Now her father was putting her in her closet! Fear lapping in her belly as her mother uttered words that Rose knew were a spell. A spell for what though? Her mother’s voice urgent as she spoke quickly. “Stay there. Do not move and don’t say a thing. I’ve put a spell on you so they can’t see you, baby, stay there and we’ll come get you when it’s safe.”
Rose sat with her knees bent, her arms wrapped around them as tears ran down her face. She swiped at them, telling herself not to be a baby as loud banging downstairs was followed by her father roaring. “No! Leave her be!”
More shouts, a loud bang, then footsteps running up the stairs. She held her breath as a strange man entered her room, ransacking it and even looking under the bed. Then he stalked over to the closet, wrenching the door almost off its hinges and staring inside. Rose bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying out as he looked around, his eyes meeting hers for a brief second before he turned away cursing. She would never forget his face and the hatred she saw as her eyes met his.
“No fucking thing in here!” he shouted before disappearing from her line of sight.
Rose sat, shivering and shaking and almost peeing herself with terror. She heard her mother’s words again, telling her to stay there, so she did. She waited, and waited, and waited. The dawn’s light filtered through her curtains and still she waited. Too scared to even call out for her parents.
As the heat rose in her room, she knew it was almost lunchtime, her stomach rumbling and her bladder full to bursting. Still she sat. Not moving a muscle as she prayed to the Goddess for her mom or dad to come get her. It was not long after that she heard some muted noises from downstairs. A groan, a curse, and then movement.
Her hand flew to her mouth, terrified as heavy feet slowly made their way towards her. “Please, please, please,” she said over and over in her head, though what she meant she had no idea. A dark shadow filled her doorway and she almost screamed in fright, biting her lip so hard she drew blood, as her heart hammered in her chest.
A booted foot came into view first and then another, large feet, impossibly large feet. Relief flooded her as she recognized her father’s boots, he was huge, as big as a bear, and she’d never seen feet as large as his. Her eyes swung upwards and she gasped when she saw the blood oozing from a round hole in his side. His eyes found her and he fell to his knees in front of her closet, grabbing her to him and holding on tight.
“Thank the Goddess.” He gasped as she cried tears of joy at being in his arms.
“Where’s mommy?” she asked, scared.
“She’s gone, honey, they took her away because she’s a Witch.” Her dad stumbled as he stood with her in his arms. “We need to go. I need to find you somewhere safe and I think I know just the place.”
“Why?” she cried, not wanting to move again and wanting her mom back. “I want Mommy, Daddy, I want Mommy.”
“I know you do, baby.” He soothed her as he carried her downstairs, through the living room and out the back. His large motorbike waited and he put her on the ground as he got on. “Hop up,” he told her, his hand sticking out to help her.
“Mommy won’t like it. You know she always gives us trouble when you take me out on the bike, Daddy. I don’t want her mad at us.”
“She says it’s okay for this time, Rose, just get on. We need to go now before they find out about you and come for you too.”
Her heart lurched as she jumped up behind him, her fingers holding tight to his belt as he started the machine up. “I’m hungry, Daddy, and thirsty.”
“Later, baby, we need to go now.”
And with that he took off, leaving everything she owned in the house and her mother goodness knew where. Tears ran unchecked down her face as they sped along, burying it into her dad’s back and soaking his shirt. On and on they rode, not stopping until it was dark and she almost fell off the bike from exhaustion. Her dad did something she never thought she’d see; he broke into a store and stole food and water.
“Mommy is gonna be so mad at you.” She frowned as he handed her a candy bar and a bottle of water.
“Only if we tell her,” he said in a very strange voice.
“Okay, Daddy, I won’t tell her.” She made a cross over her heart. “Promise.”
“That’s my girl.” He’d said before they got back on the bike and carried on.
The hours blurred past, her father stopping once to pull out a small length of rope from the back of things he’d stolen from the store. He wrapped it around her then tied her to him tightly. “Sleep, Rose, I can’t afford to stop so you’ll need to sleep while we travel, baby.”
She didn’t think it possible. Sitting behind him as they sped along, tied to his large body, but, she did. Her head falling forward to rest on his back as her lids closed all of their own accord.
It was two more days before he said, “Not long now, Rose.”
“Where are we going, Daddy?”
“To a friend, someone I can trust to keep you safe.”
“Oh, okay.” She frowned. “Then are you going to go get Mommy?”
“Yes.” Her father nodded. “I’ll go and look for Mommy once I know you’re safe.”
“Good,” she said firmly, missing her mother so much it made her stomach ache.
Looking around she saw they were in the countryside, lush green land all around and the road they were on not wide enough for much more than her dad’s bike. Was it a road? Her eyes could see it was hard, like tarmac, but it was long, windy, and thin. Very weird.
Peeking around her dad’s bulk she saw a long, tall wall ahead. It seemed to stretch on forever and as they drew nearer there were signs dotted around. She was good with words and she was sure some of those were curse words! Why would there be cuss words on a sign?
Her dad slowed the bike to almost a crawl, his loud voice roaring. “Seth! It’s Brendan O’Connell, I need your help.”
