Blood of a Red Rose (9 page)

* * * * *

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Biting

(
Rose)

The moment I was grabbed
,
I
started screaming
. I tried
digging
my heels into the floor as I was being drug
into one
o
f the private room
s
,
but suddenly
a
set of fangs pierced the side of my neck.

Oh shit!
This could not be happening. Who in the world would risk Christian's anger by biting me? I
t
had to be a vampire from outside of town
. Someone who didn't know who I was.

He must have used his sedative to quiet my screams because in the next second I
was
completely calm...on the outside
. But once my thoughts cleared, allowing me to focus on the nightmare this was going to become
,
my internal panic really set in.

I
tried to pull away, but the vampire's fangs sunk deeper as he held me
tight
from behind.
Fuck!
I couldn't believe this
was happening
.
I
assumed
that in only a few minutes my demon blood would start infecting whoever this vampire was.
How the hell was I supp
ose to explain why this vampire
drift
ed dark after biting me?
My s
ituation just went from bad to worse.

I didn't have any idea if it would work, but I knew I'd better try something fast. I wasn't even sure
how
to do it, but I focused on my anger and tried to
release
my
demon
side
. Maybe
I could forge a mind bond and
force
this asshole to stop.

Thankfully, I must have done something right, because all
of a s
udden I felt the connection of the mind bond and I could almost see what was happening through
his
eyes. I projected the thoughts that I wanted him to
feel
, adding a verbal command for good measure.
Stop NOW!

The vampire went rigid behind me and his fangs withdrew immediately. Luckily
,
I could feel and see through our connection that he used his sedative to heal the wounds in my neck. The instant his
fangs slid free,
the puncture marks closed and it looked as if they never
even
existed.

I immediately spun around and shoved the vampire with all my strength. He let out a little
humph
as he landed on the red velvet couch. I didn't recognize him
,
but that didn't mean much since the only other vampire in the area I knew besides Christian's clan
,
was Justin.
He was a handsome
guy with a
decent build, and
he
wore a black leather jacket. His hair was
short
and
b
londe, but
I knew that
would start to
change any moment.

"Who are you? What's your name?" I nudged his mind so he didn't have any choice but to respond.

"My name is
Kennedy
."

"Where are you from?"

"Florida."

"What are you doing here
, and how did you find out about The Rising Pit?" I
had to
speed this
up, because like I assumed, h
is hair
and eyes had already begun to
drift
dark.

"I was on vacation
and visiting
some friends outside of Masen
. They told me about the club, and
I thought I'd check it out before heading back home."

The g
uilt was building inside of me
. Just because this
vampire
had
made the mistake of biting
me
, he was going to lo
se all sense of right and wrong
and possibly end up facing the tru
e
death.
It sucked, but I had to face the hard reality...I
couldn't
allow him to leave. Letting him go
knowing he'd
drift
darker and darker and
start
hurting innocent pe
ople
was just not an option.

"Okay,
Kennedy
. You're going to sit here and not move until someone comes to find you. Do you understand?"

"Sit here and not move. Yes, I understand."

"And you aren't going to remember anything about biting me or what I looked like either. Got it?"

"Yes. I don't remember you."

Wow. This mind bond
thing could prove really useful. I just wished I had more time to test out my demon powers. But unfortunately right now was not that time. I
had to get as far away from this scene as possible
, and fast.

I parted the velvet curtains a fraction of an inch and peeked outside to make sure no one was coming. The coast was clear so I rushed from the room and ran down the stairs into the bathroom. The moment I was inside, I nudge
d
the door open a crack so I could
see
what was happening.

It didn't take long before I saw Christian, Evie
,
and Dax heading towards the stairs. The moment they hit
the top I shot across the dance floor
and into Evie's office. I found the button on the bookshelf t
hat
open
ed
the secret door to her private entrance into
the
pit, and made my way back to my room in a hurry.

