CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I turned the car lights off then squeezed through the gates. I was well and truly in vampire territory.

I probably should have asked her if there were any fucking vampires prowling around. Would make my life so much easier!

I walked down the border of the tree line. Shrubbery snaked along my legs every time I stepped and stones and pebbles and whatever else rolled away as I kicked them about.

That was the only thing I could hear coupled with my own breathing as I tried to keep it steady. I walked and walked and walked until I saw something in the distance. It was a block between the trees.

Is that- I gasped, that's original Rose!

I broke into a run like something was chasing me. Fuck, yes! Mattie! A grin burst across my face. I felt the start of a laugh bubble in my chest.

Panting, I stopped at the opening. There was only one light coming from a room in the corner. I could see the curtains were slightly parted.

I should've just walked right up to the door and knocked. I think that's what Professional Alice would have said if she hadn't gone crazy. But I didn't. I scaled a tree taking care not to scratch myself on the branches. I think Sarah told me that the blood rises to the surface and vampires can tell.

You're being stupid, Alice. I mentally told myself. Walk right up to that door and knock instead of being a peeping Tom. If only my limbs would obey.

The wind blew right through me. I had to test branches to make sure I wasn't going to fall but just when I managed to sit on a good looking, stable branch, someone caught my eye. They moved past the window.

No! I missed that!

A silhouette of a person reappeared. In the gap of the curtains I could see it wasn't Mattie. It was female, a female vampire.

Her blond hair hung away from her shoulders. She was dressed in lingerie.

No, don't make conclusions, Alice. You don't even know if Matie is actually there! But it was too late.

Mattie… found someone else… I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. I felt sick. I felt like crying.

Of course he would have found someone. It's been thirty years!

That woman bent down disappearing from view before another, a man, (Mattie!) came into view. He was top naked. He hadn't changed at all, still having that scruffy hair that I saw when I ran home from uni, when I saw him next to me in bed after we both confessed-

When I saw him right now.

I groaned. I had to get away. I shuffled around on the branch and jumped off. I didn't look back at that window. I was too busy trying to keep my chest together.

Tears fell freely by the time I reached the car. It took me a few tries to get the key in the lock.

My chest hurt. My eyes stung from constantly rubbing them. Why are you even crying? Surely on some level you knew Mattie wouldn't even wait thirty years for you? Even if he is a vampire.

I found myself vaguely wondering what thirty years is like for a vampire. Is it a blink of an eye for them?

"Alice!"

I froze. I haven't even unlocked the car door yet.

It came from him. It came from Mattie who stood just on the other side of the gate with an alarmed expression on his face. After all this time trying to search for him, I didn't want to see him right now.

I just went back to the car door. Where were the keys?

An arm snaked around my waist pulling me toward him. "Alice…"

"Don't 'Alice' me!" I yelled hitting his shoulders as he turned me around, his chest, anything to get him to release me. "Let me go!"

His other arm around my waist completed my prison. He pulled me tight in a hug. My cheek rested on his chest. It was a comforting feeling. I stopped hitting him to just grab his shirt as I broke down in tears, wiping my face on my sleeve. My cries echoed through the forest. My chest- no, my heart ached like it had done overtime. I felt immensely tired.

Is the first time always hard?

In my cries I realised he was petting my head, occasionally patting me or ruffling my hair. It was a calming feeling. I had to look up through my tears at the man who was still there beside me.

His sombre emerald eyes gazed at me. That hand that was in my hair came down to wipe the tears on my cheeks.

We didn't say anything. If there was something that should be said, I wasn't sure what it was exactly. Frankly I was just content enough to just stay in this man's arms.

When I had cried enough I lifted my head up. Should I ask this?

"Who was that woman?"

He shuffled. One of those really obvious 'I-really-don't-want-you-to-know' type shuffles, especially when he actually looked at his feet.

"I don't really want to ruin this moment, Alice."

I narrowed my eyes. He only hugged me tighter.

Stay mad, stay mad, stay mad…

"She was just someone I did some stuff with."

I pursed my lips. Was I supposed to take that for an answer?

Mattie sighed. "You were gone for a good few years, Alice."

I knew it and this time he actually said it. But it didn't make it any easier.

"Are you cold?"

I nodded. That immensely tired feeling came back again to haunt my body.

"Come with me to the mansion." For some reason he whispered those words.

"Okay."

I woke up fuzzy like I was floating. I was still tired.

