Tainted Love

Chapter 37

Rose's POV

"We shouldn't have gotten her into this mess. How we going to cover this?! Academy people don't just prance into your property," Sir Emerson argued to Reynold, who were already here when I opened the door. Sir Albert was talking on the phone with Michael, who on the way here was bombarded by the press and had no clue what to say. I was just awkwardly sitting in the corner, biting my lip as Sir Emerson and Reynold clashed.

"Just erase her memory! We can say that she was helping Albert with something and got in the crossfire," Sir Emerson yelled.

"You know we can't do that! She's already been a huge help. We need her until we get rid of this uprising," Reynold argued.

Sir Albert finally hung up on Michael. "He can't get here. The press is everywhere. I think they're looking for Rose," he said. I groaned loudly, making everyone stop.

"And what's so wrong with your situation right now?!" Sir Emerson snapped.

"Why not just go with Sir Emerson's story. Minus the erase my memory thing," I said.

Because then you can't meet us anymore. We have to act like it was one big coincidence you were around. Reynold said. I shrugged.

"If you need my help, just meet me somewhere private. No big deal," I said simply.

Sir Emerson nodded. "There you have it. Compromise," he said, sounding way too happy. I glared at him. Reynold started grumbling.

Stop that. I snapped. It's not like we won't ever talk again.

Reynold sighed. "Fine. Compromise."

I stood up, ready to leave this train wreck. "Good. Now if you excuse me, I need to-"

Everything started spinning. "Are you alright, Rose?" Reynold asked. Nope. Everything was fuzzy. Why was everything fuzzy?

I collapsed, expecting to hit my head on the floor, but Reynold had super sped over and caught me. He laid me gently on the floor as Sir Emerson and Albert rushed over.

"You're as white as a ghost! When was the last time you drank any blood?" Sir Emerson asked.

"The day I got here," I said weakly. Immediately, the three of them started cursing and Sir Albert sped out the room.

"You're an idiot, you know," Reynold mumbled as he sat me up.

"No, I'm a smart idiot," I snapped back, but it was as soft as a whisper. Reynold shook his head as Sir Albert ran back in, carrying a bag of blood.

Reynold held it up to my face, but I tried to back my head away. "Drink it, dammit," he ordered. I but my fangs into it, immediately feeling better. Hey, maybe I won't have an episode like last time.

Why do I l lie to myself?

I yelled, causing everyone to break out in a panic. I wave them off, hoping that if I stayed curled in a ball on the floor the feeling will eventually. Just my luck, it doesn't.

Suddenly, Reynold collapsed. More panic. Sir Albert is calling Michael, while Sir Emerson is trying to comfort us. Nothing works.

"What are two feeling, talk to me!" Sir Emerson say, gripping onto to the two of us.

"Dracula had this two weeks ago," Sir Albert said, continuing his conversation with Michael, who was yelling over the phone. Sir Emerson paused. "Rose, have you had anything like this?"

I nodded. He cursed. "Correlation curse."

"A what?!" I yelled. What was a correlation curse? Sir Emerson ignored me, and instead of answering my question he hurried to the book shelf on the other side of the room. Does this look like a good time to be book shopping?!

As he scanned the titles of each book, I observed Reynold. Like me, he was on the ground in agony but seemed more concerned about me than himself. All we did was gaze at each other, but it was easy to forget my pain when I looked at his face, even if he was the reason for. It was twisted and questionable, but I still had feelings for him no matter how long I tried to run from them.

"I got it!" Sir Emerson yelled, just as Michael zoomed into the room, slamming the door behind him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sir Emerson interrupted him. He pointed to a fancy hourglass on the desk, with silver liquid instead of sand. "Albert, what's in that?" he asked frantically.

Sir Albert tilted his head. "It's mercury. Why?"

"Thank god," Sir Emerson mumbled, grabbing it. "Just be careful, it expensive."

Just like he had ignored me, he ignored Sir Emerson, snapping the thing in two. I managed to sit up lean my back against the wall, right away wishing I was still curled up in a ball. He handed me the half filled with mercury. "Drink it," he ordered.

"Are you crazy, no!" I yelled. Sir Emerson rolled his eyes. "It's one of the antidotes for correlation curse. You're a vampire, you'll live. Just drink it," he demanded.

Reynold sat up. "How is it possible we got that curse?!" he complained. How was it possible.

"Obviously someone managed to put it in your drinks. Seriously, Rose, you need to drink it," he responded a lot more gentle.

"Fine," I snapped. I chugged half of it, making me want to throw up after. Then Sir Emerson gave the rest to Reynold. Instantly, the pain disappeared, but now my stomach was doing backflips.

"Don't worry, I'll die down in a minute," Reynold mumbled, knowing what I was feeling.

"What the heck was that?" I asked. Reynold sighed. "Correlation curse. Anytime either of us drinks blood, this happens. If you don't cure it, eventually someone dies from it. You need to get the two of them to drink it for it to actually go into effect. It can be two people or more, but the second someone is cured or dies everyone else's pain stops."

Sir Albert breathed a sigh of relief. "This is getting worse," he said. "Someone knows Rose is involved and was close enough to both of you to sneak it in something you ate."

You okay? Reynold asked me as Sir, Albert, Emerson, and Michael were talking.

I shook my head. No. Reynold, we had that curse before I even started working with you guys.

Reynold turned pale. That means-

Someone knows I'm the White Shadow.