Rose Blossom

chapter 15



I slowly regained consciousness, my eyes opened to a room that was not mine. I just laid there for a few minutes getting used to the soft light, I was staring at a gold colored wall but my head was turned facing a window with black curtains.

I frowned and stretched, I felt good, better than good! I gazed down at my chest and jumped as two golden eyes peered back at me. My kitten! I reached a hand out that looked shimmering white and healthy; I paused, blinked a couple of times and then reached for her soft orange fur. I could feel every hair on her body and she felt twice as soft as she had when I got her.

I sat up slowly and took in my surroundings. The ceiling was a deeper gold than the walls and I was in a queen sized bed with black bedding. There were bookshelves and among the knickknacks and books were some of my own things. The items I had marked to take to the Daramonth's.

Right across from me hanging on the wall was the collage Mel had made me. I felt tears fill my eyes and roll down my cheeks, brushing them away my fingers came back tinged pink. I sighed and bit my lip as I remembered that vampires cry blood tears. It was going to be difficult knowing that I couldn't call Mel anymore or ride with her to school. I mean, I'd thought about it since I was diagnosed; what my afterlife would be like without Mel joking with me, the smell of her coconut perfume as we hung out or just her bright smile as she tried to give me reasons why my life didn't suck.

I blanked my mind, I didn't want to cry anymore and I didn't want my mourning her to overshadow the fact that I had a new chance at life. As Grandma had once told me, "make the best out of whatever you've got Pumpkin, don't throw away your chances like Kleenex." I pushed back the covers, eyes going to the collage one more time. I decided I needed to get up out of bed and go downstairs before my melancholy destroyed me. So I slid from my bed, upsetting Nora who was trying to clean herself.

I felt a little embarrassed, I was naked and a little worried about who had undressed me until I remembered Julian had to rescue me from the morgue and usually corpses are naked. Curious about how I looked I wandered over to the closet; its doors were made of mirrors. The girl in the mirror was beautiful. She looked like me but a me I'd never seen before, except in my dreams.

My body had become full and lush, healthy. My skin shimmered white like crystal snow. My hair was the same length but it was more vibrant blue black with more bounce and volume. It was my eyes that were the most shocking, they had become a glowing purple, like amethyst.

In the closet were Julian's clothes mixed with mine. I gave a silent yip, this was my boyfriend's room and I had been sleeping in his bed! I'd never been in a boy's room. Before I could continue to feel immature I reached for a pink princess style skirt and matching black velvet top. A few more minutes and I had located my under clothes, a hair brush and was standing in front of the mirror again. As I stood there staring at myself my stomach rumbled in a fierce way.

I smiled sheepishly and placed my hands over where the noise had come from, I glanced at Nora who was looking at me with her pretty eyes.

"I think I'm hungry," she gave me a very duh stare and began to wash her face. Running my tongue over my top teeth I felt the sharpness of the new additions, knowing I'd better feed, I left the safety of the room.

Following the noise of people talking I hurried downstairs. I got to the second floor landing and the people in the living room stopped what they were doing and turned my way. I hadn't made it down two steps when Julian was there.

"You tried to break our bond." Were his first words. He looked angry and I took a step back.

"I didn't want you to get hurt." I bit my lip. He laughed and it was cold and harsh, almost a bark.

"That mortal hurt me? Please, you wouldn't talk to me, you put yourself in danger." The dark shadow I’d seen before crossed his features. I heard a sharp intake of breath and then he was pulled away from me and I saw Antoinette's hand on his shoulder.

"Julian, rein in your anger, she was doing what she thought was right." Julian looked at his mother and the darkness was gone.

"You're right. I' m sorry." He glanced down at his shoes. She smiled at me and went back down the stairs.

"What was that all about?" I asked, still amazed that he'd gotten angry with me.

"What?" He asked.

"That darkness, the anger..." I was puzzled.

"It's the part of me that is truly a monster, and I was afraid for you." He explained.

"A monster?" I questioned.

"We may be just like people, but we do have the ability to do great harm, we are closer to the dark than humans, but my family controls it quite well. I am sorry." Then he was pulling me into his arms and nothing else mattered. His mouth found mine with more passion than he'd ever given me before. I pushed my hands into his hair without the fear that my heart would act up.