"Morning, you." It came as a whisper.

Ah. That floating feeling was Mattie. My head was resting on his chest.

"Morning, afternoon, whatever right now is." I grinned.

"You're awfully happy now."

"Hm."

Last night was something that shouldn't have happened. In a right mind, I shouldn't have even stepped into the mansion with the same idea Mattie had. We'd shared the bed again.

Mattie's arm came around from the small of my back to ruffle my head. His eyes had gone blood red. I shot up shocked.

Start thinking he's a damn vampire, Alice!

He frowned. "I'm not going to do anything. Rose is gone now."

Why's he talking about Rose for?

The question must have been written on my face because he shrugged adding, "Rose had an unspoken thing concerning vampires and their feeders that they could take blood when they wanted." Mattie got up causing me to fall back on the bed. "There's something I need to tell you. I was going to tell you before… once you arrived back at Rose after visiting Paper but since that never happened…" His eyes, still blood red looked at me. I couldn't pinpoint what the emotion was behind them. The colour of his eyes made them look intimidating. But I knew it was far opposite that.

"I need you to promise me something."

"Okay."

"Alice, it's serious." He frowned sitting up properly now resting against the bed frame. "I need you to know that since you're going to be with me…" It didn't seem like he approved of that word or was it the overall phrasing? "You have to promise me that if I ever turn into a rogue, you will use Beta on me."

"What! No!" I cried out. What? How, how can he even say that?

"Alice!" Mattie clasped both of my hands. They were warm and comforting. "You have to understand that if I do become a rogue, I'd hunt you down? Nowhere is safe for you. I struggled getting my fangs away from you. Bloodlust is very..." His face fell. It looked like he was in despair. "It's very hard to control."

Those thirty years without me were hard for him.

I closed my eyes and took a shaking breath. I don't want to feel what I felt back at Paper. The despair of knowing your seconds were even numbered.

The despair at facing death with no escape.

Knowing that the person who will kill you was someone you loved.

But neither did I want to lose Mattie. No, not anyone else. I killed Caim. Isn't that enough pain?

A finger traced my cheek softly making me open my eyes.

"Caim knew, didn't he? He agreed." I said it as a matter of fact.

"He did."

I groaned. "I don't want-"

"Hey." His interruption silenced me. "You're supposed to say, 'Mattie, I won't let you turn into a rogue.'"

His perception brought a smile to my face. "I won't let you become a rogue, Mattie."

He smiled before leaning over to trail kisses from my forehead right down to my neck where he bared his fangs.

I must have drifted off to sleep again because I woke up.

It was daytime. I didn't know the time. And it was hella quiet.

Oh right, I found Mattie.

Mattie?

I was alone in bed.

My mind replayed back to what happened last night causing my hand to slap my neck to see what the damage was.

There was none. Not even the pain of it still in recovery. It was like nothing had happened.

I went into the bathroom to check on my supposed wound in the large mirror above the sink, but there was absolutely nothing there. Was the memory of Mattie's fangs on my neck a dream? Or did I recover that fast that there were no marks? That thought was unsettling so I shoved it to the back of my mind. I didn't want to think I was anything less than a human.

But… is it a bad thing to be a vampire?

The girl in front of me swallowed. She looked too thin. Pale, too as if she didn't even get enough sun. When was the last time I looked at myself in the mirror?

All I needed were fangs and maybe red eyes and I could pass myself off as a vampire at a Halloween party.

No, that was bad.

I washed my face. Hopefully the hot water would bring some colour.

But then I looked at my hand. There was a trail of blood.

Quickly I dunked it in the soapy water then took it out again but it was still there.

Okay, okay stay calm.

By now my breathing was laboured and I had to take a breath, hold it for a couple of seconds then exhale. I had to do it a few times.

I wiped the blood off but it was staining the sink. Shit. Even though there was only a small amount of blood, the water had gone to a bright crimson shade.

I unplugged it then rinsed it out. It was clean but my hands were absolutely covered in blood.

Fuck, fuck, what am I going to-

"Alice!"

My head shot toward the open bathroom door where Mattie stood with a hand on the frame looking like he had to run in a hurry to get here. There was a mixture of emotions written all over his face. All I could see was his shock and concern.

I quickly put my hands behind me.

"What's wrong? I could hear your breathing from downstairs." He took a step closer but I stepped back. "Alice?"

"Don't come closer." My voice shook. If he sees the blood...

