Blood of a Red Rose (3 page)

CHAPTER
FOUR

Ruse

(
Rose
)

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I
'
d heard what Christian said, but it just
wasn't
register
ing
in my brain. There was no way
my dad w
ould have sold our home and moved away. I
was
born there, and every memory
of my childhood
revolved around
us
and that house.

"When? When did he move?"
I could
n't
get a grip on whether I was pissed or sad.

"We're not sure. Evie sent Renard and Loni to check on him a few weeks ago and they found the house with a sold sign in the yard and no one there.
"

I pushed off from my perch and be
gan to walk out of the bathroom.
Christian reached out to grab my arm
but I
quickly yanked it away. "Don't!" Guess that settled it...I was pissed.

"How dare you keep this from me
!
You said that Evie sent them to check on him weeks ago and you just now decide
d to tell me?"

"I was going to tell you
, but Evie wanted to try to g
ather
more information, like where he moved to." Christian rushed to explain as he followed me out into the bedroom. "Unfortunately, we haven't found any forwarding address. Renard reported yesterday that he thinks your dad still works for the same place,
even though most of
his office ha
s
been clear
ed out."

I flopped down on the bed because I didn't trust my legs to keep me upright
for much longer. As Christian co
ntinued
speaking,
I felt my head shaking
no
as if I was having an out of body experience
. "
If we could look around during the day it would be easier. We could use our sedative to force someone to tell us the information, but at night,
running across
someone
who
knew your dad
has
proven difficult.
" He knelt down in front of me and took my hands in his. "
I'm sorry, Rose. I wasn't trying to keep it from you, I just wanted there to
be more I could tell you
when the time came
."

I sa
t in silence and star
ed into Christian's eyes. They were drifting from caramel to dark brown and back again, along
with his hair. It was obvious
this was truly upsetting to him as well.

"I don't know what to say. I'm
sad but also really mad. Can I just have some time
alone?"

"Sure. But Rose, please know that I'm so sorry. Sorry for not telling you before, and sorry it happened in the f
irst place." He kissed my hands,
placed them back in my lap
,
and then strolled out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

I sat there
stunned, thinking back to when my dad had
come
looking for me
s
hortly af
ter I
'd gone
into hiding. It'd made me feel good to know that after everything,
he
still
wanted me in his life
.

At the time,
Evie suggested that
they b
ite him and make him forget everything, but I just could
n't
allow that to happen.
Not for the
obvious
reasons I gave them of course
, but because
if they bit him
they'd
become infected with his demon blood. Skating aro
u
nd that had been a little tr
icky, but I
convinced them not to bite him
,
and
instead
just tell him
that Christian and I hadn't been back to the bar since th
at
night.

It hurt to know
my ruse had worked
so well
,
and that my dad had really given up on me. I knew I had no right to feel hurt by his actions
;
in his eyes
I was a murderer and a runaway
. Why did I expect him to care? This was exactly what I hope
d
w
ould happen. But at the time, I
also
thought
I would soon be a vampire, and would need to cut all ties because of it. But
instead
,
that dream had been shattered. My heart still hurt over losing my mom
,
and
now being
fac
ed with
having to live
a mortal life
without
Christian
or my father
...
I s
uddenly felt
very
alone.

I curled up on th
e bed, dre
w the covers around me
,
and did the only thing I could do
:
c
ry myself back to sleep.

* * * * *

(Christian)

As I walked down the white tiled hall of our secure lair, which was located deep beneath The Rising Pit,
I realized
I
wasn't
ready to face everyone
just
yet.
Usually
, once every
one
awoke f
o
r
the night, we
'd
all me
e
t upstairs and head out together to feed before opening the club for business. But tonight...I just couldn't deal with everyone questioning my bad mood. I hadn't stopped drifting yet
so
they would immediately know something was wrong.
Rose and I had been so happy since
she moved in, and honestly, I
was
feeling
a little embarrassed to admit to
everyone that we seemed to be having our
first real fight.

