Scent of a White Rose (22 page)

I saw Christian watching me while my dad
approached Meredith. I think he was trying to remain out of the way
in case he needed to react in a hurry. I'm sure he was just waiting
to see what I was going to do before he spoke up. I wasn't sure
what was going to happen next, but looking at Christian an idea
suddenly formed in my head. Since I was planning on becoming a
vampire soon, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a
clean break from my old life.

I hated the idea of leaving Dad with this image
of me, but since there was no way to explain what had truly
happened here, I decided that I didn't have much of a choice.

"Dad, I promise that what I did was for the
best. For you, for me, and whether you believe me or not, for Mom.
I hope you don't call the cops on me, but I'll understand if you
feel you have to."

I saw Christian shaking his head at me trying to
get my attention. When I looked at him, he licked his fangs and
motioned to my dad.
Oh my god, he was going to bite my dad and
use his sedative.
I couldn't let that happen. According to
Meredith my dad was a demon and would infect Christian if he bit
him.
How the hell was I supposed to get out of this?
My eyes
widened and I shook my head "no" at Christian. I'd have to explain
myself to him later, but I was thankful that he was letting me take
the lead on this.

Resolved to the fact that running was my best
option, I moved to hug my dad. He was still kneeling next to
Meredith, shocked into silence with a panicked look on his face. I
leaned down and hugged him tight. "I love you, Dad. Please don't
ever forget that."

I couldn't stand to stay and hear his response.
I knew he'd plead with me to stay and that we would figure
everything out, but I'd made up my mind. It was time to start my
life with Christian. I looked at him and nodded my head towards the
front door. In an instant we were running for his car, and we
peeled out as soon as we were both inside. By the time we hit the
end of the block, the ambulance was already blaring down the street
towards my house.

I buried my head in my hands and began to cry. I
knew Christian probably thought that it was because I was leaving
my father with the impression that his daughter was a murderer, but
in reality, it was because deep down, I knew that Meredith was
right. I was a demon, and if Christian found out, he and his clan
would want to kill me.

My life was over.

* * * * *

(Meredith)

As I laid there listening to Rose break Jeremy's
heart, I knew that my plan had worked. Jeremy had seen his sweet,
precious daughter "kill" me, and now she and her boyfriend were on
the run. I knew that Evangeline would hide them so I'd have to
convince him not to press charges and just try to let her go. I
already had an idea of how to do that, and if I was right it would
guarantee my spot back in Jeremy's life.

I wasn't sure when or if I would reveal our
shared heritage to him, but I knew that my life was about to begin
with the man I loved. Today had been a good day to die.

* * * * *

(Jeremy/Dad)

As I knelt next to Meredith, I couldn't help but
feel all the emotions I had once felt for her surging back to the
surface. When I had heard voices downstairs, I first thought that
Rose had invited her boyfriend over to pick up his car, but then I
had heard Meredith's voice, and the sounds of violence.

As I raced around the corner, I took in the
scene before me. Rose's boyfriend had Meredith by the arms, holding
her in place while Rose prepared to drive a poker through her
stomach.

I had screamed, and then watched in horror as my
daughter pierced my ex-girlfriend through the stomach. Meredith had
collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from her wound.

I raced to Meredith as I tried to process how my
little girl could have done something so heinous, so criminal.

"I...I'm sorry. I...Dad, she killed Mom."

I was so shocked I felt like I couldn't
function. "I don't understand! Tell me what happened. Please,
honey, tell me exactly what happened!" I screamed.

What she said next will haunt me until my dying
days. "Dad, I promise that what I did was for the best. For you,
for me, and whether you believe me or not, for Mom. I hope you
don't call the cops on me, but I'll understand if you feel you have
to."

I sat there completely stunned. I realized that
I was truly in shock and that was why I couldn't get my brain to
work. I wanted to cry out and grab her as she hugged me, but
instead I felt rooted in place. In the next instant she was gone.
My little girl was gone.

Suddenly, I heard a breath escape from Meredith
and that kicked my brain back into gear. I jumped up and dialed 911
and then immediately returned to her side. All my attention was
focused on her as she slowly opened her eyes.
Thank God she
wasn't dead.
I tried keeping her still as she started to say
something. I couldn't quite make it out so I lowered my head,
straining to hear what she was whispering. "Don't report Rose.
Protect her."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Here was
this woman bleeding to death in my home and she wanted to protect
my daughter...the person who had just tried to kill her. How did I
ever think that leaving her had been the right thing to do?

Before the EMTs made their way inside, I grabbed
the fireplace poker and wiped it clean, then placed Meredith's hand
on the handle. I had made sure to meet Meredith's eyes as I nodded
and mouthed, "Thank you."

After stabilizing Meredith's vitals, the EMTs
stopped the bleeding and bandaged her wound. While loading her into
the ambulance they had said the wound wasn't as bad as it looked. I
climbed into the ambulance with Meredith and we headed to the
hospital.

