Rose petals in the ashes

Chapter one:

~Bennett's point of view~

I sat in the council meeting room waiting for the session to begin. I knew I was being watched through a wall that appeared to be a mirror but I stayed perfectly still as I sat there restlessly in my seat. The council had big decisions for me and my pack, I just knew it. I also knew that I wouldn't like their desicions though, I never did...

She came in, she was short, wore her hair cropped in a pixie style and dressed in a sharp suit that said she was all business and no fun and games. This was woman who got her way and was seldom messed with. I stood and bowed my head to her, she held the air of authority that I was clearly supposed to respect. She nodded towards the door, gesturing me to follow her to wherever it was she would take me.

This 'wherever' turned out to be next door, the room had to 'mirrors' in that looked into the rooms beside it. One was empty, this had been the room I just came from (I knew I was being watched) and the second held the most beautiful girl I had ever met. Her chocolate-brown hair fell straight down to her lower back, her sapphire eyes bore into a gorgeous painting of the eiffel tower on the wall, her porclain skin was as fine as that of a China doll and her pink ball gown sat around her radiant body elegantly. And yet the only major detail that said anything wasn't perfect about her was that she was a vampire. I'd known there'd been one here when I'd set foot inside the lobby of this tower-like building. I just hadn't known exactly where, now I did.

I knew I shouldn't but as I stared at her magnificent body a felt a wave of lust over-come me. I shrugged it off and averted my eyes from the girl to the three council members before me. "That is Rosemarie Martin, she'll be your wife for this treaty, you are to treat her as though she were your mate: this means no harming or killing her, no verbal abuse towards her and she must live with you and your pack" I frowned and opened my mouth in protest but the pixie woman continued speaking "-this is because it would be an inconvenience towards her coven to have a werewolf living with them" I gave the pixie woman a death glare "An inconvenience to them?!"

I knew I was shouting but didn't care "Don't you think it's a bit of an inconvenience to us too? Living with a vampire is hell for one of us!" she chuckled "Mr Grimshaw, you don't really have much choice in the matter, she knows the rules, they apply to her too" I knew better than to continue arguing, so biting my tongue to avoid futher arguement I said politely "Yes ma'am" her professionally fake smile brightened some what. "Good now we'll let you two talk whilst we observe, remember no harm must come to Ms Martin or else the treaty will be finished and you shall be punished" I nodded "Yes ma'am" I repeated "Good" she began to walk again, regardless of how those heels must have been blistering her feet and took me into the room where Rosemarie sat.

"Ms Martin, Mr Grimshaw has come to introduce himself to you, please introduce yourself back, remember all the while we shall be observing" Rosemarie gave her a picture perfect smile "Of course Ms Gonzalez" the pixie woman left the room and an awkward silence replaced her bubbly, perky atmosphere. Rosemarie outstretched her hand to me. "Hi, I'm Rosemarie, nice to meet you" I smiled back, even though I didn't know if her's was genuine I still attempted to be nice, in front of the council at least...

"I'm Bennett, nice to meet you" I shook her hand firmly and released her hand as soon as manners allowed me to. "So... I guess we're um... mates?" she asked, unsure of where to go with the conversation. "Yeah but you don't have to call it that if you have a different word for it" she laughed whole-heartedly "No we call it mates as well" I laughed "I don't know much about you guys, sorry for my lack of knowledge" she laughed again "Oh it's alright, we prefer people not to know much about us anyway" and so for the next few hours we talked, introducing ourselves until the point where I felt like dying: I knew Rosemarie was faking this well mannered politeness but at the end of the day so was I.

By the time we were finished and the council were happy with our first meeting they dismissed us to our guest rooms and told us to prepare for the treaty wedding tomorrow. I'd known we'd have to marry for part of this treaty but I hadn't realised it would be so soon, I barely even knew Rosemarie, she seemed like a nice enough woman although I could hardly say I knew her well enough to marry her.

Or at least I would tell the council that if I had a choice in the matter. But I didn't and this certainly wasn't my call to make nor was it Rosemarie's however. We'd been put in a tough situation, neither of us could ignore our superiors because that would be breaking the rules of the supernatural community but then we couldn't divorce either. So in translation we'd basically been put between a rock and a hard place.

Just typical. It was exactly like the council to do this to us, make us play along to their games but continue to make up the rules as the game progressed. The council were never right and the certainly never played fair. Plus the council were biased towards the vampires because of their 'natural beauty', 'talent' and 'immortality' whilst us werewolves just offered 'strength' and speed. The council member's words, not my own.

As I showered after the meeting I began to wonder why I'd agreed to this. Maybe it was because I didn't want anyone else to suffer through this or maybe a selfish part of me had deep down just wanted to see what it was like to be favourited by the council, because being in good with the council meant royalty treament and I mean royalty. I may be royal but I certainly wasn't treated like it, not by my fellow werewolves and certainly not by anyone else. Although I wish I was. In fact I just wish this marriage wasn't happening. Because surely, living with a vampire had to be hell... Right?

**************************************

(A/N) okay so this is chapter one, hope you like, I know it's probably really short but I got writer's cramp and typing became hard. However please do: fan, vote and comment. I do appreciate your feedback so have fun reading and please continue when the updates come out. Next one should be up within this week. If not the next. I will try to update at least once within two weeks of every update.

The song for this chapter is sweet dreams by eurythmics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=zanZFMqG75o

Goodbye.