Rose

by Ripley Proserpina

He yanked the belt over his shoulder and shoved it into the lock. “Did you tell anyone where you were going?” he asked.

  “No offense, but I just met you and I don’t owe you an explanation of my choices.”

  “Just because you say ‘no offense,’ doesn’t mean I won’t take offense. And you went to my wife for help. Called my brother for a ride. You involve my family, you involve me—which means explanations are owed.”

  She decided silence was her best response.

  He snorted. “So no one knew where you were, and this guy grabs you off the street—”

  “He wasn’t a guy.” She’d interrupted him once before and he’d literally growled, so she did it again.

  “This guy,” he emphasized, “he grabs you and disappears with you. No one would ever find you, you know.”

  “No one would ever look,” she muttered.

  She felt his gaze on her, and she pulled the coat Liam had given her a little bit tighter around her shoulders. Even with the heat on, she was freezing.

  “Can you turn up the heat?” she asked.

  “It’s as high as it will go,” he grumbled and with one hand on the steering wheel, started to shake his arm free of one sleeve. He got the other off and held it out to her.

  “Thank you,” she said, tucking his shirt around her legs. When he didn’t answer, she sighed. “I used to have a knife,” she told him, just so he didn’t think she was a total idiot. “I stabbed a crawler with it.”

  “Yeah?” Sylvain asked, side-eyeing her. “Did it die?”

  “No,” she replied, honestly, but then, “Not until I kicked its head off. I forgot my pepper spray on my camera bag. Usually I carry it with me. I try to be careful.”

  He placed both hands on the wheel and stretched his neck from side-to-side. “Sorry if I came down a little hard on you.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I dragged your family into this.” Propping her elbow next to the window, she raked her hand through her gnarled curls. “I’m off Centre Street,” she said.

  “I’m not taking you home,” he replied. “Briar wants to see you. Make sure you’re not hurt.”

  Rose glanced down at herself. She was muddy and grass-stained and a fucking mess. “Can we at least stop at my apartment so I can change? I borrowed her clothes once before, and I haven’t done laundry yet…”

  He gave her a dead-eyed stare before turning his attention back to the road.

  She soldiered on. “So I don’t want to borrow more clothes, and I have a feeling she’s going to tell me to change—”

  “Briar has plenty of clothes,” he answered with a case-closed tone.

  It was her turn to growl.

  One side of his mouth lifted with a smile. “Besides, we’re almost there.”

  He was right. She crossed her arms in the jacket, trying to conserve body heat as he got off the highway, and wove through the streets toward the Back Bay.

  Rose studied the Victorian brick homes as they got closer, trying to remember which one the brothers had brought her to, but they all looked alike. The heat was finally working, and she loosened the grasp she had on Liam’s coat to take Sylvain’s shirt off her legs. She folded it over her arm, ready to hand it to him as he pulled into a parking space.

  “Here,” she said when he opened his door.

  “You don’t need it?” he asked.

  “No, I’m finally feeling warm…” From the corner of her eye there was movement. She squinted, unsure she was really seeing what—who—she thought she was seeing. It had to be. The heat was back.

  Keeping her gaze on him as long as she could, she pushed open her door.

  He was wet, soaked to the bone, and wearing a weird sleeveless version of his motorcycle jacket. But he was real.

  “Seti.”

  His shoulders lifted with the breath he took. He blurred through the rain, just like the man from earlier had, and she jumped away. He came to a stop in a way that reminded her of the Road Runner—a flash and full stop. “What happened to you?” he asked. “I smell blood and—”

  Rose knew what he smelled. The word had come to her the moment the stranger sunk his teeth into her skin. “Vampire.”

  Seti’s eyes widened with surprise. He moved closer, his movements jerky, which wasn’t like him. He was all smooth strides and grace.

  Not now.

  He reached for her, and she let him, breathing out a sigh of utter relief when his palm skated across her neck. The way he held her, she thought he would kiss her, but he didn’t. He wove his arm around her back, drew her into his arms—and sniffed her.