When I grabbed her hand her slight smile and the
gleam in her eyes radiated love. I couldn't believe that I had
almost ruined this relationship.

"I'm so sorry." I hoped that she understood that
I was apologizing for everything: for keeping her a secret from
Rose in the first place, for me breaking up with her, and most of
all, for my daughter just attempting to kill her. I would gladly
spend an eternity making it up to her if she'd let me.

"It's okay," she whispered. "I love you. It will
all be okay."

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses
started an IV and the cops arrived to begin their questioning. I
made sure that I was close enough to Meredith so that she could
hear my responses. I figured that if we were all going to get out
of this we'd better have our stories straight.

With Meredith listening, I lied and told them
that we were having dinner and decided to follow it up with some
dessert in front of the fireplace. We had started to move some of
the fireplace equipment out of the way so that we could make
ourselves more comfortable on the floor, and that's when Meredith
tripped and impaled herself on the poker.

My God, what was I doing?
I hope this
worked, because if it didn't, not only would my daughter go to jail
for attempted murder, but I would be right behind her for
conspiracy. I couldn't believe this was happening. One wrong move
and my life was over.

After running Meredith's fingerprints to verify
my story, the cops ruled it an accident and thanked us for our
time.

By that time Meredith had started to drop into
unconsciousness from the pain medication in her IV drip. Before she
fell asleep, I quickly leaned in and whispered, "I love you,
too."

As I settled in the chair of Meredith's hospital
room, I tried to come up with a plan to go after Rose. Now that I
knew she was still seeing Christian, obviously that was where I
needed to start. It stung to know that Rose had kept seeing him
behind my back. If I hadn't been so crazed with keeping her safe I
might actually know more about this guy, like where he lived or who
he really was. But instead, I knew nothing about the boy who just
stole my daughter from me.

That was something that I was going to change
very soon.

* * * * *

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Our New Life

(Rose)

By the time we reached The Rising Pit, my eyes
were dry. I literally couldn't cry anymore. Just a few hours ago,
everything had been so perfect. My dad had broken up with that
demon bitch, I had finally gained back my freedom, and we were
going to go buy me a new car the following day.

But in a flash, everything had changed. I found
out that my mom had been murdered by a demon who was after my
father because apparently he was a demon, too. And not only was I a
demon as well, but now...I was also a murderer.

I hadn't thought twice about killing Meredith
when Christian told me to do it. Not only had I wanted revenge for
my mother, but also I had to keep her from telling Christian that I
was a demon.

I had no idea how I knew it, but when Meredith
had admitted to killing my mother, I had felt the rage inside of me
rise to the point that something physically had changed within me.
It was like I had almost felt my DNA shifting. So when she told me
that my father and I were demons, I knew that she was telling the
truth. I also knew she was telling the truth about Christian's clan
wanting to kill me if they found out I was a demon.

I had no idea how I was going to keep this
secret, but then again, I had always been able to keep my thoughts
hidden.
My God, that was it!
After learning about the
effects of Meredith's blood on Terrance and how it kept his
thoughts protected and
fuzzy
, it all made sense. No wonder I
never had a problem hiding my thoughts from Evie...it was because
of my demon blood.

"Rose? Are you going to be okay?" Christian's
question startled me out of my inner turmoil. With everything
racing around in my head, all I could do was nod in response.

"I know that what happened is something that is
going to take some time to process. But you have to realize that
you didn't have a choice. She killed your mom and could have hurt
you or your dad. She infected Terrance and there was no way I could
let her threaten anyone else in my family. Killing her was the
right thing to do."

He shifted in his seat and took both of my hands
in his. "We need to get you inside and tell Evie everything that
happened, but first I need to ask you a question. You know that you
can no longer go back to your old life, right? I'm sorry, but I
won't let you be placed in a situation where you could be taken
from me. I love you and I never want to live without you." He
swallowed hard and cupped my cheek in his palm. "I will soon become
the new Sire, and when I am I want you to be my consort. If you
agree, I'm sure Evie will let you stay here with us from now on. We
can start our new life together right away."

Oh my God. This was what I had been dreaming of
for so long, but how was this going to work? I was a demon and
Christian wanted me to become his consort. It was going to kill me
to have to tell him that I couldn't become a vampire anymore. That
I could never be his consort.

I was so scared and I knew that I would never be
able to go home again. Staying with the clan seemed like the best
way to stay protected. They could bite and use their sedative on
anyone that came looking for me. It was the obvious choice, even if
it wasn't for the same reasons as Christian thought. "Yes. I would
love to stay with you and the clan. Thank you, Christian. You are
truly saving my life."

"You are my life Rose, and I'll gladly spend an
eternity proving that to you." He leaned over and kissed me. It was
soft, tender, and filled with emotion.

The pain in my heart left me feeling like I was
the one with a poker through my chest. How could I live with the
man I loved while planning to lie to him every single day?

I guess I was about to learn
exactly
how
to break a vampire's heart...

Coming Soon...

Look for the next novel in The Rose
Trilogy

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