Tainted Happiness {Formerly Returned} (Book 4) (Completed)

Chapter 4

Melanie POV

*************

We had Vince's funeral and cremated his body a few days after the last incident with Dave. Watching my husband die was the hardest thing I've ever had to watch. Not only was I watching my lover die, but one of my best friends as well. When Vince physically left this planet, he took a part of me with him.

The only person I could confide in was Rosa. She didn't say anything, she just sat there hugging me and let me do whatever I needed to, whether it be crying, reminiscing, or just sitting in silence, she was the only person who was truly there. As helpful as she was, there was some part of me that was telling me she hadn't completely changed back after I revived her. At times she still acted like a Strigoi, and her sense of style still hadn't changed. She still dressed in that incredibly sexy clothing she wore in Spain. The good news was that she bathed and changed her clothes daily. She also remained very secretive like she was as a Strigoi, but she seemed happier. I wondered if since she was Viu before she was Strigoi, that her revival was somehow only temporary and she'd turn back into a Strigoi after awhile.

Cory POV

***********

"Come here baby." She said in an unusually dark, yet sexy tone.

She motioned with her index finger for me to come to her. She walked closer to me and stopped when she got into the lights. She looked unusually gorgeous with her sexy, black leather dress and equally sexy black leather stiletto boots. Her long, brown hair waved as if there was a fan blowing it, just like in the movies. The more I looked at her, the more beautiful she got, until I looked in her eyes. Her beautiful, golden eyes were blood red.

I began panicking. There Kait was, standing before me as Strigoi. There she was, standing before me in the one form that I never wanted to see her. Not only was she Strigoi, but I was completely unprepared to attack and kill her. She wasn't moving, but seemed to be waiting for me to make the first move. I was too scared to move, too scared to think, too scared to feel. All I did was stand there in an unfamiliar hallway that had white walls and an equally as white floor. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. There were no doors anywhere. I was stuck.

She apparently grew impatient because all of the sudden she was standing by my side, running her fingernail down the side of my face and neck. I tensed up at her touch, still as soft, but now cold. She bent her head down to my neck and began kissing it ever so lightly and added some fang. I was jolted awake just as I felt her teeth chomp into me.

I awoke in a cold sweat with my heart racing. I looked beside me, half expecting Kait to not be lying there peacefully. I was frightened to find that she actually wasn't there. I thought that the past few weeks had actually been a figment purely of my imagination and that Kait was still Strigoi. I thought that my dream was a sign to tell me that she truly wasn't back.

When I went downstairs for a glass of water, it was originally an attempt to calm myself down. It turned into a quest to find Kait. I tried to be as quiet as I could when I opened door after door in an attempt to find her. After about an hour of this, I gave up completely. It depressed me to think that as real as the past few weeks felt, that they'd probably only been the onset of some sort of madness.

Melanie POV

**************

The days after Vince's funeral proved to be the hardest for me. Occasionally, I'd wake up in the middle of the night expecting him to still be there next to me like he had been in all of our years of marriage. I'd wake up in a cold sweat after dreaming back to the day Dave killed my husband. Somehow every time I'd have that dream, Roza would know and be right there when I woke up almost screaming. She'd then stay with me for the rest of the night to make sure I was still okay. As terrible as those moments were, it really helped us heal the relationship that was harmed when Rosa was Strigoi. Sometimes both of us were too awake to fall back asleep, so we'd sit up talking until one of us finally crashed. Nights like those would occasionally leave me almost wanting something more than friendship from her.