Blood of a Red Rose (11 page)

* * * * *

CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE

Anger Issues

(
Jeremy
)

After my infuriating conversation with Meredith, I decided to take a shower
in order to
literally
cool off.
That was just one of the
odd thi
ngs that had started happening
e
very time
I'd
got
ten
angry lately
;
my body temperature would rise and I'd start sweating like crazy. It was like a volcano was building inside of me, just
waiting
to explode. The other strange thing...my eyes seemed to get red flecks in them whenever I was about to blow my top.

T
he
se
reactions
, however, weren't the only thing that was
confusing
me
.
It was the fact that I'd been getting angry so easily and
so
much more o
ften than usual.
I didn't understand
where these anger issues
were coming from
because I
'd never really been
an
angry
kind of
guy
.

But looking back, that probably had more to do with Loraine than myself. She
always was
the cheerful, bubbly, and calming on
e in our relationship, which in
turn
kept me blissfully
happy.
I wasn't sure why my relationship with Meredith didn't bring me the same joy, but I suppose it
boiled down to the
fact that
Loraine
had truly been m
y soul mate.
God, I miss
her.

As I turned on the shower and let the
steam build, I tried to relax enough to think about what I was going to say to Meredith.
Thankfully, I was already starting to feel calmer. It was an amazing thing that always happened when
ever
I thought of
Lorai
ne. I smiled and shook my head as
I
stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over me, washing my irritation down the drain.

* * * * *

(Loraine)

I hovered in my ghostly form above
Jeremy as he entered the shower.
I longed to be able touch hi
m once again. I tried, but as usual, I
watched as my hand misted through his shoulder.

The first time I'd materialized in this
spirit
form had been
a little disorienting. It felt as if
I was a million tiny sparks of energy being
fused back together to once again form my body
.
I
'd opened my eyes and
found myself white and wispy, just like you'd imag
in
e a ghost to be. In the next moment
,
my mind was flooded with memories. Memories of m
y life, my death...everything.

I'd found myself staring down at Rose as she
cried,
curled up on her and
Christian's b
ed deep beneath The Rising Pit
.
I had no idea how I knew these things, or other things
:
like the fact that Christian was a vampire, or that my husband and daughter both had demon blood running through their veins...but I did. I knew
everything
. I guessed it was
the g
ods
'
way
of getting me up to speed.

I
rush
ed
to my baby and tried to wrap my arms around her, but as I floated down to her and reached out
,
my hands only misted through her body. I momentarily felt a sense of grief for not being able to hold my daughter, but
I
was still h
appy for this chance to even be with her again. So
I
watched as Rose's tear-filled shu
dd
ers calmed and she finally fell asleep
, and
in that instant
I knew
t
he reason for my presence here.

When I
was
alive
I discovered at a very young age that my mere presence had the ability to calm those around me. I'd always considered it a psychic "gift" of some sort
.
I couldn't manipulate people's emotions, but all I had to do was enter a room and they would physically and mentally relax.
And
that was why I was here
now
.
To be
the calming element in my daughter's life once more. Because
since I'd been gone he
r demon side had
started to rise to the surface
,
and so had Jeremy's.

From that point on I began getting
pulled back into my ghost form w
henever Rose or Jeremy were either extremely mad, or when they were specifically thinking
of
me. But the time in between my visits was
still
a mystery to me. Once I'd d
isintegrate
or disappear
there was just nothing...nothi
ng until the next time I formed. N
o memories of the time in between
, but full awareness of everything that had transpired while I was
gone.

As I
look
ed
down at Jeremy
while
he relaxed in the shower
,
I knew that he'd been upset about Meredith's reaction to his plan to visit The Rising Pit. A plan that would help him track down our daughter, providing a little peace for them both. I wish I could figure out how to actually help, or affect things from my ghostly state, but so far
I hadn't
. I could only hover
,
watch
,
and let my calming energy do its job for the people I loved.

