Rosaline

by Penelope Marshall

  "Oh, I am sure they will. They are very beautiful," I said, looking over the young girls.

  Their hair, a soft, curly black, was long enough to touch their waists and voluminous enough to take up the space of four children. Their thick, black eyelashes framed their glowing amber eyes, which complemented their smooth, milk chocolate flesh.

  "Just lovely. Identical?" I asked, still taking in their beauty.

  Their mother nodded proudly.

  Both girls stared back at me, while one tugged at her mother's dress, and asked, "Will we be as pretty as her one day, Mommy?"

  I bent over and whispered to them, "My darlings, I could only hope to be as beautiful as you are right now." I winked as I straightened my posture.

  Mrs. McLoyd mouthed a "thank you" to me as I excused myself from the conversation. With the festivities waning, I wandered out of the backdoor to Wild Wind's four acres of manicured fields to enjoy the dusk air before the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. Excited for the impending evening, I delighted myself with thoughts of Gideon and his overpowering allure as I gazed over the few couples who were waltzing on a cobblestone walkway that led out to nowhere.

  "Rosaline." William's voice startled me.

  "William. What are you doing out here?" I asked nervously, wondering if he could tell I was preoccupied with thoughts of another man.

  He couldn’t know. Could he?

  "I came to see my fiancé." He took my hand and pulled me toward him. "Although, I don’t know if she wants to see me?" he asked, looking for an answer in my expression.

  "William," I whispered, pulling my hand away.

  "Rosaline. This needs to stop. You are not going to be able to push me away forever," he said stoically.

  Funny…that's exactly what Gideon said.

  "I'm not pushing you away. I just…" My words trailed as I didn’t have a good excuse ready.

  "I'm not the smartest, or the most handsome, Rosaline, but I know one thing. Everything I am starts and ends with you," he professed sweetly.

  Although charming, his words infuriated me.

  "Why the sudden change? You have been nothing but wretched to me all my life, and all of a sudden you decide to change and expect me to follow suit like a good little girl?" I asked, turning away from him.

  "No, I don’t expect you to follow suit. I do, however, ask that you give me a second chance to prove my worthiness," he said as he stepped toward me, slipping his hand to the nape of my neck, guiding me to him.

  "I still have a month," I said softly as he lightly squeezed the flesh of my neck.

  "I no longer care about your month, Rosaline." He exhaled, pressing his lips to mine against the backdrop of the orange sunset and purple sky.

  As much as I wanted to push him away, I was enthralled, plunged into a sea of primal thirst and ache. My hand rested on his chest as he continued to take ownership of me, cupping his palm to my cheek, leading me down a road I had yet to travel.

  A deep voice burst from the door. "Rosaline I was wondering…" My father paused as his eyes settled on what was taking place on the porch. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn’t know you were out here, William."

  I was mortified that my father, of all people, caught me kissing the man I had dubbed vile only days before.

  I ripped away from William's grasp. "I'm sorry! I have to go," I apologized as I searched for an escape route.

  "Wait!" William called as I pushed my way past my father and through the crowd toward the front door.

  With his lightning fast speed, he was already waiting and ready to intercept me.

  "Stop running from me," he murmured, as he swaddled me in his arms.

  The whispers that emanated from the crowd behind nurtured my embarrassment, causing me to bury my face into his chest. "Take me away from here William."

  Clare stepped into the foyer. "Rosaline, don't go," she begged.

  Ashamed, I didn’t reply. Neither did I want to witness the scene I had caused, so I kept my face buried in William's chest.

  William chimed in as my valiant prince. "I will be taking Rosaline home. Please carry on with the festivities," he announced, leading me out of the door to his car.

  "I'm sorry I embarrassed you," I said with a cracked voice.

  "Embarrassed. Not me," he lied, in an effort to make me feel better.

  William was starting to show his change was not a short-lived attempt at winning my heart. For I was quite certain the old William would have belittled me in front of that crowd and his awful mother.