Rose looked wide eyed at the gate before them, razor sharp wire now visible all along the top of the wall and all over the thick metal gate. Her dad stopped, kicked the stand, turned the engine off then got off the bike, lifting her into his arms as he strode forwards and banged on the gate hard.
“Seth! Open the fuck up!”
“Daddy!” she squealed, never hearing him say that word before.
“What do you want, Brendan?” A soft voice asked.
“Open up and let me explain, please, Seth. I have my daughter with me.”
Rose looked from her dad to the gate and back again until finally the gate swung open to reveal a very hard looking man. She clung to her dad as the man motioned them inside. He scared her. No, he terrified her. He was as scary as the ogres in the stories her mother used to read her.
“Five minutes,” Seth said curtly. “I’m busy.”
Her dad didn’t say anything, walking in and towards a building farther inside the wall. “She needs to rest. We’ve been travelling for days and I tied her to me to sleep.”
“What?” Seth looked at her and she clung tighter to her dad. “Brendan, is that blood? The hole in your shirt looks like a bullet hole. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t have time, Seth. I need you to take care of her while I go and try and rescue Marie. They came and took her. I have to go back and try and find her.”
“What the fuck? Are you mad?” Seth looked at her again, causing her stomach to flip. “One, I am not the kind of guy that looks after a kid and two, if they took her then you know what’s happened. You won’t find her, not . . .” he paused, looking at her and back to her dad, “not a.l.i.v.e. anyway.”
She concentrated on what he’d spelled out. “Alive?” she looked up at her dad. “What does he mean, Daddy?”
“Smart,” Seth said. “I assume she takes after Marie?”
Her dad laughed, actually laughed. “Yeah, she does. That’s why I need to keep her safe. They’ll come for her, Seth.”
The man paced back and forth. “Okay, I’ll give you a week. I’ll l
ook after her for a week, then you need to come and get her.”
“Thanks.” Her dad nodded. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Wait.” Seth jogged away, disappearing inside the house for a few minutes before reappearing with something in his hand. “Here, it’s a phone that charges with solar power. The signal depends on where you are. Some places it works fine, others not a hope in hell. Keep me in the loop as much as you can.”
“Okay, thanks.” Her dad pocketed the phone then knelt down. “Baby, I have to go to try and find Mommy. Seth is a friend of mine. He’ll make sure you’re safe so be a good girl for him. Okay?”
“No, Daddy!” she wailed, grabbing onto him and sobbing. “Don’t leave me, please, Daddy, don’t leave me here alone.”
He pushed her back, staring into her eyes. “Rose Marie O’Connell, man up. Your mom needs my help so I have to go and see if I can help her. I can’t do that with you. You could get hurt and then what? I’d be too worried about you to maybe help Mommy. Is that what you want?”
“No.” She whimpered, tears streaking her filthy face.
“I know you’re scared and upset, but you gotta be strong. Be a good girl for Seth and I’ll be back soon. Promise.”
Seth clapped her dad on the back. “Don’t you want to rest up a bit first? Let me take a look at that wound.”
“No, it’s healed. It was silver so it put me down when they came. I managed to get it out and it’s healed on the journey here. I’ll be fine, Seth, so long as I know Rose is okay.”
“I’ll look after her. One week, Brendan.” Seth raised an eyebrow, waiting on her dad to answer.
“One week.”
With that her dad picked her up, kissed her, hugged her, handed her to this Seth man, turned and walked away.
She didn’t see him again for almost a year.
Her heart thudded, almost beating out of her chest at the terror of losing her dad. His back was getting smaller as he walked away. A scream erupted from her throat as she thrashed in Seth’s arms.
“Flower! Rose! Wake up, it’s only a dream, baby, wake up.”
Her eyes flew open as Seth held her close, tears cascading as she sobbed into his chest, his voice soothing and calming her. “It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you.”
“When will it stop?” She moaned, the nightmare one she had on a regular basis.
“I’m not sure, Flower.”
“I wish it would, stop that is.” She snuggled into his warmth, his hands stroking her body as she started to fall back into sleep.
“It will,” Seth whispered, keeping her safe within his strong arms.
Chapter Three
Basilius stared hard at the lower Demon in front of him. “It’s a female? Our go to assassin is a woman?”
“Yes, Master,” the man said, bowing low, his eyes never meeting his.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Basilius ordered. “I won’t eat you. Well, not if you do your job right.”
“Sorry.”
Basilius looked at the typed sheet of paper in front of him which held very little information. “So, who is this person? Name, age, where does she live?”
“They call her The Black Rose. She’s young but we don’t have her exact age as she appears to be like a ghost. She gets into places and takes care of business as if nobody’s been there. All her victims end up dead with their lips and tongue blackened.”
“Any idea of where she lives? I’d like to visit and introduce myself.” Basilius ran a hand over his beard, intrigued by this assassin. “I’ve taken over as Head of the Council so I think I should meet with her.”
“I’m sorry, but no, none of them will admit to knowing where she lives. They do it all via satellite phones so she must be somewhere she can receive a signal. That’s about all I could gather.”
“I suggest you go and try to find some more information.” Basilius growled. “Or, better still, find me something of hers, or that she’s handled and I’ll find her myself.”