So
,
instead of heading for the spiral staircase that led up and out into the club from underneath the stage, I took the turn at the end of the hall
which
led to the area where
the b
lood bags
were kept.
I would have to make do with cold blood tonight if I wa
nted to
avoid everyone for a
little
while longer.

"Hey, what are you doing down here?" Bobby asked as I entered the room.

So much for that plan. "
Nothing. What are you doing here?"

"It's my turn to give Terrance his pity meal." Evie had stocked the room with blood bags the
night after
Terrance had been chained up. Even though he had done some pretty bad things, she would never let
him starve, so each night we took turns taking him his blood.

I turn
ed
around and
started to
head back to my room
,
but felt Bobby follow me out the door. "So tell me. What
are
you doing down here? I can tell you're upset. Did Rose stop putting out?" He chuckled, which was normal for Bobby...make light of every situation.

I
t
didn't surprise me Bobby picked up on the fact that I was upset. He would have known
even if I hadn't been drifting
. Best friends
always
had a way of knowing when something was wrong, and Bobby and I had been best friends since the moment
I
'd
saved him and asked that he be
turned.

It was 1613, and we were in England to attend the marriage festivities of Frederick V and Princess Elizabeth, which included performances of six of Shakespeare's plays. Bobby had been one of the actors.

After one of the shows, the actors were drinking and apparently there had been a scuffle and Bobby ended up getting shot through the chest. I'd been out walking, looking for someone to feed on, when I'd smelled the blood. They had dumped his body in the river on the edge of the grounds. He was barely alive, but just enough that Evangeline was able to save him. We'd been best friends ever since.

"I just told Rose about her dad moving and she didn't take it very well."

I prepared myself for his snide comment, but for once it didn't come
.
Our
footsteps echoed in the hall
as w
e
continued to walk in silence towards
Terrance
's cell.

We didn't bother
to
stop for chit chat
;
Bobby just tossed
the blood bag into
Terrance
's lap
and kept walking, but then I heard something that stopped me
dead
in my tracks. "I swear I'm gonna kill
that bitch
."

Thankfully
,
I
could now tell the difference when my
skills
flar
ed
up, allowing me to
hear someone's thoughts
.
B
efore I
just thought they'd been
whispering something under their breath
,
but this was d
efinitely one of Terrance's thoughts, and if it was about Rose...
"What did you just think? You swear you're gonna kill who? I promise you Terrance, if you are talking about Rose, I'll have Evie kill you tonight!"

He sat there staring at me while the muscle in his jaw ticked a
t
an annoying pace. "I wasn't thinking about
Rose. I was thinking about
Meredith. Th
e
demon bitch who did this to me."

Bobby looked at me with a
frown on his face
,
while
I w
as stunned into silence
. T
his shouldn't be possible. Meredit
h's blood had infected Terrance,
causing all memories of her to become fuzzy, ultimately hiding her involvement
,
even to him. He'd never been able to think clearly about her before, and shouldn'
t be able to think about her
now, let alone
contemplate killing her. Something was happening to him.

As I looked closer, I noticed his
hair wasn't quite as dark and
his eyes seemed slightly lighter too.
My god, could he actually be drifting back?
"Bobby, go get Evie. Now!"

CHAPTER
FIVE

Possibility

(
Rose
)

I woke up in Christian's bed...our bed, and immediately wanted to be somewhere else. I
was shocked at
the intensity of my
feeling
s. B
eing
with Christian had been all I'd want
ed for the p
ast year
, but now
...
I just felt so stifled.
I knew it was
stemming from
finding out
about
D
ad
selling
our family home
, but learning that had
apparently
opened a flood
gate of emotions
which were
now threatening to
overwhelming me.

Maybe I could find Dad a
nd smooth thing
s
over with him s
o we could live together again.
Or maybe Jillian and I could get that apartment together like she wanted. I just knew that
since becoming
a vampire
was no longer an option,
I
needed
to come up with
new
plan.

