Forever Yours (#4) Read online

  “Rose, do you understand everything that I have said to you?” My mind races – think Rose. I clear my mind and I think back on what I have just heard him say. I nod and I part my lips. “Yeah, I understand, but I have a question.” I say as I move closer to him. Dalton stares at me, waiting for me to speak. “You said that I can’t go home, where am I gonna stay?” Dalton smiles and he grazes my cheek with his hand.

  “With me,” I shake my head at his answer –I can’t stay with him.

  “I can’t, my Uncle will go crazy if he finds out, and what am I gonna say to him anyways? We haven’t thought of a story. What’s my reason for not going home?” My voice is urgent and my temper is sliding off the scale –I feel as if I could demolish the whole house. My hands are trembling and I can feel my eyes burning. I jump off the sofa and I rush towards the nearest mirror. I fall back at my reflection –I look like a demon. My eyes are burning red and my lips are parted to reveal two sharp daggers. “DALTON,” I scream. He flies over to me and he grabs hold of me by my waist.

  “Baby, it’s okay, just breathe,” Dalton says as he tries to soothe me. I violently shake my head as I continue to stare at my demon looks. “Close your eyes and breathe through your hunger.”

  “I can’t,” I say in a defeated voice. Dalton spins me around so that I am facing him. He clasps both sides of my face in his hands, and he stares into my eyes. “Close your eyes, count to three and remember to breathe. Trust me it works.” I take his advice, and my temper is slowly fading. My eyes have faded back to their original colour, and my lips and body have stopped shaking. I run my tongue across my teeth and I smile when I don’t feel the two sharp daggers. I spin around, and I look at myself in the mirror –I look like me. I spin back around to face Dalton, and he grips onto my waist. He violently pulls me towards him and he places his lips onto mine. He spins me around and I spin him back –holy cow it feels amazing to have the same power as him. He pushes me down onto the sofa, and he runs his fingers through my hair. He rips off his shirt and he crashes against me. I let out a deafening laugh, and grip onto his back. He slides his lips onto my neck, and he grazes my skin with his fingers. He laughs and he looks up at me, pulling his lips away from my neck. “Your wounds are gone. It’s like I never fed on you.” My heart melts at his words, and I grab him, pulling his head back to join mine. My lips collide with his, and the sensation is mind-blowing. I reluctantly pull back from him, gasping as I stare deep into his eyes.

  “It’s better this way; I’m finally your equal.” Dalton laughs and he licks his lips in a tender way. His eyes flash red, and I can feel mine doing the same. Our jolting bodies connect and I let out a massive squeal –he is mine, forever. The day has come and gone in a flash, and as the hours tick away on Dalton’s grandfather clock, I start to think about my uncle. I haven’t called him to say that I won’t be home tonight, and I know that I should. But something is holding me back. I can’t bring myself to pick up the phone and call him. I don’t know what is stopping me from calling. Something just feels wrong, and I don’t know what it is. My body is aching at the thought of seeing him, because I know that when I do, I will have to lie to him. I hate lying to him, my uncle has done so much for me, and I owe a lot to him. Every sense in my body is pulsating. My feelings for my uncle are multiplied –how I am going to cope? I don’t want to stay away from family, but I know that I have to. I choose this; I choose to become a vampire, and to be with Dalton. I knew that I would have to sacrifice my family life to be with him, but now that I have, it’s harder than I thought. When I was human my life didn’t seem important. I floated from day to day. Working a dead beat job and reading books into the wee hours. But now that I am a vampire, everything has changed. I feel alive. More alive than ever before. Every sense in my body is on overdrive. I can see things that didn’t exist before. I can hear things that no one else can. My vampire life has been short –a few hours to be exact. But I have felt more alive in those few hours than I ever did in my nineteen years of being a human.

