Roses & Thorns (9 page)

With that settled, t
he plan was for me to graduate college
,
and once I was moved out
of my childhood home, he w
ould change me and I would surprise C
hristian with the fact that we c
ould now be together forever.

I couldn't wait.

* * * * *

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Life
w
a
s Over

(
Rose
)

After the decision had been made that I would become a vampire and surprise Christian with my transformation, life went back to normal
. Normal, but better. Everything now
held a newfound excit
ement for me. My
dates
with Christian
were fantastic because
knowing
that I w
ould never be without him gave me
such internal happiness that it felt like I was walking on clouds whenever we were together
. He
finally
express
ed
his love for me
as well, and continued to display it
in the most traditional ways: flowers, love notes, jewelry, etc.
,
and constantly told me that he never wanted to live without me. Th
at
was something tha
t I loved hearing, because in just under a year
,
he was going to be getting his wish.

Tonight's date had been especially great because
Christian had told me that his boss, Evangeline, was going to be hosting a company mixer and all the employees were suppose
d
to bring dates.

Though he
never let on, i
t was obvious that this was his way of introducing me to his clan and I couldn't have been more excited. If he wanted me to meet
them
, then that meant at some point he was probably planning to have them vote as to whether I could become one of them, just like Terrance had explained.

"Absolutely, I would love to meet everyone you work with." I accepted the invitation and then k
issed him
goodnight as it w
as really late
.
I headed home
,
realizing that it was just after
two in the morning
. I hoped that I wouldn't wake up Mom and Dad, but Mom had a tendency to wait up for me, even though I was a grown woman.
I
didn't mind though, and
if
she was up, I
w
ould get to tell her about C
hristian
i
nvit
ing
me to his
"company mixer
" next weekend.

The moment that I turned the corner at the end of my street, my vision was filled with blaring red and blue lights. It only took a couple seconds for me to realize that the ambulance and cop cars were centered around my house.

Oh no!

I had no idea what was happening, but
,
I hope my dad didn't have
a heart-attack
,
was the first thought that crossed my mind. He always worked so hard, and lately he
'd ha
d
t
o attend a lot more late and out of town meetings.

I parked the car down the street and ran towards the house as fast as I could.
I tried talking to the first policeman I saw.
"What's happened?"

"Miss, you need to get back in your car and head on home," the cop
politely stated.

"This is my home!" I screamed as I pushed my way past him and started across the yard.

"Rose!" My dad's voice rang out
,
and in the same instant my heart dropped. If he was running towards me
,
then something had happened to Mom.

From the tear streaks that
coated his
face, I knew it was bad. I stopped in my tracks halfway across the lawn and froze. By the time he reached me, everything had gone silent. It
wa
s like my ears were suddenly filled w
ith cotton
,
and the whole world had s
tar
ted to operate i
n slow-motion.

The moment Dad reached me, he wrapped
me
in his arms and we fell
to the ground. "Rose. She's gone. Your Mom's gone
,
"
he sobbed.

It wasn't the cold dew on the grass that caused my goose bumps, but the utter terror of what he'd just said to me. There had to be a mistake
. I had just talked to Mom early tonight when I told her that I was going to be later than usual.
T
here was no way that she could be dead.

"Sir, if you and your daughter would come with us, we have a few questions for you," the same officer said.

We were led into the house
,
and then instructed to take a seat in the living room. I was so lost in my
head that I didn't even hear
the police as they
started asking my dad questions about what had happened.
But o
nce I was able to regain a small amount of focus, it became clear that someone had broken in and killed my mom when she
'd co
me out of her room and s
potted t
hem. Dad said that he
hadn't heard
anything, but that when he woke up and found the bed empty, he
'd
got up to check on Mom and found her in the hallway, just outside their bedroom.

Dad continued to explain that it looked like she had just passed out, as there wasn't any blood, but when he tried to wak
e her, he realized that she wasn't breathing and called 9-1-1.

Apparently w
hen the ambulance
arrived and began examining the body,
they had found two small puncture wounds on her neck
,
and
requested
my dad's per
mission to do an autopsy to pinp
oint the cause of death.

A
fter
hearing this
,
t
he first thought that crossed my mind was,
Terrance.

That son
of a bitch
no good vampire followed my mom home and killed her after feeding one last time.
Oh god, what if he turned her?

I immediately realized that my train of thought didn't make
any
sense, because if Terrance
had
turned my mom, her body wouldn't be here. He would have taken her with him so they could complete the process
,
and so that he could be there when she woke a
s a
vampire. No, this wasn't right. Plus,
Terrance had always treated my mom like something he cherished, so why
would he
kill her? Something just
wasn't
adding up. Terrance
couldn't have been the one who
kill
ed
my mom.

I continued to ponder all the possibilities of what could
've
happened because there was no way that two puncture wounds to the neck was a normal cause of death. As a matter of fact
, I heard them rule it a "freak
accident" as they finished up their interrogation and began to clear the scene.

My attention was suddenly snapped into focus as I saw my mom's body being wheeled out the front door in a body bag. My dad quickly grabbed me and forced me to look away.

My mom's life was over, and so was mine. How was I suppose
d
to live without
her
? As the tears
started
to flow and the authorities finally left us alone,
I sank into my dad's embrace. As devastated as I was, listening to him
cry over the loss of his wife wa
s what pained my heart the most.

After tha
t
night
,
everything
changed. My dad took a
sabbatical
from work and pulled me out of school while we tried to process everything. He made funeral arrangements
and had meetings with lawyers and insurance people all while insisting that I stayed glued to his side.

It quickly became clear that Mom's death had turned Dad into a scared, over-protective father. The only time I was able to grieve on my own was when it was time for bed o
r
when I used the restroom. He wouldn
't let me see Christian anymore,
and since I practically never left the house without him,
I never saw Terrance again
either. It had only
been a month, but there was no
end
in sight
to what I like
d
to call my
"
official lock-down."
God,
I missed my mom so much.

T
he only thing that made me happy was thinking about Christian.
We talked on the phone as much as we could, and as harsh as it sounded,
th
e fact th
at we would never have to go through something like this
made me happy
.
I was still devastated that my mom was dead...
but I was going to live forever.

Look for
other books
in The Rose Trilogy

at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other online vendors

Scent of a White Rose
- Book 1

(Available Now)

Blood of a Red Rose
- Book 2

(Available May 8, 2012)

Death of a Black Rose - Book 3

(Available
September 1
8, 2012)

by

Tish Thawer

Praise for
Scent of a White Rose

"...everything about Scent of a White Rose was such a fresh new concept when it came to vampires, actually it was just a whole new concept in general for the paranormal genre! This is a read any paranormal lover should read!" ~ YA-Aholic

"Tish adds her own unique spin that makes Rose and Christian's story intriguing. The plot twists will definitely have you turning the pages to see what is going to happen next." ~ The Book Lovers Realm

"
Scent of a White Rose
is not the plain Jane girl meets vampire and falls in love story...I will tell you that you should add this book to your TBR list." ~ The Book Nympho

"In
Scent of a White Rose
, Tish Thawer crafts a seductive vampire tale with her eloquent writing style and keen sense of romance that simply entrances!" ~ Romancing the Darkside

"Thawer managed what I thought was an impossible feat. She was able to put yet another new spin on the age old vampire tale."
~
T
he Bookshelf Sophisticate