* * * * *

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Panic at the Disco

(
Rose)

I sucked in a breath as my heart started to pound out of my chest. I was stunned into silence as I tried to process Christian's big announcement.
Talk about panic at the disco.
I knew exactly what this meant. He was going to want to change me...soon.
I almost expected him to launch across the bed and sink his teeth into my neck and turn me on the spot. I couldn't believe he was officially the new Sire.
And
I couldn't believe they completed the ritual without telling anyone
else
.

"I don't know what to say. How
's
this
even
possible
? Yo
u weren't
even
sure
it was really you
being
triggered
.
"
I
was trying to stay
calm and get as much information as
I could, but I couldn't deny I was fighting the urge to ru
n screaming
for
the door
. I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to deal with all of this.

"I
shared my concerns with Evie
, but she assured me there was no doubt that it was me. She decided to perform the ritual
right away
and keep things
a secret
,
so when the time comes to face the demons, the element of surprise
,
and the fact they'
ll be facing two Sire
s instead of just one
,
will be to our advantage."

I could definitely see her point. It would be an awesome
surprise
for the demon
s
to face, but I
was
still
panicking at the fact that m
y timeframe
for
leav
ing
Christian had just been bumped up...again.

"Aren't you happy for me, Rose?
F
or us? Once this nightmare is over
,
I'll be able to turn you and we can complete the consort ceremony."

I
vi
sibly relaxed when I heard the words
"
o
nce this
nightmare
i
s over
.
"
Maybe I had more time to plan tha
n
I thought.

"
Evie doesn't want me to change you right away, as that would pretty much give away our surprise.
"

Oh
,
thank god.
"I can understand that. And of course I'm happy for you...for us."
I stood up and wrapped my arms around him, but made it a point not to linger too long. But as I started to pull away
,
he grabbed my hips, holding me in place.

"
If it was up to me, I'd change you tonight
. I can't wait for you to become my consort.
T
he idea of spending eternity with you makes me happier than I
can
say
."

He crushed his lips to mine and our tongues danced their familiar dance. I thought about how all of this–all of
my
hopes and dreams–would
soon
be coming to an end
, and I could
n't
force myself to pull away. Instead
,
I
resigned to
selfishly allow myself one last
time
with the man I love
d.

The feel of his li
ps
on mine and the sensation
his roaming hands
created on
my
skin
had me
tingling
in all the right places
and my
stomach fluttering like it was our first time. He ran his hands up my back then weaved them through my hair as I worked the buttons on his shirt.

Shoving the piece of clothing off his shoulders and onto the ground,
I broke our kiss, and moved my lips t
o his neck. The
flutter of his pulse under my tongue announced how much he enjoyed when I licked and sucked him
t
here. I lingered briefly until his hands moved
to
grab my breasts. Squeezing them slightly, he had me arching into his touch.

He groaned as I kissed my way down his chest, moving my hands to his belt. I sat back down on the bed, putting me
in
the perfect position. Once his belt was loose
,
I begun to unzip his pants
. I raised my eyes to find him drifting rapidly and looking at me with intense desire. Then he tossed his head back in
anticipation of the act to come.

That's when we heard a knock on the door.

"
Dammit
!
What is it?" Christian cussed.

"I'm sorry to bother you
,
but Evie's asked that we all join her
upstairs
right away,
" Tori
hesitantly
announced.

The look on
Christian's
face was enough to scare anyone, but I knew he was only angry because he was
just
as desperate to be with me as I was to be with him.

I reached out and ran my hand down his arm.
"It's okay. Let
's
go find out what's going on
and we can continue this later.
" I grabbed his shirt from the floor as he zipped up his pants and fastened his belt.

"All I know
is that this better be
seriously
important, or I'm going to have Evie's ass."

Turn
ed
out
...
it was.

We made our way upstairs and all gathered around the now empty club, waiting for Evie to begin.

"
Sorry for interrupting everyone's evening, but Renard and Loni have just return
ed
with news
.
"

Apparently they'd driven like a bat out of hell and made it home in just under an hour
and
a
half. I was suddenly very happy Tori had interrupted us, because there was no way I was going to miss what Renard and Loni had to say.