  “Vampire,” he repeated, his breath tickling her ear. “I can smell him. And blood. Yours and his.” His gaze roamed her face, and he suddenly seemed to realize they were standing in the rain. “It’s always raining here, isn’t it?”

  “Seems like it,” she said, her voice shaking a little.

  He dropped his hand from her neck and took hers, tugging a little. “Then let’s go inside.”

  Rose couldn’t believe he was really here.

  Just like she’d expected, Briar took one look at her and directed her to the bathroom.

  But she hadn’t wanted to go.

  She wanted to stay next to Seti, where the warmth of his body and the warmth he conjured inside her made her feel at ease.

  Safe.

  “Rose, please,” Briar guilted. “You’ll get sick.”

  What if she left, changed, and when she got back the cold seeped into her because Seti was gone? It mattered, for some reason, that he’d come back. It meant something.

  “I’m not leaving,” Seti whispered like he read her mind, and maybe he had. Vampires. Crawlers. Warmth.

  Magic.

  She was finding answers, making sense of things. All it had taken was nearly losing her life twice in the last week.

  With Seti’s promise, she hurried upstairs, changed into the sweatpants and sweatshirt Briar got her, and ran back down.

  Her hair was still wet and her fingernails muddy, but she was dry. She’d do for now.

  The people in the living room—Valen, Sylvain, Marcus, Hudson, Briar, and Seti—were exactly where she left them. But tense.

  “Where’s Lindy?” she asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

  “Friend’s house working on a project,” Briar said and patted the cushion next to her. “Sit down.”

  Seti was standing next to the window and she went to him instead. He watched her as she approached him, dark blue eyes lightening the closer she got. Straightening, he let his arms fall to his sides. “You okay?’

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “We filled Seti in on what we know,” Briar said. “But we have questions.”

  “You have questions?” Rose darted a look between her and Seti. “I have questions.”

  “Go on,” Seti said quietly. He faced her. At some point, he’d taken off his coat-vest, but he was still wet. His t-shirt clung to his skin and water dripped from his hair down the side of his face.

  “You need a towel,” she said.

  “I don’t get sick,” he replied.

  “Neither do I.” They stared at each other for a long, loaded moment until Briar interrupted.

  “You were kidnapped by a vampire,” she said. “Where?”

  There it is. There was the answer again. Vampire.

  Seti shifted his gaze to Briar and then back to Rose. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered. She’d healed. But he must have caught a tone of falsehood in her voice, because she’d never seen someone’s face darken as quickly as Seti’s did.

  “He took you, and you’re not telling me everything.” His form blurred as he paced. He went to the front door, stopped, and came back to her. Then did it again. On the fourth circuit, he stopped. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I went to the coffee shop today,” she said, watching him carefully. She didn’t want to upset him, which wasn’t like her. Earlier, s
he’d antagonized Sylvain. With Seti, she was more sensitive, and she didn’t know why. “I was recognized, so I left.”

  “Recognized?” Valen asked.

  “By a woman. And then by the other people in the cafe. I was uncomfortable, so I left. At the bus stop, a man”—not a man—“approached me.”

  “What did he do?” Seti asked. At some point, she’d dropped her gaze to the floor. He touched her hand, curling his fingers around hers, and just like that, he’d anchored her.

  “Asked me what I was,” she answered. “And when I tried to run away, he chased me, picked me up, and brought me to a sandpit.”

  “What did he do there?” Briar asked, and Seti’s hand squeezed hers.

  She focused on the warmth in her chest and squeezed back before she answered. “He tried to bite me, but I was metal today, and he couldn’t. Not at first. So he tried again.”

  The world shifted as Seti moved her closer to the window. He wasn’t the only one who had moved. Briar, Marcus and Hudson were there, examining her face and neck closely.

  “I don’t see any bites.”

  She lifted her hair and turned her head from one side to the other. “It healed.”

  “I can smell him,” Seti said. “I could find him now.”

