Scent of a White Rose (17 page)

"Alright. Come straight back up through my
office once you're done. And for God's sake, whatever happens,
please make sure you stay out of his reach." Evangeline hugged me
and then quickly exited her office, leaving Christian and me
standing alone, still holding hands.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am that this is
happening to Terrance, and apparently it's all my mom's fault." It
was still a hard pill to swallow, but obviously one that I was
going to have to get used to.

"Oh, Rose, none of this is your mother's fault.
Not really. It seems to me that Terrance just happened to cross
paths with her at the pool. Honestly, it could have easily been any
one of us." He lifted my face by gently placing his finger under my
chin. "I don't blame your mother or you for anything that has
happened. And to be really honest, I'm just so happy to hear that
you want to become a vampire like me. The thought of spending
eternity with you, makes me happier than you can imagine." He bent
down and kissed me softly.

I didn't have the words to express how relieved
I felt. When this whole fiasco had started, I wasn't sure he was
going to forgive me for keeping the truth from him. But now we were
both excited to move forward with our lives. I threw my arms around
his neck and increased the intensity of our kiss.

"Come on. We have to get down to Terrance and
get this over with before the club starts to get busy." He led me
over to the book case behind Evangeline's desk and proceeded to
push a button under one of the shelves. The bookcase separated,
revealing a staircase that led down into a white tiled hallway.

Once we made our way into the rising pit, he led
me in the direction of Terrance's cell. I was nervous to see him
again, especially now knowing everything I did.

"Are you sure you're going to be up for this?
You've experienced quite a few shocks tonight already." Christian
stopped and rubbed his hands up and down my arms.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I have to do this." I was
tougher than people gave me credit for, and I was about to prove
it.

As we rounded the end of the hall and finally
came to rest in front of Terrance's cell, we found him sitting on
the floor, his back against the wall. His hands and feet were still
cuffed in chains. Once he looked up and caught sight of me, he
immediately jumped to his feet.

"Obviously you recognize Rose, and the fact that
she's here in our pit should be a pretty good indication that your
secret is out of the bag." Christian's voice held a sharp tone that
had obviously set Terrance on edge. With wide eyes, he frantically
kept looking back and forth between the two of us.

"Terrance, why did you lie to me?" I guess if
Christian was going to play the bad cop, I was supposed to play the
good cop. Not that I wanted to, mind you. I would much rather be
playing the bad cop right now. Because honestly, seeing his
gorgeous face again and now knowing that he'd been playing me this
whole time pissed me off more than I could explain. It actually
felt like I was fighting a rising tide of lava that was preparing
to explode from within me.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I think she somehow
made
me do it." Terrance sounded so...normal. I had expected
him to be foaming at the mouth and maybe yelling and screaming. But
instead, he sounded like his old self: the nice vampire that had
opened up my little sheltered world to one of imaginary creatures
and the possibility of eternal life.

"What are you saying? She made you lie to me, or
she made you kill her?" I wasn't letting him off the hook that
easily.

As I waited for his response, I noticed
Christian tilting his head with a curious look spreading across his
face. I refused to discuss anything in front of Terrance, so I left
it for later. "So tell me. Exactly what did my mother make you
do?"

"Your mother? What are you talking about?" I
guess it was true. The demon blood truly did have a masking effect
on Terrance's thoughts and memories.

Unable to control my rage a second longer, I
went to take a step towards him when Christian grabbed my arm and
shook his head.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about you son
of a bitch. You fed from my mother and her demon blood infected
you. Then you lied to me about everything. Everything you told me
about vampires was a complete load of shit. You never had any
intention of changing me, since obviously–YOU CAN'T!" I was shaking
with anger by the time I was done and I sunk back into Christian's
embrace.

After staring at me for a few seconds, Terrance
shook his head. He slid back down to the floor. "I did feed from
your mother, and yes, I lied to you. I lied to everyone. But you're
wrong...your mom wasn't a demon and I didn't kill her...I loved
her."

* * * * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Revelation

(Rose)

After Terrance's revelation, Christian pulled me
away from the cell. It was probably because I was dangerously close
to losing my temper.

"Why are we leaving? We were just starting to
get somewhere." I was desperate to know what Terrance had to say
about the events surrounding my mom, especially the part where he'd
said she wasn't the demon and that he'd loved her. What the
hell?

"I need to talk to Evie before we continue.
There is something else going on here, and even though it's still
unclear to me, I think it's important to let her know what Terrance
has said."

We entered Evangeline's office through the
bookcase and then waited for it to close before heading out into
the club. It was pretty clear that Christian thought what Terrance
had said was somehow important, but I didn't understand why.

After pulling me through the crowd by our
clasped hands, Christian approached Dax. "Where's Evie?" Dax almost
flinched at the stoic tone in Christian's voice.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure, but I just need to find Evie to
discuss something, so where is she?" Christian eased up on the
tension a little.

"She's feeding upstairs." Dax looked at me as he
said it, probably to gauge my reaction.

Christian only nodded in Dax's direction then
proceeded to pull me up the stairs. "Do you want to wait
outside?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. Obviously it was
going to take everyone a little time to adjust to the fact that
they didn't have to hide things from me anymore."I've watched
Terrance feed from my mom tons of times, so if it's okay with Evie,
I'd like to come."

I loved the look that filled Christian's eyes as
he leaned down to kiss me. "There is no way for me to put into
words how happy it makes me to finally be able to share every
aspect of my life with you."

"I feel the exact same way." I kissed him back,
trying to show him exactly how happy our newfound honesty had made
me. "I can't wait until all this is over and we can actually start
seeing each other on a regular basis again." I knew that right now
wasn't the time to discuss it, but the idea of Christian spending
the night and day with me in my new apartment was like a little
slice of heaven.

