Roses Wither: Into the Darkness
Twenty-five

Rose

Months of training and I was convinced that Bunic was worse than my father with this, and what was even more tedious was that when Chase was around, everyone’s thoughts went between the two of us. What they saw, what they felt between us and the lust they scented in the air around us.

Today had been the worst of any day yet. Any connection that my skin made with that man was like a rivet of sheer need going through my body, and I had even watched the stoic guard flinch a couple of times at our contact.

His eyes were a constant flat silver and there was no denying that there was anything between the two of us. There was obviously a lot of pent up frustration that was like a damn about to burst, but the question was, who would break first?

My wolf hadn’t returned to me, only her heat had and, mixed with my vampire’s need, I was deep in heat and everyone knew it. They could see it in my eyes, sense it in my power and smell it on my skin. There was no way of denying the need that was there.

Every day, I went back to my rooms and took an ice cold shower. Tonight was no different. I was actually beginning to replace solace in the freezing water.

Apparently, Clara had other plans tonight though, as she met me in our common area.

“Look what I found.” She sing-songed, holding up a book.

“Is that the one I was missing?” I grinned as I took it from her hands.

“It has to be. It’s the only other one I could replace.” She handed it to me with a cheeky smile.

“Where did you replace it?” I plopped onto the couch and began to skim through it.

“Here on the third floor.” She shrugged, “I took it from Matthias. It’s yours now.”

“This isn’t the one I wanted.” I sighed sadly, “But, I think this one’s about the battle where my mother was turned.”

“What does it say?”

“Something about my uncle Davide.” A cold chill went through me.

“Davide?” Her head darted to me and she tried to read over my shoulder as I sat on the sofa, “The demon?”

My brow furrowed, and goosebumps formed on my skin, but I continued on, reading the book aloud, translating for Clara.

“Nitala, my precious Angel of the Earth, was nearly taken from me yesterday. We were attacked, while Yuma was with us. She was about to shift when he did it. The boy finally turned on her, like I knew he would. Yuma reached into her throat. Right in front of my eyes, he attempted to kill her. My whole world stopped in that instant. The site of blood and cries of battle no longer fueled my rage, but propelled me to my wife’s side.”

I teared up. He loved my mother so much... Why couldn’t I be loved like that?

“In that instant, I heard the pain of my son, fighting against The Guard to get to his mother.

I am a warrior. I have lived through many battles and lost an entire family, but I am not strong when it comes to my beautiful Nitala and our love. I thought I was, but watching my beloved wife die in my arms, as our son watched on in terror, was not an option. Not when I could save her.”

“He loves her so much.” Clara sniffled, “We always knew...”

“She is everything to him.” I let out a sniffle myself and continued on.

“In my grief, I turned her. She is no longer a shape-shifter of the Earth, but now she is a creature of the moon, setting forth our next portion of both prophecies, as we await the birth of our daughter.

I do not have time to amaze over the magic that consumed us to create another child, nor to wonder of what beauty she will possess. My wife lays in bed, comatose over what I have done to her. For what I did harmed the earthly magic that she has grown fond of. The magic that weakens her because it is not her own.

Davide appeared to us, in the aftermath of battle. This was the second battle that I have encountered my half-bred brother of the moon. The first was after the demise of The Seven, when I rebirthed the Angel of Death.”

“That’s the book I want Clara. I want to know about these Seven and that battle.”

“That's the battle where Chase killed my mother.” She spoke sadly, "And I killed him, Rosa. He's only here now, because Nicolae wanted him alive."

“But why?" I asked, "Why did my father feel drawn to him? Why did he turn him?"

“Why are you trying so hard to understand?” Her brow furrowed, “For what purpose?”

“Because, aside from you blocking me, he is the only Vampire that I can’t read, and who the hell knows what Matthias is.”

“Sweetie,” Her tone was one of sympathy, "Those men were experimented on, by men believed to be priests. People turned a blind eye, because they thought the church was involved. They were bred to kill whoever they were ordered to, no questions asked. The fact that Chase fought against it speaks volumes, but the spell I used against them that day?... It was meant to be used against demons. Nicolae suspected that the blood the so called priests poured into the men was not angel blood, but demon blood. He was correct."

"So you're saying that, because of these experiments, the men turned into demons?" Chase and Matthias were demons that believed in God?

"No, I'm saying they had enough blood in their systems that it gave them the immortality of a demon," She shook her head, as if to clear it, "Nicolae said that they had aged between the time he killed the priests and he came across them again. The blood had kept them younger longer. It made them similar to demons, in the sense that they were bigger and stronger than a typical man."

"Should I read on?" I swallowed hard, wondering about how many experiments happened with those guys.

"Yes, please." She gave a nod and I continued.

“Davide was in battle gear, as the last time he appeared to us. He walked over the bodies of my fallen men, and came into my home. He spoke to Nitala in whispers that were unheard by my ear. Then he spoke to me.

He knew of the future Queen, my daughter that my wife carries. He spoke of her prophecies and how they mixed with the warrior that one day take his thrown and free Satan. This is a man that my brother has been in search of for many years, a man that was birthed long before our time. When I asked him how he knew and what my child had to do with this man, he could tell me nothing.