  We jetted off down the stone driveway in the direction of the freeway.

  "Where would you like to go?" he asked, reaching across the center console to rest his hand on mine.

  Where would I like to go? If he only knew the real answer to that question.

  The curtain of night had fallen and the silver moon had already taken its seat among the twinkling stars. My bones told me it was time to meet Gideon in the clearing of the forest. That was where I wanted to go.

  But what to do with William? How rude would it be to leave him after his heroic rescue of a damsel in distress?

  "Well?" he asked again.

  "I think I'd like to go home," I replied.

  He shook his head. "Alone, I suppose?"

  I didn’t want to add insult to injury, so I didn’t reply.

  His car slowed as the familiar street turned into my driveway. Silently, he shut off his engine and looked out into the night sky.

  "William." I attempted to soothe his bruised ego.

  "When I was a boy, my father told me tales of wolves. The wolves of the silver moon, he called them. He said that long ago, before a time we ever considered remembering, wolves and vampires were meant to share one soul. Each was only half of its destined potential until mated with its perfect match." He turned to me. "Until recently I have never given the story a second thought. But now that you so fervently set me aside at every turn, I can't help but wonder if his fantastic tales were true."

  I looked at the sincerity in his face and wondered how honest I should be with him. "Wolves aren't real, William. Tales of soul mates are just that…tales. We live in a world most have yet to see. A world where love and the trivial conquest of it are left to human hearts to sort out. We rise above those trivialities and marry for the betterment of our kind."

  I wanted to be honest and say I also believed in soul mates and the love they shared. The kind of love which spurred wars and sank ships. The kind of love my heart knew awaited, if only I allotted the fates an extra ounce of sand in the hour glass of my life to weave their last bit of yarn.

  But the tension in the confines of the car was palpable, and I surely did not want to add to it. So I took the high road and laid out our future as best I could without acknowledging the fact that I did not harbor the same love he claimed to have for me.

  "Are you going to be okay, William?" I asked, laying my hand on his.

  He clasped tightly to my fingers then whispered, "One day I will have your heart, Rosaline. Even if I have to change the way I love you every morning."

  "You deserve so much more than I could ever offer you as a wife. Do you think it possible a different woman may perhaps harbor a spirit which cultivates yours?"

  "There are no women fairer than you, Rosaline, you are perfect." He lifted my hand to his lips.

  "I am far from perfection…cracked and broken…missing pieces that have been tossed away with the daily garbage."

  He smiled, sweetly. "You really have no idea do you?"

  Come to me, my sweet Rosaline. Gideon called.

  I shook my head, slipping out of the car, waving as he drove off.

  BREATHE ME IN

  The guilt of hurting William consumed me as I watched his car disappear down the road. Slipping off my heels, I started for the woods, the wind whipping through my hair as I passed street after street to the edge of the forest. At the speed I was running I must've looked like a blur to anyone who caught sight of me zipping through town
.

  Would Gideon know I kissed William? Would he care? Was he even real or just a figment of my imagination?

  That was the million-dollar question. Every interaction I had with this man ended in a disappearing act.

  HONK! SCREECH!

  My head whipped to the right just in time to see two round lights careening towards me as I ran through an intersection. I leapt gracefully into the air, bounding over that car and the one behind it, coming precariously close to falling victim to a head on collision.

  Gideon was getting to me, making me lose my focus during a time in my life when focus was what I needed the most.

  CRASH!

  The second car smashed into the first when the first slammed on its brakes. My toes touched the concrete, as the distinct smell of blood blew in from the crash site.

  Should I help?

  I knew I shouldn't. They would have questions, and my answers would put them in danger. The Dàil had strict rules about humans knowing our secret. Rules which had consequences if broken, the worst of which was death.

  Slipping into the shadows of an alley, I peered around the corner of the building, watching as the crowd gathered around the pile-up to assess the fate of the passengers.

