Blood of a Red Rose (13 page)

* * * * *

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

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(
Meredith
)

All the demons arrived for the meeting right on time. After welcoming everyone, we'd had a great time talking about our heritage and the
all the s
tories that had been passed down through the generations of our different families. I tried to hide my impatience and I thought I di
d a pretty good job, but Damien on the other hand
was having a hard time keeping his
excitement under control. Twice
I had to ask him to join me again as he kept wandering over to the tables.

Finally
,
I announced, "
Everyone, thank you for coming
. Now please help yourselves to the wonderful spread we have for your enjoyment tonight."

Damien nodded to each of his relatives that were aware of what they were here for and they each grabbed a glass and filled it with the punch. After slamming back the drink, they all headed towards the alcove
as planned.

Damien waited for a few
minutes
before following
them.
I stayed to mingle with the other
s
who were unaware of what was happen
ing. They continued to chat, make
their plates
,
and pour their drinks. Once everyone had started to sip from their glasses
,
I slipped out to check on Damien and the others. "How's it going in here?"

"Good. They've each reported they can f
eel the effects of the blood
, but that it's very subtle. Like they've just chugged an entire energy drink," Damien explained.

"Perfect. We don't want an overwhelming reaction from anyone, so that's really good news. I'm going back out to monitor everyone
else
. Let me know if anyone starts to show signs of aggression."

"Sure thing, boss."

As I re-entered the main hall, I
watched
everyone mill
around
,
working off their nervous energy. The boost they were
experiencing from the blood seemed to be the perfect dose. Everyone was
happy and seemed to be enjoying how they felt, whether they understood the reason behind it or not. No one was acting strangely or showing any
signs of
ill
side effects
...yet.
Most of them were still on their first cup of punch. I wondered if
we
would n
eed to worry once they started having
seconds and thirds. O
nly time w
ould
tell.

I watched as Damien and his
pack of
relatives headed back to the
table for refills. I motioned for
them to take some food too, so
they wouldn't look s
uspicious.
A
fter filling their plates
and glasses,
they once again headed back to the alcove.
I joined them after a few minutes of mingling.

"Any changes?" I asked
.

"Yes and no. They still feel like it's just a nice boost of energy that the
y're
getting, but we've tested the effects a
nd watch this." He motioned to
one of his cousins, who picked up a metal folding chair and proceeded to fold the leg in half.
It s
eemed the blood was having a
greater
effect after all.

"Great. But
t
hat needs to be it for tonight. No more tests, and no more refills. Understand?"

"No problem, boss."

The rest of the men nod
ded
their agreement as I headed back out of the room. But as I rounded the corner and took a final glace back at Damien, the angry look on his face had me nervous. These reactions of his were something I was going to have to address soon. Very soon.

* * * * *

(Jeremy)

After my shower
,
I felt so
relaxed that I decided
to
not even broach t
he subject of going back to the
club with
Meredith once she got home.
She
said she wouldn't be late, but it was already
eleven
o'clock and I hadn't heard from her. Usually her meetings only lasted an hou
r and she was home by
10
p.m., so
I decided to grab a beer from the fridge and watch TV in bed while I waited up for her.

I still planned on heading to The Rising Pit at some point in the near future, but instead of involving Meredith, I'd just do it on my own. Rose was my daughter and there wasn't anything or anyone who was going to stand in my way when it came to finding her.

Just as I
sank into
bed and flipped on the TV, my cell phone started vibrating from my nightstand.
I picked it up
and answered. It was Meredith.

"Hi
,
honey. It's me. Sorry I'm running late. We had a larger crowd than usual tonight and the clean-up is taking me longer than
expected
."

"No problem, babe. I'm just drinking a beer and waiting for you to bring your sexy ass home and join me in bed."

"Mmmm. That's all I needed to hear. I'll be out of here in five."

I chuckled as I toss
ed
the phone back onto the table. Once I found my daughter, my life would be perfect once again.

I eased down against my feather pillow and let the sense of calm I was experiencing settle over me. I wasn't much of a drinker
,
but apparently a beer after a hot shower was just the remedy I needed to ease my stress.

* * * * *

(
Loraine
)

Once Christian thank
ed
me for my help, I watched as he enveloped my crying daughter in his arms, then I felt myself starting to disappear. But this time it was different.

I didn't completely disintegrate, but instead
I felt like
I was traveling at light speed
–
like you use
d
to see on those Star-Trek movies
–
and in the next
second
I was hovering over Jeremy as he laid in his bed with a beer in hand.

I hated to admit it but he looked content. I knew I'd never truly have my family back
,
and all I wanted was for them to be happy. But the thought of Jeremy being happy with the woman
who
killed me was too much for me to b
e
ar. I wished I could figure out how to appear and disappear whenever I wanted, because
staring
down at my husband
knowing
he
was
lying there
wait
ing
for my killer to join him in bed had me begging the
g
ods to get me the fuck out
of here.