I thought the best thing for me to do was pretend that once I finished dancing
,
I used the restroom and then headed back down here to get some rest.
I just hoped that no one saw me
upstairs
,
or
I
could kiss that story goodbye.

* * * * *

(Christian)

After
having Rose's scream penetrate the chaos inside my
mind
, I was able to
focus
and g
ain
my bearings.

"Christian, what's wrong?" The panicked look on Evie's face confirmed that this wasn't a normal reaction to the
Passing of Powers
ritual.

"
My head is splitting
and
I can hear everything...including
Rose
's scream. She's
in trouble."

I shoved off the couch and
flew
towards the door.
As much as I wanted to use my now enhanced vampire speed to dash
straight upstairs,
I
knew I
could
n't
. Not with all the hu
man patrons
filling the
club tonight.

As Evie and I wove our way through the crowd
,
I noticed her motion
for
Dax to join us. The three of us quickly made our way to the stairs
which
led to the second floor and the private rooms.
I knew t
his was where Rose's scream origina
te from. I
wondered if
becoming a Sire heightened all my abilities including my claircognizance,
but right now, all
the questions I had would h
ave to wait. I had to find Rose.

After reaching the private room that held her scent
,
I threw open the velvet curtains to find a young male vampire sitting on the couch alone.

"
Wh
o are you and
what are you doing here?" Evie demanded.

"My name is
Kennedy
, and I'm just sitting here
. I
s that a crime?"

Dax took a step forward, his hair starting to slightly drift from blonde to light brown. Talking like that to
a Sire, let alone
his consort, was
a really bad idea.

Suddenly
Kennedy
launched himself at Dax and the two of them went crashing into the table, followed by the chair
s
and walls.

"Enough!" Evie's voice still held her Sire's command, and even though
Kennedy
wasn't a part of our clan
, vampires
had no choice but to obey a Sire when in their presence.

The two froze, hands still wrapped around each other's neck
s
.
I decided this was a good time to test my Sire's voice
as well,
since Dax already knew we'd completed the ritual, and I could easily force this outsider to keep his mouth shut.
"
Kennedy
, sit down and don't move."
Excellent.
It worked.

The vampire eyed me as he
slowly
moved back towards the couch
. T
hat was when I noticed his eyes and hair were bot
h drifting darker by the minute.
Oh
no
!

"Evie, we got a problem."

"What is it
,
Christian? What are you sensing?"

"Nothing. That's the problem. I can hear tiny whispers but the
y're
becoming
distorted
and
fuzzy. And look at him...he's
starting to
drift dark. I think we have a demon in the club."

* * * * *

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Speeding

(
Renard)

Once Loni and I had moved
our
car to a new spot around the corner, we took a few moments to feed in the park before
checking to see if anyone was home at
Jeremy and Meredith's.

After verifying n
o one was
there
,
we launched ourselves into the nearest tree to secure a good position from which to spy. It was a bloody good thing it was mid-summer and the trees were in full bloom, because
if it'd been winter
and
the trees were sparse, I didn't think Loni and I would
've made
very convincing monkeys.

"This is perfect. I can see right in
to
their living room and bedroom windows. Now all we have to do is wait," Tori said.

I glanced at my watch and assumed we wouldn't have to wait too long before someone
made
an appearance. It was 7:02 p.m.
,
and even if Jeremy had made another trip to Masen for
the day,
he should be returning home at any moment.
However, t
o my surprise
and satisfaction,
it was Meredith who arrived home first.

Tori and I watched as she parked on the street instead of pulling into the garage. Her rushed pace
and the fact that she left her car running was a clear indication she was still on the move
. Good news for us.

We remained hidden in the tree as Meredith burst from her
home
in a flash of speed that rivaled any vampire
'
s. She'd changed clothes and was obviously in a big hurry to get somewhere
, w
hich
was going to be a problem since our car was currently parked around the corner
.

"Looks like we'll be following on foot," I said.