  Disoriented, a man stepped out of the first car, his face bloodied from the impact of the steering wheel. The scent of his blood carried, causing my fangs to grow and my adrenaline to pump voraciously through my body. I couldn’t see past the thick life-giving liquid that coated his face.

  At this point he was no longer a human being, with a family, a job, or responsibilities. He was a piece of meat dangling in front of a rabid animal. My stomach churned, begging for me to sink my teeth into his delicate neck and drain him.

  The passenger of the second vehicle slipped out of her car, under the assistance of a passerby. Although she was disoriented, she had no visible wounds to speak of. My breathing became labored as the first passenger's wounds continued to stream blood, my chest heaving as I tried to fight my natural killer instinct. My perfectly shaped nails dug into the corner of the red brick building in an effort to focus my attention on something other than the wounded meal in front of me.

  My fingers ripped through the corner of the brick like a knife through butter, as I lost what little inhibition I had remaining, about to have my first taste of human blood. Stepping out from behind the building, I paused when I felt a warm hand tug at my shoulder.

  Before I could oppose it, the hand had spun me around, holding my back hostage against the dirty alley wall.

  "You're better than that," Gideon said in my ear as he slid his knee in between my thighs.

  "How dare you?" I growled, struggling against his grip, wanting to relieve the bloody man across the street of his life.

  "Shh…stop struggling." He raked his fingers down the length of my arms.

  Lifting my hands over my head, he pinned them to the wall with little to no effort.

  "Let me do as I please," I begged, still trying to peer towards the accident that was now hidden from my view.

  "Calm down. Drink from me," he said as he brushed his neck against my lips.

  His pulsating vein, the sounds of the ambulance and police sirens, all worked together to cloud my judgment. "I can't," I replied with my eyes closed, struggling to keep my fangs at bay.

  I was torn between my need for blood and my desire for him.

  What would he taste like? How does he even know of my thirst?

  His enchanting fragrance mixed with the sweet smell of human blood was enough to make any sane vampire tip toe at the edge of madness. My world was spinning as I gasped for even the faintest of breaths.

  "Rosaline, calm down," he said, resting his hand on the flesh and bone that lay over my heart. "Focus on me. Breathe me in."

  Following his direction, I inhaled his scent. The scent that didn’t require me to turn into an animal. The scent that calmed the redness coating my vision.

  My reply was choppy; my mouth dry from thirst. "Why don’t I crave your blood?" My face tilted toward the sky.

  His blood smelled neither bitter nor sweet. Dare I say, it was perfect.

  "You do crave me," he exhaled, "just not the way that you think. You crave me the way I crave you."

  "And how is that?"

  "I crave the parts of you that you have never met. The parts of you that have only graced my dreams since I was born into this wretched world of longing."

  "Longing for what?"

  "For a love forbidden by a few who claim to be gods among men."

  An ambulance wailed past us, carrying inside it the bloody man, his scent trailing behind it like a road map for vampires. And as it dissipated, my composure returned. The redness left from my eyes, and my fangs receded.

  "There's my sweet girl," he said with a smile as he let go of my wrists and backed away.

  "My head hurts," I said, laying my hand on my forehead.

  "You probably need to feed."

  "How do you know that? How do you know any of this?"

  Footsteps coming from the accident neared the alley. "Excuse me. Is everything okay, ma'am?" A police officer asked as he shined his light on my face.

  Squinting from the brightness, I covered my eyes to shield them from the intruding beam of light. "Yes, Officer. Everything is just fine."

  "Are you sure, ma'am?" The officer repeated.

  Gideon turned to the officer. "She said everything was fine," he growled.

  The officer took one step back and unlatched the safety harness of his holster. Sweat started to bead on his forehead and his pulse raced, pumping the blood through his veins.

  "I am quite sure, Officer," I assured him, holding my breath to keep from dispatching his neck from atop his shoulders.

  "There was an accident a few minutes ago. Did you see anything?" he asked, steadfast in his defensive stance.

  "No, Officer. Not a thing," I replied.