  The door of Dalton’s bedroom bursts open and I jump off the bed at the noise. My eyes focus on Dalton as he stands in the doorjamb. He has changed his clothes, and he is now wearing a dark blue hoodie and light coloured jeans. His hair looks wet as he slides over to me. He wraps his arms around my waist and he gently kisses my forehead. I squeeze him with all my force and he grunts and loosens my arms from around his neck.

  “You’re crushing my bones. I told you that you’d be the death of me.” I smile at his words and I march back over to the bed. I flop down onto the surface and the bed shakes and pulls away from the wall. I bite my lip as I apologise.

  “I’m sorry. I guess I don’t know my own strength.” Dalton laughs and he makes his way over to me. He gently sits down onto the bed, and he folds his arms across his chest. I look at him –holy crap he’s gorgeous.

  “You’ll soon get to use to your extra strength. Rose, have you called your Uncle yet?” I blush and my eyes fall onto the bed. I nervously play with covers, until Dalton grabs my hand and stops me. My eyes lift from the bed and meet his stare. He looks worried, and I know that he is going to force me to call George. My frozen heart starts to race as he continues to stare at me.

  “No, I haven’t.” I say in a sharp tone. Dalton presses his eyebrows together at my firmness, he doesn’t look happy with me. His eyes darken and his lips quiver. I smile –he doesn’t scare me anymore.

  “What are you smiling about? You think it’s funny that you haven’t called to let your uncle know that you’re safe? He is probably worried out of his mind about you.” I blush. He doesn’t scare me, but he still intimidates the hell out of me. He has just made me feel like a naughty school kid. But I get his reasons and I agree with them. My uncle will be worrying about me. I need to man-up and I need to call him, before he comes to look for me. I reach into the pocket of my jeans, and I take out my phone. I search my contacts until I find the house number. I pause before I hit send.

  “I hate lying to him.” “You haven’t lied yet. So just call him.” Dalton is firm and I feel that he doesn’t understand. I shake my head as I look at him. When I first met him he told me that being a vampire made him not care about anyone or anything. I don’t see how that’s true. Since I turned, I have felt stronger about every passion that I have. I feel things more intensely; my heart is like a ticking time-bomb full of emotions. One that’s ready to explode at any moment.

  “You told me that you couldn’t feel, and that I would be an empty shell. That’s not true; I care more about my family than I ever did. My emotions are high, and I feel awful about the way I am treating my Uncle.” Dalton sighs and he takes the phone out of my hand. He throws it down onto the bed and he pulls me close to him. I rest my cheek against his hoodie, I break down into tears.

  “Don’t cry, your emotions are high because you’re new. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll feel different. Everything will be clearer and your guilt will pass.” I sob at his words.

  “What if you were right? What if I can’t cope with being a vampire?” Dalton pulls my head away from his chest and he grabs onto my face. “I was wrong. I didn’t want you to change, and I said those things to scare you. But Rose, you’re stronger than I could have ever imagined. You fed on a boy and it was your first feed. But you managed to pull yourself away from him. You could have hurt him, killed him in fact. But you didn’t, you fought your hunger and I have never seen any new vampire do that before. You amaze me, when I first turned I was a maniac. I killed and I couldn’t control myself. But you’re different; you’re the one in control, not your hunger.” I force myself to smile at him, and then I reach out and grab my phone. I scan my contacts again, and this time I push send. I can feel my frozen heart racing in my icy chest, as I wait for an answer. The phone rings, and then I hear my uncle’s husky voice.

  “Hello,” He says in a firm tone –wow he’s loud. I part lips as I get ready to respond.

  “Hi,” I say. My voice is shallow an
d I don’t think that my uncle has heard my words. I clear my throat and as I begin to speak again, my uncle speaks first. “Rose is that you?” His voice is broken and desperate. I can tell that he is worried and annoyed. I need to reassure him that I am fine.

  “Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry that I didn’t call earlier.” “Where are you?” My uncle says in an icy tone. Dalton’s eyes dart to mine and he urges me to speak. I clear my dry, thirsty throat for the millionth time, and I bring myself to talk.

