Scent of a White Rose by Tish Thawer Page A

you
talking about? Wrong about what?" I was so over this asshole. All I
wanted to do was land a few more punches before he answered, but
his next statement stopped me in my tracks.
    "Wrong about the fact that you're going to
become our new Sire." The deadpan look on his face was the only
indication that he was serious.
    "You really are fucking crazy aren't you?" I
turned to walk away when I heard him call out, "You've read my mind
before Christian, and you were just able to go against Evie's
command. What do you think that means?"
    Holy shit! I had just entered his cell
against Evie's command. But me? Sire? I didn't think so. I hadn't
shown any signs of developing powers, and Evie certainly hadn't
reported that she had sensed I was the one being triggered. As for
being able to enter the cell, I wondered if Evie's powers truly
were fading. I was sure that it had nothing to do with me, and this
was just another classic case of Terrance being his asshole
self.
    As I reached the top of the stairs and emerged
out from under the stage, I saw everyone sitting at one of the
tables talking casually. Obviously, they hadn't noticed that Dax
and Evie were huddled just inside Evie's office.
    The two must have used the passage that lead
from the pit to her office to enter the club, and by the look of
things they weren't quite ready to get this meeting started. Dax
was frowning and Evie was shaking her head back and forth. I didn't
think they were arguing, but it was pretty obvious that they didn't
agree about something.
    "What did Terrance want?" Tori asked, pulling my
attention away from the office.
    "Nothing really, he was just being an asshole.
He asked if we could tell him what happens in this meeting." I
wasn't going to tell them about Terrance's ludicrous comment about
me becoming Sire...what was the point?
    "Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen. No
way will Evie keep him updated on what's going on. Especially when
what happened to her was his fucking fault." It was clear that
Bobby was having a hard time controlling his anger; his hair kept
drifting from blonde to brown and back again.
    "Yeah, that's pretty much what I told him," I
said.
    Evie and Dax must have approached the table
while Bobby was talking, because just then I heard Dax say, "I
think we should deal with one thing at a time is all. Let's get to
the bottom of what's happening with Terrance first, and then you
can question Christian."
    I turned around to ask what they would need to
question me about, only to find that they were still inside Evie's
office. Evie looked up and met my eyes just as Dax started out the
door.
    Something strange was definitely happening here.
All vampires had the ability to hone-in and hear things from a
distance, but you usually had to make a conscious effort to do so.
And right now...my hearing had just zoomed in on something without
my control. By the look on Evie's face, she knew what had just
happened and she was concerned about it.
    Dax and Evie made their way over to the table
and all the chatter quieted down. "I'll start by saying that I
probably don't have the answers that you want, but I'll tell you
everything I can remember," Evie stated. "First of all, I want you
all to know that when I went down to talk to Terrance, I had no
intention of delivering the true death, but when it became clear
that he wasn't going to willingly give me the answers I was looking
for, I decided to let him think that his time was at an end. At the
last moment, I felt his mental shields give way, and that's when I
struck. I tried to make him sing, and as you are all aware, that
didn't work out very good for either of us." Evie looked around,
making eye contact with everyone. "I want you to know that I had no
idea that it would be so painful for Terrance. The last time I had
to "make someone sing," they were weakened mentally and physically
afterwards, but there was no evidence of actual pain. With Terrance
however, you could tell by his screams that this