Blood and Roses

Chapter 6

Tami

"Tami."

I stopped walking, turning to see Brooklyn standing in the shadows. She was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing the last time we'd met, which wasn't an encouraging sign.

"Hi," I said. "I hear you're dead."

"Only playing," Brooklyn said. "It's harder to kill me than that. So, how's the fight against the Devil's Kingdom going?"

"I thought you didn't care about that."

"Just because I said I wasn't going to fight against the Devil's Kingdom it doesn't mean that I'm not mildly curious how things are going here. You were my best friend, Tami. Nothing has changed."

"You're the dead Queen of Venus and the leader of a band of assassins. If I don't know better, I'd say that something has changed between us. It's time to face it."

"I'm not ready to face it."

I sighed, "Brooklyn--Rosalia--whatever you're calling yourself these days--just let me go. It'll be easier for both of us that way."

"Is that honestly what you think?"

"Yeah."

Brooklyn sighed, "If I could, I would be by your side. I would use my influence over other assassins to get them to help me. But the Coalition's dying. The Devil's Kingdom is on its way out."

"How do you know that?"

I turned to look back at Brooklyn, but she was gone, almost as though she'd disappeared into thin air. A lone rose blossom lay where her feet had been.

I picked up the rose, wincing when one of the thorns sliced my pointer finger open. A note was wrapped around the stem.

Sorry. -Brooklyn

It was the same handwriting I remembered, the same color roses I'd seen growing on a bush outside Brooklyn's dad's place out front. I could never understand how Brooklyn got her roses to thrive--whenever I got Mom to plant a few, they always withered and died. Then again, Brooklyn had a natural gift when it came to plants. Whenever she was around, plants thrived, even dead ones.

I smiled, pocketing the note.

"You know, I'm still mad at you, but I'll forgive you today."

I hesitated before walking inside the warehouse. The inside of the karaoke club--whose business was thriving--was decorated for Halloween, bats hanging down from the ceiling accompanied by strands of purple lights woven together.

"Hey," Lucy said, rummaging through a box. A pair of orange and black striped tights hung out over the edge of the box in question. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured that we would meet tonight," I said. "Is everyone else here?"

"They're downstairs, getting the decorations," Lucy said as Cherry came up with a box.

"What are you doing here?" Cherry asked. "I thought you were spending the day with your dad."

"Would you move?" Tris said, annoyed, behind her. "My arms are about ready to fall off. It would be so much easier if we could just use magic to decorate. I don't know why we had to do all this by hand."

"Because it's more fun that way," Lucy said, taping yet another bat to the ceiling. "Do you think it's good enough?"

"It looks perfect," I lied.