He blinked. "Why not?"

"I… don't want you too."

"Are you hiding something? Alice, I've told you many times to just talk to me."

Was that the first time he told me off?

I didn't say anything. I looked down at the floor like a child being caught doing something she shouldn't have.

But in a flash, a force gripped my wrists to bring them forward. I couldn't even react. I was left stunned to see both hands in front of me covered in thick blood. It was even under my nails.

"Mattie, stop!" I screamed trying to pull them away, at the same time looking away. I didn't want to see the damage and now that Mattie was right in front of me, so close to my blood…

"Wh-"

"I don't know!" I cried. "I don't know how, I just found blood and it wouldn't come off and…"

I couldn't meet his gaze. I knew, absolutely knew, that he was staring at me. Am I crazy?

But he did something unexpected. He brought a hand to his lips with his eyes staring back at mine and licked a finger. "Well, I suppose it's up to me to clean them then?" Mattie continued to lick my hands as I stared at him through blurry eyes. He never broke eye contact.

It actually worked. My hands were getting clean.

Then I caught myself. I pulled out of his hold blushing harshly. "Mattie…"

"I'm here, Alice, because I need to be. Those thirty years taught me how much I needed you. I became rogue several times. I drank all of your blood that was in reserve in a short space of time yet it wasn't enough. No-" Mattie closed his eyes shaking his head. "I doubt it had a dent in my lust. But I knew one thing was that I needed to be here with you. I don't care how much you may think it's wrong, may turn your back on me or anything else, I know that I will unconditionally be right beside you."

I closed my eyes too. He'll support me mentally even though I'm not right?

I sniffled. "I think that was your answer." At his confusion I explained, "how do I know you're… in love with me and not with Caim still because of my blood."

Mattie smiled, kissing the tips of my fingers. "I love you, Alice."

His confession gave me a warm feeling, pricking the corners of my lips. My heart felt like it was going to burst. I nodded. "I love you too."

I asked Mattie to leave me after that. He had frowned but respected my decision and left. If only I knew what ran in that mind of his.

If only I was a better reader of vampire expressions.

I finished getting refreshed and I oddly found new clothes in the wardrobe in the bedroom - a blue blouse and jeans, I headed downstairs.

I tried not to dwell on the clothes too much. They certainly weren't mine and they were female clothes.

Original Rose was just like The Manor apart from the modern things stuffed in it. The bedroom I had slept in was dominated by a four-poster bed - the bed Mattie and I slept in - complete with the thin veil covering the whole thing.

Beside it was a small mahogany looking table with a lamp on either side. Alpha and Beta lay the same way I left them, crossed on top of each other. I decided to leave them there. On my left was a wall covered in bookcases all stacked to the brim of various titles, those brown, green, blue hardback books that looked really old. I wouldn't be surprised if there were first editions among them. The wardrobe filled the space between the bedside table and the bookshelves.

Out, the landing was narrow covered in a dark red carpet that lead toward the stairs which were just before me. They ran against the wall straight to the foyer.

Mattie was in the kitchen, straight left once you left the stairs, which was weird. I just couldn't get my head around the fact that a vampire survived on blood but can still eat. He was cooking too. Two pans were on the stove with its contents bubbling away.

He looked up as I leaned against the archway. There were no doors on this floor as far as I could tell.

"Thought you might be hungry." He gestured to the food.

Mattie wore a grey shirt with a black pants, the ones you would wear for running. I had to push back those thoughts that lead me back to the bedroom again. Just doing that made me blush.

Just don't think about the bathroom!

With a quizzical look which I guessed was because of my blush, he took two plates out from a drawer and started to plate the food up. I think he wanted to ask me 'what are you blushing for?' but he didn't.

"Spaghetti?" I said raising an eyebrow.

He grinned. "One of the recipes I know."

I giggled. "I would have been happy with a takeaway."

"Ah, but a takeaway wouldn't have the same feel."

The kitchen had a small extension on the worktop with some stools beneath it like a hotel we stayed at a long time ago. He placed our food there, filled up two glasses that were already there with water and gestured for me to sit.

"Acting like a pureblood vampire?" I grinning wildly.

"Darling, I am one."

Tell you what though Mattie's spaghetti was the best I'd tasted.

"There's also something I need to say to you."

He looked up at me. We hadn't cleaned up yet, just enjoying each other's company at the dinner table. But the

It seemed like he was expecting this. It certainly felt that way.