  “I want in on that.” Sylvain raised his hand from the couch. “But I don’t understand why he didn’t kill you.”

  “Poison,” she replied, letting her hair fall back down. “Whatever was in my blood knocked him on his ass. He couldn’t move.”

  “Poison?” Seti asked.

  “A paralytic,” Hudson said. He stepped away from them and crossed his arms. “Like a crawler.”

  “He said that.” Rose remembered. “He said I was human and crawler. Poison.”

  “I guess your weapon is your blood.” Sylvain’s smile was utterly terrifying. “That’s cool.”

  “So he’s dead?” Seti asked, managing to look both proud and disappointed.

  “No.” I wish. “I was able to make it to the garage before he caught up with me. Liam, a man who works there, saw him attack me and scared him off.”

  Valen and Sylvain both scoffed.

  “It’s true!” She spun and glared at them. “I don’t know why, but the man let me go. Liam saved my life. He was really nice, so don’t be dicks.”

  “Sorry.” Valen apologized first. He stood behind Sylvain and slapped the back of his brother’s head.

  “Sorry,” Sylvain said. “But I’m glad I get to kill him now.”

  A growl began low in Seti’s throat as he pinned the other man with a stare.

  Their acceptance of her story meant the world, but— “How do you all know about this? Why aren’t you surprised?” She knew the answer—or at least suspected it—but she wanted to hear it from them.

  Briar was the one who answered. “Because we’re vampires, too.”

  Rose’s stomach clenched, and she tasted metal at the back of her mouth.

  “Breathe,” Seti whispered. “No one here will hurt you.”

  “I think I know that, but I can’t control how I feel.”

  “I understand,” Briar said. “Your first experiences with vampires weren’t good ones.”

  “Crawlers are vampires.” Of course! The crawler who attacked her a decade ago hadn’t just bitten her, he’d drained her blood. “But the last… today… you’re all outside. And I know it’s cloudy, but doesn’t sunlight—”

  They exchanged glances. Secrets. Answering her question was revealing a truth they might regret trusting her with.

  “I won’t tell.” She turned her back on Briar and the others to face Seti. “I promise.”

  “I’m not a vampire,” he said. “I’m something else.”

  “Something like me,” Briar called. “And Lindy. We walk in daylight.”

  “We drink and eat like humans, but also crave blood,” Seti added. “And heal quickly.”

  “Immortal?” she asked.

  He nodded. “So far. We can be injured, but it takes a great force to do so.”

  “Not a vampire,” she said, and he nodded.

  “But something close to it. I had a mother and father. Horus and Ra are my biological brothers.”

  Sylvain, Valen, Marcus and Hudson were brothers, too. She side-eyed the four men. They were physically very different, but that didn’t mean they weren’t brothers. As if they could read her mind, Hudson said, “We have the same maker. The same vampire turned us. We’re brothers in that way.”

  She nodded like she understood the intricacies of vampire genealogy. Sure sure sure. Same maker. Vampire brothers.

  “So why didn’t I turn into a vampire?” she asked. She walked in daylight, wasn’t immortal, and ate regular food. No blood for this girl unless it was a medium rare steak… she gagged a little.

  “Crawlers can’t turn humans,” Hudson said.

  Rose lifted an eyebrow. “Well, it did something. What did my blood show you?”

  Briar stood up fast. “Let me!” She hurried into the kitchen and returned a moment later with her laptop. Cheeks flushed, she wore a huge smile and spoke quickly as she balanced the computer and typed. “We examined your blood and analyzed your DNA. It was fascinating, but we didn’t call because we’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “It’s just normal blood,” she said. “Dr. Stone has run every possible test. It doesn’t show him anything.”

  Briar shook her head, wisps of light brown hair flying around her face as she bit her lip. “He didn’t know what he was looking at,” she said. “Or he was lying. It’s clear as day that there’s something there.”