  “I’m with Dalton. I won’t be coming home tonight.” “Now wait a minute young lady!” My uncle screams down the phone at me. I flinch and pull the phone away from my ear. I don’t know if it’s my vampire hearing, or the fact that my uncle is crazy mad right now, but I can’t listen to his voice. His words are deafening and they have vibrated through me. His tone was icy, and I can feel my anger and desire for blood rising. My eyes are stinging, and I have realized that they only sting, when they flash red. My hands start to shake and I feel like snapping the phone in half. But I remember Dalton’s advice, and I breathe through my burning rage. I take several deep breaths and the stinging in my eyes disappears. I feel Dalton’s hand grazing my lower back, and I flash him a thankful smile. I pull my phone back to my ear, and I force myself to lie –again.

  “Uncle George I know that you might not feel … comfortable about me staying with Dalton. But I can assure you that he is the perfect gentleman. He never does anything out of place and I … love him. I won’t be coming home for a few days. I have time off work, and I want to spend that time with Dalton. We have made plans for the next few days, and I don’t want you to worry about me. I’ll call you again soon, goodbye.” I hang up before my uncle has time to shout at me. I throw my phone down onto the bed in anger. Dalton tries to soothe me. He lightly caresses my shoulder with his hand as I try to choke back my tears.

  “Relax baby you did a good job. Your Uncle can’t see you like this. At least not until you’re fully in control of your bloodlust. Speaking of blood, are you hungry?” I swirl my tongue in my dry mouth, it feels like it could crack from my hunger.

  “I’m starved!” I say in a dry voice. Dalton smiles at me and he takes my hand as he jumps off the bed. We fly across the room and through the open the door. We glide along the hallway, and we step out into the murky night of Portland. Dalton walks me towards his car, but I am confused when he doesn’t stop at the Porsche. Instead, he continues to rapidly walk across the driveway in the direction of the forest. I look back at the car as I wonder why he is taking me into the woods. He senses that I am confused, so he tries to fill me in.

  “It’s better if we walk to town. I want to show you the perks of being a vampire.” I smile at him and I am excited. I am not even sure that I am supposed to feel this way, but being a vampire has made me feel things that I never did before. My true emotions are on show, and I love that Dalton is here to help me adjust to my new life. I was really worried that he would hate me for what I did. But he has surprised me, he hasn’t screamed, or gotten mad at me. Instead, he has been there to help me through the change. I am confident that with him by my side, I will excel as a vampire.

  We reach the trees and my new ears adjust to the sounds of the woods. I can hear birds and squirrels as they climb the trees. I can see for miles and everything is in HD. My senses are tingling and my body is urging me to lunge into the air, and to be as free as the birds. The leaves are crisp, and I adore the sound as Dalton’s footsteps press into them. He intertwines his fingers into mine, and he locks his eyes on mine. He smiles a wicked smile at me, and he softly licks his lips. I can feel my legs urging me run, but I hold back as I wait for Dalton’s approval.

  “Are you ready to be a vampire?” Dalton says as he stares down at me from his 6’2” stature. I feel dwarfed by him, and I look up into his burning red stare. “I was born ready!” I say rather smugly. Dalton laughs and then he nods at me, signalling me that he is ready to run. I straighten my face and I focus my vision across the dark forest. I squeeze Dalton’s hand to alert him that I am ready. Then like magic, my legs break free and we are running –more like flying through the woods. Everything at the sides of us is a blur, but straight ahead is clearer than crystal. We speed through the trees and in a matter of moments, we are in Portland. The streets are quite busy for this time of night. The bars are still open, and there are floods of people making their way home after a night out. Dalton walks me closer to the people, and we are nearing the entrance of the bar. A man in his twenties falls out of the doorway and he lands face-first onto the street. He is moaning and laughing at the same time and when he pulls himself off the ground, I feel my burning hunger rising to my surface. The man’s eyebrow has a small gash, and trickles of his blood are making its way down his face. I can feel my pulse racing and my eyes begin to sting. I lunge forward, but Dalton grabs onto me before I reach the guy. He shakes me and he pulls me into an alleyway at the side of the bar. He pushes me against the cold wall, and he grabs onto my face. He looks disappointed with me and I feel awful. If he hadn’t of pulled me back, then God only knows what I would have done. I shake myself –control yourself Rose.