"At Paper, why did you jump?"

I could recall the dreaded memory easily. Running away from him scared out of my mind until he suddenly leaped high in the air with my gun pointed at him… Now that I thought about it, Caim did the same thing.

Mattie was in the middle of lifting his glass to his lips when I asked. But just as the words left my mouth, it visibility paused. Like I-can-see-it-with-my-human-eyes-paused. His eyes flashed their emeralds at me but they were devoid of emotion. It was only when he laid his glass down that he replied in the most monotone voice I had even heard from him, "It was for insurance."

I was pretty sure confusion and disbelief were written all over my face so slowly, so very slowly as if I had trouble pronouncing each word I said, "What does that mean?"

"It means I was giving you the choice to kill me or not. Do you remember Sarah's teachings? That vampires have a huge advantage over humans on the ground?"

I nodded. I understood this.

"By jumping I was letting gravity take over was me asking you to shoot me with Alpha or Beta."

With Caim's death I had both guns. With Mattie…

"I only had Alpha."

His eyes widened. "I thought you had both."

Is his vampiric memory failing him?

"No…" I shook my head lightly to try and dislodge a sense of uneasiness, but it didn't work so I took the tiniest sip of water. "I got knocked and lost both for a while. I only found one."

Those emerald eyes were still bulging as if he couldn't really understand or believe what I was saying. "I thought…" A pained look came across his face, one that tugged at my heart the wrong way. "I thought… I thought you would have killed me then."

After that revelation we spent some time in silence. I wasn't too sure what else I could say to that to be honest. If Mattie had died, what would I have done now? Would Iain have told me of his death or would I have been searching for him for a while? I sighed. There wasn't any point in thinking this way since I found Alpha first.

On to the next issue at hand…. How do I say it? Does Mattie know of his past?

Whilst I was just staring at my empty plate, Mattie was watching me. It was kind of unnerving. Maybe he knew that there was something I needed to get off my chest. I took a shaking breath. Fuck it.

"Did anyone tell you about your past?"

He frowned, shaking his head as if that he forgot all about it.

"We found it in Paper. There was a document all about it."

"Was there? It's a bit weird that Paper should have information about me."

I told him that they experimented on him, explaining what happened, everything that I learned from that small folder. If only I had it in my hands-

I gasped. That contact! I squinted. I didn't take it out so maybe...

"Alice," Mattie looked like he was going to laugh but it didn't reach his eyes. They were still frowning. I only just realised I was making funny faces at him. "What exactly are you doing?"

"I thought I had the contacts in, you know, the ones I wore when I was at Paper."

"They were taken out a long time ago." My face fell. But it had the pictures on! "Hey," He held his hands up, "I believe you, Alice. I just don't remember that far back."

"Then… what's your first memory?"

Mattie closed his eyes but a pained look came over him and I suddenly felt stupid for asking something like that. I imagined it'll be full of bloodshed being a new vampire before he developed a conscience. "Sorry." I mumbled, "I shouldn't have said it."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Alice." Mattie held up his hand, got up off the table and went upstairs. In a few seconds (or milliseconds), he returned with something small between his fingers.

"This," he said, "is a copy of what was in the server. I have never accessed it because it was primarily for your eyes only." He sat back down to hand me it. It was a small memory card.

I stared at it as if it was an alien. A few months of work fits in my hand.

"There are a few copies of it for security purposes." Mattie continued. "I'm not sure on how many there are or who has them though."

"Do you know where a computer is?"

"We can buy one." He shrugged.

I was wracking my brain thinking where one would be and came to the conclusion that we need one in the future. There was none back at The Manor which just explains how much we relied on Rose. Going to the library was too… public.

Three hours later we had a laptop in front of us in the kitchen. It wasn't connected to the internet for the time being which was ideal for now.

My hand holding the small chip hovered over the USB port. I was nervous. It was raw evidence from thirty years ago that I collected. What if it didn't have the images I took of Mattie's report? What if it was too dark to even read it if it was indeed there? Fuck me.

Mattie peered over my shoulder probably thinking why was I taking so long to plug the device in. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I breathed. Before swallowing and connected it. As usual the bubble popped up on the screen saying that a new device had been connected and that it was installing the drivers for it and all too soon it was complete and in the File Explorer, there was a single folder.

Several files popped up most of which was of images. I recognised a few of them and as I scrolled down others I didn't.

