Scent of a White Rose (14 page)

"I have faith that we will get to the bottom of
this, but until we do, I'm not going to deliver the true death to
Terrance. I want him around in case we find the woman. Maybe by
some miracle, locating her can provide the answers we need, or
perhaps even a cure we don't yet know about." She stood and with
the command in her voice said once again, "No one is to go near
Terrance from now on." Evie wasn't stupid and I'm sure she realized
that we all planned to interrogate Terrance the first chance we
got.

She must have been scanning us because the next
thing she said was, "I am going to be questioning Terrance again,
and explaining what we've learned. All of you are more than welcome
to witness this."

As Evie and Dax headed towards her office, the
rest of us just sat there in silence. Finally Dom broke the
tension. "Have any of you ever heard of anything like this? Of
demons actually existing?"

"No. But I guess it shouldn't come as a huge
surprise. I mean, who'd believe that vampires really existed
either?" Bobby asked.

He was being way more relaxed about this than I
was. I wish I could ask Evie some more questions, but figured we
had better head down so we didn't miss her questioning Terrance
again. "Come on. Let's get below and see what Terrance has to say
about all this." I hit the switch to unlock the stage.

Once we were all downstairs and gathered outside
of Terrance's cell, Evie stepped up to the opening and stopped.
Obviously she was serious about not getting close to him.
"Terrance, I have some news as to what's happened to you."

"Oh, goody. Please then, share with the class."
He was being sarcastic and had an almost menacing look on his
face.

"You've been infected by demon blood." Evie's
statement dropped like a bomb.

Terrance just looked at her, huffed, and shook
his head. "Wow, is that the best you can do? I know you want to
have a clear conscience when you deliver the true death, but making
up bullshit reasons as to why you
have
to kill me is pretty
fucking lame."

"Why is he acting like that?" Tori
whispered.

Evie turned around and said in a low voice, "I
think it has to do with the poison. It literally makes him act dark
and then wipes the memories of it from him."

Turning around she continued, "First of all, I
don't have to justify delivering the true death to you at all.
You've drifted permanently dark, and you know that is grounds for
immediate execution. Secondly, I wanted you to know what has
happened to you, so that you would understand why you are having
trouble remembering things and why your thoughts become fuzzy when
you think of that woman. It's her that is the demon. She's the one
who has infected you."

Terrance sat there with an angry look on his
face.  I didn't think he was buying what Evie was trying to
explain to him, but then suddenly the lines on his face smoothed
out and his eyes seemed to lighten just slightly. "Are you telling
me that I'm infected with demon blood for real?"

"Yes, my friend. That is exactly what I'm
telling you. We are hoping that once we find her she can provide a
cure." Evie's voice carried the hope that we were all feeling.

"Oh, thank God. I just couldn't understand why I
had lost it, but I guess now it all makes sense. I never even knew
that demons really existed. How in the hell did I run across one?"
Terrance seemed to almost be back to his old self, except that his
hair remained completely black.

As Evie started to move into the cell, obviously
feeling confident in Terrance's breakthrough, I suddenly got the
sense that something was terribly wrong. I sprung into the cell,
grabbing Evie just as Terrance lunged for her, pulling his chains
tight. His eyes were again completely black to match his hair, and
his lips were pulled back revealing his fangs as he growled at
us.

Dax was up in a flash and carrying Evie out of
the cell. "Son of a bitch, Evie. What the fuck were you doing?
You're the one who said to stay away from him, and now we know why.
He's lost it. He almost bit you."

"It's okay. I know what I'm doing." Evie wiggled
free of Dax's arms. She took a moment to glance at everyone. "That,
my dears, was a test. And you're right, Terrance has lost it. I
wanted you to see why it's so important to stay away from him. He's
completely lost to us, and will try to manipulate anyone he gets
close to from now on. But I am immune from his bite. I am the only
one with the poison of true death, and because of that I can't be
infected."

We all stood there completely stunned. "You
could have warned me." Dax said.

"No, I couldn't have. I wasn't sure it was going
to work." Evie had a timid smile on her face and shrugged her
shoulders. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she was over
twelve hundred years old.

We all turned and stared at Terrance, who was
still baring his fangs and snapping at us. I couldn't believe how
quickly he had deteriorated.

"I hope we can quickly figure out who this woman
is. I can't stand to see him like this," Dax said. The sad note in
his voice mirrored the look on his face. He hung his head and
started to walk off. "I'm going to bed."

Everyone else said their goodnights and headed
towards their respective rooms until it was just Evie and myself
standing outside the cell. "It happened again didn't it? You knew
something bad was going to happen when I entered the cell, didn't
you?" Evie prodded as we started down the hall.

I guess I couldn't deny it any longer. "Yes. I
got an overwhelming sense that something was wrong. But I just
can't believe that I'm supposed to become your successor. It's
completely unreal to me."

"It could have been anybody in the clan, but I'm
glad it's you Christian. You're going to make a wonderful Sire."
Evie hugged me.

"How am I supposed to use any of these new
skills to help figure out who this woman is? It's not like I can
control it." I was feeling so unsure of myself and the things that
were apparently now happening as part of my triggering. I had no
idea what to do.

"The first thing I would suggest is that when
the darkness claims you tonight, let your last thought be of your
emerging powers. Concentrate on them and how they make you feel
when they happen. Maybe that will trigger something in your
subconscious." Evie touched my cheek then headed for her room.

I supposed anything was worth a try. Evie
certainly had experience dealing with the subconscious, so maybe
she was onto something. Though it was going to be very strange to
not have Rose be the last thing I thought of that night, since it
had been my ritual for a little over nine months. But just the
thought of Rose and the possibility of spending eternity with her
was enough motivation to try anything to gain control of my powers.
I wanted to be the best Sire and consort to her that I could
possibly be.

* * * * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Hanging Out with Justin

(Rose)

After Jillian explained that this little town
was where Justin was from, I couldn't help but think to myself that
if we could find him this would be the perfect opportunity to see
if Justin could be of any use to me. I had a surprise for
Christian–not only was I going to be moving out, but soon I was
also going to be a vampire just like him so we could be together
forever.

I hadn't told Christian that I knew vampires
existed yet because Terrance had warned me that revealing my
knowledge could get us both killed. He also taught me that I had to
hide my thoughts around other vampires, making sure that I only
focused on the events that were immediately happening around me.
After spending time with him at the pool, I came to learn quite a
bit about vampires and how they weren't the bad, evil villains of
lore. He had explained that every night they fed from only one
person and only took their fill. Using their powers let them make
the feeding process an enjoyable act for both vampire and human,
and it also allowed them to compel the human so that they didn't
remember anything that had happened.

Terrance had continued to feed from my mom and
it amazed me how she didn't even care. She never seemed hurt or out
of it in any way. There were times when I thought that he may have
taken too much blood and that it was going to leave her weak, but
she never seemed to show any sign of feeling sick or anemic, so I
came to trust Terrance pretty quickly. Once he fed he would use his
sedative to put my mom to sleep for a short time so that we could
talk.

During our conversations I had told him that
initially I had no idea that Christian was a vampire. When we had
started dating, I truly believed that he slept all day because of
his job. Only after meeting Terrance had everything become crystal
clear. After he confirmed that he knew Christian and lived with him
at the club, I had asked him why I had never seen him there while I
visited him. He had explained that it was because he always left
the vicinity to feed, only returning when it was time for the club
to open.

I had continued to see Christian even knowing he
was a vampire, but as I remembered back to the first time I'd seen
him after learning the truth, I recalled how completely
nerve-wracking it had been. I thought for sure it was going to be
nearly impossible to hide my thoughts from Christian, but
surprisingly enough he never seemed to notice a thing. Like I'd
said before, I'd always been pretty good at hiding things from
people.

After multiple conversations with Terrance, I
had finally asked the question that I was dying to know. How did
someone become a vampire? He explained the process, which really
wasn't a surprise. The vampire bit and fed from the human until
they drained them, and then the human fed from the vampire in
return. They would then die and be reborn as a vampire in a matter
of hours. After a few weeks of contemplating it, I had made up my
mind that I was definitely in love with Christian and wanted to
become like him so that we could be together forever. I asked
Terrance if he would be willing to change me and he agreed.

He explained that no one could know that we knew
each other or that he was going to change me into a vampire, since
this wasn't the usual way that these types of things happened.
Apparently the normal way for new vampires to be made was for the
clan to vote on who they wanted added to the
family,
but
Terrance had agreed to change me in secret because he knew everyone
would be happy and understood that I wanted it to be a surprise for
Christian.

We had started making plans for my change, but
then my mom had died. I had initially thought that Terrance had
done it because of the bite marks on her neck, but since he'd only
ever fed from my mom at the pool, I ended up quickly coming to the
conclusion that it couldn't have been him.

After Mom's death, and once I'd been placed on
lockdown by my father, I never saw Terrance again. That is, not
until the night he emerged from the woods. It had taken everything
I had not to act surprised or let on that I knew him in any way.
But since Christian and Evie never mentioned anything, I assumed I
had pulled it off. When I saw him, I had wanted so badly to just
run and confront him and ask him if he knew what had happened but
I'd never had the chance.

Jillian hit the curb as she parked the car, once
again shaking me out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I just thought we
could grab a bite to eat. I'm starving," she said hesitantly.

"Okay. Yeah, I guess I could eat. Why don't you
call Justin and see if he can come meet us?" I smiled and tried to
sound like the supportive friend.

After she phoned Justin and told him that we
were in town and invited him to join us, we walked into the
restaurant and grabbed a seat by the front windows. Jill kept
looking at me over her menu with questions clearly shining in her
eyes. "Are you feeling better now?" she finally asked.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for getting me out of
town. I just don't think I can deal with my dad right now. He has
apparently been seeing this woman, Meredith, and it really took me
by surprise. The worst part is that she looks a lot like my mom." I
slumped a bit in my chair I just couldn't get over how much that
bothered me. I think hanging out with Justin couldn't have come at
a better time. I was ready, now more than ever, to leave this world
behind. I really hoped he would agree to change me.

As I sat there contemplating how the hell I was
going to get Justin alone, the vampire himself came strolling down
the sidewalk. I watched him cross the street and head in our
direction. Once Jill saw him, she knocked on the window to gain his
attention. He smiled, waved, and sped towards the front door.

By the time he reached the table, Jillian was
beaming and Justin only caused her smile to widen as he leaned in
to place a gentle kiss on her lips. "What in the world inspired you
two to head all the way out here?"

"Rose had a mental breakdown and needed to get
out of town." She always did love throwing me under the bus
whenever she could. "I saw the sign for the turnoff and I
remembered you telling me that this was where you were from. Plus,
I was getting hungry."

With a little chuckle he said, "Well that was
perfect timing because I just started getting hungry too."

I almost spit my soda across the table at his
obvious statement. Jill didn't have a clue about him, but it
cracked me up to see how many people were mindfucked by the
vampires in our area. As the huff left my lungs, I shook my head
slightly and looked right at Jill's neck and then back at him. I
was trying to be obvious and thought I was getting my message
across pretty well because Justin's eyes quickly widened before he
squinted and stared right at me.