"I gathered all of us here so that I would
n't
hav
e to repeat myself. Our
problem w
ith the demons just got much more serious tha
n
we
ever
could
'
ve anticipated. Meredith is secretly creating an army of blood drinking demons. An army that will
soon
be as strong and fast as she is."

The gasps and four letter words that flew around the ro
om, combined with the kaleidoscope of
drifting hair colors was almost a funny sight. But there was nothing funny about thi
s new development. The situation had been bad enough when it was just Meredith, but now...a
n
army of demons. This was truly becoming a nightmare.

"Did they hear what her actual plans were? Did she say anything about my dad?"
I asked.

Renard spoke up. "No
,
she didn't go into details about her plans, just that she was creating this army. And no, she didn't mention your dad, but we did see him
,
and he seemed perfect
ly
fine and happy. Sorry, Rose."

I was grateful for his apology because I had to admit, it would have been a lot easier for me to swallow that Dad had been forced somehow to go with her, but instead it sounded like he was happy to be there. That sucked.

Evie continued
,
"We also had an incident here tonight. A vampire visiting from Florida bit a demon
while in
the club. We didn't catch the demon, but we have the vampire chained in the cell
below
. O
nce he starts to drift back
,
we should be able to learn the identity of th
e demon."

This time every
one's reaction was more depressed
than ang
r
y,
as I think they all assumed Meredith had planted this demon
here on purpose.
It didn't take much for ev
eryone
to realize that
things around here were about to
change.

I'd
recently
over
heard Evie talking to Christian about having the clan only feed from blood bags unt
il they caught up with Meredith, an
d
now
with this new development, I was sure
she'd be implementing this new rule.
The
clan wasn't
going to be happy.

"Tomorrow
,
I will be sending Bobby and Dom back to the hospital to gather more blood bags. We are going to have to res
trict ourselves
to
drinking from them
until we can put a stop to these demons. I will not risk one of you becoming infected and falling prey to their mind bond," Evie stated.

See...told you.

"Have you heard back from Balam yet?" Loni asked.

"No. I'm expecting his call tonight. Sunrise is still hours away
,
so once I receive his call, I'll gather you all again." Evie dismissed everyone and then she and Dax headed into her office, while everyone else moved to the bar to talk with Renard and Loni. Just as I started to make my way to join them
,
Christian grabbed my hand and motioned me in the other direction with a nod of his head.

"I need to get out of here. How about we go back downstairs and continue what we started?"

I knew that if I said no now, he'd be confused, but I
was
already started feeling guilty for allowing myself to
give in e
arlier
. A
s much as I wanted to fall back into bed with Christian and let him make love to me until the sun started to rise,
I just couldn't. It wasn't fair to him.

"I'm sorry
,
Christian, but hearing about my dad has kind
of
ruined the mood. Plus
,
I want to ask Renard some more questions about
what
else
they found out
."

He gave
me
a small smile and nodded his head in understanding. "Alright. Well, I still need to get out of here so I'm
going to head back downstairs. Come find me when you get your answers." He kissed me and then started down the stairs, disappearing under the stage.

I walked towards the crowd a
nd scooted onto the red leather bar stool next to Renard. "I'm sorry to bug you, but you said that you saw my dad, right? Did he really seem okay?"

"Yes, we saw him and Meredith sharing...some pizza in their
townhome
. He seemed perfectly fine and then the next day he woke up and started getting ready for work. Nothing seemed unusual or off with him at all
,
" Renard explained.

"Good. Thank you. That's good to hear." I wasn't sure what other information I
expected, but I
wish
ed
there was more they could
've told
me.
Like m
aybe whether
or not
he seemed sad, or if they thought he was thinking about me at all. I knew they w
ere silly questions that had no
answer
s
, but I still felt like asking th
em. Then one pertinent question did
str
i
k
e
me. "Do you think he's aware of what Meredith's doing?"

"No
,
I don't think so. She went to this meeting alone and had a different guy there that was helping her."

Now this information I could work with. If I could get a
hold of my dad and convince him Meredith was up to something shady, maybe he'd leave her without ever getting involved in this whole demon mess. Maybe I could convince him that she was cheating on him with w
ho
ever this other guy was.