Rose Blossom (9 page)

             
“Yes, Julian, you’ve obviously chosen the girl, against the better judgment of your family,” Loretta looked at me with apology in her eyes, “but she seems lovely and smart.”  She looked back at Julian, a frown on her mouth and a hardness in her eyes, “you will just have to deal with it. She’s going to be family and you need to stop being selfish.”

 
           I silenced Julian with a hand, as he opened his mouth to reply. I was irritated that they were talking over me, something my mother did all the time and I hated it, hated when people acted like I wasn’t there.

 
           “Excuse me, but I have no idea what you guys are talking about, and since I have not yet received or accepted a marriage proposal please stop acting like I cannot think for myself!” I could feel my face flush and my heart palpitate.

 
           Instantly, without seeing her move, Loretta was at my side, taking my hand.  I heard Julian’s warning growl but his mother just rolled her eyes and took my hand.

 
           “Calm down dear, there is no reason for this upset. I am truly sorry,” she smelled like lavender and the same musky coppery scent that Julian did, that same sweet wild lavender in my nostrils, forcing a calm to take over my senses.

 
           “Look,” I began, taking a deep breath and smiling, “I don’t have very many friends, and if it were not for my best friend Mel, I would never go anywhere or have any social skills at all. I would love to be friends with Avalon, especially if maybe you, Loretta,” I looked at her, “could talk to my parents about letting me out of the house to do so.”

 
           Loretta beamed at me and gripped my hand a little tighter, I could tell Julian did not really like it but reached up and tilted my chin back and kissed me. His lips pushed on mine, hot and insistent, I could feel his teeth pressing through them, and sighed, my whole body warming. When he broke off the kiss I was a little embarrassed as Loretta was still holding my hand.

 
           But she just let it go, gave me a large happy smile and looked over my head, “she is wonderful Julian, but it’s getting late and you should go.”

 
           “Yes we should head back and finish out the school day,” Julian agreed.  He helped me stand and put an arm around my shoulder.

 
           “Thank you for inviting me,” I said.

 
           “Any time dear heart and I will talk to your parents,” Loretta blew us a kiss before turning to go and, I assumed, find her partner.

 
           “Come on, I don’t want you to fall behind in school, nor do I want your parents to find out that you ditched today.”

 
           I laughed, “Yes, gods know what they would believe we did all day, certainly not the truth.”  We walked outside and right before we got to the truck I stopped and turned to Julian, a nagging suspicion in my mind that needed confirmation.

 
           “Julian?” I asked.

 
           “Yes dear heart, what is it?”

 
           “Am I prey?” I think it was the last thing he thought I’d ask. His whole body froze, as if he were made of marble, and his eyes darkened. Goose bumps broke out on my arms and a hint of fear was racing up my spine.

 
           “Is that why you are so in tuned to my heart? Why your whole family could hear it?” I questioned him, trying desperately to narrow down what in the world he was while suppressing the instinct to run screaming away.

 
           I watched as Julian slowly nodded, his eyes never left mine and I could not fathom what he was thinking.

 
           “Have you changed your mind about being with me?” he asked, quietly.

 
           I sighed, and seeing the pain in his eyes my fear subsided. Walking over to him, I placed a kiss on his chin and wrapped my arms around his waist, “of course not. My grandmother had always told me to accept things without fear or judgment. She used to quote Hamlet to me: 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' ''

 
           He swallowed and gave me a brief nod, but relaxed; I think he was truly worried I would leave him after that revelation.

 
           We got into his truck and began the drive down the mountain, in a peaceful silence. I’m not sure what he was thinking about but, like it had been for weeks, my every thought was centered on… him.

Chapter 6

             
"Rose, you're awful quiet, what's wrong?" I heard Julian ask as he sat down next to me on my parents' couch.  It was Sunday and it had been two weeks since I had met his family. We had fallen into a pretty good routine where he spent all day Sunday at my house.

             
"Yeah, Rho what's going on?" Avalon's voice echoed as she sat down next to me. True to my word I was spending time with Avalon and had gotten her to loosen up a bit in the past weeks. Her brown hair was in a pony tail and she was flushed today, as was Julian, both a little warmer than normal. But I had realized that whatever they ate or did not eat was what caused the temperature change in their skin.

             
I turned to Avalon, she was a curious little thing and my dad adored her. When she was with us and Julian and I wanted alone time, my dad let her go into his study and look at his books. I took a deep breath and smelled the jasmine and copper which floated off of Avalon.

             
Several days before I had given up figuring out why each member of Julian's family's breath smelled like a flower and a darker sent. Either way their scents calmed me down and let me breathe easier, even in the midst of my worse attacks. Besides my theory of what they were had grown; now all I needed was an opportune time to ask about it.

             
"Come on love, tell us what's bothering you," Julian pleaded, his hand cupped the side of my face as he pulled me onto his lap, I wasn't a small girl but Julian made me feel like one. I sighed, I didn't want to admit what had me depressed. It was silly really but with the end of October came the holiday I dreaded more than any other, Halloween. I had never been allowed to participate, too much excitement.  Parties, trick-or-treating, costume shopping, my mother had never allowed any of it.