“Of course.” His assistant bowed, backing out of his office.
“A young female assassin.” Basilius ran it through his head wondering what this Black Rose person was like. He needed to get in touch with her because he wanted someone dead and he couldn’t do it himself. Well, not that he couldn’t, just that if he did it could pose problems for him in the future. No, better to have it done by an assassin and keep his hands clean. For this one anyway.
He now led the very powerful Council, made up of the most influential people in just about every species, including humans. A Demon in charge came as a bit of a surprise to some, but not to him, he’d orchestrated the whole damn thing. In a world where his kind now roamed free, it was the first step to Demons gaining the upper hand.
The next step was taking out the Vampire that may just throw a wrench in the works. The Black Rose would help him in that department. He just needed to find her and convince her to take on the job. A job that several of his Demons had already failed at. Dangerous? Yes. Could it be done? He fucking hoped so or all his hard work would go to waste, and that’s not something he ever let happen.
Standing up he walked over to the window, looking out over the ravaged landscape. Still amazed at how quickly things had gone to hell when the different species went to war. He had to rebuild everything, make things far better than they were now. After all, why rule over such a damaged place? No, he wanted to rule over a world that was better than it’d ever been, bend it to his will and take what, and who, he wanted.
With that thought in mind, he strode over to his office door, opening it to find his assistant at his desk furiously typing on a keyboard. Off to the right sat a row of young women, all different, all beautiful, all his. Basilius wandered along the line, seeing fear and apprehension in each beautiful face. A small red-head at the end caught his attention and he gave her a smile as he held his hand out.
“You,” was all he said as she timidly held out her hand. Grabbing it, he hauled her to her feet, almost dragging her back inside his office. Kicking the door closed behind them he pointed to the curtains at the side of the large fireplace. “Through there. Undress and wait for me.”
She shook as she walked away, his eyes taking in her ripe ass as she disappeared through the thick velvet. “Hmm, nice,” he murmured, wondering how she’d taste when he sank his teeth into her sweet, soft skin.
He may, or may not, let her live, he was undecided.
Just as he was about to join her, there was a soft knock at his door. “Orthon, this better be good,” he snapped as his assistant snuck in.
“I’ve got hold of some paperwork that she touched, Master. I’ll have it in my possession within the hour.”
Basilius grinned. “Good work. An hour? That gives me just enough time to have some fun. Go.”
Orthon rushed out, closing the door behind him as Basilius swept one of the velvet curtains out of the way. “I hope you’re ready to please your Master,” he said coldly as he gazed at the naked girl on his massive bed.
“Yes,” she mumbled, her body shaking in obvious fear.
“I’m glad.” Starting to strip as he stalked towards her. “You may just leave this room alive.”
As her eyes widened in terror, Basilius threw his head backwards, laughing with glee. Today might not be such a bad day after all.
*****
Cassius straightened his bow tie, checking his tux was hanging just right in the mirror, running a hand through his hair. “Everything set, Val?” he asked his right hand man.
“Sure thing, boss.” Valentine sat lounging on a chair, glass of whisky in hand.
“We’ve got all of the leaders of the Vampire nests waiting for you in the ballroom.”
Cassius looked his friend over. “Straighten your tie, Val, you look as if you’re going for a casual dinner, not a high end party in the Ballroom of the Plaza.”
“You know I hate all this dressing up you make me do. I prefer nothing around my neck, especially not
a fucking tie.”
“You look good in a suit, though I wish you’d worn a tux.” Cassius shook his head. “Although you’d probably still look scruffy. I’ve no idea what you do to clothes when you put them on, Val, but you’re an expert in that scruffy look so many of the women like.”
“Hey,” Val said and held up his glass. “It’s an art form, boss.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cassius smirked. “So, how are things looking downstairs? Do we have enough support?”
“Sure you do.” Val stood up, his blond hair sticking out at odd angles as his blue eyes twinkled. “You’re the poster boy for Vamps, Cass. I think there’s only one or two who aren’t in our camp and that’s because they have visions of being in your shoes. So not happening though. You’re the man, or should I say, Vampire, for the job.”
“I may be one of the oldest left alive, but in this strange new world I may not have everyone’s support. My ideas are rather alarming to some.”
Val stood, slapping Cassius on the shoulder. “You’re a visionary, boss. I know you’re the one that can make this world better for all of us. So, deep breath, and go wow those lazy fucks downstairs. I’ve got your back.”
“I know that, Valentine.” Cassius took hold of Val’s free hand, holding it firmly. “I understand that this is a game-changer for us all. If I’m to be crowned the Lamia Summus Dominum then we shall no longer be at war with the humans, or any other race that wants to live in peace. Are we ready for that? As a species are we ready?”
“I fucking hope so, boss, ‘cause all this killing, hunting and slaughter does nobody any good.” Val shrugged, his large shoulders stretching the material on his jacket to almost breaking point. “If anyone can do this it’s you, Cass.”
Cassius nodded grimly, his face set in stone as they walked together to the elevator. “Cass, why are all the titles in Latin? Why can’t folks just say the Vampire High Duke? I fucking hate Latin.”
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