The Rose Trilogy Box Set

by Tish Thawer

  Holy shit, my mom is having an affair. My legs almost gave out, dropping me to the ground. I was suddenly cold as ice and terrified to move because as I looked closer I could tell that he wasn't kissing the side of her neck, but instead had sharp teeth that appeared to be piercing her instead. What I had first thought were sensual kisses were actually long drags of sucking. Then a thought hit me that changed my world. Dear lord, a vampire is drinking from my mom.

  I finally, quietly, sunk to the ground, not knowing what to do or think. It felt like I was going to pass out. At first, I was so scared and feared that this monster was hurting my mom that tears instantly filled my eyes, but suddenly my anger trumped the fear and I started to look around for anything made of wood that I could slam into this asshole's heart. I wanted to scream when the man finally removed what could only be called fangs from my mom's neck. But then, as he laid her on one of the chaise lounges next to the pool, I witnessed how he gently brushed the hair out of her eyes. The kindness in his actions left me dazed and confused. Mom sat up with a smile on her face and waved as the man started to walk away. I was so relieved to see that she was still alive that I accidentally sucked in a quick breath. The man's head spun in my direction and suddenly I was being stared down by a pair of intense, dark eyes.

  After a moment, he crooked his finger at me, indicating for me to come to him. I was still frozen in fear and literally couldn't move. The next thing I knew he was standing right in front of me. Only a split-second had passed, and I hadn't even seen him move, but there he was, dripping wet, towering over me with a cocky smirk on his face.

  "Hi. You must be the daughter." His voice was deep and sexy, just like the rest of him. I couldn't believe that I had had those thoughts about a man who had just been holding my mother so intimately, but I couldn't deny reality. The guy appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with dark brown hair and eyes to match. He was tan and muscular, and probably about 6' 4". He looked like sex-on-a-stick.

  "Yes, I'm her daughter. Who the hell are you?" I had finally gotten myself under control and stood up to face him, though my courage had run for the hills. This was definitely going to be a workout for my acting skills.

  "I think the question you want to ask is, 'What are you?', am I right?" He had a mocking glint in his eye, and that damn cocky grin was still plastered to his face.

  "I'm not stupid. I know what you are. You're a vampire."

  His grin widened. "Are you scared?"

  "Should I be?" I tried to bolster myself so that the fear I was feeling wouldn't come across in my shaking voice.

  He stared at me for a long time then gave a slight hmph. "No, beautiful, you have nothing to fear from me. One a night is all I can handle."

  I hated that his one had been my mom, but I was damn glad that he would be leaving me alone. "Did you hurt her?" Now that I felt somewhat safe, I had a shit-ton of questions that I was dying to ask him. Well, maybe dying wasn't the right word to use.

  "No, I didn't hurt her, and she won't remember anything about tonight," he explained. "What about you? Should I bite you and make you forget?" He seemed genuine in his question.

  I tried not to shiver, but the goose bumps his question produced spread up my arms. "No. I don't want to forget. Actually, I have a lot of questions that I would love to ask you." I don't know why, maybe it was the brain-numbing fear or the years I'd spent researching as a history major, but in that moment the strangest thought of, What an amazing paper I could write with his help, drifted through my brain. Seriously. Was I debating asking a vampire to help me get a good grade on my history paper? He'd probably kill me for being so lame.

  He turned around and saw that my mom had gotten up from her chaise and was starting to gather her things. "Why don't you meet me back here tomorrow night and I'll answer some of your questions?"

  "Really? Or is this some kind of trick to get me here so I can be the one you feed on tomorrow?" I was excited but not stupid. I wondered if crosses or stakes would actually work on this guy. Not that I'm Buffy, but a girl could try.

  "No trick. I do, however, enjoy the taste of your mother's blood. It's different than any other that I've ever experienced. So once you spend the evening with her and realize that I'm telling the truth and that I didn't hurt her in any way, as long as I can continue to feed on your mom...I'll be willing to answer your questions. Is that something that you can handle?" He extended his hand as if preparing to shake on a deal.

  "Okay. But if Mom shows any signs of being hurt or acting weird then you'll never see us here again." It was a lame threat because he could probably just follow us home or find us whenever he wanted, but I had to make sure he understood that if he had hurt my mom in any way, the deal was off.

  "Deal." He shook my hand and then started to walk away. "Oh. One more thing. What's your name?"

  "My name is Rose. What's yours?"

  "Terrance. My name is Terrance."

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Desensitized

  (Rose)

  Once I got Mom home, I offered to cook. Dad had a work meeting tonight that included dinner, so it was just going to be the two of us. All throughout our meal I watched her so closely that I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. She seemed perfectly fine and acted as though everything was normal. Normal, what a joke. But for just having discovered that vampires were real, I thought I was handling things pretty damn well.

