Taming the Beast

“No,” I moaned low in my throat, broken hearted that she, and my entire family, would reject me. I’d be completely alone then. No family, and no Jeremy. I bit my lip and drew blood to keep from crying out in pain and scaring her further. Pain at my lost life.

“What’s wrong? Tell me,” she insisted, as her eyes noted my sharp claws, my fangs protruding even when I tried to close my mouth fully.

“Are you…are you a…” she fumbled and sat down with a thud. With an enormous exhale, calm stole over me. I didn’t have to hide it anymore. I hadn’t realized how exhausting it was to pretend for six years—to pretend to be normal. I’d gone to law school like I’d always planned in college, as if nothing was wrong—as if my life had not forever changed. It was exhausting to push everyone away. I was exhausted.

Just be done.

“Yes,” I said clearly, my burning red eyes boring in

to her clear blue ones. “I’m a vampire.” She had no outward reaction to this clearly unbelievable statement, so I repeated myself.

“I heard you the first time,” she said. I looked closely at her. There was no revulsion, no fear on her face. There was concern – and love.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“I’m not thrilled for you, but I’d never be afraid of you,” she said, and the adrenaline drained from my body. She didn’t hate me; she wouldn’t reject me. She still loved me. Happiness and relief flowed through me, and my senses were overwhelmed, but not like a vampire anymore. Just me—Rose.

“What happened?” she asked, as if this was an everyday conversation.

“Scott,” I replied simply, after a slight pause. Her shoulders slumped at my response and she started to laugh. I began to get angry, until I saw the tears stream down her face.

“We knew something awful had happened, but I could never have imagined this,” she said, as she wiped her face. I had nothing to say. I was a freak—a monster.

“We all thought he had hurt you,” she said, with relief in her voice.

“He did hurt me!” I yelled, as I failed to see the humor or relief in the situation.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know he did,” she said soothingly. “I meant…we thought he had raped you…” she trailed off, her eyes beseeching me to understand. I had never thought they would really wonder what had happened. I hadn’t thought about the pain my withdrawal from everyone must have caused my family.

“You would never talk about it,” she said gently.

“I couldn’t! I can’t,” I said beseechingly, knowing she was asking me to now. “I didn’t want you to know and reject me…to hate me.” I hung my head, still expecting that rejection.

“I would never do that…none of us would ever do that,” she said with force, and I looked up at her. She had a fierceness in her gaze that made me believe her. Love and release flowed through my veins, healing my broken soul. But not completely, because I could never have Jeremy.

“We love you,” she insisted. “Look at me, Rose,” she demanded after I hung my head again. “We love you. And we will never abandon you.” I read the truth in her eyes. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I wouldn’t lose my family.

But, Jeremy…

I couldn’t think about him right now. I needed to bask in this victory over Scott—because that’s what it was.

“Let’s go up to the house and talk to Mom and Dad,” she suggested. I hesitated and then climbed down with her. The vampire was at bay again, but my hose were torn, my ugly lawyer-suit was stained, and my face was stained with tears. But still, she held my hand in an iron grip.

The conversation with my parents went better than I could have ever expected or dreamed. There was a lot of crying and cursing of Scott, but they never once made me feel like they didn’t want me anymore. They’d called all my sisters and Kelsey over, and the process was repeated. My father even hopped onto his laptop to begin research on all things vampire.

And as Kelsey left that day, she’d hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, “You’re never going to age, you bitch,” and I’d laughed, finally, at what could possibly be a positive.

Chapter 9

I went back to work and avoided Jeremy whenever possible. I saw him in court quite often, but he didn’t acknowledge our extra-curricular activities, and I didn’t care.

You’re a liar.

Okay, so the pain of losing Jeremy, someone I never had in the first place, almost crushed me. But I finally had the certainty of my family, and I clung to that, even as I cried alone in my bed at night. To have a taste of happiness (no pun intended) and have it ripped away might have been worse than never having it at all.

Four months went by like this, with Jeremy and I acting like polite business adversaries, when Joey Miller called me from lockup once again.

“What now, Joey?” I asked with a sigh, my cell phone digging into my ear and shoulder as I nudged my way through to the coffeepot in the closet. Yet again, I drained it and a collective sigh went up around me. I ignored them.