  “Rose you can’t do that. You were lucky that those guys were drunk, and that they didn’t seem to notice what you tried to do. If they weren’t, you would have exposed us. I can’t make you control yourself, only you can do that.” I sigh and I apologise.

  “I’m sorry. He was just so … tempting. I could smell his blood. I would have hurt him, if you hadn’t of pulled me away.” Dalton presses his lips together and he loosens his grip on my face. He grabs onto my hand and he leads me back towards the street. The crowd has gone and now the street is quite. Dalton pushes open the door of the bar and he pushes me inside. The bar is busy and the sound of Mumford and Sons is playing loudly in the background. People are dancing, laughing and having a good time. I scan the faces of the crowded bar, and I smile when I see Ryan talking with some girl. My heart starts to race and I grip Dalton’s hand. He leads me to the bar and he sits me down onto a stool. He slaps the wooden bar surface and the barmaid quickly rushes over to us.

  “Two scotch on the rocks and keep them coming.” Dalton says in fluid tone. The slim, dark haired barmaid smiles at Dalton as she quickly fixes us our drinks. Dalton grabs a glass and he slides the other one towards me. He downs the drink and he urges me to do the same. “Drink, it will help with the cravings.” I reach out and I lift the glass. I part my lips and I pour the drink down my throat. The strong alcohol burns, but Dalton was right, the dryness in my throat isn’t quite so prominent as before. I slam the glass down onto the bar surface, and the barmaid rushes over and pours us another drink. I down the second scotch, and then the third, and the fourth. Dalton laughs at my drinking and then he leans in towards me. He lightly pushes my hair away from my face and he whispers. “Who would like to drink?” I feel awful and my frozen heart begins to pound –I don’t want to hurt anyone. My eyes begin to sting and I breathe in and out, trying to hide my desire. Dalton pats my cheek and his eyes are filled with compassion. I smile at him and I scan the crowd, looking for my prey. I see a few girls dancing and having fun, I shake my head they don’t look appetising. I focus my eyes on the back, and I see a handsome young guy sitting alone. He looks miserable as he stares out at the dance floor. My lips shake at the sight of him and I fix my eyes on Dalton. He laughs at me and he squeezes my arm. “You’re going with the boy?” I feel awkward –have I upset him by selecting a male to feed on? I remember my hatred and fear that he would feed on other girls; does he feel the same way about me feeding on other guys?

  “Does it bother you? If it does then I can find someone else.” Dalton smiles and he pushes me off the bar stool. “It does bother me.” He says as he leaps from the bar stool. He wraps his arms around my waist and he pulls me close. His lips briefly collide with mine, and then he tortures me by pulling them away. “It bothers me, but I am not gonna stop you.” His lips move onto mine again, and he kisses me f
or a few seconds and then he pulls away again. “I love you Rose,” I smile at him and I leap into his arms. I squeeze him tight, whilst I whisper how I feel.

  “I love you too.” Dalton kisses my forehead and he pushes me away from him. He grabs onto my arms and he stares deep into my eyes. “Go on, and remember you don’t want to hurt him. You’re the one in control not your hunger.” I nod and then I break free from Dalton. I make my way through the sea of people, and I scan the room to look for Ryan. I see that he is standing in the back with the same girl he was talking to. But he’s not talking with her anymore, he is kissing her instead. I reach the young guys table, and I pull my hair across both sides of my face in a flirty manner. The guy’s eyes widen at my appearance, and he quickly introduces himself.

  “Hey I’m Jake.” He says as he holds his hand out for me to shake it. I smile at him and I grab onto his hand.