We stood there locked together and then a throat was cleared, stopping, we turned around, Julian's hands never left me as we walked the rest of the way down the stairs.

Avalon, Antoinette, Loretta and my Nana were all gathered and greeted me with love and joy, yes even Antoinette. It surprised me more than anything else that she seemed genuinely glad to see me up and about.

I sat down between Julian and my grandmother, "How long was I asleep?"

"Almost two weeks honey, that's normal, we had to force feed you blood every day to keep up the transformation." Nana explained.

"Wow how did you get so much blood?" I asked.

"We all donated, it wasn't bad; I've seen transformations that take almost a month depending on the strength of the blood given to the fledgling," grandma answered again.

“But Avalon and Julian, they’re changes didn’t take that long.” I was confused.

“Well your body had a lot of damage to heal from the years of medicine and health issues.” Loretta explained.

"How did I get here?" I looked at Julian, and tried to show him with my eyes how grateful I was I hadn't had to wake up at the morgue. As I listened to them it dawned on me each of them was wearing black.

"Julian and I stole you! It was so much fun. We had to use mind control on the guards and everything!" Avalon exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. "Ever since we met you Rho things have been so exciting."

I laughed at her joy and was glad that my almost-death had been good for something, but that didn't explain what my parents thought had happened to my body. Before I could give the question voice Loretta explained.

"Julian did such a good job of hiding Athol's body they think he's still at large and is responsible for stealing your corpse." Loretta beamed at her "son."

"That's ingenious," I nodded my head in approval.

"Antoinette thought of it," I glanced at Nana as if she'd grown another head then swiveled to look at the French vampiress. "Thank you."

"No thanks needed. We also managed, if you hadn't noticed, to get your things here without a problem, under the guise of packing it up for your parents." Antoinette said, she looked like the cat that ate the canary.

"I did notice and you're all so great...." I bit my lip, "how are mom and dad? Have you seen Mel?"

They all looked around, like they didn't want to have to tell me something. Eventually all their gazes settled on Julian who reached over and took my hand. He wasn't cold to me anymore. It was a nice feeling.

"They took it pretty bad; no one would even consider a funeral until your body showed up. Finally they were convinced it would be best for everyone if they laid you to rest so to speak." I began to cry at the thought of them having to bury an empty casket.

Loretta handed me a tissue, I dabbed at my eyes, the handkerchief came back a watered down red.

"It's today, love and we all have to go. They are doing a graveside service with a coffin that only has a picture of you in it." He finished talking and left a deep void of silence. I knew this was going to be hard; anguish was filling me up as if I'd been an empty well. I accepted it, I needed to grieve but that didn't mean I cared any less that I had to leave behind a huge chunk of my life.

Nana scooted over and held me just as she had when I was a little girl and skinned my knee. I wept into her shoulder for a few minutes before anyone said anything else.

"Honey you still have me and your new family, everything will be fine," she whispered into my hair. My stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly, it broke the tension and everyone laughed. I felt Julian get off the couch and leave the room. Lifting my head I slid off Grandma's lap and just nestled in next to her.

"We should have expected you to be hungry, sorry Rho," Avalon apologized.

"We had things that needed to be talked about first." Antoinette argued.

Julian came back with a large black mug, steam rising from it. Handing it to me he smiled, "drink up baby."

Sniffing, my fangs were suddenly very prominent; almost cutting into my lower lip, blood, the rich thick copper scent of it filled my nostrils. I raised the cup to my lips and drank deeply. It was wonderful, better than chocolate; it took me seconds to down the whole lot of it.

Julian took the mug away and pressed his mouth to mine, his tongue swept in licking the remnants of the blood away from the inside of my mouth. I heard him groan against my lips as tingles of excitement and pleasure coursed through me.

"Now, now children there will be time enough for that later," Loretta scolded us.

I didn't want to stop, Julian smelled like heaven, blood and roses. This brought another question to my mind though. We pulled apart and I asked, "What does my breath smell like?"

Everyone answered together, "roses."

"Because Julian made you," Avalon laughed. "Your breath always takes on the scent of the vampire who made you."

"Is there anything else I should know?" I hated being left out and not having important information.

"You'll learn as you age, however you do need to understand that we have to move now." Loretta gave me a very maternal smile.