  “He lied.” Why? According to him, his interest in her and study of her had derailed his career. “I—he lost everything because of me. He can’t get a paper published.”

  Briar paused her typing. “That’s bullshit.”

  Rose immediately shook her head. “No. It isn’t. If you look at my blood—”

  “I’m looking at it right now,” the other woman interrupted. “Rose…” She frowned. “Rose, there are things here an undergraduate biology student would understand.”

  Ouch. More evidence that she’d made some shitty decisions in her life and should have been a doctor. Even though she hated science. Even though the only way she’d gotten through biology was by bribing her lab partner with Red Vines to dissect the fetal pig. “Okay,” she said. She’d make herself understand this stuff. “Explain it to me.” She left Seti by the window to look over Briar’s shoulder at the computer.

  “This is your DNA,” Briar said. “I started looking at the parts of your genes where I might find evidence of your symptoms. Like, the fact that you heal rapidly and don’t scar. So here is Chromosome 12, and this is the CXCL12 gene. But yours, like mine and my husbands’ and like I suspect Seti’s and that of his brothers, doesn’t work. It’s effectively been shut down.”

  “That sounds bad,” she said.

  Briar smiled. “It’s not. It means you don’t scar. But when I reviewed your medical records, I found that you do have scars on your body. Like the one from having appendicitis when you were seven.”

  Rose touched her side. The scar was still there. “I don’t get it.”

  “It’s just that, if this was something you always had—if it was a part of the genetic makeup you were born with—you would have no scars. Because that’s not true, I know that at some point, that gene switched off. And I suspect it happened when you were bitten.”

  “But that’s really specific.” She wasn’t trying to stand up for Dr. Stone, but this was a gene on a chromosome. How would he have known to look for it? “And it doesn’t sound like something an undergraduate biology student would find.”

  Giggling, Briar shrugged. “I would have…”

  “Then you’re a genius.”

  “She is,” Hudson said. This was the first time Rose had seen Hudson smile, and the sight of him watching his wife with such pride… it was beautiful. “But you’re right. Your typical
undergrad wouldn’t have found it—they would have seen the elevated potassium in your blood.”

  “This feels like a big reveal,” Rose griped. “Could you just tell me the what and how together, so I can stop looking like such an idiot?”

  “You don’t look like an idiot,” Seti said. “I have no idea what they’re talking about either.”

  “You get used to it,” Valen said. “Eventually they come around again and explain. You just have to be patient.”

  “But I’m not!” Rose burst out. “I’m not patient! I don’t understand what you’re talking about except that my DNA changed when the crawler bit me. And because of that, I can heal quickly, and without scarring. There’s potassium in my blood, but maybe it’s because I ate a banana. You say these things like they’ll have meaning for me, except they don’t.” Her throat tightened, and she swallowed hard. Off balance and frustrated, she willed herself not to cry. It would be another weakness she’d be broadcasting to everyone and she wasn’t okay with that.

  Spinning toward the window, she hid her face from the other people in the room.

  “Rose,” Seti said quietly. “No one thinks you’re an idiot. I promise.” He slid his arm around her shoulders, but she stepped away, unable to accept the comfort he wanted to give.

  “I do,” she admitted. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I saw that crawler at the Arboretum. I was bitten, and at first, I told everyone what happened. That was probably idiot move number one, but me and my mom, we didn’t think it was something to hide. Why would we? And then something switched, and I became a freak, and instead of going head to head with everyone who called me a liar and a drama queen, I put my head down and hid. I waited for Dr. Stone to solve my problem and wasted time. Idiot move number two. I should have tried to figure it out myself.” By the time she was finished, she was out of breath and mortified.

  Wiping angry tears off her face, she stared out at the rain.

  “Rose.” Seti’s voice was quiet. He touched her, a light pressure of his palm on the small of her back. “What can I do?”

  “Why did you come back?” she whispered.

  His hand felt good—too good. It was more support than she’d had in years. But she couldn’t let herself get used to it. Seti was a runner, and at any moment, he could disappear again.