going to
become our new Sire." The deadpan look on his face was the only
indication that he was serious.

"You really are fucking crazy aren't you?" I
turned to walk away when I heard him call out, "You've read my mind
before Christian, and you were just able to go against Evie's
command. What do you think that means?"

Holy shit!
I had just entered his cell
against Evie's command. But me? Sire? I didn't think so. I hadn't
shown any signs of developing powers, and Evie certainly hadn't
reported that she had sensed I was the one being triggered. As for
being able to enter the cell, I wondered if Evie's powers truly
were fading. I was sure that it had nothing to do with me, and this
was just another classic case of Terrance being his asshole
self.