purple rain | jasper hale

bonus chapter

Valerie would usually describe Noah as fearless, funny and reckless, with a slight taste of "i'm-here-for-a-good-time-not-for-a-long-time". That was why she chose her to be part of The Guard: Noah was a woman that wasn't scared of anything.
Then why were her hands shaking?

"It's the third body this month. Something's going on, Valerie."

Valerie waltzed around the body; it was a young girl in her early twenties, brown hair and brown eyes, but her facial features were destroyed and almost unrecognizable due to the strength that had been used to rip apart her neck. She had bruises and bites all over her and her hands were tied. Her head was weirdly attached to her body.
Someone had left her right by the Castle entrance for the tourists to see. It had been yet another killing, but this one Noah had been able to spot right before the cops. Valerie hated talking to the cops.

"I think I know what's going on, but we have to bring the body inside first." Valerie sighed. "I need Francis and the Outside Team to meet me in the Throne Room."

Even though Valerie was supposedly in charge, she still got her hands dirty more times than she liked to admit. Dragging the body inside with Noah's help was nothing but a way to make herself feel guilty for letting yet another girl die right by her door. How could she be so careless? How could she let this happen?
Who was killing all these young women and why were they doing so?
She covered the young girl with a sheet so she wouldn't be too exposed to her Guard. She needed to make a point and show them the disrespect and the damage that had been done, but she still respected death. She had learnt to respect death a lot more in the last years, especially when she had been so close to it.
Sitting down on the middle throne, dead girl next to her feet, Valerie sighed as Jasper kissed her neck.

"Another one?" It was his time to sigh as he sat next to her. "This is getting ridiculous."

"Another young girl and another reckless death left right by our home, yes." Valerie whispered between her teeth, her eyes full of rage. "I need you and Marcus to check the body. I don't think this is the doing of someone ancient - this is the doing of a young, reckless, newborn."

Just like he had been called, Marcus entered the room. He had learned to smile a lot more again, but the sight of another dead girl quickly made him frown.

"Another one?" He sighed and lifted the sheet, examining the marks on the girl's body. "She was clearly killed by a newborn. I would say it's the same one as the other deaths, due to the patterns of the biting and the violence of the killings. But there's only one way to be sure."

When Valerie created the Outside Team, she wasn't expecting it to blow up so fast around Volterra, but it did. The Outside Team consisted in a group of vampires who were responsible for maintaining order outside the castle walls - they were supposed to patrol Volterra and its vampires, especially the ones known to be reckless. They were very much needed and very much capable, especially now that Francis had finally decided to join.
The Outside Team had found Francis starving right by the border; she was a newborn with a special gift - the one to see someone's death and sense the presence of its instigator anywhere in the world. It was especially excruciating for her to feed since every time she touched her victims she could see her face over and over again, as they screamed and begged for their lives. The Team had made a great job bringing her up to her feet again but when she was brought to Valerie, she was still torn in pieces.
A lot of time and patience later, Francis was one Valerie's most trusted members. Now that they had her, they could finally catch the reckless newborn.

"Glad to see you, Francis." Valerie announced, and Francis and the Outside Team bowed. "Can you help us?"

Francis didn't hesitate, and she didn't even lift the white sheet - if anyone respected death as much as Valerie, it was Francis. She placed her hand above it and after a lot of shadows danced inside her eyes for everyone to see, she spoke the words Valerie had been wanting to hear for so long.

"We'll bring it to you in two days."

And in two days time, there was a newborn all dressed in black, face covered and chained, trashing around the Throne Room wanting to be let out. Everyone was present; everyone wanted to find out who was responsible for the breaking of their peace and tranquility of living in Volterra. Everyone wanted to know who had gotten them in trouble with the humans, with the police, and especially, who had made them think they had to go to war again.
No one had liked the war.

"I appreciate you all being here." Valerie stated, her heels resonating through the room as she paced around. Marcus and Jasper were still sitting down, eyeing the vampire with pure hatred. "Firstly, I want to thank all of you for caring enough about our city and everything we've worked so hard for since i've got here. I would hate to see it crumble down into pieces."

Everyone cheered, and as Valerie paced, Marcus spoke.

"Francis, thank you for allowing us to use your gift for such an important task; to find the ones who don't respect the Law is one of the most important tasks in Volterra. The Guard appreciates you."

"As for the Outside Team," Jasper spoke aloud, "I'm proud to train you every single day and seeing you leave and come back with yet another mission complete. It's an honor to work with you every single day to maintain the security in Volterra, and to keep our secret."

Valerie stood in front of the vampire, and spoke to the crowd.

"This is our Home, our safe haven. We worked hard for it - some of us died for it. We all lost someone over the years, and it still hurts us to think about the dark times. Someone's trying to bring out the worst in all of us, over and over again; someone is threatening our security, our safe space, and that cannot be allowed."

Valerie kneeled in front of the vampire, sensing Jasper kneel as well right behind her; he was still scared of his human girlfriend getting hurt.

"So, who are you, and how dare you disrespect my home?"

Valerie uncovered the newborns face, its black hood falling to the ground.
Brown met Red.
Red eyes,
red hair,
red-

"Mary? What the fuck?"

Her dead best friend from her childhood was standing right in front of her.
Valerie fainted; she could stand the sight of vampires, werewolves, hybrids, war and execution.
One thing she couldn't stand the sight of were ghosts,
especially the ghosts of her past that she had buried before.

lmao wtf i really did something huh?