Julian sat next to me, his hand stroking my thigh through my skirt. "Oh no, now I feel bad!" I exclaimed

"Don't, it's fine, we've already planned everything. We're going to England. We have another home there and we have vampire friends that have already gotten us jobs there too." Antoinette looked happy about going back to Europe.

"And guess what? Your Nana is coming with us!" Avalon practically exploded with the news.

"What? Really?" I turned to Grandma Lacey excited.

"Yes. I'm telling your parents I've gotten a job opportunity and then in a few years I will fake my death overseas." I could tell she'd given it a lot of thought. But it made me feel better to know she'd be with me in a foreign country.

"Anyway we have to go, the funeral starts in about thirty minutes and we are all required to be there. Now you just relax, play with Nora, read or do whatever. I wish I didn't have to go," Avalon pouted.

They all left and I just sat there in the empty house with nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company. It didn't take me long to become restless and fidgety. I got up and searched until I found a long black coat, and a black hat with the veil. I wanted to see my family and Mel one last time. No one would notice if I watched from afar.

The cold winter air didn't affect me once I was outside. It was a relief not to feel my heart, the cold or anything uncomfortable for once.

I took off at a brisk pace and within minutes I was at a full on run. I ran so fast trees just blinked past me. I pushed myself faster until I knew I must look like a faint blur to mortal eyes. I wondered how fast I was running and if maybe there was away to test it. I hoped we didn't have to run to England however, not that I thought we could cross the water on foot.

It was awesome! I hadn't run since I was a little girl and the freedom from my heart condition was almost better than anything ever had been.

The gate of the cemetery stood before me within seconds, I slid to a stop and almost collided with it. "Need to work on stopping." I muttered to myself. Going into the graveyard was weird; it had almost been my future to be six feet under.

I walked up a hill so I could see over the main part of the burial ground. There was a large oak tree at the top and standing almost behind it I had a perfect view of my own funeral. They were about 200 yards away from me but with my new vision I could see them all perfectly clear. Blood stained my cheeks as I watched schoolmates and teachers all huddled together crying. My new family stood with my grandmother looking the part of the grief stricken, Julian was crying. I could hear my dad talking about me and the events that had taken me from them too early. He seemed tired with his words and his appearance.

Killian was holding a pale and wan Mel; I glared at her, wanting to yell at her, she was wearing her Christmas present, the yellow cashmere I'd bought her, the sneak. Christmas was still DAYS away. Mom was standing looking like she was freezing in a white suit, her hair pulled back, she seemed almost ten years older.

Several emotions filled me up; pride that I'd had an effect on so many, happiness that I was going to go on and have a long life, grief that others had to suffer so that I could and grateful that I had been so beloved.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked Julian as I sensed him standing behind me, I needed to work on my reflexes and new sensory abilities, I hadn't known he was gone from the crowd till he was behind me.

"I could feel you a mile from here; does this make you feel better?" He asked, referring to the site below us. I nodded and he pulled me away, back down the hill in the opposite direction so that I could no longer see my own burial. I understood why; on the day of my funeral it would have looked bad should someone see him with a mystery woman.

"You have hundreds of years before you now my Rose blossom; you have immortality, unfailing health and the gift of being forever 18. What do you want to do?" He dropped my hand and walked a little ways ahead of me. I cocked my head at him wondering what he was doing.

"Finish high school for one and go to college, I'm totally stoked we're moving to England," I answered him. My education was important to me; especially now that I could do so much that I hadn't had the option of before.

"Yes, the change of scenery will be nice; we have so much life to live now." He turned right in front of me and I had to jerk to a stop so that I didn't trip over him.

"What the..." My protest died as Julian dropped to one knee and presented me with his gloved hand holding a ring.

"Marry me Rhodanthe so that my nights will never be without your light. I will love you forever." The shock wore off in less than a second.

"You better!" The words came out of my mouth without thinking. I grabbed the ring from him, it was rose gold with a pink fresh water pearl in it surrounded by small diamonds. I slipped it on my finger and leaned down to show him how much I loved him. Kissing him in the graveyard felt oddly right and so I said yes with my lips. He stood up without breaking our kiss, his hands settled on my hips and against my mouth he said, "was that a yes?"

I gave him a rather saucy look, "Yes, now take me home and show me how REALLY great it is to be a vampire." And he did.