  I suppose with all the vampire lore that I studied in history, and with a new vampire movie or book popping up every other week, I, like the rest of society, had become desensitized. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but since I hadn't run away screaming at the top of my lungs that vampires existed, which would probably only have landed me in a loony bin–I was thinking it was a good thing.

  After dinner, I climbed into bed with Mom under the premise of watching a movie, but really it was so I could keep an eye on her. She seemed to be doing fine. She didn't even have any puncture wounds where Terrance had bitten her. That was definitely something I was going to have to ask him about.

  I met Terrance back at the pool the following night just like we had planned. Mom didn't know I was there as I hid behind the edge of the massive brick building. I kept my eyes on the pool expecting Terrance to creep towards my mom from the shadows, but suddenly, after hearing a noise, I turned to find him walking up behind me along the building instead. For a second I thought he was going to go back on his word and feed from me, but he didn't.

  We sat down with our backs against the wall and started talking. It was all so surreal. He explained how vampires weren't the bad, evil villains of lore, and how every night they only fed on one person, and only took their fill. He told me that their powers let them make the feeding process an enjoyable act for both vampire and human, and it also allowed them to compel the human so that they didn't remember anything that had happened. He had said that these "powers" came from a sedative that flowed from their fangs. How cool.

  Everything was going great, but I couldn't help the feeling of dread and uncertainty that filled my chest when he finally asked if it was alright to go feed from my Mom. But, since she'd been fine the night before, it wasn't like he'd lied to me about anything yet, so I decided to trust him. Plus, I didn't want to back out of my end of the deal and make him so angry that he decided to kill us both instead.

  He told me to stay behind the building, so I did. She waved at him as soon as she saw him walking towards her. She started back towards the pool when he shook his head and gestured for her to take a seat on the chaise instead. She did so immediately.

  I watched as he made his way around the back of the chair and sat down gently beside her. It took everything I had in me not to run over and beg him to stop, but in the next instant Terrance had sunk his fangs into my mom's neck and began to drink. I covered my mouth to hold in my scream and immediately looked away.

  When he was done, which only took a minute or so, he laid Mo
m back on the chaise like last time, but instead of her getting up to gather her things, she just lay there instead. I started to panic and ran towards them. "What did you do? You said you wouldn't hurt her."

  "I didn't hurt her. I just used my sedative to make her sleep for a little while so we could finish our conversation. I thought you might have some more questions."

  "Oh, okay." He was right. I did have a lot more questions. The first of them being, why did my mom think she knew him?

  "The first time I fed on her, I used my sedative to make her think I was one of her swim students. Since I don't have to breathe underwater, I sometimes submerge us in case anyone walks by. I'm able to control the flow of blood with my sedative so there's no mess, and if anyone see us while we're underwater, I'll have time to stop feeding and make it look like we were just doing some underwater training. And before you freak out, I always make sure she's never under too long."

  "Freak out" was an understatement.

  Terrance spent the next half hour talking me out of a panic by explaining a few specifics that came with being a vampire. Like how the puncture wounds close because of their sedative. Apparently it is "programmable" and can not only be used for memory stuff, but for pleasure and healing as well. He also explained how vampires didn't burn in the sun, but fell into a deep sleep at its rising instead, along with a lot of other interesting facts.

  When Mom started to wake, Terrance said goodbye and asked if I'd like to meet again tomorrow. After pondering if I should come just to watch over Mom, since apparently she was his donor of choice, I decided that I needed some time to process everything and told him that I'd meet him again in a couple of days. At this point, I felt confident that he wouldn't hurt her because he had said that her blood tasted better than anything he'd ever tasted before. While that kind of creeped me out at first, I quickly noticed how gentle he was with her, and since she seemed fine after his feeding, I felt confident taking this time for myself. Besides, I had a date with Christian tomorrow night.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Revelation

  (Rose)

  It suddenly became a habit to keep a close eye on Mom, and to make sure she didn't show any negative signs from Terrance's feedings. But she always seemed perfectly fine. She went about her days as usual, and I decided that I could do no less.

  School was normal, but I just couldn't seem to focus. Gee, I wonder why?

  I kept thinking about everything that Terrance had told me, and yet how normal of a person he seemed to be. It was so hard to wrap my head around the fact that he was a honest to god vampire. Cringing, I wondered if I'd be struck down for using those two words in the same sentence.

  As soon as the final bell of the day rang, I headed towards the restroom to freshen up before I headed down to Christian's for our "date." At this point, the dates were more like makeout sessions, but trust me–I wasn't complaining. We'd sit in the backseat of his car and talk about anything and everything, but inevitably, we'd end up in each other's arms and believe me when I say, there was no other place I'd rather be.

  A bunch of girls in sportswear and ponytails busted into the restroom, rousing me out of my love-dazed thoughts. I spotted Jillian amongst the crowd and suddenly felt nervous. Not only did I feel guilty for not spending time with my best friend lately, but also because we never really talked about what had been up with her at the pizza place. I think I just didn't want to know.