"We'd better get in there to tell Evie what
happened or else I'm going to drag you into one of these private
rooms and finish what we started the last time I was here." I slid
my hands down his chest and I bit my lower lip in an effort to stop
myself from kissing him again.

"You're right. But very soon, I
will
be
getting you alone." His voice had that sexy, gravely quality that
never failed to make me melt.

Christian stepped toward the curtained entrance
and lightly called out, "Evie, may we enter? I have some news."

Silence reigned for only a split second. "Yes
Christian. Please come in."

I have to admit, when we entered the room I had
been a little nervous as to what I was going to see. Watching as
Terrance fed from my mom was one thing. It had definitely taken
some time to get used to, but after seeing how it really didn't
hurt her in any way it had gotten easier. So I was pleasantly
surprised to find Evie sitting on the velvet couch with her
visitor's wrist pressed to her mouth. She had a little handkerchief
that she used to dab the corners of her mouth as she pulled his arm
away. She made it look so civilized, so pleasant, and for the first
time since learning of their existence, I actually wondered what it
would be like to be fed from.

"What news do you have for me?" Evie asked. Her
visitor stood up and silently exited the room, leaving the three of
us alone.

"Terrance recognized Rose and didn't try to deny
it when he saw her. But the really interesting part is that when
Rose questioned him about her mom, he was able to focus on the
memories and actually told us that she wasn't the demon and that he
didn't kill her, but that he had actually been in love with
her."

The confused look on Evie's face resembled the
jumbled mess of thoughts that was currently rattling around in my
head. I didn't see how this meant anything other than Terrance was
still obviously lying to everyone.

"That is extremely interesting and disconcerting
at the same time." Evie stood and started pacing the luxurious
room.

"No offense, but what the fuck does that mean?"
I was getting tired of feeling like I was being left in the
dark.

"Whenever I question Terrance about the woman I
see in his thoughts, the one he was feeding from, the images are
always blocked or fuzzy. When you told us that Terrance had been
feeding from your mom it just seemed clear that your mom was the
demon. But now I'm not so sure. Because if she had been the demon,
he wouldn't have been able to focus or talk about her in any
way."

"What? I don't understand. You said that my mom
was the demon and that feeding from her is what caused Terrance to
drift dark and do the things he's been doing. Now you're saying
that it wasn't my mom?" I would be absolutely thrilled if it turned
out my mom wasn't to blame, but it still didn't clear up all the
questions as to who was responsible and how it was connected to my
mom's death.

"What exactly did Terrance say?" Evie leaned
back on the couch and crossed her legs.

"He said, 'I did feed from your mother, and yes,
I lied to you. I lied to everyone. But you're wrong...your mom
wasn't a demon and I didn't kill her...I loved her.'" Christian's
verbatim account of what Terrance had told us seemed to leave Evie
with even more to think about.

"There's something else." Christian's statement
had me on high alert. I couldn't imagine what he was going to say,
since Terrance hadn't said anything else to us.

"What is it?" Evie asked. She was apparently
just as curious as I was.

"I think my new ability, the one you said I'm
developing, somehow worked while we were with Terrance. I can't
explain it, but for some reason, I just
know
that Rose's
mother wasn't the demon. Terrance was telling the truth."

* * * * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

True Love

(Jeremy/Dad)

The moment I spun around to face Meredith's rage
I swore that her eyes had been glowing red. But once I refocused,
it was clear that it had only been a play of light from the red
vase that she'd smashed on the floor. The sun was streaming in
through the bedroom windows and had apparently hit the vase just
right, lighting up her face in scary relief.

"Answer me! Are you seriously going to let your
daughter control how you live your life?" She was clearly still
upset but had sunken back down onto the bed and covered herself up
with the sheets.

"I'm sorry if this is hard for you. But you have
to understand, Rose is my life. She's my only family now, and I
will always put her first." I tried to speak calmly in order to
soften the blow, but I wasn't in the mood to coddle her. We were
both adults and it wasn't like this was true love. I had already
had that once in my life and I knew nothing else would ever come
close again. "I'm going to get in the shower, and then I'm going to
go pick up my daughter. You're more than welcome to wait until I
leave and I'll walk you out, or you can just go and I'll call you
later this week. It's up to you."

I heard her quiet sobs as I shut the bathroom
door. I knew I should feel worse than I did, but the only thing I
could concentrate on right now, was getting to my daughter and
apologizing for being such a terrible father.

* * * * *

(Meredith)

The moment Jeremy shut the bathroom door I tried
to dry my tears. I couldn't believe this was happening. After
everything I had gone through to be with him, one little hissy fit
from his daughter ruins everything. I just couldn't allow that.

I got dressed and gathered my things. There was
no way I was going to wait around so he could walk me out, carting
me to the curb like a piece of fucking trash. Screw this! I'd leave
alright, but you could damn sure bet I'd be back.

* * * * *

(Jeremy/Dad)

Meredith was gone by the time I finished my
shower and got dressed. I couldn't pretend that I wasn't relieved.
I really did need to get to Rose and make sure that she was okay. I
noticed that I had missed a call from her, so I was hopeful that we
would be able to work things out today. But for some reason, my
anxiety had ratcheted up a few notches since last night. I hadn't
gotten any other reports from Adrienne, so I assumed the girls were
fine, but I just couldn't settle my thoughts. The urgent feeling to
reach Rose was quickly climbing to an uncontrollable level.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Jillian's car in
the Case's driveway. This was a good sign and definitely helped to
relieve my stress. I parked and headed towards the front door. Just
as I was reaching for the bell, the door opened and out walked
Jillian.