Poisoned Roses--Chapter 8

Well, here is the next chapter.

Hopefully you enjoy it

Happy Reading!

**Edited as of Sept. 21**

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CHAPTER EIGHT

I wake up late on Saturday to find that Carmen and the others have left for the mall without me. Nora tries to explain their absence to me but I won’t listen. I have looked forward to this time with the gang, away from humans, just spending time with my Coven brothers. It would be a relief, an escape from my sleepless night of pain with Isaac haunting my every move, his blood drifting tantalizingly across my nose.

It seems that they had other plans, though.

“Forget it, Nora!” I shout, throwing on an old tee shirt and jeans before sweeping out of the room.

Nora ensues, her feet pounding on the floor. “Sophia, please! Carmen said that you would be angry with him about…something!”

“Well I wonder why!” I screech, nearing hysteria.

“If this is about me and him—“

“Yes, Nora! It is!”

“Well don’t be mad at me too! I just tagged along for the ride,” she glowers.

I sigh, glancing at Nora, knowing full well that I will never be able to stay mad at her for long. “Nora, I have to go.” Hurrying for the lower levels, I leave her in my wake. I can hear Nora’s labored breathing as she stands at the top, choosing not to follow.

Downstairs, I don’t stop for breakfast. I can smell the rusty scent of a horde of rabbits barely alive. My canines push against my lower lip but I fight the urge to drink. I have to escape this house.

Outside, I break into a run until I reach the shores of Lake Michigan. There I sit, curling my knees to my chest. The crisp morning air blows through the strands of my hair, seeking my scalp, cooling the skin there. It ruffles the over-sized tee clothed on my body and my jeans form to my curves as I lay on my back, breathing in all the scents of the forest.

I can detect a mouse family, shivering in their burrow beneath the earth. I can smell the sweet nectar of the pines, their sticky oil leaking down the bark. And then a new scent reaches my nose—strong, intense, mixed with adrenaline.

A vampire.

I jump to my feet in one swift movement before a fast-moving object hits me hard. I tumble to the earth, the object with me. I spot a head full of blonde hair before we start to roll down the hill, towards the lake.

“Carmen!” I screech, struggling to untangle myself from him. His arms are like iron bands around my body and I can’t pull free. I feel the rumble of a chuckle deep in his chest and I kick out, hoping to catch him by surprise as we drift even closer to the icy waters.

Finally, when we are close enough to reach out and touch the ice, Carmen releases me. I dig my nails into the earth, halting the rolling as Carmen stands above me watching me closely. When I have enough dignity to look him in the face I see that a smile is spreading across his face, making his eyes sparkle.

“What do you want?” I growl, stumbling to my feet. Grass stains sprout on my knees and the front of my tee shirt along with patches of wet from the snow. I brush at them with my hand but it does no good.

“Why were you mad at Nora?” he abruptly asks, his smile dying on his face.

“How do you know I was mad at Nora?” I ask suspiciously.

“Sophia, we are to be Bonded in less than three months. Her feelings are already becoming more of my own. I could feel the confusion coming off of her when you guys talked. Plus, you are our Uniter. I can almost feel your feelings just as acutely as Nora’s.”

“Where were you when this was happening?”

“In the car outside.”

“So you lied to Nora?”

“No. I was ready to leave but then I felt the confusion from her and knew I couldn’t leave with you being so angry,” he explains, and I roll my eyes, pushing past him. “So why were you mad?”

“Figure it out,” I grumble, stomping up the small embankment.

“Because she was in the car with us?” Carmen asks in exasperation.

“Just forget it, Carmen. You don’t understand.”

“Well explain it to me!”

“Forget it.” I wave a hand at him, clearly irritated.

“How did you get home last night?” he wonders suddenly, his eyes boring into mine as he yanks me around to face him. I feel his icy breath on my cheek and shudder. “Tell me!” he demands, shaking me slightly.

“I got a ride,” I whisper.

“With who?” he asks through clenched teeth. He sees my awkwardness and freezes. “You were with Pretty-Boy, weren’t you?”

“Isaac,” I correct with a snarl, yanking my arm out of his grip.

Carmen’s whole demeanor changes—his shoulders’ hunch and his eyes transform to a steely black. “So I guessed right. There is something going on between you and him.”

“No!” I shout, my voice reverberating off of the local trees.

“Then why did you get a ride with him?”

“Because he offered. And you weren’t coming to pick me up, so I accepted.”

“But you didn’t come home right after school.” His voice is accusing.

