The Becoming (Daughters of Darkness Book 1)

Bloody Rose

I couldn’t seem to get away from Tristen. I had been trying to avoid him after the whole incident when he saved me and told me that I belonged to him. I hadn’t really spoken with him much since that. I wanted to see if the distance would help with our special situation but he kept showing up wherever I was. I was really starting to get annoyed. Yesterday during lunch he sat down a table away from me and now he was following me to my third period class. I knew he was trying to be sneaky which if I had been a normal person  I would never have noticed but I was a little bit more observant and more gifted then the average person. I let myself brush against people in the hall and used them to find Tristen since he was dead I couldn't get in his head. Thats how I knew he was about three people behind me. 

I pretended to not know he was there and when he went to pass by me I grabbed his arm, “Do you normally stalk people?” I asked as I turned to look at him the expression he wore was shock at my having known he was there and that I had been able to snatch him so quickly. I let my hand drop from his arm. He stared down at me, “I wasn’t stalking you. Why would I want to do that?” he tried to sound innocent at my assumption but I wasn’t fooled. I knew that he had been following me. I crossed my arms and raised one of my eyebrows letting my eyes float to someone walking by and then back to his beautiful eyes, “I don’t know, you tell me?” my voice sounded deep and husky.

He smiled amused by my response, “I can only assume you have been stalking me, or else how would you have known I was following you?” his voice was questioning. I looked away again to someone passing by and then back at him, “It doesn’t really matter how I knew you were, the fact is you were and I want to know why?” I was getting annoyed that he was avoiding my question. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was there but the hall was empty because class had started. I was late again. He looked back down at me his face serious, “I was following you because I wanted to make sure you were safe.” I rolled my eyes and let out a huge breath, “You’ve got to be kidding me. When you want to be honest with me let me know...” I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm. I looked first at his hand and then to his face giving him a glare that made him release my arm quickly, “Will you just listen to me for five minutes then you can go back to avoiding me.” He spoke in a frustrated manner I nodded, still annoyed. 

He looked relieved that I was going to let him speak to me for the first time in a week. He put his hand out to touch me but then stopped half way and let it fall to his side, “I have reason to suspect that the bloody rose has a new target list and I believe that one of the targets may be you.” I tried not to laugh out loud at what he was suggesting was nonsense. I put my hand on his arm tenderly a smile on my face, “Thanks for the concern but the bloody rose is a bunch of vigilante vampire hunters. Clearly I’m not a vampire so it would be silly to even entertain that thought.” I let my hand fall but he caught it in his. This touch sent chills up and down my spine. I looked down at our hands. His hand was strong and muscular, full of life. My hand was delicate and small. I looked up into his eyes and he looked down into mine, “I know that’s what I thought too but for some reason they have your name on a list...” his voice was like velvet to my ears beckoning me to tell him every secret I had. I wasn’t willing to give into my desire. I had to be sensible, “How do you know that they have a list?” my eyes looked him over suspiciously. He smiled smugly, “I know they have a list because I took it from the courier who was delivering it to the headquarters. I saw a bunch of names but not one of them are vampires...” he sounded confident in himself. 

I still wasn’t sure that he was telling me the truth. I looked away from him to a student who walked out of a classroom and into the the bathroom. I looked back up at him, “How do you know it’s not a list of vampires just because of my name? Isn’t it possible there’s a vampire named Lucy? I mean there’s no way you know every single vampire that exists...” I spoke in hushed voice worried that the student might hear. His eyes never wavered from mine, “I know it isn’t vampires because they wrote that they were humans on the list. Actually, what it said was victims of vampire attacks...” I couldn’t believe my ears and what he was telling me. I couldn’t help but think back to the attack and those green eyes. A soft squeeze of my hand brought me back into reality. “Is there something wrong?” Tristen’s voice pulled me out of my stare.