I found myself flicking through the image files skipping those that were too dark or too blurred to make out anything happening without more thought. It wasn't when I saw the pictures I took of Mattie's file in the archives of Paper that I had to back up and look closer.

"I don't remember this…" Mattie breathed past my ear. "They have all my details."

I looked at him shocked. "They're right? Like they have your information and it's all correct? You didn't give them it, did you?"

"Of course not. I would remember that." He replied.

I looked back at the screen and onto the next images which were different shots of Mattie's details closer up. Some were duplicates which I skipped. But when the images of the experiment came up, Mattie took over my seat and read.

I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to do. I couldn't tell if he was still reading the screen after a few minutes of just standing behind him, watching him slowly turning into a statue or he was in shock of what happened to him.

"Are you okay?" I whispered. But I didn't get a reply so I put a hand on his arm slowly peering at his face as I did so. His emerald pools were a dull green. He was looking at the keyboard frozen.

"I'll give you some time, then…" I was going to leave him alone for a few hours or however long it took for him to process but as I turned to go, I found his arms around my waist lifting me up on his lap as his face buried in the crook of my neck. Not much sound escaped from him but I could feel him groaning.

I called Iain just like he said and we both decided to spend a week together. There was no doubt in our minds that Iain would have work related stuff to tell us even though he wasn't our manager anymore. On the last day though, we checked into a hotel booked in our alternative names which was a change, I hadn't been called Lucy and I almost never heard Mattie being called David.

Mattie drove the rented car I drove to original Rose and I gave him the directions. The day was clear with some cloud cover in the sky but even so, Mattie still wore sunglasses. I think they were just in case his eyes changed colour.

Pretty soon we were at Iain's place and seated in his living room. Iain's eyebrows had shot up the first time he'd seen him and I don't think they were back on his face yet as he continued staring at the man right next to me who looked just as comfortable here as back in original Rose.

"Mattie…" Iain said. The name was a breath on his lips. "I'm never going to get used to the fact that you don't age."

Maybe Iain keeps forgetting he's a vampire too. It was a refreshing thought, one that made me feel relieved that I wasn't the only one who thought it.

"I'm not human, Iain."

"I know, but still…" Iain wiped his glasses as if to reinforce the shock. "Anyway, I'm really glad that you found Mattie, Alice." He nodded. "I do have a favour to ask of you which is why I asked to tell you both." Iain paused to make eye contact.

It's that important?
"I would like… you to reestablish Rose." My face must have betrayed my blank look. Establish? As in start up Rose again? He wants us to start Rose up again? Didn't he say that Gold has a section for what Rose did?

"To rebuild Rose, I mean."

Fuck, he does!

Mattie leaned forward with his arms on his knees. "You mean you want Rose to exist again?"

"Yes."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It wasn't that I didn't agree with it - I hadn't made my decision on it. Did I even have a decision on it?

"But… you told me that there might be a section of Gold they dealt with what Rose did." I said. I know what he said, that it wasn't confirmed. So why did I say it?

Mattie shook his head. "I've heard rumours that there was no such thing."

"So what happened to Cindy and James?" I said.

"I know that they were recruited by Gold however…" Mattie gave me a serious look. "It wasn't a good promotion."

They were taken to Gold for something bad? I gave him a puzzled look to which he just shrugged. "Rose was the closest we had to knowing anything about Gold. I'm just repeating what rumors were in vampire society."

"So we're back at square one?" No, worse than square one, I still had that feeling that I didn't belong. Maybe it was because of the time zone I was thrust into.

Mattie sighed. "There's very little that we do know for sure in the first place. But, on the topic at hand… Iain, why do you want Rose?"

"Because it's needed. A friend of mine in the police has had a large amount of 'suspicious' human deaths since the collapse of Rose. Of course they can't really say, 'vampires are killing humans', on TV, so getting people to know that this is happening, and to actually do something about it is a hard thing to do." Iain replied with conviction. "Rose was the only organisation that protected the line between these societies. If things continue people will know that vampires are the culprits. It might be fine if those vampires were rogue, but if they were sane…" As he shook his head, he took his glasses off to wipe them on his jumper. "I'm telling you this as one of the managers of the assassination division. It's… it was my job. But I'm also telling you because you were the founder of Rose."

It looked like I didn't have that much influence in this topic. Heck I don't know if I'll even get a say once everything is said and done.

