by Roses
"Absolutely, I would love to meet everyone you work with." I accepted the invitation and then kissed him goodnight as it was really late. I headed home, realizing that it was just after two in the morning. I hoped that I wouldn't wake up Mom and Dad, but Mom had a tendency to wait up for me, even though I was a grown woman. I didn't mind though, and if she was up, I would get to tell her about Christian inviting me to his "company mixer" next weekend.
The moment that I turned the corner at the end of my street, my vision was filled with blaring red and blue lights. It only took a couple seconds for me to realize that the ambulance and cop cars were centered around my house.
Oh no!
I had no idea what was happening, but, I hope my dad didn't have a heart-attack, was the first thought that crossed my mind. He always worked so hard, and lately he'd had to attend a lot more late and out of town meetings.
I parked the car down the street and ran towards the house as fast as I could. I tried talking to the first policeman I saw. "What's happened?"
"Miss, you need to get back in your car and head on home," the cop politely stated.
"This is my home!" I screamed as I pushed my way past him and started across the yard.
"Rose!" My dad's voice rang out, and in the same instant my heart dropped. If he was running towards me, then something had happened to Mom.
From the tear streaks that coated his face, I knew it was bad. I stopped in my tracks halfway across the lawn and froze. By the time he reached me, everything had gone silent. It was like my ears were suddenly filled with cotton, and the whole world had started to operate in slow-motion.
The moment Dad reached me, he wrapped me in his arms and we fell to the ground. "Rose. She's gone. Your Mom's gone," he sobbed.
It wasn't the cold dew on the grass that caused my goose bumps, but the utter terror of what he'd just said to me. There had to be a mistake. I had just talked to Mom early tonight when I told her that I was going to be later than usual. There was no way that she could be dead.
"Sir, if you and your daughter would come with us, we have a few questions for you," the same officer said.
We were led into the house, and then instructed to take a seat in the living room. I was so lost in my head that I didn't even hear the police as they started asking my dad questions about what had happened. But once I was able to regain a small amount of focus, it became clear that someone had broken in and killed my mom when she'd come out of her room and spotted them. Dad said that he hadn't heard anything, but that when he woke up and found the bed empty, he'd got up to check on Mom and found her in the hallway, just outside their bedroom.
Dad continued to explain that it looked like she had just passed out, as there wasn't any blood, but when he tried to wake her, he realized that she wasn't breathing and called 9-1-1.
Apparently when the ambulance arrived and began examining the body, they had found two small puncture wounds on her neck, and requested my dad's permission to do an autopsy to pinpoint the cause of death.
After hearing this, the first thought that crossed my mind was, Terrance.
That son of a bitch no good vampire followed my mom home and killed her after feeding one last time. Oh god, what if he turned her?
I immediately realized that my train of thought didn't make any sense, because if Terrance had turned my mom, her body wouldn't be here. He would have taken her with him so they could complete the process, and so that he could be there when she woke as a vampire. No, this wasn't right. Plus, Terrance had always treated my mom like something he cherished, so why would he kill her? Something just wasn't adding up. Terrance couldn't have been the one who killed my mom.
I continued to ponder all the possibilities of what could've happened because there was no way that two puncture wounds to the neck was a normal cause of death. As a matter of fact, I heard them rule it a "freak accident" as they finished up their interrogation and began to clear the scene.
My attention was suddenly snapped into focus as I saw my mom's body being wheeled out the front door in a body bag. My dad quickly grabbed me and forced me to look away.
My mom's life was over, and so was mine. How was I supposed to live without her? As the tears started to flow and the authorities finally left us alone, I sank into my dad's embrace. As devastated as I was, listening to him cry over the loss of his wife was what pained my heart the most.
After that night, everything changed. My dad took a sabbatical from work and pulled me out of school while we tried to process everything. He made funeral arrangements and had meetings with lawyers and insurance people all while insisting that I stayed glued to his side.
It quickly became clear that Mom's death had turned Dad into a scared, over-protective father. The only time I was able to grieve on my own was when it was time for bed or when I used the restroom. He wouldn't let me see Christian anymore, and since I practically never left the house without him, I never saw Terrance again either. It had only been a month, but there was no end in sight to what I liked to call my "official lock-down." God, I missed my mom so much.
The only thing that made me happy was thinking about Christian. We talked on the phone as much as we could, and as harsh as it sounded, the fact that we would never have to go through something like this made me happy. I was still devastated that my mom was dead...but I was going to live forever.
Look for other books in The Rose Trilogy
at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other online vendors
Scent of a White Rose - Book 1
(Available Now)
Blood of a Red Rose - Book 2
(Available May 8, 2012)
Death of a Black Rose - Book 3
(Available September 18, 2012)
by
Tish Thawer
Praise for Scent of a White Rose
"...everything about Scent of a White Rose was such a fresh new concept when it came to vampires, actually it was just a whole new concept in general for the paranormal genre! This is a read any paranormal lover should read!" ~ YA-Aholic
"Tish adds her own unique spin that makes Rose and Christian's story intriguing. The plot twists will definitely have you turning the pages to see what is going to happen next." ~ The Book Lovers Realm
"Scent of a White Rose is not the plain Jane girl meets vampire and falls in love story...I will tell you that you should add this book to your TBR list." ~ The Book Nympho
"In Scent of a White Rose, Tish Thawer crafts a seductive vampire tale with her eloquent writing style and keen sense of romance that simply entrances!" ~ Romancing the Darkside
"Thawer managed what I thought was an impossible feat. She was able to put yet another new spin on the age old vampire tale." ~ The Bookshelf Sophisticate
