Blood deep (Black Series 3)

Chapter 24

Rose

I drive towards a hotel, I don't even know where I'm going. I just know I need to be away from all of this. Would he ever hurt me?

'Of course not, you idiot. He cares about you.' I talk to myself in the car.

But does he really? Yes, he fixed my necklace, he kissed me, he almost fucked me... that's not love. That's lust.

I pull over in Paradise Bay and check in. I don't even know how I ended up here. Everything is a blur. There is this thick fog in my mind. This is why he didn't want me in his house. He didn't want me to find out his secret. Was uncle Rafe also a vampire?

All these questions. All these answers I crave for right now. I close the door of my hotel room and lock it. Tears run down my face like waterfalls. I can't stop. Why do all these things have to happen to me?

I sit down on the bed and let myself fall on the soft pillows. I close my eyes and continue crying until I fall asleep.

I wake up with a smashing headache because my phone is ringing like crazy. It's Selena. I ponder a few moments whether I should answer her or not. After all, all she has to do is check the last credit card transaction and she can find me.

'Hello?' I say, my voice hollow.

'Sweetheart, where are you? I told you to wait for me!' She sounds extremely worried.

'I left. I am at Paradise Bay.'

'Rosie... why did you go to a hotel? Come back home. I'll fix things with Theo.' She says.

'No, Selena. You can come talk to me at the hotel. I am not coming back.' I tell her blankly.

'Fine. I'll be there in a few minutes.'

I don't know how much time passed, but I hear her voice on the other side of the door.

'Rosie?'

I go and open the door. Her and Dorian are both here.

'Honey...' Dorian pulls me into his cold embrace.

Suddenly I panic and pull back.

'Why are you both here?' I ask them stepping back in fear.

'We were worried about you, Rosie. Why are you being like this?' Selena asks me raising her arms to hold me but I move away again.

'I know what he is.' I tell her while closing my eyes. Silence falls over the room.

I open my eyes and look at Dorian.

'But again, he is your son.' He frowns but doesn't say a word.

It is Selena who breaks the silence.

'He is a hibrid but he is born with mostly vampire features.' She looks at me closely, searching for a reaction but I can't show any.

'I'm an oceanid, Dorian is a vampire. Theo can walk in the sun freely, eat human food, drink blood...' she stops there.

'And what else, Selena?' I look at her feeling anger taking over me.

'And he... doesn't know how to control himself from harming people. There is this thirst he has, it's uncontrollable sometimes.'

'This is why you didn't want me living with him...' It all makes sense now.

'We love you, Rosie. We want what's best for you.' Dorian cuts in and I take another step back.

'He loves you, Rose. Don't give up on him. You brought him back when he last slipped and almost lost his control. He killed a man three weeks ago. He is losing it again. He needs you. He injected himself with garlic serum last night. We found him unconscious in his bed.' Dorian explains like that is supposed to make sense for me.

'What the hell are you talking about?' I ask him confused.

They both sit down on the chairs in the room while I sit on the bed. Selena starts explaining me.

'Remember when you were 13 and he was sick for 3 months? He was actually on the verge of another episode. His hunger...' she frowns...' but you brought him back. He was not taking the garlic serum well. He hurt Dorian, Cain. But one night, Cain left the door open and you walked in and his mind silenced. He came back to us. Then he left in the army to tame his thirst. He didn't want to hurt good people.' A tear escapes her eye.

Dorian cuts in.

'He has this continuous struggle inside him. He is stronger than me but that also means that he struggles harder with his vampire side.'

'Was uncle Rafe a vampire?' I ask, taking them by surprise.

'Yes.' That's all Dorian says.

'So what do you plan on doing now?'

'We will keep him on garlic serum until this passes, but please come back home. We will stay with you until he wakes up.'

'Fine.' I answer and take my bag off the floor. 'Let's go, then.'

We all walk towards the parking lot and drive home. I don't know why I agreed to do this. I guess my mind still can't process everything happening. I fell in love with this man, being, whatever he is. Can I abandon him? Can I continue loving him, knowing what he is?

As we reach home, I drop my bags on the floor and go straight to his room. He is in his bed, shaking, all covered in sweat. His veins are showing up on his temples, his fangs are glistening in the sun. His eyes are shut while his entire face is twisted in pain.

My feelings hit me like a tornado. Seeing him suffer like that, it eats me inside. My heart hurts a bit more with every minute I spend in the room. I sob softly while looking at him. I love this man. Who am I trying to fool?

'He helped Bella and Alex with moving and settling in. We all did.' Selena puts her hand on my shoulder.

'What?'

'These three weeks he left you. We had to wait for Bella to give birth and then we helped them move to Marseille, in the house Dorian and I used to live in.'

What have I done?