The Rose Without Thorns

Four~ Rosalie

I gaze up at Nathan and see a look on his face full of worry. His heart is beating fast and his eyes are wandering the bare terrain of my skin. I do the same and I see what he's in shock from. My scars.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't like being called Rosalie." Even though there's something about the way he says it that lingers in my thoughts a special way. I'm trying to distract him and bring his gaze upwards to my eyes. Something is wrong with me. This boy, he made me lose my focus just by laying with him. I re-target my energy and create the illusion of airbrushed skin.

Nathan's mouth drops open and he begins to stutter. "H--how? What w--were those? What'd you do?"

"My scars." I'm afraid I've scared him away already. Only one other person has seen my scars, Felix, and that's only because he found me right after I had been maimed. I've never showed them to him since they healed, it's too embarrassing.

"Scars from what?" Nathan asks while shifting us upright again.

"You don't just get the Mark of Resilience by being bit, Nathan." Does he even know what it is? I thought everyone knew. "How much do you know about it?" I'm nervous. I've never talked about this before, not even with Felix. He always assumed it was too much for me to relive, and it is. But I suck it up because there's something about this boy.

"I know your eyes turn purple, there's an R in cursive on the nape of your neck, and your senses and speed are more enhanced than normal vampires." Hm, not bad. He forgot a few things but most people don't know about them anyway.

I hesitate before speaking and drop the illusion I constantly hold over my skin. "But do you know just how I earned it?" my hands are shaking and I'm nervous he's judging my heavily scarred body.

"No." he's gazing at me with a look of empathy.

"The Mark of Resilience comes from, well, resilience. A vampire almost killed me. I was mauled completely from head to toe. I lost the majority of my blood and my skin was torn all over. He left me there to die, whoever it was got what he wanted. But then the venom started to kick in. And the pain got worse. I know it was probably different for you, but for me it was excruciating. I was half dead already and it had to work quickly to make its way to my heart before it stopped beating. Think of your absolute worst pain magnified by 1,000." I take a pause, it sounds so overwhelming. Talking about it feels like reliving it and I shed a single tear from my left eye.

"Hey." he says, reaching his hand up to my cheek to brush away the tear "You don't have to keep going if you're uncomfortable." Gosh why does he have to be so nice? Even though part of me wants to stop, I don't. There's another part of me that wants to pour my soul out to Nathan.

"It's fine." I say, then carry on. "Felix found me a little while after, said he could smell my blood. He took me back to his place and waited with me until the venom finished its job. And since then I just never left him."

He's not reacting how I thought he would. At first he seemed scared, now he looks at me with two pools of blue filled with understanding. I decide to keep talking, "You were right when you said those things, but you left a few out. My eyes aren't always purple." Now he's confused. "They turn that ugly crimson red when I get angry, so does my hair. It's only happened once before though, I have to be completely insane." He doesn't look at me like I'm a monster, in fact he's staring at me with the most genuine smile I've ever received. Then he starts to get curious.

"How did you hide your scars from me? Your skin looks flawless." he's eyeing me up and down.

"That's the other power I have. I can airbrush my skin to cover the scars I got. I guess that's a perk." I say it with a half smile, trying to prevent more tears from coming through.

Nathan hesitates before taking his left hand and running it over my scars starting at the top of my right shoulder. He slowly moves it down, taking his time to carefully examine each scar as he goes. His hand works its way to my my upper right thigh, down my right leg, and repeats the process with my left side. I feel naked, exposed, but for some reason I like it. I'm always placed on a pedestal and idolized. No one treats me like I'm normal. No one makes me feel how I feel right now. I have the sensation of being nervous, scared, exposed, normal, understanded, and loved all at once. I can't get enough.

Both of Nathan's hands find their way up my body to the scars on my neck. We're still sitting on his sofa, facing each other. His hands shift so they're holding my head and he brings my face so close to his. We're just inches away from each other and I want so badly for this boy to kiss me. His hands slowly move my face closer until our noses are touching, but he doesn't kiss me. Instead he speaks and my eyes meet his.

"I think your scars make you look even more beautiful." I can hear his heart pounding in his chest and his two beautiful pools of bright blue pull me in and I'm swimming in them and I can't stop.

All of the sudden I'm overcome with emotion and I close my eyes and I tilt my head to the right. I kiss him. First gently, then passionately. My right hand tugs at his shirt and my left runs through his hair. We're both gasping and he's kissing me back with a hunger I can't describe. I put my right hand over his heart and I can feel it beating rapidly. I like it. I like knowing I have this affect someone. Nathan stops for air, but comes back even stronger. His lips hit mine with such intensity and his hands slide down to my waist and pull me in closer than I thought possible. I've had kisses before, but none like this. Just when I think I can stop I come back for more. It's like my lips have a new home, and that home is Nathan.

He stops for a millisecond and looks me in the eye. His unpredictable storm clouds shoot me with a bolt of lightning in the chest making my heart feel like it's been restarted. His lips have only been gone for a second but I feel like I'm suffocating. Like all of the sudden I need to breathe and Nathan is my oxygen. Just when my lips are about to hit his again, my phone rings.