  "Hey, Jill. You heading to practice?"

  "Sure thing. What are you up to? I haven't seen you much lately...I miss you." She threw her arms around me, which made me feel tons better. At least she wasn't mad at me for being too busy, since obviously she was pretty occupied with her team at the moment.

  "I miss you too. I've just been hanging out with Christian, and working out with Mom at the pool a lot." No way could I tell her that I was currently spending time with yet another new guy that involved me meeting him after dark.

  "Okay, well, have fun with Christian. I've gotta go kick some ass on the court!" Her whole team whooped and hollered as they bounced their way out of the restroom, leaving me to stare at myself in the mirror, wondering just how dense I could possibly be.

  I was suddenly having an epiphany. Thinking about Terrance needing to meet me after the sun had set had me putting two-and-two together. How interesting that Christian and I could never meet unless it was after dark as well? And why was he always so vague when it came to talking about any other job before this job that required him to work nights? He was also the only person I'd ever met that ate everything rare and practically bleeding on the plate.

  Holy shit! I was dating a vampire. He had to be, and I knew one sure fire way to find out. I grabbed my cell and dialed Christian's number.

  "Hello?"

  "Hi, Christian. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm going to be a little bit late. I got held up at school and I still need to grab a bite to eat before I head down." I didn't want to cancel all together, but first...it looked like I would be meeting Terrance tonight after all.

  After dumping all my makeup back into my purse, I made a beeline to my car–Mom had let me take it to school today since I would be headed to Christian's tonight. But this was a detour I had to make first. I drove straight to the swim complex and found Terrance waiting in the shadow of the trees just beyond the pool while my mom finished her last lesson of the day. I stood behind the corner of the building and waved him over the moment he noticed me. He was at my side in two seconds with a worried look on his face.

  "Rose, is everything alright? You look upset, and your heartbeat is racing."

  "I have to ask you something, and I want the truth. Do you know a vampire named Christian Royce?"

  I knew the answer the instant that he dropped his head. After sliding down to the ground, we took our usual seats with our backs to the building and he told me the one thing that I never expected to hear.

  "Yes. I know Christian. Royce is the last name that he uses in the human world, but we really don't have last names once we're turned. We are part of the same clan and live at The Rising Pit. How did you meet him?"

  After the air left my lungs, I answered, "I've been dating him for the last month and a half. Why have I never seen you there?"

  "I choose not to feed in the vicinity, and prefer to come into town instead. Christian has always fed close to home," Terrance explained.

  I knew from the jealous feelings that raced through me at the thought of Christian touching another person, I wouldn't be breaking things off with him. Vampire or not...I was sure that I was falling in love him. And, based on my conversations with Terrance, I was certain that Christian wouldn't hurt anyone, so I really couldn't be angry at him for feeding on humans in order to survive. He couldn't help what he was.

  Even though I could barely process that my boyfriend was a vampire, I suddenly felt much better. I was excited to tell him that he didn't have to keep it a secret any longer. "Well, I guess it will be a big surprise for him tonight when I tell him I know what he is."

  "No. You can't!" Terrance exclaimed as he shot to his feet.

  Panicked, he said, "If you reveal that you know vampire's exist, you could get us both killed." He went on to explain that I had to hide my thoughts around other vampires, making sure that I only focused on the events that were immediately happening around me.

  This seemed like an impossible request, and one that I wasn't sure if I could pull off. But, I decided that I needed to know how keeping this secret was going to affect Christian and my relationship before I made any rash decisions. So following Terrance's advice, planning to guard my thoughts and keep this revelation to myself, I went to see Christian.

  On my way down, I had a series of panic attacks and almost turned the car around multiple times. I was so completely nerve-wracked, and I thought for sure there was no way that I was going to be able to keep my thoughts from him. But apparently I was pretty good at hiding things from people, becau
se he didn't notice a thing.

  Our date went off without a hitch. The fact that I knew he was a vampire only heightened the emotions I was feeling. He didn't act or feel any differently and I realized in that moment that not only would I not be breaking up with him, but that I wanted to spend eternity with him. Talk about a life changing revelation.

  I didn't see Terrance for a couple of days because what I had to think about deserved some serious consideration. Once I had made my decision, I met with Terrance and finally asked the question that I was dying to know. "So how exactly does someone become a vampire?"

  "Well, it's pretty standard stuff, really. A vampire bites and feeds on a human until they've been fully drained, then the human feeds from the vampire in return. The human dies and is then reborn as a vampire in a matter of hours."

  Standard indeed. No big surprises there. So, after a few more weeks of contemplating and finally admitting that I was, in fact, in love with Christian and that those feelings weren't ever going to change, I had made up my mind that I wanted to become like him so we could be together forever. I asked Terrance if he would be willing to change me, and he agreed.