Also, my brother has acquired Aster’s jewel. He says that he is simply holding it until it can make it's way into the proper hands. I know of the girl it belongs to. My wife has taken Clarithan under her wing, we now call her Clara. The child is broken. She wants a simple life and resides in our home. She would not go near Davide or the necklace, but she knew who my brother was, and referred to him as Your Highness.”

“My mother’s jewel.” Clara whispered staring at the book, “I haven’t seen it since that day.”

“We have to replace Davide.” I turned to face her, “He’s holding it for you.”

“I don’t want to do that magic anymore, Rosa. It’s what got my mother killed.” She teared up, “I only want to help you. You’re like a sister to me.”

“Don’t you see? You don’t have to use it, but you will have it, if you need it and it will help you help me when I die.”

“What does that mean?” Her brow furrowed, "You aren't dying."

“We just need to replace Davide.” I rolled my eyes.

“Rosa, do you remember the last time you saw Davide?” She looked at me like I was stupid, “He is a demon.”

“He may know more about these prophecies. Things that we can’t decipher.”

“Rosa, if he’s in this realm, which is highly unlikely, demons don’t get along with witches.” She let out a sigh, and I returned it, “I gave it to him for a reason. It was to be returned to Aster. Witches are the creation of demons mating with humans and are considered to be of another plane entirely. We feed from both the Earth and underworld for our power and they can’t.”

She was right, the only reason why she was part wolf was because her father was at the creation of the shifters. Because he was turned, his familial line was as well.

“We could kill two birds with one stone here.” I whined, "I could replace out what I wanted and you could get the amulet."

“First of all, our chances of him being here are very, very low.” She shook her head, “He’s a demon. He travels between the realms and I assume he spends most of his time down below with his father, you know, Satan.”

“He has your necklace and my answers.” I stood and grabbed her hands, “Please, Clara? If it doesn’t work tonight, we can keep trying. It may work tomorrow, or the next day. We could keep trying, right?”

“Rosa, this is against the rules your father put on me coming here with you.” She shook her head, “Lay low, stay hidden and no deep magic.”

“Look, to me, this is SEVERAL birds, one stone here. Can we try? What do we need to locate him?”

“Just a map.” She whined, “And your blood.”

“Great!” I rolled my eyes, but moved to the maps on the wall, “Should we start with the world and narrow it down?”

“As long as it’s recent.” She followed, pulling one out and looking it over, “1950′s or later.”

We found one and she spread the map over the table, looking it over.

“Okay, if he’s in this realm, we should be able to replace him, along with any other blood family you have.”

“This isn’t going to show all of the vampires, is it? Because I don’t want to know how many there are.”

“No, only blood relatives.”

“Let’s do it.” I held my arm over the map, palm side up, and closed my eyes.

“Seriously?” She snorted and I felt the prick in my finger before she flipped my hand over and squeezed the didget, “It’s only a little prick.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the map, watching the dot slide across the map and spread out, as Clara mumbled her incantation.

“That’s what she said.” I snorted.

There were two over the US, but it was the seven dots over Romania and that paused me.

“Look at Romania.” My brow furrowed as I pointed to the map, “Why so many?”

“We need another map.” Clara jumped up and rapidly grabbed the next map, spreading it above the other.

With another incantation, my singular drop of blood soaked through the underlying map, into it’s new map, then separated into five dots.

“There are three here...” Her brow furrowed, “You, your father and Vlad.”

“Two here,” I pointed to the wooded area of our grounds, “In the family cemetery.”

“Your father’s sons.” She spoke sadly.

"Did you know them?" I asked stupidly.

"No, I lived in the underworld with my mother during that time." She shook her head, "I met Nitala first, after my first shift, and by the time I met Nicolae, they were already gone."

I stared at the maps. I had seen them through his memories... A gift given to me by my grandmother, seeing every vampire’s life, before and after their rebirth. It had taken months to recover from my father and grandfather's bullshit alone.

It had been no secret, that my father had a family in his human life, but I saw his heartache over the deaths of his sons and why he cherished Marcus, Mama and me so much.

He had been married, not for love but as a trade, and he had 2 children. Boys that he loved, but they died in a battle over their lands. He was dying, after avenging their deaths, when his friend, a wealthy land owner, turned him.

What he didn’t expect was that his real father had been Vlad the Impaler, his mother, who possessed the powers of the Moon Goddess after her rebirth millennia before.

“This one is solo.” She gasped, “There’s a chance it’s a distant relative though.”

“Wrong." I smiled at the map, knowing exactly where that was, "It’s the club. He’s still there.”

"The one where you met him?" She gaped at me.

"The one and only." I bounced around, giddy with excitement.

“It’s a demon club, Rosa.” She hissed.

“Do you feel like dancing tonight?” I wagged my eyebrows at her.

“Oh, dancing?” Matthias entered the room, “Where are we going?”

“You are going nowhere.” I glared at him, as I huridly picked up the maps, “Clara and I are going out.”

“That’s against the rules.” He tilted his head in mirth.

“What rules?” I snorted, “I’m going dancing with my friend. I need time away too, ya know.”