  His eyes darted between Gideon and me, seemingly trying to surmise the situation. But after a few tense moments, he said, "Okay, well, you have a good evening," he replied, shutting off his light as he walked away.

  Gideon turned towards the other end of the alley. "Wait! Stop leaving me."

  "I'd never leave you," he said, turning back with his hand stretched out.

  I placed my hand in his. "Where are you taking me?"

  "Can you keep up?"

  "Are you challenging me?

  "Always," he said coyly before he turned and started running.

  Quickly I propelled myself into a full sprint, and as we edged the forest, I was surprised he was as fast, if not faster, than I was as he had yet to falter. Then suddenly, as if by magic, he was gone, leaving me in the middle of the woods alone. My sprint slowed to a crawl as I scanned the surrounding trees.

  "Gideon!" I yelled angrily.

  The decibel of my yell reverberated throughout the leaves, shaking birds and other creatures awake.

  The forest came alive around me as I shouted, "Gideon! I never want to see you again!" I warned as a tear rolled down my face out of frustration for his constant disappearing act.

  Grrrrr!

  A wolf, double the size of any wolf I had ever seen, stepped out from behind a massive tree trunk.

  Taking a step back, I realized my obnoxiousness must have awakened the beast. The wolf mimicked my movements as I stepped to the right, then the left, in an effort to run away. The light of the silver moon gave away the dark gray hue of its fur, and its eyes, the color of amber, glowed as it inched closer to me.

  The anxiety in me swelled. "Wait!" I begged, holding my hands up.

  Was I really trying to reason with an animal?

  "Please. Don’t…don't hurt me," I pleaded as I backed away.

  I pondered how pitiful I must have looked begging for my life, shoeless, and in a cocktail dress in the middle of the woods.

  Rosaline.

  "Gideon if you are real, please help me," I whimpered as the animal drew closer, brandi
shing its fangs.

  After a few moments of unprecedented fear, I realized no one was coming to my rescue, so I took my stance and gritted my teeth. If I was going to die, I would do it fighting. My fangs grew and my vision turned red with rage, as I watched the monster pace about me, ready to devour my flesh if I gave it the chance. My fingers curled in to create fists I would use to defend myself if need be.

  Rosaline.

  Gideon's voice haunted me. I shook it away so as to focus on the threat standing before me.

  Rosaline, be still.

  I was so frustrated by him and his constant disappearing acts. "Where are you now that I need you the most?" I shouted to the trees.

  The wolf growled one last time as it lunged forward. I was entranced by the reflection of myself paralyzed with fear in its glowing amber eyes. The moment reminded me of my mother's bed-time stories of the wolf who attacked her as a child.

  I closed my eyes, ready to experience the savagery about to take place on the cold dirt littered with decaying forest. I fell to the ground as the wolf made contact, its warmth hovering over me. After a few moments, I wondered why I had yet to feel the searing pain of sharp teeth through my flesh.

  "Rosaline. Open your eyes." My lids fluttered open to Gideon, his smooth skin lying shirtless on top of me, his leg wedged in between mine.

  Startled, I pushed him off to the side and clamored to my feet. "Gideon. There was a wolf! Where did you go?" I asked, beside myself with fear.

  "Calm down, Rosaline," he said as he stood.

  "How could you leave me? How could a man leave a woman to fend off an animal alone?" I roared as I headed for home.

  Gideon seized my hand and pulled me back to him. "I never left you. Don’t you see? I am the wolf."

  I yanked my hand back and glared at him. "Do you think I was born yesterday Gideon? Werewolves aren't real! They are fairy tales told to children."

  As I turned to leave, he sprinted past me, leaping into the air and seamlessly transforming into the large gray wolf from before. He turned to face me with the same glowing amber eyes.

  Startled, I fell to the ground. Everything I thought to be true in this world dissipated, just as quickly as he had shifted into the wolf. Digging my heels into the ground as I inched my way backwards, the dead leaves crunched underneath the weight of my trembling body.