* * * * *

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Confession

(
Rose)

As we made our way to Evie's office
,
I asked Christian if he wanted me to wait outside so they could talk in private. His answer had been no.

So here we sat on the couch in Evie's office as we waited for Dax to join us.

"I assume Christian has shared the good news with you," Evie said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, he did. I'm so happy for him
,
but
I
understand that we need to wait to change me and that
you don't want me t
o tell anyone else."

"Thank you for understanding. I just can't risk any of the clan accidentally biting one of Meredith's demons and having that knowledge to share."

Dax entered the office fr
om behind Evie's bookshelf and
took a seat in the chair
next to the couch
. "Terrance and the prisoner have been fed. I couldn't get any more information from Kennedy
. H
is thoughts still
remain fuzzy,
but
Terrance requested that we keep him posted on what we f
in
d out from Balam."

"I'm still debating on
what we should do with Terrance.
I do have a theory and
a
plan in mi
nd, but I need a
little more time be
fore deciding
for sure," Evie stated.

She then stood from behind her desk and walked around to join us, taking a seat in the remaining chair.
"I did he
a
r from Balam tonight, and what he explained was quite overwhelming. I'm not sure I've even had enough time to wrap my head around it, but here goes."

Evie relayed that after Balam and the elders completed their research
,
their theory was that
since vampires came from Camazotz
and demons came from Yum Camil,
only a hybrid
–a
demon/vampire
–
would be able to kill an immortal demon
,
which Meredith and her army were quickly becoming.
Apparently
,
a stronger demon could kill another demon,
but since Meredith was currently the
strongest demon
in existence
, and the original Mayan demons were wiped out eons ago
,
the elders concluded that
combin
ing the two races was the only chance we'd have at
killing
an
immortal demon.

Conversation erupted as the three of them tried to riddle out exactly how a vampire was suppose
d to
bite and turn a demon
.
This theory sounded like an extreme long shot.

"Obviously our first problem is
,
we have no way of locating a demon.
And
how in the hell am I suppose to bite a demon and drain him to the point of death without becoming overtaken by the poison in his blood? Th
en,
what happens if I
am
successful at turning him, and he rises wi
th
the ability to forge a mind bond with me, therefore gaining control of a Sire. This whole thing sounds completely fucked to me." Christian was
frantically
pacing and running a hand through
h
is
now
jet black hair.

It was definitely going to take some
serious brainstorming
to figure out
exactly
how to make
something like this work,
but
in
t
he end I was confident
we'd
be successful.
But first I had some research to do,
and then it appe
ared
I had a major
confession
to make.

* * * * *

(Meredith)

After almost two hours of mingling and chatting with everyone here, I was extremely pleased with how tonight had gone. No one had showed any signs of aggression from drinking the blood-spiked punch, but everyone seemed to unknowingly enjoy
it
s
e
ffect
s
.

I'd begun to clean up and was almost finished when I looked at my watch and noticed it was already
getting close to eleven o'clock at
night.
I p
ick
ed
up my cell
and
dialed Jeremy to let him know I was running late.

"Hello."

"Hi
,
honey. It's me. Sorry I'm running late. We had a larger crowd than usual tonight and the cle
an-up is taking me longer than expected
."

"No problem, babe. I'm just drinking a beer and waiting for you to bring your sexy ass home and join me in bed."

"Mmmm. That's all I needed to hear. I'll be out of here in five."

God, I really did love that man. Hearing his voice and imagining him lying naked in bed waiting for me had my thoughts drifting back to earlier tonight. I looked down at my stomach and rubbed a protective hand across it.
I wonder if I'm really pregnant
.
It would be my dream come true, but at the same time, I was
n't
sur
e that now was the best timing.

The vampires hadn't come
looking for me yet, but I knew
it would only be a matter of time before they did. And even though I wasn't planning
on being
the one
to initiate any fighting, I wasn't going to stop forming my army.
What was th
at
old saying...the
best
defense
is a good
offense
? Well,
that
was the plan I was actively implementing
:
create my army
and
prepar
e
to defend myself and my kind.

As I finished my cleanup
,
I noticed one last thing I needed to take care of. The chair with the bent leg had found its way out
of the alcove and was
stacked with the others. I shook my head and grabbed the chair, wondering if all of this was such
a good idea after all.

I knew as long as I kept drinking my fill of human blood on a regular basis
,
I didn't have to worry about
any of these boys surpassing me in strength and posing a threat, but I did have to worry about their egos and stupidity. I was going to have to meet with Damien again very soon to make sure he'd be able to keep his cousins in line. Because
if
he couldn't...I would.