"Fantastic!"
The giddiness in
Loni
's
voice reminded me how much she loved running free through the night. Maybe this wouldn't be such a boring assignment after all.

* * * * *

(Jeremy)

As I drove home I thought about my plan for the weekend and was excited to fill Meredith in.
But j
ust as I rounded the corner at the end of the block
,
I saw Meredith speeding away from our
townhome
. Suddenly there was a blur of motion
in
the
park across the street but
my ringing cell phone quickly diverted my attention.

"Hi
,
honey. I'm just pulling into the drive. Where are you speeding off to?"

"My meeting this week
ha
s been pushed up to tonight. I shouldn't be too late though. How was your day?"

"It was pretty good. Nothing too exciting, but I do have some exciting plans for this weekend I want to share with you."

"
Oooohhh...exciting plans,
I like the sound of that. What
are they
?"

"I was hoping we could go out for dinner and dancing...at The Rising Pit."

Silence filled the line so I looked at my phone as I exited the car. Maybe I'd hit the mute button by mistake. "Mer? Did you hear me?"

"Yes. I heard you. But Jeremy, I think th
is
is something we need to talk about
first
."

Well, this was unexpected. I thought she'd be
more
than
excited to have an evening out, especially since she'd been so busy with work and this
new
group she
'd been chairing
lately. And honestly, I wasn't
sure what the
re was to talk about. She knew
I'd wanted to go back to th
e
club since I'd struck out the first time,
not to mention my
failure again last night.

As I made my way inside
,
I could feel my frustration
level
s
start to rise...
literally. I was starting to sweat as I felt a flush
of
heat spread across my face.
"
Alright. I
guess we'll talk about it when you get home."

I didn't wait for a response. I just closed my phone and threw it onto t
he counter along with my keys. For some reason, t
his was
really
pissing me off
. I couldn't understand why she'd want to
stop
me from looking for Rose. Not after she'd been the one to
protect
her in the first place.

By the time I pounded up the stairs
,
I was fuming mad, which was not a good thing.
I couldn't afford to
lose my temper again
,
because lately...something strange happened when I did.

* * * * *

(Damien)

After I changed my clothes, I
headed over to the warehouse w
h
ere I'd stashed the body of the woman I'd hid earlier in the day.
I knew Meredith wouldn't approve, but I couldn't help
it
. The taste of human blood was now my new drug
of choice
. I'd had my fair share of others in the past, but none surpassed the high that
fresh
blood gave me.

The feeling of strength and power that flowed into me every time I taste
d
th
e
sweet
ness of human blood
was enough to have me salivating before I even
entered the warehouse.

I made my way to the back of the abandoned building and found my donor in the same spot as I'd left her. She was pale, most likely from the blood loss I'd inflicted earlier, but other than that
–
and the puncture wounds that were visible on her neck
–
she looked perfectly fine.

She was sitting on the
concrete
floor with her knees drawn up and
was leaning
against the
metal
wall for support. Her long, baggy dress was draped over her knees and hung loose to the ground. It was the same mousy brown color as her hair.
I
could tell she was
either sleeping
or passed out
,
so I approached quietly. As I lifted her slack head
,
she began to wake.

I'd taken care to gag her earlier so I wouldn't have to hear her
high pitched
scr
eams again. Once she finally came to and realized her situation hadn't
changed, the fear that radiated
from her made my skin tingle. Tear
s
filled her eyes and she continually shook her head back and forth as whimpering sounds escaped from beneath the rag in her mouth.

I knew I wouldn't be able to show restraint this time, since
only a small amount of blood had almost
sent
me
into a frenzy
only a short
while
ago. Unable to wait any long
er
I sunk my teeth into the same spots I'd created before.

The sweet taste of ecstasy flowed down my throat and filled my body with an enormous dose of strength.

I didn't care what Meredith said
;
I wouldn't be limiting my blood intake anytime soon. Besides, it would only prove to benefit her in the end. When we finally faced these vampires
,
I'd be just as strong as her, and
together we would decimate them.