“No, I didn’t,” I say simply.

“So you think that you can hang out with humans alone now, huh? After what happened last time…” he trails off, his words taking on the form of a slap.

“You have no idea what could have happened last night,” I glower, clenching my molars together to force calm into my voice.

“No, I don’t. Enlighten me,” he grins mockingly, canines long.

My body slacks, my knees tremble, and I collapse into the snow. “I could have killed him, Carmen. I could have killed him.”

“What are you talking about?” His voice betrays his anxiety, trembling as he speaks.

“I could have killed him!” I scream, bounding away before Carmen can react.

* * * *

The rest of the weekend, I spend it in the solitary confinement of my room via my choice. Nora is the only one allowed inside and that is only to sleep. Otherwise, whenever I hear footsteps, I snarl with a ferocity that sends the other vampires scurrying away.

I count the hours by the alignment of the sun and moon with the earth, gazing out my window during all the hours of the day and night. Sleep is eluding me no matter how my eyelids droop or my body strength weakens; I fear I will drop into unconsciousness.

I still can’t get over the fact that I almost lost control. I had thought I was strong enough now. I have trained myself after the last incident to stand strong against the humans’ scents. Maybe it was just the closeness of Isaac to me, or the unexpected-ness of it all. I just can’t face the fact that it was all me…my weakness. Maybe Carmen is right. My Birth Mother must have passed the weakness gene onto me and I will forever have to exile myself away from humans.

On the eve of Monday morning, Nora enters with a small pheasant clutched in her hands. The smell of blood is strong and I snatch it from her before I can stop myself. Nora laughs at my eagerness, and I smile apologetically at her. I open my mouth to feed but halt. Looking up at Nora as she straightens the bed sheets on her mattress, I open my mouth to speak. “Nora,” I begin, and she glances up, her look puzzled. “I’m sorry about all the hassle I’ve made.”

Nora shrugs, sitting at the foot of my bed. “Philip is worried about you.”

“Isn’t he always.” I roll my eyes, and Nora smiles.

“True, but so is Carmen.” Her voice grows stern.

“Good. Let him worry,” I growl, sinking my canines into the pheasant.

“Sophia, you know the rules about Human Interaction. If you break another rule, I fear that—“ but I cut her off with a deadly glare. Nora waits until I am done feeding, taking the pheasant away while I talk.

“I know the rules, Nora. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“Just about,” she teases.

“All right, I think forty years as a vampire is a indication that I am no longer a Newborn.”

“Sophia, you have to be at least one hundred until that title goes away.” She smiles tenderly at me when I snort in disgust. “But again, you know the rules,” she continues to remind me.

“I know, I know,” I murmur. “Nothing is happening between us.”

“That’s not what Carmen told me.”

“What did he say?” I raise an eyebrow.

“That the way that boy looks at you…” she trails off, cautioning me with her eyes. “Like you are his Blood Mate.”

“What? T-That’s crazy!” I fumble for words but a lighter-than-air feeling is seeping into my gut. I have known Isaac for what, five days? That isn’t possible to feel that way about someone…is it?

Nora sadly shakes her head. “Sophia, don’t do this,” she urges. “He’s not our kind.”

“I know that!” I glare. “Nothing is happening. We are just—“ I stop. What are we? Friends?

Nora smiles softly. “Just what?”

“Friends,” I say firmly.

“All right,” Nora drawls, and I push her. She falters, grabbing for the bedpost. We both crack smiles and she pushes me back. I laugh when I smell another enter. Both of our eyes snap upwards and I snarl.

Carmen fills the doorway with his muscled frame. He and Nora exchange a tender moment and I glance down awkwardly. [I]Will there never be a moment like this between me and another? Or will I always be the outsider, the rule-breaker?[/b] I hear Carmen approach me, and my head snaps back upwards, breaking off that line of thought. “I’m guessing you heard the conversation,” I mumble, glaring into his eyes.

“Most of it,” he nods.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Do you believe me?” I question, picking absently at a loose thread in the quilt.

“No,” he answers truthfully.

Rage fills me with a hot, steaming fluid and I feel my eyes darken dangerously. “Nothing is going to happen.”

“I don’t believe you, Sophia.”

“Why not? I tell the truth!”

“Because I saw the way he looked at you.”

“Who cares how he looked at me! I am my own person and I make my own decisions.” I leap to my feet, struggling to get the point across. “He is a insignificant human! What can he do to me?” Carmen doesn’t answer; he only shakes his head.

I grumble in frustration, storming from the room without a backward glance.