Chapter 30: Rose
I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face as Caleb led me into a dance. He was so gentle. So hesitant at first. I found it endearing.
I wasn’t sure what made me reach up and kiss his cheek. It was almost as if I wanted to reassure him, to set him free from whatever doubts were holding him back.
He didn’t deserve the life he’d been dealt with. Caleb was a good man. That much was clear to me by now. I wanted to warm him as he’d warmed me.
Once we’d finished dancing, I withdrew my arms from his shoulders. He stepped away from me, though his eyes were still fixed on me. I smiled at his seriousness.
Turning around, I scanned the rest of his apartment. I looked at the ripped wallpaper, the damaged furniture, the smashed mirrors. I walked up to the wall and ran my finger over a torn oil painting.
I turned back to face him, his eyes still following me. I cleared my throat, steeling myself for his response. “You don’t have to live like this, you know.”
He heaved a sigh and turned his back on me. “Don’t,” he muttered.
“I don’t know you, Caleb,” I continued. “But I don’t think that you belong in this castle.”
He remained still, his breathing heavier as I spoke.
“I promise that I’m not just saying this because I want you to take me home. I’m being honest. Even after witnessing what you do along with these other vampires…I just don’t know. There’s something I’m not seeing in you that I should be seeing in you.”
I walked up to him. He avoided my gaze, though he didn’t change his stance.
“I’m not asking you to tell me what goes on here. I guess I’m just asking you to stop treating your life like it’s worth nothing.”
I reached out and touched his arm, hoping that he would look at me and see honesty in my eyes.
“I think you deserve more than this,” I said, gesturing around at the broken-up room. “And if there’s some way that I can help… Well, I guess I’m here.”
I shrugged when he still didn’t say anything. My shoulders sagged and I walked back over to the other side of his room, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He walked over to his piano and sat down, running his fingers over the keys.
“Rose,” he said, heaving a sigh. “Sometimes, choices you’ve made in the past limit the choices you have today.”
“Maybe,” I replied. “But there is always choice.”
He didn’t argue back. Instead, he began playing the piano. But he appeared agitated, his fingers flying off the keys as the tone of his music turned aggressive. He stopped abruptly mid-tune. He shot to his feet and glared down at me.
“I want to show you something,” he said.
He marched out the room, and I had to run behind him to keep up.
He walked straight out of his apartment and took a sharp right turn, walking along the corridor until we reached the stairs. To my surprise, he grabbed my hand and pulled me up toward the witch’s level. He opened her apartment door and, pulling me through the different rooms, stopped in the same room where I’d spied on him sitting with the wooden chest.
He walked over to a table and lit four candles. Then he approached a cabinet in the corner of the room and pulled out what appeared to be an old leather-bound photo album.
“Come here,” he ordered.
I approached the table. He finished flipping the pages somewhere in the center of the binder and dropped it down on the table in front of me.
Spread out over two pages were four fading black and white photographs.
I gripped the binder and lent closer to the photos. Each were of the same young couple—a young man and a woman. I brushed my fingers over the photographs, clearing away the dust, and as I did, I couldn’t stop myself from gasping.
The four photographs were of a young man and woman standing at the helm of a boat—clearly taken on the same day, since they were both wearing the same outfits in the photos: the girl, a flowing summer dress; the man, a casual shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and pants. Both smiling, they had their arms around each other, embracing like lovers.
The man was clearly a once-human Caleb.
And the woman… long black hair, tall, slim… the witch. Annora.
“That was my choice,” he said, his deep brown irises glistening in the candlelight. “Do you understand?”