Bloodrose

by Cassidy Raindance

  His kidding grin finally broke across his face and I breathed out in relief, not realizing I had been holding my breath.

  "That's so messed up," I said, giving his arm a light slap.

  "They're on to us," said Sebastian, letting his pace slow.

  We were rounding yet another corner in the labyrinth of cookie-cutter homes and neat lawns. The first ribbons of light starting to peak over the horizon.

  "Why are you slowing down?" I asked, seeing that the couple had looked back several times now and were running faster, "Let's chow down,"

  I picked up the pace and began sprinting toward the couple. We had an unspoken agreement, Sebastian and I. He took the men and I took the women whenever we were doing a kill together - because the tourists liked it better that way, mostly. And the women were always more dramatic and prone to be runners - my favorite kind of food, fast food.

  By the time I reached the woman only a few seconds had passed. Being a Vampyr meant certain advantages. Heightened senses, I could run faster and it wasn't fair so we always gave them a head start...well, almost always.

  She stood in a fighting stance but her face was all terror.

  "Stay back!" she yelled at me.

  Her skin glistened and I could smell the adrenaline pouring out of her pores. Every ounce of it hit my senses and it was thick enough I could taste it in the air. I licked my lips to savor the flavor. Sebastian never savored his hunt.

  He was a greedy feeder but didn't like the raunchy smell of fear that rolled off of them. He'd sooner kill them than put up with the antics if he was in a foul mood, like today.

  "Now what?" I asked the terrified woman.

  She hadn't expected a question but least of all she hadn’t expected to see fangs. She took a step back followed by another. The man next to her brought his fist up into the air in a threatening manner.

  "You have enough to worry about," said Sebastian, jogging up and stopping next to me.

  The man looked concerned as he should.

  "We don't want any trouble," said the man, his voice was not at all confident.

  I never saw that look in willing feedings. I watched each new realization pass over my food's face before I ate it, the most exhilarating part. My food was terrified of me and I was drunk with that power.

  "I want some trouble," I said, "I mean, I wanted a jog and here we are. We're all ready to go and now you just need a nudge of motivation to get this party started!"

  I took an exaggerated step toward the woman and laughed as with each step she copied me, only backwards. The woman looked around her. There wasn't a soul in sight.

  "No one is coming to save you..." I whispered, "You're going to have to run for it."

  I smiled at her and I could tell exactly where her eyes focused - the points of my fangs dripping with desire to sink into her. When she took a step and backed right into the street lamp I laughed. She moved oblivious to anything and everything around her.

  It was a dance of the ages - the hunt, the primal forces of hunter and prey. The street lamp light clicked off, an automatic feature of the polished suburb with the manicured lawns and identical trimmed trees. If the sprinklers had gone off at that moment it would have been picturesque.

  "You're...you're vampires," she said.

  She looked at her hands, shaking. Her adrenaline had put her in the fight or flight mode and she hadn't fled - but her adrenaline wasn't letting her body follow directions either. She had tremors running through every limb. Like a shaking baby without laughs or cries.

  "I'm glad you got her," said Sebastian, taking equal steps toward his breakfast, "She's probably got an awful spray tan after-taste,"

  "I don't mind it," I said, shrugging.

  I lied of course, spray tans tasted horrible. It would coat my mouth as if I had woken up with a furry tongue and bad breath. You just couldn't get it off and it was gross. I tried looking for a spot to indicate maybe she wore a swimsuit when she tanned.

  "You leave us alone," the girl yelled at me, "Right now! Or you're going to be toast in a few seconds! Now, just run along and we won't ever tell anyone about this..."

  “You were confident up until the end," said Sebastian, "The end part kind of gave you away though, with the shaky voice,"

  Sebastian made a grab for his meal and his breakfast leapt backwards with a bound. His meal was a lot livelier than mine. Maybe I had short changed myself on breakfast.

  "You're going to be sorry," said the woman, "The sun will be up any second and you're going to be dust,"

  This time she managed to sound angry, with just a dash of confidence. Good, I wanted her heart to be beating as fast as it could. I wanted her to be the most terrified she had ever been in her entire short life.

  "We're not going to burst into flames," I said with calm steps toward her, "Movies lie...we're just like you. Only ...better,"

  That got her attention. Tears started to stream down her cheeks. The realization - that was what I wanted to see.

  "But you're," she was whimpering, "You're vampires," her words barely a whisper.

  "Like she said," said Sebastian, "We're just like you,"

  And Sebastian latched onto his breakfast and took him to the ground in a matter of seconds. The blood spurted towards the woman and streaked her hair, droplets splattered across her face. She shrieked in horror. She shifted her focus between Sebastian’s bent form over the man he drank and watching me, watching her, waiting.