Throughout Iain's say Mattie had closed his eyes with a blank face. If I hadn't been with Mattie for so long, I probably wouldn't have noticed the tightening of his eyes or the pursed lips that showed he was trying to hold something back. I didn't want to see it on Mattie. It hurt just seeing him like that so I put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, shocked. I wanted to tell him something comforting but I wasn't sure what to say. I probably looked like a fish gasping in the air as my mind tried to grasp what little words were in my head.

His face softened. A hand came round to stroke my cheek. In a whisper he said, "Thank you, Alice, but I'm okay now." He then spoke to Iain, "Rose had many things wrong with it."

It did?

You've only seen one angle of Rose! Another part of me hissed. It wasn't Professional Alice, thank God. I decided to call her Logical Alice because it sounded like she wouldn't give me a shock. Remember there was R&D and management!

"It's a good time to iron those out." It was said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"But…" The word left Mattie's lips as a whisper. He wasn't fine!

It then occurred to me that when I had that nightmare when Iain woke me up, I was exactly like Mattie now: sealed off from everyone, keeping his feelings to himself. Even when he and Iain go back many years, he still couldn't understand the support we all have for each other. I felt embarrassed that I just didn't realise it sooner.

"I get it now." I whispered.

Mattie still looked tortured as he gazed at me. Iain had a confused look which was understandable. "I just thought I was in Mattie's position that night." I gave a silent prayer that Iain knew what I meant. He nodded. I then gave another silent prayer saying I hadn't talked to him about my PTSD. I hadn't ever thought about going to see a… doctor?

"Mattie," I made sure I looked him straight in the eyes. "You told me dozens of times to talk." I purposely emphasised the word. "It's only now that I'm seeing this that I know how hard it is to do that simple job but it's even harder to try and guess what's wrong in the first place. It's emphasised even more because you're a vampire. So I'm going to rephrase the 'just talk' to 'say what's on your mind and say it without a consequence'. Between all three of us, I know that all of us support each other professionally and personally and I doubt that would change in the future." I paused. Did I just say and personally? Should I have said that? Fuck sake, I've said it now anyway. I looked at Mattie and Iain to assess the damage I'd done.

Mattie just stared at me like I said something stupid. That wasn't stupid, surely? I looked at Iain who had the same expression plastered on his face.

A few moments went by before I couldn't stand their gazes. "What?"

Iain was speechless. You could practically see the gears working behind his eyes as his mouth opened and closed.

Mattie looked relieved. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders pulling me close so my head rested on his shoulder. "You're right. I'm sorry, I'm making it harder for everyone." I felt his nose graze my hair as if he was talking in my scent. All too soon he released me. Directing toward Iain, he said, "I just… don't want the same thing to happen. What happened to the other founders of Rose."

So that's what he was worrying about, the other three founders… wait, didn't Iain tell me Mattie killed them? I shot an alarmed look at Mattie. It was involuntary, I shouldn't have done it. I hardly knew what the circumstances were, I didn't think of asking.

He was frowning, I think. His head was in his hands. I think it was the first time I saw him like that. It seemed unnatural. Was it a vampire thing to not show weakness?

"Mattie…" What do I say? I didn't know anything about his past. Heck, I even agreed to find out a portion of his past.

"It won't happen." Iain's statement cut through the atmosphere. He had both of our undivided attention. "It won't happen purely because it's the past. We know what happened, the consequences and the changes it made in the future.

"Rose… If you rebuild Rose now you're in a better position than when you started. People know what it does, its success stories and its failings. There will be people who support it now than having to rely on the name of a well known pure blood vampire. You can do it, Mattie." Iain leaned forward, "I know."

Silence descended upon the three of us. I felt like I should really say something but Iain made a logical agreement.

"Alright." The word was a whisper on Mattie's lips. Was he in agreement of Iain's big speech or did he make peace with the demons in his head? When he had his head in his hands it felt like there were more people arguing with him than just Iain. I wasn't sure Iain even heard it if I heard it only barely.

Strangely Mattie turned to me, looking at me squarely in the eyes. "Alice, what do you say? If you agree with me, we'll try setting up Rose again."

This is it. This is my input. And it's the decision that changes everything!

I swallowed. "I agree with Iain. I don't know what happened to those other founders and I don't want to know unless I need to."

There. I said it.

A smile played on Mattie's lips. But it didn't reach his eyes. Was it really that bad?

"Alright!" Iain clapped. "How about we have some bubbly to celebrate the life and the coming future with Rose!"