I
knew it was something that would take some time
to figure out
,
and luckily time was on my side. A
s Christian had pointed out, their
clan was in transition
. T
hey currently didn't ha
ve a Sire
who
could change me, and right now, that was a
very
good thing.

I knew Christian wasn't sure if he was truly the
next in-
line
,
but
regardless of who the new Sire end
ed up being,
it
wouldn't matter
.
I'
d never become a vampire
and
I wasn't sure how I was going to convince Christian to let me go
without telling him the truth
.
But
the fight we
just
had presented me with a pretty good
opportunity
.

As much as it hurt me to do it, I
w
ould continue to act betrayed that he didn't tell me about my father sooner and slow
ly
begin to pull away. But first, I had to find my dad
. I needed to know if I was a wanted fugitive and how he really felt about everything that had happened. Maybe after leaving The Rising Pit I could move back in with him and things could go back to normal.
The problem was, I now had
no idea where to begin my search.

My
self
-
pity party continued as I got up to finish g
etting ready. I was just so mad, h
urt
,
and confused. A year ago, I had
a
plan that would allow me to live forever with the man I loved–and now everything was ruined. I wallowed in everything I was feeling as I finished my makeup. Then I threw on
a pair of jeans, a purple tank
top
,
and slid into my flip-flops
before flopping back down on the bed.

I grabbed my
new cell
phone and prepared to call
Jillian
.
It
was a risk, but it also
seemed like the most logical thing to do
. M
y parents had been friends with her parents for so long
,
and
I did
n't
think my Dad would have
left town without telling t
hem where he went.

"Jillian? It's Rose. Please don't hang up."
I was happy that she picked up at all since she wouldn't have recognized my new number
.
Christian had in
sisted I ge
t a new phone when we'd gone into hiding.

"Hang up? Are you fucking kidding me
?
I've been worried sick about you
!
Where the hell are you?"

I almost started c
rying at the sound of her voice
and the fact that she was worried about me. I wasn't sure how any of my friends would feel about me since I'd
disappeared.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you where I am, but please know
I'm okay. How are you
?
How
have things been since I...left?"

"Oh my g
od, Rose
, i
t's been crazy. First
,
you just disappear off the face of the earth, and then your dad up and sells your house to move to Masen
and
live with that woman. It's just been crazy.
My parents are freaking out.
"

"Wait. What? Masen? What woman?"

"That Meredith bitch he was seeing. After you left
,
the
y
moved to Masen together. Are you saying you haven't even talked to your dad this whole time?"

Oh my god
, n
o
!
She can't
be alive and still with m
y dad.
I dropped the phone and started to hyperventilate.
This couldn't be happening. How the hell
could
she
still be
alive?

Jillian's voice echo
ed
out of my phone
.
"Rose, are you still there? Rose?"

Once the adrenaline
kicked in
,
I grabbed
my
phone
again
.
"Jillian,
you can't tell anyone I called, okay?"

"What? Why? Rose, why can't y
ou tell me what's going on? You
r dad has been looking for you and I miss you
too
. Where are you?"

With this new development, i
t
was so important no one kne
w I'd contacted Jillian that I did the unthinkable
...
I threatened my best friend.
"Jillian, I'm not
kidding. You can't tell anyone
I called. If you do, I'll kill you!"

Her loud exhale to
ld me how offended she was,
but right now I didn't care.
I knew it made me seem like a real asshole, but I just could
n't
risk
anyone f
inding
out that I
'
d
contacted
her
. T
hey
'
d start poking ar
ound ag
ain
,
looking for me, and
that was something
I c
ould
n't
risk
.
Besides, the urgency I felt to get to
Christian and
tell him
that we still had a demon problem to deal with
,
left me w
ith no time to explain. Jillian
was just going to have to continue to think I'd lost my mind.

I didn't wait for her response;
I simply hung up and headed for the door.
I c
ouldn't
believe
Meredith
was still alive and
now had my dad within her reach 24/7.