  "Someone save us!" she screamed, using the whole of her body to scream as she knelt down to the ground, despair in her voice.

  Disappointed, I grabbed her by the hair and twisted her head to one side. She had blood already all over her but that wasn't what disappointed me. It disappointed me that she didn't run. She sat down and waited to die. She didn't even try to save her own life. And that was what separated the weak species from the strong species. We could have walked up, dropped our fangs and just drank without a struggle from these two. At least Sebastian's breakfast flailed. Mine barely whimpered.

  When we had finished draining them Sebastian helped me pose the bodies as if they were jogging. Of course, we had to pose them lying down and hope our artistic intentions were understood. I snapped a picture and pushed it to Twitter using her phone and tagged it #shared along with #bloodrose. When I looked over at Sebastian I found him watching me, just watching.

  "I don't know how much longer I can do this," he said.

  I had known Sebastian a long time. He had been an easy mark, screaming for someone to break rules with, to defy the Queen and live in danger and adventure. In all that time I had never seen him look at me the way looked at that precise moment.

  "You love this game," I said, ignoring the explosion of retweets and comments on my victim's photo.

  "I'm not talking about the game," he said, "I'm talking about us,"

  I dropped the phone next to the girl and stepped around the pool of blood spreading across the pristine sidewalk. I reached my arms out to him, to hold him, and he stepped away.

  "You're just upset," I said, "The Queen put us in a situation we are not used to and we never talked about-"

  "What we planned to do if she wanted us to kill each other?" he asked, "Funny how that topic never came up. I didn't think we would need to discuss it. I thought we were on the same page,"

  "I know you're upset but I don't think this is the time or the place," I said.

  I looked around the houses with their shades still drawn and sprinklers poised to automate yet another aspect of their perfect lives. People wouldn't approach us, standing next to bleeding bodies in the middle of this little neighborhood, but photos could be taken and calls could be made. And the authorities would be on their way soon.

  "You were going to kill me," said Sebastian.

  The words stung hearing them come from his lips. As much as he had been intended as a stepping ladder into Royal greatness, I had grown fond of him.

  "I would have tried to just maim you," I said, l
ying through my teeth, "You would have made it,"

  "The Queen would have killed me and you know it," he said, "I wouldn't have lasted until the morning. She had the guards posted outside, ready, waiting,"

  He looked sad and hurt but more than that, something else.

  "This is goodbye," he said.

  "No, no, no," I said, "This can't be goodbye. We've been together for years. We're soul mates, we're meant to be together. Us against the world, remember?"

  He had finally given in to saying goodbye. I had never seen that look before on his face because I had kept him tightly wrapped around my finger since the day we first met. Now when I needed his connection the most, now that I'm being accepted back into the Royal Court, into High Society, he had decided he didn’t need me anymore.

  And what the hell for, what could possibly be a better alternative than me? I wasn't a Princess but I was better than most that the court had to offer. I was sexier than all of the other options, no doubt about that. There wasn't a more desired woman in that entire group of stuffy aristocrats.

  "It didn't look like us against the world when you were preparing to claw your way through me to get to Prussia," he said, "One way or another, through me or by killing Prussia - you were prepared to end me, and us,"

  And like that he turned and began walking away. I could see him press one last button on his breakfast's phone before he chucked it behind him. It shattered all over the concrete. I stood looking at all the pieces and then scrambled to pick up the girl's phone. I checked the post he made and it had the picture but only one word, a single tag, #overit.

  I dropped the phone and looked up at the sky, the light cascading into different shades of blue and highlighting the fluffy white clouds hanging overhead. I had to get him back. I needed to get him back. My plan working hinged on him playing his part. I needed him not in the way that a woman needed a man but in the way that an assassin needed her patsy, her dumb-love struck-patsy with the cute backside and amazing build.

  I pulled out my own phone and tried to text him. I walked toward where we had parked and he wasn't anywhere to be found. After fifteen unresponsive text messages I decided I should give him some space for a few hours. I needed to figure out how to get him back around my finger, wrapped tighter than a spring and ready to help me take down the Queen - whether he wanted to or not.

  Chapter 12

  Between Lydia sending me a flurry of texts after our hunt this morning and my ignoring them all I nearly missed the Queen's message that she wanted to see me. I wasn't exactly thrilled. I hadn't been babysitting the human as close as she would have liked though I left a guard there when I ran errands or found something better to do...which I always managed to do.

  It's not a noble responsibility to baby-sit a human pet, which is what I had summarized she was. Wasn't she? I couldn’t come up with a better explanation besides the Queen simply being crazy, as the court regularly murmured.

  When I made it to the house it hummed with activity, getting ready for the weekly family dinner. It had been a tradition of ours for hundreds of years, longer than I could remember. It looked like more preparation than usual this time too. I snuck through the kitchen and took a look at what we were having.