             
And Mel loved Halloween more than anything.  She always held a huge costume party that I was never allowed to attend. I said as much to Julian and Avalon. They looked at each other shocked and then Julian just shrugged his shoulders.

             
"Do your parents not celebrate it either?" Avalon asked.

             
"Kind of, as you can tell they have the stereotypical jack-o-lanterns and my mother will allow me to be in charge of handing out candy. But anything else is forbidden." I leaned against Julian, turning my face to his chest.

             
"Well this year that will change," Julian told me. I looked up quickly.

             
"What?" I asked

             
"I will convince your parents to let me take you to the party," he said.

             
"Even if you could the party is a week away.  Where are we going to find costumes this late? It's themed, 'famous couples,' " I lamented.

             
"Oh Rhodanthe! Julian's had your costumes bought for weeks and I've had mine bought too! We love Halloween!" Avalon exclaimed.

             
I swiveled and looked at Avalon, when I saw the excitement in her eyes I stared back at Julian, "Why didn't you tell me?"

             
"I had no idea you weren't allowed to celebrate Halloween, I just figured you didn't care," Julian said, looking a little unsure.

             
"Oh Julian, if you can convince my parents to let me go I'll.... I'll do.... I don't know what but something!" I squealed and kissed him. He froze under my lips and then his hands were linked behind my back and we were locked in a deep embrace, I felt like he was devouring me and it was a pleasing sensation.

             
I heard Avalon cough, "Someone's home."

             
Julian and I pulled away from each other and sure enough a minute later, though I had heard nothing, the garage door opened.

             
Julian smiled down at me, "give me 10 minutes and I'll get the okay." He quickly left the room.

             
The minute he was gone I turned to Avalon; she sat back a little, probably not liking the expression on my face.

             
"Avalon, may I ask you a hypothetical question?"  I had craved this chance to get her alone for days now. The girl retained knowledge and ideas better than a computer.

             
"Well, I guess, if it is hypothetical then yeah, sure," she shrugged, watching me with careful eyes.

             
So I launched into my theory, "If you and Julian were....say....vampires, how would you get around the whole sunlight issue?"

             
I watched the light dawn in Avalon's eyes.  She sat up and crossed her arms in front on her chest and thought about it, and finally she answered.

             
"Well...if such things existed it would be tied into the basic blood diet, I would guess. If, say, a vampire drank only human blood then things like sunlight and holy objects would affect them like in stories of old."

             
I could feel excitement building inside of me, "well what else besides human blood would a vampire drink?"

             
"I would assume animal blood," Avalon's eyes glowed a bit and I could tell she was enjoying our game.

             
"And would drinking animal blood have negative effects?" I was desperately trying not to seem too interested, I didn't want to scare Avalon off, but it was hard, I knew she could hear my heart and its beat was slowly speeding up.

             
"Well since it would go against the vampire's base nature, in theory, it would weaken some of their powers, but they would be able to withstand sunlight and have no problem with holy objects." 

             
I stood up and began to pace, I could feel her eyes following my every move. "How do you think a mortal would be able to tell if someone was a vampire?"

             
I heard Avalon take a deep breath, "well, I've heard that vampires who drink mainly animal blood have floral and metallic smelling breath and unless they've fed recently their skin is supposed to be cool to the touch. And their eyes glow when they are in a powerful mood, supposedly."

             
I bit my lip as I heard the door from the garage open; we both stilled and watched as my father walked into the room. He smiled at us, shaking his head in laughter," Julian and your mother are still outside," he said then went upstairs.

             
My eyes darted to the door and then to the clock, I was afraid we wouldn't be able to finish our conversation before Julian got back.

             
"Okay, let's say a vampire made friends or dated a human, how much danger would the human be in?" I asked.

             
Avalon froze, and I noticed her eyes had a faint red tint to them; I inched away from her and waited for her response.

             
Slowly Avalon answered, "The human, no matter how well behaved the vampire, would still be prey. I mean these vampires would be able to smell their blood and hear their heart beat. But I think that even with all these factors the human would be safe enough. Especially if you added in how the vampire felt about them and the vampire's strength of will."

             
After she finished talking there was silence and the only sound that came was the ticking of the clock, I took a deep breath and into that powerful silence I asked my last question, "how would one become a vampire?"

             
What I wasn't expecting was Julian's voice to answer from the front entryway, "The human would need to die. The vampire drains the mortal’s blood they are very near death, and then they in turn drink from the vampire and pray it works."

             
We both turned to stare at Julian as he came further into the room, he looked paler than he had before and a worried crease sat between his eyes.

             
"Julian I....." Avalon trailed off.

             
"No Avalon, it's alright," he said, but his eyes never left mine, there was pleading in those blue depths and I realized he was afraid I would leave him if I knew the truth.

             
But what he didn't know was that I wasn't afraid, maybe a little shocked that vampires actually existed, but not afraid. My heartbeat was a little faster than it should have been, but only from the adrenaline.