  I was surprised to find more human food than normal. There was your predictable custodial worker, health care professional, dentist, but overall the menu lacked variety. That was the difference between a court that pushed volunteers over slavery anymore. It wasn't popular because it made things harder than they needed to be. I half expected the Queen to ask me to read stories next and entertain them while they waited for us to drain them.

  Not a single one looked appealing. I didn't bother tasting any of them. My breakfast had been much better and he had been selected by complete random. What did it say about us that we couldn’t do better on one of our more respectable nights of the evening? At this point, the roasted duck and wiggly red cranberry stuff looked more appetizing and that says a lot.

  I made my way to the Queen's chambers and was surprised to find she wasn't there. I wandered down the hall in search for the Queen and found a guard that pointed me to the Chancellor’s old office. The Chancellor had died the eternal death, much to the pleasure and despair of Lydia at the time, his wife. It wasn't completely her fault but it didn't stop the sentencing. Death, the final verdict straight from the Queen.

  Now, years later, she would be added back to the Royal Court. I smacked my hand on my face as I reached the Chanellor’s old office where I found the Queen’s guard posted. I was such a schmuck. No wonder Lydia had been all wound up and the house so busy – today Lydia would be confirmed back into the Royal Court. It wouldn't be a huge ceremony judging by what would be offered as refreshments but a step up from banishment, for certain.

  I knocked at the door to the dead Chancellor's office.

  "Come in," said the Queen, Victoria.

  "You said you wanted to speak to me," I said, eyes toward the floor.

  "Yes, come in," said the Queen, somewhat distracted and looking over old records with her reading glasses.

  "Still no new Chancellor?" I asked.

  She looked up at me as if I shouldn't have bothered asking. The Chancellor had been the judge and jury of our Royal Court. When laws were broken the Chancellor had to ring true, be fair and interpret the law without wavering for sake of personal favor, even if it displeased the Queen in some cases. The Chancellor had assumed the role so long that his name was hardly used; it was simply 'the Chancellor'.

  "There hasn't been a candidate worthy of the position yet though I have someone in mind," she went back to her papers, murmuring to herself and waving her hand toward a seat on the other side of her desk.

  I sat and dust plumed up from the chair cushion. I coughed as the dust hung around me in a cloud for a moment and finally settled.

  "You asked me here for an update?" I asked.

  "No," she murmured.

  Realizing she hadn't meant to say no, she looked up and then set down what she had been looking at.

  "Yes," she corrected herself, "Yes, I'm looking for an update,"

  "All quiet on the home front," I told her.

  I had talked with the guard on watch before I had pulled up in the drive way. I had to appear diligent.

  "Has anyone come to visit her today?" the Queen asked.

  I made a calculated risk and lied.

  "Nope, not a single one," I said.

  "Did she go to work today?" asked the Queen, vague interest showing.

  "Nope, she had the day off," I said.

  "Fantastic," said the Queen.

  I nodded my head in agreement.

  "She didn't go to work, didn't get fired, and didn't get followed home by anyone," said the Queen, "That is a relief,"

  I didn't feel as relaxed and at ease as I had felt a moment before. I should have known when she navigated me right into a second lie immediately following the first one that she was on to me.

  I nodded my head in acknowledgement that I had been caught.

  "I need to be able to trust you," said the Queen.

  She wasn't as angry as I had thought. Perhaps I would get a slap on the wrist.

  "Is this because of Lydia?" asked the Queen.

  I pursed my lips. A silent acknowledgement.

  "I just don't understand why you're having me baby sit your pet when you got what you wanted," I said, "Lydia and I are done. I'm over her. I'm moving on,"

  At least she had enough kindness in her heart to look surprised and sympathetic.

  "I never wanted you to get hurt," said the Queen, "I was just looking out for your best interest. And that means knowing exactly what you're dealing with and who you can trust when your back is against the wall,"

  "Well, thanks for orchestrating that little demonstration so I could experience that valuable lesson first hand," I said, no semblance of respect or formality remaining, "Congratu-fucking-lations,"

  "Watch it," warned the Queen.


  She pointed a sharp finger and a stern look in my direction. I crossed my arms and sat back in the chair, a second plume of dust billowing out of the cushion and around me. Her expression softened again and for a moment it looked like she meant it. Then, of course, she opened her mouth.

  "I can't have Lydia around Prussia," said Victoria, "She is a liability and a security risk,"

  I sent a soft glare in her direction. I would have given her a more convincing stare but I had my own doubts in there, my own belief that her words rang with more truth than I would usually believe of Lydia. She had made a choice I never thought she would make. And it could have ended my life, all for high society and power. It made sense; those were the two things she loved. I just hadn't realized it was a greater love than our own love.